Europe’s heatwave deaths are not ‘natural disasters’ — they are housing policy choices
Nearly 75 percent of the EU’s building stock is energy inefficient and most homes were never designed to cope with the increasingly hot summers Europe now faces.
Climate
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[Interview] Belgian climate minister Crucke: ‘there will be a revolution’ if Europe doesn’t take urgent climate action
Belgian minister for the climate, Jean-Luc Crucke believes in simplification and the initiative of companies to collaborate with federal sustainability measures. Despite unequal footing with international partners and a slow pace of EU reforms, the minister is “not a pessimist”
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German politicians duped into thinking a new subsidy scheme only benefits Chinese electric vehiclesA previous German electric vehicle subsidy scheme massively benefited Volkswagen, which had invested heavily in expensive cars that only the rich could afford. Now it’s set to cut 100,000 jobs and close four factories in Germany.
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Europe’s €70bn annual climate adaptation bill soars as wildfires rage and heatwave deaths climb
Behind empty Strasbourg benches, a fight over whether polluting oil giants or national treasuries should pay for Europe’s €70bn-a-year adaptation is stalling any serious protection plan.
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EU ministers plan further climate policy rollbacks during historic heatwave
Replacing combustion engines with electric cars and switching industrial heat from fossil fuels to electricity are among the most impactful ways to decarbonise. Yet, in exactly in these areas Europe is weakening its policies.
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THIS WEEK: ECB set to hike rates, as capital markets union and climate top the EU agendaThis week, the European Central Bank is expected to raise interest rates amid inflation and energy-price pressures. EU finance ministers will discuss capital markets integration and energy investment rules. The EU Commission will present the 2027 EU budget, while climate talks, transport and telecom meetings, and an EU–South Korea summit also take place.
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Why blocking the sun to cool the planet is bound to go wrongReflecting the sun with tiny particles sprayed from airplanes could reduce global temperatures, but would need to be maintained for decades, perhaps centuries, and the margin of error is essentially zero.
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The ocean system no one has heard of that could destabilise Europe
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation is vital for Europe. What it would mean if it started to break down earlier than scientists expected?
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EU rush to fix energy crisis risks stripping citizens and nature of legal protections
A renewed push to ditch fossil fuels is long overdue, but thanks to the influence of industry lobby groups, permitting exemptions intended for renewables are being used for new dirty energy projects, such as CO2 pipelines and fossil hydrogen.
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Listen: Can we live in a world on fire?
Record-breaking wildfires have already burned vast areas worldwide this year, fueled by droughts, heatwaves and climate change. Beyond destroying ecosystems and releasing massive CO2 emissions, fires threaten long-term environmental recovery. Is there a way we can adapt to this new reality?
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€27bn bill and counting: von der Leyen urges EU to learn energy lessons from Iran war
The EU Commission also unveiled plans to subsidise up to 70 percent of the extra cost of fuel caused by the Iran war for farmers, fishers and road hauliers.
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Record heatwaves from Mediterranean to Arctic, new report finds
The continent of Europe is warming up two times faster than other regions in the world, with the biggest changes seen in colder regions, according to the 2025 European State of the Climate report.
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Chernobyl: the work of self-confident fools, after whom invisible heroes had to clean up
The 40th anniversary of a major nuclear accident is a good opportunity to reflect on whether something similar can happen again today.
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‘Hormuz crisis shows need for new nuclear power’. Does it really, though?
One nuclear expert told me he didn’t want to write an op-ed on the possible dangers of a meltdown of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine. He then added he’d stocked up on iodine tablets.
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We have no other planet. 10 charts showing the state of the globe to mark Earth Day
Earth Day has been celebrated since 1970. To mark the occasion, we present 10 charts that show the current condition of humanity’s only home.
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France expects green light for €70bn nuclear expansion despite EU probe
France’s plans for a €70bn expansion of its nuclear energy production come after EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said that abandoning nuclear had been a “strategic mistake”.
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EU allows pollution permits to pile up in bid to placate industry
The plan adopted on Wednesday concerns the Market Stability Reserve, a buffer mechanism that can inject or absorb free pollution permits to keep carbon prices from swinging too wildly.
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Counting the costs of a heating planet
With CO2 concentrations now at the highest level in the last two million years, Earth acts like an overheating smartphone unable to vent heat. 91 percent of this excess energy is surging into oceans, fueling “nuclear-grade” storms and $60bn wildfires. This isn’t just warming — it’s an accelerating climate emergency threatening global security and economic stability.
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Iran war effect: boost for solar panels, US buyers turn to electric cars, but EU car sales may drop
European industry faces a difficult year, but for some companies there may be an exception: these are mainly suppliers and installers of solar systems.
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How Iran war exposes Europe’s dangerous dependency on fertilisers
Roughly a third of the world’s fertiliser exports pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow chokepoint now blocked by Iran in response to being attacked. Within days of the latest escalation, fertiliser prices surged, with urea (a nitrogen-based fertiliser) jumping sharply across global markets.