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Environment

Environmental news, climate policy, and sustainability in Portugal.

Rua Augusta in Lisbon, with restaurant esplanades under awnings on the left, a crowd on the mosaic pavement and a municipal waste bin at the right edge.

A Cafe With an Esplanade Would Sweep Five Metres of Pavement Instead of Two Under Lisbon's Draft Waste Rules, and the Minimum Fine Rises to 90 Euros

Lisbon's executive approved a revision of the 2019 waste and urban hygiene regulation on Wednesday, with the PS abstaining and four parties against. Enforcement staff go from 18 to about 60, and producers of 1,100 litres a day lose municipal collection. A 30-day consultation follows.

The Portugal Brief 10 Sep 2026

A filling station forecourt on a street in Paranhos, Porto, with Portuguese-plated cars at the pumps

From 2028 Portugal's Fuel Suppliers Must Buy Carbon Permits for Every Litre Burned in Homes and Cars, and Missing the Deadline Costs 100 Euros a Tonne

Decreto-Lei n.º 182/2026 sets up CELE 2, the second European emissions trading system. Liability sits with whoever releases the fuel for consumption, reporting starts from 2025 and allowance surrender from 2028.

The Portugal Brief 10 Sep 2026

The EDP combined-cycle gas power station at Lares, Figueira da Foz, with two red and white stacks above green turbine halls and the site sign at the gate.

Portugal's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Rose 1.6 Percent Last Year While the EU's Fell, and Gas-Fired Power Explains Most of the Gap

The Joint Research Centre's 2026 EDGAR release puts Portugal at 53.11 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2025, up 820,000 tonnes. Power generation and industrial burning account for 72 percent of the rise. The EU total fell 0.2 percent over the same year.

The Portugal Brief 08 Sep 2026

Steam rising from fumaroles beside a wooden boardwalk at Lagoa das Furnas on São Miguel, with earth mounds used for cooking pits in the foreground.

A Magnitude 2.9 Four Kilometres From Furnas Adds a São Miguel Volcano to the Azores Alert List, and the Warning Expires in Eight Days

CIVISA raised the Furnas volcano to alert level V1 on Tuesday evening after a swarm that began at 11:47 and produced a magnitude 2.9 felt at intensity V in the village. Four volcanic systems on three islands are now at V1, and only this one has an expiry date.

The Portugal Brief 08 Sep 2026

An Asian hornet, Vespa velutina, feeding on a white umbellifer flower, with its dark body, single orange abdominal band and yellow leg tips visible.

The Azores Have Twelve Months and 49,995 Euros to Erase an Asian Hornet That Mainland Portugal Has Been Living With Since 2011

A nest at Areias de Rabo de Peixe confirmed Vespa velutina on São Miguel in January 2025. An IUCN grant funded by the European Union now pays for a year of mapping, nest destruction and training from 1 September. On the mainland the same insect has spread for fifteen years.

The Portugal Brief 07 Sep 2026

The wide sand of Praia de Carcavelos under a grey winter sky, surfers in the shorebreak on the left and the built-up strip behind the beach, with construction cranes on the skyline.

Four Court Dates in September Will Decide Whether 850 Flats Rise Behind Carcavelos Beach, on Land Parliament Asked the Government to Protect in 2021

The interim order that stopped the diggers has held since October. Hearings open on Wednesday at the Sintra administrative court, with three more sittings booked. Parliament recommended protecting this land in June 2021, and successive governments left the recommendation on the shelf.

The Portugal Brief 07 Sep 2026

Traffic on Avenida da Liberdade in Lisbon, a black and green Portuguese taxi in the near lane under the plane tree canopy, with calcada paving along the central promenade.

Seven of Sixteen Roadside Monitors Already Sit Above the Nitrogen Dioxide Ceiling Portugal Must Meet by 2030, and Avenida da Liberdade Passed This Year Only on Rounding

Zero and the CPSA read the state's own QualAr data for International Clean Air Day. Avenida da Liberdade and a Braga station broke the current 40 microgram limit in 2024, and against the 20 micrograms the EU sets for 2030, seven of sixteen traffic monitors are already over.

The Portugal Brief 07 Sep 2026

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