🌍 JUSTICE KNOWS NO BORDERS 

Good morning! 

The news never slows down, and this week is no exception. As civil society mobilises worldwide for the Global Week of Action for Peace and Climate Justice, Europe stands at a crossroads. EU institutions may keep speaking the language of “sustainability” and “strategic autonomy,” yet the decisions made often reveal a different reality. 

This edition opens with a reflection on the mounting pressure for Israel to end its brutal assault on Gaza – from the UN’s recognition of genocide to the EU’s new proposed sanctions and growing calls from citizens and governments for urgent accountability. From there, we explore Europe’s deepening turn toward militarisation and extractivism, where public money is increasingly channelled into arms and deregulation instead of people and planet. You’ll also find analysis on the blocked 2040 climate targets and more stories shaping our shared future. 

So grab a coffee, consider supporting our work by buying us one, and get comfortable for this week’s read.

🌍 JUSTICE KNOWS NO BORDERS

🍉 SPEAK UP FOR PALESTINE 🍉 Protecting the environment cannot be separated from the fight for global justice. That’s why the EEB joined over 110,000 people and 150+ organisations – including members and many from the environmental movement – on the streets of Brussels last week to demand an end to the genocide in Gaza and accountability for those responsible. 

THE UN SAYS SO – This week, the UN Human Rights Council’s independent Commission confirmed that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza – meeting the legal definition under the Genocide Convention. 

FAILURE TO ACT = COMPLICITY – States have a legal obligation to use their power to stop the genocide. Failure to act amounts to complicity. These findings echo earlier warnings from UN Special Rapporteurs, genocide scholars, civil society, and the International Court of Justice’s binding order from January 2024. The evidence is overwhelming – as Al-Haq, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Doctors Without Borders, B’Tselem, and others have long said. 

PRESSURE BUILDS ON THE EU – Action comes painfully late for the countless lives already lost. Still, we welcome Commission President von der Leyen’s pledge to sanction Israel’s leadership and freeze EU funding. The EU Parliament has gone further – calling to suspend the EU–Israel Association Agreement, halt arms transfers, and back ICC warrants, and the EEB supports this. With the October European Council ahead, Member States (especially some) should be continuously reminded: inaction equals complicity in genocide under international law. 

TURN WORDS INTO ACTION – Like the movements that ended the Vietnam War and Apartheid, global solidarity can tip the scales of history. Decision-makers must now choose which side they stand on. Our message to the EU Commission and Member States is clear: match words with action – and do it now. 

🪖 MILITARISATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT 

THE NEW ARMS RACE – Security is about more than tanks and troops. Every €100 billion of military spending generates around 32 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, warn Scientists for Global Responsibility. Yet while EU leaders speak of “sustainability” and “strategic autonomy,” new initiatives like ReArm Europe and Readiness 2030 reveal a different agenda, redirecting public funds, weakening environmental safeguards in the name of “resilience,” and – with the proposed Defence Omnibus – potentially fast-tracking mining projects in protected areas by overriding the very protections the EU once championed. 

SILENCE? All of this is happening with very little public scrutiny or a broader democratic debate of what is needed in the EU to ensure security. 

A TROUBLING BALANCE – NATO is pushing for defence budgets of up to 5% of GDP – a figure that would dwarf what Europe currently spends on health, education, and climate combined. Already, €800 billion in public funds is being earmarked for defence through the SAFE instrument and deregulated private investment channels. Again, without a broader public debate and scrutiny.

MIA: PEOPLE AND PLANET – Essential safeguards like the Water Framework Directive, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive, and REACH are increasingly framed as “peacetime luxuries.” Communities resisting lithium mines in Portugal, Sámi land exploitation in Finland, or extractivist megaprojects in Serbia could see their voices criminalised under the banner of “national security.” 

THE CARBON BUDGET – The military accounts for 5.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet remains largely exempt from climate reporting and targets. Instead of deepening fossil fuel and weapons dependency, Europe needs transparency, democratic oversight, and a real debate on security priorities – from climate action and resilient infrastructure to tackling poverty and defending democracy. 

🎯 CLIMATE DELAYING GAMES 

MINISTERS HIT THE BRAKES – This week, EU climate ministers were meant to agree on the legally binding 2040 climate targets – and the diplomatic 2035 goals required under the Paris Agreement. Instead, France and Germany blocked progress, kicking the can down the road until October’s prime ministerial meeting. 

TIME’S NOT ON ICE – These targets may sound distant, but we need them now. Without a clear and binding 2040 pathway, investors, markets, and policymakers face damaging uncertainty, slowing decarbonisation and undermining confidence in Europe’s climate leadership. 

HOW, NOT WHAT – The Commission’s proposal to cut net emissions by 90% by 2040 faces few outright opponents: Hungary and Slovakia. The real fight is over “flexibilities” built into the plan: carbon offsets abroad, mixing carbon removals with actual emissions cuts, and allowing some sectors to lag behind others (looking at you, agriculture). 

TRICKS DON’T COOL HEATWAVES – As the EEB warned this summer, accounting tricks won’t protect anyone (citizens or economies) from climate chaos. Only rapid, domestic decarbonisation can do that. EU governments must act decisively to maintain credibility and leadership – especially at a moment when other countries (drill, baby, drill) may continue ignoring science. Clear, ambitious emissions-cut targets are the only path to investment certainty, fairness, and resilience. 

