International: Europe
EU closes deal to slash green rules in major win for von der Leyen’s deregulation drive
Wed 10 Dec 2025
Controversial “omnibus” bill saw center-right EU lawmakers side with the far right to water down environmental standards.
Seven EU countries pressure European Commission to rethink 2035 diesel and petrol car ban
Tue 9 Dec 2025
Pressure from EU countries, lawmakers and the automotive industry is likely pushing the European Commission to delay the revision of the bloc's ban on diesel and petrol cars by 2035.
Spain announces $1.5 billion package to boost electric vehicle market
5 Dec 2025
Spain's plan includes 400 million euros in direct subsidies in 2026 for consumers to buy EVs.
Norway to examine scenarios for post-oil economy
5 Dec 2025
Norway said Wednesday it will set up a commission to study potential scenarios for the country's post-oil economy, a commitment the Greens Party secured in exchange for backing the government's 2026 budget bill.
EU agrees to end Russian gas imports by late 2027; Hungary, Slovakia oppose
4 Dec 2025
The European Union agreed on Wednesday to phase out Russian gas imports by late 2027 as part of an effort to end the bloc’s decades-long dependency on Russian energy.
EU carbon border tax goes easy on dirty Chinese imports, industry warns
3 Dec 2025
Businesses say Brussels got its math wrong on the carbon footprint of imports from China, Brazil and the U.S.
Europe must defend its deforestation law – for forests, business and its reputation
2 Dec 2025
Constant weakening and delays to the landmark EU regulation pose a threat to rainforests and erode Europe’s credibility as a stable, predictable market.
Swiss reject compulsory civic duty, climate tax for super-rich
2 Dec 2025
Swiss voters on Sunday resoundingly rejected a proposal to replace the current men-only military conscription with a compulsory civic duty for all and another on taxing the super-rich to fund the climate fight.
Europe’s water reserves drying up due to climate breakdown
2 Dec 2025
Vast swathes of Europe’s water reserves are drying up, a new analysis using two decades of satellite data reveals, with freshwater storage shrinking across southern and central Europe, from Spain and Italy to Poland and parts of the UK.
The carbon capture plan turning cattle farms into power plants
28 Nov 2025
The Frontier coalition is backing new technology that produces green electricity from biogas, while capturing waste carbon.
Europe plans service to gauge climate change role in extreme weather
24 Nov 2025
The EU is launching a service to measure the role climate change is playing in extreme weather events like heatwaves and extreme rain, and experts say this could help governments set climate policy, improve financial risk assessments and provide evidence for use in lawsuits.
Turkey set to host COP31 after reaching compromise with Australia
21 Nov 2025
The COP31 climate meeting is now expected to be held in Turkey after Australia dropped its bid to host the annual event.
A crucial system of ocean currents may be on course to collapse. This country just declared it a national security threat
17 Nov 2025
As evidence mounts these currents could be on course for collapse, Iceland’s government has made the unusual move of designating the risk a national security threat.
EU countries seek another year-long deforestation law delay
13 Nov 2025
European Union member states are seeking to postpone the implementation of the bloc's anti-deforestation law by another year, an EU negotiating draft dated November 10 shows.
Will EU's carbon border tax crash climate summit party?
12 Nov 2025
A flagship European environmental policy – dubbed a "carbon tax" on imports – is raising hackles abroad and is becoming a flashpoint at the UN's COP30 climate summit in Brazil.
EU’s new climate target lines up multibillion dollar boost for carbon markets
10 Nov 2025
Analysts estimate the EU will buy at least 50 billion euros worth of carbon credits in the 2030s to help meet its emissions-cutting goals.
EU ministers agree to 90% emissions reduction target
7 Nov 2025
European environment ministers have reached an agreement on a contentious plan to cut the bloc's greenhouse gas emissions but with caveats.
TotalEnergies loses in Paris court, marking a turning point for fossil fuel truth-in-advertising
5 Nov 2025
TotalEnergies was found to have misled consumers about its role in the energy transition.
Norway faces European Court climate ruling over oil licences
29 Oct 2025
The European Court of Human Rights will decide on Tuesday if Norway breached its climate obligations when it awarded Arctic oil exploration licenses in 2016.
EU leaders set conditions for new climate goal
28 Oct 2025
The EU is trying to pass a new target to cut net greenhouse gas emissions 90% by 2040 to put the bloc on track for net-zero emissions by 2050.
