Revising the European Regulatory Framework for Livestock-Related GHG Emissions - Is the EU Really Advancing Towards Climate Neutrality?

Achieving the climate neutrality target enshrined both in the European Green Deal and in the European Climate Law represents one of the most crucial but also formidable challenges that the European legislator will have to face. Provided that the process of revision of the EU legislation undertaken under the fit for 55 package is coming to an end, it is vital to assess whether it put the EU on track for the pursuit of the net zero emissions objective. With the aim of starting to tackle this issue, the current research will try to understand to what extent is the EU regulatory framework for livestock-related GHG emissions, also in the light of the fit for 55 revision, consistent with the climate neutrality target. The focus on the livestock sector is not random. Indeed, despite having been put at the margin of the attention of both policy-makers and scholars, the livestock sector represents a main and still rising source of GHG emissions both at the European and global level. Even more, no future scientific or technological improvement is needed in order abate livestock-related GHG emissions, but “merely” the political willingness to accept and incentivise a reduction in production and consumption patterns of animal food products.