Activities of Eugenia RODRÍGUEZ PALOP related to 2022/2053(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on Sustainable Carbon Cycles
Amendments (19)
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. WelcomesTakes note of the launch of the carbon farming initiative as announced in the Farm to Fork strategy and the new EU forest strategy, with the aim of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 as enshrined in the European Climate Law, and by 2035 in the entire land sector;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Underlines the importance of carbon farming as a new business model for EU agriculture with a view toaiming to upscale climate mitigation by paying farmers to implement climate-friendly farm or forest management practices, allowing the sector’s active contribution to the green transition to provide new sources of income and business development opportunities;
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Stresses that any carbon farming initiative should also address N20 and CH4 emissions which make up a significant share of the global warming and climate change impact of agriculture;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Stresses that those stakeholders who are already contributing to higher carbon stocks, such as organic farmers, should not be penalised, as carbon farming schemes are likely to reward additional efforts and calls on the Commission to devise additionality rules that are fair and take into account first movers in terms of applying good land management practices;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Highlights that ensuring access to fair prices for farmers should be a priority and is the most appropriate form of supporting a just transition to positive agricultural practices for climate change, biodiversity and food and thus for transition towards sustainability, food security and food sovereignty and that carbon farming has to go in that direction;
Amendment 61 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3 c. Calls for the mainstreaming of agroecological practices in EU agriculture and calls on the Commission to set a target of 50% of EU agricultural area to be managed through agroecological systems, including organic farming, by 2050;
Amendment 62 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 d (new)
Paragraph 3 d (new)
3 d. Stresses that transitioning to agroecology and restoring ecosystems are knowledge-intensive processes with high up-front costs, requiring significant investments; believes carbon markets, due to their volatility, are ill-suited to provide the type of support and stable income that the vast majority of farmers would need to undertake this transition; highlights that farmers must be supported to make this transition;
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 e (new)
Paragraph 3 e (new)
3 e. Stresses that voluntary carbon markets in agriculture have both high project implementation and high transaction costs, acknowledges therefore that offsetting projects are profitable only at large scales, thereby promoting land concentration and disadvantaging smaller farms;
Amendment 71 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Amendment 78 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4 b. expresses concern that a market- based carbon farming model will increase the concentration and the financialisation of land and the dependence of agricultural income on speculative and often volatile carbon markets, and that access to land for smallholders and young farmers will likely become more expensive, deepening the depopulation of rural areas, and will be at risk of being displaced by polluting industries, including industrial agriculture; calls on the Commission to minimise the risk of land-grabbing and competition for land and to put measures in place to ensure that incorporating agriculture into carbon markets do not pose a threat to climate and to smaller and more diversified farms;
Amendment 84 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Underlines that the carbon farming initiative must deploy a coherent mix of mandatory and voluntary policy instruments, underpinned by clear definitions and safeguards, and robust accountability mechanisms; insists the post-2022 CAP must do much more to finance climate mitigation and adaptation actions and activities in agriculture and that this should be the priority;
Amendment 99 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Underlines the importance of CAP funds for any scheme that seeks to incentivise carbon farming practices in stimulating action on emissions reductions by providing funding to improve knowledge and cooperation among land managers;
Amendment 102 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to mainstreaming carbon farming in EU public support, especially promoting it in the national CAP strategic plans and also the LIFE Programme and the Cohesion Policy, whilst ensuring that there will be no double funding; calls on the Member States to incorporate substantial financial incentives from the CAP in tailor-made solutions for the farmers to select their best possible approach: within eco-schemes, rural development agri-environmental measures and the European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-AGRI).
Amendment 119 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. Calls for a holistic approach to carbon farming and any carbon credit certification system; insists that the amount of carbon removed cannot be the sole metric, that other qualitative and quantitative indicators with strict safeguards such as soil health, water quality and biodiversity must also be included, as well as socio-economic safeguards; Or.
Amendment 124 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7 b. Insists that any carbon credit certification framework must be not be based on carbon intensity but instead on absolute emissions reductions;
Amendment 133 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Urges the establishment of a robust methodology allowing the objective and transparent measurement and certification of carbon removals among sectors in order to create harmonised bases for the calculation, capture, use and storage of carbon dioxide and to tackle the management of risk of reversal or risk of carbon leakage inducing GHG emissions elsewhere;
Amendment 137 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Recalls that where carbon farming does not result in permanent storage of removed CO2, this is equivalent to delayed emissions and highlights the need to incorporate and standardize monitoring, reporting and verification methodologies to provide a clear and reliable framework for carbon farming; acknowledges that standardisation is difficult to achieve considering the numerous farm types and geographies across all Member States and emphasises the need for careful policy design, and a tailor-made approach;
Amendment 161 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Stresses the roleat large-scale deployment of Bio-Energy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) through the combustion or fermentationmight result in unacceptable negative impacts on food security, land use rights, and biodiversity given its land use, water, and resource requirements; underlines in this sense the social and environmental risks of biogenic carbon, with the aim of providing funding under the CAP tools as an additional means of removing carbon from the atmosphereergy, and points out to the need to focus, as much as possible, on increased carbon sequestration in the biosphere, in particular through sustainable agricultural practices and the protection and restoration of forests and other carbon and biodiverse rich natural ecosystems;