Is the EU giving up on its green battles and abandoning its leading role as a global green leader? Are governments rolling back their green policies and legislation? Is Europe becoming a land that invites any type of development, regardless of its ecological footprint, always based on a chorus of urgency in dealing with the economic crisis? Are we witnessing a decreasing footprint in European lifestyles?...

There is obviously no easy way out of the economic crisis for the EU. What is certain however, is that although certain fiscal indicators have shown slight improvement, critical parametres of social welfare and natural capital conservation have rapidly deteriorated. The natural environment is seen by troubled member states as an infinite resource for quick economic recovery. This is clear evidence that the current political recipe is not intertwi...

Is green reporting facing a hostile business environment? | The Haaretz (13 March 2013) “It can be said that global media coverage of environmental topics entered into a decline just at the time that they were really coming into their own. Even as such reporting is continually shrinking and even disappearing because of the general crisis in journalism, its level of professionalism is increasing as it delves into greater depth on environmental...

Soaring public debt, languishing economy, growing inequality, no jobs for a growing number of people, especially young: this is what most of the Mediterranean countries are facing today. In Southern Europe as well as in Northern Africa and east Mediterranean. Old recipes dominate government responses: promote investment in natural resources exploitation, even if this implies reducing environmental safeguards, even if the trade-off is losing ecosy...

Rome, March 2013 - Soaring public debt, languishing economy, growing inequality, no jobs for a growing number of people, especially young: this is what most of the Mediterranean countries are facing today. In Southern Europe as well as in Northern Africa and east Mediterranean. Old recipes dominate government responses: promote investment in natural resources exploitation, even if this implies reducing environmental safeguards, even if the trade-...

Environmental legislation and safeguards are being rolled back in Spain, Greece and other countries, under the pressure, or excuse, of financial and economic crisis. One might think that the same would be happening in the EU’s newest and poorest member states, Bulgaria and Romania.  But in fact, the application of environmental safeguards and legislation has actually improved over the past couple of years and has been more in the focus of att...

Vienna, February 2013 - Environmental legislation and safeguards are being rolled back in Spain, Greece and other countries, under the pressure, or excuse, of financial and economic crisis. One might think that the same would be happening in the EU’s newest and poorest member states, Bulgaria and Romania. But in fact, the application of environmental safeguards and legislation has actually improved over the past couple of years and has been mor...

You remember the environmentalist’s mantra from well over a decade ago – governments should be taxing public “bads” like pollution and resource wastage and not over-relying on raising revenues from public “goods” like jobs and income. This was part of our strategy to get the environmental agenda onto the desks of Prime Ministers and Ministers of Finance and not to stay stuck in the environmental ministries....

Brussels, January 2013 - You remember the environmentalist’s mantra from well over a decade ago – governments should be taxing public “bads” like pollution and resource wastage and not over-relying on raising revenues from public “goods” like jobs and income. This was part of our strategy to get the environmental agenda onto the desks of Prime Ministers and Ministers of Finance and not to stay stuck in the environmental ministries...

The bitter debates and the collapse of the latest EU Summit on the 2014-2020 budget were indicative of the dire straits that Europe is going through. As European leaders are focused on avoiding further economic disarray, the financial crisis has become a convenient excuse for a continuous and unprecedented rollback in EU environmental policies. The failure to stand up for a vital global climate policy shift at the Doha COP18 is a reminder that th...