The Financial Times reports that one of the largest US pension funds “is re-evaluating its stake in TotalEnergies following the French oil major’s decision to accept $1bn from Donald Trump’s administration to exit offshore wind power in the US. . . . The New York State Common Retirement Fund, which owns a $1.6mn stake in the oil major, told Total its decision to terminate two offshore wind leases and redirect investment into fossil fuels raised “significant concerns” regarding its strategic consistency, financial discipline and risk management. . . . Total’s deal with the administration “raises risks for the company and its investors”, DiNapoli said. “TotalEnergies had sought to be a leader in energy transition, now investors are left scratching their heads over how the board came to this decision to abandon that strategy and what it means for the future of the company and our stake in it.” Total had pledged to produce 120 terawatt hours of mostly wind and solar-generated power by 2030 and for 75 per cent of its energy mix to be low carbon by 2050. Are they still on track?
The Guardian reports that the independent pan-European commission on climate and health, which was convened by the World Health Organization, said that the climate crisis should be declared a global health emergency by the WHO “or millions more people will die unnecessarily.” The 11-strong independent commission, which includes former health and climate ministers, said: “Far from being a fading priority or fake news, climate change poses an immediate and long-term threat to health, economic, food, water, environmental, personal, community and national security.”
It was disappointing to read in the Financial Times that the UK “has halved its contribution to the world’s largest dedicated climate fund, a cut of more than £800mn, in a move that will reinforce concerns that rich countries are retreating from a promise to help developing nations respond to global warming. . . . The move comes a year after Donald Trump’s administration rescinded the US’s $4bn pledge to the UN’s Green Climate Fund, which had left the UK as the largest contributor.” The Green Climate Fund, “which is the main financial tool to implement the landmark Paris Agreement, oversees $20bn committed to projects in areas such as renewable energy, energy efficiency and resilient agriculture in 134 developing countries.”
On April 22nd, the European Commission presented a comprehensive plan of actions and measures – the AccelerateEU plan – to address rising energy costs and further reduce dependency on volatile fossil fuel markets, due to the escalating Middle East conflict. The catalogue, published this week, contains measures that EU countries can implement to reduce their oil and gas consumption in the short term, increase their clean energy production, and save energy. This collection of best practice examples, based on the most efficient measures taken by EU countries since 2022, has a large-scale replication potential across the EU. Besides providing rapid relief for citizens and industry, the catalogue presents policy action that can lead to a significant reduction of natural gas demand and use of oil and petroleum products. The catalogue is available here.
Many relevant events are coming up – you can see the latest list here. Please note that there is still some space for attending the June eceee summer study. If you know of an upcoming event that EiD readers should know about, please contact us. Let us know your experience.
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. Check out this video: Sleeper trains — the future of travel? A Berlin startup is developing compact sleeper cabins, designed to make night trains cheaper and greener. Check out this week’s post on night sleepers.
- World Walks provides us with walking holidays in Europe.
- Cycling for Softies provides us with the 15 best cycling holidays in Europe in 2026.
Erich Fromm (1900-1980), a German-American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist provides us with a message to reflect on this week: “The task we must set for ourselves is not to feel secure, but to be able to tolerate insecurity.”
EiD welcomes your views about this week’s selection of posts on the zero-carbon energy transition:
- Why David Attenborough is so special: the importance of storytellilng
- Why much of London’s office market could become unlettable
- Plans still underway to charge airlines in EU for carbon emissions from international flights
- Blog by Jane Marsh – why insulation comes first: the Warm Homes Plan’s focus on fabric-first energy efficiency
- How a sunburn inspired a breakthrough in energy storage
- WIPO and IRENA Launch Patent Landscape Report on Decarbonizing Heavy-Duty Road Transport
- Five myths about renewable energy — and what the data really shows
- NATO is openly backing renewables
- Antarctica Was Supposed to Change Slowly. It Didn’t.
- We can help children to use eco-anxiety as a foundation for action
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 