We need to cut global methane emissions from fossil fuels by 75% by 2030 to be on target to limit warming to 1.5°C. That equates to 90 Mt of the current total of 120 Mt of annual fossil fuel methane emissions. The IEA says 80 Mt can be avoided through the deployment of known and existing technologies, often at low â or even negative â cost. And the 75% cut needs $170bn in spending to 2030, a very achievable sum given it represents less than 5% of … [Read more...]
The European Green Deal isnât coping with a turbulent world. What must change?
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 âHow Can the Green Deal Adapt to a Brutal World?â Costs are rising and investment is not keeping pace. Dependence on China and the burst of … [Read more...]
Deadly loophole: third countries are refining Russian oil and exporting it to EU and G7 perfectly legally
There is a loophole in the sanctions imposed by EU/G7 countries that prohibit the importation of Russian crude oil and oil products. Third countries not imposing sanctions can import Russian crude, refine it into oil products and legally export them to price cap coalition countries (PCC). An analysis by CREA reveals that âŹ8.5bn of PCC imports of oil products in the 13 months to the end of 2023 were made from Russian crude. Also, in 2023, there … [Read more...]
Coal exit saves money when public health, land degradation costs added – analysis
Coal is cheap. In countries historically reliant on it, as well as emerging economies still building plants, switching to cleaner energy just doesnât seem to add up. Thatâs when youâre only looking at your national energy system costs. But the externality costs of air pollution, public health and a degraded local environment are rarely factored in to the equation. When they are, explains Sebastian Rauner writing for Carbon Brief, abandoning coal … [Read more...]
Electricity pricing: shifting costs on to households that can afford it
Utilities need to invest in the future, and the Transition needs to be paid for by their customers. The less painful that is to each customer, the more publicly acceptable it will be. Maximilian Auffhammer at the Energy Institute at Haas explains how electricity pricing usually combines a fixed monthly charge with a block rate price (the charge for each additional unit of energy). Here he reviews a new report that scrutinises how different firms … [Read more...]
Global âsectoralâ treaties, legally binding corporate targets can turn around emissions rise
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change started with a top-down legally binding Kyoto Protocol and ended up with a bottom-up âself-determinedâ voluntary Paris Agreement, says Chandra Bhushan. As a result, nobody has the tools to drive global collective action to combat climate change. The author says thatâs why emissions are at record levels. He recommends international âsectoralâ treaties to achieve real transition in energy, … [Read more...]
A record year for big corporates buying renewable energy to run their operations
In the U.S. 2018 set a new record for total capacity of announced corporate renewable energy (RE) purchases. Facebook, AT&T, Walmart, ExxonMobil and Microsoft top the list. This unprecedented demand has been met with robust supply from renewable energy project developers as well as from utilities, which have demonstrated their willingness to work with these buyers in finding new solutions in the market. The Rocky Mountain Instituteâs Lily … [Read more...]