Ecology

As the UK races to upgrade its electricity grid for a net-zero future, new pylons are sparking old arguments. To some, they are industrial blights on the countryside; to others, symbols of progress. Yet with offshore wind and solar booming, new transmission lines are unavoidable. The government hopes bill discounts and community funds will ease opposition – but as legal reforms curb local objections, many Britons may soon have to get used to the view.

Our Böll EU Newsletter this month looks at the future of the European Green Deal, the EU 2040 climate target and the different articles and publications we have launched in the past weeks.

How will the EU contribute to global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions during the 2030s? The EU should have come up with a plan already last year if it had followed its own Climate Law and if was to fulfil its duties as a signing party of the Paris Climate Agreement. Now, after much delay, the European Commission has finally presented its legislative proposal for a new 2040 climate target. But is it enough?

As the EU rolls out the Clean Industrial Deal, it must consider how its domestic policies may impact its trade relations and global standing. Industrial policy decisions taken in Brussels will have ripple effects, including on partners in the Global South. Addressing potential negative spillovers is not just a question of climate justice and good diplomacy – it is a strategic imperative.

Transatlantic relations are changing, and with it the EU and Canada are seemingly moving closer. An EU-Canada summit will take place on 23 June 2025, as "an opportunity to enhance the EU-Canada strategic partnership and for leaders to reinforce their cooperation at different levels". Is this a spur of the moment, what is now relevant and what does this mean for the green transition? Anton Möller asked 3 key questions to Achim Hurrelmann, Professor at Carleton University and expert on Canada-Europe relations.

After PiS' victory at the presidential election run-off in Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk called for and survived a confidence vote on 11 June 2025. What’s next for the country’s governing coalition, at a critical moment for Europe’s climate, democracy, and security agenda? Roderick Kefferpütz asked Urszula Zielińska, Green Vice-Minister for Climate and Environment, what the result means for the future of the ruling coalition, the Greens’ priorities in the months ahead and Poland’s role in the EU.

It’s never all doom and gloom. Even when political developments feel heavy and the broader context darkens, light still finds a way through. Over the past weeks, we’ve seen some encouraging signs.

Everyone from industry to pundits, and even NGOs, have for months lamented a lack of a comprehensive automotive industrial strategy across the EU, to match the continent’s green deal agenda of CO2 targets. This finally landed in early March, dubbed the Automotive Industrial Action Plan. This analysis looks at its most prominent proposals across clean vehicle, supply chain and infrastructure aspects, outlining its strengths and missteps.

Five months into the new European Commission, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union is releasing an updated European Green Deal Risk Radar, spotlighting critical risks to the EU’s climate, environmental, and sustainability laws in the 2024–2029 legislative term.

This May invites a moment of reflection. We mark Europe Day and 75 years of the Schuman Declaration, a proposal that laid the foundation for what would eventually become the EU. We also commemorate 80 years since the end of World War II, and 70 years since Germany joined NATO. These dates remind us of how our continent’s institutions have woven diverse countries together in peace, prosperity and shared values.