Europe

In its leap to electric cars, Europe fears total dependence on China. Your solutions arrive (quite) late

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The rope tightens. This time it is Europe that pulls to its side. Or, at least, that is what he wants according to what is stated in Financial Timeswhere we read that the European Union wants to force car manufacturers to reduce their level of dependence on China. Now, forcing them to buy fewer components from their suppliers. A new goal. It is, according to Financial Timeswhat the European Union wants to impose on companies in key sectors such as automobiles, industrial machinery or the chemical sector. In the newspaper’s information we read that European institutions are looking for tools to put pressure on their own companies. In the information, which is attributed to two European officials familiar with this project, the objective is to put a limit on the percentage of components that can be supplied to a single country. That is, if a company wants to manufacture a product in Europe, it could not buy all of its components (or the vast majority) from China. To distribute the purchases. If the project goes ahead as we read in the British media, a company could only buy between 30 and 40% of its components from the same country. It is sought that, at least, the origin of the parts that, in this case, make up a car is from three suppliers and from at least three different countries. This would not be much of a problem if it were not for the fact that the 30-40% barrier could not be overcome. “Gradually dependent”. “In many areas we are gradually becoming dependent on China’s exports,” the words are from a senior European Union official consulted by the newspaper. According to Financial Timesthe organizations are very aware of the extent to which a stoppage of Chinese factories or exports can damage the European economy. In fact, last summer some factories had to stop or saw their production compromised after China put greater impediments to export of products in which rare earths are used such as the magnets in electric car motors. Just a few months later, The Nexperia crisis once again set off the alarms of possible interruptions in the supply chain since a good part of the chips used by the European industry uses components from this company. They are not key products for its operation but without them, a car cannot be sold because They are essential for auxiliary but basic functions How to raise and lower the car window. 1 billion. That is what, according to Financial Timesthey calculate in the European Union that we lose to China. 1,000 million euros of deficit in the trade balance. 1,000 million. Diaries. The figure has been floating for two years now. and the automotive industry is one of those that has suffered the most. According to the European Union, they have achieved this with a doped industry, which has led to the lifting of tariffs on electric cars arriving from China. And the Chinese manufacturers have wanted to land abroad on our continent but also the Europeans have wanted to manufacture in China because it was cheaper. Spain? According to Anfac dataIn Spain we have a deficit in our trade balance of 5,000 million euros annually if we talk about components. As the second largest car producer in Europe, our auxiliary fabric is not enough and we need to buy components worth 16,893 million euros when exports exceed 11,525 million euros. There is no data on the origin of these imported components but we do know that The second country that exports the most cars to Spain is China. Last year, 9.2% of cars purchased in our country from outside our borders arrived from China. Very far, yes, from the German 26%. The problem is that despite importing cars worth almost 2.7 billion euros, China does not appear among the 10 countries to which we export the most cars and we barely place 658 million euros in exports to all of Asia. The game of balance. Yet the European Union is discovering that perhaps it has arrived late to the trade battle. Yes, it has lifted tariffs on electric cars sold from China but the country’s tentacles reach deep into vehicles made in Europe, producing all kinds of cheap components but also producing key technology such as semiconductors or batteries of electric cars. China is aware that it can squeeze European industry but it also needs our trade to export all the cars that are already surplus there. It is no coincidence that Europe has not imposed tariffs on cars arrived with combustion engines and? have negotiated with China the possibility of lifting trade barriers to electric cars. The Band-Aid. Until now, a very important part of the components used in European cars had their origin within the borders of the European Union itself. However, China’s weight has skyrocketed in recent years. In 2024, China has already become the main exporter of cars to Europe and the weight of its components within the cars manufactured here is increasingly greater, which reduces the competitiveness of our exports, according to this report BBVA. This imbalance is doubly worrying because the European Union is trying to reduce Chinese dependence now that it is seeking to make the definitive leap to the electric car, a technology where the Asian country dominates the supply chain. In recent months, Europe has tried to curb dependence promoting mineral mining on our soil or battery production but Chinese dependence remains evident. Photo | Michael Fourset and Sou Jest In Xataka | Japan has been charging a 0% tariff on foreign cars for half a century. It will be very difficult for you to find one on the street.

