Maersk, the integrated container logistics company, has signed a deal to install the first wind sail on a container ship, the Financial Times reports, noting that the maritime industry is returning “to an age-old technology to cut fuel consumption and comply with tougher environmental regulations. The sail, a 35m-high rotor sail designed by the British company Anemoi, will be retrofitted to a medium-sized container ship as a pilot project to demonstrate whether the technology can meaningfully cut the cost of fuel and emissions permits.” The article notes that the context has changed. “The EU has included the maritime sector in its emissions trading system since 2024 and has introduced new rules requiring shipowners to cut the emissions intensity of the fuels they burn. Meanwhile, the International Maritime Organization is negotiating new emissions rules for the sector despite deep divisions over the level of ambition, with strong pushback against the decarbonisation effort from the US.” Let’s hope others pick up on this wonderful development and follow Maersk’s lead.
We may read about the natural disasters and worry about the cost – but not enough to take action. Well, maybe we should. The Financial Times reports that the economic cost of natural disasters is now nearly half a trillion US dollars annually. Only $171 billion is insured. “As much as 62 per cent of global losses from natural disasters are uninsured, according to new research from risk-modelling firm Verisk, leaving homes, businesses and governments facing about $279bn in uninsured losses in an average year, and far more in the most disastrous years.” Insurers are increasingly declining to renew policies. “Insurers pull back from areas that they don’t want to insure anymore, dump that risk on to governments and private individuals, break local markets and then jack up their rates. That’s a pattern,” said Pete Sikora, a senior adviser for activist group New York Communities for Change.”
Continuing on that theme, David Wallace-Wells wrote in the New York Times: “In the five years before Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tracked an average of 5.4 “billion-dollar disasters” each year, inflicting an average of $39 billion in damages. In the last five years, the country has averaged 23.2 such disasters each year, totaling $140 billion in damages each year.” That is an incredible increase in two decades.
Le Monde had an in-depth report on cyberattacks on Europe’s electricity grid. The headline says it all: Sabotage threat looms over Europe’s power grid: ‘The worst-case scenario is not inevitable, but we must be prepared.’ The article describes how Lithuania has had to break free from Moscow’s influence and done much to ensure its resilience. Given its context, Lithuania may be a special case but all of Europe has been taking the risk of a major blackout seriously. “Are European states sufficiently prepared for the risk of future hostile and targeted attacks? “The answer is no,” said Danish national Kristian Ruby, secretary general of the European industry group EURELECTRIC, which published a report on the subject in February. “A number of incidents in recent years have made that very clear.” As we increasingly electrify in our decarbonisation policies, let’s hope the strategies and implementation are robust and resilient enough.
In order to finance adaptation to climate change, the Financial Times reports that Spain is calling on the EU “to establish a climate adaptation fund, financed by measures including the permanent levy on oil and gas profits and the issue of more common debt to help it fund protections from events driven by climate change. The Spanish government made the recommendations in a letter and policy paper, seen by the FT, addressed to EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, who will deliver a new strategy on climate adaptation and resilience this autumn.” In the context of the recent data on natural disasters, the FT went on: “Economists estimate the cost of the drought in Europe this summer was at least €50bn, with one bank putting the total cost as high as €180bn.” And this reflects only droughts, not the wildfires or other climate-related disasters. We certainly are anxious to see Hoekstra’s new strategy. Hopefully it will be sufficiently ambitious and will be adopted and implemented urgently.
To ensure that the zero carbon energy transition gains momentum we need a new generation of experts to continue the good work. EiD encourages all young researchers (born after 1991) in energy efficiency and biomass to submit contributions for next year’s Young Energy Researchers Conference next March 2nd as part of World Sustainable Energy Days, March 2-5, 2027 in Wels, Austria. Altogether there are five dedicated conferences and a tradeshow packed into the four days. See the overview of the conferences. The young energy researchers conference has 2 tracks, one for energy efficiency and one for biomass. Submissions (in English only) are welcome from all scientific fields (e.g. technology, engineering, economics, social sciences, architecture, law, arts). The deadline for submissions for all the events is October 9th.
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.
- There’s never been a more important moment to travel right in Europe with masses of overdevelopment, cruise ships, walking pollution and captive cetaceans still hot topics when it comes to responsible tourism issues in Europe. Check out the Responsible Travel website.
- Wilderness Scotland encourages you to experience the beauty of Scotland in autumn.
- Autumn is the best time for a cycling trip in Europe because the summer heat is gone, the roads are quiet, and the trees turn bright red and gold. Check out Bike Tours in Europe for some inspiration.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher, gives us a warm message as we transition from one season to another: “Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit.”
EiD welcomes your views about this week’s selection of posts on the zero-carbon energy transition:
- UNEP: World set to cross 1.5°C global warming, but can still limit, adapt to and return from higher temperatures
- Beyond 1.5°C: a reason to act, not give up
- When national security undermines climate security
- Efficiency first: the missing step in industrial decarbonisation
- Europe’s nuclear revival faces a climate reality check
- Climate targets without a plan? Canada heads to court
- Preparing before the crisis: lessons from Finland
- How a distant war reached the kitchens of Nairobi
- This was no ordinary summer
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 