Web dossiers

The Agribusiness Atlas 2026 sheds light on the market power of large corporations, from seeds to supermarkets, and shows how politicians and citizens can limit this power – for an environmentally friendly, socially just and sustainable diet. Launching on 30 September 2026. Save the date!

The European Commission’s Electrification Action Plan and a dedicated Heating & Cooling Strategy must help removing the many political and financial hurdles to renewable heating. Citizens in the EU still depend largely on fossil gas and other fossil fuels to keep their homes warm. After the massive increase of fossil gas prices in 2022, another global fossil fuel price crisis unfolds. There are clean and affordable domestic alternatives for heating, such as solar thermal energy, sustainable bioenergy and geothermal and ambient energy. Using renewable electricity for heating is the solution for cutting both emissions and households’ energy bills. The electric heat pump is the key technology, using electricity to pump up the temperature level of ambient or geothermal heat.

Global power shifts are changing international relations and the repercussions are felt around the globe. This web dossier by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung explores these changes. The contributions discuss how non-major power actors respond, the prospects of (cross-)regional cooperation and a potential role for the European Union. Many of the articles build on discussions held by the “Expert Delegation on Global Power Shifts”, a week-long event that took place in Brussels in the early summer of 2025. It brought together academics and practitioners from the foundation’s global network, examining geopolitics, the new US administration, China and the role of the EU.

With the Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF), the European Union defines its long-term budget – and with it, its political priorities for the years to come. In July 2025, the European Commission published its proposal for the MFF 2028-2034, and long and protracted negotiations will follow. Policy makers now have the opportunity to scale up ambi­tion and deliver on climate, social, economic and security objectives. With this web dossier, we want to give an overview over the different topics EU policy makers will need to address, and give space for commentary and analysis on the MFF.

Our energy networks materialise the EU’s power of cross-border cooperation. Thanks to a well-connected grid, affordable electricity flows across the continent to households and businesses. And despite the Iberian blackout of 28 April 2025, outages remain extremely seldom and limited in time in within the EU. With the rise of a renewable, more decentralised energy system, Europe’s energy infrastructure also needs to adapt. The EU Action Plan for Grids and the EU Grids Package try to tackle the huge technical, administrative and financial bottlenecks that risk delaying the growth of wind and solar power. How can policymakers and industry advance the update of our grids? Could this task become the laboratory for a deeper integration of energy policies, evolving into a truly European Energy Infrastructure Union?

How can citizens benefit better from the EU’s energy transition? Which tools can help them to access directly renewables and building renovation? The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union and the Green European Foundation have worked with experts in energy and social policy to identify key areas where the EU could act to ensure that citizens and households are able to fully experience the benefits of the energy transition, in their homes, communities and pockets.