The latest Eurobarometer survey (the European Parliament Winter 2025 Survey), published this week, shows that Europeans “have high expectations from the EU in its role to protect them against global challenges and security risks. Large majorities are looking for an EU that protects them by focussing on security, defence, and the economy. There is wide agreement among EU citizens that EU Member States should be more united to face current global challenges and that the European Union needs more means to deal with the challenges ahead.” This is good news. Concerning pressing priorities, “43% urge the European Parliament to prioritise tackling inflation, rising prices and the cost of living. The EU’s defence and security and the fight against poverty and social exclusion are next on the list (both at 31%).” Interestingly, on the webpage, neither climate change nor the environment was mentioned.
One of the Financial Times newsletters this week reported very interesting comparisons between asset owners and asset managers. Fifty-eight per cent of asset owners (typically pension funds, insurers and foundations) use climate scenario analysis to assess risks in their portfolios, for example, compared with twenty-nine per cent of asset managers (to which asset owners outsource much of their investment). Forty-one per cent of asset owners are willing to go public over environmental, social and governance concerns around bond investments, versus 21 per cent of asset managers. EiD welcomes the views of its readers on this.
At a conference on Friday at the Louvre in Paris, Le Monde reports that Al Gore, the former US vice-president and “tireless climate activist”, wanted to reassure the audience that the “Trump administration will not stop the clean energy “revolution.” Investments in renewables doubled during Trump’s first term.” He knows it is a tough battle: “Governments around the world have failed to address the climate challenge, but there is strength in numbers. We can win this battle – and we must.” The conference was organised by the Climate Reality Project that Gore created in 2011. As of 2021, the organisation said it operated 10 branches worldwide and was active in 170 countries. No doubt, every bit helps and, yes, we must win this battle.
In planning travel over the upcoming weeks, here are some useful ideas to help you along:
- Country Living Magazine provides 3 European train routes set to transform travel in 2025.
- World Walks provides us with the top spring 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.
- Torino (Italy) is embracing a new era, transforming from an industrial powerhouse into a flourishing tourism destination: Torino Named European Capital of Smart Tourism 2025.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968), an American novelist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, has a valuable message for all of us this week: “The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.”
EiD welcomes your views about this week’s selection of posts on the zero-carbon energy transition:
- The International Energy Agency is facing some pushback from critics
- New EEA briefing environmental impact of discarded clothing, footwear and textiles
- New report from Council of European Energy Regulators: Regulatory and Consumer Considerations for Decentralised Energy Opportunities
- The lack of urgency to submit new proposals for eliminating GHG emissions under the Paris climate agreement is worrying to say the least
- Action is needed now: “there is no way to “adapt” to temperatures beyond human tolerance”
- US Department of Energy has scrapped key energy efficiency standards
- In Massachusetts, a new pilot project is now seeking households, businesses, schools, nonprofits, and municipal governments to test all of these ways that EVs can send power to the grid
- “It is extremely important we acknowledge the freeminers and their right to burn coal”
- What is waste in human life only remains so if it cannot be reused or reconfigured for human ends or absorbed by nature
- Energy efficiency is crucial for industrial ESG strategies and long-term competitiveness
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 