Air France’s pledge to end some of its domestic flights in return for billions of euros in government aid is a weak contribution to climate action, as weak railway infrastructure stands in the way of a plane-to-train shift.

Eurostat has just published the 2020 report on EU progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Those where it has underperformed particularly affect women.

The Covid-19 crisis brought about unprecedented reductions in CO2 emissions and energy consumption, benefiting renewables. This effect may be temporary however – but it could also mark the beginning of an ecological transition compatible with safeguarding the planet.

Less than 4 per cent of the world's forests are in the European Union, shared by no fewer than 16 million owners. There is no common EU forestry policy, but the European Green Deal is set to put a new emphasis on reforestation.

In more than 35,000 European municipalities, average temperatures have risen by more than 2°C over the last fifty years. From big cities to small villages, the climate crisis reaches every corner of Europe – but citizens are rising up, and people in power are finally taking action.

European countries are set to invest up to €2.82 billion per year until 2100 to avoid losing as much as €1.27 trillion due to climate-driven coastal flood damage, a new analysis by the EU Joint Research Center shows.

Europe is set to lose up to 15,000 km of shoreline due to erosion. The UK, France, Greece, Spain and Italy will be especially affected. And European holidaymakers will find less sand on beaches during their trips to warm destinations around the world.

Virgin forests in Central-Eastern Europe are the last remaining ones on the continent, yet they are being mercilessly torn down. Part of this multi-billion euro industry is a mafia-like system that stretches all the way from Romania to Ukraine. Austrian timber companies are right at the heart of it.

Key climate hazards are already affecting Europe and will increasingly do so, a series of maps published by the European Environment Agency reveals. Impacts, calculated through different scenarios and models, can only be reduced by keeping the global temperature increase well below 2°Cs.