Draft plans to tighten up official controls from farm to fork were informally agreed by food safety MEPs and the Dutch Presidency of the Council on Wednesday. It aims to guarantee that the food consumers buy and eat in Europe is safe and wholesome, hence improving consumer’s health and preventing food crises.

Parliament negotiators reached an agreement with Council on Monday on new criteria to determine whether an economic activity is environmentally sustainable.

The share of waste to be recycled should be raised to 70% by 2030, from 44% today, while landfilling, which has a big environmental impact, should be limited to 5%, said Environment Committee MEPs on Tuesday, as they amended the draft EU “waste package” legislation. They also advocate a 50% reduction in food waste by 2030.

Plans for more ambitious national caps on emissions of key pollutants by 2030, including NOx, particulates and sulphur dioxide, already informally agreed with the Dutch presidency of the Council, received the support of the Health committee on Tuesday. Air pollution causes about 400,000 premature deaths in the EU per year. The agreement now needs to be endorsed by the Environment Committee and Parliament as a whole.

Plans to counter water scarcity by facilitating the reuse of treated wastewater for agricultural irrigation were informally agreed upon by Parliament and Council on Monday night.

European Parliament's President Antonio Tajani reacted to the announcement by U.S. President Donald J. Trump to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change, on Thursday.

Airlines will remain exempt from paying for CO2 emissions from intercontinental flights until December 2023.

Environment MEPs advocate a full and immediate EU-wide ban on ivory and rhinoceros horn trade, and call for common sanctions at EU level against wildlife trafficking, in a resolution voted on Thursday. Wildlife trafficking is worth an estimated €20 billion annually. It has grown in recent years, becoming one of the biggest and most profitable forms of organised cross-border crime.

A draft law to reform the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), by reducing the surplus of carbon credits available for trading into order to support the price, was informally agreed upon by MEPs and the Latvian Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers on Tuesday. The surplus reserve would start operating in 2019.

An agreement on draft legislation to make tobacco products less attractive to young people was reached on Wednesday by MEPs and the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of Ministers. This legislation would require all packs to carry a health warning covering 65% of their surface.E-cigarettes should be regulated, either as medicinal products, if they are presented as having curative or preventive properties, or as tobacco products..

Addressing the challenges linked to securing access to safe COVID-19 vaccines will be the main topic of an online hearing on 22 September from 09.00-12.00 in the European Parliament.

To ensure that cars meet EU limits on NOx emissions, tests under real driving conditions must be more stringent, said the Environment Committee on Tuesday.

The Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee calls for more EU self- sufficiency and better-coordinated strategies to tackle medicine shortages.

In a hearing today, MEPs demanded clarity on vaccine deliveries and insisted that pharmaceutical companies honour their contracts.

The Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee called for sufficient means to match the needs of the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism programme post-2020.

Parliament's Committee responsible for public health debated how to support efforts to develop and manufacture COVID-19 vaccines, together with Commissioner Kyriakides.

The upcoming new EU chemicals strategy for sustainability must better protect our health and the environment, says Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee.

Environment and Public Health Committee MEPs will discuss the current Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak with the European Commission on Thursday morning.

On the eve of World Cancer Day, Parliament’s Special Committee on Beating Cancer (BECA) backs EU wide effort to beat cancer.

MEPs call on the Commission to put forward rules to stop EU-driven global deforestation through mandatory due diligence for companies placing products on the EU market.