Green Policies, Regulations & Standards

Italy’s Legislative Decree 199/2021 transposes the EU Renewable Energy Directive and defines national rules for renewable electricity, heat, and energy communities. It accelerates permitting, simplifies rooftop solar installation, supports grid access, regulates self-consumption schemes, and sets 2030 deployment objectives. The decree is binding for project developers, public authorities, and grid operators. Non-compliance may lead to administrative sanctions, especially for improper permitting or environmental screening.

Canada’s federal methane regulations are a core upstream emissions control regime under CEPA, but they operate alongside equivalency and non-application mechanisms that can shift compliance obligations to provincial systems, notably in BC and Alberta. The first compliance step is jurisdictional applicability, followed by facility-level control, monitoring, and documentation.

The modernization of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act through Bill S-5 strengthens Canada’s core environmental law by enhancing chemical management, increasing transparency, and formally recognizing the right to a healthy environment. The amendments expand federal powers to collect information, assess cumulative and vulnerable population impacts, and manage toxic substances. They also modernize confidentiality rules and enforcement tools. While the amendments do not automatically ban substances, they enable more robust risk management through future regulations and instruments. CEPA modernization increases regulatory scrutiny for companies involved in chemicals, plastics, fuels, and other regulated substances.

Italy’s Legislative Decree 30/2013 implements the EU Emissions Trading System nationally. Industrial installations and aviation operators within scope must hold an emissions permit, monitor and verify annual greenhouse gas emissions, and surrender allowances equal to those emissions via the EU registry. The decree sets out national roles for registry administration, monitoring plans, and enforcement. Non-compliance can lead to significant financial penalties and ongoing obligations to surrender missing allowances, making the EU ETS a central pillar of Italian climate policy for energy-intensive sectors.

The Tierschutzgesetz (TierSchG) establishes Germany’s rules for animal welfare across agriculture, research, transport, and commercial use. This article outlines key obligations, enforcement systems, penalties, and industry implications.

The Nordic Swan Ecolabel is the official environmental certification of the Nordic countries. Established in 1989 by the Nordic Council of Ministers, it is a voluntary Type I ecolabel based on ISO 14024 principles. The certification evaluates products and services across their entire life cycle, setting criteria for climate impact, resource efficiency, hazardous chemicals, biodiversity, quality, and circularity. Independent third-party verification is required before a licence is granted, and certified products must continue to comply as criteria are periodically revised.

The Sustainable Games Standard is an open-access sustainability framework developed by the Sustainable Games Alliance (SGA) for the video games industry. Launched in 2025, it provides a standardized methodology for measuring, reporting, and reducing the environmental impacts of game development, publishing, and operation. Built around the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol and tailored to the unique characteristics of games, the standard aims to improve emissions accounting, support sustainability reporting, and promote more energy-efficient game development.

The Ladesäulenverordnung (LSV) sets the minimum technical, interoperability and user-access requirements for publicly accessible electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in Germany. It ensures that EV charging across the country is safe, standardised and non-discriminatory, supporting a coherent national charging network and aligning German rules with broader EU frameworks, including the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR). The ordinance applies to public charging points, defining when a charging point is considered public, which connectors are mandatory and how payments must be enabled. All public charging operators must provide standardised connectors (Type 2 / CCS), enable ad-hoc charging without prior contracts, ensure transparent, metrology-compliant billing, and, for new installations, offer contactless card payment. Operators must also maintain technical interoperability and meet EU-aligned data-provision requirements.

The Strategic Assessment of Climate Change operationalizes Canada’s climate goals within project approvals, making climate alignment a core consideration in federal decision-making.

The Output-Based Pricing System (OBPS) Regulations are Canada’s federal industrial carbon pricing regulations under the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. They require large industrial facilities to measure, report, and verify greenhouse gas emissions and production data annually, using prescribed methodologies and independent verification. Facilities designated under the OBPS must compare verified emissions against emissions limits and remit compliance units for any excess emissions. The OBPS operates as the industrial carbon pricing component of the federal backstop carbon pricing framework, continuing in force even after the federal consumer fuel charge rate was set to zero in April 2025. Applicability depends on designation status and thresholds. Non-compliance can lead to enforcement actions, including penalties under CEPA and related federal enforcement tools.