Feb 6 - By Sharon KimathiEnergy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

sharon.kimathi@thomsonreuters.com

Hello,

This week, Storm Leonardo pounded the Iberian Peninsula with deadly torrential rains, prompting more flood warnings as another storm, Marta, is expected to hit the region over the weekend.

Leonardo is the latest in a wave of half a dozen winter storms to hit Portugal and Spain since the start of 2026, killing several people, ripping roofs off homes and flooding towns.

Authorities in southern Spain have evacuated residential areas, fearing a major river could overflow and warned of landslides caused by bursting aquifers on Friday after Leonardo’s heavy rainfall.

Spain’s state weather agency AEMET warned that Marta would hit the peninsula on Saturday, bringing more rainfall.

Several residential areas near the Guadalquivir riverbed in Cordoba province were evacuated overnight due to the dramatic rise in water levels.

Also evacuated were the approximately 1,500 residents of Grazalema, a mountain village popular with hikers, as water seeped through the walls of houses and cascaded along steep cobbled streets.

In Portugal's second-biggest city Porto, the River Douro overflowed in the early hours on Friday, causing minor flooding at riverside cafe terraces. In the country's south, large parts of the town of Alcacer do Sal by the River Sado remained semi-submerged for a third day.

More than 7,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in the Andalusia region so far amid a "storm train".

Flooding is becoming more frequent across Europe as the atmosphere warms and holds more moisture due to climate change, scientists say. Unprecedented flash floods killed 237 people in Spain's Valencia region in October 2024.

Climate Buzz

1. WANTED: Volunteers to host nuclear waste, forever

The United States administration is dangling a radioactive carrot. States are being asked to volunteer to host a permanent geological repository for toxic waste for the wave of small futuristic nuclear reactors required to power data centres and artificial intelligence, according to a proposal published by the Department of Energy last week. Click here for the full insightful story.

2. Greenpeace takes aim at Eni's role as Milano Cortina sponsor

Greenpeace has called on Winter Olympics organizers to end their partnership with Italian oil major Eni and staged a protest in front of Milan's main cathedral on Thursday, the day the Olympic torch arrived in the city co‑hosting the Winter Games.

"Kick polluters out of the Games," read one of the banners in front of Milan's Duomo (cathedral) in the heart of the city.

3. Exclusive: EU rethinks climate diplomacy after bruising COP30 summit, document shows

The 27-country European Union bloc is reassessing how to strengthen its strategy for future negotiations by using its trade, finance and development leverage in climate talks, a document showed. EU climate ministers will discuss the ideas at a meeting in Cyprus. More on the story next week in Tuesday’s Sustainable Switch. Click here for the full Reuters exclusive story.

4. Environmental groups sue European Commission over Portugal's lithium mine

Environmental group ClientEarth and Portugal’s local residents' association United in Defence of Covas do Barroso filed a lawsuit with the EU's Court of Justice over the European Commission’s decision to grant preferential "strategic" status to a lithium mine project, developed by London-listed Savannah Resources in Barroso. That was "despite detailed evidence showing the project poses serious environmental, social and safety risks", the group said in a statement.

5. Reports of Elon Musk-linked solar firm visits in China

This week, a team sent by Elon Musk visited several photovoltaic firms in China, including companies involved in equipment, silicon wafers, battery modules and perovskite technology, according to a private media outlet Sina Finance that cited sources in the Chinese solar industry. The report did not identify the companies visited. In a separate report, solar giant JinkoSolar also told Securities Times it had recently been in contact with a visiting team associated with Musk.

What to Watch​

I’d like to think that this video is somewhat linked to the themes of waste or decarbonization from the Climate Buzz stories above, but it’d be a stretch. I just love any excuse to show Kenya, my birth nation, doing interesting things.Click here for a video on designers at Nairobi Fashion Week who have embraced this year's theme, 'Decarbonize', and turned second-hand rags into stylish new clothes.

Climate Commentary​

• Dame Inga Beal, Chair of Board for climate consultancy South Pole and former CEO of Lloyd’s of London, shares her thoughts on the physical and transitional climate risks businesses face today for the Ethical Corp Magazine. Click here to learn more.

• Click here for a comment piece by attorneys at Clark Hill PLC for Westlaw Today, who discuss how critical minerals are now strategic assets treated by governments as both economic infrastructure and national security leverage.

Climate Lens

The United States Treasury Department issued a broad license authorizing business between U.S. companies and Venezuela’s state-run energy company PDVSA to export, store, transport and refine Venezuelan oil, another step to untangle exports.

For more about Venezuela’s oil, the Reuters graphics team did an eye-catching explainer on the nuances between different types of crude oil. You can click here for more.

Number of the Week

3 billion euros ($3.5 billion)

That’s what the European Investment Bank will "front load" to governments to invest in shielding poorer citizens from an upcoming EU carbon price for heating and transport fuels, the European Commission said. Click here for more on the EU carbon markets story.

Sustainable Switch Climate Focus was edited by Alexander Smith

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