International: Europe
EU cities confront building emissions
22 Nov 2019
The European Union last year embarked on a mission to decarbonise the building sector, currently responsible for 40% of the bloc’s energy use.
Germany approves climate protection law
19 Nov 2019
The German lower house has approved a major climate protection package which aims to ensure the country will meet its 2030 target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
No more money for fossil-fuel projects, says EIB
18 Nov 2019
The European Investment Bank will stop funding fossil-fuel projects at the end of 2021, a landmark decision that potentially deals a blow to billions of dollars of gas projects in the pipeline.
Green-wise Norway is drilling more wells
14 Nov 2019
Never mind how many electric cars are sold there, Norway has to change tack and end prospecting for new oil reserves.
Fuel industry forces Russia to change plans
30 Oct 2019
The Russian government has gutted its proposed law to regulate emissions, apparently caving in to the country’s powerful fossil fuel industry.
FARTY PARTY: Munich beer bash is a gas for emissions
29 Oct 2019
Scientists say the annual Munich Oktoberfest celebration of beer, bands and bratwurst produces methane emissions as high as some major cities.
Macron turns on climate protesters
25 Oct 2019
Why are climate protesters being tear-gassed under the watch of France’s president, a self-defined climate champion?
Europe’s largest floating solar plant up and running
21 Oct 2019
The Rhône valley in southern France is best known for its wines and food. Now, it can also add solar power to its list of attractions.
EU bank puts off climate policy decision
18 Oct 2019
The European Investment Bank has decided to delay until next month a decision on updating its energy lending policy.
Italy eyes cheaper food without packaging
18 Oct 2019
Italian shoppers could soon enjoy a discount on products sold loose as part of a range of measures expected to be approved by the government.
Copenhagen sprints to crown of first carbon-neutral capital
16 Oct 2019
Green growth and ‘hedonistic sustainability’ have helped to keep the public on board as Copenhagen seeks to be the first carbon-neutral city by 2025.
VILLAGERS DIG IN: 'Human rights before mining rights'
1 Oct 2019
Villagers living on the edge of one of Germany’s biggest surface coalmines have vowed not sell their properties to the energy company RWE, and to fight any attempt to oust them from their homes.
Poland plunges ahead with new coal mines
30 Sep 2019
Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party plans to introduce legislation that will allow the government to open new coal mines without the approval of local authorities.
Activists suing Europe’s biggest coal plant
27 Sep 2019
It is Europe’s biggest coal plant, with annual CO2 emissions roughly equivalent to those of the whole of New Zealand – but the future of the Beùchatów power station in central Poland has been called into question.
Newspaper says no thanks to ads from fossil fuel companies
27 Sep 2019
A Swedish newspaper has announced it will stop taking advertising that promotes fossil fuel-based goods and services with immediate effect.
EU bank begins green metamorphosis
10 Sep 2019
European Investment Bank directors are about to begin discussing an updated lending policy which could see the EU bank stop funding fossil fuel projects.
Green is all the go in Ireland
6 Sep 2019
Ireland is about to get a whole lot greener by planting 440 million trees.
Europe facing dramatic farmland devaluation
5 Sep 2019
Climate change could turn the entire EU agribusiness upside down, according to the European Environment Agency.
Europe confounds warming predictions
3 Sep 2019
Climate change is raising temperatures in Europe even faster than climate models projected.
Frankfurt steels itself for car show anger
30 Aug 2019
The Frankfurt car show is stepping up security checks to prepare for potential disruption by climate activists who are calling for people to join anti-car protests.
How Europe could power the world
16 Aug 2019
Europe has enough space to create millions of wind turbines that could power the entire world until 2050, according to a new scientific analysis.
Glasgow likely host of 2020 climate summit
12 Aug 2019
The UK government has announced the Scottish city of Glasgow would be the stage for next year’s UN climate talks.
