WWF Warns of Threat to EU Green Deal
A new WWF annual review is flagging growing deregulation pressure on the European Green Deal. The concern is that the push for 'competitiveness' could weaken key environmental and climate regulations, posing a risk to long-term sustainability goals.
The push for "simplification" has led to concrete legislative rollbacks. So-called "omnibus" packages are actively watering down sustainability rules, with one such package in November exempting 80% of companies from mandatory sustainability disclosures. The Commission's stated goal is to "radically lighten the regulatory load," a move WWF labels a perilous shift away from foundational Green Deal commitments. This deregulation drive is gaining momentum after widespread farmers' protests across Europe in 2023 and 2024. In response to blockades and demonstrations against rising costs and environmental rules, the EU has backtracked on several green policies. This includes delaying a law to prevent deforestation in supply chains and weakening rules on pesticide use and land fallowing for biodiversity. A key battleground has been the Nature Restoration Law, which aims to restore at least 20% of the EU's land and sea by 2030. After intense opposition from farming groups and right-leaning political parties, the law was significantly weakened and its final passage remains stalled after several member states withdrew support. In the Netherlands, this shift is mirrored in the new government's climate policy, which explicitly aims to adhere only to baseline EU agreements rather than pursuing more ambitious national targets. This includes scrapping the mandate to install heat pumps by 2026 and ending subsidies for electric vehicles in 2025, signaling a broader slowdown in the domestic energy transition. For urban development, this creates a complex regulatory landscape. The new Dutch Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet), effective in 2024, consolidates environmental laws with stricter sustainability criteria. However, this runs parallel to the national government's reduced climate ambitions and ongoing delays in housing projects due to strict nitrogen emission rulings. The Dutch government's plan to build 900,000 new homes by 2030 is caught in this cross-current. While the national climate agreement calls for a transition away from natural gas in the built environment, the rollback of specific incentives and the broader European "greenlash" create significant uncertainty for long-term circular construction and decarbonization efforts.
