#EU climate commissioner

[trendynewsnow]

EU Climate Commissioner Announces Significant Emission Reductions Ahead of COP29

EU Climate Commissioner Highlights Emission Reductions Ahead of COP29 The EU’s climate commissioner has pointed to a significant decline in greenhouse gas emissions across the bloc as proof that robust climate action can coexist with economic growth. This assertion comes as he gears up for the upcoming major UN climate summit in Azerbaijan next month. “As we prepare to depart for COP29, we once…

[reasonsforhope]

The European Union’s greenhouse gas emissions fell 8.3% in 2023 as a surge in renewable energy installations helped displace coal.

This means the bloc’s emissions have declined 37% since 1990, while its economy has grown 68% over the same period.

The divergence indicates “the continued decoupling of emissions and economic growth,” the European Commission said in an update, adding that the region is on track to reach its target of reducing emissions by at least 55% by 2030.

According to an analysis by the European Environment Agency, based only on existing climate measures and planned actions, the EU will reduce its emissions by 49% by 2030.

Electricity and heating lead the way

Emissions from electricity production and heating under the region’s emissions trading system (ETS) dropped 24% in 2023, compared to the previous year, per the Commission.

Set up in 2005, the ETS is widely viewed as a key driver of the bloc’s decarbonisation. In 2023, it generated revenues of €43.6 billion in 2023 for climate action investments.

However, some sectors are still moving in the wrong direction. For instance, aviation emissions grew 9.5% last year as the sector continued to rebound in the wake of the pandemic.

More to be done

“The EU is leading the way in the clean transition, with another year of strong greenhouse gas emission reductions in 2023,” said Wopke Hoekstra, commissioner for climate action.

“As we head off soon to COP29, we once again demonstrate to our international partners that it is possible to take climate action and invest in growing our economy at the same time,” Hoekstra added. “Sadly, the report also shows that our work must continue, at home and abroad, as we are seeing the harm that climate change is causing our citizens.”

In a separate statement, Leena Ylä-Mononen, executive director of the European Environment Agency, said climate change impacts were “accelerating”, meaning the bloc needed to become more resilient to extreme weather while also slashing emissions.

In the second quarter of 2024, renewables accounted for 52% of all electricity generated in the EU, a 6 percentage point increase in a year. Nuclear generation was up slightly and comprised 24% of the mix, meaning clean sources made up 76% of the region’s total electrical output.

-via The Progress Playbook, November 1, 2024

[dostoyevsky-official]

this a view of someone who's ignored european developments since 2007, opting for a rosy, outdated view of european politics, i.e. the exact type of american committing the exact type of mistake i'm warning about.

to address this point by point: not only has inflation been a global issue, but the US has consistently enjoyed the lowest inflation of any developed economy. american CPI has remained below the british, polish, and eurozone average numbers. european economies have to deal with fallout from the russian invasion of ukraine that the us can ignore: notably, in energy prices, as the US became self-sufficient in energy (and never imported any from russia to begin with, something squeezing the german economy). america is also not hosting millions of ukrainian refugees.

when discussing european instutions—and "europe" in general—one has to be more specific. do you mean the overarching institutions of the EU, criticized for a democratic deficit that many have pinpointed as one source for euro-skepticism and the rise of the far right? the EU Council, widely ignored and headed by charles michel, an incompetent, blatant nepobaby appointment whom everyone grinds their teeth over? the EU parliament, recently filled with a fresh batch of far-right hooligans, which functions more or less as a rubber stamp for the commission? the EU commission itself, headed by VdL, the latest in a string of failed local politician commissioners (who remembers the alcoholic swindler juncker?) masquerading as technocrats? the ECB, which smothers the monetary (and through the maastricht criteria, the fiscal) policy of eurozone members, thereby fueling resentment, far-right movements, and economic disparity? and all of this held hostage by the veto of one orban or fico, —or the german supreme court, when it decides it's had enough with public investment. those institutions, which remain so opaque that even educated americans—and europeans—aren't entirely aware of their function?

