The Trump Administration has walked away from any effort to address climate change or clean energy technologies, at the national and international levels. Most recently the US announced its withdrawal from virtually all the relevant international organisations (see the first two posts below). Yet, the impact of climate change is being felt in the US. The Financial Times reports that climate insurance legal action is surging as property damage costs rise. “Over the past decade, business interruption lawsuits linked to climate perils — not including hurricanes, which vary widely from year to year — have more than doubled from about 290 to almost 640, the LexisNexis analysis of US federal court filings shows. . . . Similarly, homeowner insurance disputes related to climate disasters, excluding hurricanes, have risen from about 1,600 filings in 2016 to more than 4,000 court filings in 2025.” And another EiD post this week reports on ‘record warming and rusting rivers’ in the Arctic region. What will it take get America back on board?
Is the climate message getting through to politicians anywhere? As reported in the Guardian, new research reveals how significantly British and Belgian politicians underestimate the public’s support for climate action. “From solar power and energy efficiency to meat taxes and frequent flyer levies, the politicians consistently failed to appreciate people’s appetite for policies that tackle global heating. . . . The good news was that when a group of the politicians were told the true level of polling support for some policies, this improved their estimates of support for other green policies. However, it did not correct the underestimates completely, indicating that the information the politicians used to form their views of public opinion are misleading.” Here is a good example provided in the article: “For policies to increase taxes on short-haul airline tickets and to prevent local authorities blocking windfarms, the Belgian politicians also thought only a minority of the public supported them, when in fact a majority did, underestimating the support by about 25 percentage points.” The researcher, Lisa-Maria Andreea Tanase, surveyed 100 current UK members of parliament and more than 600 Flemish politicians in Belgium. The article is not behind a paywall. You should read it. Do you think the results would be similar in your country?
EiD would like to thank Adrian Joyce who has stepped down as Secretary General of Efficient Buildings Europe (formerly EuroACE) after more than 14 years. Adrian has worked tirelessly to promote improved energy efficiency in buildings and the team at EiD has so appreciated working with him over the years. Fortunately, Adrian will continue to be Director of the Renovate Europe Campaign and, yes, he is still on the board of the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (eceee). The new Secretary General is Rémi Collombet, who has been with Efficient Buildings Europe since 2024 in other roles. We’re wishing Rémi all the best.
There are two upcoming industrial energy efficiency events not to miss:
- The next eceee Zero Carbon Industry 3–5 February 2026 in Rome offers three days of discussions on industrial decarbonisation, competitiveness and industrial renewal. There is still some room to attend! Information is available here.
- World Sustainable Energy Days (WSED) will be held in Wels, Austria on February 25-27, 2026, with dedicated conferences on pellets, energy efficiency, energy communities, industrial energy transition, young energy researchers and smart e-mobility. You can register here.
In planning travel over the upcoming weeks, here are some useful ideas to help you along:
- Check out the Good Night Train website for the unique way to travel through Europe while you sleep. See EiD’s recent post on why Europe’s night-train renaissance has derailed.
- The Man in Seat Sixty-One explains how to travel comfortably & affordably by train or ferry, rediscovering the pleasure, romance & adventure of the journey.
- World Walks provides us with walking holidays in Europe.
- For those who want to combine hiking with food and wine in Europe and Australia, check out the Hedonistic Hiking website. Watch their slide presentation for available tours in 2026
- Cycling for Softies provides us with the 15 best cycling holidays in Europe in 2026.
Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967), German statesman and politician who served as the first chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963, makes us sit up and think: “We all live under the same sky, but we don’t all have the same horizon.”
EiD welcomes your views about this week’s selection of posts on the zero-carbon energy transition:
- Trump administration pulls US out of UN climate bodies
- “Collective global action remains the only viable path to secure a livable future for our children and grandchildren”
- The global fight over a road map to transition away from fossil fuels
- From COP30 to circularity: rethinking resources for the energy transition
- Greenlash, a social and political backlash against efforts to rein in emissions
- China’s energy transition: what to expect in 2026
- America’s climate and energy transition: the role of communication
- The Milan-Cortina strategy shows a real evolution in the way we think about the sustainability of the Winter Games
- The latest Arctic Report Card on the far northern environment is not good news
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 