Three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Paul Hockenos compares the efforts of the EU and the US in view of weaning from Russian fossil fuels. On the ground, Ukraine’s transition to distributed renewables already rhymes with resilience against the aggressor.
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2025: finally a breakthrough for cross-border passenger rail in the EU?
Boosting passenger train transport is key for reducing greenhouse gas emissions of transport and for accelerating Europe’s energy transition. Are EU railways on track? Establishing a fair picture of the state of Europe’s passenger railways is a hard task. It is essentially a question of whether you see the train as half full or half empty. Jon Worth reports.
For climate protection, this Trump Presidency could be worse than the last
On the campaign trail in 2024 and since the November election, former president Donald Trump has not let up in denying the tie between fossil-fuel use and global warming. His supporters include the world’s largest petroleum companies and they are expecting to be paid back. But it won’t happen on ‘day one,’ as he claims. Paul Hockenos reports.
A mess made in Germany: Volkswagen’s trials warn against resisting the green transition
The woes of the German automobile giant Volkswagen (VW) offer a lesson that applies beyond Germany and Europe: resist the green transition at your own peril – as laggards will pay a heavy price. Paul Hockenos reports.
Renewable energy in Argentina: a utopia for the global south?
Faced with the urgent challenge of climate change, Argentina needs to transform its energy matrix to use renewable sources. The energy transition (ET), focused on adopting clean energy, could open a door to breaking with an economic model dependent on fossil fuels and raw material exports. This transformation is not just an environmental issue but an opportunity to reduce structural vulnerability and build a more diversified and resilient economy. The question remains whether Argentina can make this shift without repeating cycles of dependency and economic volatility that have characterized its recent history. Sofía Croxatto reports.
Delivering a fair household energy transition: learning and priorities
The green technologies needed to rapidly cut our greenhouse gas emissions are already on the market. What’s more, they are, or very soon will be, cost effective. In other words, from the perspective of the household, it is, overall, cheaper to go green. However, there’s a catch: access to capital is king in the household energy transition. Alex Chapman reports.
What is the status of energy poverty in the European Union?
35 to 72 million people across the EU are facing energy poverty. These issues already have powerful implications today from a public health or productivity point of view. Over the years, the EU has constructed a series of policy instruments to assess better and comprehensively address the phenomenon. Marine Cornelis reports.
Enforcing energy rights to promote energy justice
A just energy transition must, in essence, address the three foundations of energy justice (distributive, recognitional, and procedural) as well as the systematic problems that are present in energy access issues, in consumer rights enforcement, or the fact that some people cannot reap the full benefits of services available to them. Marine Cornelis reports.
The EU and Azerbaijan as Energy Partners: Short-Term Benefits, Uncertain Future
Azerbaijan has strengthened its energy ties with the EU since 2022, ramping up gas deliveries and articulating ambitions to export renewable energy and green hydrogen to Europe in the future. However, the EU’s shrinking gas demand and Azerbaijan’s lack of a genuine decarbonization strategy cast uncertainty on the long-term prospects of this partnership – all the more so given the EU’s persistent criticism of political repression and human rights violations in the South Caucasus republic. Yana Zabanova reports.
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.