Europe has been a spectator of robotaxis for years. Madrid has just decided that it is okay

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The robotaxis They have already landed in some cities around the world, but their use is still testimonial. Even more so in Europealthough everything indicates that soon we will be talking more and more about this type of vehicles. In fact, just as they count In Expansión, in Madrid we are going to see the very first pilot test in December of autonomous taxis with the main VTC platforms on the market. It will be the first real-scale pilot test of the European Union. What has happened. In the last quarter of this year, the Community of Madrid will launch the first EU robotaxis pilot project with real passengers. Uber, Cabify and Bolt will participate in the initiative, although the call is open to more companies with which it is already negotiating. The test will start in Madrid capital and two other municipalities yet to be confirmed, with routes in previously defined and controlled areas. Just like share From the middle, the initial fleet will be between 50 and 100 vehicles with level 5 automation, that is, without the need for a human driver at the wheel. Why is it a milestone? Until now, no European city had launched a project of such magnitude. The only previous experience in the EU was a very limited test in Zagreb with just two vehicles. The rest of the world is years ahead, and the fact is that Waymo already operates about 3,000 autonomous cars in American cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles or Phoenix and has accumulated more than 20 million journeys. in Chinacompanies such as Apollo Go (Baidu), Pony.ai and WeRide have more than 5,500 vehicles in circulation. Europe, on the other hand, had not yet taken the step. How the pilot will work. According to share From Expansión, in a first phase, the vehicles will have a human supervisor on board whose function will be to monitor the automated driving system and inform users about the technology. After a few weeks, and depending on the data collected, we will move on to the driverless phase. To do this, the user will reserve the car from their mobile phone, access the vehicle with their phone and arrive at their destination without anyone in the driver’s seat. Among the vehicle manufacturers that could participate are Jaguar, the Stellantis group and the Chinese brand Arcfox (of the BAIC group). From the media they indicate that the technological operators will be already established companies such as WeRide, Baidu, Pony.ai or Waymo. Legislation. The General Directorate of Traffic has been working since 2015 in a legal framework for automated vehiclesand the Community of Madrid has promoted the creation of the Office for Vehicles and Automated Mobility (OFVA). The pilot has, in this sense, the mission of collecting real usage data to then lay the foundations for future legislation on autonomous transport in Spain. The protocols include specific training for police, firefighters and emergency services. Anabel Díaz, vice president of Uber for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, counted to Expansión that Madrid has “the opportunity to be at the forefront of Europe.” Deployment in Europe. A few months ago, Lyft announced an alliance with the Chinese Baidu to launch robotaxis in the United Kingdom and Germany throughout 2026. Uber, for its part, already has agreements with more than 18 autonomous driving companies globally. Europe is rapidly becoming the next battlefield for autonomous transportation, and the large platforms know that whoever arrives first with regulatory muscle will have an advantage. And now what. The success of the test will depend on whether the data collected is sufficient to build a solid regulation, that users show reasonable acceptance of the technology, and that the companies that intend to participate want to continue investing in the technology. Uber has already indicated that plans to make large investments in this field in Madrid. All eyes are now on the project, as Spain could become a reference laboratory for robotaxis, like the rest of the European capitals that are already on the eve of landing the technology. We’ll see how everything turns out. Cover image | Amy Dugiere In Xataka | China has been boasting about its driverless robotaxis for years. Until more than 100 have stood at once in Wuhan

22% of the electric cars we buy in Europe are produced in China. It’s just the tip of the iceberg

