Ecology

The collaboration between Bulgaria and Greece on energy-related projects has recently gained a lot of attention both at the national and EU levels. The two countries are exploring possibilities for mitigating the unprecedented energy price crisis and the threats for energy security stemming from Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.  

In August, wildfires in Evros killed a group of people, including children, passing along a well-trodden migration route. Locals and politicians made the victims scapegoats for the disaster.

While thousands of farmers have been protesting for weeks on the streets across Europe, the Heinrich Böll Foundation –the Paris Office in collaboration with the Thessaloniki Office – organised on 12 February 2024 a timely online discussion on the causes and possible solutions to the agricultural crisis. Representatives of farmers and researchers from France, Germany and Greece outlined the situation in their countries, illustrated their demands and contributed with suggestions.

Community energy is key to action on the climate crisis. It can empower people, boost local economies, and reinvigorate communities. Success stories of community energy projects can be found all over Europe. In May 2023 we met Karditsa Energy Community (ESEK) to learn more about their biomass project and the social impact they have had in the region.

The comparative study of the different stages of community energy development in four European countries was the subject of a lively and insightful conversation jointly organized in Athens early in May by the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Offices of Thessaloniki, Warsaw and Belgrade. Titled “Community energy law in Greece, Serbia, Poland and Bulgaria; Stock taking and bottlenecks”, the event was part of the three-day Community Energy Spring Gathering

Energy communities are a collaborative model that constitutes the perfect vessel for directly involving citizens and local communities in renewable energy facilities. As energy communities can have a strong social impact, they play an important role in society - beyond clean energy production. Here are ten examples of economic, social and environmental benefits of energy communities!

A timely retrospect on energy poverty in Greece, the effects it has on the daily lives of citizens and how it has emerged as an important pillar in our work on energy democracy. This article, by Kyriaki Metaxa, Coordinator of the Ecology Programme at Heinrich Böll Foundation Thessaloniki - Greece, was first published in the Slovak independent magazine “Kapital” on 20 April 2023.

The situation in the energy sector has led to national strategies that often conflict with the policies of neighbours and allies, and at the same time to a significant move away from clean energy sources. In other words, we have a "dirty nationalism", as this article explains, published very recently on the website "Energy Transition. The Global Energiewende".

This article was first published in the German FIAP e.V. (Research Institute for Innovative and Preventive Work Planning) journal "Transition", specifically in issue 1|2022 with the specific title "Green innovations for local transformation processes: European startups as drivers of transition".