The EU-Mercosur trade deal is currently under ratification. Environmental, human rights, Indigenous and trade justice groups from both sides of the Atlantic are against it. They argue that it will aggravate environmental destruction, worsen human rights abuses and tighten the grip of multinationals on the food system.

The Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act, enacted in 2023, requires the creation of a “Watch List” of substances capable of becoming toxic to inform Canadians and businesses of substances they may wish to avoid. Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) announced the publication of the Watch List Approach (the Approach) in the CEPA Registry on April 28, 2026.

The risk environment surrounding African agriculture has become far more interconnected and less predictable over the past decade. More producers are starting to recognise that resilience depends less on getting through a difficult season and more on building operations capable of absorbing repeated instability over longer periods. Risk in agriculture depends on surviving volatility and on maintaining enough liquidity and operational agility to adapt to changing conditions.

This is the fourth in a series of blog posts on reforming the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). In this post, I discuss creating an exclusive list of the type of impacts to be considered under CEQA. The current best guidance on this is Appendix G of the Guidelines. The reform would exclude a number of categories in Appendix G.

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday ruled the EPA must redo its decision not to further regulate exposure to Decabromodiphenyl Ether, a toxic fire retardant used in electronics, appliances and car and airplane parts. The panel sided with environmental groups and the Yurok Tribe, which challenged the agency's decision. The three-judge panel remanded the EPA’s 2024 decision back to the agency.

A steel business in northeast Houston is facing felony charges tied to alleged chemical spills. The company has not been in business since 2023. The city received a complaint last August from someone who reported seeing "leaking thick black oil onto the grass, soil, and migrating into nearby storm drains." The building is located near an HISD maintenance facility. Investigators tested the fluids and said they were coming from two old transformers.

The Liebig Center at Giessen University was officially opened this week. The scientists involved have been working there for almost exactly a year. The Liebig University has been operating an open-air research facility in the neighboring town of Linden since 1998. Scientists there are investigating the consequences of climate change for agriculture and forestry.

Marty Makary resigned as FDA commissioner on Tuesday. The Wall Street Journal reported that President Trump had signed off on Makary's firing. Makary had a tumultuous 13-month tenure as the country’s top drug regulator. The FDA had been beset by controversy and instability that Makary himself had often galvanized. A break with Trump on vaping product regulations appeared to be the proximate cause of his ouster.