Ecology

CAP 2022 & 2023 has seen multiple authorised derogations on environmental standards. These derogations, ostensibly for food security, are pushed hard by the agribusiness-lobby & criticised by many scientists. So who’s right? New data, including in particular a report from Abl, Birdlife, Global 2000 and Corporate Europe Observatory, helps us separate myth from reality.

The struggle to cap and redistribute direct payments received by the largest landowners, to support smaller farms, thereby enabling a more divers and resilient rurality, has come up against the whole financial system in Denmark. So how did Denmark end up without capping or redistributive payments? And how could the Commission accept such a proposal?

Roderick Kefferpütz is the new Director of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union office in Brussels as of 15 May 2023. He takes over from Eva van de Rakt, who has been Head of the European Union and North America Division at the headquarters of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in Berlin since May 2023.

Carbon farming is the new hype in agriculture. A proposal for a Certification Framework of Carbon Removals was proposed back in November 2022 by the European Commission and there is a strong push by the Swedish EU Council Presidency and the French government to make it happen quickly. But can a Europe-wide carbon farming program coexist with the CAP? In this article, ARC2020 explores the similarities and contradictions between the two.

Although the CAP Strategic Plans have been approved and are now being implemented, they are not closed files. Once a year, amendments can be proposed by Member States and, under specific conditions, other adaptations can be required. Recent readjustments of targets for climate mitigation in different legislations to meet the ambition of the Fit For 55 package should offer an opportunity to raise the ambition of CAP Strategic Plans on climate action. In this article, we will consider how the CAP Strategic Plans might be amended and, under what circumstances, and assess the potential move forward that the progress on the Fit For 55 package can provide.

In her interview with Dr. Christine Pütz, Terry Reintke, Co-President of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament, offers her opinion on the study “Actually European?! Citizen Expectations towards German EU Policy in the Context of Crisis and Transformation” and makes the case for Germany’s commitment to show its dependability and solidarity.

The German CAP Strategic Plan has the potential for an ambitious CAP 2023 to 2027. While the debate on the next CAP post-2027 is already starting, in this article we argue that the German government needs to exploit all potential in the current CAP to increase the ambition towards more climate change mitigation and the protection and enhancement of natural resources and biodiversity. The coalition agreement gives them the mandate to do so.

The EU’s half-baked response to the U.S. investment offensive is putting its competitiveness and our future prosperity at risk. Now is the time for deeper European integration and major adjustments to EU treaty law.

“Rural Europe Takes Action – No more business as usual”, the book published by ARC2020 and Form Synergies in June last year, ended with a mysterious unwritten regulation, the Common Agricultural Policy of the future. Only it is not. It is much broader than that. We called it the European Rural and Agricultural (and Food) Policy (ERAP). So, what is it about and why is it important to talk about it now? Let’s dive into it. This article is divided in two parts. In this first part, we will first assess the why we urgently need a new CAP by looking at how it has performed on its main objectives.

Ukraine needs decarbonisation — the state's goal in combatting climate change and fulfilling its respective international commitments. Meanwhile, Russia's war against Ukraine continues, with infrastructure and housing being increasingly ruined, territories being mine-studded, and natural habitats being destroyed daily. That infrastructure would need rebuilding, which means increased emissions from construction sites and the operation of new enterprises. Alyona Vyshnytska interviews Oksana Aliieva, former coordinator of the Climate Change and Energy Policy Programme at the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung's Kyiv office, and Anna Ackerman, board member of Ecoaction NGO and policy analyst at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).