| Entity |
Date |
Publication |
| EU Commission |
06/01/2026 |
The European Commission has published a Commission Decision (EU) 2026/66, which amends several existing EU Ecolabel Decisions by updating the period of validity of the Ecolabel criteria and the related assessment and verification requirements for a range of product groups, namely textile products, bed mattresses, furniture, footwear, and wood-, cork- and bamboo-based floor coverings, adjusting the applicable deadlines in the amended Decisions to ensure continuity of the EU Ecolabel framework for those products as set out in the text published in the Official Journal of the European Union. |
| EU Commission |
27/11/2025 |
The European Commission has published a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document on the “Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition” Directive, providing clarifications on the scope and application of the new consumer protection rules that amend Directive 2005/29/EC and Directive 2011/83/EU, including explanations on prohibited greenwashing practices, requirements for environmental claims, rules on sustainability labels, information obligations on durability and reparability, and the types of commercial practices that will be considered misleading, with the FAQ intended to support authorities, businesses and consumers in understanding and applying the new obligations once the Directive is transposed and enforced. |
| EFRAG |
03/12/2025 |
The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group has published its draft simplified European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) as part of its technical advice delivered to the European Commission presenting a revised set of sustainability reporting standards developed under its mandate from the Commission to respond to feedback from a public consultation and field tests, which introduce substantial simplifications compared to the first set of ESRS — including streamlined approaches to materiality assessment, reduced mandatory data points, greater flexibility in value chain data, and proportionality mechanisms — with supporting materials such as factsheets, a basis for conclusions, logs of amendments and comparative tables also made available to aid understanding of the draft simplified standards. |
| Department of Environmental Conservation of New York |
11/12/2025 |
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has published on 11 December 2025 an announcement outlining a package of new and updated policies, final guidance and supporting resources on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including the issuance of final guidance for publicly owned treatment works on managing PFAS, updates to existing DEC policies, the release of additional technical and background studies, and related actions intended to support state agencies, local authorities and stakeholders in addressing PFAS contamination and improving regulatory oversight and environmental protection in New York State. |
| EU Commission |
12/12/2025 |
The European Commission has published on 12 December 2025 the third milestone summary of the Textile Preparation Study, which presents interim findings of the ongoing preparatory work supporting future EU policy measures on textiles, covering the scope of textile products placed on the EU market, the structure and functioning of textile value chains, and the environmental impacts associated with textile production, use and end-of-life, including data on material composition, waste generation, reuse and recycling pathways, and outlining the analytical basis, methodology and next steps for assessing policy options, as set out in the milestone summary document. |
| EU Commission |
12/12/2025 |
The European Commission has published in December 2025 a draft Commission Implementing Regulation laying down rules for the application of Directive 2008/98/EC as regards criteria to determine when plastic waste ceases to be waste, with the draft setting out proposed EU-wide end-of-waste criteria for plastic waste, including conditions related to eligible input waste, recycling and treatment processes, quality requirements for output materials, quality management systems, and documentation and conformity assessment, as presented in the draft text made available for consultation prior to adoption. |
| EU Commission |
17/12/2025 |
Commission Decision (EU) 2025/2607 of 17 December 2025 establishes updated EU Ecolabel criteria for three product groups: decorative paints, varnishes, and related products; performance coatings and related products; and water-based aerosol spray paints, replacing the previous criteria for “indoor and outdoor paints and varnishes” from Decision 2014/312/EU which were due to expire at the end of 2025. The Decision, adopted by the European Commission under Regulation (EC) No 66/2010, splits the former product group into separate categories to better reflect market practice, introduces criteria aimed at limiting environmental impact over the products’ full life cycle (including reduced hazardous substances and emissions such as VOCs), and sets related assessment and verification requirements. It also provides transitional arrangements for existing Ecolabel licences and applications, repeals the earlier Decision 2014/312/EU, and sets the validity of the new criteria until 31 December 2032. |
| South Korea |
17/12/2025 |
