Energy Transition in Europe | www.energy-cities.eu

EU lawmakers from across the political spectrum are furious about the European Commission’s refusal to adequately consult them on a draft proposal to label gas and nuclear as a "transitional" source of energy, parliamentary sources have told EURACTIV.

Despite the targets from the Paris Agreement and their commitments to reach net zero emissions, fossil fuel producers are on track to significantly boost output in the next 20 years, the Production Gap Report reveals.

According to the new Production Gap Report, plans and projections for fossil fuel production show the volumes would be increased by 2030, except for a slight decline in coal. Instead of working on climate goals from the 2015 Paris Agreement, the governments will allow companies to churn out 110% more than the limit for holding global warming at a maximum of 1.5 degrees Celsius, and 45% more than consistent with two degrees.

How much does natural gas benefit from its name, which includes the word “natural”? To answer this question, we conducted an experiment to investigate the public’s emotions and associations regarding the terms “natural gas” and “methane.” We randomly assigned respondents to one of four conditions in which each respondent was asked to rate their positive and negative feelings (affect) about one of the following four terms: “natural gas,” “natural methane gas,” “methane,” or “methane gas.”

Gas power plants overtook lignite in 2020 to become the EU’s single largest source of power sector emissions, according to fresh analysis from energy think tank Ember.
The analysis, published on Friday (16 April), is based on data reported by energy companies covered by the EU’s emissions trading scheme, which puts a price on each tonne of CO2 emitted by more than 10,000 large industrial installations.

Alors que la centrale thermique du Havre vient de fermer, « King Coal » n’a pas dit son dernier mot. En effet, les solutions alternatives au minerai, essentiel à la fabrication de l’acier et du ciment, sont soit inexistantes soit trop onéreuses, note Philippe Escande, éditorialiste économique au « Monde ».

The Secretariat of a new initiative to help coal regions in the Western Balkans and Ukraine transition away from coal towards a carbon-neutral economy has been launched by the European Commission. Mirroring the successful EU Initiative for coal regions in transition, the newly established secretariat will deliver support to coal regions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo[1], Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine. 17 regions with significant coal mining activities and coal-based energy production will be the key beneficiaries. The initiative’s secretariat will provide direct support for its implementation and ensure collaboration across the diversity of institutions and actors that the initiative will engage.

2020 was another bad year for the oil and gas industry. The pandemic made it worse but it was not the cause: a decline has been going on for a long time. Energy firms in the S&P 500 (overwhelmingly oil and gas) make up 2.3% of the total value, down from 16% just over a decade ago, and 30% forty years ago. Clark Williams-Derry and Tom Sanzillo at IEEFA explain why, how and what the likely consequences are for oil firms. For many years it’s become clear that their troubles are caused by slow demand growth, overproduction, low prices, rising competition from low-cost renewables, electric vehicles, and even plastics recycling. Meanwhile, demands from governments, citizens and investors for a low carbon world have intensified. In the past, high prices meant the sector’s interests aligned easily. Today, they are forced to compete more fiercely with each other over fewer rewards, weakening their influence of the political agenda both nationally and internationally, say the authors

A recent rash of announcements that countries will stop funding fossil fuel projects overseas has not yet had an impact on the Japanese government’s plans to fund a large coal-fired power station in Vietnam.

At the end of last year, the UK Government became the first country in the world to say it would end public funding for fossil fuel projects overseas. This currently comes as export finance for UK companies, foreign aid and spending on trade promotion.

Only last year, The European Commission was looking at natural gas as a bridge to renewable energy. Climate Chief Frans Timmermans said, “There’s one thing I have to acknowledge: in some areas of transition, the use of natural gas will probably be necessary to shift from coal to sustainable energy.” But the thinking is changing. Now Dr. Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank, says : “To put it mildly, gas is over. This is a serious departure from the past, but without the end to the use of unabated fossil fuels, we will not be able to reach the climate targets.”

