Lawmakers appear split on trajectory for cutting emissions under ETS

Several members of the European Parliament’s lead committee for the revision of the EU carbon market have called for steeper cuts to available emission allowances post-2030, in view of this summer’s e...

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Commission hopes to green public spending with widened procurement criteria

The EU’s rulebook on public procurement is set to move beyond mere price considerations to also require qualitative assessments of factors such as environmental impacts.

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Germany pushes to weaken packaging waste rules

Berlin has backed calls to exempt small businesses from registration requirements under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, as part of discussions on simplifying a raft of EU green legislati...

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Spain calls for more focus on climate risks in EU decision making

Madrid has called for a more comprehensive assessment of potential climate impacts, including of projects funded through the EU budget, alongside a renewed push to impose a climate levy on fossil fuel...

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‘Irresponsible’: Left and Greens challenge deregulation of gene-edited microbes

Left-wing MEPs have pushed back against a proposal to cut red tape for environmental releases of genetically modified bacteria, fungi and viruses, warning of the potential for the organisms to cause “...

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EPR rules for micropollutants should be overturned, court adviser says

An advocate-general at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said that a requirement for cosmetics and pharmaceutical companies to pay for upgrading sewage treatment plants is contrary to EU law.

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Member states blame Brussels after 20 miss deadline for nature restoration plans

Just seven member states have submitted draft national plans by the deadline set under the Nature Restoration Law (NRL), with diplomats pointing to the European Commission’s failure to publish a legally required report on funding gaps.

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LEAK: EU Council considers making industrial acceleration zones voluntary

Member states have discussed removing a requirement under the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) for each country to set up at least one ‘acceleration zone’ with streamlined permitting rules.

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Brussels fires starting gun on ‘AI Gigafactories’

The EU has launched a call for tenders for up to seven super-sized data centres for training AI models, despite growing fears around energy and water use from environmentalists.

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Brussels investigates Romanian payout under Energy Charter Treaty

The European Commission has launched an investigation into multi-million euro compensation payments by Bucharest over changes to support for renewables, following a ruling under a controversial invest...

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Financial irregularities under CAP more than doubled in 2025, Commission finds

Possible misappropriation of EU agricultural subsidies soared last year after the adoption of “simplifications” that limited checks for compliance with green conditionality rules, the European Commiss...

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Roswall presses national capitals to submit nature restoration plans

The European Commission’s environment chief has urged member states to adhere to a looming end of summer deadline for putting forward draft National Restoration Plans.

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‘We cannot wait for the EU’: Sweden plans to ban PFAS in consumer products

Faced with lengthy delays to a planned EU-wide ban on ‘forever chemicals’, the Swedish government has said it aims to impose a national ban for several product classes by 2028.

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‘Completely Climate Law proof’: Commission unveils plan for gentler ETS emission cuts

The EU executive has put forward broad proposals charting the course for the bloc’s cornerstone emissions trading system over the next decade, counting on international credits to compensate a signifi...

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Blocking minority of member states calls for ‘pragmatic’ ETS revision

National capitals have pushed for extending the circulation of emission allowances under the EU cap and trade scheme to "closer” to 2050, as the European Commission prepares to come forward with a pro...

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EXCLUSIVE: Palm oil producers call for ‘consistency’ after MEPs keep soy on EU renewable fuels list

The European Parliament’s decision to block new rules stripping soybean-based biofuels of their renewable status has come under criticism from Malaysia’s palm oil industry, which has accused the EU of...

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LEAK: Brussels aims to make Europe world’s first ‘electro-continent’

The European Commission is set to outline measures to incentivise a shift to electric products and domestic power generation that it estimates would halve the EU’s fossil oil consumption by 2040.

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EUDR: Scientists behind key deforestation study challenge exclusion of leather

Two researchers behind the sole study relied on by the European Commission to conclude that leather has a limited deforestation footprint have supported a call to maintain the product category within ...

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EUDR: Commission hints at more IT problems should leather remain in scope

The European Commission has repeated warnings about the “load” on the IT system for complying with the EU’s anti-deforestation law if the current scope is maintained, according to a leaked draft, desp...

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Parliament points to wins in ECHA Basic Regulation deal

Negotiators have reached an agreement on a new legal framework for the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), which will allow the European Parliament and member states to directly request scientific opini...

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‘LIFE is beautiful’: 14 member states back ring-fenced environmental funding in next EU budget

Environment ministers have warned that absorbing the LIFE programme into a broader fund could undermine environmental projects and the EU’s green objectives.

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Brussels seeks to scrap 24-cent energy efficiency sticker in cost-cutting drive

The European Commission’s latest ‘omnibus’ package includes a proposal to drop obligations for white goods and other energy-consuming products sold in the EU to come with the bloc’s ubiquitous printed...

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LEAK: Brussels looks to ‘cutting-edge’ technologies to green intensive farming

The European Commission is mulling support for agricultural innovation to make livestock rearing more sustainable, as campaigners criticise the plan for seeking “technofixes” rather than tackling inte...

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Deregulation of next-gen GMOs clears final hurdle after MEPs give green light

The European Parliament has endorsed plans to deregulate genetically modified crops derived through new genomic techniques, after MEPs cast aside a series of amendments that sought to reinsert provisi...

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Green groups warn of US fossil fuel ‘dominance’ as MEPs back EU-US trade deal

Environmental campaigners have criticised the European Parliament’s decision to formally back the EU-US trade agreement, cautioning that it risks perpetuating the EU’s dependence on “dodgy” suppliers ...

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Roswall promises to ‘step up’ support to implement EU wastewater rules

The environment commissioner has outlined plans to accelerate work on secondary legislation and guidance for implementing extended producer responsibility schemes for micropollutant treatment, as memb...

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Commission proposes ‘faster permitting’ for data centres

The European Commission has put forward a proposal that would class resource-hungry data centres set up in environmental permitting acceleration zones as being in the overriding public interest.

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LEAK: Commission plans ‘recommendation’ to hold off enforcement of EU methane law

The EU executive is planning to recommend that member states refrain from imposing penalties for imports breaching the Methane Regulation, in a move criticised by a leading lawmaker as a “confession o...

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Rapporteur on permitting drops ‘acceleration privileges’ for priority sectors

The European Parliament’s lead negotiator for a proposed regulation aimed at accelerating the EU’s environmental permitting processes has put forward draft amendments seeking to remove provisions gran...

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Member states push to cut red tape for crop dusting with regular aircrafts

National envoys in Brussels have agreed to seek to reduce the administrative requirements for conventional aerial spraying of pesticides, through potentially far-reaching amendments to a proposal to e...

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