EU anti-pollution agreement: save cattle farms

Crackdown on industrial emissions. But cattle farms can breathe a sigh of relief. At least for the next three years. European Parliament and EU Council have
reached an agreement on the anti-pollution directive by saving the stables. The deal includes stricter limits on air, water and soil pollutants, with obligations that will apply to mines and battery factories for the first time. The decision on one of the most controversial points of the directive, the inclusion of cattle farming, is postponed to 2026. Large intensive pig and poultry farming will be covered, with the new rules coming into force progressively, starting from 2030 with the larger companies. Companies that do not comply will risk fines equal to at least 3% of their annual turnover. In detail, the directive also includes mining activities, indicating the extraction and treatment of non-energy minerals produced on an industrial scale such as iron, copper, gold, nickel and platinum. Under the new rules, European countries will also have to ensure that people have the right to seek compensation if damage to their health has occurred as a result of a breach of national rules implementing the directive. “This agreement – explained the community institutions – aims to offer better protection of human health and the environment by reducing harmful emissions from industrial plants, including intensive farming, into the air, water and soil and through waste discharges. waste. They also aim to improve reporting of environmental data by updating the existing European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-prtr) to establish a more comprehensive and integrated industrial emissions portal.” The cattle compromise, criticized by Greenpeace, was welcomed by the government. “The European Parliament rejects the equation between industrial emissions and livestock farming: the Italian system wins again” commented the Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida, on Facebook. Satisfied tones also from Coldiretti and Filiera Italia.
“A victory of common sense, which gives reason to those who, like Italian livestock farming, are doing a lot to reduce emissions as demonstrated by the extraordinary results of recent years in which, according to Ispra, the emissions produced by livestock represent approximately 5% of greenhouse gas emissions, with -24% of emissions from Italian livestock farms in the last 30 years”, says Coldiretti president Ettore Prandini. “A result that blocks the proposal of those who would have liked to assimilate livestock farming to polluting factories and which approaches the issue of sustainability in a more concrete and rational way by providing for further improvement interventions with studies and revisions of the rules in the coming years”, the words of Luigi Scordamaglia, CEO of Filiera Italia.
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