Dear Reader,
✝️ The Pope is joining the chorus around the need for environmental and nature protection, with the Vatican reportedly contemplating an update of the moral rulebook to include ecocide as an “eighth deadly sin”. If that’s not a sign of the times, what is?
It’s Ben behind the keyboard this week – and we’re doing something a little unusual for New Leaf. We’re going a little deeper into one of the deregulation stories unfolding in Brussels, where the EEB itself appears to be among the latest targets of the “simplification” madness. More on that below. Plus, here’s our pitch for what else deserves your attention this week:
- 🏭 Polluters are trying to rewrite the rulebook. We dig into what’s happening to Europe’s industrial pollution rules – and who is doing what to get their way.
- 📣 The UN is speaking out against France and its treatment of protesters. We look at the latest on the right to protest, organise and have a seat at the table.
- 🚨 Over to you, President von der Leyen. Ahead of next week’s State of the European Union, more than 200 organisations are calling on Europe to make this fossil fuel crisis its last.
- 📰 Also this week: We’re calling in the EU watchdog (yes, again), the fight to end cages, and some welcome progress on pesticides and drinking water.
☕ Two weeks into September, and the Brussels Bubble is as busy as ever. If you enjoy reading this newsletter, consider buying us a coffee to support our work. We appreciate the feedback (a lot). Thank you!
🏭 POLLUTERS ARE TRYING TO REWRITE THE RULEBOOK!
Another week, another chapter in Europe’s unfolding deregulation push. Last week, we wrote about the extraordinary political weight the Draghi report now carries in Brussels – and why Europe needs an equally serious assessment of what it will take to make this fossil fuel crisis its last. Two years on, “Draghi” and “competitiveness” are becoming political magic words: invoke them, and almost anything can be presented as “necessary simplification”.
The target this time? The Industrial Emissions Directive (IED), Europe’s main law controlling pollution from industry and intensive livestock farming. As part of the wider Environment Omnibus process, amendments from conservative and far-right MEPs would weaken what polluters must disclose, make it easier for megafarms to escape pollution controls – and even kick environmental and health NGOs out of the room where technical pollution rules are developed.
And this is only scratching the surface. But three proposals caught our attention this week:
1. Sweeping PFAS under the carpet. What dangerous chemicals are industrial plants using and releasing into our environment? You’d think regulators should know that. You’d think you should know that if you have an industrial plant nearby.
Some conservative and far-right MEPs disagree. They want to scrap requirements for Big Polluters to disclose hazardous substances they use and release, assess the risks and look at whether safer alternatives exist. Some EPP MEPs want to go further and prevent requirements for companies to keep inventories of these chemicals from being brought back (under REACH).
Why does this matter? Industrial pollution can include, for example, highly persistent PFAS – the infamous “forever chemicals”. If we don’t know what hazardous substances polluters are using and releasing, it becomes much harder to protect people from them – or replace them with safer alternatives. Erin Brockovich, anyone?
2. Mega-farm pollution too special to count? Agri-industrial lobbies and their conservative and far-right MEP allies are pushing to exclude industrial animal rearing from EU pollution controls. Yet ammonia in our air, nutrients in our water and greenhouse gases in our atmosphere don’t become less harmful because they come from a mega-farm.
Other amendments target the “Aggregation Rule”, designed to stop large agribusinesses splitting factory farms between family members or subsidiary companies on paper to escape regulation. Pollution doesn’t disappear because you divide a mega-farm on paper.
3. And kick out the watchdogs? The Sevilla Process – where governments, industry and civil society develop the technical benchmarks behind EU industrial pollution rules – is supposed to establish the facts and determine achievable pollution controls. Apparently, one way to “simplify” that process is to remove one side from the room.
Some MEPs want to explicitly exclude “non-governmental organisations promoting human health or environmental protection” from these negotiations. That would give industrial polluters even greater influence over the rules meant to regulate them.
For the EEB, this is personal. Our Zero Pollution Industry team has been part of the Sevilla Process for more than 20 years. Industry would remain in the room. Organisations representing environmental protection and public health would be explicitly shut out.
Follow the money. The biggest corporate lobbies in Brussels now spend €382 million a year lobbying EU institutions, according to Corporate Europe Observatory. Unsurprisingly, the biggest spenders are Big Polluters, whose budgets have ballooned by more than 60% since 2020.
Civil society cannot outspend Big Polluters. Nor should it have to. Its job is to bring independent expertise, represent the public interest and make sure those writing the rules hear from more than the industries being regulated.
✊ WE STAND TOGETHER
First, they kick you out of the room. Then they try to keep you quiet. The UN is now sounding the alarm over the treatment of environmental protesters in France.
