The US and India have signed a deal to "enhance cooperation" on cutting emissions and investing in low carbon energy sources. The agreement is much weaker than the historic pact signed between the US and China last year. But there are a number of good reasons India is reluctant to take strong action to curb its emissions in the short term. Mat Hope of the Carbon Brief describes India's huge energy and climate challenge. … [Read more...]
Eon’s transformation: how it will change the energy debate in Europe
With Eon’s historic decision to restructure we now for the first time will have  a large energy supplier not being pulled in two directions, but acting on the single imperative of bringing new energy solutions to customers. This removes one of the key obstacles that has been hindering the energy transition, writes Simon Skillings, former Director of Strategy and Policy at Eon UK and now independent consultant and associate at environmental think … [Read more...]
UK “capacity market” is not a market – it’s state aid (£1 billion/year)
 The UK is the first country in the EU to have started a “capacity market”. Under this scheme, the UK government offers payments to electricity suppliers for making “backup capacity” available. The first auction, held in December for capacity in 2018/2019, has resulted in contracts for ÂŁ931 million for UK power generators. According to Mike Parr, Director of energy consultancy PWR, most of this money is wasted. He says the scheme is overgenerous … [Read more...]
UK coal use headed for all-time record low
This year UK coal use is likely to fall back to levels last seen during the industrial revolution, according to analysis from The Carbon Brief. By 2023 the UK may not use any coal anymore for electricity generation, if low gas prices persist. The nation that started the Industrial Revolution, based on coal, says goodbye to the coal age. … [Read more...]
Eon sells Italian coal and gas power plants
Eon, Germany’s largest energy company, has decided to sell its Italian coal and gas generation assets to Czech energy company EnergetickĂ˝ a PrĹŻmyslovĂ˝ Holding (EPH). … [Read more...]
Scientists: large fossil reserves must stay in ground
Christophe McGlade and Paul Ekins of the Institute for Sustainable Resources at University College London have published a paper in the scientific journal Nature presenting their research on "the carbon bubble" aka as "stranded assets". They come to alarming conclusions for fossil fuel producers: no new exploration should be undertaken anymore if climate change is to be contained. … [Read more...]
UK capacity market: success for new gas, old coal
A new government policy designed to ensure the UK's future energy supply appears to have successfully incentivised companies to build over two gigawatts of new gas power, to sit alongside nine gigawatts of coal and biomass power. It should ensure the UK will have at least 48.6 gigawatts of fossil fuel power stations available in 2018. … [Read more...]
Ukraine’s coal power plants need a planned phase out, not CCS
There are discussions in Ukraine about equipping coal-fired power plants with carbon capture and storage (CCS) to make them conform to EU climate rules. But according to Oleg Savitsky, climate and energy campaigner at the National Ecological Center of Ukraine, this is not a good idea. Ukraine has a vast overcapacity of obsolete coal power plants that should be closed down, not kept alive. That would also help the country get rid of the massive … [Read more...]
What came out of Lima
Hundreds of country negotiating teams have been meeting in Lima, Peru over the past two weeks for the latest round of international climate negotiations. Mat Hope of The Carbon Brief gives an excellent overview of the results and discusses next steps. Overall conclusion: international climate negotiations have taken a step forward, but only a very small step. … [Read more...]
EXCLUSIVE – new Vattenfall CEO Magnus Hall: “What is true for Eon, is pretty much true for us”
Vattenfall’s CEO Magnus Hall likens the selling of its lignite operations in Germany to Eon’s recent split in two. “The problem we needed to solve was the CO2 issue,” says Hall in an exclusive interview with Energy Post. The new chief of the Swedish state-owned company has abandoned the idea of splitting up the company geographically. Its future lies in sustainability, says Hall, e.g. in offshore wind. He notes the European market is distorted by … [Read more...]
IEA: coal, nuclear, shale should be part of EU energy mix, Energy Union should not be buyers’ cartel
The European Union “has made progress in liberalising energy markets, and its global leadership on climate change is to be commended”, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today as it released its review of EU energy policies. But the IEA also had criticisms to make. … [Read more...]
Can we use gas as a ‘bridging fuel’ to a low carbon world?
Gas can be a bridge fuel, displacing coal and reducing carbon emissions, concludes a new report from the UK Energy Research Centre. But only for the next twenty years, and only if the world sorts out carbon capture and storage (CCS) and sees a dramatic cut in coal use. Christian Hunt of the Carbon Brief has the story. … [Read more...]
Ukraine’s winter survival strategy – and what is to be done next
The de facto third gas war between Ukraine and Russia is only part of a broader, difficult situation for the whole Ukrainian energy sector. This winter may prove to be one of the toughest for Ukraine. The big challenge, however, lies in ensuring security of supply in the following years, write Andrii Chubyk of the Centre for Global Studies “Strategy XXI” and Zuzanna Nowak of the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM). According to … [Read more...]
Fossil-fueled Republicanism: what to expect from the new US Congress
While more and more people around the world are coming to recognize the need for restraints on fossil fuel consumption, the new Republican-dominated Congress will lead the United States in the opposite direction, writes Michael Klare, author of many books and articles on energy policy. Klare outlines the energy policies the Republicans in Congress are likely to pursue and explains what is behind their fervent commitment to oil and gas. In an … [Read more...]
The “historic” US-China climate change deal confirms that we are failing in the fight against climate change
The US-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change made on 11 November, has been hailed by many as a historic breakthrough in the fight against climate change, but it has also met with quite a bit of scepticism. Robert Wilson, who publishes the blog The Energy Transition on the website of The Energy Collective, argues that the agreement between the two largest economies in the world demonstrates that the world is failing to deal with the threat of … [Read more...]
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