Archives


Europe’s energy transition needs deeper integration. The North Sea is where it could start

Cross-continental energy networks are the backbone of Europe’s energy transition. With the accelerated roll-out of solar panels and wind turbines, policymakers and grid operators now feel the back pain from limited energy infrastructure capacities. How can the EU rehab our existing electricity grids and gas pipelines? Two new publications from the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union provide guidance. Jörg Mühlenhoff reports.

Read More

Side effects of the energy transition in Brazil

In recent weeks, São Paulo has been featured as the most polluted metropolis in the world. The haze enveloping the city of 11.4 million inhabitants originates from the smoke of wildfires ravaging the country and from atmospheric pollution. In this dramatic context, amid terrifying news about the growing number of climate migrants, the need for more sustainable energy sources is impossible to ignore. Poliana Dallabrida reports.

Read More

How AI is fuelling the climate crisis, not solving it

‘Artificial intelligence will make it easier to combat climate change.’ That’s the bold claim made by billionaire and self-proclaimed climate problem–solver Bill Gates. But Gates – a well-known advocate of geoengineering – is not alone in promoting the idea that technology can be our saviour. Seden Anlar reports. Read More

Decentralizing Ukraine’s energy future: microgrids as a path to independence

Ukraine’s energy landscape has been profoundly impacted by the ongoing conflict, with extensive damage to infrastructure and a historical reliance on Russian imports for traditional energy sources like coal, gas and nuclear fuel. Rebuilding the centralized, Soviet-era energy system is no longer a viable option. Attempts to restore a fossil fuel or nuclear-based centralized sector are fraught with military risks, slow progress, high costs for the state and lack of appeal for private investors wary of vulnerable, high-risk assets. Razom We Stand reports.

Read More

Green Deal under attack? Mapping the risks with the European Green Deal Risk Radar

There is a real risk that the European Green Deal will be weakened this new European policy cycle. What exact changes will be made to it? And will or won’t these changes ensure that we stay “the course on all of our goals”, as promised by re-elected European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen? Our new European Green Deal Risk Radar looks into that. Commentary by Roderick Kefferpütz, Director of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union.

Read More

Harris-Walz ticket vague on post-Biden climate policy

With a moonshot US$500-billion spending programme announced in 2022, President Biden put the US on the map in terms of global climate policy. Thus far, the Democratic Party’s new candidates have been quiet on the issue. But the US climate community has no shortage of suggestions. Paul Hockenos reports. Read More

EU-China spat over EV tariffs: a race to the bottom?

In a rational world, Europe’s climate-conscious representatives would oppose surcharges that make clean tech, like electric vehicles (EVs) regardless of their origin, more costly. But that’s not the case: environmentalists warn that relying on Chinese imports will undermine a key promise of the European Green Deal, namely economic momentum and high-wage jobs within the bloc. Paul Hockenos reports. Read More