The Climate and Ecosystems Team at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy is delighted to introduce The Green Hour Online Bulletin, our new fortnightly newsletter bringing you the latest environmental and regulatory updates from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). With environmental regulations and guidelines evolving quickly, the bulletin helps you stay informed and up to date on key policy developments as they happen.
What you’ll find inside:
- New rules and amendments
- Office circulars and memoranda
- Notifications on newly declared or modified protected areas
- Drafts Notifications open for Public Consultation
- Updates and insights from our team
We launched the first issue of our newsletter on 30th January, 2026. In this issue, we covered the MoEFCC’s new Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026 institutionalised the “polluter pays” principle through environmental compensation and spot fines for non-compliance. The Ministry amended the Control of Water Pollution (Grant, Refusal or Cancellation of Consent) Guidelines and Control of Air Pollution Guidelines (Grant, Refusal or Cancellation of Consent) Guidelines to introduce a single-step procedure for granting consent to industries under the Water Act, Air Act and various waste management rules notified under the EPA.
The ministry also introduced a unified mechanism for the collection of environmental penalties and their utilisation through the new Environmental Protection Fund Rules. You can find the other updates from January that we covered here (link).
Sneak peak from our newest issue, released on 12th February:
- Issuance of new environmental safeguards for establishment of CETPs.
- Compliance of Vanashakti vs. Union of India order on ex-post facto environmental clearances.
- Notification of Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) around Jaldapara National Park, West Bengal.
- Parliament updates: Delhi has lowest utilisation of NCAP funds, national average at 75.6%; 50 projects provided retrospective environment clearance; MoEFCC was allocated Rs. 3,759.46 crores in the budget session, seeing a rise of 277.85 crore from last year.
If you work in environment, climate, conservation, and policy, this newsletter is for you! Our latest issue, dated 12 February 2026, can be found here.
Subscribe to The Green Hour Online Bulletin here and let us know what you think. Share your feedback below or write to us at [email protected].