Robert Hodgson
Europe News
Governments urge European Commission to table 2040 climate goal
With some clear exceptions, there appears to be broad support among European governments to open negotiations on a 2040 emissions reduction target as soon as possible – but enthusiasm for the 90% cut favoured by the European Commission was less in evidence at an EU Council summit on Thursday.
Europe News
Europe prepares for attacks on power grid while battling soaring costs
The EU has identified building up its power grid as an essential, and somewhat neglected, element in its efforts to move away from fossil fuels and cut energy bills – but it is also waking up to the need to prepare for attacks by hostile powers.
Europe News
EU Commission: Chinese lithium must not become ‘the new Russian gas’
The EU has drawn up a priority list of 47 projects for the mining and processing of critical raw materials, which local authorities will be required to fast-track through the permitting process in as little as 15 months or less.
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Europe News
Air conditioner use driving up emissions as global heating bites
Record high temperatures last year fuelled demand for air conditioning, in turn driving an increase in dirty coal-fired power generation in a dangerous feedback loop revealed by a new global survey from the International Energy Agency.
Europe News
Products containing dangerous chemicals could get EU green label
As the EU pursues its war on red tape, proposed changes to sustainability rules could see harmful chemicals permitted on the bloc’s green investment list, allowing producers to take advantage of policy support and growing demand for environmentally friendly products.
Europe News
EU must be 'stronger, bolder, faster' on Ukraine minerals - key MEP
Euronews asked Dutch MEP Thijs Reuten, who is the European Parliament’s shadow rapporteur on Ukraine and sits for the centre-left S&D group on the foreign affairs committee, what he thinks about potential rivalry between the US and EU over access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth.
Europe News
Is Trump elbowing the EU aside as he grabs Ukraine’s mineral wealth?
Kyiv signed a raw materials deal with the EU just months before Russia invaded three years ago – but now the US is making access to the same mineral resources a condition for continued support to the battle-weary nation.
Europe News
Commission delivers first phase of ‘simplification’ drive
All but the largest companies operating in the EU will be released from environmental reporting obligations and having to prove they are not trading indirectly with firms tainted by exploitation or human rights abuses. The EU executive insists this is not deregulation.
Europe News
Deregulation row could overshadow EU’s flagship clean tech plan
A massive document drop from the European Commission on Wednesday will be the clearest signal yet of how far the EU is prepared to change course on environmental protection, climate action and workers’ rights in pursuit of competitiveness.
Europe News
European governments heading towards GMO deregulation
With the cultivation of genetically modified plants banned in nearly all EU countries, the European Commission wants to treat products of the latest lab techniques as equivalent to conventional crops. Governments appear to be getting on board.
Europe News
EU sticks to 90% emissions cut, aims to be clean tech ‘world leader’
The new European Commission promised a transformational Clean Industrial Deal within its first hundred days, but a leaked draft of the eagerly awaited policy agenda is largely a patchwork of previously announced initiatives.
Europe News
Nuclear sidelined in leaked rules on state aid for clean tech
A draft of updated rules on permissible state aid within the forthcoming Clean Industrial Deal has no explicit mention of nuclear power, despite recent signals from the European Commission executive that it was beginning to see the technology as integral to the EU’s transition to net-zero.
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