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One in five electric cars purchased in Europe are Chinese. Chinese of origin, but it does not mean that their manufacturers are Chinese. However, it is a fact that does not explain the entire story. Chinese companies continue to gain ground in Europe and tariffs are clearly not slowing down their expansion. 22%. The data is brought Benchmark Mineral Intelligence in a report explaining how much ground Chinese manufacturers are gaining in Europe. According to them, 22% of the electric cars that have been purchased in Europe between January and April 2026 come from China. The figure is striking because it grows compared to the 19% that was registered last year. But, above all, because it grows by 27% compared to the same period in 2025. In the first four months, 400,000 electric cars from China were sold in Europe. Chinese and non-Chinese. As we said, the data includes all the electric cars that we have bought in Europe arriving from China. This is relevant because the European Union imposed tariffs to the cars that came from there alleging that the Chinese manufacturers are financially doped and that they do not compete on equal terms. But those trade barriers They also prevailed over European manufacturers who bring their cars from China. Tesla also suffers from it with every Tesla Model 3 sold in Europe. The consequences of these policies have been especially harmful for Seat SAwith a Cupra Tavascan that has barely been sold and that has had to eat the tariffs to be able to have a competitive price. Duty? As we pointed out, the European Union already imposed a 10% tariff on all cars that arrive from China to our market. Defending that many of the brands that came to play on price, They imposed new specific trade barriers for each brandpunishing more those who, in their opinion, had received the most aid from the State or had collaborated the least with the investigation. Rodhium Group shows that they have had a limited deterrent effect over time. When they were lifted in October 2024, China had exported 44,000 electric cars to Europe in a single month. Immediately, the figure plummeted but in February the same sales level was reached again in Europe. But, in addition, the number of plug-in hybrids has skyrocketed. While the sale of purely combustion cars from China has grown, the plug-in hybrid has experienced brutal growth, going from 7,000 units in October 2024 (when the tariffs were applied) to 26,000 units in February 2026. Among the best sellers. In addition to these general market figures, some Chinese manufacturers have managed to make a breakthrough in the markets where they have the most hope. They collect in Autovista24 that BYD was the fourth company in Europe that sold the most electric cars between January and March 2026. Its market share in this space reached 6.8% and is only surpassed by Volkswagen, BMW and Tesla (the latter with 7.3% and BMW with 7.4%). BYD is also, of course, the one that is growing the most, marking 154.7% more sales than last year in the same period. Among the 10 best-selling electric cars in Europe, the Leapmotor T03 It also sneaks into the list. If we look at plug-in hybrids, BYD has the best-selling model. The BYD Seal U is the car with this mechanic that has placed the most units on the market between January and March 2026 with 21,494 units. He is followed by Jaecoo 7 with 17,434 units. And BYD manages to place Atto 2 as the tenth best-selling plug-in hybrid in Europe. The market share. In global terms, S&P Global points out that in 2025 the market share of Chinese manufacturers in Europe was 5.8%. But Automotive News points out that last March, when Chinese manufacturers broke their export record to Europe in terms of volume, the market share already shot up to 9.41%. If we talk about quota, the record from December 2025 (9.48%) still stands. The vast majority of analysts assure that these figures will continue to grow over the years. In S&P Global They believe that by 2035 the market share of Chinese manufacturers will reach 15.5%. Because? What we are seeing, according to analysts, is the tip of the iceberg. BYD is a good reflection of how China has discovered a loophole through which to enter Europe. The brand came with the idea of ​​bringing only electric cars, it tried the BYD Seal U in its plug-in hybrid version and has discovered that it is a success. The Chery Group has not hesitated to bet on this technology. Geely has also come up with a plug-in hybrid upon arrival. And the same thing happens with Deepal, from Changan. These cars have no tariffs and it allows them to gain market share because they can push their prices much higher. In addition, it allows them to give a relatively easy exit to cars that are overproduced for the Chinese marketwhich has slowed down and is beginning to see itself unable to assimilate more growth in its sales. Without forgetting that more and more companies are looking for produce in Europe or Türkiye to skip tariffs. BYD will manufacture in Hungary and in this last country. The Group Chery already operates in Barcelona. Leapmotor will also do it in Spain and everything indicates that the number of models will increase destined for our country. Xpeng already uses factories in Austria. And one fact: S&P Global It anticipates that 44% of the Chinese cars we buy in 2035 will be manufactured in Europe or Türkiye. Photo | In Xataka | The plug-in hybrid is China’s Trojan horse: we looked at the electric car and its great weapon was the combustion engine

The joint mission between Europe and China is already in space. The really important thing comes now

