EU dumped lab meats from climate plans on farm chief’s demand
BRUSSELS — The European Commission scrubbed a push to promote lab-grown and plant-based meats from a key climate proposal at the urging of Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski.
The EU released proposed plans for a strict new climate goal for 2040 on Tuesday. The announcement was marked by several concessions to the farming industry. None of those were enough for Wojciechowski, who, emails seen by POLITICO reveal, wanted to see the agriculture sector entirely exempted from the climate plan.
According to an email exchange from early Tuesday morning, Daniel Mes, a member of Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra’s cabinet, wrote to Wojciechowski’s adviser Joanna Stawowy to advise that, “we have now removed all references to “protein” (i.e. “lab-made meat”) from the text, per the request.”
Lab-grown meat and insect-based foods, in particular, have also been in the crosshairs of several EU governments. Italy last year pushed through a law banning lab-grown meat, which the government said threatened the country’s cultural heritage.
Bartosz Brzeziński and Karl Mathiesen | Politico
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