News

Our own articles and interviews, and our summaries of what the Portuguese press reported on sustainability. The Pulse is the daily edition; this is the lasting entrance — every story on its own page.

What was reported

Energy
Public vote opens on Loulé students' ideas for greener, better-connected city
Teenagers aged 16 to 19 pitched everything from shared bikes to rooftop gardens, and now residents of three towns get to pick the winners.
26 October 2026Algarve
Energy
Portugal opens first grid-connection auctions since 2021, with battery storage and municipalities' share
After a five-year pause, the new auctions hand local councils a large slice of the proceeds and favour solar schemes that keep farmland working.
26 October 2026
Energy
Porto cuts unbilled water to 11.8% as AI tool targets leaks
Three tools with names like Repair Leaks ASAP now tell crews where to dig first, and the results have already won national prizes.
26 October 2026NorteAdEPorto
Energy
Camacha school completes €2m retrofit expected to halve its energy costs
About 150 windows, a battery-backed solar system and a bill that went past two million euros for one school.
25 October 2026Madeira
Energy
Coimbra professor says new Fagilde dam on the Dão is a mistake
A Coimbra academic points to a different river, and a dam not yet built, as the better answer for Viseu's water.
24 October 2026Centro
Energy
Court rejects bus operator's claim for extra public service payments from Viana do Castelo
The operator had halted eight routes in 2024 over what it called unsustainable losses, but the judges found it had itself proposed the reference figure.
24 October 2026Norte
Energy
Torres Vedras to host national meeting of mayors on climate and energy
A new passport for Portuguese cities will be unveiled the same day its sign-up window opens, with the environment minister in the room.
23 October 2026CentroADENE
Energy
Melgaço regains daily coach links to Porto and beyond from 1 November
Ever since July, one lone 06:55 bus was all that tied the municipality to Porto, and the fix still means changing buses.
23 October 2026Norte
Energy
Faro plans €15m drainage overhaul to end repeated flooding in São Luís
The price tag of the first phase is strikingly close to what the floods have already cost local businesses, and shopkeepers have their own worry about the works.
23 October 2026Algarve
Energy
Public sector decarbonisation programme grows to 901 bodies with 80 new members
Street lighting has just been added to the monitoring platform, while the number of coordinators from local government has nearly doubled in a year.
22 October 2026ADENE
Energy
Environment agency to help Faro plan flood defences and study Algarve waste options
Each Algarve resident generates 2.4 kilograms of waste a day, against a national average of 1.4, and the government now wants a new answer.
22 October 2026AlgarveAssociação ALMARGEM
Energy
Fifty engineers tour Algarve's seawater desalination plant ahead of its commissioning
Engineers from across the country went to see the plant up close, hosted by the very utility that argues it is only one part of the answer.
22 October 2026Algarve
Energy
Rede Expressos puts 100,000 coach tickets on sale at €2.50 nationwide
A fare of two and a half euros, a hard deadline and a six-figure ticket count: the coach operator is betting on a very low price to fill its seats.
22 October 2026
Energy
€7.2 million funding opens for shore power at Leixões port
Three terminals at Portugal's Leixões port are set to get a socket for docked ships, with public money covering most of the bill.
22 October 2026Norte
Energy
MEPs adopt priorities for COP31 pushing EU-led fossil fuel phase-out treaty
A Portuguese MEP will lead 15 colleagues to Turkey carrying a demand borrowed from nuclear diplomacy, and a warning that the climate funding gap keeps widening.
22 October 2026
Energy
Environmental group keeps objection to downsized Sophia solar plant in Penamacor and Idanha-a-Nova
The developer has shed a third of the site and nearly all its use of fertile farmland, yet the environmental objection stands.
22 October 2026CentroRewilding Portugal
Energy
Metro Mondego logs 26 car intrusions on metrobus lane, 13 fined
Half of the recorded intrusions ended in fines, and only after the operator agreed new procedures with the police, while the later cases remain uncounted.
22 October 2026Centro
Energy
MOBI.E prepares voluntary Mobi.Hub platform to keep EV charging networks linked after 2028
The company that built Portugal's seamless charging experience is about to lose its monopoly on it, yet says it expects operators to keep coming anyway.
22 October 2026
Energy
Consumer group warns bottled gas could hit €40 by end of 2026
An earlier forecast of €38 was almost reached, and now the same group is raising the bar for a household staple millions still depend on.
22 October 2026
Energy
Viana do Castelo cyclist reaches Italy, halfway to Turkey's COP31 climate summit
He carries a ten-point pledge from his home council, and a study cited in it claims 42% of van deliveries could go by cargo bike.
21 October 2026NorteMUBi
Energy
Cerveira finalises protection zone around Covas public water source
A single portaria published on 20 October draws the line around one spring in Covas, after studies and lab tests paid for by the council.
21 October 2026Norte
Energy
EPAL launches monthly sustainable-living web page "Gota a Gota" for consumers
The water utility's new page is built around six themed sections, and its content is promised to keep changing.
20 October 2026Lisbon
Energy
Sines green hydrogen and ammonia plants cleared to begin installation
One plant's output feeds the other, and the ammonia is bound for ships and foreign buyers rather than Portuguese factories.
20 October 2026Alentejo
Energy
LNEG opens geology and energy datasets through new open-format digital platform
The data no longer has to be consulted on a single site: other digital services can now plug straight into it.
19 October 2026
Energy
EU awards Portugal €6.6 million for five LIFE environment and climate projects
One project aims to wipe out two invasive water plants across 742 hectares, while another will use satellite observation and AI to catch environmental offenders.
19 October 2026
Energy
€300,000 fund opens to retrain former Sines coal plant workers
Workers who lost their jobs when the coal plant shut can now have their retraining paid for, with a few named sectors given priority.
19 October 2026Alentejo
Energy
Seven Viseu-area councils vote to join Águas do Douro e Paiva water system
A new dam, a new treatment plant and a pipeline from the Douro are the price of a water network that grows by more than half.
19 October 2026Centro
Energy
Madeira water and waste chief tells young PSD members about 60% water losses
Madeira's water network is nearly 3,000 kilometres long, yet the company running it admits to losing a far bigger share than most would expect.
19 October 2026Madeira
Energy
JPP calls on Madeira government to fix ticketing faults and pay bus operators
The party links a broken ticket machine to an operator's staff being put on lay-off, and says the money owed is the real problem.
19 October 2026Madeira
Energy
Lisbon mayor Moedas announces suspension of shared e-scooter system
The mayor's video runs just 28 seconds, yet the number of scooters Lisbon's crews pick up every month is what stands out.
16 October 2026Lisbon