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Footballers playing in the 2026 FIFA World Cup could face dangerous levels of heat stress, scientists warn. A new study shows that temperatures at 14 out of the 16 stadiums could reach thresholds at which football governing bodies recommend postponing matches. The most critical period is in the afternoon, when games are usually scheduled.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will take place in Canada, the United States, and Mexico from June 11 to July 19 next year. Matches are set to be played in 16 cities. Climate change is leading to an increasing number of extremely hot days, which affect daily life and pose challenges for organizing various events, including sports competitions.

In a study by Donal Mullan from Queen’s University Belfast, scientists analyzed meteorological data from the past 20 years to predict how high temperatures might rise at the host stadiums. To assess heat stress, they used the wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) method.

Heat stress is the way the human body responds to high temperatures

Heat stress is the way the human body responds to high temperatures combined with other factors such as humidity and wind speed. Prolonged exposure to extreme heat can worsen health conditions and increase the risk of heat-related illnesses such as heat exhaustion and heatstroke. A potentially dangerous level of heat stress is 28 degrees Celsius in WBGT terms.

Findings indicate that the threshold could be reached at 14 out of the 16 stadiums during the tournament. In an exceptionally hot summer, nine stadiums could exceed 28 degrees WBGT for at least half the time, while four could reach an extreme 32 degrees.

“After analyzing 20 years of data, our modeling shows that high temperatures are extremely likely, and these will have a major impact on players,” Mullan emphasized.

Mexico City and Vancouver are the only host cities where WBGT has never crossed the potentially dangerous threshold, according to the study.

Peak temperatures in the afternoon

The study reveals that stadium temperatures are highest in the afternoon, which is also the most common time for scheduling matches. Outside the period, extreme heat levels drop significantly across all locations.

Mullan suggests that the best protective measure would be to reschedule matches outside the hottest hours, especially at stadiums without air conditioning, such as those in Miami and Monterrey.

The previous World Cup, held in Qatar in 2022, was originally scheduled for June and July, when temperatures exceeded 40 degrees, but it was moved to November and December to protect players and fans.

The authors warn that the 2026 tournament could see matches played in conditions exceeding the threshold at which some football governing bodies recommend delaying or postponing games.

For example, Football Australia’s policy is that a match may be delayed or rescheduled if the WBGT reaches 28 degrees Celsius. On the other hand, FIFA guidelines mandate cooling breaks in each half as a protective measure when WBGT is between 28 and 32 degrees. Matches are only rescheduled if WBGT exceeds 32 degrees.

The European Commission intends to propose a delay in the implementation of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) by one year, and to exempt small importers from paying it, according to a leaked draft.

Redshaw Advisors has reviewed a leaked European Commission draft legislative proposal detailing some significant potential changes to how CBAM will operate, the consultancy’s lead CBAM advisor Dan Maleski said in a post on LinkedIn.

Payments under CBAM of the European Union’s tax on imported cement, iron and steel, aluminum, fertilizers, hydrogen, and electricity are scheduled to begin on January 1, 2026. The European Commission is expected to present a package of legislation proposals on February 26 including changes to CBAM.

Dan Maleski said there are three key takeaways.

⁠The start of CBAM certificate sales would be delayed. The obligation to purchase CBAM certificates would be postponed from 2026 to 2027, providing importers with additional time to prepare.

An exemption threshold would be introduced for small importers

Such a change was indicated a month ago. The European People’s Party (EPP), the strongest group in the European Parliament, said the EU should put the CBAM on hold for at least two years and review it. The suggestion is from a document issued after its leaders met in Berlin, and one of them was European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The leaked draft includes an exemption threshold for small importers. They are defined as firms annually importing less than 50 tonnes of covered goods or goods with 100 tonnes of embedded CO2.

The outcome would be the exemption of around 90% of importers from CBAM obligations, Redshaw said.

Other drafted changes are predominantly aimed at simplifying compliance and adjusting CBAM’s scope

The modification was floated by European Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, in charge of climate policy and taxation. He said that over 80% of companies could be exempted, because the remaining ones account for 97% of greenhouse gas emissions.

The commission will apparently seek tougher penalties for deliberate non-compliance. Minor infractions may see reduced fines, but deliberate avoidance tactics such as import splitting would draw three to five times higher penalties, the leaked draft reads.

Other important changes in the draft are predominantly aimed at simplifying compliance and adjusting CBAM’s scope. Among them are a reduction of quarterly certificate holding requirements, exemption for some sub-products and the simplification of the emissions calculations.

Turkey-based Kazancı Holding plans to invest EUR 1 billion in gas power plants, gas and heat distribution grids, Prime Minister of North Macedonia Hristijan Mickoski said. The company operates in the energy sector under the Aksa brand.