The Med is Europe’s most waste-polluted sea
2 Aug 2019
The Mediterranean Sea is the most waste-polluted sea in Europe, according to a 20-year study.
Airport expansion stalls on climate grounds
1 Aug 2019
Marseille Provence Airport has been forced to revisit expansion plans, after the environment authority questioned how they fit with France’s climate targets.
European bank looks to cut all fossil fuel projects
29 Jul 2019
The European Investment Bank has vowed to end its multibillion euro financing for fossil fuel projects by the end of next year.
Von der Leyen faces carbon border tax battle
26 Jul 2019
New European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen must tread carefully if she is to meet her promise to make polluting importers pay.
Climate stance pays off for new EC leader
17 Jul 2019
Ursula von der Leyen has been confirmed as the first women president of the European Commission in a nail-biting vote that put climate change centre stage.
EC candidate sees carbon first for Europe
12 Jul 2019
Europe should become the world’s first climate-neutral continent, says Ursula von der Leyen, who is chasing the European Commission's top job.
France plans eco tax on plane tickets
12 Jul 2019
The French government announced that it will roll out a tax on all international flights departing from France starting in 2020.
Europe tackls China’s dominance of rare earth metals
8 Jul 2019
A new industry association has been launched in Brussels with the aim of bringing together all the players in the supply chain of rare earth metals.
What did Irish citizens’ climate assembly achieve
2 Jul 2019
Ireland’s Citizens' Assembly process has been praised internationally, but citizens’ assemblies are not without their critics.
Denmark raises climate to highest priority
1 Jul 2019
In a deal with other left parties, Denmark's new Social Democrat government has agreed to raise the country’s climate targets and place the green transition at the heart of policy.
'Red alert' France records its hottest temperature in history
1 Jul 2019
A temperature of 45.1deg has been recorded in France, the hottest in the country’s history.
Four countries block EU climate deal
24 Jun 2019
The European Council has failed to agree on a landmark climate strategy for 2050 as the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary and Poland baulked at the mention of a specific date.
More countries back EU neutrality goal
19 Jun 2019
Germany, Greece, Italy and Slovenia have added their names to a growing list of EU countries supporting a carbon neutrality objective for 2050, increasing the chances that a deal will be struck at a summit later this week.
Ireland has bold plan to tackle climate crisis
18 Jun 2019
Ireland has unveiled an ambitious plan to tackle the climate emergency by weaning the state, businesses, farms and households off fossil fuels.
Finns going carbon-free faster than we are
5 Jun 2019
Finland is outbidding New Zealand in the drive to carbon-neutrality, saying its economy will be effectively carbon-free by 2035 - 15 years earlier than New Zealand plans to get there.
Triumphant Greens demand more radical action
29 May 2019
Europe’s Greens, big winners in the weekend's EU elections, will use their newfound leverage in a fractured parliament to push an agenda of urgent climate action, social justice and civil liberties, the movement’s leaders say.
France’s nuclear industry stumbles along
28 May 2019
With its new reactors needing modifications and its older ones awaiting costly updates, France’s nuclear industry is in trouble.
Climate crisis could lead to nine-hour working week
27 May 2019
People across Europe must move to nine-hour week if carbon levels do not change, says a thinktank.
Climate ambition in balance as Europe votes
24 May 2019
The EU’s global climate leadership is at stake as a new political cycle begins amid increasingly polarised public opinion.
Irish schools get a fail on climate change
14 May 2019
Students at Irish schools are being let down by the country’s education system, say lawmakers demanding full climate change literacy.
CARBON BOOTPRINT: Fans set to leave their mark on Europe
13 May 2019
Controversy has erupted over the environmental impact of football fans travelling across Europe in coming weeks – to watch English sides play each other hundreds of miles from home.
CO2 to be buried in empty North Sea gas fields
10 May 2019
Three of the largest ports in Europe will be used to capture and bury 10 million tonnes of CO2 emissions under the North Sea.
