Nanotechnology, the Commission said, was currently covered by REACH chemicals legislation, which it described as the “best framework” for dealing with its use and effects. The Commission said it expected to modify some of the REACH annexes to include nanomaterials.

The report outlined the need to analyse the potential environmental and health risks posed by nanomaterials on a case-by-case basis, since there was as yet no accepted definition for the microscopic particles.

Saskia Ozinga is director of FERN, a non-governmental forestry organisation.

"Ten years ago the EU embarked on a radical experiment to tackle illegal logging and curb climate change by promoting a fundamental change in forest management. With implementation of the EU Timber Regulation just around the corner, it is time for a review of the progress made and stumbling blocks already encountered.

A containment wall at the industrial site collapsed on the afternoon of 4 October 2010, sending blood-red waste tainted with arsenic flowing into the surrounding town of Ajka and several neighbouring villages.

Some 10 people died of contamination and at least 150 others were treated for exposure to the toxic muck. The spill also contaminated nearby streams and rivers.

HFC’s are a fluorinated gas (or F-gas) used to substitute for ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) since the Montreal Protocol began phasing them out in 1987. They can also be up to 22,800 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.

By 2030, the EU’s new package of bans, quotas, phase-downs, improved monitoring and leak prevention aims to cut HFC sales by 21% of today’s levels.

The statistics, released on Monday (1 October), present the latest data for each of the headline indicators of the strategy and how they have been implemented at national level.

The figures show a marked decline in the bloc's employment rate, the strategy's main indicator, since the financial and economic crisis hit the continent in 2008

A report by the European Court of Auditors says investments worth millions of euros in six African countries are at risk because many of the projects lack the maintenance and revenues to sustain future operations.

“For a majority of projects, resulting benefits will not continue to flow in the medium and long term unless non-tariff revenue is insured or because of institutional weaknesses,” David Bostock, a member of the court, told journalists at the release of the audit on 28 September.

Ertharin Cousin is the World Food Programme's executive director.

Bjørn Hansen, head of unit at the European Commission's environment directorate, said the REACH review, originally planned for June, had been delayed until October.

"A lot of work was put into this review and this is one of the reasons why it's slightly delayed – it was substantial," Hansen told a conference organised by the German chemical company BASF in Brussels on 6 September.

The call for tougher anti-pollution measures came two days after a report by the European Environment Agency showed that nearly one-third of urban residents breathe air that is far dirtier than the law allows. The tally rises to well over 80% when the recommendations of the UN World Heath Organization are applied.