Amazon no longer absorbs carbon—has the world reached the point of no return?
The news that the Amazon rainforest is no longer a carbon sink puts a further big question-mark against the EU-Mercosur trade deal.
Society
Analysis and debate on work and welfare, social rights, migration, gender, climate and the future of European societies.
A chance for a social future
Susanne Wixforth and Lukas Wiehler
Can the Conference on the Future of Europe be a turning point from a mere economic union to one of social rights?
The power of civil society in a post-pandemic world
A vibrant civil society is essential to the foundations of democracy—a lesson especially important when those seem under siege.
Is Europe socially fit for the ‘Fit for 55’ package?
The centrality of market mechanisms to the European Commission’s climate package poses big questions as to its effectiveness and distributional impact.
How to prevent a mental-health pandemic
The huge toll of Covid-19 on mental health highlights the need for public investment to tackle the vast reservoir of distress.
Lessons learnt from the pandemic for long-term care
After privatisation and austerity, long-term care needs to be restored to resilience and readiness for an ageing population.
Pushed over the cliff-edge
Kate Pickett argues the pandemic has not only massively affected public health but compounded the unhealthy effects of years of job insecurity.
International Public Service Day—a day of celebration, action and resistance
Strong public administrations and well-funded public services are needed to ‘build back better’ after the pandemic.
Public services and the common good
In these authoritarian times, defending and re-empowering public services is also defending democracy.
Child Guarantee—for most, but not all
Ally Dunhill and Enrico Paolo Tormen
The adoption of the European Child Guarantee is a big step forward. It will take another, however, to end institutional care.
A Europe free of elder abuse
Estelle Huchet and Borja Arrue-Astrain
The European Commission’s Green Paper on Ageing has a blindspot—elder abuse.
A first tango in Glasgow?
A new transatlantic relationship is critical to any hope of global realisation of the goals of the Paris agreement.
Pollution: no acceptable levels
Patrick ten Brink, Margherita Tolotto and Sergiy Moroz
‘Zero pollution’ is a very good goal for the European Union to adopt—but only if zero means zero.
People v Shell: from ‘corporate social responsibility’ to legal accountability
Alejandro García Esteban and Jill McArdle
The successful action by citizens and NGOs in a Dutch court against Shell has sent a frisson through corporate boardrooms—with reason.
‘Danger money’ bungs will not quell labour unrest in health and social care
The concerns of health and care workers go well beyond the pandemic and pay, touching on their human dignity.
Workplace, public space: workers organising in the age of facial recognition
Oliver Roethig and Diego Naranjo
‘Surveillance capitalism’ is increasingly threatening workers’ collective action and the human right to public protest.