Laboratory meat: worse for the climate

The European elections scheduled for June 2024 are already influencing policy-making in the European Union. Any directives or regulations that are not approved before April 2024 will depend on the future composition of the Parliament and the new Commission.

The impact assessment on the recast of the animal welfare rules has been approved by the European Commission’s Quality Control Committee. The EU executive authorities are optimistic that they will be able to propose the new legislation before the end of the year.

Although still pending, the revision of EU rules on food labelling remains a long-awaited proposal from the Commission. The German government appears to have abandoned the idea of an EU-wide origin label being included in the Commission’s proposal on food labelling. Last month, Berlin adopted a regulation extending the scope of mandatory origin labelling for meat.

Parliament voted to exclude cattle farming from the scope of the directive on industrial emissions, and to maintain the current livestock unit thresholds for pigs and poultry.

A workshop was organised by the Natural Resources Committee (NAT) and the Environment, Climate Change and Energy Committee (ENVE) to discuss solutions for the sustainable coexistence of livestock farming and large carnivores in Europe. Workshop participants stressed the need for the European Commission to revise the Habitats Directive.

The European Commission’s recent annexes to the Mercosur agreement have been rejected by the key states. Environmental protection measures are the main obstacle to the trade agreement.

The French Council of State has decided to refer the case of the terminology of plant substitutes to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The FAO recently published a summary document on the risks associated with cell-based foods. More than 50 potential hazards to human health were identified.

According to new studies, lab meat is not intrinsically better for the environment than conventional beef. Analysis of the levels of CO2 emissions from cultured meat shows results that are much higher than the data commonly found in the literature. It emerges that investments aimed at promoting more climate-friendly beef production could lead to greater emission reductions, and more quickly, than investments in cultured meat.

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