MrMakabar
The case was filed in 2012 and it only now goes to trial.
Media is a creative industry and if they have nothing to complain about, they make some stuff up.
No, it was just that glueing onto streets caused a lot of bad press. Then a bunch of farmers blocked streets with larger protests and the press was significantly better. So change in tactics.
Also a move towards trying to cause problems for big emitters, rather then for the general public. So block a coal power plant rather then a random street in Berlin
It is also a bad move for the EU, as it makes it dependent on the global price for LNG. The second largest exporter is Qatar and they are certainly up to no good. Also Australia the largest exporter has its problem, due to being half the world away and we can see the current problems in the Red Sea, which can make supply difficult for both of them.
The best solution is to lower fossil gas consumption so it is not needed.
Mining today takes few workers. So you usually just have international companies come in with some well paid worders. They built the mine, drill the wells and do the other work necessary to the the resources out of the ground. For permission and protection they pay the local government in bribes and directly. That often also just ends up in the pockets of the local rich. The average resident of the country does not see much of the wealth in the ground. In many cases it makes their lifes worse, due to having a highly armed corrupt government, which does not have to look out for their intressts, but can just live from mineral wealth.
So it opens up a lot of options for better systems in those countries, but that depends on what happens on the ground.
EU 2023 LNG imports have been below 2022 imports. That is still a massive increase compared to 2021, but that was to be expected. Maybe even more important the natural gas price is falling extremely quickly. It halved over the last year. LNG is more expensive then other transport methods of natural gas, so it is the first to be cut.
News Corp Australia
All of that is part of $7.8 billion finanancing they have secured, so this might very well be half a billion dollars they loose every year.
Last year was also good for a lot of new climate legislation on EU level. The big once were a sales ban of fossil fuel cars by 2035 and a second emissions trading scheme for transport and heating. Also the current emissions trading scheme has had certificates removed in the coming years.
Lets see how it will continue to go, but as it stands the EU is 1t above global per capita CO2 emissions. That is going to create some interesting dynamics in climate policy, with the EU gaining a bit more credibility.
The reality is plants are beautiful and greenery is good for the environment. So as long as you do not put literal trees on a building it should be fine. Also modern tall buildings have cranes on top for facade work, window cleaning and so forth. So caring for plants is certainly possible. Also those green skyscrapers basically have potted plants on them as well.
Plants also come with a lot of benefits. They cool the building when it needs cooling by providing shade and water. If you are in a colder climate and the plants you choose loose their leaves, they even allow sunlight on the facade, when heating is most needed, while shading it in summer. Plants like wine, which can easily be green on facades have useful fruits. As do many fruit trees, which can be grown from the ground floor in espalier fashion.
Then we have roof gardens, which only have been in use since 600BC or so. They work and are nice.
Also really import everybody has to look at a building and especially when you are building tall, they should make sure the building is beautiful. Plants are beautiful and are a great option for decoration.