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Finally, despite the postponement last April, SMILE has been launched successfully. The mission that unites China and Europe To study how the solar winds interact with the Earth’s magnetosphere, it departed from the Kurú Space Port, in French Guiana, at 03:52 GMT (05:52, Spanish peninsular time). He has at least 3 years of work ahead of him, but before starting his work he must take some preliminary steps. Journey to final orbit. During the first 25 days of the mission, SMILE You must start your engines 11 times. This will allow it to gradually lengthen its orbit around the Earth’s poles, until reaching 121,000 km above the North Pole and 5,000 km above the South Pole. Once in its final orbit, around June 13, it will be time to tune up all its instruments. The final deployment. Remotely, from Earth, mission engineers will check that all SMILE instruments are working properly. For that, some must change their conformation. Specifically, it will be necessary to deploy the magnetometer arm and open the X-ray camera shutter and the UV camera cover. Each of these points is essential for the proper development of the mission. The first images. Once the experiments have been verified, SMILE will begin its work. The first images will be sent to Earth for analysis three months later. The mission. SMILE will study the interaction of solar activity with the shield that the Earth uses to protect itself from it. Although other missions have carried out similar tasks, it will be the first time that global images of this interaction have been taken, both in X-rays and ultraviolet. This will give us better knowledge than we currently have about solar storms and how they affect our planet. And not only They draw us beautiful auroras in the sky. They can also affect telecommunications, sometimes worryingly. It is important to understand them and know how to predict, as far as possible, the harmful effects they could cause. At least three years. The nominal duration of the mission will be 3 years. This means that it is designed to achieve your main objectives in this time. The economic investment of the European and Chinese space agencies has focused on guaranteeing this duration. However, that does not mean that within three years the ship will be deorbited or that all its instruments will be turned off. If it continues to function properly, its useful life could be greatly extended. The case of Cluster. Cluster it was a mission ESA whose objective was also to measure the Earth’s magnetic environment. In a way, it could be considered a predecessor of SMILE. It was launched in 2000 and remained active until 2024. However, Its nominal duration was initially 2 years. Once the retirement date arrived, it was found that Cluster was completely fit, so it was decided to invest in it for much longer. Maybe something similar will happen with SMILE. For now, we will have to go step by step. To begin with, it must reach its operational orbit. Once there, the magic begins. Or rather: science. Image | THAT In Xataka | The Webb and Hubble telescopes simultaneously observed Jupiter’s auroras. The problem is that they didn’t see the same thing

There is a Chinese manufacturer eating the entire electric motorcycle pie. And his next goal is Europe

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The increase of fuel prices caused by the iran war It is being the perfect excuse for one of the most relevant electric motorcycle manufacturers in China to focus away from its territory. Given the growing demand for economical and electric motorcycles outside Asia, the focus is clear: Europe. Yadea. Yadea is, by sales volume, the world’s largest manufacturer of scooters and electric two-wheeled vehicles. Its success is given by the very high demand for this type of motorbikes both in China and in Southeast Asia and South America. And now it’s time to conquer Europe. Since the conflict with Iran raised oil prices and created obstacles to its transit, international sales of Yadea They are growing at a rate of 70% year-on-year compared to 2025. The new. Yadea is not a new player in Europe. They have been present in Spain since 2022, distributing affordable mopeds and electric motorcycles. A discreet operation that wants to begin to consolidate and grow starting this year. Yadea is closing the opening of a factory in Hungary to produce within the European Union and protect itself from tariff tightening. It is not a new practice: China is starting to manufacture in Europe to make their products competitive, and the electric motorcycle is no exception. Why it is important. Of the almost 60 million electric scooters sold in China, 16 million correspond to Yadea. If there is a manufacturer with enough muscle and knowledge to flood Europe with two-wheeled vehicles at an affordable price, it is this one. Why now. Wang Jiazhong, vice president of Yadea, has made it clear in his statements that the current situation is the best possible opportunity to begin expanding into more markets. “The situation in the Middle East presents a good opportunity for us to enter the market and guide consumers towards the use of our electric vehicles, as they can clearly feel how much fuel prices have increased.” Not so fast. Europe is a peculiar and complicated market for electric two wheels. It represents around 9% of global volumes and is skewed towards premium models. It is not a volume market like Asia, at least today. Quite the opposite happens with the combustion motorcycle: China is sweeping and soon the top 3 best-selling motorcycles will be led by Chinese motorcycles. Therefore, the company is exploring joint ventures and collaborations with local companies to adapt their offer culturally and aesthetically. What giants like NIU, Super Soco or Silence have not achieved (example of the resounding failure of the electric motorcycle in Spain, with the SEAT MO), Yadea wants to achieve it. In Xataka | Spain loves one thing: cheap motorcycles. Europe doesn’t like something else: cheap motorcycles.

