Over 80% of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy supports emissions-intensive animal products.
Anniek J KortleveJosé Manuel MogollónHelen HarwattPaul BehrensPublished in: Nature food (2024)
The European Union's Common Agricultural Policy strongly influences the European Union's food system via agricultural subsidies. Linking global physical input-output datasets with public subsidy data reveals that current allocation favours animal-based foods, which uses 82% of the European Union's agricultural subsidies (38% directly and 44% for animal feed). Subsidy intensity (€ kg -1 ) for animal-based foods approximately doubles after feed inclusion. The same animal-based foods are associated with 84% of embodied greenhouse gas emissions of EU food production while supplying 35% of EU calories and 65% of proteins.