Sector & service specialists

Sustainability and environmental issues cut across every industry sector, with particular intensity in transport, chemicals, energy, and agriculture. The European Union has the most extensive environmental laws of any international organisation, with the body of EU environmental law estimated at well over 500 Directives, Regulations, and Decisions. The European Green Deal was one of the most ambitious policy commitments in EU history. But 2026 finds the sustainability agenda in a period of significant recalibration. 

The political context has shifted materially. Voters across several EU member states have turned away from Green parties amid rising right-wing populism and anti-EU sentiment. The damage to energy-intensive industries from burdensome regulation has become politically inescapable. President von der Leyen’s February 2025 launch of the Clean Industrial Deal acknowledged explicitly: ‘Too many obstacles still stand in the way of our European companies from high energy prices to excessive regulatory burden.’ The shift in Commission rhetoric – from sustainability-led to competitiveness-led, with sustainability as an enabling condition rather than a standalone priority – is real and significant. 

Yet the regulatory pipeline remains full. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, the CBAM, product sustainability requirements under the Ecodesign Regulation, the Methane Regulation, the Nature Restoration Law (adopted by Parliament in July 2024 after a contested vote), and packaging rules all represent live compliance and advocacy work. The Commission’s omnibus simplification initiatives are rolling back some requirements but not the overall direction of travel. 

The Public Affairs Council’s research on ‘Trends in European Public Affairs’ found that 97% of respondents identified rising public expectations and increasing EU regulation on sustainability and ESG as a key external challenge. The biggest difficulties: measuring and communicating impact (63%), excessive or unclear regulation (60%), and stakeholder misconceptions (51%). Corporate sustainability has itself become politically contested, with parts of the European business community arguing that ESG reporting obligations risk undermining competitiveness if implemented without simplification and international alignment. Every Brussels consultancy and law firm engages with sustainability across their sectoral work – it is the horizontal challenge that defines the EU regulatory environment regardless of sector.