Last Wednesday, the European Parliament and European Union (EU) Member States agreed on a new set of standards for issuing green bonds (Reuters). There is currently variation in national practices for green bond issuance throughout the bloc, making it hard for investors to distinguish bonds that are high quality from greenwashing.

On February 16, the European Commission banned the use of lead shots in wetlands throughout the bloc (Guardian). Many European countries had already made using lead shots in wetlands illegal prior to the ban, but not all.

On February 5, members of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission agreed to adopt new fishing rules to conserve tuna stocks in the Indian Ocean. The new measures will increase the monitoring of fish-aggregating devices (FADs), require all FADs to be registered, and restrict the number of fishing aids permitted for each vessel starting in 2024 (Guardian).

Last Tuesday, the European Union (EU) struck a deal to impose a carbon dioxide emissions tariff on imported goods (Reuters).

On December 6, the European Union (EU) agreed to adopt a law banning the trade of commodities linked to deforestation and forest degradation (Mongabay).

In the final days of the COP27 summit, the European Union (EU) announced that it would back the establishment of a loss and damage fund. This fund, a core demand and top agenda item for many developing countries, would provide financing to help those countries respond to and recover from climate disasters (Reuters). It also marks a divergence from most climate funding to date, which has been directed at mitigation measures.

Last week, the European Parliament voted to phase out certain subsidies that encourage production and use of wood energy––the largest source of renewable energy in Europe (New York Times).

Last Wednesday, the European Union’s (EU’s) executive branch announced an emergency plan to reduce natural gas consumption in preparation for energy shortages this winter and shifting the bloc away from dependence on Russian energy (Reuters). The plan demands that between August 1 and March 31 each EU country must ration gas and decrease consumption by 15% (New York Times).

The European Commission proposed a law at the end of February that would hold companies in the European Union (EU) accountable for environmental and human rights violations throughout their supply chains. The Corporate Due Diligence law will be discussed and modified by the EU Parliament and 27 Member governments over the next year. The draft released in February would apply to about 13,000 EU companies, those with more than 500 employees and annual revenue above approximately $170 million.

After over a year of debate and lobbying, the European Commission revealed its proposal to designate nuclear power and natural gas as “sustainable” in the European Union’s (EU's) sustainable finance taxonomy.