The Biden administration has reintroduced Trump’s tariffs on e-bikes from China. That’s 25% tariffs on imported e-bikes and bike components made in China. An additional 25% tariff on Chinese-made battery packs used by e-bikes comes into effect in 2026. Nearly 100% of bicycles sold in the U.S. are manufactured abroad, with the vast majority coming from China. It’s all part of the U.S. policy to counteract unfair subsidies in China and develop … [Read more...]
The world needs to triple Renewables by 2030. We’re 30% off-target but it can be done
To reach the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, the world needs to triple renewable power capacity by 2030. Here, the IEA summarises its report “COP28 Tripling Renewable Capacity Pledge: Tracking countries’ ambitions and identifying policies to bridge the gap”. The report looks at almost 150 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) which set out each country’s plans, and also looks at actual progress (which in many … [Read more...]
UCO (Used Cooking Oil) for biofuels: how much is fraudulently imported virgin vegetable oil?
UCO (Used Cooking Oil) is a feedstock for biofuels. In 2023, European countries consumed close to seven million tonnes of UCO for biofuels. This is four times the continent’s maximum potential for supplying it domestically, so the rest comes from imports, mostly from China, Malaysia and Indonesia. The vast majority is blended for biodiesel to use in cars and trucks. UCO accounted for one third of conventional biodiesel feedstocks and a quarter of … [Read more...]
The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism still has 5 serious flaws
Taxing carbon at the border is a lot more complicated than you may think, explains James Bushnell at the Energy Institute at Haas. The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) imposes a tax on imported goods that is designed to reflect the carbon content of those goods. But CBAM has flaws that must be addressed. It taxes the carbon in imported inputs supplied to EU producers, but not the carbon of those same inputs if they are imported as … [Read more...]
Swappable EV batteries are on the rise in China and India. Why not the West?
Western governments are struggling to meet their targets for zero-emission vehicles, says ManMohan Sodhi at City University of London. There’s been a slowdown of sales that has a lot to do with the high cost of new EVs and the lack of charging infrastructure. Meanwhile, in China and India battery swapping – instead of charging your own battery – is on the rise. Swapping can take minutes. Knowing you can swap means you don’t need a big battery for … [Read more...]
At $2tn, investment in Clean Energy in 2024 is set to be double that for Fossil Fuels
A new report by the IEA reveals that global spending on clean energy technologies and infrastructure is on track to hit $2tn in 2024, driven largely by attractive cost reductions, improving supply chains, energy security, and government policies. This is despite higher financing costs for new projects. The combined investment in renewable power and grids only recently overtook the amount spent on fossil fuels, in 2023. 2024 will see it at double … [Read more...]
Tariffs on China’s carmakers? Chinese joint ventures and on-shoring would be better
Both the U.S. and the EU are targeting China’s carmakers with tariffs. China is accused of providing state support that allows exported vehicles to be sold at cheaper prices than those of global rivals. The tariffs will allow U.S. and EU carmakers to build up their own domestic supply chains and catch up in competitiveness. But cheap EVs help accelerate the clean transition, so tariffs will only slow it down, certainly in the short term. And … [Read more...]
To make Clean Industry stick, the United States needs new trade mechanisms
The industrial sector throughout the world needs to decarbonise. At the same time, no one country wants to incur the costs and risk losing market share to rivals who decarbonise slowly (or not at all!) Hence the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) that imposes costs on carbon-intense imports. This protects clean EU industries while incentivising importers to get going with decarbonisation or lose their European customers. Allegra Dawes … [Read more...]
China’s plans for large-scale Offshore Solar
If offshore wind, why not offshore solar? It’s been talked about for a while and implemented on a small scale in places like Norway. You Xiaoying, writing for Dialogue Earth (formerly China Dialogue), looks at China’s efforts to establish it as a new and – once scaled up - major contributor to the energy transition. The main advantages over land-based solar are clear: large spaces of land must be found, they’re not usually near population or … [Read more...]
58 national Hydrogen strategies published: a step forward, but importers’ and exporters’ plans still need to match up
So far, 58 national hydrogen strategies and roadmaps have been published. Anne-Sophie Corbeau and Rio Kaswiyanto at the Center on Global Energy Policy take a close look, summarising their regularly updated database, the “National Hydrogen Strategies and Roadmap Tracker.” Only 12 countries are planning to become importers, mostly in Asia and Europe. Most of the others plan to be exporters. Many existing fossil fuel exporters want to preserve their … [Read more...]
Analysis of Clean Technology Manufacturing around the world: solar PV, wind, batteries, electrolysers, heat pumps
For every nation, clean technology manufacturing can bring economic security, employment, and resilience to clean energy transitions, says the IEA. The sector is now so significant that it’s also impacting overall GDP performance: in 2023, clean technology manufacturing alone accounted for around 4% of global GDP growth and nearly 10% of global investment growth. Here, the IEA summarises its first-of-its-kind “Energy Technology Perspectives … [Read more...]
What China, Germany, and Texas tell us about Capacity Adequacy
As intermittent renewables penetrate further into the grid mix, reliable firm power generation is needed for whenever there is a shortfall. But back-up power, by its nature, has unreliable utilisation rates. And up-front costs for new plants are high, be they gas-fired plants, coal, nuclear, or large-scale storage. That makes future profitability uncertain, and private investors nervous. Hence the need for “capacity mechanisms” that guarantee … [Read more...]
10% of global GDP growth came from the new Clean Energy economy in 2023
The clean energy economy is making its mark on global GDP, explain Laura Cozzi, Timur GĂĽl, Thomas Spencer and Peter Levi at the IEA. It accounted for 10% of global GDP growth in 2023, primarily through three activities: manufacturing of clean energy technologies, deployment of clean power capacity, and clean equipment sales. Here, the authors present the in-depth results for four of the largest economies: the U.S, the EU, China and India, which … [Read more...]
EVs, Batteries: how can Europe use tariffs on China without starting a trade war?
Europe must decarbonise as fast as possible while safeguarding essential economic, social and security interests. Decarbonisation without deindustrialisation needs carefully thought-out trade policy, and tariffs can be an effective instrument, explains T&E, summarising its recently released paper. Almost a fifth of all EVs sold in the EU last year were made in China. Over half of those were made by Western carmakers operating in China, but … [Read more...]
Who is winning the Clean Energy race between China, Europe, and the US?
“X-Change: The Race to the Top” is the fourth report of an RMI series that reviews the cleantech competition between China, Europe, and the US. Kingsmill Bond, Sam Butler-Sloss and Daan Walter at RMI summarise the findings of the latest report, along with six charts, which focuses on four areas: clean technology supply chains, solar and wind deployment, EV sales, and electrification. Solar and wind deployment is still a close contest. But China … [Read more...]
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