Energy & Environment
Shareholders block China’s €9bn bid for Energias de Portugal
Shareholders in Portugal’s biggest company, Energias de Portugal, on Wednesday (24 April) blocked a €9 billion takeover bid by the state-owned China Three Gorges (CTG) Corporation. The rejection of the bid by the Chinese energy behemoth comes amid growing unease...
Zero-emission EU industry ‘within reach’ but costly, study says
Bringing down emissions from heavy industry to net-zero by 2050 is possible but will require costly new production processes and a 25-60% increase in near-term capital investments to reach €40-50 billion per year, according to new research published on Thursday (25 April).
The Brief – Green is the new black
Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are talking more and more about a 'Green New Deal' as climate change concerns start to actually take hold. But can Europe’s leaders square the worries of the gilets jaunes with the gilets jeunes?
Microplastics also travel through the air, says new study
Microplatics are not only found in the world’s oceans but can also reach isolated areas by air, according to a study published in Nature Geoscience on 15 April. EURACTIV’s partner le Journal de l'environnement reports.
Ukrainian President-elect calls for IMF talks to lower gas prices for households
Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy's team on Wednesday (24 April) called on the government and state energy company Naftogaz to hold talks with the International Monetary Fund on lowering household gas prices from 1 May.
Weber seeks powers to stop Nord Stream 2
The lead candidate for Europe's conservative bloc in next month's EU elections has said he would try to stop the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline if he becomes European Commission president, according to an interview published Tuesday (23 April).
Fridays for Future Germany struggles with growing media attention
The climate activists at Fridays for Future Germany say they have no leadership. But the same faces keep appearing in German newspapers and the media is already reporting on first internal tensions. How is the student movement coping with this media attention? EURACTIV Germany reports.
EU official: ‘Renewables could supply almost 80% of heating and cooling by 2050’
Reaching the EU's target of increasing renewable heating and cooling by 1.3% each year will require a diverse array of solutions, says the European Commission's Hans van Steen.
British football clubs want to lead the way in reducing single-use plastics
Football can bring joy or frustration to supporters... but also a lot of waste. UK football teams have decided to introduce reusable cups in stadiums, as part of a joint initiative by the Premier League and British TV channel Sky News.
Germany’s ruling parties rank just above far-right on climate protection
The European People’s Party (EPP) has scored very poorly in an analysis of how MEPs voted on climate policies, ranking even lower than the European Parliament's far-right contingent. In Germany, it is a similar story. EURACTIV Germany reports.
Greta Thunberg urges MEPs to ‘panic like the house is on fire’
Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist, made an impassioned plea for the planet at the European Parliament on Tuesday (16 April), urging MEPs to “start panicking about climate change” rather than "waste time arguing about Brexit".
Price of energy saving certificates causes friction in France
Energy saving certificates, or white certificates, were meant to be the answer to France’s slow progress in reducing energy consumption. However, there is far more demand than supply, resulting in a surge in prices of certificates, which have more than doubled in a year. EURACTIV France reports.
Climate change will be key issue in EU elections, poll shows
As many as 77% of potential voters identify global warming as an important criteria when deciding who to vote for at the May European elections, according to an opinion poll published on Tuesday (16 April).
Three things to know as Germany opens massive ocean wind park
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be joined by French and Norwegian ministers Tuesday (16 April) to officially open a massive wind farm in the Baltic Sea, a key project for her country's "energy transition".
UK breaks coal-free power generation record by huge margin
Coal has historically been at the cornerstone of the UK's electricity mix, but the first three months of 2019 saw the electricity grid clock up 650 hours of coal-free generation – more than was achieved during the entirety of 2017. EURACTIV's media partner edie.net reports.
Poland wins €215m EU grant for gas link to Norway
The European Commission today officially signed a €214.9 million grant for works on a new Baltic gas pipeline project aimed at connecting Poland and Denmark with Norway.
Claude Turmes: ‘We won the Energy Transition Fund’
The Energy Transition Fund called for by the European Parliament is more than just a pot of money to support coal-dependent regions, says Claude Turmes, Luxembourg’s minister for energy and spatial planning.
Exxon lobbyists allowed to keep EU access badges
The heads of political groups in the European Parliament have failed to reach a decision on whether to strip ExxonMobil lobbyists from their EU access badges, leaving some activists bitterly disappointed and others reflecting about future engagement with the oil and gas industry.
Russia cashes in as European oil refiners pay for US sanctions
European refiners are paying the price for US oil sanctions on Venezuela and Iran as they scramble to replace the sour crude Washington has blocked from the global market with increasingly expensive Russian oil, trading sources said and data showed.
Ambassadors pave the way for EU-US trade talks, despite French opposition
Europe is set to start trade talks with the US after ambassadors gave their green light on Thursday (11 April) to a proposed mandate for the European Commission to conduct the negotiations on behalf of the 28 EU member countries.
Will there be a minimum price on carbon in Germany? And how?
In Germany, calls for introducing a CO2 emission tax are getting louder. Yet, the German government continues to be divided on the matter with the French ‘gilet jaunes’ appearing to be quite the deterrent. What would a socially acceptable price of CO2 look like? EURACTIV Germany reports.
Clean energy transition ‘is a social policy issue’, Poles insist
The social policy dimension was largely overlooked when the European Union decided energy and climate change objectives for 2030, Poles have warned, calling on policymakers to endorse a “just transition fund” to support the country's coal phase-out.
Gas, a prominent guest at German energy transition event
As Germany is gradually phasing out nuclear and coal energy, Berlin is increasingly considering gas as key in bridging the gap between a fossil-fuels based and a low carbon economy.