There is a real danger that the EU's housing plans get hijacked
Instead of restraining the predatory nature of property speculators and massive landlords, these plans could be twisted to just cut the vital rules that set minimum standards for housing and pollution β just to boost investors' profits
Short-term holiday rentals are clearly taking homes off the market, artificially increasing scarcity β this must be tackled
The EU and governments must also empower people to renovate their homes, making them more affordable to run
New builds must focus on social and public housing, not investors
There is a terrible housing crisis β Europe is so rich, there is no good excuse for having people without a home, or struggling to keep the one they have
This crisis stems from treating housing as a commodity to speculate on, not as a basic human need
Doubling down on speculation won't help
The EU Parliament's vote on housing today failed to back enshrining housing as a human right, and also left the door open to cutting housing standards and nature protections to benefit developers and speculators
Housing policy must prioritise homes for people, not property as an investment
PerdΓ³n si nuestras palabras son extremadamente polarizantes, quizΓ‘ nos ha radicalizado la decencia mΓ‘s bΓ‘sica, pero creemos que la guerra estΓ‘ mal.
NO A LA GUERRA.
Political leaders in all countries must wake up and reclaim the moral compass. Wars are never the solution. It is time to choose peace. NO TO WAR
@greenpeace.es @greenpeace.org
Great from our colleagues in Lebanon
"The current crisis is a tragic, undeniable argument for why we must accelerate the transition to renewable energy"
MORE SPECIFICALLY, THE NEW CAP SHOULD 1. Phase out untargeted hectare-based direct payments over the coming two CAP programming periods, to provide farmers with the necessary time to plan the transition of their business; 2. Link payments to real farm needs and structures, prioritising income support for farms with the highest environmental and social value; 3. Set a degressive payments system - with subsidies decreasing the larger the size of a beneficiaryβs farmland becomes - and maximum limits to CAP subsidies that a single entrepreneur or company can get, in line with the average farm income or size in each Member State; 4. Earmark a substantial part of the CAP budget to support environmental and climate action - starting from the current 32% to reach at least 50% by the end of the current CAP programming period. GREENPEACE
Here's an idea for the EU: stop up to 83% of farm subsidies going to a handful of rich, politically-connected landowners and big agribusinesses that wreck the environment, heat the planet, pollute the water supply and make people sick?
www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/issu...
DRIVING THE DAY βVEGGIE BURGERSβ BACK ON THE MENU: Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Cypriot EU presidency return to the table on Thursday for another round of talks on the overhaul of EU farm-market rules. Those include the still-toxic question of whether plant-based and lab-grown products can use meat names.
The "veggie burger ban" - being discussed today - is a silly exercise and an admission by Europe's ruling conservatives that they're out of ideas to help small farms
Meanwhile the Commission wants to force provisional application of #EUMercosur without MEPs' consent and despite a court challenge
As long as the EU and our governments keep us locked into oil and gas, we're at the mercy of autocrats and geopolitics
A disaster for the climate, for people's bills, and for peace and safety
As long as our world runs on oil and gas, our peace, security and our pockets will always be at the mercy of geopolitics
There is a structural vulnerability at the heart of this recurring crisis: the worldβs continued dependence on fossil fuels
Bombing Iran risks deepening suffering, fuelling retaliation, and destabilising an already fragile region
All parties must immediately halt further military action and return to structured, good-faith negotiations under credible international oversight
What's going on with the EU's deregulation agenda?π
Send this to someone who needs to know nowπ«΅
π¨BREAKINGπ¨The @ec.europa.eu will force through the provisional application of the EU-Mercosur trade deal.
@vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu's move reeks of desperation. It exposes how sheβs more interested in appeasing a handful of multinationals than in the rights and interests of people & the ππ³.
The EU's ideological zeal for deregulation really makes no sense when you look at the numbers
These are official EU estimates:
Total net savings from all 10 of the Commission's deregulation packages: β¬12bn
Cost of cleaning up just ONE source of pollution (nitrates): β¬70-320bn EVERY YEAR
Sources:
commission.europa.eu/law/law-maki...
environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/water...
The EU's ideological zeal for deregulation really makes no sense when you look at the numbers
These are official EU estimates:
Total net savings from all 10 of the Commission's deregulation packages: β¬12bn
Cost of cleaning up just ONE source of pollution (nitrates): β¬70-320bn EVERY YEAR
If it's helping with the climate crisis, turns out its probably not generative AI Β―\_(γ)_/Β―
If it's generative AI, turns out it's probably making the climate crisis worse Β―\_(γ)_/Β―
Great research from @beyondfossilfuels.bsky.social
The EU's climate targets are completely off track to contain global heating to 1.5Β°C
Every fraction of a degree the world heats, more people will die, lose their homes, lose their livelihoods
That means every fraction of a degree of heating we STOP, the more people we save and destruction we avoid
π‘οΈ For the third year in a row, every day in 2025 was more than 1Β°C warmer than the 1850β1900 pre-industrial level. Over a third of days were above 1.5Β°C.
β¬οΈ
Our friends at Greenpeace Netherlands have been occupying a airport in Lelystad for over 24 hours!
Opening a new airport like this during a climate crisis is an awful idea
Switching from Russian gas to US gas (instead of just getting off gas altogether) is a danger to the climate and to Europe's security
For a safe climate, clean air and water, and more peace β the EU must put and end to fossil fuels and move to 100% renewable energy
#MSC2026
Switching from Russian gas to US gas (instead of just getting off gas altogether) is a danger to the climate and to Europe's security
For a safe climate, clean air and water, and more peace β the EU must put and end to fossil fuels and move to 100% renewable energy
#MSC2026
(vampire voice): i vant to suck the microplastics in your blood!
Welcome to Count Deregula's castle
Council president AntΓ³nio Costa dropped this clanger in an interview with @henryjfoy.ft.com, here:
www.ft.com/content/53df...
Screenshot from the Financial Times, 12 February 2026 One of the key parts of the effort to reignite growth in Europe was to speed up efforts to cut back onerous regulation, much of which has been spawned by the blocβs ambitious climate laws. Many businesses have supported EU efforts to simplify despite being wary that ongoing changes to legislation are undermining investment signals. βWe donβt need to pollute our society more with over-regulation to obtain our goals to reduce emissions,β Costa said.
Which pollution crisis worries EU leaders the most?
Is it pesticides on our food? Dead zones in the rivers? Carbon in the air?
No. They've called a crisis summit to discuss how society is "polluted"... by regulations. AKA rules to stop REAL pollution!
Absurd.
@eucopresident.consilium.europa.eu
drone photo of kayaks and other small boats in the water, with a yellow banner floating between them reading βGas fuels climate crisisβ in slovak
Great news! After over 4 years of resistance by our friends at Greenpeace Slovakia, the planned liquefied gas terminal in on the Danube in Bratislava has been CANCELLED
Building more gas infrastructure is a disaster for the climate, and makes Europe more reliant on authoritarians for imports
EU leaders meeting today say they want Europe to be stronger, competitive and independent
So how does replacing Putinβs gas for Trumpβs gas, while pushing back on commitments to power our homes and factories with cheap, home-grown renewables put Europe on a path to energy independence?
πππ #EUCO
EU leaders are having a cosy gettogether in a Belgian castle to supposedly talk about competitiveness
But they're dancing to the tune of Trumpβs deregulation agenda and allowing greedy multinationals to get rich from the pollution of our food, rivers and homes
Read our comment below π
#EUCO
