Andrei Belyi at the University of Eastern Finland says there are three main causes behind the huge rise in European gas prices. Everyone already understands that the reversal of the previous gas glut that gave us such low prices has been caused by a decline in European gas production, LNG imports and Russian gas deliveries. Added to that is the utilities’ reliance on spot contracts rather than termed contracts – great when prices were low – that … [Read more...]
What is your nation’s “deforestation footprint”? When imports cut down trees somewhere else
Behaviour change is now inextricably linked to the transition and must be part of the world’s emissions reduction strategy, and there are many different types of relevant behaviour and ways to measure the impacts. One is to look at deforestation, caused by chopping down trees to meet our consumer needs. To grasp whose behaviour has to change we need to appreciate to what extent deforestation in places like Brazil, Canada, Liberia, Vietnam etc., … [Read more...]
The Netherlands: a Blue Hydrogen economy now will ease a transition to Green
Barthold Schroot at EBN makes the case for blue hydrogen for the Netherlands now, to minimise emissions and make life easier for green hydrogen later. The country is a big consumer of natural gas that, realistically, cannot be quickly replaced with renewables. So what’s the best alternative to burning that gas and can be introduced the soonest? Green hydrogen production (emissions-free) will take time to reach scale as it needs to piggy-back off … [Read more...]
China’s 14th Five-Year Plan will reshape its growing Gas sector
Demand for natural gas in China is set to continue its rise, increasing by 7% to 9% annually to reach up to 500 bcm by 2025, explains Sylvie Cornot-Gandolphe at the IFRI Centre for Energy & Climate. Domestic gas production has continued its significant growth too, driven by a surge in shale gas. Even then, gas imports – both pipeline and LNG - should increase to fulfil the rising supply/demand gap. This growing importance of gas in the energy … [Read more...]
Imported U.S. LNG: what’s its true climate footprint?
Importing LNG from the U.S., to replace coal, makes sense for Europe only if the total emissions including those throughout the chain of production are lower than the alternatives. Julian Wettengel at CLEW looks at reports that say the total methane emissions from the world’s largest oil and gas field – the Permian Basin in West Texas – are particularly high and may push it over that threshold. Flaring, venting and leakage are the main cause. … [Read more...]
UK’s net-zero ambition: counting all emissions, not just in-country
The UK’s 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 UK’s 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...]
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