Beware of remaining incoherence of EU policies and actions with the Zero Hunger goal and other SDGs

Several aspects of EU policies affect global agricultural markets, food security and sustainable development. They include the Common agricultural policy, the EU bioenergy policy, trade policy, climate change policy and development policy, not to mention macroeconomic and monetary policies. The coherence of these policies has long been questioned, and their global impact on food security remains subject of debate. Current EU farm support instruments still have some effects on world market due to risk aversion and wealth effects but they are limited compared to those caused by recent policy developments in the U.S and emerging countries. EU biofuel policies do have significant effects on land use and prices, even when focusing on second generation biofuels. The impact of EU preferential trade schemes on welfare and food security in low and middle countries is questioned and the evidence is mixed. EU policies should also be scrutinised on their indirect consequences on global markets that affects food security, for example through land-use change and deforestation. Economic modeling of EU agricultural, environmental and trade policies is required in order to complement traditional sustainability impact assessments (e.g. standard life cycle analyses)