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Environment

Environmental news, climate policy, and sustainability in Portugal.

A row of silver municipal waste containers and a blue used-cooking-oil recycling bank on a Lisbon street, with parked cars behind

Complaints Over Uncollected Rubbish Climbed 10.5% This Summer, and Lisbon Tops the List

Complaints about urban waste logged on Portal da Queixa rose 10.5% over the past year, to 220 by 30 July, with Lisbon accounting for the largest single share at 17.73%. Residents report overflowing containers, missed collections and summer pests.

The Portugal Brief 12 Aug 2026

The EU's New Packaging Rules Reach Portugal This Week, Starting With a Ban on 'Forever Chemicals' in Food Packaging

The EU's New Packaging Rules Reach Portugal This Week, Starting With a Ban on 'Forever Chemicals' in Food Packaging

The EU's sweeping Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation becomes applicable this week, and the first tangible change is a restriction on PFAS 'forever chemicals' in the wrapping that touches your food.

The Portugal Brief 11 Aug 2026

A narrow paved road winding through the dense green ancient forest of Mata da Albergaria in the Peneda-Gerês National Park

Quercus Challenges the Volta a Portugal's Ride Through Peneda-Gerês and Warns of a Dangerous Precedent

Portugal's oldest environmental group, Quercus, is contesting the Volta a Portugal's route through the Mata da Albergaria, the protected core of the country's only national park. It warns the ICNF-approved crossing sets a 'serious precedent' for staging major events in the most sensitive zones.

The Portugal Brief 11 Aug 2026

A curved sandy beach and turquoise bay along the Serra da Arrábida coast near Setúbal, framed by green wooded cliffs

Wild Boars Are Roaming Arrábida's Beaches and Setúbal's Streets, and Residents Say the Problem Is Out of Control

Wild boars have been wandering onto the beaches of the Arrábida Natural Park and into Setúbal, damaging gardens and grabbing food from beachgoers. Residents say the species is out of control; the ICNF says the seasonal surge in sightings is largely expected and managed through periodic culls.

The Portugal Brief 11 Aug 2026

The whitewashed clifftop village of Azenhas do Mar, its red-roofed houses perched above the Atlantic on the coast of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park in Portugal

The Environment Minister Rules Out Declassifying the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park After a Municipal Planning Document Recommended Scrapping Its Protected Status

A residents' association sounded the alarm over a document in Sintra's master-plan revision that recommends declassifying the Parque Natural de Sintra-Cascais to open its coast to building. Environment Minister Maria da Graca Carvalho calls the park 'a national pearl' and says only the government, o

The Portugal Brief 10 Aug 2026

Portugal Drops the Sliding-Scale Cuts to Iberian Wolf Compensation and Will Now Pay for Missing and Newborn Animals

Portugal Drops the Sliding-Scale Cuts to Iberian Wolf Compensation and Will Now Pay for Missing and Newborn Animals

The government has rewritten the rules on how livestock farmers are compensated when the lobo ibérico (Iberian wolf) kills their animals, closing several gaps that producers had long complained left them out of pocket. The changes, reported at the...

The Portugal Brief 09 Aug 2026

The Capelinhos volcano cone and lighthouse on the coast of Faial island in the Azores, seen across green forested hillsides above the Atlantic Ocean

Faial Joins the Azores Infrasound Network That Detected the Tonga Eruption 16,000 Kilometres Away

Since 22 July, an infrasound station on Faial has joined sensors on Graciosa, São Jorge and Terceira, feeding the IVAR–CIVISA network that in 2022 detected the Hunga Tonga eruption more than 16,000 kilometres away.

The Portugal Brief 09 Aug 2026

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