The chilling effect. Twelve Greenpeace activists were prosecuted after entering the Gravelines nuclear power plant in 2024 in a peaceful action warning about the risks of rising sea levels.
UN speaking out. This week, in a letter to France, Michel Forst, the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders, described aspects of their treatment in police custody, prosecution and the financial claims against them as “deeply concerning”, warning of the chilling effect on environmental protest. We stand with our friends at Greenpeace, both here in Brussels, France and beyond, and with the activists who put themselves on the line to defend our environment.
Why should you give a sh*t. Because the right to protest is part of a healthy democracy. It gives people a way to challenge decisions, demand change and make their voices heard – including when those in power would rather not listen.
A seat at the table. Also this week, the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) announced it had lost its operational EU funding, warning it could be forced to cease operations by the end of the year.
ENAR brings together more than 140 grassroots and civil society organisations fighting racism across Europe. We stand with ENAR too. Public funding helps ensure that those advocating for people and the public interest have a seat at the table – not just those with shareholders, vested interests and deep pockets.
Both cases show why civic space cannot be taken for granted. Greenpeace has been a backbone of the global environmental movement for decades. ENAR has fought racism across Europe for almost 30 years. We stand firmly with both. Defending civil society means defending everyone’s right to organise, protest and be heard.
💚 Stand with Greenpeace 💚 💜 Stand with ENAR 💜
🚨 TIPPING POINTS WORK BOTH WAYS
Another climate warning siren. August was the joint-hottest month ever recorded globally, at 1.65°C above pre-industrial levels. After a summer of deadly heatwaves, drought and wildfires across Europe, the direction of travel is hardly a mystery: continued fossil fuel burning means more warming, and greater risks with every fraction of a degree.
But there is another kind of tipping point. New research finds that targeted action could trigger “cascades of progress”. Some positive tipping points have already been reached. We know the risks are growing. We also know that acting now can change where we end up.
Remember this, President von der Leyen? In her 2022 State of the Union, she looked back at the fossil fuel crisis of the 1970s and Europe’s failure to break its reliance on oil. Her conclusion was remarkably clear: “the real problem was fossil fuels themselves, not just their price.”
Four years and another fossil fuel crisis later, that warning feels worth revisiting.
Over to you, President von der Leyen. Ahead of next week’s State of the European Union, more than 200 organisations and associations from civil society, industry and beyond are calling for an independent, science-based assessment of Europe’s fossil fuel dependence – and what it will take to end it.
The call: make this fossil fuel crisis Europe’s last.
📰 ALSO THIS WEEK EU watchdog called in… again.
We were among five not-for-profit organisations filing a formal complaint with the European Ombudswoman this week, alleging maladministration over the Commission’s decision to review the Water Framework Directive – Europe’s main water protection law – before gathering evidence or consulting stakeholders. The complaint also scrutinises disproportionate industry influence, including far greater access for sectors such as mining than for civil society. That is civil society doing its job: holding institutions to account in the public interest.
Only 9 out of 60? A new investigation found that just 9 of 60 animal welfare meetings held by Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi were with civil society groups. Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority involved industry interests. Meanwhile, the End the Cage Age coalition – including the EEB – gathered outside the Commission this week, demanding action on its promise to phase out cages on EU farms.
Progress on pesticides and drinking water. A new draft from the Irish Council Presidency would keep pesticides linked to cancer, genetic mutations or reproductive harm out of fast-track renewals proposed under the “Food and Feed Omnibus”, while strengthening safeguards on hazardous residues. Meanwhile, Denmark has proposed banning pesticide use in vulnerable groundwater areas to better protect drinking water. Two welcome signs that when it comes to protecting people from pesticide pollution, progress is still possible.
By: Ben Snelson. Special thanks to the EEB’s editorial team: Roi Gomez. Editor: Christian Skrivervik
🧠✨ DOPAMINE HITS
As ever, here are a few happy updates to get your weekend off to a perky start:
- Endangered West African leopards show signs of recovery, despite odds. ‘It’s a win’. Read more here
- Destroying nature is now punishable by law in Belgium. Read more here
- Pope suggests adding ecological destruction as a new sin. Read more here
- Lincolnshire has welcomed its first baby beaver in 400 years. Read more here
🧚 THE JOB FAIRY
- We are hiring! The European Environmental Bureau is hiring a part-time Office Coordinator
- ClientEarth is looking for a Head of People and Culture
- European Transport Workers’ Federation is looking for a Strategic Communications Manager
- International Union for Conservation of Nature is looking for a Biodiversity Project Administrator
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