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But we have enough evidence to show that reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions is likely to lead to substantial benefits for public health in England and Wales – and that these benefits are greater in a pathway that entails faster and more ambitious changes, especially in physical activity and diets.
Spain is on track to phase out coal for energy production ahead of its initial planning of 2030. The EU will help deliver a just climate transition in the regions affected by the corresponding closures of coal mines and coal power plants. This includes most notably the region of Asturias, which will receive almost one third of the Spanish JTF funding.
Britain’s cities need urgent transformation in the next decade and beyond if the country is to meet its 2050 net zero targets and create cleaner, safer spaces for citizens, according to a major study from E.ON and the UK Green Building Council.
The energy transition is about more than switching power carriers. Replacing fossil fuels with renewable forms of energy generation is perhaps the most significant change the world will make in its attempts to avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change. Still, it is not as simple as a straight swap. It requires a complete overhaul of how we live and interact with our world. This is where energy efficiency and the efficient use of energy comes in
Similar to the two navigational hazards mythologized as sea monsters in ancient Greece—Scylla and Charybdis—which gave rise to sayings such as, “between the devil and the deep blue sea” and “between a rock and a hard place,” modern energy policy has its own Scylla and Charybdis. On the one hand is the requirement to maintain sufficient energy flows to avoid economic peril. On the other hand is the need to avert climate catastrophe resulting from such activities. Policymakers naturally want all the benefits of abundant energy with none of the attendant climate risks. But tough choices can no longer be put off.
Shetland, a group of islands off the coast of Scotland, is doing what we should all be doing: working with not against nature. It is making the most of being the windiest place in the UK by using this natural resource to create energy.
The archipelago will soon have the most productive onshore wind farm in the country. Despite the Islands’ gusty credentials - racking up 14.6 knots on average - they currently rely on a diesel power station.
Europe’s energy crisis has driven home a number of geographic ironies for Shetlanders. Their fortunes have been boosted by the discovery of oil-rich seabeds in the surrounding North Sea and Atlantic since the 1970s, yet the population has one of the highest fuel poverty rates in Britain.
This policy roadmap sets out the necessary steps to introduce whole-life carbon considerations and align the provisions of the EPBD (Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) with climate-neutrality goals. It argues that the 2022 EPBD recast should ensure a comprehensive vision of a carbon neutral building and construction sector, and set the requirements and clear triggers to reduce whole-life carbon emissions of the building stock.
Researchers analysed 18 carbon-cutting measures at home and at work in areas such as food, transport and energy and assessed the impact of each on issues such as health, clean air and water quality. Of the 306 categories they looked at, 79 % were positive for wellbeing. Tom Bawden discusses the study in an article…
Come 2030, the UK wants to extract some five million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere, using all available greenhouse gas removal methods, from peatland management to direct air capture, and bets heavily on carbon sequestration under the sea floor.
Both engineered and land-based solutions will be part of the effort, according to the government’s new October 2021 net-zero strategy, which follows a decision in May to invest some 100 million British pounds in pilot schemes that are testing the viability of a variety of greenhouse gas removal methods.
Cities are key enablers of the energy transition. But each city in every area of the world will have a different set of priorities and ideas of how to achieve net-zero by 2050. FORESIGHT examines a city from each continent—and a research station—to show what this global action looks like from seven different perspectives.
Net-zero emission targets are the new normal for both governments and businesses. But achieving them is often a different story. Certain emissions are difficult to avoid easily, so neutralising them by investing into climate action projects in developing countries has become a fixture in many companies' climate plans.
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The EU has today approved proposals to improve the energy performance of buildings.
Earlier today, a meeting of the European Parliament Industry, Research, Telecoms and Energy Committee was held today in Brussels.
The European Union is sick of talking about climate change; now it wants to act. The world’s second-largest economy is attempting to become the first climate neutral continent by 2050 while slashing its emissions 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. To reach these milestones, the bloc’s executive arm, the European Commission, unveiled the Green Deal in 2019—a proposal to radically redesign Europe’s energy, food, and transport systems. “This is Europe’s man on the moon moment,” said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
Edinburgh, Scotland. On the rocky western coast of the remote Scottish island of North Uist, a link in the Outer Hebrides archipelago, loom two 250-foot-tall (76 meter) onshore wind turbines with a…
Ceasing fossil fuel consumption is a huge lift, but it isn’t enough to save the planet. We need to think much, much bigger: toward global solutions that can capture excess carbon in the atmosphere and begin repairing the deep damage we’ve done to the planet.
Climate change: UK’s net zero target is under threat because there’s no plan to pay for it
The UK government’s plan for achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is at a serious risk of sinking before it’s been fully launched. With the Treasury having rejected a request by MPs to come up with a “clear funding plan”, there’s now every chance that an already bad plan will turn into no plan at all.
In order to be climate neutral by 2050 and to fulfil its 2030 climate targets, Europe needs more green investment. Although total European climate investment is on the rise, thanks in part to the EU’s recovery fund, businesses, households and governments must spend more on green energy, infrastructure and energy efficiency. But Europe’s fiscal rulebook risks holding such investment back, and some highly indebted countries cannot increase debt much further. In this new Centre for European Reform policy brief, ‘How to make EU fiscal rules compatible with net zero’, Claudio Baccianti of Agora Energiewende, and Christian Odendahl European economics editor at The Economist and former chief economist of the CER calculate the spending needed for the EU to meet its climate goals and propose a reform to its fiscal rules that would allow for this.
Net zero will not be possible without urgent changes to national planning, a new report claims.
Countryside preservation charity CPRE has conducted the research, sifting through 24 different local net zero plans outside of London adopted since 2019.
The report states that these plans are not ambitious enough, claiming that government inspectors must do more to make having a concise plan to tackle climate change a necessity.
This week, the Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE) published a new report on nearly zero energy building standards in six member states that show decarbonisation of new buildings in is not happening fast enough. A failure to decarbonise newly constructed buildings could prevent the EU from achieving its climate targets for 2030 and 2050, according…
The European Commission on Wednesday (15 December) unveiled a package of gas legislation that aims to steer Europe away from fossil gas towards more sustainable energy sources, like renewable and low-carbon hydrogen To reach its aim of net zero emissions by mid-century, Europe needs to drastically increase the level of electrification across the economy, but the European Commission says there will still be a need for gas in certain sectors that are difficult to electrify, like heavy industry and transport..
Global progress on energy efficiency has recovered this year to its pre-pandemic pace, but that was already well short of what would be needed to help put the world on track to reach net zero emissions by mid-century, according to the IEA’s annual market report on the topic. Total annual investment in efficient energy worldwide needs to triple by 2030 to be consistent with a path towards reaching net zero emissions by 2050, as set out in the IEA’s Roadmap to Net Zero by 2050.
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy sets out how the UK will decarbonise our homes, and our commercial, industrial and public sector buildings.
As part of setting a path to net zero by 2050, the strategy will be simple, low-cost and green to ensure it remains affordable and fair for all households.
Tens of thousands of UK homes, businesses and public buildings are one step closer to benefitting from greener, cleaner energy thanks to £44 million of government funding.
The funding package addresses the urgent need to reduce the carbon footprint of heating homes and workspaces which makes up almost a third of all UK carbon emissions.
Of the £44 million funding announced today, £30 million will fund 3 innovative heat network projects providing low carbon energy in south-east London, Manchester and Cambridgeshire, whilst helping to bring down energy bills.
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