This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

European plans to cut carbon emissions could starve plants, Stuart Agnew, an MEP for the UK Independence Party warned his European colleagues this week.

“Are you aware that if you succeed in decarbonising Europe, our crops will have no natural gas to grow from,” he asked the presiding chair.

“We have to have carbon dioxide. This is madness, absolute madness what you are suggesting. Our agriculture industry is going to suffer heavily if we attempt to bury carbon dioxide. It is absolutely mad.”

The attack was the latest from Ukip on EU-wide plans to tackle climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions, which scientists say are the primary driver for rising global temperatures.

The EU’s 28-member states last week committed to cutting emissions 40% on 1990 levels by 2030 ahead of a proposed UN climate deal due to be signed off in Paris this December.

Agnew, a member of the National Farmers Union and formerly in the Rhodesian Army, describes himself as a “lone voice in speaking up for British farmers” in Europe.

A major report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last year indicated crop levels would likely fall if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, which could lead to more floods, droughts and other extreme weather events.

It said global supplies of coffee would be badly affected, with major growing areas in Brazil and Africa under threat.

His comments on Wednesday led to a swift reponse on twitter from the EU’s climate and energy commissioner Miguel Arias Canete.

Miguel Arias Cañete (@MAC_europa) @JamesCrisp6 @UKIP "I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people." - Isaac Newton pic.twitter.com/kPGD0AAOK6

But does Agnew have a point about cutting levels of carbon dioxide, which have grown steadily since the industrial reovolution?

RTCC asked Richard Betts, who leads research into climate impacts at the UK Met Office, for his view. He said: