Swiss scientists invent system that produces jet fuel from carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight
The amount of CO2 emitted during kerosene combustion in a jet engine equals that consumed during its production in the solar plant.
Europe
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.
Andorra becomes the 33rd country with marriage equality
The tiny nation’s new law also creates a system for transgender people to update the name and gender marker on legal documents without providing proof of medical care.
Greece bans genital surgery on non-consenting intersex babies
The surgeries are often unnecessary for the health of the child and are performed so that adults feel better about how the child’s genitalia look, even though the child often cannot consent to the procedures.
Switzerland builds the world’s largest water battery to store surplus renewable energy
Nant de Drance represents something genuinely exciting: proof that we can store renewable energy at a scale that changes how entire continents manage their grids. Tucked 2,000 feet inside the Swiss Alps, the plant holds 20 million kWh by moving water between two mountain reservoirs — absorbing surplus solar and wind, then releasing it as hydropower within minutes when demand spikes. It can supply roughly 900,000 homes and acts as a rapid-response buffer for Switzerland and neighboring European countries. Projects like this show that the hardest engineering problems in the clean energy transition are solvable.
U.K.’s opens its largest carbon capture project which will turn 40,000 tons of CO2 into baking soda
The $24 million investment has been completed by U.K.-based Tata Chemicals Europe, one of Europe’s leading producers of sodium carbonate, salt and baking soda, and they expect it to lower their carbon emissions by more than 10%.
Slovenia set to be the first former communist country with marriage equality
Slovenia’s Constitutional Court ruled that the Balkan nation’s ban on LGBTQ marriage equality and adoption is “inadmissible discrimination against same-sex couples.”
World’s first commercial sand battery begins energy storage in Finland
Sand-based thermal energy storage is stepping out of the lab and into real communities, and the implications reach well beyond Finland. A steel tank packed with ordinary sand captures surplus wind and solar energy as heat, then pipes warmth through a district heating network serving homes and public buildings — at under €10 per kilowatt-hour, using no rare materials. With nearly half of Scandinavian homes already connected to district heating, this technology has a ready path to scale. For communities facing long, cold winters, affordable heat storage like this could become a quiet cornerstone of the clean energy transition.
E.U. to end undercounting of plug-in hybrid emissions
Currently, regulators assume PHEVs are driven far more in electric mode than is actually the case, leading to unrealistically low emissions ratings.
First couples wed as Swiss same-sex marriage law takes effect
Marriage for All took effect in Switzerland on July 1, 2022, with same-sex couples saying their vows just months after voters approved the law by 64.1% in a national referendum. Among the first were Aline and Laure, a Geneva couple of two decades who married on the 19th anniversary of their civil union. “It’s normality that’s taking effect,” Laure said — a quiet way of describing a change that also brings full adoption rights, immigration sponsorship, and equal access to fertility care. With Switzerland on board, most of Western Europe now recognizes same-sex marriage, adding momentum to a global shift that began with the Netherlands in 2001 and continues to widen, country by country.
In world first, The Netherlands caps flights at major airport to cut pollution
Flight caps at major airports are now a reality, and the Netherlands just proved a democratic government can make it happen. By hard-capping annual flights at Schiphol — Europe’s third-busiest airport — Dutch leaders treated aviation the same way they’d treat any polluting industry: subject to real environmental limits, not just cleaner-technology promises. Climate researchers say that curbing flight numbers, alongside greener fuels, is genuinely necessary to meet Paris Agreement goals. Greenpeace called the decision a historic breakthrough, and it’s easy to see why — other governments now have a working model to follow.