South Korea’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment presented its 2026 major work plan, emphasizing a “de-plastics circular economy” approach and outlining key policy measures including the full implementation of the recycled material usage obligation system for covered PET bottles (introduced by amendment to the Act on the Promotion of Saving and Recycling of Resources and set to take effect on 1 January 2026 with a 10 % usage rate and planned gradual expansion), the enhancement of recycling contribution fees differentiated by recycling difficulty with future rates for difficult-to-recycle packaging to rise to a maximum of 30 %, and additional initiatives such as banning free provision of disposable cups in favour of a paid system linked to reusable cup incentives and introducing a K-eco design system to minimise environmental impact from product design, with indications that the current government is prioritising plastics reduction and recycling policy as part of its broader circular economy and decarbonisation objectives. |
| EU Commission |
17/12/2025 |
The European Commission has published a Note for Guidance on the implementation of Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/3190 concerning the use of bisphenol A (BPA) and other bisphenols and bisphenol derivatives with a harmonised classification for specific hazardous properties in materials and articles intended to come into contact with food, clarifying the scope of the Regulation, the substances covered, the types of food-contact materials concerned, and the practical application of the restrictions and transitional provisions laid down in the Regulation for business operators and competent authorities, as set out in the guidance published in the Official Journal of the European Union. |
| EU Commission |
18/12/2025 |
The European Commission has adopted Commission Regulation (EU) 2025/2006 on 18 December 2025, which corrects and amends Regulation (EU) 2023/1670 by updating the eco-design requirements for smartphones, mobile phones other than smartphones, cordless phones, and slate tablets under Directive 2009/125/EC, addressing technical and drafting issues in the original text and ensuring those requirements more accurately reflect policy intent and implementation needs in the eco-design framework. |
| UK Gov |
18/12/2025 |
The UK Government has published the document “Implementing the Nature Restoration Fund”, which sets out how the Nature Restoration Fund will operate in practice, including its purpose, governance and delivery arrangements, the role of Environmental Delivery Plans, and how developer contributions collected through the Fund will be used to support strategic habitat creation and restoration to address environmental impacts from development, alongside the responsibilities of public authorities and the intended integration of the Fund within the wider planning and environmental framework in England and Wales. |
| New Jersey |
18/12/2025 |
The New Jersey Legislature has published on 18 December 2025 the amended text (Third Reprint) of Senate Bill 1042, the “Protecting Against Forever Chemicals Act,” establishing product-focused requirements for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—defined as fluorinated organic chemicals containing at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom—and “intentionally added PFAS” (including PFAS degradation byproducts, but excluding a “technically unavoidable trace quantity” from impurities or manufacturing, storage, or packaging migration), with the scope covering cosmetics, carpets, fabric treatments, food packaging, and cookware, and providing that beginning two years after the act’s effective date no person may sell or distribute in New Jersey cosmetics, carpets/fabric treatments, or food packaging containing intentionally added PFAS (with exemptions for trace quantities and, for cosmetics, for PFAS only in electronic or internal components), while cookware manufacturers must label products sold in the State that contain intentionally added PFAS in handles or food-contact surfaces with the statement in English and Spanish “‘This product contains PFAS.” |
| EU Commission |
19/12/2025 |
The European Commission has published on 19 December 2025 a Commission Staff Working Document presenting an ex-post evaluation of the impact of the EU’s trade agreements on key environmental aspects, including the climate, which assesses agreements containing Trade and Sustainable Development chapters by examining their effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and relevance, reviews their contribution to the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements, regulatory cooperation, non-regression of environmental standards, trade in environmental goods and services, and alliance-building, and sets out the Commission services’ conclusions and lessons learned based on an external evaluation, case studies, stakeholder consultations and supporting analysis. |
| EU Commission |
22/12/2025 |
The European Commission has published on 22 December 2025 the paper “The new Clean Industrial Deal – How can new EU industrial policy support sustainability transitions, competitiveness and resilience?”, issued as part of the Single Market Economics Briefs series and authored by Paula Kivimaa under the GROW Fellowship programme, which examines the Clean Industrial Deal by situating it within the historical development of EU industrial policy and analysing it through a sustainability transitions perspective, with the stated aim of assessing how this new industrial policy approach can support sustainability transitions while also strengthening the competitiveness and resilience of the European Union’s industrial ecosystem |
| EU Commission |
23/12/2025 |
