Dead reader,
You have made it to the end of the year!
Next time we see each other will be in 2026. This has been yet another crazy 12 months and, like many of you, we are looking forward to taking a break and spending some time with our loved ones. I’m writing this edition en route to Galicia, while the rest of the editorial team scatters to all points of the compass – Oslo, Madrid and the UK – and one brave soul stays put in Brussels. We will be back in January with our batteries fully charged to bring you the freshest environmental updates in the EU and beyond for yet another year.But before letting you go, we bring you one last edition. You are in for a ride!
💗 But first, an important announcement from our editorial team 💗
For two years, every week we have brought you the latest updates on European environmental policy, completely free. We do it because an informed community is powerful. But now we need your help.From dirty lobbies, smear campaigns and billionaire bullies to the collapse of climate and nature, we are facing a lot. Winter break is around the corner, and our one wish in our letter to Santa is to keep fighting for what we love. Help us make it happen by becoming an EEB supporter.
⚔️ FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT
PRESENT WHERE IT MATTERS – UNEA, the world’s highest decision-making body on the environment, met last week in Nairobi. The EEB was on the ground helping to bring together hundreds of organisations from across the globe to channel input into what proved to be very difficult negotiations.
MULTILATERALISM IS STILL A THING – Some important successes were ultimately achieved, marking a clear victory for multilateralism and international cooperation at a time where neither can be taken for granted (the absence of the US being from the process being a glaring example).
NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS – UNEA resolutions are decisions adopted by the Environment Assembly that guide global environmental priorities, shape international cooperation, and signal political commitment on pressing environmental challenges. While not legally binding, they influence national policies, funding priorities, and future multilateral action.
THE GOOD – The process delivered 11 resolutions, including on sustainable management of minerals and metals, youth participation and environmental education, glacier and cryosphere protection, wildfire management, chemicals and waste, and the environmental sustainability of AI systems. A Ministerial Declaration was even agreed, which goes beyond the individual resolutions and articulates collective commitment and ambition on global environmental action. Learn more about the outcomes.
THE BAD – Delegates failed to reach consensus on resolutions covering deep-sea and karst ecosystems and environmental crime, leaving gaping omissions in the roadmap for a sustainable future. Likewise, and despite being in the face of booming mineral demand and growing mining-related harm, governments missed the opportunity to bring about a global minerals framework, landing on an agreement that’s main commitment is dialogue.
NEWS FROM THE UNDERGROUND – Although the resolutions on protecting karst and cave ecosystems did not pass, there were still important advances on water resilience and biodiversity. Our members, the European Federation of Speleologists (FES), played a key role in these efforts, ultimately raising awareness about the importance of these underground worlds.
🫧 IN THE EU BUBBLE
🏡 GET YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER
WHY IS MY RENT SO EXPENSIVE??? You’re not alone in thinking this. From Lisbon to Dublin, housing costs are spiralling out of control. This week, Brussels finally stepped in with the EU’s first-ever Affordable Housing Plan, and we welcomed it as a long-overdue move.
NOT JUST AN ASSET – With measures on state aid, better use of existing buildings, scrutiny of speculation and attention to unhoused people, the plan sends an important signal: housing should be treated as a social issue, not just a market.
SMARTER THINKING, FINALLY – The EU Commission also highlights making better use of what already exists, a welcomed change of the “build build build” thinking: renovating inefficient homes, repurposing empty buildings, tackling vacancy and regulating short-term rentals. We strongly back this direction, even if the plan still needs more bite.
WHAT ABOUT NATURE? We’re concerned by proposals to weaken nature protections to speed up building of housing. Framing social needs against environmental safeguards is a false choice: healthy nature means clean air, flood protection and safe water for our cities. These trade-offs are neither necessary nor acceptable.
Countries must put actions into place to stop housing being treated as a profit-making asset. Private investment must help deliver affordable, climate- and nature-friendly homes – not fuel price hikes or speculation.
💀 PESTICIDE APOCALYPSE?
ALL YOU CAN EAT – The EU Commission this week unveiled its Food and Feed Safety Omnibus. The 8th Omnibus package in the Commission’s deregulation frenzy over the past year. It contains dark plans to burn vital EU protections against pesticides. The most worrying shift is towards open-ended approvals, meaning once a pesticide is “approved” it can be marketed and used forever.
MAKE IT MAKE SENSE – These rules exist to catch danger early. The burden should be on the chemicals industry to prove that a substance is safe before going to market, not on civil society and scientists to prove the danger after people and nature are widely exposed. Rolling back rules means more toxic exposure, more pollution in our rivers and soils, weaker food safety, and less reliance on independent science. The evidence is already clear: pesticide exposure is linked to serious diseases, from neurological disorders to cancer.
