ClientEarth Europe

Simplifying regulations is the wrong path, moving away from the high level of protection enshrined in primary EU law.

The real challenge lies in weak political commitment & poor implementation. Both should be addressed through improved enforcement & coordination. 3/3

Weakening these safeguards would directly contradict the EU’s commitment to preserving, protecting & improving environmental quality.

Growing scientific evidence shows the impact of pesticides’ significant harm to workers, consumers, wildlife, and ecosystems. 2/3

👉The pesticide-related safeguards that we currently have are not just to be followed if people feel like it.

They're constitutional obligations, which require a high level of environmental & health protection. 🧵

#EUOceanWeek is underway🐠

UNOC, Attenborough's 'Ocean', the High Seas Treaty and a wave of legal actions against destructive fishing in MPAs - they're some examples of why 2025 is the "Year of the Ocean".
We still have time to protect it.

Let's remind EU leaders that it's on them to make it happen

It's #EUOceanWeek!

Check out what's on the cards and help us spread the word 💙

www.oceanweek.eu

🚌 Ready to roll!

Our own OmniBus is hitting the streets today

Citizens are speaking up against the deregulation of environmental laws, and we’re bringing their message

@ec.europa.eu: don’t throw nature under the bus!
#HandsOffNature

💥Our message is loud, clear, and rolling: STOP THE OMNIBUS.

🚍 We are making our tour around the EU institutions to make sure lawmakers can’t look away.

We want clean air, safe water, and a future for all.
Follow us 👉 handsoffnature.eu/the-campaign/
#HandsOffNature

The Campaign - Hands Off Nature

Follow us 👉 handsoffnature.eu/the-campaign/

@eeb.org @wwf.eu @birdlifeeurope.bsky.social

The fight for nature just hit the streets.
Our message is loud abd clear: STOP THE OMNIBUS. 🚌🌿
We made our tour around the EU institutions to make sure decision-makers can’t look away.
No backroom deals. No rollbacks.
Just clean air, safe water & a future for people and nature.
#HandsOffNature

🛑What’s happening with chromium-6 is part of a bigger trend with chemical regulation in the EU. Authorities are loosening regulation and leaving chemical companies to deal with the risks.

We believe that the EU needs to tighten up regulations, not make it easier for companies to poison us. 4/4

Under the new restriction, the use of chromium-6 would be allowed as long as certain conditions are met.
But this means the use of chromium-6 would start from a place of being permitted not banned.

This would benefit chemical companies, not people. 3/4

Currently in the EU chromium-6 is under relatively tight regulation & requires specific permission to be used.

EU authorities want to change this with a new restriction, which would be a step backwards in limiting use of this extremely harmful chemical. 2/4

Erin’s legal victory over a utility co. in California that was poisoning local water with extremely toxic chemical chromium-6, led to a $333m settlement for affected communities & spotlit industrial chemical poisoning.

☠️ But the EU's proposed new ‘restriction’ on chromium-6 would undermine it all🧵

☠️ As we await the European Commission’s proposals for the Environmental Omnibus & Circular Economy Act, we’re sending letters along with 40 other concerned organisations, urging EU leaders to uphold their commitment to transparency & traceability around chemicals.

ecostandard.org/publications...

After 5 years since the last assessment on the state of nature, it's clear that biodiversity loss & environmental damage are accelerating. Yet, the Commission thinks it's a good idea to roll back the very laws that protect our rivers, our forests, and our health.

We say: #HandsOffNature.

Lawyers roll their eyes as EU Commission blames “IT issues” for another deforestation regulation delay | ClientEarth View the press release

1,2 million Europeans asked for a strong law to make sure we stop driving deforestation. Last month, almost 200,000 people told the EU to keep their #HandsOffNature.

Instead, we got another delay. Our reaction:

BREAKING This would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic.

The Commission is using its own inadequate IT system as an excuse to delay the world’s most important forest law for a second time in 12 months.

But we can't hit pause on the climate crisis while they upgrade to a bigger CPU.

🌊🐟Great news for the ocean and all of us who depend on it🐟🌊

The High Seas Treaty (#BBNJ Agreement) to protect vulnerable ocean habitats can finally kick in!

This is another powerful tool we can use to make sure we #TurnTheTide on ocean protection for people and nature. 🧵

ClientEarth takes European Commission to EU’s highest court over illegal transparency rollback | ClientEarth ClientEarth lawyers have sued the European Commission for illegally changing its transparency rules

Since the sticky #Pfizergate scandal, when President von der Leyen’s undisclosed WhatsApp exchanges came to light, similar stories keep surfacing. Instead of striving for more transparency, the Commission went the opposite direction.
We're going to court to make them withdraw these unlawful changes.

⚠️We’re taking the EU Commission to EU's highest court - because their work should have no secrets.

The Commission tweaked the definition of “documents” - excluding draft impact reports, SMS, and other key records.

This goes against the right to access to documents, and breaches EU law.

🚨 Court action🚨

We’ve filed a case against Nestlé Poland for misleading recycling claims on plastic water bottles.

Claims on bottles from one of its water brands including ‘I am recyclable’ and 'I am made from another bottle’ falsely portray plastic as circular & fully recyclable ⬇️

“Governments could have acted quickly & forced the clean-up of these dirty vehicles. Instead, a decade with insufficient action followed. We’re suing the French govt today because we think it’s high time it acted to make the air we breathe healthier again.” Gautier Rolland, ClientEarth lawyer 5/5

So, along with our partners, we've asked the Paris Administrative Court to recognise the French State’s responsibility & order rapid measures.

👉These could include investigations, recalls & sanctions against manufacturers.

This case could set in motion a ripple effect across Europe. 4/5

Despite there being clear evidence, a 2023 complaint we brought with @fne.asso.fr & @clcv-asso.bsky.social, and follow-up engagement with authorities, the French government has failed to hold carmakers accountable & to order recalls at the scale required. 3/5

These devices allow vehicles to pass lab tests while still polluting far above permitted levels in the real world.

This is a huge threat to public health & the economy - these emissions are linked to asthma, strokes, cancer & premature deaths, disproportionally impacting the most vulnerable. 2/5

📢We’re suing the French government for inaction on the Dieselgate scandal📢

10 years after the Dieselgate scandal broke, the French govt has failed to hold carmakers accountable. Evidence shows millions of vehicles likely have emissions-cheating devices: www.clientearth.org/latest/press...

Why it matters:
-Clean air is a fundamental right, not a luxury.
-Poor air quality harms children & vulnerable populations the most.
-Weak economic justifications were rejected - studies show that low-income households often don’t even own cars, yet they suffer the worst effects of pollution.

If you live in BXL, you know the struggle: the never-ending traffic jams at rush hour, the badly-insulated flats, and your weather app's air quality index always looming on "Moderate".

This win means that the long-overdue clean-up of Brussels’ air can continue, protecting the health of everyone.