EU sets out first-ever soil law to protect food security and slow global heating

hl.co.uk:

We don’t support this browser anymore. This means our website may not look and work as you would expect. Read more about browsers and how to update them here.

Newsroom

Newsroom articles are published by leading news agencies. Hargreaves Lansdown is not responsible for an article's content and its accuracy. We may not share the views of the author.

HL Podcast

HL Insight

The European Commission has proposed the continent's first soil law, intended to undo some of the damage done by intensive farming and mitigate global heating.

Article originally published by The Guardian. Hargreaves Lansdown is not responsible for its content or accuracy and may not share the author's views. News and research are not personal recommendations to deal. All investments can fall in value so you could get back less than you invest.

Published by

06 Jul 2023

Amid intense opposition to proposed laws on nature restoration and curbs on pesticides, the European Commission put forward proposals in Brussels on Wednesday to revive degraded soils. Research indicates that this could help absorb carbon from the atmosphere and ensure sustainable food production.

The new law would see member states monitor the health of soils, fertiliser use and erosion, but stops short of country-level targets for improving soil quality. This drew criticism from the European agri-food industry, which called for more ambition to improve the “worrying” state of soils.

Speaking to the Guardian, the EU environment commissioner, Virginijus Sinkevičius, said the ultimate aim was for the continent to have healthy soils by 2050. More than 60% of the EU’s soils are considered to be in an unhealthy state.

“If our soils continue to degrade, the biggest risk is to our food