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Achieving PCSD: A Challenge for Europe’s
agriculture
Céline Charveriat, IEEP
European Parliament
October 16th, 2018

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The context: the challenge of realising SDG 2 worldwide
Is Europe doing its fair share of efforts
to
Source: Kate Raworth. Doughnut Economics. 2017

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PCSD in the context of SDGs: what does this mean for
European agriculture and the CAP?
1. Do your home work: domestic targets
2. Do-no-harm: minimize external negative effects and
maximize positive effects on others
 Positive spill overs (market access, innovation supporting
transition to better agricultural practices, regulatory
framework)
 Negative spill overs (e.g. export dumping, import
competition and power relations in global supply chains,
footprint issues (embedded GHG emissions/ILUC linked
with imports of soybeans to feed livestock), influencing
consumption habits)
3. International responsibility
• Support others in achieving SDGs and the Paris agreement
in line with “Common But Differentiated Responsibilities
and Capacities”:

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PCSD in practice: the example of milk exports to Africa
• Do you home work
• According to a recent report by the RISE
foundation, if Europe is to achieve an 80% cut
to its GHG Emissions by 2050, livestock activity
in Europe would have to contract by up to 74%.
• Do no harm
• Over five years, European exports X 3 to Africa
as a result of export dumping, following the
lifting of milk quotas. What is the net impact
on carbon footprint?
‒ Efficiency issues (milk per cow)
‒ Transportation and processing (from milk to power
back to milk)
‒ Type of feed with different impacts on ILUC
‒ Changing consumption patterns

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PCSD in practice: the example of dairy and meat
• Do your fair share
• Water-energy-food nexus key to Africa’s
objectives to 2030
• Major challenges linked with transition to pro-
poor, net zero agriculture within a developing
country context (productivity, adaptation to
climate change, growing population, nutrition,
food security and rural underemployment issues)
• What safe operating space for Africa’s livestock ?
‒ Agricultural GHG emissions contribute more than 30%
to the national GHG inventory in African countries,
with the majority of GHG coming from livestock.
• What support to PCSD in SSA, which so far
remains weak?

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CAP: What SDG compatible pathway to 2050?
2020 2030 2050
Low carbon
and resilient EU
agriculture in
line with 1.5
degrees, fair
shares and
other planetary
boundaries,
contributing to
health, food
security,
reduced
poverty and
inequality
worldwide
What 2030
objectives in
line with SDGs
and mid-
century
strategy?
What
innovation?
How much
reduction in
GHG &
increased
sequestration?
What global
policies?
What
consumption
level and mix?
What mix of
production
models?
CAP (2021-
2027)
MFF (2021-
2028)
Europe
Post-2020
strategy
Multilateral fora
(WTO, UNFCCC,
G20)
Key
sectoral
policies

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Integrating PCSD in the future CAP: still a challenge
• Tackle false premises:
• Statements inferring that the CAP is now
generally aligned to SDGs and coherent with
Sustainable Development
• Discourse around European exports needing to
help the food gap by 2050
• Not making differences between commodities in
terms of their environmentally harmful
impact/net negative carbon allocation effect
• Operationalise the alignment to PCSD:
• Include SDGs within relevant articles and
objectives (not just in the explanatory
memorandum)
• Include a robust monitoring mechanism of CAP
impacts in third countries (sustainable farming
practices, small scale farming, land use)
• Guidance to MS in terms of strategic national
plans drafting and report against PCSD

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Integrating PCSD in the future CAP: still a challenge
• Avoid instruments most likely to distort world markets
• Counter-cyclical payments
• Voluntary coupled support
• Eligible crops and rationale less clear than in
the previous CAP
• How do we ensure the EC has the effective
power to analyse and reject MS plans if
necessary?
• Risk management/emergency payments (depending
on their design)
• Move away from current decoupled payments (which
still distort markets) to mechanisms rewarding public
good delivery (and encourage all countries to do so)
“In some sectors, prices paid to producers remain
disconnected from world market prices and
potentially most distorting forms of support still
represent a quarter of Producer Support Estimate
(PSE).”
“Large difference between commodities persist with
domestic prices for beef, veal and poultry being
more than 20% and for rice 47% above world
prices.”
Source: OECD. Agricultural Policy Monitoring and
Evaluation 2018

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Beyond the CAP
• Horizon Europe: 10bn earmarked so far for food and agriculture
‒ How to design European innovation so as to support Africa’s
transition?
‒ Key issues of access to technology (price, IPR) and ensuring
relevance of innovation to other contexts
‒ Promote SDG alignment of research on agriculture in other
regions of the world
‒ Improve knowledge of net carbon reallocation between
countries
• European consensus for development: mainstreaming sustainability
into support to the agricultural sector/Increase adaptation finance
• Bioeconomy strategy: sustainability and scale issues
• Trade policy: RTAs (beyond SIAs), G20 and WTO agendas on
environmentally harmful subsidies, production standards and
consumption policies

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References
• Alan Matthews, The CAP’S evolution in the context of article 208 TFEU, Presentation to Joint
DEVE-AGRI hearing on "The impact of the Common Agricultural Policy on developing
countries“, 27/02/2018, Brussels
• Emmet Livingstone, How EU milk is sinking Africa’s farmers, Politico 4/08/2018
(https://www.politico.eu/article/eus-milk-scramble-for-africa/)
• Patrick Curran et al., Policy coherence for sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa,
Policy brief 08/2018 (http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/wp-
content/uploads/2018/07/Policy-coherence-for-sustainable-development-in-sub-saharan-
Africa_Curran-et-al.pdf)
• Viola Weiler, Carbon footprint (LCA) of milk production considering multifunctionality in
dairy systems: A study on smallholder dairy production in Kaptumo, Kenya, 08/2013
(http://www.fao.org/climatechange/41535-017ba85988db8b506df8bb1c07443208e.pdf)
• William Finnegan, Yan, M., Holden, N.M. et al., A review of environmental life cycle
assessment studies examining cheese production, (2018) 23: 1773.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-017-1407-7
• OECD. 2018. Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation.

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Thank you for your attention !
ccharveriat@ieep.eu