Last year, the European Commission published its proposal to expand the EU emissions trading scheme (“EU ETS”). The expansion of the EU ETS forms a central part of the Commission’s “Fit for 55” package, which seeks to revise EU climate, energy and transport-related legislation to align it with the wider 2030 and 2050 climate ambitions
EU banking watchdog publishes rules on banks reporting climate-risk data
The European Banking Authority (“EBA”) recently published final rules for lenders on how they must publish data on environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) risks, and how these risks may affect their balance sheets. The watchdog hopes that the proposed rules will help to “address shortcomings of institutions’ current ESG disclosures at EU level by setting
European Commission opens a public consultation on the “sustainable consumption of goods – promoting repair and reuse”
The European Commission recently opened a public consultation on the “sustainable consumption of goods – promoting repair and reuse”. The Commission is looking to amend the Sale of Goods Directive and possibly introduce a separate new legislative proposal on the right to repair. The initiative follows the New Consumer Agenda and the Circular Economy Action
New rules to facilitate intra-EU waste shipments to promote circular economy and tackle the export of illegal waste and waste challenges to third countries
Following the European Commission review of the Waste Shipments Regulation ((EC) No 1013/2006) (WSR) (see our earlier post) the Commission has proposed tougher rules on waste exports, a more efficient system for the circulation of waste as a resource and better addressing the problem of illegal waste shipments.
Under the revised proposal,
UK product safety regime: OPSS publishes its call for evidence response
In March 2021, the Office for Product Safety and Standards (“OPSS”) published a call for evidence seeking views on possible changes to the UK product safety regime post-Brexit, including to address new methods of manufacture and distribution, new products and technologies such as artificial intelligence, and environmental considerations. Following the deadline to respond to the
UK plans carbon border adjustment mechanism
Last month, the Environmental Audit Committee (‘EAC’) launched an inquiry into a potential future carbon border adjustment mechanism (‘CBAM’) for the UK. The objective of introducing a CBAM would primarily be to address the risk of carbon leakage in the UK industrial sectors caught by the nascent UK Emissions Trading Scheme (‘UK ETS’), i.e. switching