Energy in Demand News, July 27-28, 2025

It is summer time in Europe but the news has not slowed down. The post below on the IEA is disturbing and we can all hope that the US remains a member of the IEA in order to make a valuable contribution to our sustainable energy future. There is a good report from SciencesPo on EU taxonomy and what it means to energy efficiency investments. Well, all the posts this week offer intriguing insights about our zero carbon energy transition. Please let EiD know what you think about them

A Financial Times newsletter reports on the latest from the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System. The FT writes that the NGFS published the results of new modelling showing that climate change was set to deal a far larger blow to the global economy than was previously thought. “The economic drag effect was projected to reach nearly 15 per cent of world GDP in 2050 if governments enacted only the policies they’d announced so far, it warned.” The FT continued: “the NGFS followed up in May with a study showing the potential impact of climate shocks in the next few years. A “severe but plausible occurrence of combined climate events” could reduce annual world GDP by 2.5 per cent, it found, pulling down trade flows and driving a rash of defaults in capital-intensive sectors.” Only this week the NGFS published yet another report. The publication aims to help financial companies develop serious plans to adapt to climate change. Importantly, “While ‘transition planning’ among banks and other institutions is now widespread, it noted, most such plans have focused heavily on the risks presented by the energy transition — for example, around lending to obsolescent coal companies — rather than on physical threats from extreme weather. Please note that the US Federal Reserve quit the NGFS three days before Donald Trump’s inauguration “saying the initiative’s work had “increasingly broadened in scope, covering a wider range of issues” that went beyond the Fed’s mandate. Note that the NGFS is no slouch. There are 147 member institutions in more than 90 countries.

The last paragraph of the FT newsletter on the NGFS is important: “Some may worry that the heightened focus on climate adaptation will detract from efforts to cut emissions, or even foster resignation towards worsening climate change. But in all its communications on this subject, the NGFS has emphasised that the economic costs around climate change will be far lower under a rapid low-carbon transition — even if the cost of the transition itself is included. By forcing a focusing of minds on the price of unchecked climate change, central bankers may yet help catalyse action against it.” One can only hope so.

The European Environment Agency has announced the winners of its “Environment&Me 2025” photo competition. Check out the winners here.

Don’t forget eceee’s Zero Carbon Industry event in Rome in February 2026. The deadline for submitting abstracts is September 15th.

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.
• Check out the Good Night Train website for the unique way to travel through Europe while you sleep.
• 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.
• Turin, Italy is embracing a new era, transforming from an industrial powerhouse into a flourishing tourism destination: Torino Named European Capital of Smart Tourism 2025.

Haile Selassie (1892-1975), Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, gives a valuable history lesson: “Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”

EiD welcomes your views about this week’s selection of posts on the zero-carbon energy transition:

• Top UN court says countries must act on climate change
• 91% of new renewable projects now cheaper than fossil fuels alternatives
• Approving 2040 climate targets in the EU proving quite a challenge
• Blog by Jane Marsh – Six Times the Minerals: How EVs and Gas Cars Stack Up in the Race for Resources
• Germany’s energy transition: “We need effective climate protection. Otherwise, summer will turn from a wonderful season to a very dangerous season for very many people.”
• New report from SciencesPo on the EU taxonomy in practice
• As more countries develop their climate plans in advance of COP30, it’s time for leaders across the globe to face the hard truths of climate science
• “Sportswashing” is taking over the Tour de France
• The Science Based Targets initiative says that, to be 1.5C-aligned, financial institutions must stop funding firms that are expanding fossil fuel production and use
• US Energy Secretary floats withdrawal from IEA

Please send your comments on any of the posts. Please recommend EiD to your friends and colleagues.

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