🫧 IN THE BRUSSELS BUBLE  

🤌 ONE YEAR AFTER THE DRAGHI REPORT 

BUON COMPLEANNO – It’s been a full year since “Super Mario” Draghi launched a report on European Competitiveness – one moment that catalysed the Commission’s shift in priorities and acceleration towards deregulation. So… how is it going? 

According to the author, very poorly. In a public intervention earlier this month, the former President of the ECB said that the EU is not implementing his masterplan for competitiveness that would in theory, allow the EU to go neck to neck with the US or China.  

WE (SORTA) AGREE – After one year, we still think, like Mario, that Europe needs investment, innovation, and a coordinated industrial strategy.  

BUT – (and it’s a big but), the ultimate goal should be a resilient, well-being economy grounded in a healthy environment. Today, as we face overlapping social and ecological crises, we can’t rely on the same flawed economic structures and strategies that got us here. Our industrial policy should be a blueprint to tackle pollution, inequality, and our increasingly deep material footprint. 

AND DEFINITELY NOT – The deregulation tsunami perpetrated by the Commission has a clean apparent victim: rules that protect people and planet. The first was a major bill that gutted environmental laws for businesses, the proposed Omnibus I, which will subject fewer companies to environmental reporting rules and reduce duties for those that still are.  

🚌 OMNIBUS-TED? 

WHOSE EMERGENCY IS IT ANYWAY? On 9 September, the Commission tried to justify its corporate due diligence (CSDDD) deregulation push in a reply to a European Ombudsman inquiry. The excuse? That things are so “urgent” there wasn’t time for an impact assessment or public consultation… 

NOT VERY CONVINCING – The Commission cites economic woes, geopolitics, unclear provisions, and business costs as reasons to disregard due process. But here’s the thing: none of this is new – since the adoption of the CSDDD last May, inflation has dropped, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is sadly ongoing, and everybody was aware of the costs to business when the law was developed back in 2022. So, did the Commission just wake up, or is this just politics dressed up as an emergency? 

RED FLAG – Civil society groups called foul earlier this year, and the Ombudswoman is looking into whether the Commission crossed a line. A finding of maladministration would be a sharp reminder that due process matters – especially when what’s at stake are the EU’s hard-won rules to hold polluters accountable for human and environmental rights and protections. 

BOOM BOOM POW – Sick and tired of waking up to the news that hard-won environmental laws are on the chopping block? So are we. On Tuesday, September 23rd, a large protest will take place in Brussels, bringing together a broad coalition to show a unified front. Join us for a peaceful walking protest, followed by a concert from techno activists Planète Boum Boum. 

🚰 WATER TRILOGUE TUESDAY 

IN DEEP WATER – Europe’s freshwater ecosystems are under severe pressure. Less than half of EU waters are in good health, and since 1970, freshwater species populations have plummeted by 85%. From PFAS and pesticides to pharmaceuticals and industrial waste, hundreds of harmful chemicals continue to pollute rivers, lakes, and groundwater – many of them unmonitored and unregulated. 

As this crisis deepens, the call for action grows louder: 78% of Europeans want stronger EU-level measures to tackle water pollution and defend the natural systems we all depend on. On top of this, 92% of us want companies to pay for the clean-up costs of the pollution they cause. Shock!  

600 SCIENTISTS STAND UNITED – Alongside the overwhelming #HandsOffNature chorus, over 600 scientists have jointly sounded the alarm, urging the EU to strengthen – not weaken – its water protection laws. They’re calling for updated pollutant lists, action on chemical mixtures, full enforcement of the Water Framework Directive, and modern monitoring tools. 
The message is clear: protecting Europe’s waters is urgent, and delay will only worsen the cost to health, nature, and future generations. As we look ahead to the final ‘trilogue’ negotiations next week, we are telling our policymakers loud and clear: the time for action to uphold #RulesToProtect Europe’s waters is now!  

🚴 WORLD CAR FREE DAY 

CAR(E)-LESS – Picnics in the middle of the street, children playing, bikes gliding by, and cleaner air with less noise-this is not a utopia. Every year, Car Free Day offers us a glimpse of what life could look, feel and sound like 365 days a year if our cities were built for people rather than cars.  

With a Belgian court recently reaffirming the right of Brussels people to breathe clean air, this may not just be a utopia for much longer. If you happen to be in Brussels this Sunday, you can enjoy Car Free Day in your own way. Make sure to stay tuned so you can better enjoy it. See you there! 

🧠✨ DOPAMINE HIT  

As ever, here are a few slightly happier updates to get your weekend off to a perky start: 

• How Sweden’s ‘second-hand only’ shopping mall is changing retail.  Read more here. 
• A global study shows that 64% of 764 marine restoration projects succeed. Read more here. 
• The Philippines Protects One of the Planet’s Most Biodiverse Marine Regions. Read more here. 

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By: Roi Gomez. Special thanks to the EEB’s editorial team: Ben Snelson, Ruby Silk and Alberto Vela. Editor: Christian Skrivervik.