European Union: Environment

The European Commission has proposed significant amendments to the CBAM Regulation that could fundamentally reshape how electricity exports from the Western Balkans are treated under the EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism. While headline attention focuses on downstream steel and aluminium goods, the proposed changes to electricity treatment—including revised default value methodologies and relaxed conditions for declaring actual emissions—may prove far more consequential for regional power

The European Commission has proposed a comprehensive overhaul of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) for the period after 2030, introducing slower emission cap reductions, expanded roles for carbon removal and international credits, and new conditions for free allocation to industry. The proposal aims to balance climate targets with industrial competitiveness while creating financing mechanisms for green transition, affecting sectors from waste incineration to aviation and maritime transport.

Have you ever thought of the lifecycle of your office chair? Funnily enough, it’s rather straight forward - once the raw materials are extracted and the chair is manufactured and distributed, it will be used for 5-10 years (if you are lucky), and then into the trash it goes. That’s just a small example of the traditional “take-make-waste” model which has been deemed as unsustainable and the transition to a circular economy has become increasingly urgent for Europe - a system designed to eliminate waste and keep resources in use for as long as possible.