Sustainable Development Goals

In April 2021, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40-45% below 2005 levels by the year 2030, an acceleration of previously announced goals.¹⁾ As the Trudeau government put further pressure on the agriculture industry in July 2022 to rapidly reduce their fertilizer use by 30%, farmers sounded the alarm, warning of worsening food shortages and huge economic losses (estimated at $10.4 billion CAD over the course of the decade).²⁾

The Government of the Netherlands announced near-identical cuts in nitrogen emissions through reduction of fertilizer, radical reductions of livestock, as well as a reduction in intensive farming and the conversion to sustainable “green farms.”³⁾ In the government's own proposal, they acknowledge an estimated 11,200 farms would be forced to close and another 17,600 farmers would have to cull a significant amount of their livestock.⁴⁾ As a result, protests erupted outside Dutch parliament in The Hague, with reports of fire, manure and blockades contributing to unrest.

21252030_agenda_for_sustainable_development_web.pdf

• https://sdgs.un.org/publications/transforming-our-world-2030-agenda-sustainable-development-17981
• https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda