Thursday
2nd Feb 2023
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 ministers worry that a resolution adopted by the European Parliament could give political momentum to demands to revise the protected status of wolves.
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?
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 EU is set to propose a plan to simplify tax credits in an effort to counteract the US $369bn [€339bn] Inflation Reduction Act #IRA ahead of next week's summit of EU leaders.
Sanctions targeting Russia's fossil fuel earnings are now in place but as exports by European-controlled tankers persist, revenues still flow into the Kremlin purse.
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.
Europe accelerated its electricity transition in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with solar energy developers leading the charge.
The United Arab Emirates presented a high-tech vision to lead the world into a green future at this year's climate summit, COP28. But it wants to do so while massively expanding oil production.
The United Arab Emirates announced its ambition to become one of the world's premier trading hubs for green hydrogen. Interesting, to say the least, for a country that relies on the sale of fossil fuels for its prosperity.
The indigenous reindeer-herding Sami people in northern Sweden say they are facing an existential threat from an iron-ore mine billed as a pivotal shift towards the EU's green transition.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced a 'Net-Zero Industry Act' to counter US and Chinese competition.
EU climate chief Frans Timmermans defended the decision to appoint the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company as head of this year's UN climate summit.
An MEP voluntary pension fund held millions of euros in shares in petrochemical companies at a time when a UN climate change treaty, backed by the European Parliament, was demanding a sharp reduction in CO2 emissions.
Half a kilometre down a mine some 150km north of the article circle, Sweden's centre-right energy and industry minister Ebba Busch holds up a large rock of iron ore.
Free-market Sweden was scrambling as it took over the EU presidency this week to defuse ever more explosive calls for EU state subsidies — to match the Joe Biden's US Inflation Reduction Act.
Hundreds of police from all over Germany are being sent to Lützerath, a half-demolished village in the west of the country, to evict climate activists who are blocking the expansion of the Garzweiler II open pit coal mine.
The EU will allow post-Covid recovery funds to be spent on "urgent" energy infrastructure developments —which could see dozens of liquefied natural gas projects awarded funding. Campaigners call it "disastrous", fearing projects will increase Europe's dependence on imported fossil fuels.
Some EU countries lack clear and binding legislation regarding cycling infrastructure standards. There is little political will to introduce them, as this would stand in the way of real estate developers' interests or inconvenience car drivers.
After years of loose monetary policy, central banks are changing tack. But using the levers of the financial system to fight inflation risks cutting climate investment just as we need it most.
Despite millions poured in, EU countries are failing to reduce car use. But by adding an environmental dimension, countries covered by cohesion policy can continue road building with EU funds and file it under measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
An investigation into the use of EU cohesion funds to build dysfunctional bicycle infrastructure in Czechia, Lithuania, Malta and Romania. Part one of three.
In response to the US Inflation Reduction Act, the EU has announced its own package of counter-subsidies. The question is whether a green industrial arms race will speed up the transition to clean energy or derail it.
The inflationary "threat" is a favourite bogeyman of conservative and neoliberal economists. For them it's a question of defending savers and wealth and preparing the ground for austerity policies. This vision fails to identify the actual reasons behind price rises.
EU member states on Tuesday voiced support for an ambitious nature restoration law which will set legally binding targets for nature restoration for 20 percent of Europe's land and sea area's by 2030.
Energy ministers on Monday met for a final push to agree on a gas price-cap before the end of the year.
On Monday the European Council is about to softly kill the main legislative part of the Farm to Fork and biodiversity strategy — all in the name of food security.
The ECB announced another rate hike on Thursday, but economists warn that increasing capital costs will hurt the EU's shift to renewable energy and energy efficiency.
The evidence shows the 'next Afghanistan' is not in the Middle East but in Africa, specifically West Africa, where religious violence, political corruption, weak states, and the devastating impacts of climate change have combined to create an unprecedented crisis.
EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Europe must "beef up" investments in green energy and technology if it wants to compete with China and the US in the race to net zero.
After 10 gruelling hours of overnight negotiations that lasted until five in the morning EU negotiators reached a deal on a border tariff for carbon-intensive goods, ending 20 years of discussions.
In a new paper, economists call on central banks to wield their monetary and regulatory powers to prevent biodiversity loss and the destruction of ecosystems — not just climate change.
Thousands of Europeans have lost their jobs as a result of the energy crisis, a new report shows, but overall industrial output has remained stable throughout the year.
