The UK is now developing its own trade policy outside the EU. This means there is a need to re-evaluate the UK’s approach to environmental standards in trade, including relating to agri-foods.
The briefing addresses the need for a new approach to environmental standards in trade policy relating to agri-foods, primarily in relation to the UK which is now developing its own policy outside the EU.
IEEP, Wageningen University & Research and Navigant held a workshop on 18 November to explore where crops for non-food purposes could be grown in Europe in the future. Current policy seeks to steer these crops to abandoned or degraded land, but the workshop looked at how much is available, where it is and how suitable this land might be in practice.
This report outlines the environmental and welfare challenges, opportunities, and potential consequences of ending the use of cages in the production of hens, pigs, and rabbits in the EU.
This paper examines the role that the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy can play in the transformation towards more sustainable and resilient agri-food systems in the EU
IEEP has responded to a call for evidence from the Public Bill Committee, which is considering amendments to the Agriculture Bill put before the UK Parliament by the Government.
A fresh approach to the system of regulation for farmers and other land managers in England is required post EU-exit to maintain and improve environmental standards. A new delivery model should aim to build a more collaborative and long-term relationship with farmers, strengthen compliance and be adequately funded.
As the UK prepares to leave the EU, the future agricultural policy frameworks in the four administrations of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are starting to take shape. This briefing provides an overview of the current state of play, focussing on their environmental aspects and ambitions.
The EU has some of the highest levels of human development in the world. No member state, however, is currently guaranteeing the well-being of its citizens while also staying within planetary boundaries.
Europe’s ability to maintain and enhance its prosperity for generations to come requires a hard look at the nature of growth and the changes that would be required to achieve sustainability in line with the SDGs.
Europe’s 2020 strategy and the 7th Environmental Action Plan were conceived before the SDGs, the Paris agreement and before some of the recent advances in scientific understanding of planetary boundaries, and of the scale of interconnected challenges to come. In light of the severity and urgency of risk identified by experts around the world, a new approach is now needed.
Open letter after open letter, scientists are warning us that we are running out of time: the more we wait, the more likely it is that damage will become irreversible. The more we procrastinate, the more painful the decisions we'll have to make.
The newly elected European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen has pledged a Green Deal for Europe in her first 100 days in office. Last year, we asked sustainability experts from all over Europe for policy recommendations. Here is what a Green Deal that's aligned with SDGs should look like.
A new IEEP paper for UK NGOs looks at the risks and opportunities for environmental policy of possible Brexit outcomes. Crashing out without a deal would pose significant risks, while the Withdrawal Agreement has valuable elements which mitigate some environmental downsides of Brexit.
Two documents, central to Brexit and its aftermath, have been endorsed by the UK government and the European Council (for the EU27). In principle, one of these, the Agreement, will enter into force at the time of the UK’s departure from the EU. Taken together, they have potentially significant implications for the environment and environmental policy.
The Brexit negotiations enter what should be the final stages at the end of 2018, with an outline agreement on the future relationship. A new IEEP paper sets out what is needed to avoid the risk of environmental standards being lowered for competitive advantage.
As the UK and EU negotiators focus on the future relationship, our briefing note looks at how environmental legislation could be treated, and in particular what counts as an “equivalent” commitment. Getting this right matters; both to avoid competitiveness disputes, and to deliver green goals.
In environmental terms there are at least two ways of looking at the prospects for 2018. Viewed through the rather sober lens of EU process, it has the look of a project completion and tidying up period with limited long term impetus to the last full year of the current European Parliament and Commission.