The European Green Deal was not designed to cope with the extraordinary series of overlapping crises the world has been facing. Though the EU has ultimately been reinforced through crises, that may not continue, explain Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega and Diana-Paula Gherasim at IFRI who summarise their study “How Can the Green Deal Adapt to a Brutal World?” Costs are rising and investment is not keeping pace. Dependence on China and the burst of … [Read more...]
Low-emissions Aluminium: the ideal sector to lead the way in the new world of Recycling
The decarbonisation of any sector requires not just the right technologies and processes, but the right monitoring of where the emissions are in the supply chain. That monitoring allows the producer to focus on where the main problems are. It also allows buyers and investors to know what’s really happening, and use their power to demand a low emission product. Nicole Labutong and Wenjuan Liu at RMI look at the quality of the monitoring of the … [Read more...]
Two years on, how is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine driving energy security and decarbonisation?
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has boosted anxiety and therefore action on energy security and dependence on oil and gas. Sanctioning Russian oil and gas imports is an opportunity to replace fossil fuels with low or no carbon alternatives, an opportunity that is being taken. And renewables like wind and solar are by their nature local and therefore good for energy security (though with notable exceptions). Charles Hendry, Ellen Wald, Olga Khakova, … [Read more...]
Hydrogen: most nations’ plans to export to Europe don’t match reality. The EU should make it itself
The EU’s RePowerEU plan, quickly made in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, aims to produce 20m tonnes of renewable hydrogen by 2030, with half coming from imports. Here, T&E summarise their report that concludes this is unrealistic. The report looks at six key countries with plans to export hydrogen to the EU: Norway, Chile, Egypt, Morocco, Namibia and Oman. T&E says these countries combined would only be able to deliver a quarter … [Read more...]
Eleclink: what can be learned from this innovative private European interconnector?
Europe has put in place a specific regime to incentivise private investors to build, own and operate new interconnectors. Jean-Baptiste Vaujour at the Emlyon Business School looks at Eleclink, a private interconnector built to connect the UK with France. It uses the existing Channel Tunnel infrastructure. But the most disruptive side of Eleclink is not its smart use of the tunnel but its innovate business and regulatory model. The 1,000 MW DC … [Read more...]
Iron Ore miners try different multi-billion strategies to lower emissions for Steel producers
2024 should see a further acceleration in steel’s transition away from coal, with increasing pressure on companies in the value chain to act on their Scope 3 (indirect) emissions, explains Simon Nicholas at IEEFA. Old coal-fired blast furnaces that use low-grade iron ore are already being replaced with the direct reduced iron (DRI) process in Europe and China. That means the “big four” iron ore miners have to ramp up production of high-grade iron … [Read more...]
Is global energy security being used as an excuse to build more U.S. LNG export capacity?
Europe’s energy security is being used as an excuse in the U.S. to build more LNG terminals than are actually needed, argues Ana Maria Jaller-Makarewicz at IEEFA. European gas demand is expected to keep falling. Even with U.S. projects that are currently under construction, its LNG export capacity in 2030 will be 76% higher than Europe’s forecast demand. The U.S. should seriously re-evaluate its strategy or risk overinvestment, says … [Read more...]
Just Transition: UK’s Port Talbot steelworks are closing. What can be learnt from the Netherlands and Sweden?
A classic “just transition” story is being played out in the UK, a high income nation and Europe’s second biggest economy. Tata Steel plans to cut almost 3,000 jobs at the UK’s largest steelworks. The location, Port Talbot, is one of the most deprived places in the UK and the steelworks there are its largest private sector employer. Tata is under pressure to decarbonise its steel production, so will switch to an electric arc furnace that recycles … [Read more...]
France is subsidising made-in-EU EVs with low carbon footprints. Europe must follow
Last year, France announced new green eligibility rules for awarding subsidies to EVs. Starting this year, an incentive of €5,000-€7,000 will only be awarded to electric cars with a production carbon footprint below 14.75 tonnes of CO2. It’s a first in environmental policymaking which the EU should be delivering across the region, says Lucien Mathieu at T&E. And not just for environmental reasons. It will promote EVs made in Europe where … [Read more...]
2024 a tipping point for Sustainable Buildings? Demand now outstrips supply in major cities
Guy Grainger at JLL, writing for WEF, believes 2024 will be the tipping point when returns for investing in sustainable office buildings will start to pay dividends for building owners. That’s because, according to JLL research, there is now a good premium on rents for sustainable buildings in important locations: just over 7% across eight cities in North America, around 10% across nine cities in the Asia Pacific and more than 11% in London. In … [Read more...]
EU Elections 2024: the Green Deal can be an emblem of what Europe is for
It’s a European election year, which means all of us - not just the politicians and policy-makers – need to get our heads around what the EU is for. SĂ©bastien Treyer at the IDDRI lays out the challenges faced in a moment of climate crises, war and high inflation, when voters are prone to polarisation and manipulation. He asks the difficult questions over economic security, inequalities between Member States, global influence, engagement with … [Read more...]
Chemicals Industry needs Sustainable Feedstocks to complete their net-zero journey
The chemicals industry is crucial to decarbonisation because it’s a major supplier of products to other industries. Many are very high profile - such as automotive, construction, food, and personal-care – so scrutiny will be high. It’s why two-thirds of Europe’s largest chemical end users in Europe are committed to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030, and over a third have pledged net-zero targets by 2050. But although chemicals industry … [Read more...]
2023: a year of climate backlash? Or a show of Europe’s green resilience
Looking at the mainstream media 2023 seemed to be a year of climate backlash, but the real story was Europe’s green resilience, writes William Todts at T&E. Though support in the German coalition for 100% electric vehicles by 2035 started to unravel, it didn’t: allowing combustion cars to keep running after 2035 on 100% e-fuels should change little given there’s no way such vehicles, if they ever get built, could compete with EVs, says Todts. … [Read more...]
Building and financing the expansion of Europe’s electrical interconnection market
In the first of a series of four articles covering the expanding market for electrical interconnections in Europe, Jean-Baptiste Vaujour at the Emlyon Business School sets the scene by presenting the main points and current developments around the difficulties of building and financing these assets. Interconnectors allow power to be sent across borders to meet the shortfall where supply is not meeting demand. For example, European electricity … [Read more...]
Nearly 2,000 Hydrogen projects worldwide: IEA’s interactive tools give snapshot on progress, costs
The IEA has released new interactive data tools to track the development of low-emissions hydrogen production around the world. They provide a snapshot of progress on hydrogen production, with data on almost 2,000 projects that are either already in operation or have been announced. Most projects to date are concentrated in Europe and Australia, with a growing number planned in Africa, China, India, Latin America and the U.S. One of the tools … [Read more...]
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