Vatican City Is Now Producing All of Their Electricity from Renewable Sources
Before his death, Pope Francis fulfilled his green energy vision with a massive solar installation that now powers all of Vatican City’s operations.
Combining solar energy production with agricultural land use, the dual-purpose agrivoltaics system allows crops and solar panels to co-exist on the same land. Research has shown that this approach can actually increase crop yield as a microclimate is created underneath the solar panels that conserves water for the plants and helps protect them from extreme weather conditions, such as excess sun and high winds.
Heavy Rain Sweeps Across South Eastern Europe
October 2025 saw wetter-than-average conditions in South Eastern Europe, especially within the Balkans. Storms brought snow and rain across the region, with heavy flooding in Bulgaria.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service provides information about the past, present and future climate in Europe, allowing countries to develop effective mitigation and adaptation strategies. In October 2025 it evidenced that patterns of above-average precipitation and soil moisture were largely consistent across Europe.
Artificial Reef Installed on a UK Wind Farm in Pilot Project
One of the largest artificial reefs in the world has been installed at Rampion Offshore Wind Farm off the Sussex coast. Sea currents speed up as they pass around the base of a wind turbine and can cause erosion, so scour pads – made up of rocks – are often installed around the foot of offshore turbines. This pilot project is looking at ways to replace the rocks with a nature-friendly artificial reef.
75,000 specially designed reef cubes have been placed at the bottom of a single turbine, providing homes for a wide range of marine life whilst protecting the turbine from erosion. The reef cubes have a chamber in the middle and a honeycomb texture on the outside to encourage marine life, such as oysters, ross worms and anemones, to use them. The project will be studied for five years to see how effective it is at protecting the wind turbine from erosion and improving biodiversity.