Environment

Half of the European funds spent to fight climate change went into ineffective measures 

Tuesday 06 July 2021 | Gianluca De Feo
| OBC Transeuropa

As part of the Common Agricultural Policy, the European Union spent 100 billion Euros to combat climate change between 2014 and 2020. But these funds, which make up half of the entire EU budget earmarked for the fight against climate change, have not led to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Sustainability labels and the carbon footprint of foods 

Friday 22 October 2021 | Gianluca De Feo
| OBC Transeuropa

If the European Union really wants to meet its Green Deal targets, food related emissions must be curbed. To that end, the introduction of "traffic light" sustainability labels could convince Europeans to cut down on their meat consumption.

EU banks are funding an illegal palm oil bonanza in the “Wild East” 

Thursday 29 April 2021 | Stefano Valentino
| Voxeurop
MobileReporter

Financial institutions from European countries have provided large sums of money to palm oil companies responsible for illegal fires and possibly deforestation in Indonesia.

beaches and village in Tenerife

Beach erosion puts European seaside holidays at risk 

Wednesday 22 July 2020 | Stefano Valentino
| MobileReporter
Voxeurop

The data on global warming suggests that many seaside resorts in Atlantic and Mediterranean Europe could lose their beaches due to sand erosion caused by rising sea levels and human activity.

A Grand Tour of global warming in south-east Europe 

Wednesday 03 March 2021 | Antoine Laurent
| OBC Transeuropa

Drawing inspiration from the long voyages taken by well-off European youths in centuries past, OBC Transeuropa takes us on a tour of global warming hotspots in south-east Europe.

An interactive map on climate warming in Europe 

Friday 18 December 2020 | OBC Transeuropa
Sheldon.studio

Our analysis looks at the rise in average temperature for about 100,000 municipalities in Europe. Mean temperature values of the 1960s were compared with those of the 2010s, in order to explore the import of global warming at a local level.

CO2: the EU disincentives are not working 

Thursday 04 February 2021 | Ornaldo Gjergji
| OBC Transeuropa

The EU Emission Trading System, the EU’s main mechanism to disincentivise CO2 emissions, seems not to have had the desired results. Major industrial groups, often with the support of their own governments, profit from systemic weaknesses while continuing to produce energy using fossil fuels.

Emissions in Europe: how much CO2 does energy cost us? 

Thursday 21 January 2021 | Ornaldo Gjergji
| OBC Transeuropa

In terms of CO2, energy production is the human activity with the worst impact on the environment in Europe. Emissions in the EU may be falling, but there are still major obstacles to achieving climate neutrality. Meanwhile, to the east, dozens of new coal plants will be built in the near future.

Small EU countries had more COVID-related deaths per million since pandemic started 

Sunday 25 April 2021 | Anne Damiani
| Euractiv

While the EU’s most populous countries are recording the most overall COVID-19-related deaths since the start of the pandemic, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Bulgaria had the highest number of COVID-19-related deaths in relation to their populations during the same period.

European banks are still major backers of the fossil fuel industry 

Monday 25 January 2021 | Gianluca De Feo
| OBC Transeuropa

As public institutions struggle to implement their plans effectively, private banks are still not pulling their weight. With the slowness and mounting obstacles facing public finances, combined with the unreliability of the private system, how secure is the future of energy transition?