Subsidies from the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are supporting some of Europe’s most polluting livestock farms, a Greenpeace investigation has revealed.
Over half (51%) of the farms examined in seven EU countries received CAP payments totalling €104 million in the last year reported, despite being the highest emitters of ammonia in their countries. The research compared CAP direct payments and the EU’s registers of pollution from industrial facilities.
Ammonia runoff from fertilizers or manure slurry leads to the rapid growth of algae in rivers, lakes and seas, choking plants and animals of oxygen. Ammonia also causes air pollution from fine particulate matter, which impacts human health.