Dr. Oliver Moore:

I will address the issue of carbon leakage. At European level, there is a concerted effort to prevent carbon leakage because of the fear and risk of leakage. There are what are called mirror clauses. The French European Presidency announced that reciprocal environmental and health production standards for European products and products imported from third countries were going to be one of its focuses. If it was a rule for products in the EU, it would be a rule for all products brought into the EU as well. It is not a full EU position but the idea of mirror clauses is to deal with the risk and fear of carbon leakage and the problem that one country might opt for a stricter stance. The EU is working on this in respect of forestry, antibiotics and across the board through the European Green Deal. There is a specific effort towards reciprocal standards. That argument is done.

To be fair, we have carbon budget parameters now. Agriculture is aiming for between 22% and 32%, but carbon intensive foods will make that harder to achieve. We have to consider the carbon intensity of the foods that we are producing. That is happening globally. It is why discussions will happen about how the European Green Deal integrates into WTO diktats.

The argument about leakage is not relevant because we now have targets for agriculture and there is a focus on having reciprocal standards.