Ecology

Reasons why we need to have the eco-feminist movement strongly present in Stockholm this June 2022.

The EU and Germany aim to be climate neutral by 2050 and 2045, respectively. The commitment to climate neutrality means that zero-emission alternatives will replace emissions-intensive processes and products. One energy alternative is climate-friendly hydrogen. However, hydrogen is not an all-purpose miracle that solves everything at once.

The consequences of the war in Ukraine are palpable even in Bratislava, over a thousand kilometres from the border. Ukrainian is heard more often on the streets, cars with Ukrainian number plates are appearing on the roads, the windows of shops and apartments are festooned with Ukrainian flags, and the city is alive with marches and initiatives in support of Ukraine. The only thing that has remained unaffected is the flow of oil and gas from Russia to Slovakia, and our payments for it.

The Hungarian Government has classified more than 3000 investments as priority projects, which means that for these projects, both public participation and control by experts who are independent are practically non-existent.

To avoid further environmental damages due to the use of EU money, the European Commission should suspend funding to the Hungarian government.

Environmental and climate policies are not in the spotlight of the winners of last weekend’s elections in Czechia. As right-wing coalitions are going to form a new government, rising energy prices and the starting climate transformation, combined with austerity policies, could cause social conflict and open the way for the renewal of progressive movements and parties. Socially sensitive modernisation should be one of the key points for their new agenda.

Summary of the panel 'People's power vs Climate crisis' at the Budapest Forum on the 16th September 2021. The conference was co-organized by the Municipality of Budapest, Political Capital Institute and CEU Democracy Institute. Heinrich Böll Foundation was a strategic partner at the conference. The panel was moderated by Benedek Jávor, former MEP of The Greens/EFA, currently the Head of Representation of Budapest to Brussels. The keynote was delivered by Ellen Ueberschär, co-president of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

Czech Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlíček refused to exclude Russia’s Rosatom from the tender until it was revealed that operatives from Russian military intelligence, the GRU, were behind the 2014 explosions at munitions warehouses in Vrbětice. Even now, however, the Russian candidate is not out of play entirely. How is that possible, and what does it mean for Czech security?

In mid-February 2021, the US state of Texas, much like the rest of the country, was hit by a series of three severe winter storms. The resulting near-arctic weather conditions have laid bare the long-standing weaknesses and inefficiencies of the Texas energy system.

At first glance, it might seem that the Czech climate movement can put the flags out. A government bill on measures for the Czech Republic’s transition to a low-carbon energy industry has been submitted to the Chamber of Deputies and is being debated rapidly in extraordinary sessions. The title of the bill may evoke the anti-fossil law which was urged by Czech environmental organizations in the “Great Challenge” (“Velká výzva”) campaign for years. Nevertheless, as we learn in one of the bill’s introductory articles, the Definition of Terms, a low-carbon electricity generating plant for the purpose of this law means one with a nuclear reactor. The rapid reduction of risks related to global climate change is obviously not the real goal of this bill.