PFAS Pollution: The Illusion of the Polluter-Pays Principle
• Two reports published on January 29, 2026, highlighted the scale of PFAS pollution, with estimated costs reaching up to €1.7 trillion for the European Union and major impacts on health and the environment.
• French local authorities, particularly affected in the “chemical valley,” have been forced to bear the financial burden alone, in the absence of an effective mechanism applying the polluter-pays principle.
• Given the non-degradable nature of PFAS, public authorities and NGOs have proposed creating a dedicated national fund, but no comprehensive regulatory measure or government response has yet been implemented.
Source: Reporterre – “PFAS: Industry Must Pay the Bill”
US Lobbying at the European Parliament Threatens the Green Deal
• NGO Bloom published an investigation on February 5, 2026, revealing the influence of US-based and industrial actors on MEP Jörgen Warborn, rapporteur of the first Omnibus on corporate due diligence, who held numerous meetings with US lobbyists and officials between January and October 2025.
• These interactions contributed to the adoption of provisions weakening the European Green Deal and the due diligence directive, raising concerns about the protection of environmental and social standards.
• Bloom called on the European Parliament to open a parliamentary inquiry and proposed the creation of independent oversight bodies, greater transparency and extended powers for the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Source: Reporterre – “European Parliament: NGO Bloom Exposes Anti-Ecological US Lobbying”
A Practical Guide to Preparing Your First CDP Assessment
• CDP has become a key reference for environmental transparency, used by investors and major clients to assess companies on climate, water and deforestation.
• However, first-time responses are often complex due to unclear questionnaire logic, difficult data consolidation and poorly understood implicit expectations.
• Ditto has published a 77-page practical guide designed as an operational tool to support CSR teams at every stage: understanding the assessment, preparing data, answering the questionnaire and managing post-submission actions.
Job-Swap Rights to Reduce Commuting Emissions
• On January 30, 2026, the Forum Vies Mobiles proposed establishing a legal right for employees with equivalent roles and pay to swap jobs in order to reduce commuting distances in France.
• This legally framed mechanism, supported by a national platform, addresses health issues, time savings and environmental impacts, while improving job accessibility and employee autonomy.
• With strong employee support and a potential avoidance of 2.9 million tonnes of CO₂ per year, the initiative aims to deeply transform professional mobility and corporate practices.
Source: Novethic – “What If We Swapped Jobs to Reduce Commuting?”
Food Waste Donations to Employees: Managed Precarity
• The French government proposed facilitating the donation of unsold food to retail and food-service employees through a decree capping the practice between €100 and €500 per person per year, as a complement to the 2016 Garot law.
• Experts and NGOs warned that this system conceals agro-industrial overproduction, maintains social precarity and shifts the burden of managing low-quality surplus onto charities.
• Researcher Bénédicte Bonzi called for structural reform, such as a food social security system, to guarantee fair access to sustainable food.
Source: Reporterre – “Unsold Food Given to Employees: ‘An Economy of Poverty and Hunger’”
Cancer and Pesticides: The Politics of a Deadly System
• Fleur Breteau, cancer patient and co-founder of the Cancer Colère collective, denounced the reapproval of toxic pesticides enabled by the Duplomb law, supported by the FNSEA, and conflicts of interest between pesticide producers and cancer treatment companies.
• This agricultural model, responsible for widespread water contamination and health inequalities, has increased the financial and social burden of cancer in France.
• Cancer Colère called for collective action to break chemical dependency, protect the environment and place public health back at the heart of political decisions.
Source: Reporterre – “Fleur Breteau: ‘When We Get Cancer, Our Bodies Make Money’”
B Corp Tightens Its Standards in Response to Multinational Criticism
• On February 3, 2026, B Corp unveiled strengthened certification standards after five years of consultation and nearly 30,000 contributions, responding to criticism over insufficient rigor.
• The reform now requires compliance with strict criteria across seven thematic areas, regular audits by an independent third party, and partial exclusion of sectors incompatible with the ecological and social transition.
• The overhaul aims to restore the label’s credibility, limit greenwashing and align certified companies with current European regulatory expectations.
Source: Novethic – “B Corp Tightens Its Rules to Regain Credibility”
Life Insurance: The End of Massive Support for Fossil Fuels?
• Life insurance remains a major savings product in France, with strong exposure to fossil fuels in unit-linked funds, according to the 2026 report by NGO Reclaim Finance.
• This raises greenwashing and climate-consistency concerns, as nearly half of “sustainable” funds include fossil fuel majors and climate commitments are often only partially integrated.
• The Banque de France has stressed the need to integrate all unit-linked funds into insurers’ climate strategies to align with the Paris Agreement, while some players already offer strictly fossil-free products.
Source: Vert le Média – “MAIF, AXA, Goodvest… How to Choose Life Insurance That Doesn’t Finance Oil Giants”
Advances and Setbacks Signal a Shift in the Global ESG Order
• The United States officially withdrew from the Paris Agreement, while the IPSASB launched the first climate reporting standard for the public sector and several European countries committed to jointly developing 100 gigawatts of offshore wind in the North Sea.
• The United Kingdom warned companies about their responsibility for greenwashing claims made by suppliers, and Hong Kong expanded its sustainable finance taxonomy.
• These developments reflect intensified regulatory and financial actions to drive environmental transformation and improve ESG transparency worldwide.
Source: ESG Today – “Week in Review”
GHG Protocol Establishes a Global Standard for Agriculture
• The GHG Protocol published the new Land Sector and Removals (LSR) standard, establishing the first global framework enabling companies to quantify, disclose and track greenhouse gas emissions and CO₂ removals linked to agricultural land use.
• This milestone filled a major gap in measuring the climate impact of land-use sectors, which account for 22% of global emissions and have long suffered from inconsistent reporting.
• The standard is set to enter into force in January 2027, strengthening the rigor of environmental reporting worldwide.
Source: ESG Today – “GHG Protocol Launches Carbon Accounting Standard for Land Sector”
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