The EU Taxonomy was published in June 2020. It is the first official document to define and classify what is a truly sustainable economic activity in Europe. Six months later China’s regulators published their own version, a new edition of the China Green Bond Endorsed Project Catalogue (the Catalogue). Both documents will act as important standards for green finance institutions and investors in Europe and China. They are intended to improve … [Read more...]
Eradicate global poverty, meet climate goals, by avoiding rich-world energy consumption patterns
There is concern that eradicating poverty in the global south means their growing wealth and energy consumption will make our climate targets too hard to meet. Here, Jarmo Kikstra and Narasimha Rao, writing for Carbon Brief, explain that the energy needed to eradicate poverty is compatible with climate goals, provided that policymakers focus on delivering decent living standards, and not copying the affluence and habits of rich countries. Most … [Read more...]
CBAM needs universal adoption of methods for measuring carbon intensity
Europe needs to account for the emissions of imported goods. That cannot happen without the international agreement on standards and certification systems for the carbon intensity of all steps in the value chain for all relevant products. Dolf Gielen and Francisco Boshell at IRENA and Massamba Thioye at the UNFCCC explain that several such systems exist around the world, but they need to be harmonised and widely adopted to truly reflect what is … [Read more...]
EU “Fit for 55”: how it impacts the EU ETS to accelerate emissions reductions
Christoph Kellermann, Lun Zhou and Simon Göss at Energy Brainpool explain how the EU’s new “Fit for 55” proposals, released in July, will impact the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), hailed as one of the most effective ways of reducing emissions. The authors cover the changes to the existing ETS, the planned new ETS for road transport and buildings, the controversial Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and the new CO2 standards for … [Read more...]
‘Fit for 55’ should prioritise decarbonisation of laggards: buildings, transport, industry, agriculture
Today’s long-awaited "Fit for 55" legislative package from the European Commission will trigger intense and difficult negotiations that will last two years, says Nicolas Berghmans at IDDRI. Its scope is wide and inevitably interconnected. The twelve legislative proposals include adjustments to existing measures (renewable energy, energy efficiency, carbon market/EU ETS, energy taxation, climate effort sharing between Member States/ESR, land use … [Read more...]
UK: exposing the gap between ambitious climate laws and actual policies
Like many nations, the UK has big gaps between what is actually needed to reach net zero by 2050, what targets and ambitions have actually passed into law, and what policies are actually in place to comply with those laws. The UK’s climate watchdog, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), has issued two reports that measure the UK’s performance and makes recommendations, summarised here by Josh Gabbatiss at Carbon Brief. The first report focuses on … [Read more...]
Residential energy use: “interventions” that alter daily habits vs top-down regulations
Getting people to change their behaviour is part of the net-zero plan, with residential energy consumption at 20% of total energy demand. How big a part can it play, and how quickly? Traditional methods like economic incentives and providing consumers with raw consumption data don’t always get the results expected. Here, Elisabetta Cornago at the IEA describes behavioural “interventions” that alter daily habits, are cheaper than large-scale … [Read more...]
The EU’s “Fit for 55” package: a primer on the EU ETS and other main policy levers
On July 14 the European Commission will present the much awaited “Fit for 55” legislative package. Lara Dombrowski and Simon Göss at Energy Brainpool have written a very useful primer on what’s at stake for the EU ETS, along with a summary of the other main policy levers that will be decided upon. The authors describe the EU ETS as the central instrument for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It caps emissions for 10,000 power sector, industrial … [Read more...]
18 energy transition scenarios to watch: where they agree and disagree
A wide range of regions, nations and respected organisations have created net-zero strategies and pathways, but on what do they agree and disagree? Dolf Gielen, Asami Miketa, Ricardo Gorini and Pablo Carvajal at IRENA have done a meta-analysis of 18 recent energy transition scenarios to find out. There is consensus over the main strategies: renewable power generation, and the direct and indirect electrification of end-use sectors – these account … [Read more...]
The IEA explains its new “Net-Zero Emissions by 2050” roadmap
Today the IEA publishes its new special report, “Net Zero by 2050: a Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector”, its deepest dive so far into what’s needed for a successful global transition. It analyses the options as well as the socio-economic, behavioural and environmental impacts they will have globally. Here, Laura Cozzi (Chief Energy Modeller) and Timur Gül (Head of the Energy Technology Policy Division) at the IEA summarise the key principles … [Read more...]
The standard models overestimate the cost of the low carbon transition
Why have forecasts for new low-carbon energy consistently underestimated their cost reductions? The IEA has, famously, repeatedly had to raise its estimates for solar’s contribution every year since 2009, and now describes it as the “cheapest electricity in history”. Writing for Carbon Brief, Alexandra Poncia at Arup and Paul Drummond and Michael Grubb at University College London explain that standard models focus on “technology-push” policies, … [Read more...]
EU-India cooperation: how to tap the large potential for climate action
India is the world’s fifth largest economy, the second most populous, and over the next few decades is expected to see energy demand grow more than any other country. Ritu Ahuja and Mekhala Sastry at TERI, Abhishek Kaushik at the Centre for Global Environment Research, and Alexandra Deprez and Lola Vallejo at IDDRI look at India’s challenges and which areas show the most potential for partnership with the EU. They focus on five themes: energy, … [Read more...]
Biden’s Leaders Summit: turning climate commitments into solutions
President Biden's Leaders Summit on Climate last month helped focus minds on making firm commitments to reducing global emissions. As we all know, targets are one thing, credible and realistic solutions are another. To understand the challenge better, Dolf Gielen, Ricardo Gorini and Gayathri Prakash at IRENA break down into themes those areas that need much more effort and, if dealt with successfully, can get us to net zero by 2050: structural … [Read more...]
Germany’s highest court rules climate laws are insufficient, violate rights, unfairly burden future generations
In an unexpected decision widely hailed as historic, Germany's highest court has ruled that the government's climate legislation is insufficient, and lacks detail on emission reduction targets beyond 2030. Sören Amelang, Kerstine Appunn, Charlotte Nijhuis and Julian Wettengel at Clean Energy Wire run through the background and the consequences of the case brought by youth activists and NGOs. Legal experts say the decision “significantly … [Read more...]
What is making Denmark a decarbonisation success? Policy, society, geography
Denmark is proving itself to be a decarbonisation leader, happy to turn its back on its history of oil and gas production and heavy reliance on coal. Its ambitious goal of cutting GHG emissions by 70% by 2030 makes it a global policy frontrunner, second only to Finland which aims to be climate neutral by 2035. Thibault Menu references his report for IFRI that asks what makes Denmark special. It has a long tradition of providing stability and … [Read more...]
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