German farmers protest over cuts to subsidies
Farmers in Germany have been protesting for several weeks against the German government’s planned subsidy cuts. The German government has a €17 billion gap in their budget and decided to cut farm subsidies as one of their measures to balance the books.
Farmers are saying that the move would place them in financial trouble. The protest movement has blocked several motorways and city centres, culminating in a rally of 30,000 farmers and 5,000 tractors in Berlin.
Following the protests the German government reversed some of the cuts however the ruling coalition has since decided to stick to its plans to cut farm subsidies leading to the likelihood of further large scale protests.
Red Sea troubles likely to see food price rises
Some of the UK’s major supermarkets are warning of potential food price increase due to the strikes by the Houthis on vessels in the Red Sea.
Shipping times and costs are being increased dramatically due to vessels having to reroute around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. On top of this fuel prices have also increased by 4% due to the situation in the Red Sea.
It has been estimated that the rerouting will take vessels an extra 8-9 days and cost over £750,000 per round trip.
EU votes to ban use of promotional terms relying on carbon offsets
The EU is planning to ban many terms used to promote products as environmentally friendly when companies use the offsetting of carbon as their evidence to substantiate these claims.
Members of the European Parliament voted to outlaw the use of the terms and only sustainability labels using approved certification schemes will be allowed in the EU.
Concerns have been raised over the use of offsets to substantiate environmental claims and the move has been described as combating greenwashing.
The terms such as “climate-neutral” or “climate-positive”, which are based on CO2 offsetting, have been completely banned and member states have 2 years to implement the new rules.