Legislation

Members of the European Parliament yesterday voted overwhelmingly in favour of banning the most commonplace single-use plastic items by 2021, including plastic cutlery, straws, stirrers and balloon sticks. MEPs in Strasbourg first indicated their support for a ban in December, and voted 560 in favour to pass the final proposals from the European Commission yesterday. Just 35 MEPs voted against the measures. The new rules will mean that from 2021 single-use plastic cutlery, cotton buds,…

Draft bill would give government powers to regulate CO2 and create carbon markets, but faces stiff opposition inside and outside Moscow administration Russia is considering climate legislation that could give the world’s fifth largest emitter a framework for regulating carbon emissions for the first time. The draft bill would give the government powers to introduce greenhouse gas emission targets for companies, and charges for those that exceed them, with proceeds potentially going into a fund…

A Conservative MP, Bill Wiggin, has introduced a bill in Parliament to ban the consumption of dog meat in the UK. The bill would make it illegal to eat dog meat and to transport, possess or donate it for the purposes of consumption. It is not currently against the law in the UK to eat dog meat. About 30 million dogs are eaten around the world annually – 10 million of those are consumed in…