Action brought on 16 September 2022 — Fédération environnement durable and Others v Commission

(Case T-583/22)

(2022/C 472/50)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicants: Fédération environnement durable (Paris, France), Bundesinitiative Vernunftkraft eV (Berlin, Germany), Vent de Colère! — Fédération nationale (Peyraud, France), Vent de Raison — Wind met Redelijkheid (VdR-WmR) (Petit-Roeulx, Belgium) (represented by: M. Le Berre, lawyer)

Defendant: European Commission

Form of order sought

The applicants claim that the Court should:

— annul the European Commission decision of 7 July 2022 (fisma.b.2(2022) 5340198, Ares (2022)4952619 — 07/07/2022) rejecting the applicants’ request for internal review of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139; (1)

— order the Commission to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the action, the applicants rely on five pleas in law.

1. First plea in law, alleging, with regard to the preparation of the Delegated Regulation, breaches of Articles 6 to 8 of the Aarhus Convention, (2) Articles 9 and 10(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 September 2006, (3) and of Articles 10(4), 11(4) and 20(2) of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2020. (4)

2. Second plea in law, alleging, with regard to the objective of climate change mitigation, breaches of Article 37 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, of Article 191 TFEU and Article 19(1)(f) of Regulation 2020/852 as well as of Article 10(3)(a), 19(1)(a) and (j) and 19(3) of Regulation 2020/852.

3. Third plea in law, alleging, with regard to the objective of climate change adaptation, the breach of Article 10(2) of Regulation 1367/2006.

4. Fourth plea in law, alleging, with regard to the requirement of Do No Significant Harm (DNSH), breaches of Article 17(1)(d) of Regulation 2020/852 and of Article 10(2) of Regulation 1367/2006.

5. Fifth plea in law, alleging the breach of the obligation of motivation.

(1) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139 of 4 June 2021 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing the technical screening criteria for determining the conditions under which an economic activity qualifies as contributing substantially to climate change mitigation or climate change adaptation and for determining whether that economic activity causes no significant harm to any of the other environmental objectives (OJ 2021 L 442, p. 1).

(2) Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters of 25 June 1998 (OJ 2005 L 124, p. 4).

(3) Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 September 2006 on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters to Community institutions and bodies (OJ 2006 L 264, p. 13).

(4) Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2020 on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment, and amending Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 (OJ 2020 L 198, p. 13).