Eurotopics.net

Environmentalists have won an important court victory in the Netherlands: energy company Shell, which has its headquarters in The Hague, has been ordered to reduce its CO2 emissions by 45 percent compared to 2019 levels by 2030. This is the first time a company is being forced to comply with a climate target. Shell has announced it will appeal the ruling. Commentators discuss among other things what it means for the economy.

A Wall Street Journal report is giving new fuel to the theory that Sars-Cov-2 originated from a Chinese lab and not from bats. According to the report based on unpublished US intelligence, three employees of the Wuhan Institute of Virology became ill enough to seek hospital care in November 2019. All lies, says Beijing. Europe's press is not so sure.

Environmentalists have won an important court victory in the Netherlands: energy company Shell, which has its headquarters in The Hague, has been ordered to reduce its CO2 emissions by 45 percent by 2030 compared to 2019 levels. This is the first time a company is being forced to comply with a climate target. Shell has announced it will appeal the ruling, but observers say the die has been cast.

The European Court of Justice on Friday issued a temporary injunction requiring Poland to immediately cease brown coal mining in Turów. The Czech Republic had brought the suit before the court because the groundwater level is sinking on the Czech side of the nearby border. What does the dispute mean for Poland and Polish-Czech relations?

A "catastrophic failure" of leadership at the start of the pandemic: this is the accusation Dominic Cummings, the prime minister's key advisor at the time, has levelled at the British government. He says Boris Johnson did not take the virus seriously, that there was no plan, and that swifter action could have saved tens of thousands of lives. For commentators, the House of Commons hearing provides bitter insights.