Strange bedfellows: Dutch farmers party and greens to govern together
The Dutch Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB), an agrarian party created as a result of widespread protests against ‘green’ legislation, will govern together with…
Energy and climate
Latest reporting and analysis on energy and climate.
Renewables growth did not dent fossil fuel dominance in 2022, report says
Global energy demand rose one per cent last year and record renewables growth did nothing to shift the dominance of fossil fuels, which still accounted for 82 per…
Germany: heat-pump plan set to hammer homeowners
German homeowners face further pain over the country’s controversial heat-pump programme.
Green groups put brakes on Germany’s biggest classic-car rally
It looks like the end of the road for Germany's biggest vintage-car rally, which has been cancelled just days before it was due to take place, amid environmental…
Macron calls for ‘public funding surge’ at Paris climate summit
French President, Emmanuel Macron, took a decidedly green turn at the Summit for a New Global Financial Pact in Paris on June 22, stating no country should have…
Brazil’s Lula says EU should ‘give up’ protectionism, be ‘more humble’
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on June 22 that the European Union should stop adopting a protectionist stance if it wants to reach a long-delayed…
Member States approve watered-down Nature Restoration law by slim majority
In an extremely tight vote, EU Member States have agreed on a ‘general approach’ to the new Nature Restoration Law, despite strong opposition.
EU climate chief fears green deal risks hit from ‘culture wars’
The European Union’s landmark green deal is at risk of being dragged into the “culture wars,” said the bloc’s climate chief Frans Timmermans as he warned…
Europe ‘in danger of losing the battery race’; green energy transition at risk
The EU's court of auditors is sceptical about the bloc’s push for an effective transition to greener energy, saying the whole process might be at risk.
EU Nature Restoration Act grinds to a halt amid growing division
The European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) was forced to postpone the vote on a proposed nature restoration law…
Timmermans on the defensive over EU environmental laws
European Commission Vice-President, Frans Timmermans, claims the Christian Democrats ‘ran away’ from an agreement on environmental legislation, accusing them…
Prince Harry, Sebastian Vettel, Greta Thunberg – practice what you preach before lecturing the rest of us
You cannot go far these days in Europe, indeed throughout the West, without being harangued by some celebrity about climate change or social justice.
Investors may exit consumer goods firms over EU deforestation law
By Richa Naidu
Europe’s risky plan to avert an energy crisis: stash gas in Ukraine
About 60 miles from Ukraine’s border with the European Union, an array of pipes and pumps hints at what stands to become an important part of the bloc’s efforts…
Poland to take 2035 fossil fuel car ban to top EU court, minister says
Poland will appeal against European Union rules to end the sale of fossil fuel cars across the bloc from 2035 to the top EU court within days, the country's climate…
Nord Stream sabotage: US intelligence service tip-offs ‘point to Ukraine’
The United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) allegedly told Belgian secret services that the explosions that destroyed the Nord Stream pipelines were the…
Von der Leyen buckles: EU nature restoration law to be watered down
Critics of European Commission environment plans seem to be getting their way.
Waiting for the onshore wind revolution? You might have to live for 4,500 years
It will take several millennia to hit UK Government green-energy production targets, according to a report from the left-leaning London-based think-tank the Institute…
France: ‘Nuclear energy is non-negotiable’
French Economy and Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, said the role of nuclear power in France is "non-negotiable" and anyone thinking they can reduce it would be…
Leftist greenery is unscientific and failing – but conservatism goes together with true conservation
Sir Keir Starmer, the British Labour party leader — an organisation organically linked to the country’s major unions — is the latest of many European politicians,…
Polish PM defies court order to stop lignite mine extraction
Poland’s Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, on June 7 dug his heels in and expressed outrage at a Warsaw court’s decision to suspend a key Polish mining facility’s…
Ireland plan to slaughter 200,000 cows in name of EU climate policy
The Irish government is considering killing 200,000 cows in a bid to combat climate change.
Don’t just focus on casualties: Ukraine war is bad for climate, says Dutch academic
The murderous war Russia is waging in Ukraine is not just killing people, it is also ravaging the climate, researchers say.
The Commission’s Green Deal will make the EU dependent on China for minerals and technology
“Renewables are cheap, they are home-grown, they make us independent.
EU nations increasingly split on climate laws
Luxembourg Prime Minister, Xavier Bettel, has stepped into the fray over climate policy raging between Belgium's Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, and Dutch EU…
Hot air from your ‘European bubble’ won’t get us climate results, Belgian PM tells EC green chief Timmermans
Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, has taken a swipe at the European Commissioner, Frans Timmermans, saying the ‘green’ Dutch politician will be unable…
Greenpeace claims EU-Mercosur trade deal is ‘poisonous’
Greenpeace activists on May 26 scaled the outside of the Residence Palace in Brussels, the seat of the European Council and European Union, spraying the building…
German climate activists ‘should be labelled criminal organisation’
The well-known climate activists Letzte Generation should be regarded as a criminal group of “mafia-like clans” that threaten democracy and “merely wants to…
Italy flood toll rises to 14; 36,000 evacuated
The total number of victims for the flood in Emilia Romagna, in northern Italy, has risen to at least 14 registered deaths, while the number of the people who have…
Will von der Leyen get flagship ‘green deal’ approved before European elections?
Ursula von der Leyen now knows how long she has left to secure her flagship ‘green deal’ and make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.