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...]
Buying carbon allowances while decarbonising: what’s the best strategy for an EU industrial firm?
EU industrial companies affected by the big changes to their carbon costs that come from the new EU ETS rules and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) must create strategies to deal with them, if they haven’t started already. Otherwise they will fall behind those that have. Pablo Ruiz at Rabobank summarises their analyses and conclusions. Ruiz presents a map for each of the different starting positions. The study looks at the critical … [Read more...]
Modelling revenue potential for Germany’s Battery Storage future
In the last ten years Germany has installed battery storage systems totalling 6.5 GW of power and 10.1 GWh of energy. Storage is an essential part of every nation’s electrification plans: for peak shaving, uninterruptible power for industrial customers, use as a buffer, and self-supply in households. Elena Dahlem and Alex Schmitt at Energy Brainpool start with a summary of storage’s use in the household, industrial and large-scale sectors. They … [Read more...]
EU Energy Outlook to 2060: power prices and revenues predicted for wind, solar, gas, hydrogen + more
Huangluolun Zhou, Elena Dahlem and Alex Schmitt at Energy Brainpool present their updated “EU Energy Outlook 2060”, modelling how the European energy system will undergo major changes in the coming decades while continuing to guarantee a secure supply and meet its climate targets. What do these developments mean for power prices, revenue potential and risks for solar PV and wind? The two main scenarios are “Central” and “GoHydrogen” for the EU 27 … [Read more...]
Cost vs Resilience: Europe’s sourcing strategy will shape the regional Hydrogen economy
The upcoming EU Hydrogen Bank pilot auction and trilogue discussions are focussing minds on the future of hydrogen. Jonas Lotze and Massimo Moser at TransnetBW and Janina Erb, Roman Flatau, Felix Greven and Max Labmayr at d-fine present the results of their modelling of two hydrogen sourcing scenarios: "Global Market" (GM) where the import of hydrogen into Europe is unrestricted, and "Energy Resilient Europe" (ERE) where almost all hydrogen is … [Read more...]
How much protection from carbon-intensive imports will CBAM give to EU industries?
The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is not a business-as-usual instrument that allows sectors to delay decarbonisation. It applies a levy on imported goods equal to the internal EU ETS-related carbon price, so that both EU-produced goods and those imported into the EU face similar carbon cost pressures. But sectors must use the CBAM phase-in period to decarbonise. Pablo Ruiz and Barbara Kölbl at Rabobank look at how different … [Read more...]
Annual Energy Efficiency improvements must double to meet climate targets. We know how to do it
Global energy intensity – a measure of how efficiently the global economy uses energy – improved by just over 2% in 2022. That needs to double to 4% annually to 2030 to meet global efficiency targets, explains Brian Motherway at the IEA. If achieved, by 2030 one unit of energy used will generate 40% more economic output than today. That’s huge, and shows why few other policy areas offer such widespread benefits. More than half of the 150 … [Read more...]
Resource nationalism is not the United States’ biggest minerals problem
A growing number of resource-rich nations are planning to restrict exports of unprocessed raw materials, explain Gracelin Baskaran and Cy McGeady at CSIS. Currently, a significant proportion of critical minerals are exported to China for processing, giving it monopoly power in the value chain. If countries like the DRC, Namibia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Indonesia instead processed their own raw materials they would create skilled jobs and industries … [Read more...]
EU states agree deal on electricity market to protect consumers from price volatility, boost cheap renewable power
On Tuesday EU member states finally agreed on how to reform the bloc's electricity market after long months of difficult negotiations. The introduction of long-term contracts, particularly contracts for difference (CfDs), should stabilise prices for consumers and give certainty to investors in new generation. But the big concern had been how the state support implicit in CfDs might be used to bias the playing field in favour of nuclear and coal, … [Read more...]
How much Carbon Capture does the EU need from LULUCF, BECCS, Industrial CCS, DACCS?
How much carbon capture does the EU need to 2050? Robert Jeszke and MichaĹ‚ Lewarski at The National Centre for Emissions Management (KOBiZE), writing for the Florence School of Regulation, start by pointing out that mainstream estimates vary significantly, from 50-300 Mt CO2 to 1,300-1,500 Mt CO2. They then present their study (their estimate is 550 Mt CO2). The study highlights the importance of BECCS (Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage): … [Read more...]
IRENA’s Innovation Week 2023: Renewable solutions to decarbonise end-use sectors
At the end of September IRENA held a four-day event “Innovation Week 2023: Renewable solutions to decarbonise end-use sectors” in Bonn, Germany. A wide range of speakers discussed tangible solutions to decarbonise energy intensive sectors such as transportation, buildings and industry, informed by first-hand project experiences and supported by insights from IRENA’s in-depth analyses. Topics included direct and indirect electrification, green … [Read more...]
Event summary: “Bioenergy after REDIII – sustainable, climate neutral fuels for industry, transport and negative emissions”
Sara Stefanini provides a written summary of our panel discussion held on Wednesday 4th October 2023. It’s a full summary of the 75 minute discussion, and begins conveniently with a summary of the highlights. Under the recently revised Renewable Energy Directive (REDIII) bioenergy can be counted towards the renewable energy targets – provided that it meets strict sustainability criteria. Bioenergy already accounts for 60% of the EU’s renewable … [Read more...]
Electrochemical Carbon Capture: a cheaper one-step process, power by clean energy
Carbon capture is expensive. Hence continuous attempts in laboratories around the world to find new ways to capture CO2 that are simpler and cheaper. One problem with the traditional method is that it is a two-step process, and energy intensive (therefore powered by high-heat fossil fuels). Jennifer Chu at MIT describes a new electrochemical method that separates out CO2 in a single step, and it’s powered by clean energy. It’s particularly … [Read more...]
H2 Green Steel has raised billions in 3 years: a case study of Industrial Project Finance
The financing of H2 Green Steel (H2GS), founded in 2020, can be taken as a template for capital intensive industrial first-of-a-kind projects that must raise billions quickly to build from scratch and go live. Shravan Bhat and Asia Salazar at RMI describe H2GS’s financing journey to reveal five key lessons for raising funds. Against the usual logic, large, diverse, equity investor pools can work (H2GS counts over 20 different equity investors). … [Read more...]
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