Protecting waters from pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources - Evaluation
8 March 2024
Agroecology Europe (AEEU) welcomes the opportunity to provide evidence to the evaluation of the Nitrates Directive. AEEU is committed to promoting sustainable agricultural practices that prioritise environmental and human health, biodiversity, and the well-being of farmers and consumers. AEEU discourages additional exemptions from the Nitrates Directive and warns against false solutions like RENURE. By embracing a comprehensive approach to nutrient flows, we can work towards sustainable agriculture and healthier diets, contributing to the overall well-being of both the environment and the population and fulfilling the EU Green Deal objectives.
Read the full response to the Public Consultation
Read the questionnaire AEEU submitted to the Public Consultation
Environmental performance of products & businesses – substantiating claims
13 July 2023
AEEU welcomes transparent criteria for environmental claims. The multiplication of sustainability labels is not per se a barrier to sustainable choices for consumers. Nevertheless, to ensure that agroecology is scaled up in Europe, we need an EU law on EU Sustainable Food Systems and to reform the Common Agricultural Policy. AEEU calls on the co-legislators to reinforce the legislative proposal on Green Claims to stop the proliferation of greenwashing of food and agricultural products.
Soil health – protecting, sustainably managing and restoring EU soils
24 October 2022
The EU Soil Strategy for 2030 ‘Reaping the benefits of healthy soils for people, food, nature and climate’ envisages that all soils in the EU should be in a healthy condition by 2050 and that the protection,
sustainable use and restoration of soil should become the norm. The Strategy announces that the Commission will table a new legislative proposal on soil health to ensure the same level of protection to soil
that exists for water, the marine environment and air in the EU.
regulation on the sustainable use of plant protection products (SUR)
21 September 2022
EU rules on the sustainable use of pesticides aim to protect human health and the environment from the possible risks and impacts of pesticides. the proposal for a sustainable use regulation (SUR) entails a high level of protection for human health and the environment in the transition to a sustainable food system, however, without significant improvement, the EU will fail to achieve its commitment to reduce pesticides use and transition towards more sustainability of the EU food system.
Legislation for plants produced by certain new genomic techniques
22nd of July 2022
The Commission is preparing a policy initiative on plants obtained by targeted mutagenesis and cisgenesis. It will also cover food and feed derived from such plants.
Agroecology Europe invites the Commission to ensure that the regulation is
properly applied to all GMOs, including those developed with “new genomic techniques”and calls for maintaining high standards of risk assessment for all GMOs.
See Agroecology Europe’s response to the questionnaire
See Agroecology Europe’s position note on the topic
Sustainable EU food system –new initiative
21st of July 2022
This initiative aims to make the EU food system sustainable and to integrate sustainability into all food-related policies. It will lay down general principles and objectives, together with the requirements and responsibilities of all actors in the EU food system.
More specifically, it will lay down rules on:
- sustainability labelling of food products
- minimum criteria for sustainable public procurement of food
- governance and monitoring.
See Agroecology Europe’s feedback on this regulation proposal
Certification on carbon removals - EU Rules
2nd of May 2022
This initiative will propose EU rules on certifying carbon removals. It will develop the necessary rules to monitor, report and verify the authenticity of these removals.
Agroecology Europe welcomes the opportunity to give feedback on the Commission’s legislative revision on the carbon removal certification framework.
Nutrients – action plan for better management
25th of April 2022
Nutrients (nitrogen & phosphorus) are essential for life and important natural resources. Yet nutrient loss leads to air, soil and water pollution, loss of biodiversity and a wide range of climate-change impacts.
Existing legislation has helped address this problem in recent decades. However, nutrient pollution and inefficiencies in the nutrient cycle require additional action at EU level to improve food security, protect human health and preserve the ecosystem.
See Agroecology Europe’s contribution to the consultation
Soil health – protecting, sustainably managing and restoring EU soils
15th March 2022
Soils are crucial for food, nature and our economy and deserve the same level of protection as water, air or the marine environment. The aim of the Soil Health Law proposal announced in the EU soil strategy for 2030 is to (i) specify the conditions for a healthy soil (ii) determine options for monitoring soil and (iii) lay out rules conducive to sustainable soil use and restoration.
Agroecology Europe is calling upon the European Commission to adopt a strong EU harmonised legislative approach to address soil and land degradation based on agroecology principles and practices promoting sustainable soil management. See our complete response here.
Conversion to a Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN)
2nd July 2021
This initiative will expand the scope of the current network collecting data on EU farms to include data on their environmental and social practices.
With this new data collection, it will be possible to benchmark farm performance and give farmers tailored advice and guidance.
This will improve the sustainability of farmers, including their incomes, in line with the objectives of the common agricultural policy, the Green Deal and its farm to fork and biodiversity strategies.
Safeguarding nature – EU 2030 biodiversity strategy
20th January 2020
Biodiversity underpins human wellbeing but is now under immense pressure from human activities.
This initiative outlines the EU’s ambition for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework to be adopted in October 2020 at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, China.
