The energy transition – we need a paradigm shift in policy thinking

Energy policy to date has not served us well – it’s wooden, static and supply-side focused and has resulted in energy insecurity, large price hikes and unsustainable climate change. Sort out energy and expand resources to resilience for those facing climate change or we face the climate abyss. This requires a paradigm shift in policy … Continue reading The energy transition – we need a paradigm shift in policy thinking →

The European Parliament’s lead negotiator has proposed tougher EU targets to reduce energy use this decade

The European Parliament’s rapporteur for the revision of the Energy Efficiency Directive (2018/2002), Niels Fuglsang (S&D, Denmark), has proposed increasing the EU’s energy efficiency target to at least 43% for final energy consumption and 45.5% for primary energy consumption, according to his draft report sent to shadow rapporteurs on Friday 18 February. Kate Abnett writes … Continue reading The European Parliament’s lead negotiator has proposed tougher EU targets to reduce energy use this decade →

How to improve ESG accounting

ESG accounting is a mess. Competing initiatives mean there’s no uniform set of standards for measuring a company’s progress on sustainability. The good news is that a new initiative, the International Sustainability Standards Board, promises to do for sustainability reporting what the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) does for financial reporting — develop standards for … Continue reading How to improve ESG accounting →

IPCC: New climate change report to sound warning on impacts

This coming week, the IPCC will be publishing its second of three major reports. The study will focus heavily on regional impacts as well as on cities and coastal communities. Matt McGrath previews the findings in an article on the BBC News website. A new report on the impacts of climate change will likely … Continue reading IPCC: New climate change report to sound warning on impacts →

What does the Energy Charter Treaty have to do with the Ukraine crisis?

The German government has been worried about being sued by the fossil fuel companies behind the Russian gas pipeline. This potential litigation is due to the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). Yamina Saheb, a friend of EiD used to head the ECT’s energy efficiency unit and is now an energy policy analyst at the OpenExp think … Continue reading What does the Energy Charter Treaty have to do with the Ukraine crisis? →

The development of a green hydrogen economy in Africa is gathering considerable attention

Patrick Prestele writes on the ESI-Africa website. Africans realise that to meet their Paris climate obligations they need to achieve significant carbon emission reductions, even though the carbon footprint is relatively low. Green hydrogen is seen as a major solution. Analysis: Green hydrogen, the new energy frontier in Africa The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, … Continue reading The development of a green hydrogen economy in Africa is gathering considerable attention →

China’s removal of renewable energy subsidy will affect fight against climate change

China, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is also the largest user of energy and amid this, the country's growing population is putting pressure on Beijing to amend plans to fulfil its ever-growing energy needs. China's subsidy policy was mostly to cover excessive installation and production costs of renewable energy but the country has decided … Continue reading China’s removal of renewable energy subsidy will affect fight against climate change →

Pressing the need for humanity to become more “long-termist” in its outlook

Rupert Read, Reader in Philosophy at the University of East Anglia provides his concerns in an article on The Conversation website that our species and our political-economic systems are “dangerously short-termist” as we address the climate crisis. What are your views? Climate crisis and the dangers of tech-obsessed ‘long-termism’ As a philosopher who thinks … Continue reading Pressing the need for humanity to become more “long-termist” in its outlook →

China raises efficiency targets for energy-intensive industries

Eric Ng writes on the South China Morning Post that higher energy efficiency bars have been set in China for companies in sectors ranging from oil refining to non-ferrous metals smelting. The new policies will ‘amplify the trend of the strong getting stronger’, analyst says Climate Change: China’s new five-year energy efficiency targets to … Continue reading China raises efficiency targets for energy-intensive industries →

Discouragingly, the door is open in the EU for more “blue hydrogen” projects

The oil and gas industry is promoting the use of “low-carbon” hydrogen derived from methane that is potentially dirtier than burning fossil gas for energy, scientists and analysts. EU green investment rules facilitate the rollout of blue hydrogen, a fuel that could be more polluting than the fossil gas it is set to replace. Not surprisingly, … Continue reading Discouragingly, the door is open in the EU for more “blue hydrogen” projects →