Press release: 23 October 2020

European Parliament CAP vote shamefully disregards climate mandate – ClientEarth lawyers

Environmental lawyers at ClientEarth have reacted to the vote today by the European Parliament on the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), saying that it completely undermines the EU’s climate and nature commitments.

Reacting to the vote in the European Parliament, ClientEarth lawyer Lara Fornabaio said: “The European Parliament welcomed the European Green Deal earlier this year, but has today passed up a crucial opportunity to actually make those goals a legally binding reality. The Parliament has voted instead to use taxpayers’ money to perpetuate a system that favours polluting, industrialised farming, and shamefully disregards the environmental and climate challenges society faces.

“This vote is a slap in the face to both the Commission’s green agenda under the EU Green Deal and the people of Europe, who trust EU leaders to set policies that will protect future generations as well as safeguard the planet.

“If the Commission is serious about upholding the European Green Deal, it will take strong action to make sure that during the next Trilogue this CAP paves the way for a truly sustainable system that respects people’s health as well as the planet’s.”

ENDS

About ClientEarth

ClientEarth is a charity that uses the power of the law to protect people and the planet. We are international lawyers finding practical solutions for the world’s biggest environmental challenges. We are fighting climate change, protecting oceans and wildlife, making forest governance stronger, greening energy, making business more responsible and pushing for government transparency. We believe the law is a tool for positive change. From our offices in London, Brussels, Warsaw, Berlin and Beijing, we work on laws throughout their lifetime, from the earliest stages to implementation. And when those laws are broken, we go to court to enforce them.