EU Council vote pushes Nature Restoration Law over the finish line

Multiple proposals for climate and environmentally driven legislation in Europe have progressed after ministers met at the Council of the European Union yesterday following recent elections. The Council formally adopted the Nature Restoration Law after months of uncertainty and agreed its approach to circular economy initiatives. These initiatives are focused on the Green Claims Directive, a revised Waste Directive on food and textiles and the Soil Monitoring Directive, paving the way for talks to begin between the European Council and Parliament. The Belgian Presidency of the EU said that “the rapid rise of climate risks across Europe may require new ways of cooperating across governance levels to achieve tangible and measurable progress in reducing the most urgent climate risks”. It said EU policy is “not keeping up with the speed at which climate risks are growing” and member states need to do more on governance, raising awareness, resilience and financing and implementing nature-based solutions. The Presidency said it has identified that “a systemic policy response in all relevant policy fields is needed, including at EU level”. Addressing the environmental council meeting, European Commissioner for climate action Wopke Hoekstra said mitigation is no longer enough: “The reality simply is that climate change has already been part of our life and will only continue to be part of our life. We simply cannot do just with mitigation. We will need to do more on adaptation, on risk management and on making sure we see what is coming.” Nature Restoration Law In a tense campaign at Council level leading up to the meeting, the Nature Restoration Law, part of the European Green Deal, won approval from the majority of member states after Ireland led calls to back the law. It was adopted by the European Parliament in February. The directive will implement measures to restore at least 20% of Europe’s land and sea by 2030 and 90% of habitats deemed in a poor condition by 2050. This forms part of Europe’s effort to protect biodiversity, mitigate the impact of climate change and improve food security. Under the law, which is directly applicable to all member states, EU countries will be obliged to meet legally binding targets for nature restoration in a range of habitats, including coastal and freshwater, forests and urban. They will also have to submit national restoration plans to the EC, showing how they will deliver targets using a range of biodiversity indicators. Green Claims Directive The Council said it is ready to begin talks with the European Parliament after agreeing its position on the directive to prevent greenwashing in products and services offered to Europe’s consumers. Under the proposals, firms will have to meet minimum requirements to substantiate and verify green claims when marketing and labelling products. Explicit environmental claims will need to be verified by independent experts, although the Council said a simplified procedure is on the table to exempt some claims from third-party verification. Eligible companies would instead need to document compliance with the new rules before the green claim is made public. Microenterprises will also fall under the scope of the new rules, but will have 14 more months to comply. The Council specifies that companies should use clear criteria and up-to-date scientific evidence to back up their claims and labels, and make specific reference to environmental characteristics, such as durability, recyclability or biodiversity. Companies making climate-related claims, including carbon credits, will need to provide information about the type and quality of scheme. They will need to distinguish between contribution claims – using carbon credits to contribute to climate action – and offset claims – using carbon credits to balance out emissions used. Companies using offset claims must prove a net-zero target and show progress towards decarbonisation, the Council said.

EU Council vote pushes Nature Restoration Law over the finish line

Europe ‘steadily moving forward’ with its green programme as discussions turn to climate risk governance

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