Weekly News and Views: Rulings, retreats and regulatory overhauls

The latest sustainability policy and regulatory news

The week that was

Even after the numbing effect of multiple retrograde steps for climate action recently, this week’s court ruling against Greenpeace still sent major reverberations through environmental circles. The non-profit has been ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages over its 2016 protests against the construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline.

The ruling could be disastrous for Greenpeace in the US, which has said the costs could bankrupt its operations in the country. But even more worrying could be its wider implications, with campaigners saying it could have catastrophic consequences for environmental justice and free speech.

Person in the news

The leader of the UK Conservative party, Kemi Badenoch, this week broke with the party’s longstanding commitment to achieving net zero by 2050. Speaking at an event in London on Tuesday, Badenoch claimed the target will either “bankrupt” the country or could not be achieved without a “significant drop” in living standards.

The Tories have supported the goal since 2019, when former prime minister Theresa May’s government passed a law making the target legally binding.

May was among those who criticised Badenoch’s comments, writing on X that the target was “challenging but achievable” and that “delaying action will only harm the next generation and increase both the economic and social costs of climate change”.

The Labour party ridiculed the leader of the opposition’s remarks, with energy secretary Ed Miliband commenting in parliament that “the opposition is off to the Wacky Races, frankly, when it comes to net zero”, in reference to the chaotic 1960s cartoon series.

But Labour, which has been in government less than nine months, has also faced accusations in recent weeks that its commitment to green policies is wavering. As the Starmer administration grapples with major economic and geopolitical headwinds it is legitimate to wonder how steadfast its own commitment to net zero will prove to be.

Europe

The last hearings in a climate lawsuit brought by a Peruvian farmer against German energy company RWE have concluded in the Higher Regional Court in the German city of Hamm. The lawsuit seeks damages based on the negative environmental impacts caused by the company’s carbon emissions. A ruling on the case is expected on April 14.

The European Commission has announced three new partnerships under Horizon Europe — its research and innovation programme — to drive growth, sustainability and resilience. The partnerships are centred on advanced materials, textiles and photovoltaics. The first funding opportunities will become available later this year.

The European Council has agreed its negotiating position on new rules to regulate genetically modified crops. One of the benefits of using new varieties of modified seeds is that these could be more resilient to the effects of climate change and require fewer fertilisers and pesticides, the council argues.

UBS has become the latest bank to downgrade its emission targets. In its sustainability report, published this week, it said it would now aim to decarbonise its own in-house operations by 2035, instead of by 2025. The banks said the change “reflects our enlarged corporate real estate portfolio following the acquisition of the Credit Suisse Group”.

UK

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has published a Statement of Strategic Priorities for the UK’s National Wealth Fund. It sets out that clean energy, advanced manufacturing, digital technologies and transport are priority sectors, with carbon capture, green hydrogen, green steel and ports identified as example areas for investment. Although its mandate has been expanded to enable investments in “dual-use technologies and to support supply chain resilience to better support defence and security”, defence itself is not identified as a priority sector. The chancellor previously indicated the NWF’s scope would be widened to include a focus on defence.

The UK’s Treasury has published a policy paper arguing that the UK’s regulatory system is acting as a barrier to economic growth due to “high administrative costs” and “overly onerous and disproportionate reporting requirements”. The government is planning to “overhaul” the regulatory system, the paper says, and outlines an “action plan” to reduce regulatory “complexity”. Environmental and planning regulations are set to be streamlined for “nationally significant infrastructure projects” and a lead environmental regulator appointed for major projects in which multiple regulators have an interest, in order to make decisions on their behalf.

The UK’s energy secretary, Ed Miliband, visited China for talks on climate co-operation between the two countries. Miliband met National Energy Administration head Wang Hongzhi and ecology and environment minister Huang Runqiu to discuss “pragmatic engagement on the climate crisis”, as well as forced labour in supply chains, human rights and freedoms in Hong Kong, and China’s ongoing support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a government press release. The UK will launch a “formal Climate Dialogue with Chinese counterparts” later this year, it adds.

The UK government has announced its first major project for Great British Energy, a public-private co-investment vehicle for clean energies. An investment of £200mn from the UK government and GBE will be used to install solar panels on the roofs of schools and National Health Service sites.

