The EU is being urged to introduce a Plant-Based Action Plan to promote sustainable diets and help farmers transition away from meat and dairy.
Climate-damaging foods such as red meat are being heavily propped up by EU subsidies, in what has been described as a “scandalous” use of taxpayer money.
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A new report by charity Foodrise found that the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP) directed more subsidies to the production of high-emitting animal-sourced foods than plant foods in 2020. In fact, animal-sourced foods received around 77 per cent of total CAP subsidies, accounting for €39 billion out of the total €51 billion spent that year.
Beef and lamb, which are consistently identified as the biggest culprits of climate damage, were given around 580 times more in subsidies compared to legumes such as lentils and beans in 2020.
Dairy received an estimated 554 times more CAP subsidies than nuts and seeds in the same year, while meat and dairy combined received more than 10 times more CAP subsidies than fruit and vegetable production.
Why are meat and dairy so bad for the environment?
Animal-sourced foods make up between 81 and 86 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions from EU food production, despite only supplying an estimated 32 per cent of calories and 64 per cent of protein.
Globally, food and agriculture contribute one-third of total greenhouse gas emissions, second only to burning fossil fuels. According to the carbon footprint calculator CO2 Everything, one 100g serving of beef is equivalent to 78.7 km of driving, releasing 15.5 kg CO2 equivalent.
The carbon footprint of animal agriculture has spiralled over recent decades, driven by modern industrial farming practices and the sheer number of animals involved. Greenpeace says an estimated 60 per cent of all mammals on the planet are livestock, while just four per cent are wild (the other 36 per cent are humans). Farmed poultry accounts for a staggering 70 per cent of all birds.
Every one of these animals reared for livestock needs lots of food and space (paving the way for cruel factory farms that cage animals for most of their life), resulting in the clearing of carbon-sucking areas like forests, grasslands and wetlands. Multiple investigations have highlighted how Amazon rainforest deforestation is being driven by demand for soya.
Contrary to popular belief, the soy isn’t being grown to feed humans – but livestock instead. According to conservation organisation WWF, almost 80 per cent of the world’s soybean crop is fed to livestock, and production has doubled over the last two decades.
This is the crux of why animal agriculture is so polluting, alongside other factors such as artificial fertiliser use and cows producing methane. We are effectively adding an additional step in our food production-to-consumption process, wasting water, crops and energy on growing food to feed animals rather than consuming the crops ourselves.
For every 100 calories of crops fed to animals, we only get 40 calories in the form of milk, 12 calories of chicken, and just three calories of beef, according to a report by Compassion in World Farming.
‘Unfair’ EU subsidies
“It’s scandalous that such an unfair share of EU subsidies, worth billions of euros of EU taxpayers’ money, are being pumped into propping up high-emissions meat and dairy production and distorting European diets,” says Martin Bowman of Foodrise.
“CAP is at a crossroads, and EU policymakers have a huge opportunity to switch course and take the action required to support a just transition to healthy sustainable plant-rich diets.”
Bowman argues that this transition has the potential to boost farmer incomes, reduce EU-reliance on imports, mitigate climate change and improve the health of Europeans.
“At the very least, plant-based foods deserve a fairer share of CAP subsidies, to compete on an equal footing,” he adds.
“This shameful use of EU funds to promote meat and dairy to EU citizens – which is directly contrary to EU health and climate goals – should end immediately.”
Bowman urged EU policymakers to introduce a Plant-Based Action Plan to promote plant-based foods across the supply chain, along with a fund to help support farmers' transition from livestock to plants.
In 2024, the European Commission published the Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU agriculture report, which concluded it is “crucial” to help consumers embrace the transition to plant-based foods.
“The European Commission should develop, by 2026, an EU Action Plan for Plant-based Foods to strengthen the plant-based agri-food chains from farmers all the way to consumers,” the report reads.
Euronews Green has contacted the European Commission for comment.