Andalusia has been buying and burying garbage from the rest of Europe for decades. And now he has said “enough”

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Four years ago, 40,000 tons of contaminated soil and stones were blocked at the doors of the Nerva landfill in Huelva. They came from Montenegro and no, it is not an isolated event. During the last 25 years, Andalusia has been a massive recipient of hazardous waste. More than 100,000 tons traveled kilometers and kilometers each year to be buried south of Sierra Morena. That just ended. It’s good news and a huge problem. What has happened? On April 26, 2026, the last authorizations that still allowed companies from outside Andalusia to discharge hazardous waste into Andalusian landfills expired. Three years after the approval of the Andalusian Circular Economy Lawthe restriction on sending hazardous waste whose final destination is the landfill is now complete. It is not an absolute moratorium, of course. The entry of dangerous substances is still allowed for ‘recovery’: if waste from outside is recycled, regenerated or thermally treated on Andalusian soil, it can continue to be introduced into the community. That, according to the Association of Waste and Special Resources Management Companieshas left more than 100,000 annual tons of hazardous waste in the air that until April had been managed (‘burying’) in Andalusia. Hence the problem. Because hazardous waste landfills are rare and very expensive infrastructures; as they explained in Civio“any reordering of flows has an immediate impact on the economic viability of the plants.” These months are critical for the industry. However, the Andalusian movement is not well understood without some context: the Andalusian decision begins in the same place as this article, in Nerva. What exactly is Nerva? He Andalusia Environmental Complex, in the Río Tinto basin, has operated since 1995 and for decades it has received hazardous waste from the Huelva Chemical Pole, Campo de Gibraltar, the rest of Spain and abroad. It is, as a consequence of this and before this, a dangerous place. In Huelva, the main public health problems they associate to prolonged exposure to heavy metals and toxic compounds derived from decades of industrial activity (and from storing hazardous waste from other places). In fact, the two main focuses are the phosphogypsum ponds (about 500 meters from the city) and the Nerva landfill. I have to correct myself: they are not associated with that. Technically yes, health wise yes: but, in reality, the main public health problems are associated with the negligence of administrations, the lack of management and the recklessness that comes with just worrying about money. The Andalusian ban was necessary. Because, despite the legal tension (the fact of facing community law), at some point the administration had to assume its own responsibilities. This does not solve Nerva’s problem, as is evident. But it forces the industry to take charge of everything that has been going on for years without anyone watching. Image | Joe Patres In Xataka | China was the world’s dumping ground, today its problem is different: it does not have enough garbage to burn

