In May the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed new rules regulating carbon emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants. Here, four experts from the Center for Strategic and International Studies – Cy McGeady, John Larsen, Kyle Danish and Mathias Zacarias – make their assessment and point at the wide-ranging implications. The main issues covered include CCS, hydrogen-fuelled generation, state clean energy standards, carbon pricing, … [Read more...]
Five charts on the Energy Transition: the 2020s is the decade of maximum disruption. By 2030 the endgame will be clear
Sam Butler-Sloss and Kingsmill Bond at RMI present a succinct summary of why the energy transition matters, how the 2020s is the era of maximum disruption, and how by 2030 the transition’s endgame will be apparent (though far from complete). Four key technologies are already entering the exponential growth stage: solar, wind, EVs and heat pumps. As early as 2030 their cheapness will flush away the fossil equivalents in succeeding decades, say the … [Read more...]
The history of evidence of CO2-driven climate change starts in the mid-1800s
Marc Hudson at the University of Sussex gives us a fascinating review of the history of climate change science. While the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988, experimental evidence that CO2 traps heat dates back to the mid-1800s. The first predictions of global warming caused by humans came in 1895. The big change in perception took place in 1953. Canadian physicist Gilbert Plass (an academic whose career also … [Read more...]
Record clean-power growth in 2023: is Coal and Gas decline now structurally embedded?
Last year, wind and solar reached a record 12% of global electricity generation, according to think tank Ember’s latest global electricity review. The overall share of all forms of low-carbon electricity rose to almost 40% of total generation. Josh Gabbatiss at Carbon Brief goes through the Ember review which heralds this as the moment fossils began their permanent decline. Ember calls it “structural” and “enduring” because previous declines only … [Read more...]
Electric Utilities: ESG investors should invest in, not avoid, the high-carbon emitters
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings point climate-conscious investors away from companies that are not decarbonising fast enough (or at all!). But surely they should be doing the exact opposite when it comes to climate-critical sectors like electric utilities, explain Tricia Holland, Ryan Foelske, Ella Warshauer, Jon Rea, Sarah LaMonaca and Uday Varadarajan at RMI. Of course, that presents a new challenge. The investor first needs … [Read more...]
Fulfilling U.S. wind and solar ambitions will use under 1% of its land (that’s less than the fossil fuel footprint)
Meeting the U.S.’s wind and solar ambitions in full would take up less than 1% of its land, less than the fossil fuel industry’s current footprint. Steve Clemmer at UCS goes into the details of NREL’s comprehensive study of land use for wind and solar. Of particular interest is the observation that setting a high bar for “responsible siting” of wind and solar projects - avoiding the use of sensitive, protected, urban areas, difficult terrain or … [Read more...]
Message to environmentalists and the left: you can’t oppose both fossil investments and Carbon Pricing
Environmental and social justice opponents of fossil investments need to think carefully about the consequences of preventing all forms of new fossil infrastructure and maintenance. As Catherine Wolfram at the Haas School of Business explains, if fossils are phased out faster than clean energy is phased in, consumer prices go up and the fossil firms profit. A carbon price – often opposed by the same U.S. “progressives” as a tax disproportionately … [Read more...]
Doubling clean energy investments from “natural” redirection of existing spend on infrastructure, buildings, fossils +more
Annual investments in clean energy stand at $1.4tn, now greater than investments in fossil fuels ($1tn). But that needs to double by 2030. This steep climb will be made easier by the natural cycle of global investment, as well as the cost-benefits of abandoning fossil fuels for renewables and greater efficiencies, says Stephen Peake at The Open University. Each year, around a quarter of our GDP is anyway spent on new machinery, buildings and … [Read more...]
Electricity market re-design should focus on the root cause of the crisis, Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels
Amidst the perfect storm of the pandemic, war in Ukraine, and extreme weather events, Bruce Douglas at Eurelectric urges us all not to lose focus on our decarbonisation targets. Energy savings, electrification and renewables are more important than ever to help reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Douglas explains that Europe’s electricity sector remains totally committed to the drive towards clean energy, citing examples. He summarises the … [Read more...]
End Fossil Fuel subsidies by shifting them to poorer households
In May, the environment ministers of the G7 agreed to end fossil fuel subsidies within this decade. Around $650 bn/year is spent worldwide on subsidising all energy sources, with the majority ($450bn) going to fossil fuels despite the climate crisis. But simply removing the subsidies has proven difficult. They keep energy costs low for consumers. It’s why public protest resisted the change in Ecuador and France in 2019. And developing nations … [Read more...]
