A day-long conference in Brussels underscored the urgency of making the EU’s 2021-2027 budget a green one. There’s a window of opportunity to do so — and the game is on. Paul Hockenos reports
EU’s Green Deal Needs a Budget Behind It
October 30, 2019
Author: Paul Hockenos
A New Approach for Electrifying Africa with Clean Energy
October 8, 2019
The leading lights of wunderkind firm Mobisol, a Berlin start-up, left the company to found their own research institute. They still believe that the private sector has a key role in bringing solar power to Africa and the developing world. Paul Hockenos reports
In US, Community Solar is the Next Big Thing
October 1, 2019
Americans in some states are realizing the benefits of renewables. Better than in Europe: it saves low-income people money. But its overall numbers are still comparatively small. Paul Hockenos takes a look at the development
Look to Europe to Improve the Green New Deal: Why Laws Matter
September 23, 2019
The Green New Deal (GND) pact embraced by scores of US Democrats is chock- full of vibrant ideas and urgent policy considerations. It’s right that with the climate crisis accelerating faster than scientists predicted and our window to curb it narrowing, we have to think big – indeed something at least as sweeping in scope as the New Deal recovery program of the 1930s. Paul Hockenos reports
Greta’s Coming for Us: It’s the climate-change believers she’s out to flip
September 2, 2019
On a high-speed, zero-emissions vessel, Greta Thunberg arrived in the
U.S. from Europe on August 29 – a masterpiece of symbolism and PR savvy, the kind which by now we’ve come to expect from the Swedish teenager and her fellow activists in the Fridays for Future movement. In the space of just one short year, their audacious “school strikes” on Fridays have prompted a startling reality check among citizens and politicos in much of Europe and beyond, including German chancellor Angela Merkel – but, alas, not in the US. Paul Hockenos reports
The Triumphant Return of Community Energy
August 19, 2019
About five years ago, decentralized community energy, though etched in history books for having sparked Europe’s clean-energy revolution in the 1990s, was deemed outdated in the age of the ever-more dramatic climate crisis. Paul Hockenos explains the development.
Isles of Innovation: EU encourages community-run renewables on its islands
July 15, 2019
Six are on the path to self-sufficiency, and 20 more will follow. Islands are an excellent fit for renewables for a number of reasons. Paul Hockenos takes a look
Albania should be cashing in big on renewable energy
June 26, 2019
Why isn’t it? Powerful interests in the energy sector see renewables in terms of hydro, hydro, and more hydro. It’s not what the country – or the region — needs, says Paul Hockenos.
Why not fly? In the age of climate change, the personal can be thoroughly political
June 12, 2019
Why should individuals refashion their lifestyles to cut down on emissions when the real battlefield is the political arena? Critics say environmentalists focus too much on personal choices rather than fighting for systemic change. Paul Hockenos says he’s on board with the larger goal, but there are valid reasons to start decarbonizing at home.
Europe’s striking climate kids show why we need the EU
May 27, 2019
The results of the European elections can be seen as a new green wave and as a response to concerns about climate change. The striking school children, a movement known as ‘Fridays For Future’, strongly influenced this development, Paul Hockenos takes a look.