Environment

We are all concerned about the air we breathe, the water we use and the food we eat.

European Union

What's coming up in Parliament

Strasbourg Flash - plenary session 22-25 October 2018

A look ahead to next week's session in the European Parliament in Strasbourg and the Greens/EFA priority issues on the agenda

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Rolf van Melis | CC

Making polluters responsible for climate protection

CO2 standards for trucks

The vast majority of the Environment Committee's MEPs have just asserted themselves against the Conservatives and voted in favour of strict CO2 standards for trucks and now have a solid position for negotiations with the Council and the European Commission, in "trilogue", on a regulation for "CO2 emission standards for new heavy goods vehicles".

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Allergy risks not properly assessed for a recently authorised GM maize, says EU expert

Shortcuts in EFSA’s evaluation undermines their conclusions

As the European Parliament is set to vote on an objection against a new genetically modified maize comporting several genetic modifications, concerns arises from experts on the quality of the assessment of these so-called "stacked events" GMOs. Dr Jean-Michel Wal, who was until recently the panel’s allergy expert, officially expressed his doubts twice already, with growing alarm.

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Picture credit : david-hellmann - Unsplash

Creating Liveable Cities

18.10.2018

How to Achieve Sustainable Urban Mobility

Three out of four EU citizens currently call a city home. Achieving sustainable urban mobility should therefore be a priority. Creating liveable cities, where car commuting is the exception and a combination of public transport, carpooling, biking and walking is the rule, is essential if we are to safeguard the health of EU citizens and deal with climate change.

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david pisnoy

One-third of chemicals on the market breach EU safety rules

Chemicals

For years, chemical companies in the European Union have marketed hundreds of harmful chemicals that without properly checking if they are toxic, eco-toxic or have the potential to cause cancer, impair fertility and inhibit the development of unborn children.

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© Nancy Louie

Diesel is finally considered carcinogenic for workers

Occupational health

he European Parliament has forced governments to recognise the carcinogenic nature of diesel engine emissions. This is an undeniable victory for the health of workers across Europe. Every year in the EU, 3 million workers are exposed to diesel pollution through the course of their professional activities.

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Vote to ban straws and other plastic products a victory for the environment

Plastics

Today, the Environment Committee of the European Parliament voted on a report that bolsters the European Commission's proposals on reducing plastic pollution and proposes bans on a wide range of environmentally harmful products.

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Ruben de Rijcke (CC BY-SA 3.0)

EU environment ministers ignore IPCC report

CO2 Regulation and COP24

Under pressure from the automobile industry and the German government in particular, EU environment ministers are sabotaging our chances to save the climate. They agreed on weak targets for CO2 emissions from cars and light commercial vehicles and demanded only a marginal improvement to the EU Commission's proposal.

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The time to act is now

Climate change and IPCC report

We can achieve the Paris climate target of 1.5c global warming if governments act now, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its upcoming special report on global warming.

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European Parliament shows some ambition on CO2 reductions

CO2 emissions

The majority of MEPs have just voted to reduce CO2 emissions from new cars by 40% by 2030. The European Parliament's position for the upcoming negotiations with the European Commission and Council and lags behind the position of the Environment Committee, which had called for a 45% reduction, and goes beyond the European Commission's proposal of just 30%.

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More ambitious reduction targets will lead to EU-wide job creation

Car industry/CO2 emissions

"Even though this is clearly a politically steered report from the Commission, designed to influence votes in the Parliament and Council, it still finds that employment numbers in the entire EU will increase with more ambitious reduction targets," says Bas Eickhout, energy policy spokesperson for the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament.

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Ruben de Rijcke (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Car companies must be held to account over possible collusion

Emissions cheating

The European Commission has just announced that it will open a formal investigation into whether BMW, Daimler and VW colluded to breach EU anti-trust rules around the roll-out of clean emissions technology.

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