The EU pushes to make biodiversity and water protection rules binding on energy projects across Energy Community member states for the first time.
January 9, 2026 – With Council Decision (EU) 2026/70, the EU has further established its’ position in the upcoming Ministerial Council of the Ministerial Council, the international organization that extends EU energy market rules to non-EU countries, primarily in the Western Balkans and around the Black Sea. The position authorises the Commission to submit three proposed amendments to the Energy Community Treaty, each extending a package of EU environmental law to the Treaty’s contracting parties and making compliance with those rules mandatory for energy network activities carried out under the Treaty framework.
The three proposed amendments, set out in Annexes I, II, and III, cover distinct but interrelated areas of environmental law:
- The first amendment updates and expands the Treaty’s existing reference to EU bird protection law, replacing an outdated cross-reference to the 1979 Birds Directive with a broader set of obligations, drawn from the current Birds Directive (2009/147/EC), which includes requirements to protect bird populations, avoid habitat degradation outside protected areas, and observe prohibitions on deliberate killing or disturbance of wild bird species in the context of energy infrastructure projects.
- The second amendment adds the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) to the Treaty’s environmental acquis for the first time. This is the primary EU instrument for protecting natural habitats and wild species. It would require contracting parties to apply the Habitats Directive’s site protection framework, including mandatory impact assessments for energy projects affecting internationally important sites, compensatory measures where projects proceed despite negative assessments, and strict species protection prohibitions, to energy network plans and projects on their territory. Contracting parties would have five years from the date of adoption to bring national law into compliance.
- The third amendment adds four water-related directives: the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), the Groundwater Directive (2006/118/EC), the Environmental Quality Standards Directive (2008/105/EC), and the technical standards directive on chemical analysis (2009/90/EC). Together these require contracting parties to establish water monitoring systems, develop river basin management plans, set environmental quality standards for surface and groundwater, and ensure that energy projects, including hydroelectric, hydrogen, and critical raw material extraction, do not deteriorate the status of water bodies. Adapted timelines replace EU-specific deadlines throughout, generally setting obligations to five years after adoption.
This Decision, which is addressed to EU institution, could have downstream effects on the contracting parties to the Energy Community Treaty, which would be legally required to transpose and apply the expanded environmental acquis within five years of the Ministerial Council adopting the proposed amendments. Energy project developers, national competent authorities, and environmental regulators in those countries are the primary operational audience.
