How the Gas Lobby Aims to Lock in Europe’s Fossil Fuel Addiction
Energy
Environment
EUROPE - Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has upended decades of energy policy and a long-term dependence on Russian gas. Across Europe, governments are scrambling to find alternate energy supplies for the coming winter.
PANGUINTZA - In Ecuador, cocoa farmers with UN financing and the support of a Dutch Foundation implemented blockchain technology to undermine the market power of big food companies and create more transparency in international supply chains. It’s a desperate intent to fight back illegal gold mining in the Amazon and generate more income for peasants.
SKOPJE - Sunny North Macedonia falls short of solar thermal expectations. Using solar thermal technology to convert sunlight into heat should be a no-brainer in North Macedonia. After all, it’s one of the world’s sunniest countries. But meager subsidies and insufficient regulation have stymied projects, despite the economic benefits that experts concur are there for the impoverished country.
WORLD - Everyday, 30 species of insects disappear from the face of the planet. A quarter of European invertebrates are now on the verge of extinction and, in some areas, the reduction in insect biomass reached 75 per cent in just 27 years.
ALENTEJO - It hasn't been this dry in Portugal for a thousand years. But in the Alentejo, there have long been debates about the right way to farm in times of drought and record temperatures. This is mainly due to a dam that is supposed to provide sufficient water.
The dark trace in the water of the cheap meat big business
Environment
Aragón (Spain), Herefordshire (United Kingdom) and Lower Saxony (Germany) have become areas with a very high density of intensive farms. An international investigation reveals the dynamics behind the expansion and the pollution of rivers, aquifers and even tap water that it brought along.
Peat pressure: Industrial peat extraction in enforcement firing line
Environment
Industry
DERRYCRAVE - As part of a cross-border project to investigate the peat extraction industries in Ireland and Latvia, the Irish investigative platform Noteworthy has examined the impacts of unlicensed peat extraction across the country. The findings reveal a system of largely unregulated peat extraction that continues to this day where the Irish State has largely fallen down on its enforcement role, including that no local or national authority maintains a register of peat companies or the amount of peat extracted for commercial purposes.
SARDINIA - EVIA - The Mediterranean basin is a hotspot of the climate crisis, with average temperatures rising above global trends. Heat waves, droughts and a combination of anthropogenic factors are provoking new generations of wildfires that are devastating for ecosystems and for human societies.
Two Danish power plants pollute Lebanese tourist gems
BEIRUT - In the last decade, Denmark has promoted itself as a green frontrunner. But the investigation shows how Denmark is not only exporting windmills and green know-how, it has also supported and built polluting power plants outside its own borders.
