The Left in the European Parliament and MEP Chris MacManus (Ireland, Sinn Féin) have launched new research from Professor Emeritus Alan Matthews from Trinity College Dublin’s Department of Economics.

“Trade policy approaches to avoid carbon leakage in the agri-food sector” shows how the EU can combat carbon leakage in the agri-food sector and examines the tools available to EU policy makers to fix the carbon leakage problem.

Speaking after the launch MEP MacManus said:

“Many people will never have heard the term carbon leakage, and it can seem a bit abstract at first. However, it can be explained very simply. To give an example, carbon leakage can be a situation where EU farmers must increase food prices for consumers to account for the increasing costs they face, as they invest in making their model of production more carbon efficient i.e., releasing less carbon emissions into the atmosphere. As a result of these increased food prices, customers choose to buy more products that are imported into the EU, even though these products are produced in a way that releases more carbon emissions into the atmosphere; think about buying a steak in the EU that was produced by burning down the Brazilian rainforest, instead of an Irish grass-fed suckler steak.”

Tonight, Sinn Féin & The Left in the European Parliament launched an important study by Prof. Alan Matthews from Trinity College on how to combat carbon leakage in the agri-food sector. I hope to now engage with the EU Commission on this topic.

Statement:https://t.co/KBjtBYOF4K pic.twitter.com/Hx8EPasT2e

— Chris MacManus MEP (@MacManusChris) February 14, 2023

You can watch opening remarks at the launch from Chris MacManus along with the contribution from Prof. Matthews here.