Behaviour change – reducing emissions by changing how we live our lives - should be part of every government and think tank’s sustainable scenario, explains Schalk Cloete. That’s because impressive advances in energy efficiency and clean energy won’t be enough to contain the emissions of a world continuing with the essential task of lifting billions of people out of poverty. But this should not be seen as a problem, says Cloete, because behaviour … [Read more...]
California learns even flexible Emissions Markets won’t guarantee price stability
In May, emissions allowance prices hit rock bottom in California. How can cap-and-trade work properly when prices are so volatile and difficult to predict? It makes life very difficult for businesses and investors, not to mention the state. Changes to the rules are being proposed to introduce more flexibility into the effective price floors, ceilings and the availability of allowances. But Severin Borenstein at the Energy Institute at Haas … [Read more...]
New U.S. climate bill is unprecedented in “ambition, concrete details, and urgency”
Mark Silberg, Alisa Petersen and Ben Holland at RMI pick out six highlights from a new U.S. climate bill and accompanying report that they describe as unprecedented in “ambition, concrete details, and urgency”. The Democrat-sponsored “Moving Forward Act” passed the House at the start of July and now goes to the Senate. Though regional commitments already get the U.S. halfway to meeting the 1.5°C goal, federal action is needed for the rest. … [Read more...]
Dutch-Spanish startup navigates coronavirus fallout while also guiding utilities into the digital age
In late summer 2015 at a research university in Belgium, an Italian graduate student new to campus attended a welcome event hosted by engineering department faculty. Sampling beer brewed by an electrical engineering student association, Simone Accornero mingled with a dozen other new classmates in his program at KU Leuven. Accornero began chatting with an engineering master’s student who had just arrived from Poland. “We hit it off,” Accornero … [Read more...]
The PAC Scenario: net-zero by 2040 to meet Europe’s Paris goals
The EU is not on track to meet its Paris Agreement obligations on emissions and limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5°C. CAN Europe and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) present their Paris Agreement Compatible (PAC) scenario, designed to do just that. It’s been created through the careful analysis of contributions from more than 150 stakeholders including NGOs, scientists, industry and grid operators. Jörg Mühlenhoff at CAN Europe … [Read more...]
Do black households in the U.S. pay more for their energy?
The “Black Lives Matter” movement, sparked by the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police at the end of May, has reverberated around the world. Particularly in North America and Europe it has gone well beyond the behaviour of the police and prompted calls to identify and root out structural racism wherever it is found. Maximilian Auffhammer at the Energy Institute at Haas looks at U.S. research that asks: “Do black households spend more on … [Read more...]
Will the Just Transition Fund deliver the Green Deal? [VIDEO]
![Will the Just Transition Fund deliver the Green Deal? [VIDEO]](https://energypost.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/JTF-Event-02-150x99.jpg)
Last week 390 Energy Post readers registered for our latest online panel discussion sponsored by PGE Poland. Our speakers included Wojciech Dabrowski - President of PGE Poland, Aleksandra Tomczak of the European Commission's dedicated Green Deal cabinet, Henrike Hahn MEP for the Greens, Corinna Zierold of European trade union IndustriAll and Jerzy Buzek MEP, former Prime Minister of Poland and President of the European Parliament 2009 to 2012. … [Read more...]
Ukraine’s integration into the EU gas market is a positive lesson for the region
Ukraine is shaping its gas infrastructure and regulations to integrate into the EU market. On the infrastructure front, its interconnectors with neighbours, extensive pipeline network and storage facilities are making it an increasingly important European player, explains Aura Sabadus writing for the Atlantic Council. The gradual opening up to EU free market rules are evidenced by its gas prices following those of the EU. Ukraine's attractive … [Read more...]
Germany’s Corona stimulus package: what’s in it for energy, climate?
€30bn of Germany’s €130bn Corona economic stimulus package is dedicated to the energy sector and the climate. Simon Göss at Energy Brainpool runs through the four main areas of focus. There’s €11bn to fund a reduction in the EEG levy (renewables surcharge) to help electricity consumers. €9bn goes to creating a hydrogen industry for Germany. There’s €7bn to promote e-mobility (tax exemptions, subsidies, co-financing of charging stations and … [Read more...]
EU ETS: The Market Stability Reserve should focus on carbon prices, not allowance volumes
The Market Stability Reserve (MSR) aims at providing carbon price stability for the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). But serious questions are being asked about how much stability – if any – it provides, say Michael Pahle at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Simon Quemin at the LSE's Grantham Research Institute. They argue that the MSR rules are too complex, have difficulty accommodating changing EU and national policies, … [Read more...]
Just Transition Fund: Poland yet to be convinced
Last month we learned of extra "Covid-19 recovery" funds to keep the Green Deal on an even keel. They included an additional €32.5bn for the Just Transition Fund (JTF). But is it enough? This is the question at the heart of our online event next week. The JTF is part of the Just Transition Mechanism (JTM) which, in turn, is the part of the Green Deal funding plan and is aimed at supporting Member States and regions "most affected by the … [Read more...]
Will Member States support the EC’s green recovery plan?
The EC’s “Next Generation EU” plan for a joint loan of €750bn is a major breakthrough as it accepts the need for the member states to share a large debt burden to revive the EU economy. It will be in addition to the European budget under discussion before the pandemic crisis. The other breakthrough is that green policies – climate neutrality, biodiversity, “food-to-fork” - are central, explains Nicolas Berghmans at IDDRI. He summarises the plan, … [Read more...]
A Just Transition can address systemic inequality, not just clean energy jobs
For some, the concept of a Just Transition means more than re-skilling former coal workers. It’s an opportunity to reduce systemic inequality in their society. Energy costs represent a high portion of the spending of the poor, so any major overhaul of the energy system, like the Transition, can have a direct and positive impact on them. Writing for the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), Alice Napoleon, Donna Brutkoski and Nancy Seidman describe … [Read more...]
Promises of future tech make hitting the 2°C target harder: a history
Writing for Carbon Brief, Duncan McLaren at Lancaster University runs through the history of climate negotiations to show that, over “five phases”, the continuous overhauling of models and target-setting have always resulted in promises to reverse emissions sometime in the future, a poor substitute for the real job of cutting emissions now. His main criticism is aimed at future carbon capture (CCS, BECCS) and net-zero-by-2050 policies: anything … [Read more...]
Energy Post panel discussion – Cross-Border Capacity [VIDEO]
![Energy Post panel discussion – Cross-Border Capacity [VIDEO]](https://energypost.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Screenshot-2020-05-20-at-15.48.19-1-150x99.png)
Whilst renewable generation continues to grow, cross-border capacity fails to keep up. On May 19, 2020, Energy Post hosted a unique panel qualified to discuss the issue and shed some light on how we got here and what the options might be going forward. The discussion was moderated by Erik Rakhou - alternate member of the ACER board of appeal and consultant at Baringa. Representing the European Commission was Florian Ermacora and for independent, … [Read more...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 70
- Next Page »
Recent Comments