This week, the Washington Post reported that the US Environmental Protection Agency will no longer consider health costs in pollution regulations. “The EPA can effectively manage the balance between protecting the environment and spurring economic growth without misleading the public and assigning arbitrary dollar amounts to human health,” said West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) as he praised the Trump administration’s rollbacks of Biden-era policies. Patrice Simms, vice president of litigation for healthy communities at Earthjustice, an environmental law firm, said the new rule goes against the agency’s long-standing mission of protecting human health and the environment.
The Financial Times reports that scientists have warned that the world’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C is on course to be breached more than a decade earlier than previously thought if recent rates of warming continue. “The EU’s Earth observation service Copernicus said that on this basis the threshold would be breached by 2030.” The article continues: “To all intents and purposes, the 1.5C limit is now dead in the water,” said Bill McGuire, professor of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London. “Whichever way you look at it, dangerous climate breakdown has arrived, but with little sign that the world is prepared, or even paying serious attention.”
In a TEDxLausanne talk, Yamina Saheb, a long-time friend of EiD, lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and CEO of the World Sufficiency Lab, reframes climate change as a question of responsibility, fairness, and moral choice.
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:
- The Man in Seat Sixty-One explains how to travel comfortably & affordably by train or ferry, rediscovering the pleasure, romance & adventure of the journey.
- 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.
- 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.
Eric Arthur Blair (1903-1950), a British novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell, has a cogent message about truth: “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.”
EiD welcomes your views about this week’s selection of posts on the zero-carbon energy transition:
- New EEA briefing on climate adaptation
- Even under the pressure of war, Ukraine remains able to build a sustainable future
- Trump’s UN climate treaty exit marks a major US retreat from climate action
- Europe’s carbon border tax is a wake-up call for the UK
- The need for smarter energy management
- Renewable energy making good gains in the EU
- The stripes don’t lie
- “It is a stretch to suggest that treating ChatGPT politely comes at significant environmental cost”
- Will the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement really go against the EU’s climate commitments?
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 