Funding for climate-friendly agriculture misdirected, EU audit finds

Greenhouse gas emissions from farming in the European Union have not decreased since 2010, despite the government spending over €100 billion ($119 billion) to combat climate change from agriculture between 2014 and 2020, a report by the European Court of Auditors concludes. The report finds that greenhouse gas emissions from the use of chemical fertilizers and manure in the EU rose from 2010 to 2018. Such emissions account for nearly a third of the EU’s agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, according to the report. The auditors claim that practices supported by agricultural funding that are intended to reduce fertilizer use, such as organic farming and growing legumes, have an unknown impact on greenhouse gas emissions. But other practices that have been demonstrated to reduce those emissions, such as precision agriculture methods that apply fertilizer only where it’s needed, have received little EU funding. Livestock emissions, which represent about half of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, have remained steady in the EU since 2010, the report finds.