A Legal Obligation to Mitigate Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Agriculture: A Challenge to the European Union's Emissions Trading System and the EU Member States with the Largest Agricultural Impact

Abstract

The European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is a progressive cap and trade system aimed at reducing global greenhouse gas emissions emitted from Europe. However, despite scientific evidence and acknowledgement of such in major international environmental laws such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, the EU ETS does not address greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. States participating in the EU ETS and do not implement policy to cover the gaps left in compliance, such as targeting mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, are in violation of their legal obligations under the Kyoto Protocol and decisions promulgated affecting the aims of both the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. Greenhouse gas emissions have a proven impact on climate change and contribute to the planet’s increasing inhospitableness towards biodiversity. Therefore, it is necessary for the EU and its most offensive agricultural states to comply with the Kyoto Protocol and similar legal instruments by implement policies that mitigate agriculture’s greenhouse gas effects and move toward sustainable agriculture.