A key piece of legislation in the EU aimed at protecting and restoring natural ecosystems was dealt a major setback on Monday, with its removal from the agenda for an approval vote in the European Council after failing to maintain the necessary support by member states to enable its approval.

The legislation, the Nature Restoration Law, included a mandated target for EU countries implement measures to restore at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030, and for all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050.

The approval by the Council would have been the final major step required to pass the new law, and is normally viewed as a formality, after the text had already been agreed upon in a deal between the Council and Parliament, and was subsequently approved by Parliament last month. Leading up to the scheduled vote, however, several member states, including Austria, Belgium, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden indicated that they would oppose or abstain. With the vote already at risk, Hungary subsequently announced that it would oppose the law – despite the support from Hungarian MEPs who voted to approve its adoption in Parliament – indicating that the legislation would not reach the majority required to succeed.

Hungary’s Anikó Raisz, Minister of State for Environmental Affairs and the Circular Economy expressed concerns that the law would “overburden the economy,” citing the “sensitive situation” in the agriculture sector, as well as food security issues.

The failure of the Nature Restoration Law at the Council puts the future of the legislation at risk, with little ability to renegotiate the law given the upcoming EU elections in June. EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius added that the EU is now at risk of “going to COP16 empty-handed,” referring to the 2024 UN Biodiversity Conference later this year.

Follow the failure to adopt the law, MEP César Luena, who served as Rapporteur in Parliament on the law warned that the move would damage the reputation of the EU and its ability to influence environmental policies. Luena wrote:

“Failing to pass this law now will undermine EU’s international credibility in all UN climate and biodiversity conferences.”

The Nature Restoration Law was first proposed by the European Commission in June 2022, with an objective to restore ecosystems, habitats and species across the EU’s land and sea areas, with studies indicating that more than 80% of European habitats are in poor shape.

Under the new legislation, member states would be required to put into place restoration measures to restore at least 30% of habitats that are in poor condition by 2030, increasing to 60% by 2040, and 90% by 2050, and to regularly submit national restoration plans indicating how they will deliver on the targets.

The law includes specific requirements for different types of ecosystems, covering wetlands, grasslands, forests, rivers and lakes, as well as marine ecosystems such as seagrass and sponge and coral beds.

Additional regulations under the legislation include a requirement for member states to set out measures to reverse the decline of pollinator populations, put in place restoration measures for organic soils in agricultural use constituting drained peatlands, viewed as one of the most cost-effective measures to reduce emissions in the agricultural sector and improve biodiversity, an efforts-based requirement to prevent significant deterioration of areas subject to restoration that have reached good condition, and to achieve an increasing trend in urban green areas.

The failure at the Council marks the latest in a series of challenges over the course of advancing the Nature Restoration Law, after it only narrowly survived the Parliamentary approval process last year, with opposing politicians claiming that the proposals would threaten food security and agriculture, and would work against Europe’s clean energy and climate goals, by reducing capacity of energy sources such as hydropower and biomass. In order to achieve approval in Parliament, the final legislation included a series of adjustments from the initial proposal, including the addition of a new article ensuring that the law does not block renewable energy infrastructure projects overwhelmingly in the public interest, and requiring the EU Commission to provide data on conditions necessary to guarantee long-term food security. Even with these changes, the law only narrowly passed the final approval vote in Parliament in February.

Despite the failure on Monday, however, Alain Maron, Belgium’s minister for Climate change, Environment, Energy and Participative Democracy, and Chair of yesterday’s Environment Council meeting said in a press conference that “this is definitely not the end of the story,” adding that “efforts will now begin to “seek the necessary qualified majority to bring the file home.”

Maron added that the Belgian Presidency of the Council “will work hard in the next few weeks to find possible ways out of this deadlock, and get the file back on the agenda for adoption in another council.”