SO WHAT NOW? The proposal landed without an impact assessment, and cuts against the EU’s own precautionary principle, ignoring public calls for stronger protections. Whether this becomes law will depend on scrutiny, pressure, and people speaking up. The good news? More and more courts across Europe are ruling in favour with people and health – see the judgement only yesterday from Europe’s highest legal authority. Make your voice heard for safe food and nature free from toxic pesticides!
🚜 AGRI CORNER
CAP – The dust has barely settled on the EU watchdog’s finding that the EU Commission broke its own rules in order to rush through a deeply undemocratic butchering of environmental and human rights protections in the CAP, following the 2024 farmers’ protests, and the EU has done it again.
RULES TO PROTECT – Hard fought for laws that protect people, nature, and farmer livelihoods have once again been swept aside in favour the short-term interests of Big Agri. Tackling the climate, nature, and pollution crisis is essential to the long-term resilience of our food and farming system.
DEJA VU – Following last year’s protests, this Thursday farmers once again flooded the streets of Brussels with manure and burning haybales seizing headlines and political agendas as they went. But how many of their demands reach the negotiating table? As the tractors trundled into the city, we took a closer look at the powerful few controlling our food and farming systems – claiming to represent farmers – but instead using their privileged access to policymakers to weaponise such protests for their own gain.
🗞️ IN OTHER NEWS
ADOPTED – The final adoption of Omnibus I by the EU Parliament includes the Due Diligence Directive, but as reported in previous editions, in a significantly weakened form with the text no longer containing binding climate plans and lacks a unified civil liability regime, amongst others. The majority in the Parliament was reached by a coalition of conservative and authoritarian, anti-EU political parties, including the AfD – classified in Germany as a “proven right-wing extremist entity.” While the German Christian Democrats have ruled out working with the extreme right nationally, they have chosen to do so at the EU level.
DAS AUTO – The EU Commission’s review of the 2035 combustion engine phase-out weakens the original ambition by replacing the requirement for 100% zero-emission new vehicles with a 90% CO₂ reduction target, allowing – disastrously – combustion engines and hybrids to remain on the market. One might wonder why they choose to launch such a thing on December 23, just before the holidays. Read more here.
ONE CHARGER TO RULE THEM ALL – The EU common charger for all electronic devices was one of the greatest success stories in recent years. Now, business and civil society alike are urging the Commission to do the same for E-bikes. The lack of a standardised e-bike charger is slowing green mobility and fuelling e-waste. Read more here
MAKE NATURE GREAT AGAIN – Nature restoration plans are gearing up across Europe. Is your country a frontrunner or lagging behind? Read more here
TSHÜSIII <3 The German Press Council this week formally reprimanded WELT.de for misleading claims about “secret EU funding” of NGOs – a narrative that has fuelled political attacks on civil society for more than a year. The Council found that the outlet framed normal EU grant procedures as covert political coordination despite no evidence, no instructions from the Commission, and no fair right of reply for the NGOs involved, including the EEB. The damage is done, but this is yet another confirmation of what we’ve been saying all along: this was a manufactured scandal.
And a reminder to the media: the same forces working to defund and delegitimise independent civil society also want to defund and delegitimise independent journalism and public broadcasters. We should treat this as a shared warning – and partner up to defend democracy. If you have questions, please ask. Read more here.
THANK YOU 💚 As we wave goodbye to the final days of 2025, we want to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude to you, our readers. Your continued support and thoughtful feedback make this collective project possible and something we are truly proud of. Each week, we strive to bring you the latest news, in-depth analysis, and key developments shaping our Union’s environmental policies. Thank you for subscribing, reading, sharing, and joining us in our work for a better future where people and planet can thrive together.
The New Leaf editorial team wishes you happy holidays and a jolly new year!
From left to right: Christian Skrivervik, Ruby Silk, Roi Gómez, Alberto Vela, and on the wall (and in our hearts) Ben Snelson, who was sick that day.
🧠✨ DOPAMINE HIT
As ever, here are a few happy updates to get your weekend off to a perky start:
- Europe’s Soil Monitoring Law, the first law ever to protect soil in the EU entered into force this week. Read more here
- Yes we can! In a historic vote, the EU Parliament confirmed an initiative by ‘My Voice, My Choice’, a citizen-led campaign to secure reproductive rights all over the continent. Read more here
- EU member states demand urgent action on ultra-fast fashion. Read more here
☕ BUY US A COFFEE
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By: Roi Gomez. Special thanks to the EEB’s editorial team: Ben Snelson, Alberto Vela and Ruby Silk. Editor: Christian Skrivervik.
