{"id":462329,"date":"2026-08-13T12:30:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T10:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/08\/13\/ue-e-scontro-sulleolico-i-sovranisti-microplastiche-dalle-turbine-la-commissione-molte-meno-di-altre-fonti\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T13:33:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T11:33:38","slug":"eu-row-over-wind-power-sovereigntists-turbines-release-microplastics-commission-levels-far-lower-than-other-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/08\/13\/eu-row-over-wind-power-sovereigntists-turbines-release-microplastics-commission-levels-far-lower-than-other-sources\/","title":{"rendered":"EU row over wind power. Sovereigntists: turbines release microplastics; Commission: levels far lower than other sources"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 Wind turbines release microplastics into the atmosphere, making them less sustainable than claimed. True, but not nearly as unsustainable as the traditional fossil-fuel-based economy. There is a clash over the green economy between the European Commission and the Eurosceptic sovereigntists in the European Parliament. Quoting a scientific study<\/a>, the Austrian MEP Gerald Hauser<\/strong> (FPO\/PfE) denounces<\/a> that \u201cone wind turbine can shed up to 62 kg of microplastics annually<\/strong>, with harmful effects on the air, water bodies, soil and oceans.” The European Commission nips controversy and implicit accusations against the Green Deal, using a contextual comparison that criticises the traditional economic and production model.<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

“Research indicates that plastic emissions from wind turbines are much lower than from other
\nsources<\/strong>“, replied the Commissioner for the Environment, Jessika Roswall<\/strong>, who does not deny that wind turbines have an impact but stresses that this impact is less significant than others. “The main
\nsources of unintentional microplastic releases include paints and coatings, tyre wear, plastic
\npellets, synthetic textiles, geotextiles and, to a lesser extent, detergent capsules.”<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The European Commission\u2019s response therefore contains renewed criticism of a certain section of traditional industry, reaffirming the EU executive\u2019s agenda, which extends beyond the European Green Deal. To critics and detractors of wind power, Roswall points out that \u201cassessment of the<\/strong> environmental impacts of offshore wind (in the open sea, ed.) was also addressed in a recent call under (the) Horizon Europe” research programme.<\/strong> So, in the future, next-generation turbines will have an even lower impact.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Patriots for Europe group has tabled a parliamentary question criticising clean energy. Roswall defends the sustainability agenda and points the finger at paints and coatings, tyres, synthetic fabrics, and detergent capsules<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":462313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[30800,25706],"tags":[32975,25755,29603,35302,33394],"class_list":["post-462329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","category-green-economy-en","tag-energia-eolica","tag-news-parliament-en","tag-jessika-roswallat","tag-microplastiche","tag-ue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":462330,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462329\/revisions\/462330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}