If Europe wants to bet on its agriculture, it is doing it wrong

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In the last decade, the European Union has lost three million agricultural holdings. That is almost 25% of all those that existed in 2013. And it is curious because, in its last cycle alone, the Common Agricultural Policy is spending 387,000 million euros. What are we spending all that money on? A poorly posed question. I recognize it. When one sees the enormous amount of money that the CAP moves and its central role in the Union’s debates, one tends to assume that this “silent” transformation of the European field is taking place. despite of Brussels policies. However, when we look at the data, doubts arise. According to the European Court of Auditors and the Commission20% of the beneficiaries take around 80% of the funds. To the extent that the CAP distributes direct payments based on hectares, we can say that those 20% are the large landowners. In Spain, for landing the datathe 1% that receive the most help concentrate 28%; 10%, 62%; and 20%, 79%. It is a scheme that strongly encourages concentration. And it shows. Continuing with the Spanish case, the country has lost 180,000 farms in the last 15 years. Only between 2020 and 2023, 12.4% were lost. In this he has had a lot to see about the pandemic and the Ukrainian Warbut everything takes on a new prism when we realize that macro agricultural holdings grew by 6%. The result is that that 20% that accumulates 79% of the CAP represents 7% of the agricultural area. We are seeing it in the crown jewel of the Spanish countryside: the olive grove. As Datadista and Greenpeace explained, the accelerated entry of investment funds has disrupted the sea of ​​olive trees. We are moving from a traditional dry-land olive grove to a super-intensive hedgerow olive grove on irrigated land. But… is this a problem? To answer this question, it is best to look at the Netherlands, the European “crystallization” of what is at the end of the trend that drives the CAP. Netherlands is second (or third, depending on the year) agri-food exporter in the world and it is in a territory smaller than Galicia, with 1.81 million agricultural hectares and only 52,106 farms. That is to say, its productivity per hectare is crazy. For this reason, the concentration of the CAP is also extreme: 1% takes 40% of the funds. The problem is that it is not environmentally sustainable: between 2022 and 2024, nitrogen emissions caused an unprecedented political crisis. Something that, with the slurry ponds either the crises of the Mar Menorwe are also seeing in Spain constantly. And now what? That is the central question. Because this CAP lasts only until 2027 and just now we are starting to discuss what we want for the future. Considering how quickly things have changed in recent years, that future may be completely different from anything we know. Image | Rob Mulder In Xataka | In California, the funds discovered that there is no investment more profitable than farmland. Now it’s Spain’s turn

Europe throws away 16 billion a year in electronic waste. Spain has just turned on the first oven in Europe to recover them

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Those cell phones, computers and small devices that are gathering dust in a drawer and ending up in a landfill contain valuable minerals such as copper, silver and platinum inside, which also end up there. Every year in the Spanish state almost 930,000 tons of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) are thrown away, which makes Spain the sixth state on the continent in generation of this type of waste. according to data from the UN E-waste Monitor by 2024. Of these, less than half is documented and recycled waste. In a context in which rare earths and critical minerals are a strategic resource of which Europe wants to achieve sovereignty, Spain has taken a step forward with a CSIC pilot plant pioneer in the old continent: a furnace capable of melting that electronic waste to extract valuable metals from it. The pioneer oven. A few days ago the National Center for Metallurgical Research of the CSIC inaugurated in Madrid the first European pilot plant capable of recovering critical metals from electronic waste using a submerged lance furnace, which exceeds 1,200 °C to melt electronic waste. The milestone was formalized with the first experimental casting of metals obtained directly from electronic waste and obtained materials such as copper, gold, silver and platinum in a clean and efficient way. In conventional furnaces, the heat comes from the outside, but in this case a metal lance is introduced that injects oxygen and fuel directly into the molten bath, which generates intense turbulence that mixes and homogenizes the material, accelerates chemical reactions and improves energy efficiency. Why is it important. Because every year Europe generates millions of tons of electronic waste containing copper, gold, silver, platinum and strategic minerals necessary for the energy transition and digitalization. A part of them is not recovered: it is lost or used outside the continent. The facility in question is an advance in advanced pyrometallurgy and the management of waste from electrical and electronic equipment that shows that it is possible to treat this waste in Europe, thus preventing the associated economic value from leaving the continent, which allows the raw materials to be reincorporated into the European production chain itself. In addition, it connects directly with the Critical Raw Materials Law of the European Union, which fixed that at least 25% of the critical raw materials consumed by the EU by 2030 must come from recycling. The EU is currently heavily dependent on imports of critical raw materials, often from a single supplier, which poses a serious geopolitical risk in the form of dependence on strategic sectors such as renewable energy, digitalisation and defence. Context. The generation of WEEE is out of control and breaking records. According to the UN international waste observatoryin 2022 the world generated 62 million tons, 82% more than in 2010, but less than in 2030, when the estimated figure is 82 million tons. Europe takes the cake: in 2022 it was the region with the highest volume of WEEE per inhabitant with 17.6 kg per person, of which only 7.3 kg were recovered. But that garbage is money: the UN E-Waste quantifies the economic value of those 62 million tons at 91 billion dollars a year. If of this global total of WEEE, 13 million tons of garbage per year They belong to Europe. Calculated proportionally, it would be equivalent to losing about 19,000 million dollars annually due to poorly managing these materials (about 16,340 million euros at the exchange rate). While we search for deposits and accelerate their exploitation in a sector dominated by China, we have a deposit pending to be exploited: the “urban” mine with WEEE recycling. The situation regarding WEEE in Europe in 2022. UN E-Waste 2024 How it works. He submerged lance furnace is based on the ISASMELT processso that the raw materials only need to be pre-mixed, there is no need for fine grinding or drying, which simplifies the feeding with materials as heterogeneous as WEEE. The separation of materials is based on the difference in densities: once the waste is melted, copper and precious metals such as gold or silver tend to sink to the bottom of the reactor due to their greater density, while the slag (which is non-metallic) floats on the surface, which makes extraction simple. The project has been possible thanks to a public-private collaboration between CENIM-CSIC and two companies, the European copper smelting giant Atlantic Copper and the metallurgical company Glencore Technology. Yes, but. The CENIM facility is a pilot plant, not an industrial plant, and this leap in pyrometallurgy is not exactly small: engineering issues must be resolved such as the management of the gases emitted in the process or the useful life of the furnace’s refractory materials, among others. And this project may find its political framework in the Critical Raw Materials Act, but this It’s more of a statement of intent. than anything else: it does not have a roadmap nor has it made available new funds to accelerate these initiatives. However, the biggest problem is not in the oven, but in recycling or the absence of this: 46% of WEEE and the critical materials it contains are lost before reaching any recycling facility, simply because collection is poor. There is little point in developing highly efficient recovery technology if electronic waste ends up mixed with organic waste in the brown container. Or if it is exported outside of Europe. The real bottleneck remains collection. In Xataka | Mortadelo and Filemón work for the CSIC: TIA agents explain the history of science to us with their comics In Xataka | The CSIC wants to create quantum solar energy capable of self-regulating its temperature. His inspiration: painting Cover | yasin hemmati and Nathan Cima

