The European Green Deal is a package of policy initiatives, which aims to set the EU on the path to a green transition, with the ultimate goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2050. The European Green Deal provides solutions related to climate, environment and nature protection issues. It contains measures to improve resource efficiency through the transition to a clean circular economy and to stop climate change, reduce pollution and restore biodiversity. The European Green Deal strategy seeks to achieve a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy that will affect climate neutrality and the lack of economic growth associated with the use of resources.
The implementation of the European Green Deal aims to improve the well-being and health of citizens and future generations in terms of:
- fresh air, clean water, healthy soil and biodiversity
- energy-efficient buildings
- healthy and affordable food
- widespread public transport
- cleaner energy and state-of-the-art technological innovations
- longer-lasting products that can be repaired, recycled and reused
- jobs that will be resilient to change in the future
- globally competitive and resilient industries
The European Green Deal aims to achieve the sustainability of EU economies by transforming environmental and climate challenges into opportunities. This would make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.
Some of the initiatives covered by the European Green Deal are: ‘Farm to fork’ strategy, EU Biodiversity strategy for 2030 and Organic action plan. The main objectives of these initiatives will be highlighted below.
Farm to Fork strategy
„Farm to Fork“ strategy is one of the key actions under the European Green Deal. Contributing to achieving climate neutrality by 2050, the strategy intends to shift the current EU food system towards a sustainable model. The transition to a sustainable food system has a beneficial effect on the environment, health and society, contributes to economic benefits and enables movement through sustainability.
Main goals of F2F:
- increase the amount of land devoted to organic farming
- halve the use of pesticides and fertilisers and sales of antimicrobials
- ensure sufficient, affordable and nutritious food within planetary limits
- promote more sustainable food consumption and healthy diets
- improve animal welfare
- reduce food loss and waste
- combat food fraud in the supply chain
This strategy is considered to affect agriculture by reducing agricultural production in the EU, especially in some areas and for certain products. As a consequence, imports of agricultural raw materials and ingredients will be increased, resulting in a risk of food safety for European consumers.
EU Biodiversity strategy for 2030
The basis for the protection of nature in the EU and one of the key elements of the European Green Deal is the EU Biodiversity strategy for 2030. Biodiversity strategy is a comprehensive, ambitious and long-term plan to protect nature and reverse the degradation of ecosystems. It consists of concrete actions and commitments and their compliance would allow the recovery of European biodiversity.
Commitments and actions for Biodiversity strategy by 2030:
- launching an EU nature restoration plan (increase the organic farming, restore the population of pollinators, reduce use and risk of pesticides by at least 50 %)
- establishing a larger EU-wide network of protected areas on land and at sea
- introducing measures to enable the necessary transformative change
- introducing measures to tackle the global biodiversity challenge
Biodiversity strategy focuses on the main causes of biodiversity loss (climate change, direct exploitation of species, changes in land use, marine pollution, and invasive species).
The implementation of the „Farm to fork“ strategy and Biodiversity strategy for 2030 should result in a reduction of the environmental footprint and the creation of a balance between consumption and availability of natural resources.
National action plan for organic farming - Croatia
The action plan of the Republic of Croatia for organic farming is foreseen for the period 2023-2030. The document serves to establish the basis for the development of organic farming and to comply with high quality standards. For the purpose of demonstrating the situation and trends in the organic sector of the European Union, an analysis is carried out on: organic production areas, the number of organic agricultural operators in the EU, organic aquaculture data and organic aquaculture production, and imports and exports, sales, promotion and consumption of organic agricultural products. Specific objectives, actions and frameworks have been defined to identify colleration with other strategic documents at European and national level.
Objectives of the National action plan:
- ensuring the necessary education, advice and information to organic producers
- encouraging agricultural producers to switch from conventional to organic production
- facilitating the process of production, processing and association
- ensuring financial sustainability
- promotion, distribution and sales promotion
- improve consumer perception of organic products
- fostering innovation in order to achieve faster green and digital transplants
Groups of measures under the National organic farming action plan:
- Knowledge transfer (educations, consultations)
- Production and processing of agricultural products
- Organic seed and planting material
- Association of producers and marketing of organic products
- Demand for organic products
- Research and development of new technologies
- Organic agriculture, environment and climate change
