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

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 European Parliament has rejected proposals to phase out free CO2 pollution credits for industries covered by the EU’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), even as the bloc plans to gradually replace the scheme with a carbon levy at its border.

The City of Amsterdam, led by mayor Femke Halsema, continues with the climate change combat. In order to be more successful, they are getting rid of the fossil fuel natural gas and want to replace it with other heat source such as geothermal energy – the heat from the deep layers of the earth (depth …

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.

C’est une première. Amsterdam a annoncé qu’elle souhaitait interdire les énergies fossiles et le trafic aérien sur les supports publicitaires de la ville. Une décision prise après avoir été mise sous pression par un groupe de 51 associations demandant des publicités sans énergies fossiles. D’autres municipalités et l’État pourraient suivre son exemple.

La capitale hollandaise montre l'exemple en prenant une décision symbolique contre le réchauffement climatique.

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.

Whilst the German government has pledged 40 billion euros to help coal regions as mines close, those living and working in nuclear power are not seeing the same support.

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.

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.

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.

US President Joe Biden has pledged to end public funding of ‘carbon-intensive’ fossil fuel projects overseas, bringing America in line with EU plans. However, the wording may leave the door open to gas, writes EURACTIV's media partner, Climate Home News.

Europe's shift from fossil fuel-based electricity to renewable sources has cut down on greenhouse gas emissions while tackling environmental problems, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said on Monday (18 January).

Renewable power generation in the EU has nearly doubled since 2005, producing 34% of electricity in 2019 compared with 38% from fossil fuels

Austria, Denmark, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain have issued a joint letter calling on the European Union to clearly prioritise renewable energies under an EU-led project aiming to accelerate hydrogen deployment, research and infrastructure.

The European Union launched on Thursday (17 December) a hydrogen “important project of common European interest”, or IPCEI, with 23 European countries signing a manifesto paving the way for a cleaner hydrogen value chain.

German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier chaired Thursday’s launch event, which saw Norway and 22 other European countries signing a declaration of intent, or manifesto, in support of the initiative.

However, the five EU countries see the move with scepticism, warning the initiative must not be used as a backdoor to finance fossil gas infrastructure.

Ce mercredi le Conseil d’Etat genevois a adopté le plan directeur de l’énergie 2020-2030. L’un des gros objectifs est notamment de sortir du chauffage fossile d’ici 2030 et de valoriser les ressources renouvelables du territoire.  Le canton de Genève a adopté ce mercredi le plan directeur de l’énergie 2020-2030 et donne ainsi un nouvel élan […]

30% of the EU's €1.8 trillion budget and recovery plan for 2021-2027 will be made available for the green transition. That amount is no longer up for negotiation and the focus must now shift to spending it well, said Kadri Simson, the EU's energy commissioner.

“The economic downturn has temporarily suppressed emissions, but low economic growth is not a low-emissions strategy – it is a strategy that would only serve to further impoverish the world’s most vulnerable populations. Only faster structural changes to the way we produce and consume energy can break the emissions trend for good. Governments have the capacity and the responsibility to take decisive actions to accelerate clean energy transitions and put the world on a path to reaching our climate goals, including net-zero emissions.”