EU council backs faster environmental assessment regulation

The Council’s General Secretariat has circulated a mandate for negotiations on a proposed EU Regulation to speed up environmental assessments, after the Permanent Representatives Committee agreed it on 30 September 2026.

• The proposal would create a common acceleration framework for environmental assessments and screening across EU law, including single points of contact, digital portals, optional coordinated/joint procedures, and tighter timelines for permitting.
• The text explicitly highlights faster permitting for data center projects, EuroHPC supercomputer facilities, AI factories, AI Gigafactories, and semiconductor projects, and also proposes amendments to existing sectoral laws including the Chips Act, Critical Raw Materials Act, and Net-Zero Industry Act.