Tuesday
10th Dec 2019
EU member states have voted to ban from the market chlorpyrifos, a pesticide which is toxic to the brain in both its forms, and has been the subject of a long-running Le Monde and EUobserver investigation.
Nordic cooperation will give young people a powerful platform on stages in Madrid and Stockholm during the UN Climate Conference COP25 next month.
The Nordic Council's prestigious annual awards ceremony this year turned into a youth revolt, with climate activist Greta Thunberg declining the environment prize and another winner criticising the Danish prime minister for racism.
Two Danish ministers - for environment, and for food and fisheries - call on the EU to reconsider the unintended consequences of zoning rules and income support in the Common Agricultural Policy.
The French liberal MEP Pascal Canfin, who is chairing the European Parliament's committee on environment, public health, and food safety, is adamant to deliver the Green Deal quickly - because "we cannot afford to waste time".
The Green Deal commissioner, Frans Timmermans, said the costs of inaction in climate policy are "tremendously high". However, it is still unclear if member states will unanimously agree on the EU's 2050 climate-neutrality goal at next week's summit.
The European Environmental Agency's latest report predicts that Europe will not achieve its 2030 climate and energy targets "without urgent action during the next 10 years". As a result, the social systems of production and consumption must be transformed.
A majority of EU member states are believed to be in favour of not renewing approval for the pesticides chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl, when they meet in Brussels later this week.
The presidents of the European Commission, Parliament and Council on Monday all attended the UN climate conference (COP25) in Madrid to ensure that Europe speaks with 'one voice' about the challenges of climate change.
About 200 heads of government and state and more than 25,000 delegates from all over the world, will gather at the UN climate conference (COP25) on Monday to negotiate on a carbon market system and establish a common time frame.
Greenpeace have accused the incoming European Commission of Ursula von der Leyen of preparing draft new climate and environmental laws whose measures are "too weak, half-baked or missing altogether".
The European Parliament approved declaring a "climate emergency", ahead of next week's UN climate conference in Madrid - and three weeks after Donald Trump confirmed the United States' withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.
EU seas will contain "more" and "bigger" fish five years from now - if the fisheries committee does its job. But rows on post-Brexit rights could grab attention.
Getting the mobility package done in the short-term, and helping to change modes of transportation in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, will be key priorities for the transport and tourism committee.
The biggest challenge that the committee on agriculture and rural development (AGRI), chaired by German centre-right MEP Norbert Lins, will face? Making the EU's agriculture policy more efficient, green and sustainable, but with less budget.
Sweden has lost an argument with the United Nations in Geneva over its refusal to release documents relating to the controversial pesticide chlorpyrifos.
The centre-right European People's Party (EPP) pledge at its Zagreb congress to deliver a middle-ground compromise between "utopian environmental policies" and climate-change denial.
Europe's bee population is dying. The number of pollinator species threatened by extinction is increasing each year, and human activity is the main cause.
The answers of Romanian's new commissioner-designate for transport, Adina-Ioana Vălean, did not manage to convince MEPs from the Greens group, who will ask her additional questions concerning environment and consumer rights.
Deadline shortly to expire for appeals against Russian plan to lay steel pipes in Danish waters likely to contain chemical weapons.
The European Investment Bank has billed itself as the world's largest climate change action financier as it plans to phase out gas, oil and coal projects. It has, however, not ruled out backing carbon capture and storage technologies.
A new report published on Wednesday reveals that 40 percent of plastic products are garbage after less than a month, and that the current recycling systems in Europe cannot cope with such volumes of waste.
The president of the European parliament, David Sassoli, has threatened the leader the leftist GUE/NGL group, Manon Aubry, over a tweet in which she encouraged the eco-activist group Extinction Rebellion to occupy the European parliament.
Romanians marched at the weekend to demand an end to illegal logging in their country and an independent investigation into the killings of two forest rangers. The EU Commission is looking into whether Romania has adequately implemented EU law.
It will take hundreds, maybe thousands of years before the climate goes back to normal. Meanwhile we must work to stabilise it at the new level and adapt, Sweden's leading climate researcher says.
Eager to engage with climate-engaged youth, eight Nordic prime ministers met with nine young political leaders in Stockholm for the first time this week. But did the youngsters take the bite?
Despite Finland's EU presidency's repeated assurances it was in favour of promoting measures to end deforestation, the Finnish government has now announced that forestry policy should remain a national decision-making process.
BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, Total, and their lobby firms have spent over €250m in lobbying the EU to water down climate goals since 2010, a new study shows.
The EU parliament knocked back "weak" pesticide rules proposed by EU commission and member states over concerns to pollinator health and food security.
Climate change was part of the agenda of the EU leaders for Friday's summit. However, the council decided to finalise the EUʼs long-term strategy on climate change at its next meeting in December.
The European parliament debates on Tuesday the fires in the Amazon region. "It goes without saying that, in light of the gravity of the situation, Europe will need to renegotiate the Mercosur agreement", writes MEP Kathleen Van Brempt.
EU Commission president-elect Ursula von der Leyen announced that Frans Timmermans will coordinate the European 'Green Deal' and climate action policies.
The French president has repeatedly said an EU border tax on carbon emissions is 'crucial'. However, his civil servants have yet to send Brussels a single proposal on how such a levy would work.
