Clik here to view.
Timmermans’ Spanish frenemies
European Commission Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans’ first big obstacle to turning Europe green is coming from the ranks of his own party. A group of Socialist parliamentarians, most of them...
View ArticleClik here to view.
EU climate law sparks political battles
The battle to turn the EU climate-neutral by 2050 begins now. Brussels on Wednesday presented its European Climate Law — the centerpiece of its Green Deal vision of radically slashing greenhouse gas...
View ArticleBrussels launches legal effort to make EU climate neutral by 2050
The European Commission published its proposal for a Climate Law Wednesday — meant to make the EU’s commitment to slash greenhouse gases to net zero by 2050 legally binding. “We are acting today to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Brussels’ climate ambitions run into national resistance
Brussels’ plan to turn the EU climate-neutral by 2050 landed with a thud Wednesday. “We are acting today to make the EU the world’s first climate neutral continent by 2050,” Commission President Ursula...
View ArticleCoronavirus crisis cash threatens EU green plans
EU governments are firing bazookas of cash to keep their economies from collapsing from coronavirus shutdowns, but that’s fueling fears that propping up polluting factories, airlines, carmakers and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kings of the road in the time of coronavirus
From Szczecin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, a new iron curtain has descended on Europe in an effort to control the spread of coronavirus — leaving truckers as the Continent’s last free...
View ArticleUN delays global climate talks amid coronavirus crisis
Global climate talks scheduled for November will be delayed in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the U.N. and the British and Italian governments said Wednesday evening. “The world is currently...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Delay may refocus climate talks on coronavirus recovery, away from US election
Environmental activists and diplomats welcomed the U.N.’s decision to put off climate talks until next year, saying the delay would allow world leaders to recalibrate their plans in light of the...
View Article2019 was Europe’s warmest year ever recorded
Last year was the warmest on record in Europe, with central and eastern regions seeing the hottest temperatures, according to a new report out Wednesday. The Copernicus European State of the Climate...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Global climate battle shifts to ‘once-in-a-generation’ government spending
Carbon emissions are set to fall by historic amounts this year, but environmental advocates aren’t celebrating. Instead, they are zeroing in on a new battle: putting green conditions on the trillions...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mass protests: Italian priests vent fury over lockdown bar on worship
Italian politicians clash with the Catholic clergy at their own peril and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte risks doing just that by keeping churches closed due to coronavirus. “It’s a dictatorship!”...
View ArticleCoronavirus slashes emissions (for now)
This year’s pandemic could cause the biggest percentage drop in global carbon dioxide emissions since World War II and the Great Depression, scientists said Tuesday. But that’s not necessarily good...
View ArticleUK faces a climate ‘crunch decade’
Reaching net zero emissions by 2050 is going to mean drastic changes to everyday life. That’s according to the U.K. Committee on Climate Change (CCC), an independent government advisory body, which...
View ArticleEurope’s stranded assets: Mapped
This article is part of the special report The World in 2050. There’s a cost to becoming climate neutral — it will mean having to abandon trillions of euros in energy assets that will no longer be...
View ArticleEurope struggles to seed the forest for the trees
This article is part of the special report The World in 2050. Europe can’t stop climate change without forests. But climate change is killing trees. Forests cover almost half of Europe’s land area, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Berlin takes charge of Brussels’ green agenda
After spending years shaping EU energy and climate policy from behind the scenes, Berlin is moving into the hot seat. During the next six months, German officials will oversee crucial negotiations over...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The death of the city
Some 700 years ago, the Tuscan town of Siena was a burgeoning banking and proto-industrial powerhouse with over 50,000 inhabitants — a population surpassed only by medieval “mega-cities” like Paris,...
View ArticleGerman leaders warn of coronavirus resurgence, condemn protest
German politicians warned Sunday of a coronavirus resurgence and called for vigilance after thousands of people, defying calls to wear masks and take other precautions, protested in Berlin against...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Offshore wind gets claustrophobic
This sea ain’t big enough for all of us. That’s the problem facing Europe’s burgeoning offshore wind industry. As new towers are built they can create turbulence in wind flowing to existing turbines,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Germany’s ‘very, very tough’ climate battle
BERLIN — EU leaders last week agreed to increase the bloc’s 2030 climate target by the end of the year. Now it’s up to German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze to make it happen. That’s a big change...
View Article