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.
A greater shift towards climate-smart agricultural land management is increasingly urgent if the EU is to reach the emissions reductions target set out in response to the Paris Agreement. To do so requires more emphasis on climate within the Common Agricultural Policy and action to reduce the climate footprint of consumer consumption patterns.
With its potential to reduce GHG emissions and increase CO2 removals, agriculture has a key role to play in the EU’s climate mitigation efforts, yet Member State action is lacking...
Sector far from reaching its climate mitigation potential, with Member States placing more emphasis on climate adaptation.
New IEEP report finds the agriculture sector can significantly contribute to the EU’s climate commitments by reducing its non-CO2 emissions. It also finds these contributions can be delivered cost efficiently with environmental co-benefits without impacting production.
Ensuring the carbon sustainability of bioenergy requires a new approach in EU policy. This IEEP report spells out a different pathway to the one proposed by the European Commission in the recently released “winter package”.