World
China's green tech dominance creates dilemma for Western climate goals
University of Manchester report warns that tariffs and local-content rules risk slowing decarbonisation while China supplies 70 to 80 percent of key technologies
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Climate Policy
The European Green Deal, emissions trading and the regulatory machinery through which the Union pursues its climate targets.
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Business
EU packaging regulation takes effect, closing regulatory gaps for Chinese exporters
The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation applied across the bloc from 12 August, replacing a patchwork of national rules with a single framework that Chinese traders say removes the option of routing goods through lenient member states.
Europe
US, Qatar and African producers press EU to weaken methane rules on gas imports
A joint letter warns the regulation threatens supply security as Brussels prepares to enforce methane-intensity thresholds on fossil fuel imports from 2027, with penalties reaching 20% of turnover by 2030.
Business
Rhine hits 150-year low as drought forces Romanian navy to blast Danube riverbed
Water levels at the Kaub gauge fell to 24 centimetres, the lowest since records began in 1880, threatening nuclear cooling, hydropower and inland shipping across central and eastern Europe.
Politics
Spain's record wildfire tests People's Party ahead of 2027 election
More than 100,000 people evacuated across four regions as temperatures near 40°C. The PP governs 11 of 17 regions and faces scrutiny over firefighting cuts and climate rhetoric shaped by Vox alliances.
Politics
Polish president renews referendum push on EU climate policy with revised question
Karol Nawrocki has submitted a second proposal for a nationwide vote on 27 September, but the Senate controlled by Donald Tusk's coalition is unlikely to approve it.
Business
Europe's heatwave drives Chinese air conditioner surge as Brussels tightens trade policy
Record temperatures force consumers toward affordable Chinese cooling units even as the European Commission prepares new trade restrictions on Beijing, exposing a gap between climate reality and industrial strategy.
Business
European heatwave pushes power prices to multi-year highs across markets
Britain paid six times the normal rate for imported electricity as temperatures above 40°C cut wind output, forced gas plant shutdowns and strained French nuclear cooling.
Business
Europe's battery storage gap leaves renewables stranded and gas plants running
The EU generates half its electricity from renewables but has only 14 GW of large-scale storage. Planned capacity of 84 GW falls far short of the 750 GW needed for climate targets, while grid investment lags at a fraction of the €580 billion required.
Technology
US tech firms wrote EU confidentiality clause shielding datacentre emissions from public view
Microsoft and industry groups secured a near-verbatim secrecy provision in EU rules that blocks access to individual datacentre environmental data, prompting legal warnings of Aarhus convention violations.
Europe
Europe's clean power gains undermined by slow electrification of transport and heating
The EU has transformed its electricity supply but households remain exposed to fossil fuel price shocks as petrol cars and gas boilers persist.
Europe
EU energy ministers meet as Iran war drives gas prices to 2023 highs
Persian Gulf closure pushes European benchmark prices up sharply, reviving fights over electricity market design, the emissions trading system and the pace of electrification.
Business
European Commission proposes Industrial Accelerator Act to shield clean tech from Chinese competition
Draft regulation would require 70% EU content in publicly procured electric vehicles and mandate low-carbon materials, marking a decisive break from open-market orthodoxy.
World
Wind and solar surpass fossil fuels in EU electricity generation for first time
Record renewable growth in 2025 pushes wind and solar past coal and gas across the bloc, while global capacity expands 11 per cent despite political headwinds from Washington
Europe
Solar and wind overtake fossil fuels in EU electricity for first time
Renewables reached 30% of generation in 2025, edging past coal and gas at 29%, but curtailment in Greece signals storage and grid bottlenecks that could stall further progress.
Business
AI power demand revives fossil fuels even as renewables hit cost parity
Europe's stalled electricity demand had cooled renewable investment. Now data centres are forcing a rethink that keeps gas plants running into the 2060s while solar and wind costs plunge below fossil alternatives.
Europe
Europe's AI ambition clashes with climate targets as energy demands surge
Fund managers warn the bloc faces a fundamental choice between powering data centres and meeting emissions goals, with recent policy delays suggesting climate commitments are already softening.
Politics
EU ministers agree weakened 2040 climate target and 2035 goal ahead of COP30
Environment ministers approved an 85 percent emissions cut by 2040 with significant reliance on international carbon credits, plus a non-binding 2035 range of 66.25 to 72.5 percent, after all-night talks in Brussels.
Politics
EU Commission proposes €100,000 cap on farm subsidies ahead of autumn negotiations
Brussels wants to redirect payments from large landholders to younger and smaller farmers, but Slovakia, Czechia and France face the biggest losses under the new formula.
Politics
EU environmental rollback accelerates under new Commission competitiveness drive
Campaigners warn the European Green Deal is being dismantled through omnibus simplification packages that slash reporting scope by 80% and exclude 90% of firms from the carbon border mechanism, while the anti-greenwashing law was withdrawn this week.
Politics
Von der Leyen trims Green Deal to preserve 2050 net-zero core
Commission president accepts compromises on pesticides, car emissions and corporate reporting to shield the climate law from a right-wing parliamentary majority.
Business
EU approves electricity subsidies for energy-intensive industry under new state aid framework
The European Commission will unveil rules on Wednesday allowing member states to cover up to half of wholesale power costs for heavy industry, validating German plans and opening the door for nuclear funding in France.
Politics
Commission scraps green claims rule triggering institutional crisis warning
European Commission's sudden withdrawal of the Green Claims Directive exposes deep fractures in the EU's environmental consensus as centre-left groups accuse the EPP of controlling both Parliament and Commission.
Europe
Europe's nitrate crisis deepens as farm lobby blocks water protection
Three decades after the Nitrates Directive, a third of Europe's freshwater still exceeds pollution limits while the Baltic Sea hosts the world's largest dead zone. Political pressure from farmers is weakening what little enforcement exists.
Technology
Digital Services Act tops list of most lobbied EU laws with 15,000 amendments
Analysis of 5,000 legislative files over two decades shows technology, green deal and agriculture files attracted the heaviest parliamentary amendment activity, a proxy for lobbying intensity.
Business
EU Commission proposes exempting 80 percent of companies from sustainability reporting rules
The omnibus simplification package would reduce firms covered by the CSRD from 50,000 to roughly 10,000, water down supply chain due diligence, and make the taxonomy voluntary for most businesses.
Politics
Von der Leyen's deregulation drive blindsides Brussels with speed and secrecy
The Commission president's second term began with a rapid simplification agenda announced in Budapest, leaving her own staff, MEPs and national capitals scrambling to catch up.
Politics
EU Commission 2025 work programme leaked with 46 new initiatives and major gaps
The draft agenda reveals three omnibus simplification packages, a Clean Industrial Deal and migration returns overhaul, but omits promised automotive and maritime strategies.
Politics
Rightwing MEPs push to freeze €15.6m EU funding for 30 environmental NGOs
A defunding drive led by the EPP and far-right blocs targets the LIFE programme's operating grants, which cover up to 70% of some groups' budgets. A plenary vote on the budgetary discharge is expected in May.
Business
EU unveils Competitiveness Compass to revive growth and cut regulation
The European Commission's new roadmap aims to slash regulatory burden, mobilise €800 billion in annual investment and redirect European savings into venture capital, but climate activists warn it sacrifices green standards for industrial appeasement.
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