Blog

The Greek waste crisis stands as one of the most persistent environmental and policy failures in Europe, especially visible in Athens and the surrounding Attica region. Despite billions of euros spent on recycling infrastructure and countless public awareness campaigns, Greece continues to rely overwhelmingly on landfill disposal. Streets across the country are lined with color-coded bins for paper, plastic, aluminum, food scraps, and even electrical goods, yet the outcomes remain poor. According to the Association of Recycling and Energy Recovery Industries and Enterprises (SEPAN), nearly 79% of the country’s waste is still buried, while recycling rates barely reach 17%, among the lowest in the European Union.

Continue reading “Greek waste crisis and the road to circular recovery”

In the aftermath of the 2007–08 global financial crisis, green finance emerged as a popular mechanism to align economic activity with environmental sustainability. Banks, insurers, and investors introduced a host of “green” products—from green bonds to sustainability-linked loans—backed by global agreements like the Paris Accord. The central idea is that by channeling capital into sustainable sectors, the world can essentially “green finance” its way toward a low-carbon future. Yet beneath this optimistic narrative lies a more complex and often contradictory reality.

Continue reading “The uncertain future of green finance”

The plastic recycling industry is facing an unprecedented crisis across the UK, Europe, and beyond, marked by a wave of plant closures and halted investments. Once hailed as a cornerstone of sustainability and circular economy efforts, the sector is now struggling under economic pressure, regulatory gaps, and global competition.

Continue reading “Plastic recycling crisis threatens industry survival”

The world faces overlapping environmental, economic, and health crises that cannot be solved in isolation. Climate change, biodiversity loss, and declining public health are interlinked, demanding a unified approach rooted in science, policy, and community action. Nature-based solutions offer such an approach — actions that protect, restore, and sustainably manage ecosystems while delivering broad social and economic benefits. These solutions mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, enhance human well-being, and strengthen economic stability, all at lower cost than many technological alternatives. Studies by The Nature Conservancy show that restoring forests, wetlands, and grasslands could achieve up to 37% of the emissions reductions needed to keep global warming below dangerous thresholds.

Continue reading “Driving economic resilience with nature-based solutions”

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and data centers has unleashed an unprecedented surge in electricity demand, straining global energy infrastructure and triggering a shortage of gas turbines. These precision machines, essential for dispatchable power generation, are in limited supply just as nations and corporations scramble to expand generation capacity. While data center operators rush to secure reliable electricity for AI workloads, manufacturers remain wary of ramping up production too quickly, haunted by past cycles of oversupply that led to financial losses and idle factories.

Continue reading “AI surge fuels global gas turbine shortage”

The global race to power artificial intelligence (AI) has driven major technology companies toward nuclear energy as a potential solution to soaring electricity demands. With data centers and AI chips consuming ever greater amounts of power, firms like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are searching for reliable, carbon-free sources of electricity. Nuclear energy offers two key advantages—constant, uninterrupted output and zero direct carbon emissions—making it appealing to an industry facing criticism for its growing environmental footprint. Yet despite the excitement, experts caution that nuclear solutions remain far from ready, and public skepticism continues to loom large.

Continue reading “Big tech’s growing bet on nuclear energy”

A new study published in Science has cast serious doubt on the effectiveness of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) forest carbon offset projects, revealing that most substantially exaggerate their climate benefits. The analysis, conducted by an international research team led by the Guangdong Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy in China, with contributions from Germany’s iDiv and Martin Luther University, examined 52 REDD+ initiatives comprising 66 project units certified under Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard. Their findings reaffirm earlier concerns about inflated carbon credit claims and the credibility of voluntary carbon markets.

Continue reading “REDD+ projects overstate climate impact, study finds”

The International Energy Agency (IEA)’s Renewables 2025 report projects a historic acceleration in global renewable capacity growth, predicting that renewable power generation will double by 2030, adding 4,600 gigawatts of new capacity — equivalent to the combined electricity generation of China, the EU, and Japan. Solar photovoltaics (PV) will drive nearly 80% of this expansion, followed by wind, hydropower, bioenergy, and geothermal energy. According to the IEA, over 80% of nations will see faster renewable growth between 2025 and 2030 than during the previous five years, although challenges remain in grid integration, financing, and supply chain resilience.

Continue reading “IEA Forecasts Rapid Global Renewable Capacity Growth”

A new report from the European Environment Agency highlights how climate change will significantly reshape Europe’s energy landscape, particularly in southern countries. The study emphasizes that future energy demand for cooling will rise sharply in Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, with these nations projected to account for more than 70 percent of total annual cooling needs in EU residential buildings. This trend is tied directly to rising global temperatures, which will intensify heatwaves and put pressure on electricity systems already strained by climate risks.

Continue reading “Southern Europe’s rising cooling energy demand”

Europe is undergoing a rapid transformation of its landscapes, with green spaces once vital for wildlife, carbon storage, and food production being consumed at an alarming pace. A five-year investigation by the Guardian and partners has revealed that the continent is losing the equivalent of 600 football pitches of land every single day. The Green to Grey project, in collaboration with the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (Nina) and media outlets across 11 countries, has provided the first comprehensive satellite-based assessment of this phenomenon. Between 2018 and 2023, about 9,000 square kilometres of nature and farmland—an area the size of Cyprus—were converted to roads, housing, industrial facilities, and leisure complexes.

Continue reading “Europe faces crisis of green land loss”