EU to weaken more environment-reporting rules, draft document shows

The executive branch of the European Commission has drafted a proposal that would significantly relax environmental-reporting requirements for industries across the European Union. Under the draft plan, individual industrial and livestock-farm sites would no longer need to maintain detailed environmental management systems (EMS); instead, companies could use one simplified EMS for all facilities. Reporting of pollution, waste, water and energy use would be rolled back. The requirement for “climate-alignment transformation plans” at enterprise level would be scrapped. Environmental assessments for large industrial or energy projects would be simplified. The rationale from Brussels: reduce regulatory burden and administrative costs by roughly €1 billion a year. But environmental groups warn the move undermines climate-risk transparency, weakens accountability, and may derail progress on emissions reductions and pollution control across Europe.