Articles

As agrichemical giant Syngenta hits the news on its extremely toxic herbicide Paraquat, Corporate Europe Observatory reveals the company’s years of lobbying in Europe on behalf of its toxic trade, which involves everything from exporting chemicals banned in the EU, to its defence of bee-killing neonicotinoids, to its all out war on the new Farm to Fork strategy to cut pesticide use by half. Syngenta is a true global toxic lobby champion because it manages to manipulate regulatory science in many countries, increasingly control the international trade in agrochemicals and seeds, and influence

Big global biotech corporations like Bayer and Corteva, which together already control 40% of the global seed market, are dangerously trying to reinforce their monopoly and threatening food security. A new report reveals how these companies seek to increase their control over the future of food and farming by patenting new GM techniques.

Rumours abound that a key piece of legislation aimed at protecting citizens and the environment from toxic chemicals is about to be kicked into the long grass.

The very financial sector that funds pollution through massive investments has been allowed to take care of the problem themselves. It is deeply worrying that groups like the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) have captured the agenda of climate finance at the COP; and urgent to remove them from this privileged role.

Civil society groups urge the EU to reject an upcoming proposal by the European Commission on the certification of carbon removals. The new report demonstrates how the oil and gas industry uses it as part of their flawed ‘net zero’ plans to keep fossil fuels flowing, risking catastrophic climate impacts.

Welcome to a new autumn episode of EU Watchdog Radio. In this episode we will discuss the re-launch of one of CEO's flagship initiatives to create more transparency in EU decision making: LobbyFacts.eu. This tool was created by CEO and German sister organisation LobbyControl in 2015 and has now been improved and re-launched.

The EU’s green ambitions are in great jeopardy. The agribusiness industry is using the cost-of-living crisis as an excuse to push stronger EU environmental legislation off the table and weaken already existing legislation. For instance, they are pushing against tighter pesticides rules and in favour of relaxing GMO rules. But the lobby is increasingly driven by GM researchers and institutes with links to industry or with vested interests. The Commission seems to be listening to these pro-deregulation voices and a proposal to change EU GMO rules is in the works.

NGOs are urgently demanding that proposed EU chemicals regulatory reform stays on track.

Brand new analysis by EU lobby data website LobbyFacts has revealed that the companies with the highest-declared lobby budgets have increased their spending by a third since 2015.