or do we mean the institutions of individual countries, ranging from undemocratic autocracies like hungary to the fief of the jupiter king, who called elections in june, lost them, refused to nominate a prime minister from the winning coalition, didn't name any for over a month, and then appointed a rightwing politician from a party that scored dead last, sidestepping his own centrist party? the UK, where sir keir is handing out five years in jail time to climate protesters, raising tuition fees, relying on private investment companies, and through rachel reeves' plan to fix the alleged budget hole left by hunt before further investment, again enacting austerity? this is all front-page headline news from the last half year.

european countries indeed have cheaper healthcare costs, better pensions, and other public goods that the united states does not. when considering "quality of life," remember, however, that most european countries have unemployment rates considered astronomic in america, especially for under-35s:

to focus again and again on european social democracy is to ignore that it has been steadily eroded since the end of the cold war and especially since the great recession by neoliberal political forces that crush the left and open the door for the far right. in the most blatant example, beside's macron's legislative politricks, the IMF-ECB-EC troika cut off euro cash liquidity flow to greece when syriza was trying to undo austerity under varoufakis. the greek collapse consigned a generation to economic failure, killed seniors, and curtailed possibilities for the youth. this erosion happened even in the nordic model, long imagined by americans as nothing short of a utopia:

In part due to the scrapping of wealth and inheritance taxes and a lower corporate tax than both the U.S. and European averages, Sweden has one of the most unequal distributions of wealth in the world today: on a level with Bahrain and Oman, and worse than the United States. Perhaps most dispiriting for Sanders, Sweden also now hosts the highest proportion of billionaires per capita in the world. Many of the country’s trademark social services are now provided by private firms. Its private schools even benefit from the same level of state subsidy as public schools—a voucher system far more radical than anything in the United States and that Democratic politicians would be crucified for advocating. Both here and there, right-leaning commentators in 2020 decried Sanders’s portrait as little more than what Johan Norberg, Swedish author of The Capitalist Manifesto, has called a 1970s “pipedream.” On this, Swedish observers on the left gloomily agree: despite official rhetoric, the “Nordic welfare model” is now more nostalgic myth than reality. (x)

to problematize further, there's an unadressed first world perspective: who's getting the good quality of life, why are the main economies of the EU so wealthy, and how does the EU continue to enrich itself? there are certainly many living outdoors today, drowning in the mediterranean, or dying of exposure in białowieża. fortress europe is a crime against humanity—and it doesn't beat back the far right. it weakens civic and human rights, undermines legal oversight, and criminalizes humanitarian engagement, allowing an authoritarian creep.

you shouldn't understand the political and the historical as a snapshot in time, but as a moving train. this is the state of europe today. all of the above is necessarily a simplification and an abbreviation, but there's a trajectory you can begin to trace out: given all of the above, where do you think europe is headed?

[rosszulorzott]

To the European Commission, European Parliament and Council of the European Union

Petition

We need fossil free politics before it’s too late. If EU decision-makers really want to introduce policies that benefit people and the planet then they need to stop listening to the fossil fuel industry.

We the supporters of this petition demand institutions enforce a firewall between the fossil fuel industry and decision-makers: 

by ending decision-makers’ interactions with the industry (that means no lobby meetings, no seats on expert and advisory bodies)

by avoiding conflicts of interest for government officials and employees, including closing the “revolving door” between the public sector and the fossil fuel industry

by ending the preferential treatment of the fossil fuel industry in climate negotiations

and by rejecting partnerships and sponsorships with the fossil fuel industry

We need to cut fossil fuel interests out of politics.

Why is this important?

EU Commissioners and high-level officials meet with fossil fuel lobbyists almost every single day. [1]

Politicians are talking out of both sides of their mouth - promising us the ambitious climate laws we’ve fought for while having daily meetings with Big Oil and Gas. The EU even put an ex-Shell consultant in charge of their climate policies. [2] You couldn’t make this farce up. 

