Three companies who colluded to reduce purchase prices of used automotive batteries as part of a cartel operation have been fined a total of €68 million by the European Commission.

The government confirmed through its Brexit White Paper that it plans to transpose all current European environmental regulation into UK law after Brexit.

Rachael Maskell has resigned from her role as Shadow Environment Secretary, becoming the second holder of the position to step down over Labour’s stance on Brexit in just over seven months.

The Renewable Energy Association says that EU figures revealing that the UK is lagging behind the rest of the EU on commitments to meet 2020 renewable energy targets should be a ‘wake-up call’ to the government on renewable policy.

The European Defence Agency has launched a project establishing ways to incorporate the circular economy into the defence sector.

The UK had the tenth highest recycling rate in Europe in 2015, while Germany maintained its top position, according to figures published by the European Union.

The European Commission’s roadmap for an EU strategy on plastics in the circular economy does not get to the root of the plastics problem, according to a coalition of environmental groups.

The European Commission has called on member states to consider more carefully the waste hierarchy when looking at increasing incineration capacity and has suggested the phasing out of support for mixed waste incineration.

European Commission VP Frans Timmermans says “good progress” is being made on developing a circular economy in Europe and announces a new finance support platform for circular projects.

MEPs have voted in favour of a 70 per cent recycling and reuse target for 2030, upping the goal proposed by the European Commission in its Circular Economy Package.