Ben has a Ph.D. in the field of land use and spatial ecology and 10 years experience of working on agriculture, land use and bioenergy policy at the UK and EU level. He joined the IEEP Agriculture and Land Management team in September 2010, having spent the previous five years working as a policy adviser on agri-environment, CAP and bio-energy issues for Natural England and English Nature. Immediately prior to joining IEEP Ben worked on secondment to the National Trust as their senior officer on sustainable land use and management policy, developing their portfolio of work on the CAP and looking at the future of land and water management in the UK. At IEEP, Ben has led and contributed to a range of projects related to land use, bioenergy and agriculture. He has played an integral role in developing the institute’s thinking on EU bioenergy and biofuels policy from a land use perspective, with links to the wider bio-economy and covering both European and global implications.
The European Commission has published its long-awaited strategy on food and farming that sets out the EU’s long-term goals and direction of travel to 2030 for the agri-food sector. The Strategy is a key and necessary element of the European Green Deal and together with the new EU Biodiversity Strategy comes at an important moment.
The COVID-19 crisis is bringing new elements to the discussions around the future EU multiannual financial framework – and the negotiations need to reflect the urgency of the crisis.
To inform future European Commission’s legislative efforts, IEEP’s discussion paper articulates sustainability criteria aimed at addressing the roots of deforestation, ecosystem degradation and human right violations driven by the EU’s purchase of agricultural commodities in third countries.
In its efforts to deliver on the EU Green Deal and to step up EU action, the European Commission launched a public consultation on deforestation and forest degradation. We've submitted several recommendations based on our work on these and related topics.
A new report by IEEP outlines what a sustainable transition of the dairy industry could look like – taking into account the environmental, economic and social trade-offs.