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...]
The link between global GDP growth and CO2 emissions is weakening rapidly. Will emissions peak well before 2030?
Economic growth has been closely tied to rising greenhouse gas emissions since the industrial age. But data now clearly shows that that GDP growth and CO2 emissions are diverging. Siddharth Singh at the IEA presents the numbers. In advanced economies that divergence now seems locked in, with 2007 marking the moment of peak emissions (and not simply because of offshoring manufacturing). Even in developing economies GDP growth is far outpacing … [Read more...]
Scaling Hydrogen financing in Emerging Markets and Developing Countries
To meet the global target for clean hydrogen of 10-15% of energy use by 2050 we need to produce 40m tonnes by 2030. The rich OECD countries simply do not have the renewables resources to do it alone. So there must be a global effort to actively support hydrogen production in Emerging Markets and Developing Countries (EMDCs), explain Carolina Lopez Rocha and Dolf Gielen at the World Bank Group and Ignacio de Calonje at the IFC. They summarise the … [Read more...]
Another good year for Renewables. But can we triple Wind and Solar by 2030?
COP28 saw a calling for a tripling of renewable capacities by 2030, off the back of positive signs. In 2022, 80% of incremental power demand and 12% of electricity generated worldwide came from solar and wind. And the IEA believes solar generation can grow at 25% to 2030. But, as Ramnath Iyer at IEEFA explains, specific challenges must be met to ramp up successfully. The non-financial barriers include a lack of policy clarity, permitting, and … [Read more...]
The E-bike revolution is already underway (in developing countries): 280m micro-vehicles on the road and rising
While we’re all still waiting for the tipping point for EVs, it might have already happened for e-bikes – just not in rich countries. Car-owning nations will always struggle to switch to micro-mobility. But in China and other developing nations, owning a moped or bicycle is very common, so the switch is much easier, explain Muhammad Rizwan Azhar and Waqas Uzair at Edith Cowan University. It’s why, globally by 2022, there were over 280m electric … [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...]
Middle East & Africa to export Hydrogen to Europe? Better to make green Iron & Steel and export that
The MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) is well suited to making green hydrogen. There’s huge potential for powering green hydrogen production with cheap solar. And Europe wants to import it. But Soroush Basirat and Simon Nicholas at IEEFA argue that MENA should use the green hydrogen to make green iron and steel and export that. It already has an established direct reduced iron (DRI) sector: now powered by gas which can be swapped out for … [Read more...]
Europe is updating its price cap sanctions on Russian oil. How to make them work?
The EC has put forward proposals for tightening the implementation of a price cap on Russian oil exports. Brian O’Toole, Olga Khakova and Charles Lichfield at the Atlantic Council and Tomasz Wlostowski at EU Strategies review the performance of the price cap sanctions one year on from their implementation, and give recommendations for how to make them work better. Though most observers agree that the cap has limited export income for Russia this … [Read more...]
Nations are on track to meet their NDC targets. The catch is those targets aren’t high enough for net zero by 2050
Globally, current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) targets are within reach thanks to the increasing speed of clean energy transitions around the world. That’s as NDCs have, as planned, got more ambitious as nations have updated them every five years. The problem is current NDCs are still not ambitious enough to meet our actual 2050 net zero target. Daniel Wetzel, Gabriel Saive, Luca Lo Re and Alice Latella at the IEA summarise the … [Read more...]
Carbon Pricing: almost 25% of emissions now covered globally, but coverage and prices must rise further
Despite early scepticism, carbon pricing is making its mark globally. Today almost a quarter of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are covered by a carbon price, compared to just 7% ten years ago. 73 national and sub-national jurisdictions have carbon pricing, explain Joseph Pryor and Venkat Ramana Putti at The World Bank, writing for the Florence School of Regulation and quoting from the World Bank’s State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2023 … [Read more...]
Nuclear power capacity is growing globally. Where, how and why
Ewan Thomson at the World Economic Forum summarises the state of nuclear power worldwide. In 2020 it made up 10% of global electricity generation, more than all the wind and solar PV combined. It’s the second-largest source of low-emissions electricity. But many advanced countries are no longer backing nuclear, citing safety and cost concerns, and instead are pushing the growing number of alternative clean energy technologies. Nevertheless, … [Read more...]
Will U.S. become the Global Gas Market’s source of flexibility and security of supply?
The U.S. will take the lead in offering flexibility and security of supply to the global gas market, and at prices linked to its wholesale gas market, the most liquid in the world, argue Kong Chyong and Ira Joseph at the Center on Global Energy Policy. It’s because the U.S. leads in the three key sources of gas trade flexibility, critical to meeting unexpected supply and demand gaps: natural gas storage systems, spare capacity in production and … [Read more...]
IEA report: global manufacturing capacity is expanding rapidly for solar, wind, batteries, electrolysers, heat pumps
The IEA summarises its special briefing, “The State of Clean Technology Manufacturing.” It’s a global update on recent progress in key regions, focussing on five technologies – solar PV, wind, batteries, electrolysers and heat pumps – critical to the energy transition. It should be read to keep decision makers informed of investment trends and the impact of industrial strategies. Overall, manufacturing capacity for these technologies is expanding … [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...]
Global “explosive” growth means 1 in 3 new cars will be electric by 2030. But SUV emissions could wipe out those gains
More than a third of all new vehicles sold globally in 2030 will be electric, according to the IEA. That’s a doubling of its prediction made only two years ago. Josh Gabbatiss at Carbon Brief summarises the report. The IEA describes the growth as “explosive”: from just 1% of global car sales in 2017, to 14% last year, and now 18% expected by the end of 2023. China has consistently dominated those sales while new policies in the U.S. and EU are … [Read more...]
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