Environmental activist investor Follow This has recommended shareholders vote against the chair of BP, Helge Lund, in protest at the company’s decision to reverse its climate strategy without seeking shareholder approval. “We don’t want the chair to resign. We want him to heed the message he has crossed a governance line and retrace his steps by offering shareholders a vote,” says the organisation’s founder Mark van Baal.

The Science Based Targets initiative has released its corporate net zero standard draft, which it says will provide a “science-based, innovative and pragmatic” framework for companies setting emissions reduction targets across their operations and supply chains. Proposed changes include new options for tackling Scope 3 emissions and smaller companies having the choice to adopt simplified requirements.

A report published by UK-based investment company Redwheel argues that the recommendations on electricity prices outlined in Mario Draghi’s report on EU competitiveness also apply to the UK. The report recommends a number of policy actions that should be taken to reduce high and volatile electricity prices in the UK and boost economic growth.

The UK’s Office for Environmental Protection has launched an investigation into possible failures to comply with the Water Framework Directive Regulations by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency. Last year the OEP said UK plans to clean up waterways were “too generic” and did not address “specific issues at individual sites”. The investigation will look at whether the issues raised in the 2024 report represent failures to comply with the regulation.

US

Democratic lawmakers in California have introduced a trio of bills in an attempt to protect pre-Trump federal water rules if the administration moves to abolish them. State senator Ben Allen, who authored a bill to enshrine the Clean Water Act in state law, said the Trump administration’s actions have made it “more important than ever to future-proof these precious natural resources”. The other two bills, introduced in recent weeks, attempt to limit per and polyfluoroalkyl substances — PFAS — in drinking water, and provide state protections for rivers if they lose their “wild and scenic” designation at a federal level. Industry group the California Chamber of Commerce has already opposed Allen’s bill.

Illinois lawmakers are debating introducing a deforestation rule, which would be the first of its kind in a US state. The Deforestation-Free Illinois Act would prevent the state, or any state government agency, from purchasing products containing tropical hardwood, including teak and mahogany. Like the EU’s Deforestation Regulation, the act is further focused on seven key commodities: beef, palm oil, soy, cocoa, paper and pulp, and coffee. Any state agency purchasing these products, defined as forest-risk commodities, would need confirmation from the contractor that they were not produced on land where deforestation has occurred.

Meanwhile in West Virginia, lawmakers are attempting to reinvigorate the coal industry. Senators have introduced the Coal Renaissance Act, which aims to keep existing coal operations running and to open up new opportunities for the industry.

A jury of nine people in the US state of North Dakota has found environmental group Greenpeace liable for more than US$660mn in damages related to protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline in 2016. Texas-headquartered fossil fuel company Energy Transfer, which launched the lawsuit, is facing a counter-lawsuit by Greenpeace in the Netherlands, on the grounds its legal action amounts to a strategic lawsuit against public participation. The EU recently passed an anti-Slapp directive to end strategic lawsuits aimed at shutting down corporate criticism that is in the public interest.

Americas

Negotiations have resumed at the Council of the International Seabed Authority in Kingston, Jamaica, around the regulations needed to mine minerals on the deep-sea floor. Deep-sea mining remains a heavily contested issue, with some countries, such as France, supportive of a moratorium on the practice, while others, including China, consider it an opportunity to facilitate the green transition. One major issue countries are discussing is how to proceed if an application for exploitation is submitted before the adoption of regulations.

As one of his first actions since assuming office last week, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has ditched the consumer carbon tax. Analysts in Canada say the move was largely strategic, neutralising one of the Liberal party’s most unpopular policies — and one of the Conservatives’ only attack lines — ahead of an election, which will take place on April 28. Carney had previously indicated he was not a fan of the tax and thought it could be replaced with a more effective policy.

Asia-Pacific

A federal court in Australia has handed pension fund Active Super a A$10.5mn greenwashing fine for misleading claims regarding its environmental, social and governance credentials. Last year, the court ruled that from February 1 2021 to June 30 2023 the scheme invested in securities it had claimed were eliminated or restricted by ESG investment screens.

Research by Yale University’s Program on Climate Change Communication has found that Indian citizens expressed stronger support for the country’s 2070 net zero target when it was positioned alongside policies intended to mitigate its impact on workers and the economy. These included jobs programmes for workers in the coal power industry, investment or redistribution of funds collected via coal taxes and adaptation policies to protect the most vulnerable citizens and critical infrastructure.