Chernobyl has become a refuge for wildlife
10 May 2019
More than 30 years after the nuclear accident that scared the world, the Chernobyl is inhabited by brown bears, bisons, wolves, lynxes, wild horses, and more than 200 bird species.
Germany, Italy, Poland snub EU climate appeal
9 May 2019
The names of Germany, Italy and Poland were notably absent from an appeal to boost EU climate action ahead of a major summit on the future of Europe taking place in Romania tomorrow.
Amsterdam to ban petrol and diesel cars by 2030
6 May 2019
Cars and motorbikes running on petrol or diesel will be banned from driving in Amsterdam from 2030.
Spain’s socialists win with Green New Deal platform
1 May 2019
Spaniards have thrown their weight behind a Green New Deal programme in re-electing the pro-climate Spanish Socialist Party.
Soccer and WWF join forces to boost sustainability
30 Apr 2019
The French professional football governing body and environmental group WWF have signed a partnership to reduce the ecological footprint of football clubs.
Flygskam (that's flight shame) is spreading across Europe
23 Apr 2019
Fears over climate change have led many to rethink the way they travel and, in Sweden, they've even invented a new word for the shame associated with flying.
Australia opens first carbon refinery, making new products from captured CO2
Wed 24 Jun 2026
Australia’s first carbon refinery opened in New South Wales, capturing carbon dioxide from explosives giant Orica's ammonia-making operations on Kooragang Island and turning it into products such as concrete, paper and glass.
I cold-called President Trump. Here's what he told me about an oil tycoon and major donor.
Mon 29 Jun 2026
I was hoping the president would give me some color about his relationship with billionaire Jeffery Hildebrand. I walked away with a clearer picture of what matters in Washington right now.
China's coal power on the rise again in 2026, reversing first-in-a-decade decline
Thu 25 Jun 2026
China's coal-fired power generation is set to rebound this year from its first fall in a decade, analysts said, due to the impact of El Nino and the Iran war and as renewable sources of energy have failed to keep pace with demand.
Wales' emissions fall significantly after steelworks changes
Mon 29 Jun 2026
There has been a "significant" cut to Wales' greenhouse gas emissions, mainly due to the closure of the blast furnaces at Port Talbot steelworks, according to a new report.
Canada signs landmark LNG energy deal with Germany
29 May 2026
Canada has announced a landmark energy agreement with Germany that will see the first-ever long-term shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Canada to Europe in the coming years.
Asia warming nearly twice as fast as before
19 Jun 2026
A new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) highlights record ocean heat, accelerating glacier loss and a series of extreme weather events causing significant human and economic losses across Asia.
‘Those blocking climate science are not our friends': Pacific leaders warn at Bonn talks
23 Jun 2026
Pacific nations and civil society groups have united at UN climate talks, pushing back against efforts to weaken agreed language on global temperature limits as negotiations continue behind closed doors.
Antarctica’s west coast missing an area of sea ice the size of France as temperatures peak 20C above average
16 Jun 2026
A vast area of the Bellingshausen Sea should be covered by sea ice by now, with one expert calling the loss of ice ‘depressing’.
Verra reinstates Kenya carbon project despite ongoing court case
Thu 25 Jun 2026
The Northern Kenya Grassland Carbon project is “the world’s largest soil carbon removal project” according the organisation running the project. It is also one of the most controversial carbon projects anywhere in the world.
Colombia’s climate crossroads: Trumpism casts shadow over presidential battle
26 May 2026
Colombia is a global leader in climate activism. Could US influence drag country to a future of mining and fracking?
UN chief says fossil fuel industry must cut methane for warming “relief”
Thu 25 Jun 2026
UN chief António Guterres called for stronger action to cut emissions of planet-heating methane, taking aim at the fossil fuel industry’s practices and profits, and pointing to coal, oil and gas as the root of today’s climate and energy crises.