But we can break up this cosy relationship. These weeks will see the new ‘ministers’ called Commissioners for the EU nominated. Who is chosen for these powerful positions and who they’re friendly with, will determine how much fossil fuel lobbyists can pollute our plans to address climate change.

Conversations are underway right now over who gets the powerful Commissioner jobs. We want those writing the rules to know we are watching them. If we create a huge noise, it’ll rule out any politicians in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry. 

Add your voice for a strong firewall between the EU and the fossil fuel industry.

[windturbinepunk]

Wind and solar have risen to ‘new highs’ in the EU overtaking fossil fuels for the first time ever | Euronews

[thoughtlessarse]

Devastating floods through much of Central Europe and deadly wildfires in Portugal are joint proof of a “climate breakdown” that will become the norm unless drastic action is taken, the European Union’s head office has said. “Make no mistake. This tragedy is not an anomaly. This is fast becoming the norm for our shared future,” said EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic. The worst flooding in years moved across a broad swathe of Central Europe on Tuesday, taking lives and destroying homes. At the other end of the 27-nation EU, raging fires through northern Portugal have killed at last six people. “Europe is the fastest warming continent globally and is particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events like the one we are discussing today. We could not return to a safer past,” Mr Lenarcic told EU politicians in Strasbourg, France.

continue reading

If “this tragedy is not an anomaly,” it is, by definition, the norm. And it's only going to get worse.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in BOSTON with Randall "XKCD" Munroe (Apr 11), then PROVIDENCE (Apr 12), and beyond!

#15yrsago Why URL shorteners suck https://joshua.schachter.org/2009/04/on-url-shorteners

#15yrsago Heinlein’s house for sale https://web.archive.org/web/20090406105617/https://mcginnis.com/listings/detail.php?lid=41846127&limit=0&offset=0&aid=005900204&oid=005900002&temp=1057&aname=Sharon+Roland&aimg=1&chome=1&agent_hasfeat=2&&posc=6&post=10&cfq=elegant%3Dyes%26property_category%3D1%26county%3D41%26aid%3D005900204%26oid%3D005900002%26temp%3D1057%26aname%3DSharon%2BRoland%26aimg%3D1%26chome%3D1%26agent_hasfeat%3D2%26SRSearchDate%3D1238781456%26SRRecordCount%3D10%26SRPage%3D1%26SRPageCount%3D1%26SRPageLinks%3D6

#15yrsago Game industry exec celebrates 60+ hour work-weeks https://web.archive.org/web/20090405131359/playthisthing.com/mothers-dont-let-your-children-grow-be-game-developers

#15yrsago Nine year old’s survey project excluded from school because he learned some people don’t think of themselves as male or female https://thefourthvine.livejournal.com/102417.html

#10yrsago Britain is turning into a country that can’t tell its terrorists from its journalists https://memex.craphound.com/2014/04/03/britain-is-turning-into-a-country-that-cant-tell-its-terrorists-from-its-journalists/

#10yrsago Stop-and-frisk as the most visible element of deep, violent official American racism https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/04/what-i-learned-about-stop-and-frisk-from-watching-my-black-son/359962/

#10yrsago David “Debt” Graeber evicted, implicates NYPD intelligence, claims revenge-harassment for OWS participation http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/015820.html

#10yrsago Open net gets a huge boost in the EU: net neutrality and no roaming fees https://web.archive.org/web/20140405234420/http://www.marietjeschaake.eu/2014/04/mep-european-parliament-supports-proposal-schaake-to-enshrine-net-neutrality-in-european-law/

#10yrsago Cats of Tanglewood Forest: illustrated modern folktale from Charles de Lint and Charles Vess https://memex.craphound.com/2014/04/03/cats-of-tanglewood-forest-illustrated-modern-folktale-from-charles-de-lint-and-charles-vess/

