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

In the face of the ever-worsening climate crisis, this report aims to challenge the six harmful but influential energy transition myths. Together, these myths aim to persuade us that the private sector, free markets, cheaper prices and decentralisation can decarbonise the energy system — and that intellectual property rights and trade and investment protection agreements are necessary to facilitate this. These myths keep policy-makers, social movements and communities from defending, building and advocating for real solutions: public power systems that can democratically decarbonise society.

Too often in an effort to save Mother Nature, we forget about human nature. Solving problems with rolling out clean renewable energy is less a matter of the physical sciences than the social sciences—overcoming users’ habits and project resistance at the local level.

The growing use of modular and prefabricated units in construction promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment, but commercialising the practice remains a challenge

The European Union needs to reform its electricity market as quickly as possible in order to stabilise prices for consumers and stimulate investment in renewables, EU politicians have told EURACTIV.

Local community groups are often seen as being against renewable energy sites or other projects to support the energy transition. But there is a rise in different ownership and funding models that includes local residents who do want to support the quest for a decarbonised economy

The Lisbon Municipal Assembly approved the proposal to make public transport free to use for young up to the age of 18, higher-education students up to the age of 23 and for elderly residents above the age of 65.
The measure, which is seen as a tool “to combat climate change”, as indicated by the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, will have a total annual cost of around 14.9 million euros, and should come into force in the coming months. The City will conclude an agreement with the public transit operator TML, which will extend the provision of free rides for the above-mentioned groups until 31 December 2025.
Social justice and decarbonization
The mayor of Lisbon is a firm advocate of the measure, which he sees as historic and as a way to make the Portuguese capital a model city in the fight against climate change.
"This step is social justice, it is justice for those who want to change the world and who really want to make the world better so that we have a planet we can live on. This measure is also justice in the decarbonization of the planet that we need so much, and this measure is to improve people's lives," he declared, as quoted by Jornal de Negocios.

In October, the UK government released two different strategies on how to achieve its net zero emissions target by 2050 – the net zero strategy and the heat and buildings strategy. Although both look at how to decarbonise the UK’s economy, they also both overlook an important feature of the future of energy consumption – the demand for cooling.

Bike share equity remains an uphill battle in impoverished neighborhoods and communities populated primarily by low-income residents and people of color. However, neither catering to affluent, white men nor community apathy and indifference are necessarily to blame. The reasons are complicated, but progress is happening, and more inroads are on the horizon.

Building renovation needs to be full-scale, particularly regarding residential housing, which too often only focuses on heat-related upgrades, the industry said in reaction to recent government initiatives. 

Bulgaria's lawmakers have voted to roll back plans to decarbonise the country's energy sector.

The move came on Thursday after as more than 1,500 miners and utility workers demonstrated in front of the parliament in support of the coal industry. They were protesting against plans for an early phase-out of coal-fired power plants.

While the EU is planning to decarbonise buildings across the bloc to advance the green transition, local authorities are calling for more support to face a shortage of skilled workers to design and implement decarbonisation projects.

Ground and air source heat pumps are expected to play a major role in cutting the use of gas for heating. But one major problem with them is that they need a lot of space. For those living in dense housing it’s just not practical. District heat networks are the usual alternative, but the dense urban areas they serve need to be near a large source of waste heat like power stations or other industrial units. David Barns at the University of Leeds looks at Shared Ground Heat Exchanges as another solution. Here, a set of shared boreholes draw heat from the ground, sufficient for a single street. Each house would only need a small heat pump similar in size to a conventional gas boiler. The business model will need service providers to coordinate with the street householders and the local authorities, and get their consent before making the investment in the shared system.

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…

Institutrices, agents de mairie, juges, ministres ou pompiers : toutes et tous ont un point commun, celui de faire partie de la vaste Administration publique française. Et toutes et tous ont un rôle à jouer, à leur échelle, pour contribuer à la transition énergétique du pays.
On observe partout en France de nombreuses bonnes pratiques, et une réelle volonté d’engagement de la part des membres de l’Administration. Ce rapport final dresse un état des lieux de ces actions, et propose des pistes opérationnelles pour accélérer le rythme de décarbonation à tous les niveaux, de la commune aux services de l’État, afin de rendre le service public durablement résistant aux chocs énergétiques et climatiques.