The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 January), leaving the country with just one remaining coal power station in operation, which is scheduled for closure in November.

Portuguese energy utility EDP announced its decision to shut down the 1,296 MW Sines coal plant in July last year, bringing the closure forward by two years – from 2023 to 2021. EDP’s initial plans were to close Sines in 2030.

The decision is “part of EDP group’s decarbonisation strategy” and was taken in a context where energy production increasingly depends on renewable sources, the company said back in July.

The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 January), leaving the country with just one remaining coal power station in operation, which is scheduled for closure in November.

Experts disagree about which technologies should be used to meet the EU’s climate change targets.

The Covid-19 pandemic is making us rethink how to build resilient economies across the world. Questions over economic growth, access to energy and energy security and climate resilience are key metrics for public finance institutions investing in the Global South. Gas infrastructure has become symptomatic of the complexity of investing in a resilient and fair future.

The group of experts advising the European Commission on green finance has criticised plans by Brussels to label gas and nuclear power as a “transitional” source of energy under the EU’s sustainable finance taxonomy.

greenwashing is not a problem for the green transition, it is THE problem. One that calls for appropriate measures.

The energy crisis will be painful for many Europeans and emergency measures are needed to ensure gas keeps flowing to keep people warm for the next few months. But the EU must also recognise that this is good money thrown after bad.

Gas is not reliable now, cannot be relied on in the future if we are to tackle the climate emergency, and we must abandon it as rapidly as possible.

As the world enters a second year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the annual Global Energy Review assesses the direction energy demand and carbon dioxide emissions are taking in 2021. The latest statistical data and real-time analysis confirm our initial estimates for 2020 energy demand and CO2 emissions while providing insights into how economic activity and energy use are rebounding in countries around the world – and what this means for global emissions.

Demand for all fossil fuels is set to grow significantly in 2021. Coal demand alone is projected to increase by 60% more than all renewables combined, underpinning a rise in emissions of almost 5%, or 1 500 Mt. This expected increase would reverse 80% of the drop in 2020, with emissions ending up just 1.2% (or 400 Mt) below 2019 emissions levels.

Gas network operators from 11 countries have joined the European hydrogen backbone initiative, presenting an updated vision for a pure hydrogen network of nearly 40,000 kilometres by 2040.

The European Commission is reconsidering the position of gas in its sustainable finance taxonomy by recognising the fossil fuel’s role in keeping the lights on during peak electricity demand, according to a leaked document seen by EURACTIV.

Over 15% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the EU come from coal-fired energy generation. 18 EU countries still use coal for electricity production. The argument goes that the phasing out of coal threatens the livelihoods of coal workers and their regional economy. But it should be the opposite, argue Elif Gündüzyeli and Jörg Mühlenhoff at CAN Europe. Coal regions are ideally suited for new gigawatt-scale wind and solar. They already have the electricity infrastructure, and they have the land availability. They also have the workers ready for re-skilling. It’s a strategy that has the makings of a Just Transition.

The grants and loans provided to EU countries under the bloc’s €750 billion recovery plan will not automatically exclude funding for gas infrastructure or highways, as long as these are part of a coherent national decarbonisation strategy with clear milestones, EU officials have said.

Renewables generated 38% of the EU’s electricity in 2020, overtaking coal and gas to become the main source of electricity for the first time ever in Europe, according to fresh data released on Monday (25 January).

Little has happened since Zittau filed an objection to the continuation of the Turów opencast mine in March 2020 and the scientific study by geologist Dr. habil. Ralf E. Krupp was presented at a press conference in the Citizens' Hall of the Zittau City Hall. The study revealed that a continuation of the Turów (PL) open-cast mine […]

The European Commission on Tuesday (15 December) proposed rules to restrict EU funding for natural gas infrastructure and instead funnel cash into electricity and low-carbon energy networks to meet climate goals.

Just transition describes an intentional shift toward a society in which the economy and the environment can thrive simultaneously,