For the EU, it is one of the most important pillars of climate protection: the emissions trading system. However, it has been tweaked in favour of industry from the outset.

The global demand for lithium is currently exploding - partly because the EU has set itself ambitious targets for electromobility. In view of the rising price of lithium, recycling the material, for example from batteries, is also becoming increasingly important. However, ther EU still lacks a plan.

Germany has been fighting against nitrate pollution in groundwater for years. Almost a third of all measuring points in the German EU nitrate monitoring network exceed the European threshold value.Other countries in the EU are also aware of the problem. The EU Green Deal aims to change that. But how does nitrate get into the groundwater and why is nitrogen irreplaceable in agriculture?

The European Green Deal aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Agriculture also plays a role in this with the reduction of fertilisers by twenty percent by 2030. Two farmers report on their fertiliser practices and what the decision from Brussels means for them.

The EU is trying to channel billions of euros of investment into sustainable economic activities with a universally valid eco-label. But what does sustainability actually mean? The highly controversial inclusion of gas and nuclear power shows that there is no clear answer to that in Brussels.

The EU wants to reduce its emissions more quickly in order to become climate-neutral by 2050. Part of this reform is also a kind of CO2 tariff on imports from abroad. Does this reform have the potential to solve the EU's climate problems?

According to experts, the emissions trading system is one of the most important tools for achieving the EU's climate protection targets. However, like any political system, it only works with the appropriate sanctions. There appear to be different standards in the EU.

The European Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Fund (EAMEF), a scheme set up in 2014 to become the European Union's (EU) arm in supporting sustainable fisheries.

The French authorities have not imposed any financial penalties on industrial sites that have exceeded their greenhouse gas emission quotas, in contravention of European rules.

In the EU, the use of fertilisers is to be reduced by 20 percent by 2023. How are farmers dealing with the stricter rules?