Key Points
- The European Commission has drafted a plan to cut environmental regulations for businesses.
- The proposal would scrap requirements for individual factories to have detailed pollution and waste management plans.
- Companies would also no longer have to create climate “transformation plans” or report on certain chemical uses.
- The EU says the goal is to reduce bureaucracy and save companies an estimated 1 billion euros annually.
The European Commission is planning to roll back some of its key environmental laws to reduce bureaucracy for businesses. According to a draft proposal, the new plan targets the strict requirements for industries to report on their pollution and waste.
The proposal, part of a wider EU effort to cut red tape, would make significant changes. Currently, individual industrial sites and large farms must have a detailed “environmental management system” (EMS) outlining how they plan to reduce their environmental impact.
The new plan would scrap this. Instead, a company could create a simplified EMS to cover all of its facilities. This new, slimmer version would also remove certain disclosure rules, such as the need to report the use of hazardous chemicals.
Furthermore, the draft suggests eliminating the requirement for industrial plants to have a “transformation plan” to align with climate goals. It would also let livestock and fish farms stop reporting their water and energy consumption.
The EU claims these changes will help achieve environmental goals in a “more efficient, less costly and smarter way,” potentially cutting administrative costs by around 1 billion euros per year.
This move comes as Brussels faces intense pressure from some businesses and governments to weaken green regulations to help them compete with rivals in China and the U.S. However, the plan is already drawing fire.
Environmental campaigners, along with some businesses and investors, accuse the EU of gutting essential laws critical to managing climate change risks. This proposal follows other recent rollbacks, including a delay to an anti-deforestation law and the weakening of green conditions for farming subsidies.
