Energy in Demand News, July 19-20, 2026

adaptation, building energy codes, buildings, carbon emissions, carbon pricing, clean energy, climate change, climate risk, decarbonisation, electrification, energy efficiency, energy policy, energy transition, fossil fuels, GHG emissions, industry, international co-operation, net zero emissions, nuclear energy

The EU has big plans to electrify. It has set its first-ever electrification target: 46% by 2040. Electrification has hovered just under 24% for more than a decade. Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen told reporters in Brussels on Friday: “With this plan, we are putting Europe on a course to become the world’s first electro-continent.” Check out this week’s post more on not only electrification but also the Commission’s proposals on carbon market reforms.

The Washington Post reports that Trump says that the country’s nuclear renaissance is coming. But the deals aren’t. Japanese electricity companies are expected to be major investors but to date have been hesitant. There is an obvious reason for the hesitance, said Peter Bradford, a former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and former chair of the commissions that regulate utilities in New York and Maine. “Nuclear power has never been able to compete economically in the competitive markets used in the U.S. for procuring electricity generation,” he said. “Nothing that has happened recently has given any sign of changing that. This is an industry that has lived on promises and prophecies and hype for a long time now. The burden is on them to do something more than just tell you they have some really good ideas for the next go-round.” Bradford continued: “Nuclear has already been subsidized beyond anything given to wind or solar. There are combinations of renewable energy and storage and power-grid improvements that would be half the cost of what is projected for these new reactors. This is not a matter of shaving a bit off the price here or there. It is the fundamental cost structure.” Yet the hype continues and not only in America.

The Financial Times reports that the EU is still buying a lot of Russian LNG. “Europe imported more liquefied natural gas from Russia’s leading LNG project than ever before in the first half of 2026, absorbing nearly all of the Siberian facility’s output months before an EU ban on Russian gas imports comes into effect. EU purchases from Yamal LNG . . .  reached a record 9.89mn tonnes in the first six months of the year — 18 per cent more than in the same period last year, according to data from analytics company Kpler.”

The New York Times reports that that a new study from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine backs a growing field of science that could help governments hold oil, gas and coal companies responsible for the damage caused by extreme weather. “The field, known as extreme event attribution, seeks to answer an increasingly common question: How much was the latest heat wave, downpour, drought or wildfire worsened by climate change? Scientists have long understood that global warming, driven by greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, is making certain kinds of extreme weather more intense and more likely. But only in the past two decades have they developed the tools for estimating precisely how much worldwide warming is shaping particular weather events in particular places.” Now, let’s see this in action.

The Guardian reports on analysis that shows at least 1,662 US Department of Energy webpages offering guidance on staying cool, while saving energy and keeping utility costs down, have “gone dark”, in a move that coincided with “the Trump administration’s push to weaken efficiency rules.”

A report by the advocacy group Oil Change International reveals Canada was the biggest public bank financier of fossil fuels in the G20 from 2022 to 2024 according to a news item on the Sustainable Views website. The research shows the country’s banks financed domestic fossil fuel projects at an annual average of $13.5bn during the period, ahead of China at $9.6bn and South Korea at $4bn.

In planning travel over the upcoming weeks, here are some useful ideas to help you along:

Elizabeth II (1926-2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth realms, provides us with an important thought as we enjoy summer in the northern hemisphere: “We all need to get the balance right between action and reflection. With so many distractions, it is easy to forget to pause and take stock.”

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

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