Hristijan Mickoski said Aksa Energy is a leading Turkish company in the energy sector with power plants with a capacity of 3,500 MW in eight countries. Kazancı Holding operates in 22 countries on four continents.

The talks are continuing, he stressed and added he is sure that soon there will be an agreement and concrete steps in the implementation of the plan. Of note, in November the prime minister gave a hint about a possible investment of EUR 1 billion in gas power plants.

Mickoski said gas power plants are a long-term solution for air pollution and that the government is negotiating with investors interested in the construction of cogeneration facilities.

The gas, and heat grid connection would be free of charge for households

The two sides are considering cogeneration plants of 500 MW in combined capacity. They would produce 4.1 TWh of electricity and 720 GWh of heat per year.

The construction of a distribution grid for gas and heat is also being discussed with the Kazancı Holding company, according to Mickovski.

In his words, the connection to the gas and heat grids for households will be free of charge. The price of natural gas for households will be significantly lower than the price on the market, he added.

Mickoski stressed the investment is important not only for a long-term solution for air pollution but also for the strength of the country’s energy sector. The prime minister claimed Kazancı Holding wouldn’t receive any new subsidies except from the regular ones for all the investors.

The contract for the gas pipeline with Greece to be signed in March

North Macedonia currently has only one gas pipeline, from Bulgaria, for gas imports. The signing of the contract for an interconnection with Greece is expected very soon and the memorandum was signed for the connection with Serbia.

In April 2021 the government signed a memorandum with Greece on the supply of natural gas via the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Alexandroupolis.

Mickoski said that even with the existing gas pipeline capacity, there is free capacity to implement the investment with Kazancı Holding.

Kazancı: Over the years, we will invest EUR 1 billion

The contract for the construction of the interconnector with Greece will be signed in March, he announced. In his words, it will add three billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.

Cemil Kazancı, President of the Board of Directors of Kazancı Holding, revealed that they discussed potential investments in the production of electricity and heat, as well as in gas pipelines.

The total planned investment over the years will be EUR 1 billion and it will facilitate the country’s safer and more sustainable supply of electricity and heat, Kazancı asserted.

World Wildlife Day is celebrated every year on March 3. It reminds us of the richness of plant and animal life, as well as the challenges that threaten it. This year’s theme Financing Wildlife Conservation: Investing in People and the Planet highlights the urgent need to mobilize financial resources to halt biodiversity loss and ensure a sustainable future.

The choice of March 3 for World Wildlife Day is symbolic. On this day in 1973, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was signed. It was a key agreement for the protection of global biodiversity.

Today, the planet faces three simultaneous and interconnected crises, largely driven  by human activity: climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Unsustainable resource exploitation, poaching, habitat destruction, and climate change are severely endangering many species.

According to the 2024 Living Planet Report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the average size of wildlife populations has declined by 73% since 1970. Meanwhile, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List now has 166,000 species, with 46,300 of them facing extinction.

At the same time, more than half of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) depends on natural resources, making biodiversity loss an increasing threat to financial stability and livelihoods. It underscores the significance of this year’s World Wildlife Day theme Financing Wildlife Conservation: Investing in People and the Planet.

Current financial flows are insufficient for governments to meet national biodiversity targets, particularly in biodiversity hotspots located in low-to-middle-income countries. Biodiversity hotspots are places on Earth that are both biologically rich — and deeply threatened.

According to an estimate, USD 824 billion per year is needed to protect biodiversity, while current global investments are just USD 143 billion annually, far below the required amount. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called for at least USD 500 billion per year in additional financing for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including nature protection.

“We have a responsibility to unlock the power and agility of the finance sector and mainstream nature-positive considerations in the spheres of investment. Wildlife conservation finance is about conserving plant and animal species in the wild, and contributing to the conservation of our planet’s biodiversity that sustains all ecosystems and communities worldwide,” said CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero.

Innovative financing mechanisms

As the gap between required and available funding widens, attention is turning to innovative financial mechanisms. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework has set ambitious targets to halt biodiversity loss by 2030, including the mobilization of at least USD 200 billion annually and the elimination or reform of environmentally harmful subsidies.

Programs such as Debt-for-Nature Swaps allow governments to redirect portions of their national debt toward conservation efforts. Wildlife Conservation Bonds encourage private sector investments in endangered species protection, while payments for ecosystem services (PES) enable landowners and local communities to generate income through sustainable management of natural resources.

World Wildlife Day 2025 will serve as a platform for knowledge exchange, financial innovation, and strengthening cooperation between governments, the private sector, and civil society.

