This archive covers progress stories from across Europe, spanning the U.K., Scandinavia, the E.U. and beyond. Readers will find reporting on health, climate policy, social welfare, science and more — drawn from nearly 1,200 articles tracking real gains made by communities, governments and researchers throughout the region.
Use of plastic carrier bags in England has continued to fall – by 59% in the last year alone – since the introduction of the 5p charge. Sales of single-use plastic bags have dropped by 95% in England’s supermarkets since the charge was introduced in October 2015.
French company Valneva has developed a vaccine that works by stopping Lyme-causing bacteria in ticks from passing into people’s bloodstreams when the ticks bite.
More than 18 hectares in size, the solar power plant, Zonnepark Bomhofsplas, has 72,000 solar panels and is expected to provide energy for 7,200 homes. It was built in just 7 weeks.
A new blood test for prostate cancer is producing a 99% accuracy rating—precision that has never before been achieved for a blood test of this particular kind of cancer. The test can also determine the exact stage and progression of the cancer, reducing the need for invasive biopsies and scans.
The bank, a multinational investment company headquartered in Germany, announced Monday that it will no longer offer financial services to new projects that involve drilling for oil or gas in the Arctic.
The U.K.’s biggest pension fund, the government-backed National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) scheme with nine million members, is to begin divesting from fossil fuels in what climate campaigners have hailed as a landmark move for the industry.
The 14,000 square meter space in Paris’s 15th arrondissement, known as Nature Urbaine, is now up and running and has planted roughly a third of the available space.
France’s prime minister vowed to develop “railway highways” to carry food and other goods that now go by truck, part of a government push to reduce the country’s carbon footprint.
Eligible individuals from Hong Kong currently can come to the U.K. for six months without a visa. With the rule change, they will have the right to live and work in the country for five years. After that, they will be allowed to apply for settled status and then again for citizenship.
Fossil fuels fell by 18 percent, squeezed both by rising renewable generation and a seven-percent fall in electricity demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.
