Has Covid‐19 Polarised the Debate on Climate Change and Food Security in the European Union?

Haniotis, Tassos

The response of the global food system to the Covid‐19 crisis demonstrated not just its capacity to prevent a health crisis turning into a food crisis, but also highlighted deep divisions around the manner in which food security and climate action interact. The global food system has genuine shortcomings which are part of a much broader, complex picture of trade‐offs between enhancing climate action and food production; all major agricultural countries and regions face area constraints in meeting growing demands from the expected increase in world population. Amongst all major global players it is only in the EU that agriculture has reduced its GHG emissions, and even there momentum seems to have been exhausted recently. However, per capita and per area emissions differ significantly, with the ‘old world’ having a higher level of agricultural intensity than the ‘new world’. These production changes saw Brazil, the US and the EU, in different sectors and to varying degrees, increase the volume of food surpluses, while Africa and Asia generally increased their deficits; the former in food grains and the latter in feed and livestock products. These facts clearly point to an uncomfortable reality – that globally, we need to produce more with less, and therefore both economic and environmental efficiency matter.