Given the centrality of oil and oil revenues in the global power equation, it is inevitable that depressed oil prices will doom the current global political order, writes Michael T. Klare, a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College. Political turmoil is already raging across the oil heartlands of the planet – and the tremors from the oil pricequake have yet to reach their full magnitude, notes Klare. … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2016
What’s new about Paris: role of the private sector to become much more important
A lot has been said about how national climate efforts under the Paris Climate Agreement will usher in a new energy future, but few have noticed another important change that COP21 heralds: for the first time non-state actors will start playing a prominent role in climate action, write Rolf de Vos and Kornelis Blok of consultancy Ecofys. The Agreement contains a number of decisions that will give private actors a semi-official status in future … [Read more...]
China pushes global renewable capacity beyond 900 GW
China was the world’s leading market across a number of renewable energy technologies in 2015 and helped to drive global renewable installed capacity to an estimated 913.48 Gigawatts (GW), says research and consulting firm GlobalData. … [Read more...]
How realistic is the UK government’s promise to phase out coal?
The conservative UK government boosted its climate credentials last year with its promise that all coal plants will be shut down by 2025. However, notes Mike Parr of consultancy PWR, this ignores certain inconvenient facts that will make delivery of this promise unlikely. … [Read more...]
Gasland EU: upcoming energy security package is all about gas
The European Commission’s first big energy initiative in 2016 will be a “winter package” on energy security, due in February. This will revise EU legislation on security of supply for gas and electricity, propose to give the Commission a greater role in international gas buying deals and set out new strategies for LNG and energy storage, and heating and cooling. Sonja van Renssen explains what’s at stake. … [Read more...]
We need to get serious about negative emissions – fast
The Paris agreement was a diplomatic triumph, but there is a distinct disconnect between the ambition and the action required to achieve that goal, writes Tim Kruger, James Martin Fellow, Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford. Kruger notes that to stabilise the climate, emissions need to fall to zero and we are nowhere close to that. In fact, we are almost certain to overshoot, which means that emissions will have to go negative at some … [Read more...]
Let’s not kid ourselves: curbing carbon and stopping smog are not the same
There is a widespread belief that stopping smog will also reduce carbon emissions, or vice versa, that reducing carbon emissions will reduce air pollution. But according to Christopher Sellers, professor of history at Stony Brook University in the US, this is a mistake. Experience in the US shows that taming air pollution actually made it possible to burn more carbon. … [Read more...]
The hidden trigger of Paris: why the climate battle will now be taken to the courts
What will happen if the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement are not achieved? Most people assume that since the agreement is non-binding, failure to reach the targets will necessitate new political action, writes Lucas Bergkamp, Partner at the Brussels-based law firm Hunton & Williams LL.P. But according to Bergkamp, what is likely to happen is that climate activists will instead turn to the judiciary to enforce the treaty. This, he … [Read more...]
How OPEC could regain control of the oil price
The US shale revolution effectively sidelined OPEC’s control over global oil prices. However, with a large number of new non-OPEC projects cancelled, spare capacity in the market reaching very low levels and demand continuing to grow, power is shifting back to the cartel again, notes Geoffrey Styles, Managing Director of GSW Strategy Group in the US, on his Energy Outlook blog. If OPEC decides to cut output in 2016, writes Styles, the oil price … [Read more...]
Oil shortage possible “within a few years”
OPEC warns that huge investment is needed to ensure that future oil and gas production will be sufficient to meet demand, writes Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com. If this is not forthcoming, the oil price may spike again, setting in motion another destructive commodity cycle. … [Read more...]
2016: look ahead for nuclear energy
The outlook for nuclear energy globally is better than expected, but in the US it is a time of retrenchment, writes Dan Yurman, of the weblog Neutron Bytes. In this article he provides an overview of expected developments in the global nuclear sector in 2016. … [Read more...]