New oil and gasfields are expected to grow fourfold despite IEA warnings, the Financial Times (behind a paywall) reported this week in their energy newsletter. At least 20 new oil and gasfields reached final investment decisions worldwide last year and “this figure to grow nearly fourfold by the end of the decade, with another 31bn boe (barrels of oil equivalent) across 64 new fields permitted by 2030.” The data comes from the Global Energy Monitor, an environmental research group. The article goes on: “Exxon is pursuing the “holy grail” of expanding production beyond its current levels of almost 4mn boe per day while transitioning to a lower-emissions future,” according to Liam Mallon, head of upstream at Exxon. The US leads the world in approvals of new oil and gas reserves in the past two years. The FT shows that oil majors and state-owned companies are behind the majority of new discoveries and approvals. Are we really in an energy transition?
A new manifesto on sufficiency was published this week by 75 European organisations from civil society, academia, local and regional authorities, businesses and public service operators. The manifesto calls on EU decision-makers to make sufficiency a central element of the EU’s strategic agenda. The next European Commission coming later this year should propose a sufficiency strategy, aiming to integrate sufficiency into the 2040 legislative framework, as well as into all relevant policies.
Congratulations to the organisers for the recent launch of the Cool Heating Coalition, a new grouping of NGOs and think tanks promoting sustainable heating and cooling. The launch on March 19th in Brussels included cupcakes, a céilí (a traditional Scottish and Irish social gathering) and an inspiring speech from Green MEP Ciarán Cuffe on the prospects for a ‘gentle revolution’ in decarbonised heating and cooling. Check out the coalition’s first publication – ‘Just Right’ – eight policy recommendations to decarbonise heating and cooling – affectionately known to the inner circle as the Goldilocks report. Also read the recent column by the coalition’s director, Delia Villagrasa about the coalition on the eceee website.
In upcoming weeks there are two events not to miss. In May there is Australia’s 2024 Energy Efficiency National Conference. In June, eceee holds its bi-annual summer study. Check out details on the two events here. For the recent World Sustainable Energy Days, here is a good review of the event.
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 the best hikes in Europe in 2024, there are many good suggestions on the 57 hours website. For those who want to combine hiking with food and wine, check out the Hedonistic Hiking website.
- 5 stunning spring cycling destinations in Europe are recommended on the Get Your Guide website.
- There is always the option of virtual tourism at the Xplore Nature Channel. There are now 130 videos. Find out more about the channel here.
Daniel Kahneman (1934-2024), the Nobel Prize-winning Israeli-American author, psychologist, and economist known for his work on hedonism, the psychology of judgment, and decision-making, who died this week, leaves us a valuable message on understanding: “We are prone to overestimate how much we understand about the world and to underestimate the role of chance in events.”
EiD welcomes your views about this week’s selection of posts on the zero-carbon energy transition:
- Bridging the attitude-behaviour gap on political climate action
- New uncertainties and challenges that stand in the way of Ghana’s latest efforts to develop an integrated aluminium industry
- Recent modelling shows that domestic peak heat demand in UK is almost 50% lower than widely cited values
- Reclaiming ancestral farming techniques can be a step toward sustainable food systems
- New publication on updating the energy poverty and energy efficiency framework in rural areas across the EU
- How the climate crisis affects our brains
- “Romania’s justification for not implementing measures to reduce energy consumption in recent years, as other EU countries have done, is not convincing”
- The Steam Age never really ended
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Energy in Demand - Sustainable Energy - Rod Janssen 