Sustainable Use and Risk of Chemical Pesticides in Europe

In June 2022, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a new Regulation on the Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products. This proposal includes EU-wide targets to reduce the use and risk of chemical pesticides by 50% by 2030. It is aligned with the EU’s Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies. The proposal originates from a package of measures. These measures aim to reduce the EU’s food system’s environmental impact and address economic losses due to climate change and biodiversity loss.

On July 5th, 2023, the Commission published an updated progress report on pesticide reduction targets for the period 2011-2021 under the Farm to Fork strategy. The report shows a 6% decrease in the use and risk of chemical pesticides compared to 2020. Over the first four years, there has been an overall decrease of 33% from the baseline period of 2015-2017.

However, the use of more hazardous pesticides has increased by 5% compared to 2020. Nevertheless, there has been an overall decrease of 21% over the first four years from the baseline period of 2015-2017.

According to the published data, the Commission confirms that the pesticide reduction goals outlined in the proposal for the Regulation on Sustainable Use of plant protection products (“SUR”) do not jeopardize food security. Observing downward trends in the first four years shows that achieving Farm to Fork targets by 2030 is feasible. However, we still need to do further work.

Our Solutions

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