In the media, the good news is that those opposed to acting on climate change – sometimes called climate deniers or climate sceptics – are not challenging the science nearly as much as they used to. The bad news is that they are now using “response scepticism”. This means obstructing policies with arguments like “it costs too much”, “what about China’s emissions?”, “stopping flying is too extreme, do something else”, “infringement on civil … [Read more...]
Poorly defined “efficiency” incentives birthed the SUV. Beware the same mistake with “clean energy” jobs, “domestic” batteries + more
Financial support for the transition needs clear and carefully chosen definitions of what qualifies for that support. Getting it wrong leads to unintended consequences, some which may not reduce emissions, explains James Sallee at the Energy Institute at Haas. Ever wondered why SUVs and big cars proliferated after the 1970s in the U.S. (and are on roads all over the world now)? The 1970s oil crisis triggered new rules that penalised fuel … [Read more...]
IPCC’s latest AR6 synthesis report lacks urgency and realism. Its own numbers say so
Kevin Anderson at the University of Manchester explains his deep disappointment in the recently released and influential IPCC AR6 synthesis report. Even the mainstream media criticised the lack of urgency in the language. Anderson’s objections go further. He says the report’s own figures show net-zero must be reached by 2040, not the “early 2050s” as stated. Anderson goes on to criticise the modelling used as the standard, saying it is formulated … [Read more...]
Galway and Sofia lead in climate adaptation plans for European cities: new online tool to help others follow
A new study assesses the most recent adaptation plans of 167 European cities. Six “principles” - evidence of impacts and risks; adaptation goals; adaptation measures; implementation; monitoring and evaluation; societal participation in plan creation – are used to quantify performance. The authors – Diana Reckien, University of Twente; Attila Buzási, Budapest University of Technology and Economics; Marta Olazabal, Basque Centre for Climate Change; … [Read more...]
Event summary: Electricity Market Design – how can reforms accelerate the Transition and help cut energy prices?
Here is our written summary of our online panel discussion held last week on the EC’s Electricity Market Design reform proposal. Catharina Sikow-Magny, Director, DG ENER presented the main elements of the proposal, and answered questions from the panellists: Wanda Buk, VP for Regulatory Affairs, PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna; Leonardo Meeus, Director, Florence School of Regulation; JĂ©rĂ´me Le Page, Chair of Electricity Committee, Federation of … [Read more...]
The problem with CO2e: we need separate emissions data for each climate pollutant (methane, soot, etc.)
Currently, we measure non-CO2 emissions by converting their impact into the CO2 equivalent over a 100-year period. The problem is that other pollutants can have their worst impact well within 100 years, like methane (the first 20 years is when the impact of methane is worst). Though CO2 has caused the most warming, other short-lived pollutants have contributed nearly half of the total, particularly methane, black carbon from soot, and some … [Read more...]
New AI model predicts 1.5C temperature rise is likely in 2030s even if emissions decline
A new artificial intelligence model is predicting that 2C warming is likely to occur and sooner than expected, even if current low-emissions strategies are successful, explains Josie Garthwaite at Stanford University. The Stanford-developed AI uses “neural network” learning from vast quantities of past data, predicting that the 1.5C threshold is likely to be crossed in the next 10 to 15 years. That’s regardless of how much greenhouse gas … [Read more...]
Understanding the new EU ETS (Part 2): Buildings, Road Transport, Fuels. And how the revenues will be spent
A fortnight ago we published Simon Göss’s explainer of the big changes happening to the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). That article covered the new rules coming in for the existing EU ETS, and the implementation of the new carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). This article explains the introduction of an EU ETS II that extends emissions trading to the buildings sector, road transport and the usage of fuels in other, as of now not … [Read more...]
EU ETS and CBAM: what the big update to emissions trading rules means for Europe’s key sectors
The EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme is a vital part of the region’s decarbonisation plans. Simon Göss at carboneer digs into the new rules coming in for the existing EU ETS, and the implementation of the new carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). Right now, the existing EU ETS covers around 40% of the EU’s emissions (energy sector, industrial installations and aviation). Its scope is being extended to include maritime transport. On top of that, … [Read more...]
How Europe is countering Russia’s weaponisation of energy – CEDE 2022 event summary
Simon Göss provides a written summary of our two panel discussions held in Brussels on Thursday December 8th 2022. Panel 1 was titled “The Availability and Affordability of Gas and Energy in CEE and EU”, Panel 2 “The War in Ukraine: Security of Critical Energy Infrastructure”. The issues covered include EU policy interventions for countering the Russian weaponisation of energy, cooperation with Ukraine, how far is Europe prepared, spill-over … [Read more...]
COP 27: a way forward for methane, fossil fuel (not just coal) phase-out, and U.S.-China competition?
COP 27 was never expected to have the impact that COP 26 did, and that’s how it turned out, explain Ben Cahill, Sandeep Pai and Taiya Smith at CSIS. But there are three issues that can have long term positive impacts if carried forward successfully. The first is some good news on methane emissions. The U.S., the EU, Japan and other countries announced an important producer-consumer effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions from traded gas, while … [Read more...]
Russia-Ukraine: Critical Infrastructure Protection from sabotage is an unprecedented challenge the EU must face now
### REGISTER NOW ### for our vitally important 2-panel event “The Energy Crisis and Russian Aggression Against Ukraine - Key Challenges for the Central European Energy Sector”, on Thursday December 8, 13:00 – 17:00 CET (Address: Rue Belliard 40, 1040 Brussels). High-profile confirmed speakers include Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy, EC; Leszek JesieĹ„, Chairman of the Board, CEEP; Jerzy Buzek, MEP and former president of the … [Read more...]
What does the “global carbon budget” mean? Have we got 9 years left?
Piers Forster and Debbie Rosen at the University of Leeds and Robin Lamboll and Joeri Rogelj at Imperial College London, writing for Carbon Brief, look at the carbon budget estimates of the Global Carbon Project and the IPCC, the methodology and the inevitable uncertainties. They compare it to their own latest report from the CONSTRAIN research project. Where the GCP and the IPCC estimate nine years left of carbon emissions at current emission … [Read more...]
How governments are defusing political opposition to the energy transition
What’s holding up the energy transition? Not the hardware, says the energy sector: proven clean energy solutions abound and any bottlenecks are continually being addressed by innovation. Not the money, says the finance sector: there is more than enough investment queueing up for realistic returns. It’s the politics: the voters and the businesses that rationally oppose what could cost them too much. So the main obstacle is the ability of … [Read more...]
Corporate greenwashing: will court cases and new rules close the gap between promises and reality?
Activists are taking firms to court over deceiving consumers with questionable climate pledges. Isabel Sutton at Clean Energy Wire summarises the issues. Greenwashing, and therefore misdirecting consumer behaviour, is clearly a barrier to achieving climate goals. The latest IPCC report says consumer behaviour and changes to our lifestyles can result in a 40%–70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. But unregulated advertising can say … [Read more...]
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