The Committee on Agriculture approved an opinion on the proposal for a Directive on Substantiating Green Claims. It recognises the efforts at farm-level, it defends the potential of carbon farming and eases its implementation.
The Directive aims to clarify and strengthen the substantiation of any explicit environmental claims referred to products and traders placed in the Single Market. The Committee on Agriculture (AGRI) voted in favour of MEP Sarvamaa’s (EPP, FI) balanced opinion that considers the additional efforts at farm level, preventing farmers to go through additional verification processes.
During the last decade, the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) has been increasingly setting more environmental voluntary measures, but consumers have not always been fully aware of the constant improvements. The AGRI opinion acknowledges the sustainability practices at farm level and eases its information to the public without the duplication of a verification process.
In addition, Copa and Cogeca welcome the opinion on carbon farming certification units, which would be allowed to be used for claims on offsets, while respecting the framework agreed in the ‘Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition’ Directive. This position will incentivize farmers to uptake more carbon farming practices and increase the positive externalities of different farming methods on the environment.
Finally, we support the efforts to ease and incentivize the implementation of the Directive, as well as streamlining the uptake by operators, such as the request for a public list for recognised methodologies in the EU, clarity on the documentation necessary for verification, and the list of the accredited official verifiers in each Member States.
Fonte: Copa Cogeca
