Energy & Environment Archives

Sobering warnings from the UN about the impact of climate change on our planet and human health has one obvious solution: increase the rate of building renovation, in order to massively cut energy use, writes Vijoleta Gordeljevic.

Stark warnings from the United Nations ahead of a make-or-break summit in Poland in December have propelled climate change up the political agenda. Now, an experimental approach at regional level hopes to help the EU hit its emission reduction targets.

Unlike the energy sector, agriculture does not benefit from public policies geared towards a low carbon transition, which means farming is still a significant contributor to climate change due to meat over-consumption, a new report published on 16 October revealed.

In Belgium, Luxembourg and Bavaria, the Greens have been the big winners at the weekend’s elections by attracting new voters. EURACTIV France’s media partner Ouest-France reports.

European Union ministers agreed on Monday (15 October) to sharply boost catch quotas for western Baltic cod as part of new fishing regulations for next year that angered environmentalists.

A third of chemicals do not comply with European Union rules due to insufficient toxicological data. EURACTIV France’s media partner the Journal de l’environnement reports.

Renewable methane – whether produced from waste, manure or synthetic sources – could displace at most 7% of natural gas in Europe at the current demand rate, according to a new study by the International Council on Clean Transport (ICCT).

MEPs in the environment committee are extending the ban on single-use plastics. They are also targeting takeaway packaging, bottles and cigarette butts. EURACTIV France’s media partner, the Journal de l’environnement reports.

Poland has some of the worst air quality in the EU. But fighting smog is expensive. The Modernisation Fund set up as part of the Emissions Trading Scheme could help here, writes Joanna Maćkowiak-Pandera.

Climate change has been described as one of the biggest global threats of the 21st century. Dimitris Dimitriadis explains what the European Union needs to do to improve its civil protection capacities.

We are a long way from 2015. That year, the world committed to the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate - promising to end extreme poverty, address corrosive inequality, boost peace and prosperity, and stop climate change, write leaders of five European think tanks.

To succeed in renovating the European building stock by 2050, all the governance levels need to be involved, from local to national, French MP Marjolaine Meynier-Millefert told EURACTIV, adding that people who cannot afford the costs of renovation must not be left behind.

In order to discourage foreign investors from purchasing hectares of farmland, the “Safer” society and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region are encouraging MPs to notify them of this in advance. EURACTIV France’s media partner, the Journal de l’environnment reports.

Setting European Union targets for reducing cars' greenhouse gas output that are too ambitious could backfire with the loss of 100,000 jobs, Volkswagen chief executive Herbert Diess said Thursday.

The European Commission has given only cautious backing to a project led by Norway that would see carbon dioxide emissions captured at source from industrial installations and shipped offshore to depleting oil and gas fields where they would be buried more than 1,000 metres underground.

The European Commission unveiled a new bioeconomy strategy on Thursday (11 October), saying it could reduce the EU's dependence on fossil fuels while underlining the ecological limitations of Europe’s farming and forestry sector.

The EU has recognised access to energy as a human right. But whether it will enforce a  disconnection safeguard remains to be seen, writes Guillaume Derivaux.

European countries should not heavily rely on their forests to curb climate change. However, they should instead ensure that forests are protected from climate change, underlined a study published in Nature on Wednesday (10 October). EURACTIV France reports.

Members of the European Parliament voted on Wednesday (10 October) in favour of increasing the EU’s Paris Agreement emissions pledge by 2020. They also urged the European Commission to make sure its long-term climate strategy models net-zero emissions for 2050 "at the latest".

With reports continuing to reveal the extent of the environmental and social damage caused by fast-fashion, not-for-profit organisation H&M Foundation believes the industry is now on the cusp of a radical sustainability shift towards the circular economy. EURACTIV's media partner edie.net reports.