Press release – EU spends hundreds of times more subsidies on high-emissions beef and dairy than legumes and nuts

High-emissions beef and lamb received an estimated 580 times more common agricultural policy (CAP) subsidies from the European Union than legumes such as lentils and beans in 2020 (€8 billion compared to just €14 million), according to shocking figures released by charity Foodrise. 

Similarly, dairy received an estimated 500 times more CAP payments than nuts and seeds (€16 billion compared to just €29 million). Overall, the EU directed three times more CAP subsidies to production of high-emitting meat and dairy than to plant-based foods in 2020 – around 77% of total CAP subsidies for farmers (€39 billion out of €51 billion).  

The breakdown of funding for individual food types by the EU is published today in a new report, CAP at the Crossroads, from charity Foodrise (formerly Feedback) showing the production of meat and dairy received over 10 times more CAP subsidies than fruit and vegetable production, and over 16 times more than cereal production.

This comes as EU policymakers are due to make crucial decisions this year on public money given to farmers through its common agricultural policy for 2028–2034, with the significant risk that meat and dairy will continue to get the lion’s share.   

These disparities come despite animal-based foods being estimated to cause between 81 and 86% of the embodied greenhouse gas emissions (the total emissions released during the lifecycle of products) from EU food production, [1] while only providing an estimated 32% of calories and 64% of protein consumed in the EU. [2]   

On average, beef causes an estimated 21-62 times more emissions compared with pulses, per gram of protein [3] – and pulses have benefits for fixing nitrogen in soils and health. [4] 

Calls have been growing for agricultural subsidies to be reformed to support a shift to healthy sustainable diets and reduced livestock numbers – including the EU’s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors, [5] the European Court of Auditors, [6] the World Bank, [7] and the 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission. [8]  

But this comes in a context of the EU rolling back environmental commitments faced by agribusiness lobbying and the rise of the far-right – and is still mulling a potential ‘veggie burger’ labelling ban reserving words like ‘burger’ and ‘sausage’ for meat products.  

Martin Bowman, Senior Campaigns Manager at Foodrise, said: 

“It’s scandalous that such an unfair share of EU subsidies, worth billions of euros of EU taxpayers’ money, are being pumped into propping up high-emissions meat and dairy production and distorting European diets. CAP is at a crossroads, and EU policymakers have a huge opportunity to switch course and take the action required to support a just transition to healthy sustainable plant-rich diets. Which we know have the potential to boost farmer incomes, reduce reliance on imports, mitigate climate change, improve Europeans’ health and restore nature.  

“At the very least, plant-based foods deserve a fairer share of CAP subsidies, to compete on an equal footing. In line with the recommendations of the landmark Strategic Dialogue report, EU policymakers should urgently introduce a Plant-Based Action Plan to promote plant-based foods across the supply chain, and an Agri-food Just Transition Fund to support farmers in the transition. The shameful use of EU funds to promote meat and dairy to EU citizens – which is directly contrary to EU health and climate goals – should end immediately.”  

The food experts highlight the economic, health and environmental benefits of the EU supporting a shift to healthy sustainable diets – with a greater transition to plant-based foods, and less meat and dairy. 

In addition to a move from funding from meat and dairy to plants, Foodrise’s report recommends that the EU takes forward key Strategic Dialogue recommendations, like implementing a Plant-Based Action Plan to promote plant-based foods across the supply chain, and an Agri-food Just Transition Fund to support farmers through a just transition.

The report also recommends ending the use of EU funds for the promotion and marketing of meat and dairy.  

The adoption of the healthy sustainable Planetary Health Diet in high-income countries could reduce agricultural production emissions by an estimated 61%. [9] It could also reduce the EU’s reliance on food imports, [10] boost agricultural incomes, [11] reduce EU fertiliser use by about a quarter, [12] reduce deaths from air pollution, [13] and prevent up to up to 10–39% of cancers in Europe. [14] 

The European Plant-Based Food and Beverage Market is projected to grow by over 50% to USD 83.3 billion by 2030, [15] and a recent report found that alternative proteins have potential to support 414,000 high-quality jobs by 2040. [16] Healthy sustainable diets could increase average EU agricultural incomes, according to a recent study. [17] 

The 2024 Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture resulted in a breakthrough agreement between EU farming groups, civil society, businesses and academics, which acknowledged an EU trend towards more plant-based foods and recommended “it is crucial to support this trend”. [18]

 
ENDS

Notes to Editors

• For more information please contact Martin Bowman, Senior Campaigns Manager at Foodrise:  martin@foodrise.org.uk
• Please link to Foodrise report in coverage, available here: https://foodrise.org.uk/CAPCrossroads
• Further quotes available on request.

Methodology

Foodrise analysis was based on the underlying dataset from Kortleve et al (2025), shared by researchers at the University of Leiden. Figures are calculated on a consumption basis – so subsidies for crops fed to animals are counted towards animal sourced-foods. For instance, estimates for subsidies to beef and lamb includes estimated subsidies to animal feed used to produce beef and lamb.  

