Opinion on the Commission proposal for a Regulation amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1119

12.9.2025

Mr Antonio Decaro

Chair

Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety

BRUSSELS

Subject: Opinion on the Commission proposal for a Regulation amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 (2025/0524(COD))

Dear Chair,

On 22 July, the majority of coordinators of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) decided to issue an opinion to the Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety (ENVI), regarding the Commission proposal for a Regulation amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 establishing the framework for achieving climate neutrality (2025/0524(COD)). During the consultation process on 29 August, the majority of coordinators agreed to send this opinion in the form of a letter.

The AGRI Committee notes the ambitions of the Commission’s proposal, which aims, among other objectives, to modify the existing European Climate Law by integrating the 2040 climate targets and strengthening the EU’s long-term pathway toward climate neutrality.

The AGRI Committee takes note of the proposal’s recognition that land-based sectors, particularly agriculture and forestry, play a key role in achieving the European Climate Law’s objectives and stresses that EU farmers have already made significant efforts. In this regard, AGRI underlines that special support is necessary to maintain, manage and enhance natural carbon sinks, while also creating new opportunities for farmers to diversify the income sources through sustainable practices, innovation and diversification.

In addition, AGRI Committee Members draws attention to the fact that enhancing natural carbon sinks may lead to a reduction of agricultural yields, affect the overall competitiveness of the sector, and increase dependency on imports from non-EU countries, which underlines the importance of safeguarding European food security. Furthermore, such a transition will not come without costs.

It is therefore essential to ensure that the proposal does not come at the expense of agricultural production, food security and the viability of EU farms. The EU farmers, who already face high input, fuel, and energy costs need to be supported through targeted financial instruments, including with a dedicated increased budget for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) out of a Single Fund, or targeted additional instruments established outside the CAP, as well as, mechanisms such as carbon farming and investment in precision and smart agriculture, including the application of new technologies. This will ensure that European agriculture can contribute fully to the Unions’ climate ambitions while continuing to deliver food security for Europe’s citizens.

Without such targeted EU support, many farmers, especially small and medium-sized farms, risk being forced out of business, leaving farmers unable to manage the transition sustainably and jeopardising the achievement of the proposal’s objectives. EU Farmers must be placed at the centre of the transition, not only as contributors to the climate solution, but also as beneficiaries of fair compensation and targeted assistance, and they must be given the necessary means to act. In this regard, the AGRI Committee is very concerned about the recent proposal on the 2028-2034 MFF and reiterates that farmers cannot be expected to do more for climate with fewer resources. Increased burdens combined with proposed reduced CAP resources risk weakening the policy’s ability to secure the sustainability of EU farming.

The AGRI Committee takes the view that future climate policy must duly take into account the economic and social specificities of the agricultural sector, including the risk of increased food production costs linked to the prices of energy, fuels and agricultural inputs.

The AGRI Committee therefore proposes the following amendments to the proposal:

New Recital (6a):

Agriculture and forestry are not only sectors that must contribute to emission reductions, but also providers of solutions through carbon removals and sustainable land management. Achieving the 2040 climate target must therefore recognise the economic and social specificities of the agricultural sector, ensure food production and food security, and provide targeted support for farmers and rural communities, while addressing rising fuel and energy costs and safeguarding fair competition and economic sustainability, with particular attention to small and medium-sized farms.

Amendment to Article 4 (Union 2040 climate target): a new paragraph 4(a):

In setting out the trajectory towards the 2040 climate target, the Commission and the Member States shall take into account the specificities of the agricultural sector, including the need to maintain food production, food security and sovereignty, safeguard the competitiveness of Union agriculture, ensure reciprocity in international trade agreements, and ensure a just transition for farmers while promoting sustainability and resilience and prioritise measures to reduce the disproportionate impact of high fuel and energy costs on farmers. The Commission shall also identify all funding possibilities, notably outside the CAP, in order to reward farmers’ practices, which contribute to carbon capture and emission reductions.

New Article 8a – Impact assessment on agriculture:

By 1 November 2027, the Commission shall carry out and publish a comprehensive impact assessment of the 2040 climate target, examining in particular its implications for agricultural production costs, the competitiveness and resilience of Union agriculture, the safeguarding of food security, the viability of farms and the diversity of farming conditions across Member States and regions, and shall, where appropriate, propose measures to mitigate the impact of fuel and energy costs on farmers to help ensuring the sector to remain competitive and resilient while contributing to the Union’s climate objectives. Every five years thereafter, the Commission shall present to the European Parliament and to the Council a report evaluating these aspects.

The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development underlines that the implementation of the 2040 target should be carried out in close dialogue with farmers, professional organisations and local communities, in order to ensure social acceptance, regulatory flexibility and particular support for small and medium-sized farms.

The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development is convinced that only by striking a balance between climate ambition and the protection of the viability and stability of the agricultural sector will it be possible to reconcile the Union’s environmental, economic and social objectives.

In this spirit, the AGRI Committee recalls that climate ambition must go hand in hand with the Union’s social and economic objectives and that the objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy set out in Article 39 TFEU must continue to guide the EU’s agricultural priorities.

As AGRI committee Chair, I would like to ask the ENVI committee to take due account of the suggestions presented in this opinion in the form of a letter pursuant to Rule 57, in its report on the proposal for a Regulation amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 establishing the framework for achieving climate neutrality (2025/0524(COD)).

Yours sincerely,

Veronika Vrecionová

ANNEX: DECLARATION OF INPUT

The Chair in her capacity as rapporteur for opinion declares under her exclusive responsibility that she did not include in her opinion input from interest representatives falling within the scope of the Interinstitutional Agreement on a mandatory transparency register, or from representatives of public authorities of third countries, including their diplomatic missions and embassies, to be listed in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.