Europe moves towards a strategy to reduce meat consumption

For the first time, Europe’s farming lobbies have recognised the need to eat less meat in a shared vision report developed after dialogues with green groups and other stakeholders acknowledged that “urgent, ambitious and feasible” reforms in agriculture are needed for better health and improved environmental sustainability, resilience and diversity outcomes.

The report acknowledges that Europeans eat more animal protein than is recommended as part of a healthy diet and that more plant-based proteins are needed along with better education, tighter regulations on marketing and, surprisingly, voluntary buyouts of farms in regions that intensively rear livestock.

The stakeholders participating in the report also acknowledged the role of farming subsidies that have long supported growth in farming livestock and called for what they called a “just transition fund” to help farmers adapt and transition to more plant-based farming.

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, who commissioned the report after heated farmer protests early in 2024, said the joint effort to establish a planned vision will help all stakeholders benefit from the process.

“We share the same goal,” Von der Leyen said at the launch of the report. “Only if farmers can live off their land will they invest in more sustainable practices. And only if we achieve our climate and environmental goals together will farmers be able to continue making a living.”

Europe’s effort to address the climate and biodiversity impacts of intensive farming, particularly livestock farming, and the need to move toward a lower impact diet is one of the first of its kind worldwide.

While the report did not set reduction targets for meat and dairy production, it did call for support to help shift dietary habits such as free school meals, better labelling and tax reductions on healthier, more sustainable food providers and products.

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