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sustainability regulation

Nearly all governments around the world remain committed to address climate change, despite recent political upheavals. In the EU, this has led to the introduction and implementation of a wide-ranging set of policies designed to reduce emissions, develop more economic self-reliance and establish a circular economy.

For companies, environmental regulation has complex implications, adding compliance costs but also incentivising operational changes to improve their own efficiency. In the ICT sector, there are also opportunities to deploy digital solutions to help other organisations work in a more environmentally-friendly way.

Our Sustainability service deciphers the complexity of environmental regulation, making it easy to understand how interrelated EU policies affect your organisation. Start your personal demo today and find out what our independent, expert insight could do for you.

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general topics covered

EU environmental policy

Stay up to date on EU environmental policies. Our Sustainability service provides clarity, insight and commentary on the key aspects of the European Green Deal, including the rules to address:

  • Emissions reduction
  • Renewable energy and energy efficiency
  • Ecodesign and critical raw materials
  • Waste and recycling
  • Corporate sustainability reporting
  • Consumer protection
National and international developments

Climate change is a global issue. Our independent reporting and analysis cover major environmental developments on the world stage, including:

  • IPCC assessments and reports
  • COP meetings and their outcomes
  • National environmental targets and policy
The impact on the ICT sector

Emissions from ICT are among the fastest growing across all industrial sectors, in particular due to massive increased demand for data centre capacity. In addition, e-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the EU. To address these and other challenges, the EU has introduced a number of measures targeted specifically at the ICT sector, while recognising the importance of the digital sector for EU competitiveness. Our ICT sustainability module explores environmental rules and their implications for the ICT sector, covering topics such as:

  • Environmental impacts of digitisation and innovation
  • Code of conduct for telecoms networks
  • Rules and best practices for data centres
  • Actions taken by telecoms operators, ICT companies, and sectoral regulators
  • Transparency and reporting rules
The impact on the transport and delivery sector

The transport sector currently accounts for more than 30% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions. However, EU actions to address the environmental impact of the sector face a number of challenges, including increasing transport volumes and e-commerce, slower than anticipated take-up of electric vehicles, and stalling public sector transport use. Our transport sustainability module explores environmental rules and their implications for the transport and delivery sector, covering topics such as:

  • CO2 emission standards for vehicles
  • Alternative fuels and the related infrastructure
  • Sustainable and smart mobility
  • Actions taken by logistics and delivery operators, and by sectoral regulators
  • Transparency and reporting rules

latest intelligence

European Commission considering accelerated rollout of alternative fuels infrastructure
08 April 26 Peter Dunn

The European Commission is calling for inputs until 20 April 2026 for a review of the Regulation on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure (AFIR). The review will assess the appropriateness of the AFIR and its targets, in particular whether the targets or other aspects of the regulation need to be adjusted.

Commission draft delegated act sets out rules for the labelling of data centres
07 April 26 Bianca Sofian

The European Commission published a draft regulation to help define a common EU scheme for rating the sustainability of data centres. The draft regulation represents the second step for establishing the rating scheme, setting out rules on how to use the information collected for the rating of data centres.

European sustainability developments – 1Q 2026 update
02 April 26 Bianca Sofian

This report provides a summary of the main developments on environmental policy and regulation in Europe in the three months from January to March 2026.

European Commission holds first workshop on study to develop minimum performance standards for data centres
27 March 26 Emilie Degand

The Directorate-General for Energy of the European Commission has held its first stakeholder workshop on its study on the development of minimum energy and sustainability performance standards (MPS) for data centres. The study will contribute to the development of a possible proposed regulation establishing the MPS, which the Commission should publish by the end of 2026 or early 2027.

Rapid growth of European data centres expected to increase environmental footprint
16 March 26 Emilie Degand

BEREC published an external study on the current state of data centres, outlining their main environmental impacts and measures to mitigate them.

Monitoring tests show that the display of smartphone energy labels needs improvement
12 March 26 Bianca Sofian

A monitoring activity of e-commerce platforms presented whether energy labels and the product information sheet were made available on specific product pages as well as on all other pages where the products are displayed (e.g. the main page, list view and basket page).

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upcoming events

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23 June 26 Brussels, Belgium Better regulation for a better world?

get in touch

For more information about our sustainability service, please contact:

Peter Dunn phone: +32 2 738 72 00 peter.dunn@cullen-international.com