Europe

Banks should publish green yardstick, says authority

Tuesday - European banks should publish a “green-asset ratio” as a core measure of their climate-friendly business activities, says the European Union's banking watchdog.

Serville oranges being turned into energy

24 Feb 21 - A pilot scheme will use methane from fermenting fruit to create clean power for Serville's city water plant

Russian region launches carbon trading plan

22 Feb 21 - In Russia's remote far east, authorities have launched an unexpected experiment: an effort to try out carbon trading and reach net-zero planet-heating emissions by 2025.

Green reforms of energy treaty divide EU

18 Feb 21 - The European Union has renewed its push for greening a major international treaty protecting energy investments, after last-minute wrangling and divisions between member states.

Overhaul of Europe's farming system on the table

17 Feb 21 - The Farm to Fork Strategy is at the heart of the European Green Deal, aiming to make food systems fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly.

Let's think big, Germany tells US and China

16 Feb 21 - Germany wants Europe and the United States to strengthen transatlantic ties with a trade deal to abolish industrial tariffs, a WTO reform to increase pressure on China and a joint carbon-emission trading system to protect the climate.

Big-emitting businesses could face costly EU carbon levy

11 Feb 21 - Big-emitting Australian businesses that export to Europe could soon face steep carbon levies of more than $70 a tonne unless the federal government imposes emissions reduction policies, according to a new analysis.

Court condemns French government over climate inaction

4 Feb 21 - A Paris court has found the French government responsible for failing to cut emissions in line with its own target, in the country’s first major climate lawsuit.

Ireland uses peat to combat climate change

3 Feb 21 - Ireland’s peat is offering the country a novel way to back the global effort to save the planet from overheating dangerously. It is helping to lock up the carbon emissions which are feeding the...

More consultation needed on EU carbon border levy, says China

2 Feb 21 - The European Commission needs to have further discussions with Beijing and other trading partners about its upcoming carbon border levy, a senior Chinese diplomat says.

Salla - 'The heat is coming'

29 Jan 21 - Salla, the coldest place in Finland, is making a tongue-in-check bid for the 2032 Summer Olympics, saying thanks to climate change, it expects that by then it will have sand for beach volleyball,...

'Gas is over,' says EU bank chief

26 Jan 21 - The European Investment Bank says it will end all funding for fossil fuels before the end of the year.

Bank links bosses' pay to sustainability performance

8 Dec 20 - Deutsche Bank says it will join a small number of financial institutions that link management pay to environmental, social and governance-related criteria.

The Danish climate minister closing down the oil industry for good

7 Dec 20 - Denmark’s climate minister is fairly certain that the deal to close down the nation’s oil industry by 2050, announced on Friday morning, marks the biggest moment in his career.

EU countries face off over hydrogen

2 Dec 20 - EUROPEAN Union member states are fighting over which type of hydrogen to support, with two opposing camps facing off: those backing green hydrogen produced exclusively from renewable electricity, and...

Italian and German trains hitch up to hydrogen bandwagon

1 Dec 20 - Rail operators in Italy and Germany are turning to hydrogen power in an attempt to make their train networks more environmentally friendly, with Deutsche Bahn, partnering up with Siemens, among the...

Draft plan to criminalise ecosystem destruction

1 Dec 20 - International lawyers are drafting plans for a legally enforceable crime of ecocide – criminalising destruction of the world’s ecosystems – that is already attracting support from European countries...

EU backs global hydrogen market with euro as key currency

27 Nov 20 - Europe wants to install the euro as the reference currency for trading hydrogen, but a global market with harmonised standards needs to be put in place first in order to meet demand, says the EU’s...

Steelmakers call for ‘Green Deal’ to counter Chinese dumping

25 Nov 20 - New Zealand is not alone in considering a carbon border-tax on steel; steelmakers in Europe say they need a "Green Deal" to protect them from high-emissions imports from China.