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The European Ombudsman found that the European Commission committed maladministration by applying a broad and poorly defined interpretation of 'urgency' to bypass impact assessments and public consultations for three legislative proposals. The investigation revealed a lack of formal records for derogations, delayed publication of analytical documents, and insufficient stakeholder engagement. Additionally, the Commission failed to provide clear evidence of mandatory climate consistency assessments required by the European Climate Law and excessively shortened an inter-service consultation to less than 24 hours in one case. The Ombudsman recommends that the Commission define 'urgency', formally record all exemptions, and establish procedures to ensure that urgent law-making remains transparent and evidence-based.

The report finds that while the EU and UK have made progress in aligning TACs with scientific advice since 2015, they missed the 2020 legal deadline to end overfishing. In 2024, nearly 24% of analyzed TACs still exceeded scientific advice. The analysis reveals a systemic lack of ambition for data-limited stocks subject to precautionary advice and for bycatch stocks, which are more frequently overfished than target stocks. The report also highlights significant transparency failures in the TAC-setting process and calls for an ecosystem-based approach that sets limits well below single-stock advice to ensure stock recovery and resilience against climate change.

This executive summary, submitted to Eskom's Board Sustainability and Ethics Committee on 20 May 2016, details the company's environmental performance, compliance risks, and legal liabilities for the 2015/16 financial year. It highlights failures to meet emissions and water usage targets, significant financial requirements for air quality compliance, and specific legal breaches of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) and the National Water Act.