New report | Defending Equality in an Age of Democratic Decline: Reframing Europe's Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030

This new report by Rémy Bonny (Forbidden Colours) argues that the EU’s Gender Equality Strategy 2020–2025 was designed for a political moment that has since shifted dramatically. Although it secured important legal advances, it failed to anticipate the rise of coordinated anti-rights movements challenging fundamental freedoms across Europe. As the EU prepares its 2026–2030 Strategy, a decisive shift is needed: gender equality must be anchored as a core pillar of democratic resilience, security and rule-of-law protection – not treated as a standalone social policy.

Reporting from our Climate Disinformation Media Fellows 2025

Dickon Bonvik-Stone, Rose Wanjiku and Nina Tea Zibetti are our 2025 Climate Disinformation Media Fellows. They have pursued on-the-ground reporting on climate disinformation case studies:

Nina Tea Zibetti wrote the feature How not to talk about a blackout. On 28 April 2025, a sudden blackout plunged the Iberian Peninsula into darkness. Within hours, renewables were blamed. Months later, experts found a voltage surge – not green energy – triggered the collapse. This article explores how blackouts fuel anti-climate disinformation and distort Europe’s debate on the energy transition. She also wrote the Analysis Left in the Dark: How critics are using blackouts to undermine the energy transition. When a series of power outages hit Europe last year, the finger of blame was quickly – and falsely – pointed to an unlikely source: renewables. Blackouts are being used as a political tool to oppose the energy transition. But they can also become an opportunity for open discussions about energy infrastructure – a topic too often reserved only for technical audiences.

Dickon Bonvik-Stone recorded the podcast episode The Norwegian Paradox: Norway's Fossil Fuel Dilemma. This bonus episode of his podcast series The Black Thread zooms in on the planned electrification of the gas processing plant on Melkøya. It’s a key conflict site where Norway’s net zero transformation collides with its fossil fuel industry, Indigenous rights, the youth climate movement, worker safety, and even criticism from the United Nations.

Rose Wanjiku wrote the analysis Heatwaves: Will air conditioning save Germany?  Europe’s growing dependence on air conditioning reflects a broader shift in how heat is managed. Marketed as efficient and climate-friendly, cooling technologies offer short-term relief, but their energy demand, refrigerant emissions, and lifecycle impacts risk locking households into high-emission habits while distracting from systemic solutions.

Young Climate Leaders 2026

The Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), with the support of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union | Global Dialogue, selected 8 young climate leaders to join CEPS' annual flagship event, Ideas Lab, in Brussels on 2 and 3 March 2026.

3 Questions on the EU Grids Package to Elisabeth Cremona

From renewables stuck in connection queues to data centres waiting years to plug in, Europe’s power system is under strain. In this edition of 3 Questions, we speak with Elisabeth Cremona from Ember about why grids have become the backbone of EU competitiveness, security and decarbonisation.

Heat pumps: phases of transition differ strongly among countries in Europe

There are good reasons to wish for a future with more heat pumps: less fossil gas in the heating sector and therefore less methane leakage and less CO2 and NOx emissions; lower costs for households; and more energy independence for nations. Most of this works best with powering the heat pumps with a bigger share of renewables. In Europe, heat pumps boomed until 2023 and then dipped to 2020 or 2021 levels in 2024. Starting points and paces of change in the heat pump market differ wildly. Let’s have a virtual trip to Sweden, France and Germany and find out why those timelines are so different. Andreas Bäumer reports.

XII EU/LAC - Feminicides CONFERENCE: Global Strategy to Resist the Backlash Against Gender Rights
05.03.2026, 15:30-18:30 CET

Bringing together activists and experts from Latin America and Europe at the European Parliament (and online), the XII EU–LAC Feminicides Conference will explore the global backlash against gender rights, the rise of anti-gender movements, and their links to gender-based violence. The programme highlights feminist resistance, transnational solidarity and concrete avenues for stronger EU engagement to combat feminicides.

Webinar | Small modular reactors - Smaller regulation?
05.03.2026, 17:00-18:00 CET

15 years after the Fukushima catastrophe, small modular reactors are back at the centre of Europe’s energy debate. With the European Commission placing them prominently in its 2025 Affordable Energy Action Plan, expectations are high. But are they grounded in technical, economic and regulatory reality?

Webinar | Europe and the Future of the Sustainable Development Goals
11.03.2026, 13:00-14:30 CET

Organised by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, this online event will bring together high-level speakers to discuss priorities to accelerate SDG progress in Europe by 2030, as well as Europe’s leadership role in advancing sustainable development beyond 2030. It will also feature the results of the 2026 edition of the Europe Sustainable Development Report, prepared in collaboration with SDSN Europe, the European Economic and Social Committee, and the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union | Global Dialogue.