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Robert Hodgson

Earth News

Exclusive: Trade officials confident of stalling packaging waste law

A landmark environment law designed to tackle the huge and growing volume of packaging waste discarded in Europe, already nearly 190m tonnes a year per person, risks being postponed until after EU elections amid a political impasse over its potential implications for trade and diplomacy.

Earth News

Governments need to triple rate of emissions cuts

A raft of new legislation adopted under the EU's flagship Green Deal agenda means the bloc is on the right path to meet its climate and environment policy goals, the European Commission has said, while acknowledging the real test will be how effectively governments implement it.

Earth News

European Commission slammed for ‘tepid’ response to changing climate

In the wake of a stark warning from the EU’s environmental watchdog over the looming human and economic cost of climate change in Europe, the European Commission has outlined its strategy for managing the risks faced by the fastest warming continent on the planet.

Earth News

MEPs back law aimed at restoring European soil to health

Governments should be required to monitor in detail the ecological status of soil, MEPs have agreed, while stopping short of demanding binding restoration targets or imposing limits on urbanisation.

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Earth News

Oslo defends seabed mining plans amid environmental concerns

Norway has declared its full support for a UN treaty to protect marine biodiversity in the high seas, despite drawing fire over plans to open up swathes of its own territorial waters to exploration for critical raw materials, potentially a step towards granting seabed mining concessions.

Earth News

European leaders ‘outpaced’ by increasing risk from climate change

The situation is already critical as climate change leads to increasingly frequent and severe flooding, drought and rising sea levels. Without urgent action by governments and EU leaders the impact is likely to become 'catastrophic' over the coming years, the European Environment Agency warns.

Europe

Ministers agree to extend gas saving policy through 2024

With no end in sight to president Putin’s war on Ukraine, European energy ministers have agreed to extend for a second year voluntary measures to keep natural gas demand across the EU to at least 15% below pre-invasion levels, and discussed ways to end lingering dependence on Russian gas.

Earth News

Burger wrappers survive clampdown on packaging waste

While lawmakers have balked at a total ban on disposable wrappers and cartons in fast-food restaurants, a range of familiar litter should soon be consigned to the dustbin of history under an agreement they hope will reverse the surging generation of packaging waste across the EU.

Earth News

UK blames Brussels as it pulls out of Energy Charter Treaty

The UK government has announced its withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty, blaming EU infighting for scuppering efforts to reform the post-Cold War treaty that was intended to protect investments in petroleum-rich post-Soviet states, but has mainly been used to sue western European governments.

Earth News

Conservationists alarmed at new market for carbon removal certificates

Wooden houses and sturdy furniture could soon receive potentially lucrative EU certification for their presumed role in reducing atmospheric CO2, but green groups are concerned that new rules on accounting for carbon removals do little to protect forests and will facilitate corporate greenwashing.

Earth News

Outrage as Commission accused of shelving water resilience plan

The European Commission has taken a water resilience intiative, an EU response to increasingly frequent episodes of drought and flooding, off its agenda for the coming months, sparking fears that it has once again caved in to an anti-green backlash ahead of EU elections.

Earth News

MEPs seek to limit use of carbon offsets for corporate greenwashing

Companies may have to think carefully before pledging to go 'carbon neutral' or reach 'net-zero' greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years as a deal between political groups in the European Parliament suggests the EU could soon introduce tougher restrictions on the use of carbon offsets.

Earth News

Commission invites industry to join support platform for mini nuclear

The European Commission has invited interested companies to help "to facilitate and speed up the development, demonstration, and deployment" of small modular nuclear reactors, a fledgling technology it hopes will help the EU achieve its goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Earth News

MEPs back GMO deregulation while governments divided over patenting

The European Parliament has narrowly agreed to ease restrictions for crops developed using new genome editing techniques, but a German federal agency warns there is no scientific basis, and EU countries have yet to agree a position amid a row over whether the new class of GMOs should be patentable.

Ecotech

Carbon capture key to net-zero goal, but climate chief urges caution

A warning from the climate commission Wopke Hoekstra that carbon capture is no magical cure for global heating comes as new policies show the EU is banking on a huge and rapid deployment of the 'unproven' technology to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century.

Earth News

Governments caught off guard by von der Leyen’s U-turn on pesticides

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen's decision to withdraw a proposal that would have forced farmers to drastically reduce their reliance on chemical pesticides marks an abrupt end to Belgium's attempt to recast the legislation as a tool to promote greener alternatives.

Earth News

New market rules to promote repair over replacement

Consumers moving to buy a new smartphone or washing machine would think twice if new EU rules are effective.

Earth News

Commission mulls response to threat of water shortages and flooding

The EU executive is preparing to launch a 'water resilience' initiative, with a drought emergency in north-eastern Spain providing a glimpse into one possible future for a Europe increasingly exposed to the adverse effects of climate change.

Earth News

Fiscal rules could block essential spending on green transition

The co-president of the Greens in the European Parliament has warned the EU's transition to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions is doomed to fail unless the bloc relaxes rules on government debt and deficit spending, as he presented a new report highlighting the scale of investment needed.

Earth News

Denmark enlists ten more in push for 'ambitious' EU climate target

Denmark, the only EU country so far to explicitly back a 2040 target of cutting the bloc's net greenhouse gas emissions to 90% below 1990 levels, has persuaded Germany, France and eight others to back a call for an "ambitious" target in a joint statement that points towards a similar figure.

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