Spain bans harassment of women entering abortion clinics
The legal changes mean that anyone harassing a woman going into an abortion clinic will be committing a crime that can be punished with up to one year in prison.
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.
Sweden becomes world’s first country to include emissions used to produce imported goals in its climate targets
Greta Thunberg has long argued that rich countries need to take responsibility for and reduce emissions from imported goods.
Scotland’s forests are the largest they have been for 900 years
Scotland’s reforestation story just keeps growing: tree cover has tripled over the past century, climbing from under 6 percent of the country’s land to roughly 18 percent today. That’s close to forest levels not seen since medieval times. Behind the numbers are decades of work by government agencies, private landowners, and rewilding groups like Trees for Life, who’ve been steadily replacing fast-growing conifer plantations with native species like Scots pine, birch, and oak. Public enthusiasm is striking too — around 80 percent of Scots backed Highland reforestation in a 2021 survey. Scotland’s recovery is a hopeful reminder that landscapes stripped bare over centuries can begin healing within a single lifetime, when communities decide they want them back.
Psilocybin therapy changes brain wiring in depressed people, new study finds
The new study led by researchers from Imperial College London found that people also reported a reduction in their depression symptoms alongside these brain changes.
Portugal’s floating solar energy auction sets world record negative price
Portugal’s floating solar auction just made history with a negative price: one winning bidder agreed to pay the grid 4.13 euros per megawatt hour for the right to generate clean electricity over 15 years. EDP Renováveis pulled this off by bundling 70 megawatts of floating panels on Western Europe’s largest artificial lake with wind power and battery storage, letting the profitable pieces carry the solar contract. The environment ministry estimates the auction will deliver 114 million euros in savings for Portuguese electricity consumers. It’s a striking signal of how far renewable economics have come — and a glimpse of what’s possible when countries get creative about stitching clean energy technologies together.
Norway’s walrus population bounces back thanks to hunting bans
By the 1950s, only a small population of Svalbard’s walruses remained. In 2006, researchers were thrilled to count 2,629 walruses, and the latest count in 2018 recorded 5,503.
Brain implant allows completely “locked-in” patient to communicate
Locked-in syndrome is a rare condition that makes it impossible for the patient to move or speak, but are still conscious and can see, hear, and smell.
Dutch bank ING ends financing for new oil and gas projects
The bank has also said it will target a 50% increase in lending for renewable energy by 2025, building on strong growth in 2021, when financing grew 26% to 7.3 billion euros.
The U.K.’s offshore wind pipeline sees a 60% increase in 12 months
The UK’s total pipeline of offshore wind projects has now reached 86 gigawatts (GW), according to new research published today by not-for-profit renewable energy trade association RenewableUK.
The majority of Portuguese Cabinet Ministers are women for the first time ever
The socialist-majority government will take over on March 30, in a week. For the first time ever in the history of Portugal, the majority of ministers are women, 9 out of 17.