In all the important climate and energy news this week, two developments stand out. In a case that has lasted 12 years, this week the climate scientist Michael Mann won his defamation lawsuit against two conservative writers who compared his depictions of global heating to the work of a convicted child molester. “I hope this verdict sends a message that falsely attacking climate scientists is not protected speech,” Mann said in a statement on the Washington Post website (behind a paywall). Meanwhile, as reported in the Financial Times (behind a paywall) Europe’s third-largest pension fund, Dutch pension fund PFZW, “has sold €2.8bn of its holdings in oil groups including Shell, BP and TotalEnergies because they were not doing enough to produce credible plans for the clean energy transition.” PFZW had spent two years “encouraging them to produce “verifiable” transition plans to support the aims of the Paris climate agreement to limit global temperature rises to ideally 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.” Seven listed oil and gas companies remain in its portfolios because they had a “compelling” transition strategy.
In upcoming weeks there are two events not to miss. In early March there is the European Energy Efficiency Conference which is part of World Sustainable Energy Days. In June, eceee has its biannual summer study. Check out details on the two events here.
In planning travel over the upcoming weeks, here is some useful news to help you along:
- The inews website provides Europe’s most exciting new rail routes for 2024.
- For winter walking, the Responsible Travel website gives you many interesting options.
- The EuroBikes website describes winter cycling tours.
- There is always the option of virtual tourism at the Xplore Nature Channel that EiD first promoted back in September. There are now 128 videos. Find out more about the channel here.
The latest major wildfire is in Chile. This follows many climate-related disasters all around the world. The words of Publius Ovidius Naso, known to us as Ovid (43 BC – AD 17-18), the Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus, are haunting:
If all three realms are ruined – sea and land and sky –
Then we shall be confounded in old Chaos
Save from the flames what’s left, if anything can still
be saved.
Think of the Universe.
EiD welcomes your views about this week’s selection of posts on the zero-carbon energy transition:
- “Energy communities remain an unsolved problem in Croatia”
- In January Norway became the first nation to open its continental shelf to commercial deep-sea mineral exploration
- A new multi-year concert project to benefit action on the climate crisis announced
- British multinational oil and gas company Shell is counting discredited carbon credits towards its climate goals
- As the energy transition gains momentum, attention is turning from renewable energy sources to the materials they are made from
- European solar panel manufacturers are “poised to shut down manufacturing lines” unless the EU takes emergency measures to save the sector
- Blog by Jane Marsh: What Infrastructure Does the U.S. Need for Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles?
- Climate activism – “there is a method to the seeming madness”
- Small modular reactors (SMRs) still included in EU’s climate strategy
Please send your comments on any of the posts. Please follow us on X at @EnergyDemand and @rodjanssen. Please recommend EiD to your friends and colleagues.
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Energy in Demand - Sustainable Energy - Rod Janssen 