Since the introduction of the European Climate Law and the revised Better Regulation guidelines in 2021, the European Commission has been obliged to check if its proposals for new legislation are consistent with climate policy objectives and the environmental 'do-no-significant-harm' principle. This climate and environment-proofing has to be included in the Impact Assessments that are usually published along with the legislative proposals adopted by the Commission.

So how has the Commission been doing?

Earlier this year WWF commissioned the non-profit think tank and advisory network Public Strategy for Sustainable Development (PS4SD) to look into the matter, and assess how well the Commission has been applying the new rules.

Their conclusion? Not bad in some cases, but "the quality of the consistency checks needs to be substantially improved". And "a more ambitious implementation is required to reach the goal of the Better Regulation guidelines that "all EU actions and policies should pull together to help the EU to achieve a successful and just transition towards a sustainable future”".

Read the full report here.