Oil firm TotalEnergies made misleading green statements, court rules
28 Oct 2025
A French oil company engaged in “misleading commercial practices” about the scope of its environmental commitments, a court has ruled.
'It was the start of a new movement': The Dutch rewilding project that took a dark turn
24 Oct 2025
In 2018, thousands of dead animals, emaciated from starvation, lay strewn across a famous Dutch rewilding project. Was it animal cruelty or just nature taking its course?
The methane hunters of Melendugno
23 Oct 2025
How Italian activists are fighting to expose the true scale of the climate harm caused by a giant European pipeline.
EU plans deforestation delay only for small businesses
22 Oct 2025
The proposal will need approval of co-legislators, EU countries at the Council and MEPs, who can still push for more changes to the legislation.
Von der Leyen tries to appease EU climate target skeptics
22 Oct 2025
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has pledged to adjust key green laws to secure support for a new climate target.
How one country’s Russian gas crisis became a green energy boom
21 Oct 2025
When Russia invaded Ukraine, Moldova quickly empowered its small towns to produce their own renewable energy so no one could push it around.
EU plans support for countries affected by carbon border levy
20 Oct 2025
The European Union will offer development funding to countries affected by the bloc's carbon border tariff, the European Commission said on Thursday, as it attempts to soothe developing economies' concerns over the policy.
'Not up for discussion': Brussels rejects Washington's pressure on climate rules
13 Oct 2025
In response to US demands to roll back the EU's environmental legislation, the European Commission defended its autonomous power to adopt laws.
Nestle leaves climate alliance for dairy emission reductions
10 Oct 2025
The Swiss consumer goods company previously said its overall greenhouse gas emissions declined 20% in 2024.
Cancelled artwork in Belém generates 57,765 Cultural Degrowth Credits
10 Oct 2025
The figures represented the anonymous decision-makers behind the greenhouse gas emissions driving the climate crisis.
Bonaire residents take Netherlands to court over climate
9 Oct 2025
The trial is a first for Europe and follows an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, which provides a legal interpretation of international climate law.
‘This is real progress’: Airlines on sustainable aviation fuels and the chances of net zero flying
7 Oct 2025
The EU and UK have imposed mandates, and investors see its value – but the industry has mixed views.
Pope Leo condemns climate change critics
3 Oct 2025
Pope Leo XIV has hit out at those who minimise the "increasingly evident" impact of rising temperatures in his first major statement on climate change.
NGOs urge no green label for fossil fuel investments
2 Oct 2025
Fossil fuel developers should be excluded from financial investments labelled sustainable, NGOs and associations urged on Tuesday, as part of any reform of the European Union's green finance transparency rules.
‘I couldn’t look’: European farmers on losing crops as the industry collides with worsening drought
30 Sep 2025
Global heating means annual drought losses across Europe could reach €17.5bn. Shipping and power generation are also being affected by low water levels.
Electric vehicle sales surge across EU as overall car market stalls
29 Sep 2025
Battery-electric and hybrid models are gaining ground in the EU, while diesel and petrol car sales continue to lose momentum.
EU proposes delaying anti-deforestation law, again
25 Sep 2025
The European Commission has proposed pushing back the European Union Deforestation Regulation for another year, to December 2026, citing concerns that its IT system is not yet ready to handle the demands that the regulation would place on it.
Climate change tripled death toll from European heatwaves this summer, study says
25 Sep 2025
Experts say just a few degrees of extra heat can be the difference between life and death for thousands of people.
EU set to miss UN deadline for new target under Paris climate accord
19 Sep 2025
The delay is intended to allow countries more time to agree to an ambitious goal.
Exxon and Shell sue the Netherlands in secret tribunals for closing Europe’s biggest gas field
19 Sep 2025
Following billions in profits and over a thousand gas extraction-related earthquakes, the oil and gas giants filed claims against the Dutch state in four separate investor-state disputes concerning compensation for home damages and the permanent closure of the Groningen gas field.
One city’s race to ‘solarise everything we possibly can’
18 Sep 2025
Bordeaux is quickly transforming itself into France’s top solar-powered city, banking on innovations like transparent panels that preserve its historic architecture.
Europe’s summer of extreme weather caused €43bn of short-term losses, analysis finds
17 Sep 2025
Greatest damage from heat, drought and flooding done in Cyprus, Greece, Malta and Bulgaria.
