Worldwide: Environment

Over the last four months, carbon prices have tumbled nearly 70 percent amid fears that oversupply and lagging economic growth in Europe will drive down demand.

The European Commission’s recent proposals to revise and recast the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, or MiFID, and the Market Abuse Directive, or MAD, include, for the first time, regulating carbon emissions allowances as financial instruments.

On Thursday, May 26, 2011, the Secretary of the Interior announced a joint effort between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ("USFWS") and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service ("NMFS") (collectively, "the Agencies") to identify and implement administrative reforms to the regulatory process used to implement the Endangered Species Act ("ESA").

On July 16, 2025, the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee's Environment Subcommittee convened a hearing to explore the state of recycling in the United States.

Under the Biden administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) dealt two substantial blows to efforts to turn waste plastics into useful products through advanced recycling techniques such as pyrolysis.

On June 30, 2025, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 130 and Senate Bill 131 into law, creating significant new opportunities in housing and other development sectors...

The European Commission ("Commission") issued its first opinion regarding the compatibility of a sustainability agreement with competition rules for the agricultural sector on July 14.

On July 28, 2025, the Republican Attorney-General of Florida announced that his office had "issued subpoenas to investigate whether the CDP and the Science Based Targets Initiative violated state consumer protection or antitrust law."

The International Court of Justice ("ICJ") stated that States have legal obligations to regulate emissions and may be held internationally responsible for climate inaction—including the failure to effectively regulate...

With President Trump's July 23, 2025, executive order, "Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure," and Pennsylvania Governor Shapiro's prior executive order, "PA Permit Fast Track Program,"...

On July 18, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rolled out the "reorganization plan" for its Office of Research and Development (ORD).

Last month, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) announced that it would delay the January 1, 2026, reporting deadline for manufacturers of intentionally added PFAS-containing products.