At the end of March 2022, the European Commission presented the circular economy package, whose fundamental aim is to transform consumption towards an extended life cycle. AK welcomes the legal acts proposed in this package, whilst at the same time requesting to retain the high level of protection of European Consumers and a social and fair drafting of the new regulations.

The Austrian Chamber of Labour (AK) and the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) developed a model for taxing excess profits in the energy sector. It provides for taxation of 60% to 90%, limited to the years 2022 to 2024. There should be an immediate and full deduction option for investments in renewable energy sources.

The Industrial Emissions Directive regulates the impact of 52,000 large-scale industrial and livestock facilities with high pollution risk. An evaluation conducted in 2020 identified certain areas of improvement.

The Brussels Offices of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour (AK EUROPA) and Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) are pleased to invite you to our event:

At the last meeting before the summer break, the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) voted on the Directives on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. The Committee calls for significantly accelerate reducing energy consumption by 2030.

On 21 June 2022, Council and EU Parliament reached a provisional political agreement on the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). A welcome step, as in future more information on social and environmental impact of corporate activities has to be disclosed. Sustainability reporting must become a main driver of socially-environmentally oriented governance.

The proposal by the EU Commission to classify, subject to requirements, natural gas and nuclear energy as "green" to provide private investors with guidance on the financial market, was met with plenty of resistance over recent months. However, at the vote on 6 July 2022, the EU Parliament did not veto the proposal. As a result and in accordance with the Taxonomy Regulation, investments in gas and nuclear energy will be classified as sustainable from January 2023 – provided they fulfil the requirements.

Two weeks after the turbulent vote and the extraordinary rejection of the ETS draft report, the European Parliament on 22 June 2022 in a second attempt agreed on a compromise, negotiated by the Parliaments large political groups. In contrast to the rejected draft, it represents a significant improvement within the context of the Green Deal.

Energy prices in the EU have been rising sharply since autumn 2021 and are becoming a threat to more and more people. Against this background, AK EUROPA and ÖGB Europabüro hosted a joint event on 27 June 2022 to discuss the dimensions of energy poverty and options to solve the problem.

Sustainable is the buzzword of the moment – regardless of whether we talk about food, clothing or investments. However, how can consumers be sure that a financial product is sustainable and that it “does exactly what it says on the tin”? To provide better guidance, the Austrian Chamber of Labour did not only commission a study to examine sustainable financial products but has also used mystery shoppers assessing the quality of advice regarding sustainable monetary investments provided by 16 financial institutions.