Legal & Regulatory News

Environmental NGOs challenge inclusion of bioenergy and chemicals in EU Taxonomy

On 2 February 2022, ClientEarth, as well as a separate coalition of environmental NGOs, filed internal review requests to the European Commission alleging that it has unlawfully labelled bioenergy, bio-based plastics and chemicals used to make plastics as 'sustainable' under the EU Taxonomy. Both groups argue that the categorisation of these substances as sustainable is scientifically flawed and undermines the credibility of the EU Taxonomy.

The internal review process allows certain environmental NGOs to request that an internal review should take place where an EU body has adopted an administrative act under environmental law or, in the case of an alleged administrative omission, should have adopted such an act. The European Commission has 16 weeks to respond to the request for internal review. ClientEarth has indicated that if the alleged breaches of law are not fixed, it may seek to challenge the European Commission's decision in the European Court of Justice.

Click here to access the statement on ClientEarth's website.

Click here to view a list of the coalition of NGOs