New report exposes how the EU is ripping up permitting rules and funding dirty infrastructure
Just ahead of the informal meeting of EU energy ministers, where the ongoing energy crisis will be a key topic, a new report by Corporate Europe Observatory reveals how the European Commission is taking a chainsaw to energy infrastructure permitting rules. This is part of a wider deregulatory push driven by some of Europe’s most polluting industries. Although the EU presents this agenda as the “simplification” of permitting laws, in practice, it risks eroding the hard-won social and environmental protections that underpin these rules.
“The current energy crisis is finally pushing Europe away from its reliance on fossil fuels. But successful industry lobbying means measures intended to fast track renewables are now being used to build polluting infrastructure, threatening the health of workers and local communities. And no matter if it’s a wind farm or a data centre that’s going to be built, permitting rules should still protect the environment and allow communities a say in decision making” says Pascoe Sabido, Corporate Europe Observatory researcher and campaigner.
Since the second von der Leyen Commission took office, permitting rules have come under sustained attack from Big Tech, the fossil fuel industry, and mining lobby groups. And it’s paying off: just yesterday, the EU Council’s “simplification” working group discussed letting industry deliberately kill protected wildlife species when building new infrastructure. What’s more, under labels such as “strategic” or “overriding public interest”, harmful projects are increasingly able to side-step normal permitting procedures. But who decides what sort of projects enjoy the label?
Permission to pollute, Corporate Europe Observatory’s new report, exposes how major polluters are lobbying for easier access to permits – and public subsidies – for polluting infrastructure projects. The report reveals how the European Commission has actively invited industry players to shape its permitting deregulation agenda. Europe risks not only living with more pollution but paying polluters to create it.
The report includes three case studies illustrating the potentially devastating impacts on people and the environment. In Sweden, Indigenous ways of life are being destroyed, homes lost, and water polluted in service of a new mining project. Across Europe, communities could be forced to accept new CO₂ pipelines that pose serious safety risks if they leak, while prolonging fossil fuel dependence. In Ireland, soaring electricity demand from new data centres is contributing to rising energy prices and blackout risks, while new fossil fuel plants are built to power them.
Key findings include:
Industry demands embedded in new EU legislation: Measures proposed in ReSourceEU, the Environmental Omnibus, the Grids Package, and the Industrial Accelerator Act would fast-track projects, weaken or bypass environmental assessments, expand tacit approvals, and restrict access to justice. Strategic sectors and projects – including mining, fossil gas, CO₂ capture, transport and storage, hydrogen, and data centres – would be branded “public interest” and benefit from accelerated permitting. More cave-ins to industry pressure are expected in the upcoming Cloud and AI Development Act, and CO₂ transport infrastructure proposal.
Industry celebrates deregulation wins, but wants more: Oil and gas lobby group IOGP praised the Environmental Omnibus and Grids Package for making “real progress on long-standing asks from industry”. BusinessEurope members successfully pushed for exemptions from environmental impact assessments for hydrogen and CO₂ infrastructure projects in the Industrial Accelerator Act. IOGP and Euromines have formed an “Informal Coalition on Permitting” to campaign for a sweeping “permitting Omnibus” aimed at weakening multiple environmental protections at once.
Unprecedented industry influence over policymaking: Ursula von der Leyen sought deregulation tips directly from the European Round Table for Industry, teamed-up with fossil fuel groups to run workshops on how to “streamline” permitting, and relied on new consultation processes – Implementation Dialogues and Reality Checks – heavily dominated by industry.
Public money backing polluting industries: At their request, the Commission is also supporting polluting industries financially through new “de-risking” measures, an Industrial Decarbonisation Bank, looser state aid rules, and other public funding mechanisms.
Rachel Tansey, Corporate Europe Observatory researcher and campaigner, says: “It’s time to end EU decision-makers’ cosy relationship with Big Polluters. Industry lobby groups have a long-history of co-opting crises – and the energy crisis must not be used to justify trampling people’s rights and destroying biodiversity. Many of the infrastructure projects being fast-tracked and publicly funded, as a result of the EU ripping-up permitting rules, will actually increase fossil fuel dependence, at precisely the time we need to reduce it.”
