EUobserver

Climate

THIS WEEK: ECB set to hike rates, as capital markets union and climate top the EU agenda
8 June 2026 by Elena Sánchez Nicolás
This 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.
Why blocking the sun to cool the planet is bound to go wrong
20 May 2026 by Wester van Gaal
Reflecting 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.
- Climate
- EUobserver voice
The ocean system no one has heard of that could destabilise Europe
17 May 2026 by Tomáš Grečko
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation is vital for Europe. What it would mean if it started to break down earlier than scientists expected?
EU rush to fix energy crisis risks stripping citizens and nature of legal protections
16 May 2026 by Pascoe Sabido
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.
Listen: Can we live in a world on fire?
12 May 2026 by Léa Marchal
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?
€27bn bill and counting: von der Leyen urges EU to learn energy lessons from Iran war
29 April 2026 by Benjamin Fox
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.
Record heatwaves from Mediterranean to Arctic, new report finds
29 April 2026 by Petra Pavlovičová
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.
- Climate
- Environment
Chernobyl: the work of self-confident fools, after whom invisible heroes had to clean up
27 April 2026 by Petr Koubský
The 40th anniversary of a major nuclear accident is a good opportunity to reflect on whether something similar can happen again today.
‘Hormuz crisis shows need for new nuclear power’. Does it really, though?
24 April 2026 by Matt Tempest
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.
We have no other planet. 10 charts showing the state of the globe to mark Earth Day
22 April 2026 by Tomáš Grečko
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.
France expects green light for €70bn nuclear expansion despite EU probe
1 April 2026 by Benjamin Fox
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”.
EU allows pollution permits to pile up in bid to placate industry
1 April 2026 by Wester van Gaal
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.
- Climate
- Green Economy
Counting the costs of a heating planet
29 March 2026 by Tomáš Grečko
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.
- Climate
- Energy
Iran war effect: boost for solar panels, US buyers turn to electric cars, but EU car sales may drop
25 March 2026 by Tomáš Grečko
European industry faces a difficult year, but for some companies there may be an exception: these are mainly suppliers and installers of solar systems.
How Iran war exposes Europe’s dangerous dependency on fertilisers
24 March 2026 by Lena Luig
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.
El Niño is coming, meteorologists say ‘super’ version is possible
21 March 2026 by Tomáš Grečko
In recent history, the El Niño phenomenon has in most cases brought exceptionally hot and wild weather. And 2026 is likely to be the same, especially its second half.
- Climate
Spain’s Sánchez attacks other EU leaders for exploiting energy prices to gut climate policies
19 March 2026 by Wester van Gaal
“Unfortunately, some governments are using this crisis and the rise in electricity prices to undermine climate policies,” Spain’s socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchéz said on arrival at an EU leaders summit in Brussels.
Major emissions trading fight looms at EU summit
18 March 2026 by Wester van Gaal
A blocking minority of member states is pushing to weaken the bloc’s carbon pricing mechanism — which requires industries to pay for their pollution.
Why the EU Commission’s plan for an AI data-centres boom is short-sighted
16 March 2026 by Fieke Jansen, Kristina Irion and Alex Lutz
Water-resource conflicts already happening in Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands will only worsen now that the EU Commission plans to triple data centre capacity in Europe over the next five to seven years. Little thought has been given to the oligopolistic cloud market and how it will evolve if the EU triples its data centre capacity.
EU bioeconomy aspirations require an increasing supply of renewable wood
16 March 2026 by Ulf Larsson and Henrik Sjölund
As leaders of forest-based industries in Sweden, we have examined the EU Commission’s updated bioeconomy strategy — and would like to suggest a few improvements related to the role of wood.
- Climate
- Stakeholder