#10yrsago House Science Committee: a parliament of Creationists, Climate Deniers (and dunces) https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/the-curious-wavefunction/the-house-of-representatives-committee-on-science-is-turning-into-a-national-embarrassment/

#10yrsago Big Data has big problems https://www.ft.com/content/21a6e7d8-b479-11e3-a09a-00144feabdc0

#5yrsago 540 million Facebook users’ data exposed by third party developers https://www.upguard.com/breaches/facebook-user-data-leak

#5yrsago Elizabeth Warren proposes holding execs criminally liable for scams and data breaches https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/elizabeth-warren-its-time-to-scare-corporate-america-straight/2019/04/02/ca464ab0-5559-11e9-8ef3-fbd41a2ce4d5_story.html

#5yrsago How EFF’s Eva Galperin plans to destroy the stalkerware industry https://www.wired.com/story/eva-galperin-stalkerware-kaspersky-antivirus/

#5yrsago After years of insisting that DRM in HTML wouldn’t block open source implementations, Google says it won’t support open source implementations https://memex.craphound.com/2019/04/03/after-years-of-insisting-that-drm-in-html-wouldnt-block-open-source-implementations-google-says-it-wont-support-open-source-implementations/

#5yrsago After months of insisting that #Article13 doesn’t require filters, top EU Commissioner says “Article 13 requires filters” https://memex.craphound.com/2019/04/03/after-months-of-insisting-that-article13-doesnt-require-filters-top-eu-commissioner-says-article-13-requires-filters/

#5yrsago Notices at Intel press event seem to say attending photographers must assign copyright to all pictures and videos to the company? https://web.archive.org/web/20200616222543/http://mitchwagner.com/2019/04/02/video-consent-notice-posted-discreetly-in-a-couple-of-places-on-the-walls-at-the-intel-press-analyst-event-today/

#5yrsago Patagonia tells banks and oil companies that they can no longer buy co-branded vests https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/patagonia-power-vest-policy-change

#1yrago The problem with economic models https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/03/all-models-are-wrong/#some-are-useful

[mariacallous]

Over the past five years, Europe’s collection of green parties wielded influence in the European Parliament far beyond their numerical strength. The 70-odd parliamentarians in the Greens/European Free Alliance (EFA) political group, backed by the continent’s energetic climate movement, even managed to push through their top agenda item—the ambitious European Green Deal, designed to ensure the continent meets its climate policy targets. Politicians of the green movement often “punched above their weight,” said Anna Cavazzini, parliamentarian from Germany’s Greens, in an interview with Foreign Policy.

But after the EU’s parliamentary elections from June 6 to June 9, when the bloc’s 373 million voters will head to the polls, the greens may receive their comeuppance. Pedro López, spokesperson of the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), told Foreign Policy that the greens were “overrepresented in the parliament in relation with the political weight they have in national governments,” and that their proposals were “far too radical and too fast for people to digest.” He added, “The next five years look very bad for them.”

According to Politico’s poll of polls, the Greens/EFA could fall to 41 seats after the June election, and if the group’s performance in recent national elections across Europe is an indicator of what’s to come next week, López may be right. In Luxembourg last year, the Greens’ vote share fell to 8.6 percent from 15.1 percent in 2018. In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’s far-right Party for Freedom scored above a coalition of socialist and green parties led by former European Commissioner for Climate Action Frans Timmermans. And in regional elections in Bavaria and Hesse in Germany, which is the movement’s biggest national stronghold, the far right made deeper inroads when fewer Germans opted for the Greens.

If Europe’s pro-industry center-right forms an alliance with anti-climate far-right parties, the greens will likely be pushed to the backbenches. And regardless of the election outcome, Brussels seems likely to remain preoccupied with making preparations against the Russian threat, prioritizing defense over green objectives.

There are many reasons for the decline of the greens.

