Climate

As the EU and India pour billions into energy grids, transport corridors and digital infrastructure, something vital keeps slipping through the net: the people who live, work, migrate and grieve along these routes. Two young woman climate leaders from South Asia argue that the next frontier of EU-Global Majority cooperation must be a social architecture, one that supports the people – their health, their rights, their dignity and their knowledge – behind systems, not just the systems alone.

The election victory of Péter Magyar’s Tisza Party raises hopes for a long-delayed energy transition in Hungary. However, the road ahead is complex – shaped by Russian oil, gas and nuclear dependency, frozen EU funds, and a new government that is pragmatic rather than progressive.

Europe’s agriculture depends on fossil-based fertilisers—and that makes it vulnerable. While CBAM dominates the debate, wars, markets and political inaction drive prices. How can the EU finally build a more resilient and sovereign food system?

On 28 April 2025, a sudden blackout plunged the Iberian Peninsula into darkness. Within hours, renewables were blamed. Months later, experts found a voltage surge – not green energy – triggered the collapse. This article explores how blackouts fuel anti-climate disinformation and distort Europe’s debate on the energy transition.

This bonus episode of The Black Thread zooms in on a single case that distills the Norwegian paradox perfectly: the planned electrification of the gas processing plant on Melkøya. It’s a key conflict site where Norway’s net zero transformation collides with its fossil fuel industry, Indigenous rights, the youth climate movement, worker safety, and even criticism from the United Nations.

Europe’s growing dependence on air conditioning reflects a broader shift in how heat is managed. Marketed as efficient and climate-friendly, cooling technologies offer short-term relief, but their energy demand, refrigerant emissions, and lifecycle impacts risk locking households into high-emission habits while distracting from systemic solutions.

When a series of power outages hit Europe last year, the finger of blame was quickly – and falsely – pointed to an unlikely source: renewables. Blackouts are being used as a political tool to oppose the energy transition. But they can also become an opportunity for open discussions about energy infrastructure – a topic too often reserved only for technical audiences.

The COP30 in Belém unfolded against rising geopolitical tensions, intensifying climate impacts, and deepening divides between high-ambition countries and major fossil-fuel producers. In light of the absence of the US administration and the final outcome that is weakened on key issues such as the fossil fuel phase-out, we asked MEP Bas Eickhout, Co-Chair of the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament and member of the EP delegation to the COP30 UN Climate Summit, how he assesses the Belém Package and what role he sees for the European Union in future climate diplomacy.

The Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), with the support of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union | Global Dialogue, is pleased to launch an open call for young climate leaders to join us for our annual flagship event, Ideas Lab, on 2 and 3 March 2026. We are looking for young people from countries that are located in the ‘Global South’ who have a passion for climate action. Ideas Lab provides a unique opportunity to look behind the scenes of EU policymaking, make new contacts from all over Europe and learn how one of the largest events of its kind in Brussels is put together. The deadline for applications is Wednesday 10 December 2025, 23:59 CET.

At COP30, Europe’s climate leadership is at risk. Recent steps back on the European Green Deal and new offset rules make it harder for the EU to convince others to be more ambitious.

The annual COP (Conference of the Parties) is the highest decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the primary multilateral forum for international climate policy. Here, the 198 signatory states negotiate agreements and assess progress in addressing the climate crisis. We provide an overview of past conferences and the current COP.

Water is the basis of life. It covers more than two-thirds of our planet and shapes ecosystems and cultures. Industrialisation, overexploitation, and population growth are driving water scarcity, water pollution and conflicts.

Rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere warm the oceans, melt icecaps and make extreme weather such as droughts and floods more frequent. Those most severely affected are least able to protect themselves.

Dickon Bonvik-Stone, Rose Wanjiku, Dr. M Jackson, Roni Zahavi-Brunner and Nina Tea Zibetti are our 2025 Climate Disinformation Media Fellows! They will pursue on-the-ground reporting on climate disinformation case studies. Their articles will be published on our web dossier on Uncovering climate disinformation.

This collaborative guide by TacticalTech, supported by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung EU | Global Dialogue, looks at a digital information landscape that is fast becoming a toxic wasteland. The RePlaybook gathers insights from 30 organisations and practitioners at the forefront of the response. It combines thought leadership and practical approaches. It equips communicators, campaigners, journalists, and researchers with fresh tools for navigating complexity and strengthening climate discourse in an age of cultural divides and contested truth.

Brazil is positioning itself as an important player for multilateralism and international law in global crises and geopolitical upheavals. This raises high hopes for COP30 in November under the Brazilian presidency – but the challenges are also immense.

For the third time, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union | Global Dialogue, in partnership with the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Washington, DC, is looking for a select number of journalists reporting on climate disinformation. Apply now if you have research ideas on the threat of growing climate denialism, the relation between big tech and climate obstruction, the climate counter-disinformation community or similar topics. The application deadline is Tuesday 9 September 2025, 23:59 CEST.

Tackling climate disinformation requires sustained investment, yet the counter-disinformation community remains underfunded, and regulation faces significant resistance, writes Zora Siebert.

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?

A majority of citizens in Germany have a positive view of the new federal government‘s pledge for a stronger leadership role in the EU, but clearly advocate for doing so in a cooperative manner. These findings come from the latest edition of our long-term study 'Actually European!?' on Germany’s role in the EU.