About: science-based policy

Carbon neutrality by 2050 makes sense

To stay within the boundaries of the Paris Agreement, Europe needs to accelerate efforts to achieve a carbon neutral future and put climate change at the top of the EU agenda. Frank van der Vloed highlights five key steps that are critical for businesses to make the transition.

Students’ climate strikes: Right goals but wrong words

The students striking are heroes, but their moral arguments need to be further developed if they want to reach new audiences, writes Darrick Evensen.

Europe’s anti-rationalist future?

European restrictions on gene editing, GMOs and pesticides bans risk undermining scientific progress and innovation if they are not reversed, argues Sir Colin Berry.

Restoring trust and effectiveness in EU scientific advice

Today, more than ever, EU regulators must ensure that risk management decisions meet public demands for high standards of protection whilst simultaneously stimulating competitiveness and prosperity in Europe. Basing decisions on the best available science is the pre-condition for achieving these goals, argues Dirk Hüdig.

Biomass and biofuels in the EU: Emotion-based policymaking?

The European Commission’s tinkering on biomass policy effectively promotes oil over economically viable and sustainable biofuels, writes Francis X. Johnson.

Commission must take action against endocrine disruptors

Reducing exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals will benefit healthcare systems and economies as a whole, writes Christian Zahn.

A plea for science-based standards in TTIP

The EU’s preference for the “precautionary principle” over science-based decision-making is a barrier to transatlantic trade in the meat industry. TTIP and regulatory convergence would benefit both EU and US farmers, argues Barry Carpenter.

What does an innovation agenda mean for consumers?

Innovation and consumer protection are not opposites. Indeed there is huge potential to use innovation to deliver safer products that benefit consumers, writes Monique Goyens.

The EU’s confused evidence processes for identifying endocrine disruptors

A group of scientists has written to the European Commission to voice concerns about burden of proof and confused evidence requirements to identify and classify endocrine disruptors under the PPP and Biocides Regulations.

Chemicals ‘fitness check’ should improve EU legislation, not water it down

The scope of the European Commission’s Fitness Check on chemicals is limited to a comparison of the “hazard versus risk” approaches in chemicals legislation. This is misguided, writes Dolores Romano, who argues a hazard-based approach can help protect people and the environment while supporting innovation.

Democracy denied: How the Commission keeps people out of lawmaking

With its Better Regulation agenda, the European Commission talks big about making EU decisions more transparent and increasing public participation. But the reality is very different, writes Anaïs Berthier.

SOS for science-based EU policy-making

The past few months have not been a triumph for science-based policy making in the EU, writes Hans-Olaf Henkel.

When politics trumps science: The curious case of the EU’s GMO authorisation system

Policy makers generally trust the scientific recommendations of independent EU agencies. But in the GMO area, a vicious circle of lack of approvals and decreased trust in the technology is being perpetuated, leading to a negative precedent of “politics over science”, writes Nathalie Moll.