GreenData4All – updated rules on geospatial environmental data and access to environmental information

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U izradi (updated on 17/12/2025) - Bureau decision date: 02/12/2025
Referentni dokument
NAT/978-EESC
Opinion Type
Mandatory
Referral
COM(2025) 985 final 2025/0393 COD
Rapporteur
Anna SCHOEMAKERS
Civil Society Organisations - GR III
Netherlands
Plenary session number
604
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Practical information

  1. Composition of the study group
  2. Administrator / Assistant in charge: Alejandra MOLINA SAAVEDRE / Isabel ANTUNES
  3. Contact

 

Background

On 10 December 2025, the European Commission presented the Environmental Omnibus, a legislative initiative aimed at simplifying environmental legislation, reducing administrative burdens, and streamlining administrative procedures for EU businesses. The Omnibus includes the GreenData4All proposal, which contributes to modernising the EU framework for environmental and geospatial data (“green data”) sharing.

The EU’s current framework for green data is mainly based on the INSPIRE Directive (Directive 2007/2/EC) and the Public Access to Environmental Information Directive (Directive 2003/4/EC). While these instruments have improved access to environmental data, they were designed before the emergence of today’s data-driven economy and no longer fully support seamless data sharing, interoperability, and reuse across sectors and borders. Since then, the EU has established a new legal backbone for data sharing through the 2020 European strategy for data, the Data Governance Act (2022), the Data Act (2023), and the 2025 European Data Union Strategy. This evolving framework calls for sectoral data legislation, such as INSPIRE, to be updated and aligned with horizontal EU data rules. Against this backdrop, the Commission announced GreenData4All as the initiative to revise and modernise the INSPIRE framework.

GreenData4All aims to improve the accessibility, quality, and reuse of environmental geospatial data among public authorities, private organisations, and the public. By aligning INSPIRE with the EU’s broader data legislation, including the Open Data Directive, the High-Value Datasets Implementing Regulation, the Data Governance Act, and the Interoperable Europe Act, the initiative supports evidence-based environmental policymaking, enables data-driven innovation, and strengthens Europe’s green and digital transition.