Tag: European Commission

Commission approves €1.04 billion Danish State aid scheme to support landowner climate projects

Stuart Mitchell

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €1.04 billion (DKK 7.8 billion) Danish scheme to support landowners committing to voluntarily remove agricultural or forestry land from production to reduce agricultural emissions. The Danish measure Denmark notified the Commission of its plans to support landowners voluntarily ceasing agricultural production on their land to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, as well as nitrogen and phosphorus deposits into the aquatic environment. The project involves the permanent extensification of farming, meaning that the land will not be tilled and no…

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European Commission issues landmark Decision assigning CO₂ storage obligations to oil and gas producers under NZIA

Stuart Mitchell

The European Commission yesterday published a long-awaited Decision that operationalises Article 23 of the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA), assigning individual CO₂ storage obligations to 44 oil and gas producers across the European Union (EU). These obligations are individual shares of the Commission’s target for developing 50 million tonnes of operational CO2 storage capacity by 2030. This marks a critical enforcement milestone in the EU’s effort to build out industrial carbon management infrastructure and ensure that fossil fuel producers contribute to long-term decarbonisation.  “This is the moment we’ve been waiting for,…

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Campaigners launch ground-breaking legal action against European Commission for failing to deliver promised caged farming ban

Stuart Mitchell

The Citizens’ Committee of the successful End the Cage Age European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) has recently launched legal action against the European Commission over its failure to deliver its commitment to ban caged farming. Papers have been filed at the Court of Justice in Luxembourg outlining the Committee’s case demonstrating that the Commission has failed to act on its promise to introduce legislation to ban cages in response to a successful ECI – the first to secure a proper commitment. It further explains that ECIs were introduced with the specific…

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European Commission and UN Environment Programme agree to join forces to maintain the global momentum of green transition

Stuart Mitchell

The European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius, recently met with the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Inger Andersen, in Brussels to discuss the key global developments and milestones in cooperation since their last high-level meeting in 2021. These include the historical outcomes of the Fifth Session of the United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA-5.2), progress in the ongoing negotiations on a legally binding international agreement on plastics, as well as the outcomes of recent global environmental processes. The meeting had a special focus on…

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European Commission successfully issues first green bond to finance the sustainable recovery

Stuart Mitchell

The European Commission has issued the first NextGenerationEU green bond, thus raising €12 billion to be used exclusively for green and sustainable investments across the EU. This represents the world’s largest green bond issuance ever. With NextGenerationEU green bonds, the EU is set to become the world’s largest green bond issuer by far, providing a significant boost to sustainable finance markets as well as funding a greener EU recovery from the pandemic. With the strong oversubscription rate and excellent pricing conditions today’s issuance represents a promising start to the NextGenerationEU…

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