Robert Habeck, Germany’s economy minister and one of the most influential green politicians in Europe, admitted in a September interview with the Guardian that the movement must ditch what the interviewer described as a “moral superiority complex” and try not to make an impression of always knowing best. Another European Parliament insider who asked to remain anonymous told Foreign Policy that the greens are always on a high horse and difficult to work with. “They want too much,” he said, and they “don’t follow the political principle of give and take.”

Primarily, however, the greens have been cast in a negative light by the far right, which has exploited and exacerbated the confusion and concern over the impact of the green transition on households, industry, workers, and farmers for its own political benefit.

In 2023, for example, Germans—by far seen as the more pro-environment populace in the continent—protested against a new heating law or Heizungsgesetz, which said that newly installed home heating systems must run on at least 65 percent renewable energy. Encumbered by higher energy bills, many in Germany resisted the idea of spending more up front to refurbish their homes, which is often necessary to install environmentally friendly heat pumps. But the far right turned the issue into a political ploy. German tabloid Bild equated Habeck to the Stasi—former Eastern Germany’s secret police—and accused his party of imposing its decisions on people and invading their privacy.

Cavazzini, who spoke to Foreign Policy over the phone in the middle of campaign meetings in Saxony, said that a copy of a draft bill was “leaked to the press” to deliberately cause an uproar and hurt the Greens. It made people feel that they would be “left alone with the financial burden,” she added. However, she also said that the Greens should have “more proactively included the social dimension in the law.”

“Nevertheless,” Cavazzini added, “the debate about the law was blown up and accelerated with fake news by tabloids and the right wing.”

The law, nonetheless, is believed to have damaged the reputation of Germany’s Greens, which had finally risen to power in the governing coalition, with five major ministries helmed by its politicians.

But the green movement, while accused of demanding too much, is paradoxically also vilified for compromising. Experts believe that the German Greens fell in the estimation of some of their ardent followers when Habeck agreed to keep the coal plants running to make up for the loss of Russian energy imports.

Then came the farmers’ protests. In many parts of Europe, farmers dumped manure on streets over a horde of issues, including demands to reduce their carbon footprint. They refused new EU requirements to leave 4 percent of the land uncultivated and to reduce the use of pesticides as well as cuts to diesel subsidies. The French and German governments and Ursula von der Leyen—a member of the EPP and the European Commission’s president—caved in on a number of demands and watered down many policies intended to save the environment and mitigate climate change.

Even though von der Leyen herself is considered a pro-climate EU commissioner, she has rattled the green movement by opening the door to an alliance with the populist right, with major ramifications for the implementation of the European Green Deal. “She is playing with fire,” Cavazzini added.

Experts contend that the Green Deal was a result of fierce negotiations between the conservatives of the EPP and the Greens/EFA. But the cooperation was already fragile, and it will be weakened further if the polls turn out to be right and von der Leyen chooses to lean more to the right.

In a report published earlier this year, the European Council on Foreign Relations predicted that the “biggest policy implications of the 2024 European Parliament elections are likely to concern environmental policy.”

In the current parliament, a center-left coalition of the socialists, the greens, liberals, and the left won on environmental policy issues, “but many of these votes have been won by very small margins,” the report noted.

If the balance was to tilt further right and the center-right formed a coalition with the populist or far-right dispensations, then the European Green Deal may be put on a back burner, and the goal of achieving net zero emissions from the continent by 2050 delayed.

However, if von der Leyen instead forms a coalition with the green movement, she could, according to numbers in latest polls, retain her rank and push forth on the Green Deal, which is seen as the flagship project of her presidency.

“It will give us leverage,” Cavazzini said, but added that the Greens/EFA will vote for von der Leyen as European Commission president only if she chooses not to cooperate with the far right, puts an end to the backlash by the EPP against the Green Deal, and instead “strengthens and implements it in an ambitious way.”

