18 votes

Lars Aagaard, Danish climate minister, says farmers deserving most success on the European market should be those who emit the least carbon per tonne of food produced

Posted by mycketforvirrad
Tags: climate change, denmark, emissions.carbon, politics, policy.climate, agriculture, farming, greenhouse gases, emissions trading system, farmers, food, politicians, lars aagaard, european union, author.alice hancock, source.ft, paywall
https://www.ft.com/content/0fa6edec-267f-4652-8bc5-486d60e4049e

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Title
EU farmers should pay for their carbon emissions, says Denmark
Word count
39 words

5 comments

  1. [4]
    GunnarRunnar
    Link
    Sounds great on paper, we should tackle emissions on all fronts. However, this will probably raise the already rising cost of food to consumers. Also does this take into account just plain bad...

    Sounds great on paper, we should tackle emissions on all fronts. However, this will probably raise the already rising cost of food to consumers.

    Also does this take into account just plain bad year in farming when the harvest is smaller than expected?

    What about differences in climates? Italy has an easier time growing all kinds of vegetables than Northern Europe but it seems like a bad deal for Northern Europe to be totally dependent on other countries, they're all independent after all.

    Also, this could just encourage importing food outside of Europe, which probably isn't ideal either.

    (If someone's up to correcting my grammar, I welcome the pm.)

    5 votes
    1. [2]
      felixworks
      Link Parent
      I also worry about other externalities. Carbon emissions are far from the only issue with modern farming. Fertilizer/pesticide/herbicide consumption and runoff needs to be considered too, at the...

      I also worry about other externalities. Carbon emissions are far from the only issue with modern farming. Fertilizer/pesticide/herbicide consumption and runoff needs to be considered too, at the very least. If optimizing for carbon emissions increases those other metrics, that's not necessarily a net positive.

      10 votes
      1. tauon
        Link Parent
        Yeah, this sounds very good at first glance but could totally ruin incentives and/or prices, and thus demand, for organic food, unfortunately.

        Yeah, this sounds very good at first glance but could totally ruin incentives and/or prices, and thus demand, for organic food, unfortunately.

        3 votes
    2. redbearsam
      Link Parent
      My first thought is: does the current system care about these differences you mention? I think the answer is that different climates suit different crops, and this would further incentivize the...

      My first thought is: does the current system care about these differences you mention? I think the answer is that different climates suit different crops, and this would further incentivize the growth of crops appropriate to the region. And that is a good thing.

      9 votes