3FOOD

Third Industrial Revolution Consulting Group
3 Regulatory
3.1 Include the monetized costs of the current unpriced externalities caused by the use of
fossil fuels as an integral part of the review and revision of regulatory rules: Implement
policies and procedures in the utility planning and investment decision-making process to
successfully promote the transition to 100% renewable power to meet Luxembourg’s
energy needs. There is a substantial peer-reviewed literature that has estimated the range
of unpriced social, health, and environmental costs resulting from the use of fossil fuels.
There is also a wealth of assessments that have calculated the “value of solar tariffs” that
encompass the societal benefits of shifting to renewables that are not currently
incorporated in utility planning methodologies (which limit their analyses to just the direct
costs to the utility company). The social and environmental benefits of solar, wind, and
end-use efficiency improvements have been shown to significantly exceed the utility’s
direct benefits. Large lost opportunities continue to be incurred as a result of being ignored
in making investment decisions. Including some of the monetized costs of unpriced
externalities caused by fossil fuels should be used as a guiding factor in providing financial
assistance to Luxembourg farmers to install wind and solar harvesting technologies across
their fields.
3.2 Regulatory agencies should ensure that no regulatory barriers exist to preclude siting
solar and wind technologies on farmland. The opportunities for farmers to use their land
assets to secure a diversification of revenues by allowing the siting of solar and wind plants
results in multiple social benefits. It builds financial resilience in Luxembourg’s farming
community by creating a sustainable revenue stream that can be applied to assisting farms
in the transition to petrochemical-free organic farming.
3.3 Request funding sources from the EU to undertake remediation of soil contamination
that currently prevents urban food production on these landscapes. Decades and
centuries of industrial activity have left many community landscapes with the build-up of
contaminated soils unsafe for community food production. The government agencies
should request EU support to determine the best practices and procedures for remediating
these soils to a point where they are safe to garden again. For example, mycology
remediation has been demonstrated to achieve outstanding success in fully remediating
even the most highly contaminated soils. 167,168,169 In cases where such remediation may
167 Stamets, Paul (2005). Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World,
http://www.fungi.com/shop/mushroom-books.html.
195