The problem of depopulation and the incredible demographic polarization of Europe, on a bleak map

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Europe is experiencing a silent paradox: its total population is growing in recent decades and yet, half of its towns and cities today have fewer inhabitants than in the 1960s. Special mention deserves cities like Madrid, Athens or Lisbon, truly out of control in front of the wastelands that are right next door. It is the consequence of decades of rural exodus, falling birth rates and migratory flows. Beyond colors and figures, this has a direct consequence in those municipalities that are dying: schools that close, doctors without substitutes and trains that no longer stop at stations. The map shows the population change municipality to municipality in Europe between 1961 and 2024. Green indicates growth and red indicates loss of inhabitants. Be careful because there are places where the growth is 500% and others where the drop reaches 80%. It covers around 100,000 municipalities in 32 countries: all EU states plus the United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland and Iceland. This magnificent map is the work of Correctiv with data from the Eurostat Joint Research Center (JRC) based on a 63-year municipal historical series with homogeneous borders. How has he achieved it? The JRC has used satellite images of residential building volume as an indicator of where people lived in each era, and cross-referenced that information with harmonized Eurostat censuses. We recommend visiting the website of Correctiv for an in-depth view of its infographic with animations, where it also allows you to filter by two periods: from 61 to 91 and from 91 to 2024 and more or less around that time there is a historical milestone that marks the future of the East: the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the 32 countries analyzed, one in five rural municipalities has lost more than half of its population in these 60 years. Is the consequence of the urbanization of the 20th century: industry concentrated employment in the cities and the service economies that came later gave the finishing touch. Rural areas, on the other hand, live in a vicious circle: the more services are closed, the more depopulation, and so on. We are talking about bank branches, bakeries, consultations… The demographer Claudia Neu warns that the aging of European societies is the greatest challenge and that health and care costs will fall on this young generation, let us remember is increasingly scarce. The Europe of Schrödinger: grows and empties at the same time Population change in Europe: 1961 – 2024. Correctiv Europe is the oldest continent on the planet: has a birth rate average below 1.5 children per woman, looking from afar at that 2.1 that stipulates the replacement level. In Italy and Spain it is 1.3. The budding demographic pyramid in a system designed to function under constant growth, that is, the pressure of health, care and pensions falls on a base that narrows each year. In fact, the Center for European Reform He already says it loud and clear: only immigration can save us. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the opening of European borders triggered a large migratory flow from the former Soviet bloc to the west. 88% of municipalities in eastern Germany have lost population since 1991, compared to only 26% in the west. Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania and Latvia lead a unique decline in European history without wars involved. In fact, Bulgaria takes the cake: the Vidin region has lost 61% of its population. In Lithuania there is a contradiction: while 73% of its municipalities have shrunk, the capital has tripled. But what am I going to tell you if you live in Spain. Spain is the maximum expression of this trend. Correctiv Because Spain embodies the paradox of the map like no one else: Eight of the ten fastest growing municipalities in all of Europe are municipalities on the outskirts of Madrid. Meanwhile, Villarroya in Rioja has lost 98% of its inhabitants since 1961. Spain emptied. Be careful, Spain is not emptied as a whole, but it is polarized: it grows on the coasts and the big cities and bleeds into the interior. The immediate future does not invite optimism: the INE projects that the Spanish state will always have more deaths than births during the next fifteen years and that the percentage of people over 65 years of age, which today is 20.4%, will exceed 30% by 2055. The only safety valve to sustain the numbers is immigration: net inflows are projected to be around 375,000 people per year until mid-century, that is, by 2050 4 out of every 10 residents of the Spanish state will be born outside In Xataka | There is a very simple reason why it has taken Spain so long to have fiber optics in rural areas: this map In Xataka | Empty Europe: this is how the population has moved from the countryside to the city in just ten years Cover | Correctiv

