Simon Pickstone

Member states have discussed a draft compromise on changes to the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) that would reintroduce a requirement for operators to keep an inventory of hazardous substances.

After years of work, the European Commission has confirmed that a full overhaul of the REACH Regulation is now off the table. But officials are considering new secondary legislation that could still lead to significant changes.

Lobbying over the future of the EU’s carbon market has reached fever pitch ahead of a revision proposal due on 17 July. Here’s what is at stake.

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 double standards.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has said maximum daily exposure to trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), a widespread degradation product from fluorinated pesticides, pharmaceuticals and refrigerants, should be 3.5 times lower than the current threshold.

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.

Conservative members of the European Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI) are seeking to use the ‘simplification’ of the EU emissions rules to weaken protections for nature, water and air quality, as well as rules on sewage treatment and plastic packaging.

The European Commission has started work on the technical rules needed to chart progress towards meeting the EU’s recycled plastic packaging targets for 2030.

The Irish presidency of the EU Council will “prioritise” the shift away from imported oil and gas as part of efforts to reduce Europe’s exposure to geopolitical shocks, energy and environment minister Darragh O’Brien has told MEPs.

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.