When the premises of the American Civil War forced the textile mills of Mississippi to a virtual stop, and the Russian Empire started seeking new cotton suppliers for its huge domestic market, Ludwig Knoop had a brilliant idea.

“ At the end of last year, we were so overwhelmed that we had to start rejecting new membership demands .” Dirk Vansintjan is a board member of EcoPower , a Belgian renewable energy cooperative, founded in 1991.

“ Food production requires fertilisers and fertilisers require energy. If energy prices soar, fertilisers’ and food prices will soar too .

"To achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 we need more investments than those envisaged by the Green Deal , otherwise we will never make it.

In the mid-90s, when he was 9 to 12 years old, Tommy DeVoss broke into the computer systems of global fast-food and pharmaceutical companies. He also hacked into organisations such as the US government, the US military, and NASA .

With buyers facing unusually long delays between ordering and receiving new cars, car manufacturers are pivoting to make key components, including semiconductor chips and lithium-ion batteries .

The war in Ukraine is threatening to trigger a global world crisis and is highlighting the EU's dependence on mineral-based fertilizers , which are mainly produced by Russia.