The U.S. Department of Energy's new initiative to subsidize coal and nuclear generation could cost U.S. businesses and households up to $10.6 billion annually, writes Silvio Marcacci, Communications Director at think tank Energy Innovation. This money would go to about 10 companies.  … [Read more...]
Poland may be ready for energy turnaround
The Polish conservative government has been trying (and failing) to bail out coal, and maintain energy independence, writes journalist MichaĹ‚ Olszewski. But according to Olszewski, these expensive and polluting practices could be coming to an end. Slowly but surely, the energy transition emerges in Poland. Courtesy Energy Transition – the Global Energiewende. … [Read more...]
The Polish energy problem – the Ukrainian nuclear solution
Poland can’t continue to rely on coal, because it’s dirty, inefficient and increasingly has to be imported from Russia. But is there an alternative? Yes, there is, writes Mike Parr of consultancy PWR: Poland could import excess nuclear power from Ukraine. In fact, the interconnections for this have been in place for years. But Polish politicians have not taken action. … [Read more...]
Will Donald Trump take down the Arctic Refuge?Â
The U.S. Department of the Interior is preparing a five-year strategic plan that never once mentions climate change, but is likely to open up the Arctic Refuge for oil and gas exploration. U.S. Interior Secretary has already told the Alaska Gas and Oil Association that “Alaska is open for business”. According to author and professor of ecology Subhankar Banerjee, the plans of the Trump Administration are the beginning of a war against … [Read more...]
India’s green shift to renewables: How fast is it happening?
India is moving at a rapid pace to adopt a green shift in its power sector, across industry and in transport, aiming to reduce dependence on the black fossil fuelled energy economy, write Simran Talwar and John A. Mathews. But finance remains a problem: many banks are complacent in their lending to fossil fuel projects. Attempts in the international trade arena to curb India’s strategies of building green power industries using the tools of local … [Read more...]
How the International Energy Agency is steering the world to climate disaster
The International Energy Agency (IEA) likes to present itself as a climate champion, but it is in fact steering the energy system towards catastrophic levels of warming, writes Greg Muttitt, Senior Advisor at NGO Oil Change International. The IEA is supposed to be an advisory body to its members countries, Muttit notes, but its real masters appear to be the fossil fuel companies. … [Read more...]
The Gas Directive and its application to EU-Third Country pipelines
The existing EU Gas Directive regulates issues pertaining to the transmission of gas from third countries to the Union, but is ambiguous. It can be interpreted in such a way that gas pipelines from these countries are not covered by EU energy regulations, leaving room for abuse. The European Commission’s proposal to clarify  the application of the Gas Directive to these pipelines is therefore to be welcomed, writes Szymon ZarÄ™ba, international … [Read more...]
The European Commission’s last-ditch effort to stop Nord Stream 2: how likely is it to succeed?
The European Commission’s proposal to extend the Gas Directive to so-called import pipelines is an obvious attempt to try to block Nord Stream 2, writes Karel Beckman, editor-in-chief of Energy Post. According to Beckman, it is not likely to succeed: the opposition to Nord Stream 2 is political in nature and cannot be stopped through legal means. (This article is part of a two-part response to the Commission’s proposal of 8 November to amend the … [Read more...]
How MEPs misuse energy poverty to water down efficiency legislation
On 28 November, the Industry committee of the European Parliament will deliver a crucial vote on the EU 2030 energy efficiency target. According to ClĂ©mence Hutin, who works for the Climate Justice and Energy Programme of Friends of the Earth Europe, there is cross-party support for an ambitious 40% target, but she warns that two key rapporteurs on the file are no friends of energy efficiency. Both, she says, have incorrectly argued that higher … [Read more...]
COP23: ramping up ambition
In a timely reminder for the national negotiators at the Climate conference in Bonn (COP23), PwC recently released their annual Low Carbon Economy Index, which showed yet again that current emission reduction plans for the global economy do not match the goal of the Paris Agreement, writes David Hone, Chief Climate Change Advisor at Shell. According to Hone, the task that confronts the negotiators is to turn the Agreement into a set of effective … [Read more...]
Lost in regulation: the EU and Nord Stream 2
The European Commission has proposed changing the Gas Market Directive to include import pipelines from third countries. This would make EU regulations, such as unbundling and third-party access rules, applicable to Nord Stream 2. According to Severin Fischer, Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich, the Commission’s approach to Gazprom’s pipeline project risks getting lost in legal inconsistencies. Fischer … [Read more...]
It is time for the UN climate process to tackle fossil fuels
The word “fossil fuels” does not appear in the Paris Climate Agreement, write Georgia Piggot and Peter Erickson of the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). They call on leaders to start addressing not just greenhouse gas emissions, but coal, oil and gas production as well. Courtesy Climate Home News. … [Read more...]
What climate change policy puts America first?
The Trump Administration has ordered federal agencies to use a “social cost of carbon” that only takes into account domestic consequences of climate change, writes Meredith Fowlie, Assistant Professor of Agriculture and Resource Economics at the University of California at Berkeley. That translates into a cost of $1-$6 per ton, instead of the $45 per ton that was under the Obama Administration. Fowlie explains the reasoning behind the policy … [Read more...]
Is the Paris climate deal legally binding or not?
“Like hell it’s non-binding,” Donald Trump has said of the 2015 UN deal to cut carbon pollution. Is he right, ask Timmons Roberts and Angelica Arellano? The answer is not black or white. Article courtesy Climate Home News. … [Read more...]
How Romania can become a key player in the European gas market
Romania has the third largest natural gas reserves within the European Union (EU) and new reserves are still being discovered. With domestic gas production within the EU declining, the country could play an important role in the regional market. But for this to happen, interconnections need to be expanded and the liberalization of the market needs to be completed, write Ramona Visenescu and Henry Bartelet of the independent international think … [Read more...]
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