The Green Deal offers an excellent framework for a sustainable, viable Europe. The challenge of the day, however, lies in filling it with life. We must ensure that the right measures are undertaken to match and reach the right goals.

In order to achieve the declared goal of turning Europe into the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, the member states in general, but also the German government in particular, must take a far more resolute approach when implementing the European Green Deal. The necessary pressure to do so is being exerted by citizens and at the EU level alike.

The EU is undeniably crying out for fundamental reforms. The Conference on the Future of Europe, launching on 9 May 2021, is meant to create the first-ever genuine public space between European citizens of all Member States and enable encounters beyond national frameworks. Unlikely to deliver major reform plans, though, this platform still has the potential to provide important impulses to crucial issues for Europe’s future.

The exhibition "Climate Killer Cement", designed by Save Kendeng and Watch Indonesia and produced with the support of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, highlights on the one hand the impact of cement production and construction megaprojects on ecosystems and indigenous communities, but also aims to show positive local alternatives.

In the middle of the night on March 20, 2021, a presidential decree was published in the Official Gazette, announcing Turkey would withdraw from the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention.

With the two-day Biden leaders summit on climate attended by 40 countries, the United States has returned to the international stage of climate diplomacy. Whether the increased ambition of new climate action pledges via video made by several core countries can be implemented in a binding manner, however, remains an open question.

On 22 April 2021, Joe Biden hosted heads of States at a climate summit, announcing a new climate goal of the United States under the Paris Agreement. In Europe, a compromise for the EU’s climate goal for 2030 was found. What do these targets mean in terms of actual emission reductions?

Schools made a quick pivot to online teaching in spring 2020 as the pandemic sent kids home to learn. But educators soon faced a host of data sharing issues, as classrooms moved to platforms neither designed for education nor in compliance with privacy laws.