Emissions Directive tightens for pig and poultry

Also brought within the IED will be more egg-producing farms, with the new limit set at 21,400 laying hens, down from 40,000 up to now.

The threshold remains unchanged at 40,000 birds on farms rearing chickens for meat. 

Expressed as livestock units, pig farms with more than 350 LSUs will come under IED measures, along with farms with laying hens with more than 300 LSUs, and farms with broilers with more than 280 LSUs. 

For farms rearing both pigs and poultry, the limit will be 380 LSU. Farms raising pigs in an extensive or organic manner, and outdoors for a significant amount of time each year, are excluded from the IED.

Vote

The revision of the IED was recently passed by MEPs, voting on their compromise on the matter with member states. But it still awaits a final member state’s approval.

The EU Commission will assess, before 2027, if there is a need to further address emissions from rearing livestock, including cattle, and will also consider a reciprocity clause to ensure producers outside the EU have to meet similar emission requirements when exporting to the EU.

The European Parliament finally adopted the IED directive with 393 votes in favour, 173 against, and 49 abstentions (which included Ireland’s Billy Kelleher, the 13 other Irish MEPs voted in favour).

First, a vote to reject the directive was defeated by a margin of 493 to 113.

Then, seven votes could have changed the fate of the legislation when a vote on amendments was defeated by a margin of only 13 (293 versus 306). Among the 293 were Colm Markey, Maria Walsh, Billy Kelleher, and Sean Kelly. 

If the compromise agreement was reopened, and amendments adopted, these would need to be approved by member states at the EU Council, delaying and potentially jeopardising the adoption of the IED text.

Agricultural compass

The proposed amendments included no change in IED rules for farming. 

But they were precluded by the vote result, and the approved text adopted, albeit significantly weakened in the Parliament, compared to the original Commission proposal, which targeted any farms with more than 150 livestock units (which would have made about 13% of all EU farms subject to industrial monitoring). 

MEPs also succeeded in excluding cattle farms from the IED. 

But even the finally adopted proposal has been condemned by the EU’s Copa-Cogeca farming lobby, saying livestock farming should not be treated as an industrial activity.

Copa-Cogeca thanked the 293 MEPs who supported the farming community, and said if seven more MEPs had switched their vote to support a final round of amendments, the IED could have been made reasonable for all models.

The lobbying organisation said Europe had lost its agricultural compass, with this Parliament vote closely following a nature restoration vote, also opposed by farmers.

Bringing more poultry farms within the IED is especially sensitive in continental countries where the market has been disrupted by the EU allowing unlimited quantities of duty-free imports of poultry and eggs from Ukraine. 

Even French President Emmanuel Macron has spoken out against “Kyiv’s chicken king”, Yuriy Kosiuk, who controls about 55% of Ukraine’s industrial chicken production, claiming that the trade concession to the war-torn country benefits a single “billionaire”.

'Driven by ideology'

IFA deputy president Alice Doyle, in Strasbourg for the vote, said the refusal of the parliament to consider any amendments was very disappointing.

“It’s a shame that the vote to consider amendments was defeated by a narrow margin. A different outcome would have kept smaller units outside the scope of what was proposed in the IED,” she said.

“Farms are already heavily regulated, and they are not industrial units. We have a pasture-based system in this country. This was driven by ideology, not science, and it will mean a costly licensing regime on farming.”

The IFA said the IED will leave relatively small Irish pig and poultry farms needing full Environmental Protection Agency licences. 

The IED is the EU law to prevent pollution at source from around 52,000 industrial installations.

The industries and farms affected can only operate if they hold a permit granted by national authorities. Member States must establish permitting systems for the newly monitored industries and farms before 2036.

The new rules are designed to reduce harmful emissions from industrial installations and large pig and poultry farms, to protect human health and the environment.

Also, they must stay within set limits for water consumption, waste, resource efficiency, energy efficiency and raw material use.

The revised IED will now also cover extractive industry installations (mines) and large installations which manufacture batteries.

Companies can face penalties of at least 3% of their annual EU turnover for the most serious infringements, and citizens affected by a violation of the rules will be given the right to claim compensation for damages to their health. 

An EU Industrial Emissions Portal will be set up, where citizens can access data on all EU permits and local polluting activities.