Further info on meat and dairy subsidies

Promotion and marketing of European agricultural products is part of the CAP. Between 2016–2020, the EU spent €252.4 million to exclusively promote European meat and dairy products, including campaigns like “Become a Beefatarian” [19]. In 2023 alone, the EU spent nearly €75 million promoting animal products, of which €29 million was for campaigns encouraging people to eat more meat. [20]  

Footnotes

[1] Based on various sources: Anniek J. Kortleve et al., ‘Over 80% of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy Supports Emissions-Intensive Animal Products’, Nature Food 5, no. 4 (2024): 288–92, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-00949-4; Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (European Commission) et al., Future of EU Livestock: How to Contribute to a Sustainable Agricultural Sector ? : Final Report (Publications Office of the European Union, 2020), https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2762/3440; European Court of Auditors, Common Agricultural Policy and Climate: Half of EU Climate Spending but Farm Emissions Are Not Decreasing (European Court of Auditors, 2021), 28, https://www.eca.europa.eu/lists/ecadocuments/sr21_16/sr_cap-and-climate_en.pdf.  

[2] EC, EU Agricultural Outlook, 2024-2035 (European Commission, DG Agriculture and Rural Development, 2024), 18, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2762/2329210.  

[3] Joseph Poore and Thomas Nemecek, ‘Reducing Food’s Environmental Impacts through Producers and Consumers’, Science 360, no. 6392 (2018): 987–92, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq0216.  

[4] Fabio Stagnari et al., ‘Multiple Benefits of Legumes for Agriculture Sustainability: An Overview’, Chemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture 4, no. 1 (2017): 2, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40538-016-0085-1. 
 
[5] Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (European Commission) and Group of Chief Scientific Advisors (European Commission), Towards Sustainable Food Consumption: Promoting Healthy, Affordable and Sustainable Food Consumption Choices (Publications Office of the European Union, 2023), 29, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/29369.  

[6] European Court of Auditors, Common Agricultural Policy and Climate: Half of EU Climate Spending but Farm Emissions Are Not Decreasing (European Court of Auditors, 2021), 28, https://www.eca.europa.eu/lists/ecadocuments/sr21_16/sr_cap-and-climate_en.pdf.  

[7] The World Bank, ‘Recipe for a Livable Planet: Achieving Net Zero Emissions in the Agrifood System’, World Bank, 2024, xxiii, https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/agriculture/publication/recipe-for-livable-planet. 

[8] Johan Rockström et al., ‘The EAT–Lancet Commission on Healthy, Sustainable, and Just Food Systems’, The Lancet 406, no. 10512 (2025): 1625–700, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01201-2; EAT-Lancet Commission, ‘New Landmark EAT-Lancet Commission Warns Food Systems Breach Planetary Limits’, EAT, 2025, https://eatforum.org/update/eat-lancet-commission-warns-food-systems-breach-planetary-limits/.  

[9] Zhongxiao Sun et al., ‘Dietary Change in High-Income Nations Alone Can Lead to Substantial Double Climate Dividend’, Nature Food 3, no. 1 (2022): 1, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00431-5.  

[10] Zhongxiao Sun et al., ‘Adoption of Plant-Based Diets across Europe Can Improve Food Resilience against the Russia–Ukraine Conflict’, Nature Food 3, no. 11 (2022): 11, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00634-4.  

[11] Jörg Rieger et al., ‘From Fork to Farm: Impacts of More Sustainable Diets in the EU-27 on the Agricultural Sector’, Journal of Agricultural Economics n/a, no. n/a (2023), https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.12530.  

[12] Zhongxiao Sun et al., ‘Adoption of Plant-Based Diets across Europe Can Improve Food Resilience against the Russia–Ukraine Conflict’, Nature Food 3, no. 11 (2022): 11, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00634-4.  

[13] Marco Springmann et al., ‘The Global and Regional Air Quality Impacts of Dietary Change’, Nature Communications 14, no. 1 (2023): 1, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41789-3.  

[14]  In a 20-year risk period. See: Jessica E. Laine et al., ‘Co-Benefits from Sustainable Dietary Shifts for Population and Environmental Health: An Assessment from a Large European Cohort Study’, The Lancet Planetary Health 5, no. 11 (2021): e786–96, https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00250-3.  

[15] Mordor Intelligence, ‘Europe Plant-Based Food and Beverages Market – Size, Trends & Share’, Mordor Intelligence, 11 November 2025, https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/europe-plant-based-food-and-beverage-market.  

[16] Systemiq, ‘Seizing the Economic Opportunity of Alternative Proteins in Europe’, SYSTEMIQ, January 2026, https://www.systemiq.earth/economic-opportunity-of-alternative-proteins-europe/.  

[17] Jörg Rieger et al., ‘From Fork to Farm: Impacts of More Sustainable Diets in the EU-27 on the Agricultural Sector’, Journal of Agricultural Economics n/a, no. n/a (2023), https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.12530. 

[18] Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture: A Shared Prospect for Farming and Food in Europe (2024), 10, https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/document/download/171329ff-0f50-4fa5-946f-aea11032172e_en?filename=strategic-dialogue-report-2024_en.pdf. 11–12.  

[19] Greenpeace EU, Marketing Meat: How EU Promotional Funds Favor Meat and Dairy (Greenpeace EU, 2021), https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-eu-unit-stateless/2021/04/20210408-Greenpeace-report-Marketing-Meat.pdf.  

[20] Party for the Animals, ‘EU spends millions in taxpayer money on meat ads’, Party for the Animals, 30 April 2024, https://www.partyfortheanimals.com/sv/eu-spends-millions-in-taxpayer-money-on-meat-ads.