Brussels, 19 May 2026 – The European Commission today unveiled its Fertiliser Action Plan in response to rising fertiliser prices. However, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) warns that the plan fails to address the root causes of the current crisis, ignoring vital lessons from the past.  

The crisis follows renewed geopolitical tensions after US-Israel attacks on Iran, which have triggered global trade and supply chain shocks and exposed once again the fragility of industrial agriculture’s dependence on volatile and expensive fossil gas inputs. Europe now faces conditions similar to those after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when fertiliser and energy prices surged. 

Fighting fire with fire 

Although the Commission’s plan mentions some needed solutions, such as improving nutrient management or promoting organic farming, the language is vague and non-committal. It also overlooks the structural nature of the problem: Europe’s addiction to fossil gas fertilisers is a major driver of water, soil and air pollution, climate emissions and public health risks, including nitrate contamination of drinking water, and locks farmers into a volatile global market.  

Disappointingly, the Plan focuses on a need to boost fertiliser production. This ignores a plain reality: Europe already has more nitrogen than its land can safely absorb – a problem fuelling not only eutrophication and dead zones in Europe’s rivers, lakes and coasts, but also dangerous ammonia emissions. 

On the economic side, a recent UNECE paper shows Europe is wasting €20-60 billion of nitrogen resources per year. The environmental and health costs are even greater, with the Commission itself acknowledging these costs to be €70–320 billion annually. 

What needs to happen 

Reducing fertiliser pollution means bringing farm animal numbers to controlled levels that land and water systems can sustainably support, alongside a shift toward healthier, more plant-based diets. The EU has committed to halving nutrient losses by 2030, and the Commission’s own Joint Research Centre shows that this will require both an agroecological and dietary transition. 

Instead of producing more synthetic fertilisers, the EU should focus on reducing inputs and recovering existing nutrients. This, together with implementation of the Polluter Pays Principle, would reduce pollution and build the foundation of a food system less dependent on volatile fossil fuel-based inputs. 

True strategic autonomy means protecting public health, water and ecosystems while supporting farmers through more resilient farming systems, not reinforcing an expensive and polluting model that locks Europe deeper into fossil fuel dependency. 

Faustine Bas-Defossez, Director for Nature, Health and Environment, EEB, said:  

This Action Plan is dangerously disconnected from reality. Europe cannot solve a fossil fuel-driven fertiliser crisis by doubling down on the very system causing the problem.  

By failing to commit to implementing the solutions it acknowledges, the Commission is ignoring the mounting costs of nitrogen pollution, climate damage, and public health impacts while doing nothing to support farmers trapped in a cycle of fossil fuel dependency and price volatility.

The EEB also warns against attempts to weaken climate policy such as the ETS or CBAM. The EEB also deplores the Commission’s plans to weaken environmental protections by allowing digested manure above the current limits in the Nitrates Directive. These instruments should be strengthened and enforced because they can drive the transition, weakening them only supports business-as-usual with continued pollution and degradation. 

Sara Johansson, Senior Policy Officer for Water, EEB, said: 

Using this crisis as a pretext to further weaken the Nitrates Directive is reckless. More manure on fields already saturated with nitrogen means more polluted rivers, more contaminated drinking water, and higher health and water treatment costs for citizens.  

Europe needs solutions that cut pollution at the source by keeping farmed animal numbers in balance with what local land and water systems can safely absorb – not false solutions that make the problem worse.

ENDS. 

Notes to editor:  

• Joint Open letter to European Commission on the Fertiliser Action Plan (12 May) 

• Ammonia mitigation for economic and environmental benefits, UNECE study (May 2025), specifies the €20 billion to €60 billion worth of wasted nitrogen resources (estimated for the EU per year, 2021 to 2024) 

• Joint Research Centre report, Knowledge for Integrated Nutrient Management Action Plan (INMAP) 

Contact:  

Ben Snelson, Communications Officer for Water and Agri-Food Systems, EEB, benedict.snelson@eeb.org