It was welcome news this week from the Coalition for Energy Savings that, according to latest Eurostat data, there was a sharp drop of the EU’s primary and final energy consumption in 2023. Compared to 2022, primary energy consumption dropped by 3.9% and final energy consumption lowered by 3%. This is the largest decline since 2020, which was primarily the result of the COVID-19 pandemic. What was less encouraging, according to Politico (“a free article usually reserved for subscribers”), is that the EU “devours Russian gas at record speed despite cutoff . . . in the first 15 days of 2025, the European Union’s 27 countries imported 837,300 metric tons of liquefied natural gas from Russia. That marks a record high, up from the 760,100 tons brought in during the same period last year.” What is going on?
According to the Financial Times (behind a paywall), the Basel based Financial Stability Board has warned that disasters caused by climate change are increasingly likely to trigger broader panic in financial markets. “Banks could reduce lending, including for recovery to already vulnerable households and corporates,” the body, which brings together the world’s central bankers, ministers and regulators, said. “There could also be an abrupt, broad-based repricing of climate-physical risk, as the expectation of larger future losses are incorporated into current prices and impact sectors and jurisdictions not currently directly affected by disasters.” The FT continued: “The report comes amid broader concerns about the capacity of the insurance sector to cover losses associated with climate change following devastating fires in Los Angeles that are estimated to have caused tens of billions of dollars’ worth of damages.” Let’s hope that the message from the FSB helps regulators assess climate-related vulnerabilities and we are better prepared for what happens next.
As we get ready to see what the Trump administration will do to climate and energy efforts – and we will no doubt learn soon what is planned – check out this cartoon from the archives.
In planning travel over the upcoming weeks, here is some useful ideas to help you along:
- Country Living Magazine provides 3 European train routes set to transform travel in 2025.
- Much Better Adventures provides us with 10 of the best winter walks in Europe.
- For those who want to combine hiking with food and wine in Europe and Australia, check out the Hedonistic Hiking website.
- Cycling for Softies provides us with the 15 Best Cycling Holidays in Europe 2025.
- Travelling in 2025? Here’s how to become a ‘regenerative’ tourist.
This week’s quote from Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622-1673), known as Molière, the French actor and playwright, regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and universal literature, should make you smile: “All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing.”
EiD welcomes your views about this week’s selection of posts on the zero-carbon energy transition:
- The environmental benefits from the world’s tallest bridge in France shows how transport infrastructure policy can have a direct impact on decarbonisation
- New US energy secretary opposes saving energy
- “We need urgent action to accelerate the shift from fossil fuels to renewable and low-carbon energy as well as the rapid rollout of technologies that improve energy efficiency”
- AI poses a potential sustainability problem, but can it also be the solution?
- Blog by Jane Marsh – The future of energy cooperatives: challenges and innovations
- Energy efficiency taken seriously in Türkiye
- Are heat pumps worth it?
- Research using an AI model shows glaciers are shrinking four times faster than global average since 1979
- Scientists should stop trying to be neutral and instead embrace their values, says a group of top climate scientists
- Please send your comments on any of the posts. Please recommend EiD to your friends and colleagues.
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Energy in Demand - Sustainable Energy - Rod Janssen 
Wonderful post 🌅🌅