Energy Archives

Zurich Insurance Group will drop out of Russia's Nord Stream 2 project in the face of looming US sanctions against European companies that support construction of the $11 billion gas pipeline, two sources familiar with the situation said.

The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 January), leaving the country with just one remaining coal power station in operation, which is scheduled for closure in November.

The US State Department this month told European companies which it suspects are helping to build Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that they face a risk of sanctions, a spokesperson confirmed.

This week Ursula von der Leyen signalled the EU’s desire to lead the world in the fight against global deforestation. But if the key drivers of deforestation aren’t addressed, progress will remain limited, writes Julia Christian.

Major airlines, including Easyjet, KLM and Air France, have joined with environmental NGOs to call for stricter policies on biofuels and reduce the aviation sector's environmental impact.

The importance of forests for biodiversity and the need to protect them to prevent future pandemics was emphasised by Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel at the One Planet Summit on Monday (11 January).

As the UK takes its first steps away from the EU, there are still plenty of open questions about how it will align with Europe on climate policy, and in particular, with the EU's flagship emissions trading scheme (ETS).

Climate Action Network France launched its observatory of regional climate-energy targets on Monday (11 January), a tool that makes it possible to visualise the progress of each French region in terms of energy and climate transition. EURACTIV France reports.

Positive “tipping points” in the uptake of electric vehicles and the decarbonisation of electricity generation could spark a global transition to a climate neutral economy, scientists say, providing fresh hope in the fight against global warming.

Negotiations on the European Climate Law – including the bloc’s proposed 55% greenhouse gas reduction target for 2030 – are expected to wrap up before the end of June as Portugal makes a climate agreement the “big priority” of its six-month EU presidency, which started on 1 January.

Despite pressure from green groups, the UK Government has said it will not intervene in a county council's decision to approve a deep coal mine – the first facility of its kind to gain planning approval in 30 years, reports EURACTIV's media partner, edie.net.

Additional red tape and customs declarations means electricity will no longer flow as smoothly as it used to when the UK was a full member of the European Union, leading to “increased costs of energy trading,” an EU spokesperson told EURACTIV.

China's delayed carbon trading system will start operating in February, the environment ministry has said, as the world's biggest polluter takes steps towards decarbonising its economy by 2060.

The price of permits on the European Union carbon market has soared to record levels in the first trading days of the year, hiking costs for polluters as the EU prepares measures to enforce deeper emissions cuts.

More than 650 households and commercial properties in a village near Gateshead in the north of England will trial the use of blended green hydrogen to be used for heating, reports EURACTIV's media partner, edie.net.

Croatia's liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the northern Adriatic island of Krk began operations on Friday (1 January) amid the first delivery of gas, said the company which runs the unit.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić on Friday (1 January) opened a portion of a Russian gas project running through his country and hailed it as key for the security of its energy supply.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.4 struck a town in Croatia on Tuesday (29 December), with the emergency services saying many people had been injured and video footage showing people being rescued from rubble near the epicentre.

Climate policy will again take centre stage in 2021, with the European Commission expected to table a mammoth package of green laws in June, before the COP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow caps off a year packed with milestones for European climate policy in December.

The Danish Maritime Authority has said that construction will begin in January on the stretch in Danish waters of the disputed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is to bring Russian gas to Germany.

The Polish government is on the hunt for securing yet another stream of subsidies to its coal industry, two weeks after EU leaders agreed on an enhanced climate target by 2030. But the European Commission can stop this, Elif Gündüzyeli and Joanna Flisowska write.

Norway's Supreme Court struck down a challenge from environmental groups trying to stop oil exploration in the Arctic, after a historic battle over the country's climate change commitments on Tuesday (22 December).

EU member states will need to step up their efforts on renewables and energy efficiency in order to meet the bloc's updated climate and energy targets for 2030.

Coal-dependent Poland aims to shut its last mine by the EU's 2050 target, but experts warn the move to go green comes late and faces many hurdles.