EU considers faster Russian oil and gas exit after US pressure
15 Sep 2025
The European Union is considering a faster phase-out of Russian fossil fuels as part of new sanctions.
Why mega-polluters have little to fear from the European Central Bank and its new climate policy
12 Sep 2025
The European Central Bank plans to raise borrowing costs for climate offenders – but a new FTM analysis shows that big polluters such as Shell will barely feel it.
A revolution is sweeping Europe’s farms: Can it save agriculture?
12 Sep 2025
Momentum is building for regenerative agriculture, a set of approaches that could help farms to weather the changing climate and make them more profitable.
EU split over climate target, deal next week in doubt, draft shows
11 Sep 2025
European Union countries are split over how ambitious to make their new climate change target, putting into doubt plans to strike a deal next week, their latest compromise proposal showed on Tuesday.
Most EU carmakers on track to meet emission targets: study
10 Sep 2025
Almost all European carmakers are on track to meet EU emission targets after winning a reprieve this year as electric vehicles (EV) sales pick up, a study showed.
India is selling Russian oil products to EU at record rate before ban kicks in
10 Sep 2025
From January new EU sanctions will prohibit the import of petroleum products refined from Russian oil in third countries.
Italy’s renewable energy delays could miss EU carbon emission goals: report
10 Sep 2025
Italy may struggle to meet its carbon emission reduction commitments due to delays in renewable power generation and energy storage systems, according to Reuters, based on a recent study conducted by Edison and TEHA Group.
Economy, security crowd out climate as EU citizens’ top concerns
9 Sep 2025
Economic concerns have overtaken energy autonomy in the latest EU survey of public opinion, with climate action slipping further down the list as defence emerges as the top priority.
Australia has new laws to protect nature. Do they signal an end to native forest logging?
Thu 11 Dec 2025
Reforms to Australia’s nature laws have passed federal parliament. A longstanding exemption that meant federal environment laws did not apply to native logging has finally been removed from the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
Environmental groups demand a nationwide freeze on data center construction
Wed 10 Dec 2025
In a letter to Congress, the groups said data center development raises concerns about rising energy costs, water use and climate impacts. Many communities are fighting back.
China’s BEV trucks and the end of diesel’s dominance
4 Dec 2025
Cheap Chinese battery electric heavy trucks are no longer a rumor. They are real machines with real price tags that are so low that they force a reassessment of what the global freight industry is willing to pay for electrification.
UK soars past wind power generation record for second time in two months
Wed 10 Dec 2025
Great Britain’s maximum wind generation record was broken on Friday, 5 December, the National Energy System Operator (NESO) has confirmed.
Top climate adviser resigns, says Canada doing worse 'than almost any other country'
Thu 11 Dec 2025
Catherine Abreu explains why she was one of two founding members to resign from Canada's Net-Zero Advisory Body last week, saying she 'could no longer, in conscience, sit on this government-appointed body' after policy rollbacks and oil subsidies in the Alberta energy MOU.
India at COP30: A mismatch between grandstanding and climate action
Thu 11 Dec 2025
Despite India’s attempt to anoint itself as the leader of the developing world, at the COP30 summit, New Delhi’s track record remains contradictory.
Storms in the Southern Ocean are producing more rain – and the consequences could be global
Mon 8 Dec 2025
Storms in the Southern Ocean influence weather patterns across Australia, New Zealand and the globe.
Scientists discovered something alarming seeping out from beneath the ocean around Antarctica
13 Oct 2025
Planet-heating methane is escaping from cracks in the Antarctic seabed as the region warms, with new seeps being discovered at an “astonishing rate".
European Investment Bank pledges over 2 billion euros for African renewables projects
26 Nov 2025
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is pledging more than 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) of financing for renewable energy projects on the African continent over the next two years.
In blow to Lula, Brazil Congress revives controversial environmental bill
2 Dec 2025
Brazil's conservative-led Congress on Thursday reinstated much of a bill that makes it easier for companies to secure environmental permits, infuriating the leftist government and green groups.
UN environment report 'hijacked' by US and others over fossil fuels, top scientist says
Thu 11 Dec 2025
A key UN report on the state of the global environment has been "hijacked" by the United States and other countries who were unwilling to go along with the scientific findings, the co-chair has told the BBC.
