
How German business interests have shaped EU climate agenda
A new report by Corporate Europe Observatory details how German business interests have shaped German and European hydrogen policies.
Tuesday
28th Mar 2023
A new report by Corporate Europe Observatory details how German business interests have shaped German and European hydrogen policies.
Solar panels, wind-turbines, electric vehicle batteries and other green technologies require minerals including aluminium, cobalt and lithium — which are mined in some of the most conflict-riven nations on earth, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, and Kazakhstan.
A tsunami of court cases in the US, coupled with EU plans to restrict toxic PFAS 'forever chemicals' pose a growing risk for investors.
It is no easy thing to restrict thousands of chemicals used in daily products and manufacturing for some 70 years — but this week the EU opened public consultations on two proposals to do just that.
The United Nations's report — synthesising years of climate, biodiversity, and nature research — paints a picture of the effects of global warming on the natural world, concluding there is "no time for inaction and delays."
The European Commission has delayed publishing its proposal to revise the Reach regulation, a key part of the European Green Deal's chemicals strategy. Centre-right political pressure, backed up by corporate lobbying, seems to have been behind the decision to delay.
The EU has launched a Hydrogen Bank meant to serve a launchpad for green and low-carbon hydrogen.
The EU presented its strategy to ensure access to critical raw materials needed for clean technologies. No country should supply more than 65 percent of any key material. Currently, China dominates almost all rare earth metal markets.
Toilet paper should be considered as a potentially major source of PFAS entering wastewater treatment systems, new research shows.
The EU Commission is expected to detail its plans on Thursday as part of the Net-Zero Industry Act on industrial incentives, and the Critical Raw Materials Act, which seeks to reduce EU over-reliance on China.
EU finance ministers agreed on new spending rules, copying much of previously existing rules. One worry is that only three countries — Sweden, Denmark and Luxembourg — could currently afford to meet green commitments while meeting debt and deficit rules.
The European Commission proposed a temporary fix to the bloc's much-debated debt and deficit rules — which will allow member states more leeway in reducing public debt this year.
Corporate profits have been the dominant driver of inflation since the Covid-19 pandemic, yet the ECB consistently is more concerned about labour costs spiralling out of control.
The European Parliament's environment committee voted to end so-called 'super greenhouse gases' — used in cooling systems power transmission stations.
A new study suggests Europe is on course to exceed its renewable power target by 2030, as the energy crisis has supercharged the deployment of clean energy.
France is building an alliance of 12 pro-nuclear states to advocate for expanding nuclear power in the bloc.
The controversial Energy Charter Treaty does not only protect investment in fossil fuels, it equally protects investment in renewables. This is a major reason why the Spanish government is on the forefront of urging the EU to abandon the treaty.
Climate organisations Oxfam, Friends of the Earth and Notre Affaire à Tous are suing the Eurozone's biggest bank BNP Paribas over oil and gas financing.
The EU Commission assessed northern Germany needs only two liquified natural gas terminals to replace Russian supply, memos show, but the Berlin government is eyeing 12 potential sites — vastly exceeding assessed needs.
MEPs called on the European Central Bank to explain how its monetary policies are affecting society, employment and climate policy.
European finance ministers sought to unblock talks over reforming the EU's debt and deficit rules.
The EU Commission published detailed rules defining hydrogen and when it can be counted as green, but experts slam reporting requirements on renewables as too weak, opening the door for increased fossil fuel burning.
"The main risk to this forecast is based on the geopolitical tensions, and the evolution of the war," EU commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said, adding that "this gives to the economy, investors, companies a high degree of uncertainty".
Europe is responding to US green subsidies by unleashing green subsidies of its own. But the focus on industry and great power rivalry has overshadowed what the EU Commission itself has repeatedly said is central to the green transformation: people.
MEPs agreed on a compromise text for the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive #EPBD, but divisions within parties blocked a more ambitious text, with some fearing cost overruns and protests.
EU leaders are set to discuss how to respond to the €343bn worth of US subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), amid worries of i impact on businesses.
The gas-boiler industry is pushing for hydrogen to be allowed to heat homes — but as well as being riskier for explosions and exacerbating asthma, experts dub domestic hydrogen 'a dangerous distraction'.
The EU must realise the need for a trade agreement with Mercosur. The timing has never been better. The recent election of the president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, marks a fresh start to move forward on the Mercosur Agreement.
The European Central Bank raised interest rates by another 0.5 percent to a 14-year high, and expects to hike rates by another half percent in March. But what does that mean for the green transition?
The European Union has proposed a plan to counteract the US green subsidy bonanza — but experts warn that without EU debt wealthy Germany and France will out-subsidise the rest.
The ministers worry that a resolution adopted by the European Parliament could give political momentum to demands to revise the protected status of wolves.
Draft legislation in Poland aimed at relaxing some of Europe's strictest laws surrounding onshore wind-turbines has been derailed by a surprise last minute amendment, which could put Poland back on a collision course with the EU.
Industrial energy-intense sectors, outside Germany and France, will not move to the US. They will go bust, as they cannot compete in a fragmented single market. So to save industry in two member states, we will kill the rest?