7 European Research Projects give joint feedback on the Nitrates Directive Evaluation
On December 1, 2023, the European Commission launched a public consultation on the evaluation of the Nitrates Directive. Interested parties such as farmers, industries, NGOs, citizens, public administrations, water authorities and others were invited to share their views until 8 March 2024.
The purpose of the evaluation is to assess if the Nitrates Directive remains fit for purpose. In addition to the public consultation, the European Commission demanded several EU projects across different frameworks (H2020, Horizon Europe, INTERREG) to provide both Europe and the Commission with scientific technical evidence and policy-oriented advice, on topics related to circular economy in general and nutrient (re)cycling in particular.
In response to this request, the European Sustainable Nutrient Initiative (ESNI), part of the Biorefine Cluster Europe, acted as a leverage to compile a joint paper on the Nitrates Directive Evaluation. As a result, the partners of 7 European research projects subscribing to the current call joined forces to provide a feedback letter, based on the insights from the various project activities.
In this paper, the involved research projects make very clear statements on the implementation of the ReNure criterion and the adaptation of the legal status of ammonium salts from off-gases as validated solutions that can and need to be implemented, amending the current Nitrate Directive.
Read the full paper.