Europe and China are at risk in the race for the first gravitational wave observatory in space

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Terrestrial gravitational wave detectors, such as the famous LIGO, have made very interesting discoveries in the last decade. However, there is a great consensus that it would be very useful to detect this cosmic phenomenon directly from space. For this reason, some space agencies are already getting to work to launch their own projects. One of them is the Taiji mission, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with which, in fact, a great step forward has just been taken. Everything ready for Taiji 2. The Taiji mission consists of three phases. The first was already launched in 2019. For the second, a piece called the full-function interferometer optical core had to be tested. The tests carried out on Earth have gone perfectlyso it is considered that the second phase could be launched as soon as possible. In fact, its launch It was initially scheduled in 2024but it has been suffering delays. Luckily, it seems that now all the pieces are ready. Three ships in total. The Taiji mission is made up of three ships, strategically placed in space millions of kilometers away. They will all be connected to each other through laser interferometry, so that slight changes in these distances that could be associated with gravitational waves can be detected. The first phase of the mission, in which the interferometry system was analyzed, was launched in 2019. It is expected to send the second part as soon as possible, in which the first two ships will be put into space. As for the third, in principle the established calendar places its launch in the 2030s. Better in space than on Earth. Gravitational waves are waves produced in space-time as a result of a catastrophic event. These types of events could be, for example, the merger of neutron stars or the collision of black holes. When this occurs, space-time experiences a disturbance similar to that produced when a stone is thrown into a pond. Those are gravitational waves. The terrestrial observatories, like LIGOthey can detect them, but they have a small limitation. And there could be confusion with seismic noise and other terrestrial interference. In space, that problem disappears. Taiji to the rescue. According to the tests that have been carried out on Earth and the analyzes of the interferometry system that have already been carried out in space with Taiji-1, this mission is capable of greatly reducing interference. Furthermore, the optical core that has just been tested is capable of detecting disturbances on the order of picometers. That is, on Earth you can discern displacements equivalent to one ten-thousandth of the diameter of a human hair. Although those distances would change under spatial conditions, it is still highly accurate. Therefore, it is expected to detect even gravitational waves caused by intermediate mass black holes. Other similar missions. The European Space Agency It also has its own mission aimed at detecting gravitational waves in space. This is LISAa project with which it is planned to do something similar: launch three ships connected by laser interferometry into space. In this case, the launch of all ships is scheduled for 2035, so China could have some advantage. Of course, until the complete triangle is in space, the mission cannot be considered completed. Perhaps Europe will be able to overtake the Asian country. Image | NOIRLab In Xataka | What happens if you fall into a black hole, explained simply in an overwhelming NASA simulation

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