A report by the European Court of Auditors released on June 21st confirmed that $140 billion spent on agricultural subsidies to reduce climate change since 2014 was effectively wasted. The report stated that the Common Agricultural Policy, under which grants were extended to farmers, “failed to support more climate-friendly farming practices.” The report also stated that “funds distributed during the period 2014-2020 to modify climate change had little impact on agricultural emissions.”
Recent evaluation suggests that the Common Agricultural Policy currently under negotiation must include practical measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Farming contributes ten percent of E.U. emissions with livestock responsible for half of this release. 
To date the Common Agricultural Policy has promoted animal production and subsidies have supported dairy and beef herds. Shifting subsidies to organic farming has apparently not reduced emissions and funds have increased levels of fertilizer application. Other deleterious and inadvertent results from Common Agricultural Policy grants include cultivating drained peatlands liberating carbon dioxide that has been sequestered over millennia.
Developing appropriate agricultural practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will require leadership with the application of science rather than politics that has directed E.U. policy on agriculture for the past two decades. Experience gained in the E.U could be beneficially adopted in the U.S. in framing measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by agriculture.