European Green Deal Archives

A coalition of centre-right, far-right and national conservative EU lawmakers have failed to vote down the EU’s controversial nature restoration law amid a surge of farmers’ protests and European elections looming.

Polish Agriculture Minister Czesław Siekierski will call for restrictions on the European Green Deal at Monday’s EU Council meeting as farmers continue to protest, the minister commented during a Ministry conference on Sunday.

Jordan Bardella, the head of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) list for the upcoming EU elections, reiterated his desire to remain part of the EU’s agricultural policy while criticising the “diminishing” project of the Green Pact for Europe at the Paris International Agricultural Show on Sunday.

Europe's biggest online fashion retailer Zalando has committed to overhaul by mid-April the sustainability claims it makes on its web sites after the EU qualified them as "misleading", the European Commission said on Thursday (22 February).

The next European Commission that will be appointed after June's EU election will focus on implementing green laws adopted in the current mandate and boost investments in clean tech to meet the EU’s 2030 climate goals, a top official has said.

The hot topic of the month in Brussels is industrial competitiveness and how it can be connected more closely to the European Green Deal. European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, appointed to lead the Green Deal portfolio last year, has a plan.

Even though green investments have gained momentum in recent years, a gap of €406 billion remains to be filled annually in order to meet the EU’s 2030 climate goals, according to new research published on Wednesday (21 February).

European Union legislators reached a political agreement in the early hours of Tuesday (20 February) on a proposal to set up the world’s first registry for certified carbon dioxide removals obtained from eco-farming practices and industrial processes.

Companies making claims like “eco” and “green” will need to send them for prior verification before using them or face fines of “at least at 4% of their annual turnover”, according to a draft EU law voted on in the European Parliament on Wednesday (14 February).

To stop the far-right piggybacking to power this year, the EU must stop giving ground on hard-won climate rules, writes Isabel Schatzschneider.

Non-state actors adopted a joint declaration in support of adaptation to climate change as part of the Belgian presidency of the EU Council in Liège on Thursday and Friday (8-9 February).

Équilibre des énergies (EdEn), a French think tank, issued its recommendations for the next EU term of office (2024-2029). In exclusivity for Euractiv France, the group stresses the need for a European industrial strategy that is properly geared towards the climate and the economy, rather than a collection of targets.

The list of fringe parties in Germany aiming for a seat in the European Parliament is getting longer, as climate activists want to “really shake up” politics this time.

At least six of the 18 MEPs in the EP far-right French RN party’s delegation have already signed or will sign on Thursday a resolution tabled by their Belgian Vlaams Belang colleague, Tom Vandendriessche, calling for the Green Deal to be “abolished”. 

Belgium has postponed a vote by EU ambassadors on new emission standards for trucks – initially planned for Wednesday (7 February) – to Friday, after Germany withdrew its previous support for the law, leaving the majority unclear.

Legislators from the Council of EU member states and the European Parliament reached agreement on Wednesday (7 February) on a scaled-back version of what was initially pitched as an EU sovereignty fund to support green technologies.

The EU is already struggling to meet its 2030 climate and energy targets, so it needs to put farmers as well as the social and environmental benefits first in order to project itself forward to 2040, write Zsolt Lengyel and Erica Johnson.

The approach of 'competitive sustainability' is key to understanding how a measure of competitiveness is needed in the new global context marked by massive US green subsidies and an aggressive industrial strategy from China, writes Martin Porter.

The European Commission presented its recommendations for the EU’s 2040 climate target on Tuesday (6 February), arguing for a 90% cut in emissions compared to 1990, and paving the way for carbon capture technology to abate remaining emissions from industry.

The EU on Tuesday unveils its climate targets for 2040 and a roadmap for the next stage of its energy transition, four months before European elections and with the bloc reeling from a farmer revolt against green reforms.

The European Union needs to take into account its ambitious targets for solar power deployment before it considers any measures to curb imports of photovoltaic panels, wafers and other components, a senior EU official said on Monday (5 February).

German liberals have confirmed the abstention of the German government on the EU’s proposal for a corporate due diligence law that would see companies becoming liable for human right breaches in their supply chains.

Germany’s TÜV Nord Group is launching the world’s "first and only comprehensive certification" scheme for critical raw materials along the entire value chain – from exploration to extraction and processing, up to the final product.

The gap between official and real-world car emissions has grown by 80% in the past five years, despite advanced testing procedures in place to prevent such a discrepancy, a new study has found.