The European Commission has released on 23 December 2025 a new package of pilot measures to accelerate Europe’s transition to a circular economy and strengthen the recycling of plastics, focusing on improving competitiveness and sustainability of EU plastic recycling, with initiatives that include developing EU-wide criteria for when plastic recycled materials cease to be waste, enhancing market functioning for recycled plastics, and preparing the foundation for a future EU Circular Economy Law to be proposed in 2026; the measures are framed as an initial step towards deeper integration of circular principles, boosting innovation and investment in the sector while responding to economic and environmental challenges identified for recycling markets in Europe |
| EU Commission |
23/12/2025 |
The European Commission has published on its “Have Your Say” portal an ongoing public consultation on the evaluation of the Rules on Single-Use Plastics and Fishing Gear initiative, opening a call for evidence and online questionnaire on 23 December 2025 and keeping it open until 17 March 2026; the consultation seeks input from citizens, businesses, public authorities, NGOs and other stakeholders on the effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, relevance and EU added value of the current rules under the Single-Use Plastics Directive (EU) 2019/904 and related measures on fishing gear, with feedback to inform a planned evaluation report due by July 2027 that could shape potential future policy actions. |
| EU Commission |
23/12/2025 |
The European Commission has published on 23 December 2025 an initiative on EU-wide end-of-waste criteria for plastic waste, opening a feedback period running from 23 December 2025 to 26 January 2026 which seeks stakeholder input on a draft Commission implementing act intended to establish harmonised criteria determining when certain plastic waste ceases to be waste and becomes a product, in line with the Waste Framework Directive, with the objective of facilitating the circulation of recycled plastics within the internal market, reducing regulatory fragmentation across Member States, and supporting recycling and circular economy objectives by setting common conditions related to input materials, treatment processes and quality requirements. |
| EU Commission |
23/12/2025 |
The European Commission has published on 23 December 2025 a Communication titled “Accelerating Europe’s transition to a circular economy: a pilot project to boost the circularity of plastics” , which sets out the Commission’s approach to enhancing circularity for plastics, discusses the importance of saving raw materials and recycling products and materials, and addresses the need to increase investment at national and regional levels by making full use of existing EU state aid frameworks and guidelines, with contributions from various EU and international partners, industry, academia and civil society expected to inform follow-up efforts. |
| Legifrance |
23/12/2025 |
The French Government has published on 23 December 2025 an order in the Journal officiel de la République française amending the order of 20 November 2023 that sets out the specifications for eco-organismes, individual systems and coordinating bodies in the extended producer responsibility (REP) sector for motor vehicles — specifically covering passenger cars, vans, motor vehicles with two or three wheels and motor quadricycles — by modifying performance study timetables and requirements, allowing coordination between organisations for joint studies, adjusting deadlines and reporting requirements for vehicle collection and recycling, and updating various provisions related to environmental performance evaluations, prevention plans, research activities and annual reporting procedures under the framework of the French Environmental Code. |
| EU Commission |
23/12/2025 |
The European Commission has published on 23 December 2025 an initiative on EU-wide end-of-waste criteria for plastic waste, presenting a draft Commission implementing regulation and opening a feedback period running from 23 December 2025 to 26 January 2026 with the text setting out proposed harmonised criteria to determine when plastic waste ceases to be waste, including conditions related to input materials, treatment processes and output quality, as well as information on the scope of plastics covered and the type of operators concerned, as described in the initiative published on the Commission’s “Have Your Say” portal. |
| EU Commission |
23/12/2025 |
The European Commission has published 2025 Commission Decision (EU) 2026/66, which amends several earlier EU Ecolabel decisions — specifically Decision 2014/350/EU, Decision 2014/391/EU, Decision (EU) 2016/1332, Decision (EU) 2016/1349 and Decision (EU) 2017/176 — as regards the period of validity of the EU Ecolabel criteria and the related assessment and verification requirements for textile products, bed mattresses, furniture, footwear and wood-, cork- and bamboo-based floor coverings, updating those decisions to adjust the validity periods and associated assessment/verification requirements for the Ecolabel criteria for those product groups as set out in the Official Journal text. |
| South Korea |
26/12/2025 |
