BlackRockâs decision to divest from coal, as the world's largest asset manager with a long shareholder history of voting against climate action, sends a powerful signal. By mid-2020 BlackRockâs $1.8tn of actively managed funds will divest from any firm generating more than 25% of revenue from thermal coal. Further reviews of sectors heavily reliant on thermal coal will also take place. Tim Buckley, Tom Sanzillo and Melissa Brown at IEEFA welcome … [Read more...]
U.S. Presidential Election: for the first time, climate is a top priority
Another climate action âfirstâ this year will be the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. Never before has climate change featured as a top priority for American politicians and voters, says Arnault Barichella writing for the IFRI Centre for Energy & Climate. Itâs thanks to the growing evidence of human-caused global warming in collision with a current President who calls it all a hoax and has been rolling back the regulations of his predecessor. … [Read more...]
Lithium-Sulphur batteries: cheaper, greener, hold more energy
The rapid expansion of electric power across the world is putting a strain on battery production. The standard lithium-ion battery depends on minerals and metals in limited supply, so alternatives are needed urgently. Mahdokht Shaibani at Monash University describes the work of her team on developing lithium-sulphur batteries. There are many advantages, not least the abundance of sulphur, the 16th most common element on Earth. Added to that, … [Read more...]
EU pathway to 3m EV charge points by 2030
Right now the EU has around 185,000 public charge points, which is enough for todayâs market (seven cars for each point). The current policy scenario targets 33m electric cars by 2030 (44m for climate neutrality). Transport & Environmentâs Nico Muzi summarises their latest report that plots their ambitious pathway. Itâs driven by the forceful idea of a European âright to plugâ, and enabled by their new Public Charging Supply metric, using a … [Read more...]
Can emissions trading work without Article 6 of the Paris Agreement?
Article 6 of the Paris Agreement creates the framework for mechanisms that will allow nations and sub-national actors to trade emissions. Executed correctly, it must raise ambitions and reduce total emissions. It must also ensure there is transparent and accurate accounting for emissions, with no double-counting. It made little progress at Decemberâs COP25. This was partly due to some countries âinsisting on accounting loopholesâ, writes Isabella … [Read more...]
Gas infrastructure leaks methane: fix it, or accelerate to clean energy
Natural gas, because itâs low-carbon, is being used as a bridge fuel away from the old fossil fuel world. But there are two main problems. The infrastructure leaks methane (the main component of the gas) which is 25 times more potent than CO2 over a 100-year period (and 86 times over a 20-year period!). And, crucially, nobody is properly measuring those leaks. That means policy makers are growing the gas mix without knowing by how much itâs … [Read more...]
Is Germanyâs emissions drop thanks to the EU ETS, not Berlin?
The good news is that 2019 saw a big decrease in Germanyâs emissions, meaning a 35% reduction since 1990. It was only 30.8% by 2018, so the acceleration was thanks to a sharp drop in coal use. But emissions rose in transport and buildings, making the 2020 target of 40% more daunting. Add to that the slump in wind installations (permit problems) and the planned nuclear exit by 2022 (will more fossil fuels be needed to fill that big gap?), … [Read more...]
CCUS, nuclear, industrial heat, hydrogen, smart grids: âlarge unitâ innovation needs more support
How do we accelerate innovation across all technologies? Simon Bennett at the IEA breaks down the task into âsmall unitâ and âlarge unitâ challenges. The first is easier and moves faster. Thanks to their small size and unit cost, heat pumps, EVs and solar panels benefit from mass production, mass deployment (100,000 to 100m units/year globally) and large customer markets with fierce competition. They can also easily leverage other fast-evolving … [Read more...]
Nuclear in 2020: a global look ahead at policy, financing, politics, by country
Dan Yurman presents his worldwide review of nuclearâs prospects. 19 nations are covered. He explains while some countries are planning to scale down nuclear, like South Korea and France, some are increasing investment, like China. Others remain stuck over policy, pricing, financing and politics (e.g. Japan, the U.S.). Exporters of plants, led by Russia, are making moves â not always easily - in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. R&D … [Read more...]
High-efficiency âspacecraftâ solar cells are coming down in price
Solar cells commonly used in spacecraft are highly efficient but too expensive to be used commercially down here on Earth. Two methods, HVPE (hydride vapour phase epitaxy) and the preferred MOVPE (metalorganic chemical vapour phase epitaxy), have been used to make these super-cells, reaching efficiencies of 29.1%. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) says its scientists have discovered a method, D-HVPE, that should achieve those … [Read more...]
Donât wait for international agreements. Sector-wide action can accelerate the Transition
Decemberâs COP25 in Madrid showed how difficult it is proving to get agreement between nations on how to ramp up the deep decarbonisation the world needs. David Victor at the University of California, San Diego, writing for Rocky Mountain Institute, accepts that international consensus is never going to be easy. Instead, he recommends that individual sectors take control of their destiny. His co-authored report âAccelerating The Low Carbon … [Read more...]
Energy Post Quiz 2019 – the year of hydrogen
2019 has seen Energy Post's readership surge to its highest ever levels; 13.4% more readers than 2018 with 17% more subscribers ensuring our platform continues to grow as a voice for independent experts. The most popular topics include CO2 extraction, battery tech and falling cost of renewables but, head and shoulders above the rest, it is the role of hydrogen in the clean energy future that has captured our readers' attention most of all. Our … [Read more...]
Peak Energy by 2030: Efficiency gains will make the Transition affordable
We canât afford the energy transition? Next time you hear that from someone, perhaps you can show them this. Sverre Alvik at DNV GL explains that, according to their latest Energy Transition Outlook, although annual global energy expenditure will have to increase from $4.6tn in 2017 to $5.5tn in 2050, its share of growing world GDP will almost halve from 3.6% to 1.9%. Thatâs because continuing energy efficiency gains are making sure that total … [Read more...]
Most âsector leaderâ German DAX firms will miss the Paris target
By how much would the earth warm up by 2050 if every company were to operate as emissions-intensively as yours does today? Itâs a fascinating way to measure whether you are doing enough, or whether you are leaving the hard work to someone else. The fintech "right. based on science" has created a model that tries to answer these questions. They have used it on the 30 companies listed on the German DAX index by calculating the future emissions of … [Read more...]
What can Oil producers learn from a sunset Coal industry?
Although fossil fuels are being replaced by clean energy they are not going away. Even coal is not in decline, itâs just peaked globally: declining in mature economies, still rising in developing ones. Henning Gloystein at the Eurasia Group, writing for the Atlantic Council, asks to what extent oil will follow coal. Oil consumption is still growing â 1% this year - though at a much slower rate than before. As with coal, a re-focus onto cleaner … [Read more...]
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