Description
According to the FAO, agri-food systems consume about 30% of the world’s energy, and a third of agri-food systems' emissions of greenhouse gases stem from energy use. Russia military aggression on Ukraine and the impact of such geopolitical tensions on the energy prices heavily impacting the EU agri-food value chain makes the shift towards renewable energy even more urgent in this industrial ecosystem. The uptake of resource efficiency technologies by agri-food SMEs will be crucial to support their competitiveness and to enable the sustainability transition of the agri-food ecosystem.
In addition, the supply of fertilisers to the EU has been significantly disrupted and their prices have almost tripled compared to last year. With up to 60% of EU fertiliser imports coming from Russia and Belarus, scaling-up of demonstrated alternative fertiliser production methods will be very important. The EU fertiliser industry is working on switching to the production of low-carbon ammonia and other circular nutrient sources. These efforts must be complemented with new innovative circular approaches, as it is crucial to secure the amount of fertilisers needed for agricultural production and thus to ensure food supply within the EU.
In this context, the European Cluster Collaboration Platform, on behalf of the European Commission, DG GROW, organised the EU Clusters Talk “Agri-food: Cluster activities for a sustainable and resilient ecosystem” on 30 November 2022, to discuss the critical challenges for the green transition in agri-food, the role of clusters to support the transition and improve the resilience, and cluster projects and activities that can serve as examples of future involvement.
This event is part of bi-weekly online meetings brought to the cluster community by the European Cluster Collaboration Platform. They offer up-to-date insights into the latest industrial policies and clusters’ involvement, projects, and best practices, the latest ECCP news, and funding opportunities. The EU Clusters Talks are a space to exchange knowledge and to discuss cluster-relevant topics, which will change with every meeting.
Speakers at this EU Clusters Talks will included:
- Hélène-Diane Dage, Deputy Head of Unit, Food ecosystem Unit, DG GROW, European Commission
- Veronika Madner, Policy Officer, DG AGRI, European Commission
- Pauline Bodin, European Innovation Projects Officer, VEGEPOLYS VALLEY
- Gawel Walczak, International Affairs Manager, secpho, coordinator of FoodPackLab 2.0 project
- Yuan Chai, International Affairs Officer, Wagralim, coordinator of Eurocluster B-Resilient
- Claudia De Oliveira Ramos, International Project and Network Manager, VEGEPOLYS VALLEY (Coordinator of Eurocluster SUAVE)
-
Paola Giavedoni, Director of Innovation, EIT Food
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Read the event summary here.
Location and date
Virtual Event