Zia Weise
The EU got its first climate report card. It’s not good
Now’s not the time for Green Deal fatigue. In fact, Europe must accelerate its efforts. That’s the b...
8 months ago
Poland’s climate surprise pressures EU to pitch ambitious 2040 target
Poland wants Europe to know its days as the bloc’s top climate spoiler have come to an end.Urszula Z...
8 months ago
It’s time to cancel debt for climate-stricken nations, Barbados leader says
AMSTERDAM — Countries on the front lines of climate change should have their debt forgiven, the prime minister of Barbados told POLITICO as she pushes to mainstream an issue long considered taboo. “We need to have a different deal for island countries and...
6 months ago
War, money, politics: Discord among wealthy countries hampers landmark climate fund
Aid for victims of climate change is in danger of being delayed as wealthy countries brawl over who gets to sit on the board of a new global fund.The fight includes a disagreement between the European Union and other high-income governments, including the...
6 months ago
EU calls for 90 percent emissions cut by 2040
The European Union should slash greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2040, the European Commission said on Tuesday. The EU executive's recommendation comes as the bloc's green policies are facing a growing backlash, particularly from farmers, and was...
6 months ago
Blame game erupts after energy tax talks collapse in EU Parliament
BRUSSELS — Efforts to pass a key climate law before this year’s European election have stalled after talks in the Parliament collapsed this past week. MEPs made a fresh attempt to find an agreement on the EU’s outdated Energy Taxation Directive earlier th...
6 months ago
‘Bad’ EU nature law needs to ‘go back to the drawing board,’ Belgian PM says
The EU’s flagship nature law is “bad” and needs to be revised after the June European election, Belgium’s prime minister said. The bloc's Nature Restoration Law, which aims to rehabilitate 20 percent of the EU’s degraded land by 2030, is in limbo after a...
6 months ago
How the EU’s flagship nature law became an electoral punching bag
BRUSSELS — Election fever is slowly killing an embattled law seeking to rehabilitate the European Union’s ailing rivers, forests and seas. The Nature Restoration Law, once billed as a pillar of the European Green Deal, is a shadow of its former self after...
6 months ago
Europe must quicken green efforts after election, EU climate chief says
STRASBOURG — The next crop of European Union officials must accelerate the push to slash planet-warming pollution and prepare for an extreme weather surge. That’s EU climate chief Wopke Hoekstra's message after scientists’ latest warning that the Continen...
6 months ago
Missing: A Socialist Green Deal vision
BRUSSELS — A specter is haunting the European Union: The specter of the Green Deal. And Europe’s Socialists are running scared. Over the past year, an alliance has formed to exorcize this specter: Populists and conservatives, nationalists and farmers, Fre...
6 months ago
EU’s power sector emissions plummet as renewables surge
BRUSSELS — The European Union saw carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and industrial sites drop a record 15.5 percent last year, the bloc’s executive said. The main reason: Soaring renewable energy output caused fossil fuel-produced electricity to...
6 months ago
Bullets not bees: EU ditches green focus ahead of June election
BRUSSELS — A quick scan of a leaked EU priority list for the rest of the decade reveals a telling quirk: The only mention of “environment” is a promise to create a “business-friendly environment.” Instead, the document — essentially a mood board EU leader...
6 months ago
When the water runs dry: Why France is freaking out over a tiny Swiss dam
GENEVA — At the western edge of Lake Geneva, where the mighty Rhône river squeezes through a narrow dam, a blunder of French diplomacy is carved into stone for all to see. The inscription, mounted on the walls of an old industrial building, commemorates t...
4 months ago
Fossil fuel extraction compatible with climate action, says COP29 host Azerbaijan
BRUSSELS — Azerbaijan, the host of this year’s global climate talks, has suggested that continued fossil fuel extraction is compatible with the Paris Agreement. With four months to go until COP29 kicks off in Baku, the Azerbaijani presidency on Friday ann...
2 months ago