Alliance of Associations Calls on the European Parliament to Halt the Commission's Soy Risk Assessment
The ITRE Committee has already recommended rejecting the proposed High-iLUC classification. Now it's up to the plenary.
Leading associations in the agriculture and food industry welcome the decision by the European Parliament’s ITRE Committee (Industry, Research, and Energy). A majority of Members of the European Parliament voted in favor of a motion put forward by the EPP, ECR, and Renew political groups, thereby recommending that Parliament halt the European Commission’s planned blanket “High-iLUC” classification of soy.
“The ITRE Committee has recognized that the European Commission’s proposal poses an acute threat to the protein plan and to Europe’s security of supply,” states UFOP Chairman Torsten Krawczyk. For months, the industry has been warning the Commission not to downplay the far-reaching collateral damage of effectively excluding soybean oil as a feedstock for biofuel production and crediting.
The result would be a far-reaching downward spiral: the resilience of Europe’s supply security as well as the range of sustainable biofuels would be significantly impaired; in particular, the EU’s goals for an improved domestic protein supply would be undermined. At the same time, the Commission’s draft threatens to unnecessarily restrict Europe’s strategic options for decarbonizing fuels and to undermine climate targets in the transportation sector. Pioneering companies that have invested heavily in supply chains proven to be deforestation-free fear that their efforts will be penalized.
Following the victory in the relevant committee, the alliance of associations is now turning its attention to the plenary session of the European Parliament: “We appeal to all members of the European Parliament to object to the Commission’s proposal. Given its far-reaching implications, the proposal must be fundamentally reassessed,” said Joachim Rukwied, President of the German Farmers’ Association.
Jaana Kleinschmit von Lengefeld, President of OVID, demands: “Europe needs an energy and climate policy that combats actual deforestation risks based on current scientific data, without undermining sustainable biofuels, the domestic protein supply, and industrial value creation.”
About the Alliance of Associations:
The alliance brings together leading associations from the agricultural and food industries:
- German Bioenergy Association (BBE)
- Federal Association of Wholesale, Foreign Trade, and Services (BGA)
- Federal Association of the German Food Industry (BVE)
- DER AGRARHANDEL – Federal Association of Agricultural Trade and Association of Grain Traders of the Hamburg Stock Exchange (DAH)
- German Farmers’ Association (DBV)
- German Raiffeisen Association (DRV)
- German Soybean Promotion Association
- German Association of Wholesalers of Oils, Fats, and Oil Raw Materials (GROFOR)
- Danube Soybean Association OVID
- Association of the Oilseed Processing Industry in Germany e. V.
- Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Crops (UFOP)
- Association of the German Biofuel Industry (VDB)
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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