Urban agriculture as climate infrastructure
Despite the current period of great international instability, Europe now holds a unique position: it is the continent that has produced the most ambitious regulatory framework for the ecological tr...
Urban carbon farming: cities at the forefront of the climate challenge
When we speak of carbon farming, the collective imagination instinctively conjures up images of agricultural expanses, farmland and pastures. Yet there is a less explored – and in some ways mo...
China's five-year plan sets lower growth targets and reduces climate ambitions
On 4 and 5 March, Beijing has begun the Two Sessions, or Lianghui (两会), the key event in the Chinese political calendar, eagerly awaited this year for the official unveiling of the 15th Five-Yea...
Catastrophic risks in Italy, from awareness to protection
Italy is one of the countries in Europe with the highest seismic and hydrogeological risk. According to the ANIA 2024 report, around 40% of residential properties are located in areas with medium to...
Padua Launches Climate Action Week 2026
From 11 to 19 April 2026, the city of Padua (Italy) will host the first Padova Climate Action Week (PCAW), a week-long programme of climate-focused events spread across the entire urban area. Rather...
Trump revokes scientific ruling on greenhouse gas emissions
"Today, the Trump administration repealed the endangerment finding: the ruling that served as the basis for limits on tailpipe emissions and power plant rules. Without it, we’ll be less safe, ...
More and more regions around the world are facing water bankruptcy
There were algae, carp, sturgeon, and other fish, fishing boats and canning factories. Along the shores of the Aral Sea, on the border between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, a vibrant community once liv...
2026 will be a turning point for climate litigation
In 2026, the courts will be the new battleground for the climate crisis. This is not a metaphor: Ukraine is preparing to file the first claim for climate reparations in history against Russia, ...
Copernicus: 2025 has been the third hottest year ever recorded
2025 has been a particularly critical year for our planet: with an average global temperature of 14.97°C, which is 0.59°C above the 1991-2020 average, last year has been the third hottest ev...
The US pulls out of the UNFCCC, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
The Trump administration has launched yet another onslaught on international law and the fight against climate change. In a deeply troubling and unprecedented move, on Wednesday 7 January, Secretary...
7 Transition Economy Stories to Follow in 2026
The year 2026 is shaping up to be a year of transition, in which major economic shifts will enter a harsher and less ideological phase. Between technology, climate, raw materials and finance, the sy...
The Paris Climate Agreement marks its first ten years
Ten years ago, the Paris Agreement united the world in the fight against climate change at the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference. With this historic agreement, 195 countries pledged to t...
Earth may be in crisis, but we can still choose our future: UNEP GEO-7
In one of Africa's major cities, Nairobi, Kenya, the seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) is being held in early December. In this context, UNEP has published the new&...
Soil: over 70% of all countries underestimate its importance in mitigation strategies
Much is often said – and even more so these days, with COP30 underway in Belém, Brazil – about reducing emissions, mitigating and absorbing CO₂. Much less often, however, is it ...
The climate crisis exacerbates inequalities, especially for women and girls
Walking for hours in the sun to fetch water. Giving birth without medical assistance because the clinic is unreachable after a flood. Giving up contraception as it is too expensive, while the family...
COP30’s local legacy: Cities will make or break the climate fight
As ICLEI’s Regional Director for Europe, I am often asked why we invest so much effort in global climate negotiations. Why does an organisation of cities and regions engage so deeply in p...
COP30, awaiting a negotiation reform
COP30 comes to an end as a mirror of the current times. Multilateral cooperation on climate change barely survives, notwithstanding geopolitical tensions. Growing are the divisions between countries...
Climate finance at COP30: how to leverage $1.3 trillion by 2035
During the climate summit in Brazil, the focus shifted back to climate finance: without adequate resources, making progress on adaptation, mitigation and combating global warming is difficult, parti...
Ukraine demands $43 billion from Russia for environmental damage caused by the war
No silence is more haunting than the one following an explosion. It does not only concern what war takes away from human life, but also what it takes away from nature: forests turned to ash, fields ...
COP30, climate change and forced migration in Latin America
Climate change not only destroys territories and ecosystems — it deepens historical inequalities and forces millions of people to move. In Latin America and the Caribbean, where structural pov...