In 2019, the Greens/EFA did not vote for Von Der Leyen to be the commission president, but the group warmed up to her after she made pledges to usher in more climate-friendly policies. While many of the Greens/EFA members still see themselves as “kingmakers”  so do members of the populist far-right grouping of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s European Conservatives and Reformists.

“We have found the greens to be unreliable partners,” said López, the EPP spokesperson. The EPP is the largest group in the European Parliament, and its support is critical to the Green Deal. However, in tandem with the resurgence of the far right in Europe, the EPP has become more critical of green legislation, and support for the movement seems to be waning.

Ariadna Rodrigo, a campaigner for Greenpeace, said that regardless of the suggested decline of the green parties, there is growing support among Europeans for a greener planet. “It doesn’t mean people don’t like green policies, but that a political party hasn’t managed to convince people of its policies,” she told Foreign Policy.

According to an EU Eurobarometer survey published last year, climate change is one of the top three concerns of Europeans—even despite the Russian threat. The survey revealed that 93 percent of EU citizens polled viewed climate change as a “serious problem,” and 77 percent of those polled saw it as a “very serious problem.” While 67 percent thought their national governments were not doing enough to tackle the crisis, more than 87 percent thought that the EU should take action to increase renewable energy usage.

In the end, whichever alliance dominates the European Parliament—and whether the Greens/EFA are a part of it or outside—delaying green policies could prove to be “catastrophic,” according to the EU’s environment agency.

“Hundreds of thousands of people would die from heatwaves, and economic losses from coastal floods alone could exceed EUR 1 trillion [$1.08 trillion] per year,” warned the European Environment Agency in a report published in March, likely hoping that the next commission and parliament would take its assessment seriously.

The key task for the next European Commission is to find the money to cushion the impact of the transition on people who may lose their jobs, or are already struggling to get by. But there is also room for introspection among the members of the greens movement themselves. Being right is not enough in politics. To implement laws that will transform the way that people live, they also need to be liked.

[notwiselybuttoowell]

A public statement signed by more than 1,000 scientists in support of meat production and consumption has numerous links to the livestock industry, the Guardian can reveal. The statement has been used to target top EU officials against environmental and health policies and has been endorsed by the EU agriculture commissioner.

The “Dublin Declaration of Scientists on the Societal Role of Livestock” says livestock “are too precious to society to become the victim of simplification, reductionism or zealotry” and calls for a “balanced view of the future of animal agriculture”. One of the authors of the declaration is an economist who called veganism an “eating disorder requiring psychological treatment”.

The declaration was published a year ago but gave no information on its provenance. Its supporters appear to be overwhelmingly researchers in animal, agricultural and food sciences.

Documents obtained by Unearthed, Greenpeace UK’s journalism project, and seen by the Guardian, show the creation, launch and promotion of the declaration have significant links to the livestock industry and its consultants.

The declaration and associated studies are viewed as “propaganda” by leading environmental scientists. Prof Matthew Hayek of New York University in the US said: “The scientific consensus is that we need rapid meat reduction in the regions that can afford that choice.”

Studies in the highest-ranking scientific journals have concluded that cutting meat and dairy consumption in rich countries is the single best way to reduce a person’s impact on the environment and that the climate crisis cannot be beaten without such cuts. People already eat more meat than health guidelines recommend in most developed nations.

The EU was pursuing policies to reduce meat consumption on environmental and health grounds, but some of these have recently been dropped.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

EU-Mercosur deal slowly vanishing

The European Union's Commissioner who was due to attend the Dec. 7 Mercosur Summit in Rio de Janeiro to sign the trade agreement between both blocs has canceled his trip, it was reported Sunday. According to the Financial Times, Valdis Dombrovskis shall not be attending the event, which in addition to announcements in Buenos Aires and Brasilia coupled with further negative statements from French President Emmanuel Macron, would amount to the end. at least for now, of the much-heralded agreement.

Lula and Macron met Saturday in Dubai but no progress was made. Brazil holds the pro tempore presidency of the South American alliance until Dec. 7.

