The action comes 5 months after the worst rains in Greece flooded its fertile Thessaly plain, devastating crops and livestock and raising questions about the Mediterranean country's ability to deal with an increasingly erratic climate. Under EU rules, countries need to update once in six years their flood management plans, a set of measures aimed to help them mitigate the risks of floods on human lives, the environment and economic activities. Greece was formally notified by the Commission last year that it should finalise its management plans but the country has so far failed to review, adopt or report its flood risk management plans, the Commission said in a statement. "The Commission considers that efforts by the Greek authorities have, to date, been insufficient and is therefore referring Greece to the Court of Justice of the European Union," it added. The Hellenic environment ministry said the European Commission has been notified that the country's plans will be reviewed by early summer. The Commission last month sued Bulgaria, Cyprus, Spain, Ireland, Malta, Portugal and Slovakia for failing to comply with their respective reporting obligations.  

On Tuesday, the European Commission published its plan for managing risks exacerbated by climate change, such as floods and wildfires.  The strategy aims to strengthen the bloc’s ability to adapt to the climate crisis and build resilience against the increased risk of climate-related problems such as “ droughts, floods, forest fires, diseases, crop failures or heatwaves”, a Commission press release said. Rather than mitigating climate change, the plan “ is about the far-less talked about part of climate action, which is adaptation”, said EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra. “ What we are talking about here is building climate-resilient societies and economies,” he said at a press conference in Strasbourg on Tuesday. Hoekstra pointed to recent disasters in the EU - wildfires in Greece, flooding in Slovenia and a storm in Scandinavia - to underline the urgency.  European Commission Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Maroš Šefčovič, said that “ we will be very much focusing on how to use our climate, diplomacy and outreach to all the countries in need of... help and assistance and technology-sharing... but also to the biggest polluters who could do more”.  Brussels calls on Member States to strengthen governance and coordination, better analyse the interconnections between different risks, adapt infrastructure planning and improve public and private financing. In general, it calls on them to develop proactive management of adaptation to the climate crisis. The Commission’s plan came after the first ever climate risk assessment by the European Environment Agency (EEA), published on Monday, which said the EU is inadequately prepared. The report warned of “ catastrophic” consequences if Europe failed to take urgent action to adapt to risks posed by climate change. The EEA assessment called on EU member states to work together at a regional and local level to tackle climate change risks with precautionary measures. According to the EEA report, “ Europe is the fastest-warming continent in the world”. The south is on fire The dangers include fires, water shortages and their effects on agricultural production, while low-lying coastal regions face threats of flooding, erosion and saltwater intrusion. Areas in southern Europe are most at risk, the EEA report said. “ Some regions of Europe are hotspots for multiple climate risks. Southern Europe is particularly exposed to the risk of forest fires and the impacts of heat and water scarcity on agricultural production, outdoor work and human health,” it added. The report, which identifies 36 climate risks in the EU, states that “ heat-related risks have already reached critical levels in southern Europe”, given the “ more frequent and more intense” high temperatures in this region. This includes countries such as Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece.  The high temperatures have already led to dangerous forest fires in Portugal. One of the most lethal events was the forest fire in Pedrógão Grande in central Portugal in June 2017, which caused 64 deaths and around 200 people to be displaced. The fires entered several cities, towns and villages and ended up destroying dozens of houses and industries.

