This archive covers progress stories and milestones from across Europe, spanning health, climate policy, social equity, and scientific research. From small-nation experiments to E.U.-wide initiatives, these reports highlight what is working and why.
The German reinsurance group Munich Re will no longer invest in or insure the planning, financing, construction or operation of new oil and gasfields, new oil-fired power plants or developments in “midstream” oil infrastructure, beginning in April 2023.
For at least five hours on Friday, renewables accounted for 100 per cent of Greece’s power generation, reaching a record high of 3,106 megawatt hours.
The move makes Slovenia the first country in Eastern Europe to ensure equal rights for same-sex couples.
A French research company interviewed more than 4,000 adults across France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. More than 50% reported having reduced their meat consumption in the last five years largely for environmental, animal welfare, and personal health reasons.
By the first half of the 20th century, many of Europe’s mammals had been reduced to just a fraction of historical levels. But many mammal populations have seen a dramatic increase over the last 50 years.
A recent national survey of science teachers found that most middle school and high school teachers devote just one to two hours of instruction on climate change during the entire academic year.
Hydrogen-powered passenger trains now cover an entire regional rail network in Lower Saxony, Germany — 14 Alstom Coradia iLint trains that have fully retired the diesel locomotives once used on the Cuxhaven-to-Buxtehude lines. Each train pulls oxygen from the air, combines it with hydrogen stored on the roof, and emits only water vapor, traveling roughly 1,000 kilometers between refuels. The regional operator has pledged to never buy another diesel train, citing both climate goals and the cleaner air passengers breathe at small-town platforms. It’s a modest fleet in a single corner of Germany, but it’s the first proof anywhere that diesel regional rail can be fully replaced — a template other countries with long, lightly used routes can now follow.
The double-blind longitudinal study followed nearly 1,000 patients with Lynch Syndrome, an inherited genetic condition that increases the individual risk of several cancers, for almost 20 years.
The Bochum researchers hope that an early diagnosis based on the amyloid-beta misfolding could help to apply Alzheimer’s drugs at such an early stage that they have a significantly better effect.
Ocean plastic cleanup just crossed a meaningful line: The Ocean Cleanup has now pulled more than 100,000 kilograms from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, all independently certified as ocean-sourced. The bulk came from “Jenny,” a system deployed in 2021 that swept an area roughly the size of Luxembourg across 45 extractions. Founder Boyan Slat frames it simply — repeat this haul a thousand times, and the patch is gone. The next-generation system is built to collect up to ten times faster, turning an overwhelming problem into a countable one. It’s a reminder that large-scale environmental repair, paired with cutting pollution at the source, is moving from theory into something the ocean can actually feel.
