The return of carbon diplomacy
This article is part of the thematic channel The Carbon Observer. Subscribe to the newsletter or update your preferences. Over the past year, two political developments have profoundly affecte...
Terna pioneers Europe’s first perpetual hybrid Green Bond
Terna S.p.A. has successfully completed a landmark operation in the European sustainable finance market with the launch of a perpetual, subordinated, hybrid, non-convertible, fixed-rate European Gre...
Heidelberg Materials in Brenner: How Concrete Supports the European Tunnel
18 September 2025 marked a historic milestone for European engineering: the cross-border breakthrough of the exploratory tunnel in the Brenner Base Tunnel (BBT) for the first time created a continuo...
Deep-sea mining: Japan begins its first tests
Almost 1,900 kilometres south-east of Tokyo, in the vastness of the western Pacific Ocean, lies the uninhabited atoll of Minami-Torishima. Japan’s easternmost outpost, this sliver of land secu...
Why the Citizens Energy Package is the key to Europe’s energy autonomy
Europe currently stands at a crossroads. It must address several imperatives: ensuring energy independence, security, and access to affordable, clean renewable energy. Europe’s last energy cri...
2026 will be a turning point for climate litigation
In 2026, the courts will be the new battleground for the climate crisis. This is not a metaphor: Ukraine is preparing to file the first claim for climate reparations in history against Russia, ...
Safer Tap Water Thanks to Water Safety Plans
Ensuring high-quality drinking water is one of the most pressing challenges for public health and environmental sustainability. But what does guaranteeing "safe" water mean? Until a few years ago, r...
Anthrofood 2050: Food Anthropology Enters the Public Arena with an Eye to the Future
It is rare for the anthropological community to choose, with a collective voice, to occupy the public square to intervene in systemic emergencies, abandoning the comfortable detachment of the observ...
Trump keeps digging the grave of transatlantic diplomacy in Davos
“Who the hell wants to defend a licence agreement for a piece of ice?” This may not be the most important sentence in Trump’s long speech in Davos today, 21 January, but it is perh...
Water, between governance and technological innovation: the 2026 events
In 2026, water will be the testing ground for transition. No longer a sectoral issue, but rather an invisible infrastructure that holds together climate, production, cities, agriculture and social s...
Startup, Molg: towards circular production for electronics
Molg, a technology company operating at the intersection of robotics, design and sustainability, was founded with the aim of enabling a “circular manufacturing” model for electronic prod...
Will the Board of Peace replace part of the United Nations?
Is Donald Trump creating a new international organisation in his own image, as an alternative to the United Nations? Over the past few days, the US president has sent invitations to a number of worl...
Certifying gender equality also strengthens a company's stability
Although gender equality is now a central topic in public debate, dominating the news on a daily basis, some confusion still remains regarding the real implications behind this concept, often viewed...
Crisis
Misinformation, social polarisation, extreme weather events, inequality, erosion of human rights, armed conflicts, pollution. According to the highly influential analysis of systemic risks publ...
Gender gap, Donata Columbro: “The goal is not data, but equal rights and responsibilities”
What do we mean by gender equality in the workplace? An equal number of women and men among employees? Half of leadership roles filled by women and half by men? Are we sure that splitting everything...
The High Seas Treaty takes effect: now international law
With the ratification of the 60th state in September, the 120-day countdown to the entry into force of the High Seas Treaty began, which takes effect today, 17 January. Also known as the BBNJ (Biodi...
Global Risks Report 2026: The “Age of Competition” shapes the future threats
The year ahead opens against a backdrop of accumulated tensions, unresolved crises and shifting global balances. After years marked by pandemics, wars, inflationary shocks and accelerating technolog...
Copernicus: 2025 has been the third hottest year ever recorded
2025 has been a particularly critical year for our planet: with an average global temperature of 14.97°C, which is 0.59°C above the 1991-2020 average, last year has been the third hottest ev...
River systems amidst laws, policies and economy: the interviews of RM60
The Think Tank section of Renewable Matter #60, focused on rivers, provides a broad, international overview of the complex interactions between human society and river ecosystems, addressing th...
Free to Flow: The Fragile Success of River Renaturalisation
Within days of the removal of four dams on the Klamath River, on the border between California and Oregon, silver salmon began swimming upstream again, and one year later – after nearly a cent...