EU countries are directing between €34 billion and €48 bln of European subsidies annually into activities that harm biodiversity, with the majority of them allocated to agriculture, according to a report released on Tuesday.
According to an analysis carried out by the WWF European Policy Office, up to 60% of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funding is spent by member states on large-scale unsustainable farming and forestry activities, totalling €32.1 bln annually.
“Every year, more than €30 bln from the CAP funds activities that harm nature and fail to support farmers,” said Tycho Vandermaesen, policy and strategy director at WWF European Policy Office.
According to conservation group, this number roughly amounts to the whole annual spending of countries like Croatia and Luxembourg.
“EU governments must urgently realign public expenditure with environmental and social imperatives,” the WWF said.
Other direct and indirect agriculture and forestry related biodiversity harmful subsidies (BHS) extend beyond the CAP, including tax reductions or tax exemptions for fertilisers and pesticides.
The remaining part of the total amount of BHS is allocated to other sectors which are significantly contributing to nature loss, including fisheries (€59-138 million), transport infrastructure (€1.7-14.1 bln), and water infrastructure (€1.3 – €2 bln).
As for the fishing industry, the analysis estimated that between 5-12% of the European Maritime, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF), totalling €59–138 mln per year, is channelled into BHS.
Furthermore, between €1.69 bln and €14.07 bln of EU funds are spent every year by governments on building and rehabilitating transport infrastructure in Europe, such as roads and railways, that could be harmful to biodiversity.
EU BIODIVERSITY STRATEGY
In 2022, a study released by the EU Commission estimated that the scale of financing needed to deliver the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy is exactly around €48 bln annually between 2021 and 2030.
Currently, the EU and its member states are falling short of this target by more than €18 bln each year, WWF noted.
“This is less than the total biodiversity harmful subsidies originating from the EU budget, so filling the gap is imperative and feasible,” the report said.
In light of that, WWF called on governments and the EU to establish a legally binding framework to ensure a phase-out of BHS, in order to redirect them towards nature-based solutions that could better protect European citizens from climate impacts.
The organisation also urged member states to add the phase-out of harmful subsidies in their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) before the start of the COP16 UN biodiversity summit, due to take place in Cali, Colombia, over Oct. 21-Nov. 1.
“Not only are governments spending billions of euros of taxpayers’ money on harming nature, they are also undermining the EU’s efforts to protect and restore it, in line with its stated objectives and international commitments,” Ester Asin, director of WWF European Policy Office, said.
“Redirecting these subsidies could easily close the financing gap needed to achieve the EU’s biodiversity goals.”
BHS are widely recognised as one of the main threats to global biodiversity, with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework calling for their reduction by at least $500 bln per year under target 18.
According to a World Bank study, harmful agricultural subsidies are responsible for the loss of 2.2 mln hectares of forest annually, equivalent to 14% of global deforestation.
By Giada Ferraglioni – giada@carbon-pulse.com
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