This is the largest energy offset program with green energy in the country, the goal of which is for Renewable Energy Sources to have an even stronger, positive, social footprint. Through the installation of new RES stations and the implementation of virtual netting with synchronization, "Apollon" contributes to: to support energy-vulnerable households and specifically to the beneficiaries of Social Tariff A, i.e. households with an annual income of less than 5,400 euros, covering 90% of their energy consumption and in the reduction of energy costs for OTAs of the first and second grade, DEYA and GOEB/TOEB, covering 50% of their consumption. How will "Apollo" be implemented The development of RES stations is to be carried out through competitive tenders throughout the territory, which will be addressed to RES projects that have secured connection conditions to the System and their generated energy will be offset by virtual simultaneous offset with the required consumption of the beneficiaries. In absolute numbers, this means that more than 1 GW of RES projects are "unfrozen", and a new market outlet is given to producers, which will lead to further market stimulation and new jobs, which underlines the development orientation of program. For the purposes of the program, the Energy Communities model will be utilized and a Citizens' Energy Community will be established in each Region, in which the respective OTAs, GOEB-TOEB, DEYA will participate and vulnerable households will be gathered. All consumption benefits will be collected, which will be offset and the specific consumption profiles will be studied, in order to determine the energy needs that should be covered by the RES stations. Following this, competitive procedures will be carried out for each Region, in which the interested RES stations will participate and offer a financial offer (€/MWh) for the specific amount of energy that will be required to be covered. The stations participating in the tenders will be mature projects that have a definitive connection offer - ie reserved electrical space - and expect to receive a compensation price to implement. The RES stations that will be selected will be compensated for the energy they produce and offset against the consumption of the beneficiaries for a period of 20 years. The installation location of the RES stations that will participate in the program and possibly be selected is independent of the Region to which the Energy Community belongs and the consumptions will be offset.   Implementation schedule and stages The Program is designed in three implementation phases: The 1st phase, where the necessary legal entities per Region should be established, the energy needs of the beneficiaries and the specific consumption profiles should be studied and the required RES projects and the energy for netting and virtual synchronization, which will be requested, should be dimensioned. This specific process - because it is quite time-consuming, to gather all the members and all the benefits, and then to study them, to bring a tangible result - will be assigned to external consultants, who will support the OTAs and deliver for the 13 Regions - 13 Citizens' Energy Communities and 13 studies with specific needs for green energy. The 2nd phase, where based on the studies that will be delivered per Energy Community, the relevant tenders will be announced for the selection of contractors - that is, the RES projects, which will cover with their energy the energy needs of the Energy Communities. And the 3rd phase, where is the construction and electrification of the projects. Here, the contractors - apart from the construction of the RES projects - are required to be responsible for the management of the energy produced and the energy offsetting of the beneficiaries' consumption. The implementation of all three phases up to and including the operation of all projects to cover all Regions - as long as it is technically possible - is estimated in 36 months from today.    

Power produced by renewables and hydroelectric plants accounted for 57% of Greece's energy mix last year, an 8.5% annual rise from 2022, IPTO said in a statement. The rest came from gas, oil and coal. After shutting most of the coal-fired power plants it had relied on for decades as part of a plan to phase out coal by 2026, Greece has more than doubled its output from renewables since 2014. It needs to invest about 30 billion euros to boost green capacity, expand grids and install energy storage units to achieve its target for 44% of energy consumption to come from green energy by 2030 from 22% in 2021, according to a draft plan for climate and energy. As part of a 10-year project worth 5 billion euros, IPTO plans to expand the grid's capacity to 29 gigawatt by 2030 from 18 gigawatt today, its Chief Executive Officer Manos Manousakis said in a statement. Along with expanding interconnections with neighbouring countries, such as Bulgaria, Greece has been promoting the construction of an undersea power link to Egypt and another one to reach Germany via the Adriatic Sea, Slovenia and Austria.  

