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On Thursday, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced changes to EU financial tools to help circular economy projects and businesses secure funding and support the realization of EU climate goals. The changes open €24 billion (~US$26.4B) in funding for businesses looking to transition to a circular economy model.

European lawmakers want the European Union to take steps to promote more durable and more easily repairable consumer products, in order to reduce waste and conserve resources.

To counter the impact of unsustainable palm oil production, such as deforestation and habitat degradation, the European Parliament has approved a resolution to develop a single certification scheme for palm oil entering the EU market and phase out the use of vegetable oils that drive deforestation by 2020. It is Parliament's first resolution on the issue, but it is now up to the European Commission to act upon it.

The European Parliament has voted in favor of a new renewable energy target requiring the European Union (EU) to source at least 32% renewable energy by 2030. The Parliament also voted in favor of increasing energy efficiency in the EU by 32.5% by 2030.

The European Commission released "Clean Energy for All Europeans," a new clean energy package that lays out plans to help the EU meet its climate targets under the Paris Agreement. The plans outlined in the package include cutting carbon emissions by 40% and increasing energy efficiency by 30% by 2030, phasing out coal subsidies, and more.

Global trade has made it easier to buy things. But our consumption habits often fuel threats to biodiversity - such as deforestation, overhunting and overfishing - thousands of miles away. Now, scientists have mapped how major consuming countries drive threats to endangered species elsewhere. Such maps could be useful for finding the most efficient ways to protect critical areas important for biodiversity, the researchers suggest in a new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. For example, the maps show that commodities used in the United States and the European Union exert several threats on marine species in Southeast Asia, mainly due to overfishing, pollution and aquaculture. The U.S. also exerts pressure on hotspots off the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and at the mouth of the Orinoco around Trinidad and Tobago. European Union's impacts extend to the islands around Madagascar: Réunion, Mauritius and the Seychelles. The maps also revealed some unexpected linkages. For instance, the impact of U.S. consumption in Brazil appears to be much greater in southern Brazil (in the Brazilian Highlands where agriculture and grazing are extensive) than inside the Amazon basin, which receives a larger chunk of the attention. The U.S. also has high biodiversity footprint in southern Spain and Portugal, due to their impacts on threatened fish and bird species. These countries are rarely perceived as threat hotspots.

The European Commission's newly released Roadmap for the EU Strategy on Plastics in a Circular Economy outlines the problems Europe is facing with plastics and four areas on which the Plastics Strategy will focus later this year, including improving the economics, quality and uptake of plastic recycling and reuse. But the Break Free From Plastic Movement says the Commission's plan fails to get to the root of the plastics problem.

The citizens of four major European countries think the impacts of climate change such as severe floods and storms are already affecting them, according to a major new polling study. The research dispels the idea that global warming is widely seen as a future problem, and also shows strong support for action to tackle global warming, including subsidies for clean energy and big financial penalties for nations that refuse to be part of the international climate deal signed in Paris in 2015 - as US president Donald Trump has threatened.

European lawmakers are poised to sign off on a law that would allow airlines to avoid paying carbon fees for long-haul flights terminating in Europe. The move disappointed greens, who said lawmakers had secured little beyond vague promises of future action in exchange for the move. "European governments have conceded again to international pressure without getting anything meaningful in return," said transport activist Bill Hemmings

Nestlé pledged to achieve zero waste-to-landfill status at all 150 of its European factories by 2020. So far, over 25 of the company's European factories have already achieved this milestone.

Low-lying European cities such as Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Hamburg, Germany, are preparing for rising sea levels, and their innovative methods could prove instructive for cities in similar predicaments around the world. One strategy: "building with nature" by using sand and marsh grasses to protect coastlines. 

The European parliament has overwhelmingly backed a wide-ranging ban on single-use plastics in an effort to tackle pollution in seas, fields and waterways. Under the proposed directive, items such as plastic straws, cotton swabs, disposable plastic plates and cutlery would be banned by 2021, and 90% of plastic bottle recycled by 2025.

Obesity, mental health problems, air and noise pollution, heat stress and social exclusion - these are just some of the health and social challenges Europeans face today. But according to a new report released by Friends of the Earth in conjunction with the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), increased exposure to nature and green space could help improve both physical and mental health.

A coalition of European energy companies from 26 European Union member nations have jointly pledged to phase out investments in new coal power plants after 2020. Poland and Greece are the only EU nations absent from the pledge.

BMW Group, Daimler, and other carmakers in the European Union would be required to improve the fuel economy of their vehicles or increase the proportion of electric cars they produce to meet 2030 carbon dioxide reduction targets proposed by the European Commission Nov. 8.

the European Commission (EC) announced it will begin phasing out coal subsidies and reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030 under a new clean energy package. The new clean energy plan outlines a series of legislative proposals and measures designed to help the EU meet its Paris Agreement climate goals, and why EU officials are optimistic, the green business community remains skeptical.

European Union lawmakers endorsed a draft version of carbon market reforms aimed at further reducing greenhouse gas emissions while providing protection for industries requiring intensive energy consumption. The ultimate goal is a 40% emissions reduction by 2030 without loss of industry, and the proposal will go to a plenary vote in February

Increasingly common in Europe, municipal "waste-to-energy" incinerators are being touted as a green trash-disposal alternative. But critics contend that these large-scale incinerators tend to discourage recycling and lead to greater waste.

Fifty-seven global companies organized by the Climate Group signed a letter urging the European Council to adopt a strong energy and climate policy framework during their meeting later this month. Signatories included 3M (CEF member), Coca Cola Enterprises, General Electric (CEF member), GlaxoSmithKline, IKEA, Philips, Shell, and Unilever (CEF member).

A new report from the European Commission has concluded that wind power is the renewable energy technology with the largest and most successful deployment over the last 20 years.

Wind energy has been utilized more successfully than any other form of renewable energy for the past 20 years, according to the European Commission Joint Research Center. Over the past two decades, wind energy's global installed capacity has grown from 3 gigawatts to 370 GW, the report said. The U.S. added 131 megawatts of installed wind capacity in the first quarter of 2015 with 68 new turbines, the American Wind Energy Association said.