The Government of the Republic of Korea has published on 26 December 2025 a government legislative proposal on its official Law-Making Opinion platform concerning amendments to legislation related to resource circulation and waste management, to encourage the active recovery and recycling of waste materials suitable for recycling. Synthetic resin toys have been added to the scope of products subject to recycling obligations. Manufacturers and importers must collect and recycle waste generated during their manufacturing or importation. The recycling standard cost, which serves as the basis for calculating the recycling surcharge imposed on toys for failure to comply with the recycling obligation, has been set at KRW 343 per kilogram. Furthermore, the recycling standard cost for each product and packaging material has been made more realistic, taking into account advancements in waste recycling technology and inflation. Furthermore, the exemption period for recycling obligations for manufacturers and importers of certain synthetic resin products, such as industrial films, with a volume below a certain threshold has been eliminated, thereby alleviating the burden on small businesses. |
| Legifrance |
28/12/2025 |
France has pushed back the “zero plastic” deadline for certain single-use cups: an Order of 28 December 2025, published in the Journal officiel on 30 December 2025, amends the 24 September 2021 order on the maximum permitted plastic content in single-use cups. The notice states that the date when the remaining authorised cups “must no longer contain plastic” moves from 1 January 2026 to 1 January 2030, explicitly to reflect the conclusions of a 2025 interim review on technical feasibility; it also shifts the next interim review from 2024 to 2028, and provides for a stock run-down period for cups manufactured or imported up to the new 2030 deadline. Entry into force is the day after publication. |
| California |
31/12/2025 |
The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery published on 31 December 2025 its annual Covered Material Category (CMC) list required under SB 54, California’s Extended Producer Responsibility law, which categorizes covered packaging materials across plastic, glass, ceramics, paper and fibres, metals, and wood and other organic materials, and, for the first time, assigns a recycling rate to every covered material category, designating each packaging format as recyclable, eligible to be labelled as compostable, or neither, as set out in the updated CMC list used to support implementation of the state’s EPR framework. |
| ECHA |
05/01/2026 |
The European Chemicals Agency has announced that it will take on additional tasks to strengthen chemical safety in Europe following changes to the EU’s regulatory framework, with its expanded responsibilities including managing new data and information flows, supporting risk assessment and prioritisation activities, and assisting Member State authorities and the Commission in enforcement and compliance efforts, as part of the implementation of the revised REACH Regulation and other related legal acts aimed at improving the protection of human health and the environment from hazardous chemicals. |
| EU Commission |
07/01/2026 |
The European Commission has published on 7 January 2026 a Commission Communication providing guidance on the implementation of Article 28 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 (the Net-Zero Industry Act), setting out how Member States should apply the provisions on public procurement procedures for net-zero technologies, including clarification of the scope of covered contracting authorities and contracts, the use of non-price award criteria such as sustainability, resilience and contribution to the EU’s net-zero manufacturing capacity, the conditions for applying minimum requirements or award criteria, and the interaction of Article 28 with existing EU public procurement rules, as described in the guidance published in the Official Journal of the European Union. |
| Joint Research Centre |
13/01/2026 |
The European Commission Joint Research Centre has published a technical proposal on EU-harmonised waste sorting labels under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, setting out a scientifically supported approach to the design and use of common sorting labels for packaging placed on the EU market, defining the scope of packaging types covered, proposing standardised label formats, symbols and colour schemes, and outlining criteria for consistency, consumer understanding and implementation across Member States, with the aim of supporting effective waste sorting, improving recycling performance and ensuring coherent application of the Regulation, as described in the JRC technical report. |
| ESMA |
14/01/2026 |
The European Securities and Markets Authority has published thematic notes on sustainability-related claims and ESG strategies, setting out supervisory observations on how sustainability claims are made and substantiated by market participants, identifying common practices and shortcomings observed in the presentation of ESG strategies, disclosures and marketing materials, and outlining key considerations for ensuring that sustainability-related claims are clear, fair and not misleading, as described in the thematic notes issued to support consistent supervisory approaches and investor protection across EU financial markets. |
| EU Commission |
16/01/2026 |
The European Economic and Social Committee has published an opinion on the Commission’s proposal to amend Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 (European Climate Law) supporting the inclusion of enabling policies in the amendment and underlining that achieving the proposed 90% target requires a cost-effective use of all zero- and low-carbon technologies alongside a just transition and industrial competitiveness measures, while also urging the Council and Parliament to agree swiftly on the 2040 climate target and accompanying contributions ahead of COP30, and putting forward a series of recommendations and amendments on topics including enabling policies, the role of removals and flexibilities, and additional considerations to be reflected in the amended Climate Law. |