Macron on Saturday spoke against the agreement due to its incompatibility with Brazil's environmental policy. The French leader said the agreement was “incoherent” and “badly patched up” because it “doesn't take into account biodiversity and the climate within it.” He added that it was “an old-fashioned trade agreement that undoes tariffs.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticized France's “protectionism.” Lula also wants changes to the free trade agreement's points on government procurement bids, because, for him, it is a policy that induces the development of national industry and an opportunity for small and medium-sized companies.

Continue reading.

[trendynewsnow]

EU Climate Commissioner Pushes for Climate-Aligned Taxation Policies

EU Climate Commissioner Advocates for Taxation Alignment with Climate Goals The European Union’s climate commissioner has committed to utilizing an expanded portfolio to ensure that taxation policies are in sync with the EU’s climate objectives. He has reaffirmed the EU executive’s determination to propose a substantial 90% reduction in emissions by the year 2040. In written responses to Members…

[beardedmrbean]

European Union environmental ministers on Monday approved a contested conservation law that seeks to restore habitats to their natural condition.

The Nature Restoration Law aims to regrow forests, re-wet moors and return rivers to their natural, free-flowing states.

The law has proven controversial, due to concern over the heavy restrictions that could be placed on farmers. It was passed by the European Parliament earlier in the year.

Environment ministers of EU member states backed the policy at a meeting in Luxembourg, meaning it can now pass into law.

Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius said on X, "We are still on track to reverse the biodiversity loss, let's now start work together and show that EU is still leading the way." 

Austrian climate minister breaks with Vienna to pass law

Austria's environment minister, Leonore Gewessler of the Greens, went against her conservative coalition partners by pledging to back the policy — giving it the majority needed to pass.

"I know I will face opposition in Austria on this, but I am convinced that this is the time to adopt this law," Gewessler told reporters.

Gewessler called it "a victory for nature" in a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. 

On Monday, Austria's center-right chancellor, Karl Nehammer, said it was "unlawful" of his climate minister to vote in favor of the nature restoration law.

"Austria should stick with its already-agreed vote" against the law, Nehammer's office said. 

"Last night, Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer informed the Belgian Council Presidency (of the EU) that federal minister Gewessler's approval of EU renaturation would be unlawful."

The country's governing Austrian People's Party (OVP) said that Gewessler would face legal action for her decision to back the law.

The party's general secretary Christian Stocker said that a charge of abuse of office would be laid against Gewessler.

Germany's Environment Minister Steffi Lemke meanwhile said on X that the adoption of the law was "a clear signal of trust in Europe's ability to compromise and its responsibility to protect the environment and nature." 

Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Finland and Sweden voted against. Belgium, which is responsible for chairing talks among member states, abstained.

What is included in the law?

The law sets a target for the EU to restore at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030 and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050.

It aims to reverse the decline of Europe's natural habitats, of which 81% are determined to be in poor health.

The legislation also sets specific targets such as peatlands that can soak up CO2 emissions and help curb climate change. Other ecosystems explicitly covered by the law include forests, grasslands, and wetlands, as well as rivers, lakes, and coral beds.

Member states must restore at least 30% of habitats specifically covered by the new law from a poor to a good condition by 2030.

That target would increase to 60% by 2040, and 90% by 2050.

[architectuul]

Who is LINA?

Ljubljana’s Faculty of architecture hosted 27 architectural museums, universities, research networks, foundations, triennials, biennials, and other high-profile European and Mediterranean architectural organisations and 25 fellows, which were selected by the members to collaborate in the first year of the LINA programme. 

Learning, Interacting and Networking in Architecture - LINA is a new European architectural platform coordinated by the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana. It  emerged from the Future Architecture platform, which was designed and managed by architect, architectural critic and curator Matevž Čelik. 