During the event, new climate models (up until 2100) were presented, along with the estimated impact of climate change on critical sectors, such as agriculture and transportation, and a first vulnerability assessment of climate change in Greece. By the end of 2024, the updated final report will be released, including, among other things, the expected changes in the climate for the next decades, the impact of climate change on the most vulnerable sectors of economic activity, a vulnerability assessment of climate change for the Greek economy and a cost assessment of climate change in Greece. The project “ LIFE-IP AdaptInGR - Boosting the implementation of adaptation policy across Greece”, in which the Bank of Greece participates, is the most important project for adapting Greece to climate change, coordinated by the Ministry of Environment and Energy and implemented with the participation of 18 strategic beneficiaries from the public sector, local government, the academic community and non-governmental organisations. The project is co-financed by the LIFE Programme of the European Union and the Green Fund and aims to catalyse the implementation of the Greek National Adaptation Strategy and the 13 Regional Adaptation Action Plans, preparing their revision after 2026, with appropriate actions at a national, regional and local level. The Governor of the Bank of Greece Yannis Stournaras, in his opening remarks, noted that: “ The Bank of Greece, continuing its work on climate and sustainability, announces today the preliminary results of the new studies of the Climate Change Impacts Study Committee (CCISC) on the developments in climate change, vulnerability and impacts. In 2011, the CCISC published estimates introducing a new approach to climate change in Greece. During these past years, humanity faced multiple challenges that affected geopolitical, financial and social stability, with climate change emerging as the most important challenge of our time. I hope the announcement of the preliminary results will contribute to the discussion on adaptation and, above all, strengthen climate action in Greece” . The General Secretary of Natural Environment and Water, Ministry of Environment and Energy Petros Varelidis noted that: “ Climate change is here and we have already had a taste of its consequences. Greece needs to increase the resilience of its critical infrastructures, and do even more, so as to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather events. To this end, we will soon be modifying the specifications of a number of construction projects and buildings and integrate vulnerability into climate change and measures required to increase the resilience of the projects into the requirements of the Environmental Impact Assessment”. Participants also included: - Christos Zerefos, Secretary General of the Academy of Athens, Climate Envoy for Greece, - Andreas Karamanos, Full Member of the Academy of Athens, Professor Emeritus, Agricultural University of Athens, - George Giannopoulos, Professor Emeritus, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Athens, - Anastasios Xepapadeas, Professor, University of Bologna, Professor Emeritus, Athens University of Economics and Business, - Theodora Antonakaki, Director, Climate Change and Sustainability Centre, Bank of Greece.

Europe is experiencing severe health impacts as a result of the changing climate. Around 61,000 people are estimated to have died in sweltering European heatwaves last summer, suggesting countries’ heat preparedness efforts are falling well short. In a joint paper, 20 of the EU’s 27 member countries including Croatia, Germany, Greece, Malta and the Netherlands, have urged the EU to increase its surveillance of the threats to health and healthcare systems posed by extreme weather, to help countries prepare. The EU should also draft plans for infections of zoonotic and climate-sensitive vector-borne diseases, and strengthen its early warning and response system for if disease-spreading vectors are detected, the countries said. “Unless proactive measures are taken, it is a matter of time before certain preventable infectious diseases, which are currently more prevalent in other regions, become increasingly common occurrences within the EU,” the paper said. It was also backed by Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia. Climate change is increasing the risk that infectious diseases will spread into new areas – including in Europe, as summers become hotter and longer, and increased flooding creates favorable conditions for spreading infectious disease. An example of this is the tiger mosquito, which is now present in 337 regions in Europe – more than double the number a decade ago, said the paper, which was reported earlier on Monday by the Financial Times. EU countries’ health ministers will discuss the paper in a meeting next week. The EU is currently drafting its first climate risk assessment, due to be published next year as a basis for future policies to cope with climate hazards like heatwaves and wildfires.     

The highest temperature deviations were observed in the region of Thessaly, the islands of the northern Aegean and in Crete, where the median monthly rates were more 2.5C higher than the normal levels for the time of year. For Thessaly, the Peloponnese, the islands of the Aegean and Crete, it was the hottest November in the last 15 years, while for Central Greece it was the second hottest (+2.1C). It is worth noting that the European record for highest November temperature was recorded in Sisi on Crete, where the maximum temperature reached 35.1C on November 4th. For Athens, the average monthly deviation of maximum temperatures was +2.2C, with 27 of the 30 days of November being warmer than normal for the time of year.

