Green Events not to be missed in 2026
2026 is shaping up to be a particularly busy year for those working, studying or interested in ecological and social transition. Trade fairs, conferences and festivals are increasingly emerging as p...
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 12 most read Renewable Matter articles of 2025
As 2025 draws to a close, it is increasingly clear that this has been a year of transition, marked by overlapping crises, geopolitical uncertainty and structural shifts in the global economy. Climat...
Gen-Z, tariffs and elections: 2025 seen through Asia
While, contrary to popular belief, the famous Chinese anathema ‘May you live in interesting times’ is not Chinese at all, 2025 has certainly been a decidedly “interesting” ye...
Article 6, the first World Bank outcome bond is launched
The World Bank has, for the first time, launched a bond with returns directly linked to greenhouse gas emission reduction outcomes. It is the $200 million Clean Cooking Outcome Bond, which utilises ...
Sèamus Boland: “Poverty is among the factors of political instability in the EU”
The European Union is increasingly under attack. To the east, a new Iron Curtain takes a hybrid and permeable form, with drones, moats and mined areas prepared to stop Russian tanks. To the west, on...
EU Delays Mercosur Deal as Farmers’ Protests Shake Brussels
The European Union has decided to delay the ratification of the long-negotiated free trade agreement with Mercosur until January, following mounting political opposition and large-scale protests by ...
Affordable batteries for solar energy when needed
The issue with solar energy has never been generating electricity, but rather utilising it when needed. For years, photovoltaics have concentrated supply during daylight hours, leaving evening peaks...
Transition and international trade: China’s role at COP30
From Belém - At COP30 in Belém, global trade was for the first time explicitly included in climate negotiations. It was inevitable: the transition is no longer just a matter of climate...
Ukraine, a Top-Secret Reconstruction
The pot is large. In fact, huge: 524 billion dollars. Roughly equivalent to the GDP of the United Arab Emirates. According to the World Bank, this is the cost of rebuilding Ukraine over the next dec...
The importance of social determinants: How inequality makes pandemics more deadly
“The paradox is that a risk that makes us all equal reveals, at the same time, how unequal we are,” reads the book Pandemocracy: A Philosophy of the Coronavirus by Spanish philosoph...
Omnibus I, green light from the European Parliament: EU sustainability and democracy at risk
From Brussels - On Thursday 13 November, the European Parliament green-lit Omnibus I, the legislative package pushed by the European Commission with the avowed purpose of “simplifying” t...
EIB and Gruppo CAP sign €100 million deal to modernise Lombardy’s water systems
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Gruppo CAP have signed a €100 million finance agreement to support the company’s 2025–2030 investment plan. The announcement was made by EIB D...
Feltrin (FLA): Tariffs and EUDR are a Damocles sword; let's revive the sector with EPR and the circular economy
The wood-furniture supply chain is one of the pillars of the Italian industrial system, with a positive trade surplus of €7.9 billion. The sector employs almost 300,000 people and counts over 6...
Zohran Mamdani Becomes New York’s First Muslim Mayor
Zohran Mamdani won the highly anticipated New York City mayoral election, defeating independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, according to projections by the Associated Press. Mamdani, a democratic social...
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping: 100 minutes for a truce
“Amazing.” That's how Donald Trump, aboard Air Force One on his way back home from his Asian tour, defined the highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which took pl...
Infrastructure in transition: RM59’s interviews
The Think Tank section of Renewable Matter #59, devoted to Infrastructure, brings together a wide range of visions for the future of global infrastructure systems: from the management of large ...
How Green Is the New Silk Road?
It was back in 2013 that Xi Jinping first announced his vision of an “economic belt along the Silk Road” during a visit to Kazakhstan. What later became known as the Belt and Road Initia...
Brake and Accelerator
Today, journalists' digital desks are overflowing with press releases on research and analysis of economic scenarios. We no longer even notice the scale of certain phenomena. Yet, when claims are ma...
Catia Bastioli: the circular bioeconomy requires an integrated approach
Europe is awaiting a new strategy for the bioeconomy. According to a number of sources at Renewable Matter, a draft document is expected to be submitted at the end of November in Copenhagen, De...