Energy & Environment Archives

The share of renewable energy in the Netherlands’ energy consumption decreased by 2% in 2021, meaning the Hague is no longer on track to hit its EU green goals, new data from the government’s statistical office shows. The share of renewable …

Environmental groups on Friday (1 July) urged world leaders to keep promises they made at the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon this week, to do everything in their power to save the world's seas.

President Vladimir Putin has raised the stakes in an economic war with the West with a decree that seizes full control of the Sakhalin-2 gas and oil project, a move that could force out Shell and Japanese investors.

The latest G7 commitment – to clean up power systems by 2035 – shows that this is a credible and achievable milestone, and signals a clear direction of travel, writes Chris Rosslowe.

The EU public administration, torn between growing ambitions and a stagnant budget, faces yet another obstacle - inflation - with temporary staff set to pay the highest price. The European Commission has recently raised the salaries by 2.4% retroactively from the …

European grid operators are ready to implement immediately a long-term plan to bring the Baltic states, which rely on the Russian grid, into the EU system in the event Moscow cuts them off, three sources familiar with the matter said.

Efforts to label natural gas and nuclear power activities as green will only benefit a limited number of industries in a restricted number of countries and will hinder Europe's energy transition, writes Teresa Ribera.

Hungary sits on a huge geothermal basin and already has district heating infrastructure in place to deliver clean energy to citizens. And despite this, the government is making no effort to take advantage of it, experts say.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday (30 June) a legal framework was needed to stop deep-sea mining from going ahead and urged countries to put their money on science to better understand and protect the world's oceans.

The decision by EU countries in the early hours of Wednesday (29 June) to ban the sale of polluting vehicles by 2035 was widely seen as a death sentence for the internal combustion engine in the EU.

With the 2035 ban on the production of new combustion engine cars almost set in stone, carmaker regions of the EU have banded together to demand a support mechanism to ease the transition, similar to that implemented for coal regions.

Fuel vouchers for citizens are one of the remaining options the government is considering, having slashed VAT on fresh foodstuffs to the minimum, Croatia’s Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Thursday, according to the Poslovni Dnevnik business website. A temporary cap on fuel …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the launching of power transmissions to Romania was the start of a process that could help Europe reduce its dependence on Russian hydrocarbons.

With the 2021-2027 budgetary period supporting exploratory drilling, the Slovak government has decided to remove one of the main barriers to geothermal energy development in the country, though the Commission still needs to give its green light.

The European Commission has launched investigations into whether the planned public support for the extension of the Czech Dukovany nuclear plant is in line with EU competition rules.

The government will discuss whether to resume domestic gas drilling in the following few weeks, Prime Minister Mario Draghi told reporters following the Council of Ministers meeting on Thursday (30 June).

The French government is unlikely to follow through on its climate ambitions, the country's High Council on Climate (HCC) said on Thursday (30 June) in a report containing recommendations for the executive.

This week we discussed negotiations between the bloc's 27 environment ministers. In particular, their joint positions on five laws which are part of a broader package of measures to slash planet-warming emissions by the end of the decade. We also …

Rewatch this EURACTIV Hybrid Conference where stakeholders discussed the policy tools that can strengthen EU security of supply. Addressed questions included:

- How can gas supplies be secured in the most efficient and sustainable way, while at the same time ensuring the protection of EU citizens and industries? Is a holistic approach achievable?
- What is the role of gas infrastructure? Can gas infrastructure operators connect Europe to the global market?
- What solutions exist to transport and store renewables and low-carbon molecules over long distances with the existing and future LNG, underground storage and transmission facilities?

The European Commission aims to scale up renewables in heating and cooling as a way to phase out Russian gas, although industry sources say there is still much to do to ensure a level playing field with dominant fossil-fuel heating technologies.

Hoping to achieve its 2024 target of producing 500,000 heat pumps a year, the German government is pushing the industry to make necessary investments amid fears it will end up like the solar panel industry.

Green ammonia plays a prominent role in the 20 million tonne renewable hydrogen target of the European Commission’s REPowerEU plan. Now it’s time for the EU to put its money where its mouth is, writes Joel Moser.

Ukrainian activists and politicians leaders have urged the European Parliament to reject plans to label nuclear and gas as ‘green’ investments, saying this would be a “gift to Putin”.