The project is the result of a collaboration among SNFCC, the Natural Gas - Hellenic Energy Company and Petros Petropoulos AEBE, official importer of Jaguar, Range Rover, Defender and Discovery. In the first stage of the project, 24 charging points are availble at SNFCC's car park building, including two chargers for people with special needs. The project is expected to be completed in 2024 with 50 charging points in total, all up to 22kW (AC). This new service operates on a 24-hour basis and is provided free of charge to SNFCC visitors for one year. Visitors can also get the chance to spend one weekend per month testing the capabilities of Range Rover's plug-in hybrid vehicles, in a joint effort to raise public awareness of the green transition. At the press briefing, SNFCC General Director Dimitris Protopsaltou noted that "with sustainability and social awareness of green mobility as common ground, this collaboration certifies that the SNFCC is a model of public space and public-private partnership. We are delighted that today we join forces with two valuable partners who respect and actively honor the mission of the SNFCC." Natural Gas - Hellenic Energy Company General Director Yannis Mitropoulos said that this collaboration "confirms our company's commitment to adopting initiatives in the direction of innovation and sustainability", and that "we are steadily investing on the development of services that contribute to the penetration of electromobility in our country and the improvement of energy efficiency." Finally, Michael H. Economakis, Executive Chairman of Petros Petropoulos AEBE and President of the Hellenic Recycling Recovery Company noted that "Petros Petropoulos AEBE is actively participating in one more outstanding initiative, demonstrating in practice its commitment to achieving a series of goals that contribute to sustainable development. This is evidenced also by other initiatives such as the listing of the Company in the Athens Stock Exchange's Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) Index, and the development of "Ecoshift" Project - supported by the Recovery Fund - which aims to promote solutions for sustainable urban development."

A local farmer spotted the body of the young animal near Xino Nero and informed the forestry service. It had been shot in the abdomen and chest. The cub was only a few months old and had not been separated from its mother. Fresh traces of an adult animal, likely the cub’s mother, were found nearby.  Environmental organizations Arktouros and Kallisto described the killing as another serious crime against biodiversity, noting that a year ago three more bears were killed in the same area by persons unknown. The two organizations are participants in an EU-funded project “LIFE Bear-Smart Corridors,” an international collaboration between the Netherlands, Italy and Greece that aims to conserve brown bear populations in Central Italy and Greece, by maintaining and ensuring important corridors of movement and connections between bear populations and the creation of “smart communities of coexistence” of humans and bears. The brown bear is protected under Greek and EU legislation. The brown bear is protected under Greek and EU legislation.

In a statement, the company said that the trees being removed from Exarchia Square will be kept at the City of Athens’ plant nurseries until they can be replanted at a different location near the park where they are now. It added that under the terms of the contract for the construction of the Line 4 extension of the Athens metro, the company has committed to planting at least 2,000 trees in the areas that will be affected by the work, including Exarchia, where residents clashed with police on Monday and Tuesday while trying to stop crews from cutting down the trees on the square.             The company also stressed the long-term environmental and social benefits of the project, saying that once the extension is completed, the metro will serve an additional 340,000 commuters a day, leading to 53,000 fewer cars circulating on the city’s streets.

The drought in central and eastern Macedonia and especially in the region of Thrace was classed as medium and in some locations extreme. Mild drought conditions prevailed in parts of the central and eastern Peloponnese, eastern Central Greece (including Attica), central and southern Evia as well as in some islands of the Aegean. Additionally, conditions of mild drought were observed in some parts of central and western Macedonia. Conditions of mild or medium drought were recorded in 38 percent of Greece's territory in October 2023, the Athens National Observatory's meteo.gr service reported on Tuesday. The drought in central and eastern Macedonia and especially in the region of Thrace was classed as medium and in some locations extreme. Mild drought conditions prevailed in parts of the central and eastern Peloponnese, eastern Central Greece (including Attica), central and southern Evia as well as in some islands of the Aegean. Additionally, conditions of mild drought were observed in some parts of central and western Macedonia.

The young bear, named "Glika" (Sweetness) at the Arcturos Wildlife Veterinary Hospital where she was taken for treatment, made a full recovery and was released back into the wild a few days ago. According to the organisation's announcement, "when the door of the transportation cage was opened, Glika rushed out and disappeared into the forest".