Press release
EU governments gut nature protection, and permits will be no faster
30 September 2026
Today, EU ambassadors approved the Council’s position on the Regulation on speeding up environmental assessments. The #HandsOffNature coalition –BirdLife Europe, ClientEarth, the European Environmental Bureau and WWF EU– warns that the text weakens the EU’s core nature laws, with potentially detrimental impacts on people and nature, while leaving the real causes of permitting delays untouched.
Under the text, protected species could be killed or disturbed as a routine consequence of development, as long as developers take “appropriate” measures to reduce the harm. The text does not specify what those measures are. Member States went further than the Commission and also allowed the damage and destruction of nests and eggs, putting the survival of species from one generation to the next at risk. They extended these free passes to recurring maintenance work and forestry operations.
Together, these changes weaken the Birds and Habitats Directives, the cornerstones of EU nature law, at their very core. And they come without any impact assessment, while the stress test of these same directives is still underway.
Despite the coalition's warning, the Member States also created a long list of “strategic” sectors, from airports and ports to data centres and AI factories, with no clear conditions on which projects qualify. Projects with this label would be granted "public interest" status and be fast-tracked, at the expense of nature and water resilience. Under the Critical Raw Materials Act, the same label has already pushed authorities to rush decisions with environmental and safety risks unresolved.
None of this tackles the real causes of permitting delays: a lack of funding, staff and coordination in public authorities. Instead, governments are cutting protections and risking avoidable harm to ecosystems that are already in critical condition.
The Hands Off Nature coalition highlights:
“By adopting this position, EU governments have sided with powerful industry lobbies that treat harm to nature and people’s health as acceptable collateral damage. They have ignored the more than 900,000 people who told them that their nature and health are not for sale. Member States are dismantling laws that have protected Europe’s nature for over 40 years, and for nothing: weakening environmental safeguards will not speed up a single permit.”
The European Parliament is expected to agree its negotiating mandate in the coming weeks, before talks with the Council begin. The Hands Off Nature coalition calls on MEPs and governments to stand up for the EU’s environmental assessment rules and the laws that protect people and nature.
ENDS
About ClientEarth
ClientEarth is a non-profit organisation that uses the law to create systemic change that protects the Earth for – and with – its inhabitants. We are tackling climate change, protecting nature and stopping pollution, with partners and citizens around the globe. We hold industry and governments to account, and defend everyone’s right to a healthy world. From our offices in Europe, Asia and the USA we shape, implement and enforce the law, to build a future for our planet in which people and nature can thrive together.