Matevž Čelik is the head of LINA project. | Photo © Urban Cerjak

This new European architecture platform is a network which connects prominent cultural players with emerging practitioners and thinkers in architecture. Its goal is to steer the architectural sector towards sustainable, circular and clean practices, to link the existing efforts into a united LINA Architecture Programme, and highlight new and emerging voices, giving them an international platform.

Conference at the Faculty of Architecture. | Photo © Urban Cerjak

For the first gathering of LINA members a statement where architects become an active part of the solution to the impending climate crisis was defined. Talks of direct action and structural change were woven through two intense days of lectures and matchmaking that took place at Ljubljana's Faculty of Architecture under the title Architecture and the future for the Planet. Headline speakers set the theme of resource management, regenerative approaches and design-centred repair processes: a set of 25 emerging thinkers and practitioners in architecture, LINA fellows, expanded on them through project presentations of their own research and practice. Each year, they offer the chance for LINA fellows to become part of their programme, feature their work through lectures, workshops, mentorships, or other collaborative formats, and help their ideas reach further and gain an international audience.

Informal matchmaking. | Photo © Urban Cerjak

Among over 200 projects applied to LINA’s annual open call: a tool for selecting and then highlighting emerging talent in architecture. The goal of the LINA platform is to knit close ties between the established and the emerging players, creating opportunities for spreading ideas and, in turn, energising the architectural sector to tackle climate change head-on. These projects range from concrete practices to theoretical research projects. Special mentions gets to the project Infrastructures of resistance by Spanish team self-office, which is a search for a new housing institution, the project Borderlands where young architect Tevi Allan Mensah investigates the idea of architecture as a tool of a collective understanding on the border or a French based team New South, which under the title Sacred grounds - Muqarnas address the issue of reinvestment in the notion of the sacred, bringing about processes of care for the built environment.

Eduardo Eduard Fernàndez from self-office. | Photo © Urban Cerjak

Tevi Allan Mensah investigates the idea of the border. | Photo © Urban Cerjak

Meriem Chabani from the French team New South. | Photo © Urban Cerjak

Matevž Čelik, head of the LINA platform, describes that “I"It is vital to mobilize the architectural sector and bring about the resolutions of the EU Green New Deal as quickly as possible. In a global climate emergency, architects should take the lead, just as any profession should.” The conference began with a series of appeals to architects, policy makers and industry representatives towards descaling and degrowing. Dr Janez Potočnik, Co-Chair at the UNEP Environment International Resource Panel and former EU Commissioner for Environment, underlined the importance of decoupling economic growth from resource use, and incentivising industries to minimize resource depletion. Sarah Ichioka, a strategist and urbanist, presented her actionable insights in reframing an architects’ mindset: in particular, encouraging a stronger agency and standing up to notions of just what’s possible. In her words, architects should strive to design environments for all life, not just humans. 

Markus Krieger, Florian Hertweck and Milica Topalović presented their project The Great Repair. | Photo © Urban Cerjak

Architects and professors Milica Topalović and Dr Florian Hertweck, along with editor Markus Krieger, presented their project The Great Repair and their research into design as a tool for repair across a wide spectrum of fields and approaches. They underlined that architecture itself is in need of repair: the way architects teach, project and do research is certainly up for review. In The State of Architecture, Milica Topalović presented an analysis of the entered projects through overarching themes of interdisciplinarity and plurality, design as soft power, reparative and regenerative design mindset, and the application of architectural and urbanist tools beyond the city. Climatologist Dr Lučka Kajfež Bogataj presented key figures of planetary boundaries in Europe with clear actions architects should undertake to diminish those figures, which are critically exceeded in Europe. Philosopher Dr Mateja Kurir, manager of the LINA platform, opened the discussion with the speakers with the topic of greenwashing in architecture, which is presented on various levels. The first annual LINA conference is an introduction to seven months of activities within the LINA Architecture Programme set to take place around the EU and outside its borders.

Rebeka Bratož Gornik and Ana Dana Beroš. | Photo © Urban Cerjak

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