NEWSLETTER N° 188 – 30 September 2024

Is September the new February? Because it seems like love is in the air… Indeed, whilst presenting Meloni with the Global Citizen Awards, Musk was full of compliments for the Italian Prime Minister, prompting rumours of a love story which he jokingly shut down. Between Meloni and the Green Deal however, there is no love lost, as she recently called it ‘disastrous’ during a presentation. 

Batteries and Waste Batteries Directive: The Commission has launched a public consultation on the Delegated Act on the methodology for calculating and verifying targets for recycling efficiency and material recovery. 

Renewable Energy Directive (RED III): On 26 September, the European Commission announced that it had sent letters of formal notice to 26 Member States ‘for failing to fully transpose into national law the provisions of the revised Renewable Energy Directive related to the simplification and acceleration of permitting procedures’

Ambient air quality Directive approved: During last week’s plenary session, the Ambient air quality Directive was formally approved by the Parliament. 

Greenhouse gas emissions (ETS2): On 23 September, the European Commission adopted a new implementing Regulation which sets out the rules for the monitoring and reporting of emissions from the road transport and building sector. 

Guidance on waste heat from the Commission – Priority question for the Commission: On 16 September, Ms Simson, on behalf of the European Commission, answered the priority question by MEP Andreas Schwab (Germany, EPP) on guidance on waste heat from the Commission. 

Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-5) – High Ambition Coalition statement: In preparation for the negotiating session for the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution, in September, the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) to end plastic pollution published a statement calling for ‘effective and common legally-binding global rules’.

Plastic Recycling – California’s case against ExxonMobil: On 22 September, Californian Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that he will be filing a lawsuit against ExxonMobil, an American plastics producer for ‘deceiving Californians (..) by promising that recycling would solve the problem of the constant increase in the plastic waste it produces’. 

ENVI Committee exchange of views on Hungarian Council Presidency: On 23 September, ENVI Members had an exchange with Dr Anikó Raisz, State Secretary for Environmental Affairs and the Circular Economy on the priorities of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council. 

Composition of the EU Energy Platform Industry Advisory Group – Ombudsman decision: On 18 September, the European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly closed the enquiry into the unbalance in the composition of the EU Energy Platform Industry Advisory Group.

Green Deal – Giorgia Meloni speech: Italian media La Stampa reports that on 17 September, Italian Prime-Minister, Giorgia Meloni gave a presentation to the Italian Federation of companies, Confindustria, during which she denounced the Green Deal for its ‘ideological approach’ which favoured ‘decarbonisation at the cost of deindustralisation’. 

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) – The role of local and regional authorities in the transition to a circular economy: On 17 September, the opinion of the Committee of the Regions on ‘the role of local and regional authorities in the transition to a circular economy’ to which FEAD contributed, was published in the Official journal of the European Union. 

CAN Europe report on Paris agreement: A report by CAN Europe on the Paris agreement and published on 25 September, states that achieving climate neutrality in 2040 instead of 2050 would save nearly 5 trillion euros. 

The World Nuclear Industry status report: In a report published on 19 September and  titled ‘The world Nuclear Industry status’, experts explain that the West is still dependent on the Russian nuclear industry: ‘the share of Russia’s supply of natural uranium, conversion services and enrichment destined for the EU has increased between 2021 and 2023’. 

FEAD News: On 25 September, FEAD’s Senior Legal & Policy Officer, Aizea-Astor Hoschen, gave a presentation for GlassCircle‘s final conference.

At FEAD, we’re gearing up for an exciting end of the year with two key events: 

On 5 December, we’re organising a conference on Circular Economy Priorities in Brussels. 

On 31 October, we will be co-hosting a joint conference on ‘Higher energy and material security in EU countries’ in Prague.