Category: CSR/ECO/ESG

Unlocking €3 billion for investment opportunities in the decarbonisation of buildings and road transport Today, the European Investment Bank has agreed on a ETS2 Frontloading Facility, jointly developed with the Commission, making €3 billion available to accelerate investments in the decarbonisation of sectors covered by the new EU’s emissions trading system (ETS2), notably buildings and […]

Marco Barandun, Agroscope and University of Zurich, discusses his article: Scaling species richness: When vegetation surveys don’t match in plot area What can you do when your dataset contains vegetation surveys with plots the size of a shoebox alongside plots the size of a living room? This was exactly the situation I found myself in […]

Today, the Commission adopted the first set of methodologies under the carbon removals and carbon farming (CRCF) Regulation to certify activities that permanently remove CO2 from the atmosphere. By adopting these first voluntary certification methodologies, the EU is setting clear rules and creating new opportunities for climate innovation, investments in carbon removal technologies and addressing greenwashing. […]

Kai Shi, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, discusses his article: CSR strategy shifts under biotic resistance and grazing drive invasion success of Solanum rostratum in northern China Ecological theory offers two powerful explanations for why invasions should fail. Diverse native communities are expected to resist newcomers through competition, […]

The EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) is the EU’s flagship carbon pricing instrument and a central pillar of its climate policy framework. As the ETS expands and is strengthened, stakeholders have shared feedback on practical implementation to ensure its continued effectiveness. This includes experiences with compliance processes, the interaction between different ETS components, such as […]

For centuries, the heathlands of Tuscany in north-central Italy were used to graze livestock and to harvest heather for making brooms (the old witch-style ones) and other wares. These traditional land-use practices maintained perfect habitat for birds like the woodlark and tawny pipit – specialists of open and shrubby habitats. But here, and throughout Europe, […]

A better understanding of what happens belowground when restoring coastal vegetation may be useful to better plan restoration. However, little is known about what happens belowground when invasive species are controlled in restoration settings. My students and I used a protected area of sandy coastal vegetation in an island in Southern Brazil as a model […]

Taichi Nakata, Kyushu University in Japan, discusses their article: Adaptive trait divergence of annual plants in response to urban habitat diversity in a megacity As we walk through cities, we often notice flowers blooming in the gaps in pavement, along roadsides, or in parks. Despite the drastic alterations of their natural habitats by human activity, […]

The European Commission has amended the Union Registry Regulation (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/1122), which ensures the  accurate and transparent accounting of Member States’ transactions under the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) and the Land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) Regulation. The updated rules align the Union Registry with the revised Effort Sharing and LULUCF […]

Victoria Giachetti and Martín Aguiar, University of Buenos Aires in Argentina, discuss their article: Stronger fertile island patterns enhance plant facilitation in drylands, regardless of overall ecosystem fertility Facilitation and fertile island formation: Two key structuring processes in dryland ecosystems At the core of dryland ecosystem functioning, there are two tightly linked processes: fertile island […]