Support for TAPP ‘sustainability charge’ on meat
Greens and socialist lawmakers have supported the outcomes of a new report by the Dutch True Animal Protein Price Coalition (TAPP) this week.
On Wednesday (5 February), the report went before the European Parliament. It calls for a new pricing model across all Member States via a ‘polluter-pays’ principle.
The TAPP Coalition, which counts ProVeg International, the Dutch Vegetarian Society, and Compassion in World Farming among its members, proposes that meat prices be gradually increased until 2030.
At this time, the price of beef/veal would be increased by 47 euro cents per 100g, pork by 36 cents, and chicken by 17 cents.
The report authors say that if implemented across all Member States, the sustainability charge would lead to lower meat consumption, as well as cutting people’s environmental footprint.
Trade group the Liaison Centre of the Meat Processing Industry in the EU (CLITRAVI), however, has voiced concerns that the report does not take the protein density of meat into account.
“If greenhouse gas emissions would be calculated on a basis of essential amino acids instead of weight, the production of some crops, used as a source of ‘alternative’ proteins, would become more emissive than that of beef, pork or chicken,” a spokesperson told FoodNavigator.
CLITRAVI also stressed that TAPP’s report does not consider the progress made by the livestock sector in recent years, “as well as the efforts carried on by farmers and processors to improve the sustainability of the European Livestock chain”.
Image source: GettyImages/Wavebreakmedia
