E-fuels: a synthetic solution to the real problem
The European Union’s compromise on e-fuels opens the back door to an afterlife for the combustion engine.
Society
Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher driven by the core values of freedom, sustainability, and equality. These principles guide our exploration of society’s most pressing challenges. This archive page curates Social Europe articles focused on societal issues, offering a rich resource for innovative thinking and informed debate.
Tackling staff shortages in health and social care
On World Health Day, lessons learned from workers’ expressions of discontent must be translated into action.
Cinderella no more: mental health matters
It’s time to move mental health to the top of the European Union policy agenda.
Geniuses and ‘mad’ women: culture as mental cauteriser
Women are at the heart of the epidemic of mental ill-health—as healers as well as victims.
How platform workers show solidarity and organise
As the economic and political power of platforms soars, platform workers represent an emergent labour movement.
Professional sovereignty for Europe‘s youth
Transitions from school to work must be improved for individual youngsters. Switzerland shows the way.
Equal citizenship for persons with disabilities
An ambitious Disability Card is key to making the European Union a reality for people with disabilities.
Will this be the last European Gas Conference?
The IPCC says the world is in the last-chance saloon. Yet fossil-gas executives eye deals in Vienna.
Confronting the global water crisis
To safeguard this most fundamental natural resource, we urgently need a global strategy for water as a common good.
Environmental stewardship yes, ‘carbon farming’ no
Preserving nature, restoring soils and safeguarding biodiversity is essential—but calling it carbon removal is harmful.
How to promote green industry beyond subsidies
The EU has more to offer green industry—a stronger regulatory framework and credible carbon pricing.
The myth of meritocracy and the populist threat
Social democrats, Lisa Pelling writes, should abandon the idea of meritocracy if they are to reconnect with les classes populaires.
Impartiality and public-service media
The media storm in Britain around a television personality speaks volumes about why the UK has become a dysfunctional state.
Corporate greenwashing—misusing ‘net zero’ pledges
Companies are making ‘carbon neutral’ claims based on dubious emissions offsetting and ‘insetting’—rather than actual cuts.
Invisible women—creators, carers and mental health
The European mental-health strategy should recognise the burdens women face—and the role of culture in lightening them.
How to strengthen women’s resilience to disasters
Gender inequality exacerbates the impact of natural disasters, whose consequences compound it.