European Environmental and Public Law

Subscribe to European Environmental and Public Law via RSS

The UK citizens’ assembly identifies overarching principles and makes specific recommendations for achieving the environmental goal.

By Paul A. Davies and Michael D. Green

Background

The Climate Assembly UK has published its report on how the UK can achieve its statutory target for net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The report, which was released on 10 September 2020, followed more than a month of weekend meetings (some of which took place remotely due to the pandemic). Participants underwent a three-stage process of learning, discussion, and decision-making.

Comprising 108 members of the public, the citizens’ assembly was commissioned in June 2019 by six Select Committees of the House of Commons, including the Environmental Audit and Business Energy and Industrial Strategy. The House of Commons sponsored the initiative, with two philanthropic organisations providing additional funding and not-for-profit organisations organising the assembly

Proposed regulation will require companies to substantiate their environmental footprint claims, seeking to ensure green claims are more reliable.

By Paul A. Davies and Michael D. Green

Background

On 27 August 2020, the European Commission (the Commission) launched a public consultation on a possible proposal on substantiating green claims about products or services. This follows on from the Commission’s Inception Impact Assessment Roadmap on potential regulation of green claims. The consultation period for this Roadmap closed on 31 August 2020, so the Commission is already moving ahead with the consultation on the proposal itself. This initiative is another step toward meeting the objectives identified in the European Green Deal, pursuant to which the Commission committed itself to making the EU climate neutral by 2050.

Consultations are underway on a proposed law to prohibit large UK businesses from using products sourced from illegally deforested lands.

By Paul A. Davies and Michael D. Green

On 25 August 2020, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) launched a consultation on a new law aimed at preventing large companies from using commodities grown on land that has been illegally deforested (known as forest risk commodities). The consultation includes seven questions to assess whether large companies should be obligated to perform due diligence on their supply chains, and whether large companies should be prohibited from using forest risk commodities. Key forest risk commodities include palm oil, cocoa, soy, and rubber.

Recent developments concern the EU taxonomy, the EU green bond standard, and new sustainability-linked bonds

By Paul A. Davies and Michael D. Green

Earlier this month (June 2020), the EU released answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the work of the European Commission (the Commission) and the Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (TEG) regarding the sustainable finance taxonomy (the Taxonomy) and the EU Green Bond Standard (EU GBS).

Additionally, the Commission released an impact assessment and consultation on how to best translate the EU GBS initiative into legislation. Meanwhile, the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) also announced the launch of new Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles (SLBP).

The Initiative aims to promote sustainability in both the batteries value chain and the growing electric vehicle market.

By Paul A. Davies and Federica Rizzo

On 28 May 2020, the European Commission (EC) published its Inception Impact Assessment (IIA) to modernize the EU’s batteries legislation, in particular Directive 2006/66/EC of 6 September 2006 on batteries and accumulators, and waste batteries and accumulators (the so-called “Batteries Directive”).

The Initiative is in line with the European Green Deal, which promotes the decarbonisation of the EU economy to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The legislative proposal is also based on the Strategic Action Plan on Batteries adopted by the EC[i] in 2018, which promotes the growth of safe and sustainable battery production, and a better functioning of the internal market as concerns batteries, products incorporating batteries, and recycled materials.

The delay may complicate the regulatory landscape for sustainable finance as the EU moves toward a standardized classification system. 

By Paul A. Davies, Nicola Higgs, and Michael D. Green

The UK government (government) has delayed a decision on whether it will adopt the EU’s taxonomy of sustainable finance activities (the Taxonomy) as the UK approaches the end of its post-Brexit transition period.

The European Commission’s Technical Expert Group (TEG) on Sustainable Finance, which developed the Taxonomy, published its final report on the document in March 2020. The resulting Taxonomy follows from consultations with more than 200 industry experts and scientists.

The proposals outline the potential new UK system after Brexit, which could be linked to the EU Emissions Trading System. 

By Paul Davies and Michael Green

On 1 June 2020, the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published proposals outlining a new UK-wide Emissions Trading System (UK ETS) contained within a response document to a consultation conducted in May 2019. The proposals were jointly designed by the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments, and the Northern Irish Executive (together, the government). The government has stated that the proposals are a “crucial step” towards achieving the UK’s net zero carbon emissions target by 2050.