In addition to the United Nations’ main event in the Palais des Nations in Geneva on March 3, the celebration will feature online activities, including the Jackson Wild Film Festival and the International Youth Art Contest organized by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

Residents of the town of Lopare, Bosnia and Herzegovina, have held a protest to voice their opposition to plans to grant a concession for opening a lithium mine on Mount Majevica.

The message from the protest is “No to lithium mining,” the Municipality of Lopare said in a statement.

At the invitation of environmentalists, citizens’ associations, and the municipal administration, the protest brought together a large number of residents and members of ecological associations from Lopare and neighboring towns and municipalities.

This was not the first protest against lithium mining in Lopare. A similar gathering was organized about a year ago.

Investors have shown interest in extracting lithium at several locations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including Bijeljina, Brčko, Lopare, Ugljevik, and Zvornik.

“The people are more important than the interests of multinational companies.”

Rado Savić, head of the Lopare municipality, said the gathering was organized to send a clear message against plans to grant a concession for extracting ore and opening a mine.

“We have sent an inquiry to the Government of the Republic of Srpska twice regarding the concession request, and we’ve received verbal confirmation that we will get an answer soon,” said Savić.

He added that a series of activities would be undertaken to convince the government that the lithium mining rights should not be granted.

“The people who live here are more important than the interests of multinational companies,” said Savić.

Snežana Jagodić Vujić, who leads the environmental association Eko-put, announced that a regional gathering against ore extraction on Mount Majevica and the wider region would be organized in Bijeljina at the end of March.

“We don’t want a mine on fertile, populated land.”

“This area should develop in a sustainable way, conserving our natural resources,” Jagodić Vujić stressed.

Andrijana Pekić, chairwoman of a citizens’ association dedicated to protecting Mount Majevica, said the purpose of the gathering was to send a loud and clear message that a lithium mine is not wanted on fertile, populated land.

Five reasons to oppose the mine

The Eko-put association from Bijeljina has asked the Ministry of Mining and Energy not to grant a concession for opening a lithium mine in Lopare, citing several key reasons:

1. The proximity to populated areas: the potential location of the mine is in the immediate vicinity of the town of Lopare, which has approximately 3,000 inhabitants.
2. Environmental risks: the Gnjica and Janja rivers, which belong to the Sava and Drina river basins, flow through the exploration area.
3. Hazardous extraction processes: the technology required for lithium extraction, especially the use of sulfuric acid, carries serious risks to public health, nature, and the environment
4. Incompatibility with the local community’s development goals: the municipality of Lopare is strategically oriented towards tourism and agriculture, and existing projects in these sectors conflict with the opening of a lithium mine.
5. Unprecedented in Europe: it is important to highlight that there is currently no active lithium mine, nor a lithium mine under construction, that is located near a populated area.

The Croatian government has handed over 19 contracts for investments in water supply and sewerage in more than 20 municipalities. The government also said it invested EUR 4.4 billion in water and sewerage infrastructure from 2016 to 2024.

The contracts for water supply infrastructure, worth more than EUR 1 billion, envisage investments in Petrinja, Šibenik, Koprivnica, Zagreb, Sinj, Kutina, Valpovo, Belišće, Rovinj, Mursko Središće, Trilj, Otok, Dicmo, Zaprešić, Pitomača, Krk, Rugvica, Dugo Selo, Pakrac, Đakovo and Novska, as well as the area of ​​the Mirna river and the City of Nin.

During a ceremonial handover of the contracts, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković noted that the projects would reduce losses in the public supply system and increase the number of connections to the public water supply and sewerage systems.

Increasing the number of connections to the water supply and sewerage systems

According to the general manager of Croatia’s public water utility Hrvatske Vode, Zoran Đuroković, these projects will further upgrade the water infrastructure.

In his words, the investments will increase the number of connections to the public water supply and sewerage networks as well as new wastewater treatment plants, improving the living standards of Croatian citizens.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković noted that from 2016 to 2024, the government invested EUR 4.4 billion in the water infrastructure from various sources.

Funding was secured from different sources

He clarified that the government combined funds from the budget, the Competitiveness and Cohesion Operational Program, and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan to enable the financing of these projects.

“With all these funds, almost 3,000 kilometers of public water supply network will be built or reconstructed, benefiting 900,000 people. Almost 5,000 kilometers of public sewerage will be reconstructed, giving 2.5 million people in Croatia better access to the wastewater treatment system,” Plenković stressed.

These investments also include the construction of 367 kilometers of flood defense facilities and the revitalization of 36 watercourses. This will improve flood protection for 240,000 citizens.