The French governmentâs decision to ban some short-haul flights if there is a rail alternative under two and a half hours is only symbolic, says Andrew Murphy at T&E. It would reduce French aviation emissions by only 0.8%. Expanded to rail journeys under five hours and itâs still only 4.5%. Long-haul flying is the much bigger problem, but the resulting emissions are outside of Franceâs current climate target. Instead of just talking about … [Read more...]
Aviation and Shipping emissions: will Biden take on the challenge?
William Todts at Transport & Environment is very worried about the Biden administrationâs approach to aviation and shipping emissions. The signals are that the U.S. wants to work through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO). But they have neither the ability nor the means to spur technological breakthroughs. That matters, because itâs only the use of alternative fuels that can … [Read more...]
Bioenergy is the undervalued pillar of the clean energy transition
Bioenergy is already the worldâs largest source of renewable energy, responsible for 70% of the supply (and around 10% of total primary energy). Burning organic matter goes back to the invention of fire and is still commonplace around the globe. Yet it gets hardly any of the attention and policy support thatâs given to other clean energy technologies like solar, wind and now hydrogen. Bioenergy can and should play an even greater role, explain … [Read more...]
Biofuels vs Hydrogen: which can fuel aviation, shipping, trucks?
The positive signals coming from EV sales and charge points contrast with the lack of progress in finding alternative fuels for aviation, shipping and trucks. Cornelius Claeys runs through the prospects for biofuels and hydrogen to power long-haul transport. Biofuels are already used as a substitute for fossil fuels, and EV uptake will usefully free them for fuelling heavy transport. But as decarbonisation ambitions rise the pressure on scarce … [Read more...]
Which sectors need Hydrogen, which donât: Transport, Heating, Electricity, Storage, Industry?
Which sectors are most suited to hydrogen, and which are not? For the answer, six academics from the UK and the Netherlands - Tom Baxter, Ernst Worrell, Hu Li, Petra de Jongh, Stephen Carr, and Valeska Ting â use their areas of expertise to neatly summarise hydrogenâs pros and cons in Road and Rail, Aviation, Heating, Electricity and Energy Storage, and Heavy Industry. Their general message seems clear: hydrogen is still very expensive, so it can … [Read more...]
Franceâs recovery plan: will support for emissions-high sectors compromise a new Green economy?
The French recovery plan, formally presented today, combines emergency rescue measures, economic stimulus and longer-term investments. A substantial âŹ32bn out of the âŹ100bn budgeted is earmarked for the green economy. But SĂ©bastien Treyer at IDDRI asks whether rescue measures for traditionally emissions-high sectors - tourism, aviation, automotive, buildings, agri-food â will collide with climate targets. He references studies that should be used … [Read more...]
IEA: Without accelerating clean energy innovations we cannot hit net zero by 2050
The impressive rise of renewables and energy efficiency, alone, will not be sufficient to meet the worldâs 2050 emissions goal, says the IEA in its flagship Clean Energy Innovation report. New technologies, taken all the way through to widespread adoption by the market, must become an essential part of the net zero pathway. The stark warning is that existing policies to decarbonise shipping, trucks, aviation and heavy industry are not nearly … [Read more...]
An EU Hydrogen strategy: from industry feedstock to energy vector
The bravest recovery strategies will invest robustly in new yet-to-take-off clean energy technologies. If you are going to have to spend hundreds of billions to revive your economy isnât it better to replace the old with the new rather than prop up what youâll have to abandon soon anyway? In anticipation of that happening, new technologies are lining up. Here, CĂ©dric Philibert at the IFRI Centre for Energy & Climate summarises their detailed … [Read more...]
IRENAâs Global Renewables Outlook and how Europe can lead the way
If the coronavirus slump has knocked everything off track IRENAâs first ever Global Renewables Outlook is a timely reminder of what that track should look like. It can help policymakers design stimuli packages that will get us back onto it, and even accelerate the transition. IRENAâs Gayathri Prakash, Nicholas Wagner and Ricardo Gorini run through the comprehensive reportâs main recommendations. Annual investment, shares and GW targets to 2030 … [Read more...]
Defining green investments, ending greenwash: the EUâs new Taxonomy Regulation
When the EU Commissionâs new Taxonomy Regulation is approved, expected in March, it will provide the legal framework to define what is a truly âgreenâ investment. As Luca Bonaccorsi at Transport & Environment explains, right now asset managers and national authorities are free to define what is green, allowing some to greenwash investments in things like oil and pesticides. The Taxonomy's purpose is to reduce ambiguity and therefore increase … [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...]
Biofuels: slump in investment and innovations must be reversed
IRENA is predicting the future of liquid biofuels by monitoring the number and technology-type of patents. Itâs not looking good. The first thing to note is that, after a promising rise, the total number of patents has slid from over 6,000 in 2011 to around 2,500 in 2017. Thatâs reflected in the dramatic fall in global biofuel investments, from $27bn in 2007 to $2bn in 2017. The likely main cause is a lack of stable regulation, say Alessandra … [Read more...]
Aviationâs multiple challenges: from renewable fuels to non-CO2 emissions
Barely the first steps towards climate-neutral aviation have been made. High energy density renewable fuels are needed, and at scale. But even as they become available, hard-to-abate industries will be queuing up to buy them first. And then thereâs reducing the "non-CO2 effects" that, according to Germany's environment agency (UBA), can harm the climate twice as much as direct CO2 emissions: condensation trails, particles and other greenhouse … [Read more...]
Advanced Aviation Biofuels: ready for take-off?
A survey by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) of leading biofuel investors and producers worldwide reveals that they are still struggling to get governments to deliver the right regulatory framework â and carbon pricing â to ensure biojet fuelâs rapid growth. Scaled up, the fuel also needs to come down in price to compete with jet fuelâs 50 eurocents per litre. Technological progress is being made. But biofuel investment has … [Read more...]
UKâs net-zero ambition: counting all emissions, not just in-country
The UKâs Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has advised its government to go zero-carbon by 2050. But, say Joe Blakey and Marc Hudson of the University of Manchester, counting all emissions means counting the carbon footprint of imports too. Including these (and excluding emissions from exports) the UKâs footprint is 70% higher than the figure used by the CCC. The same is likely true for all high income economies. And the cost of successful … [Read more...]