The New Pragmatism: Scenarios to Understand a Volatile Energy Transition

Discover the insights from “The New Pragmatism: Scenarios to Understand a Volatile Energy Transition.” This comprehensive report from S&P Global Commodity Insights delves into the intricate dynamics shaping the global energy landscape. As we navigate a slow energy transition marked by rebounding fossil fuel demand post-COVID-19, the report highlights crucial geopolitical impacts, like the Russia-Ukraine conflict, that are influencing energy markets.

Explore three distinct scenarios: Inflections, a base-case outlook predicting gradual change; Green Rules, which envisions an accelerated transition driven by robust policy changes; and Discord, where geopolitical tensions hinder progress. With projections indicating that most countries will struggle to …

Building Up Buyer Demand for Novel Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies

Large-scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR)—that is, the drawdown of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere—is a critical component of U.S. plans to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by midcentury. Novel CDR technologies have the potential to provide durable carbon removal at the scale needed, but the industry is nascent, and the associated costs are high. Existing federal policy for novel CDR focuses on increasing the supply of carbon removal by supporting the development and deployment of novel technologies. But given that CDR is a public good and lacks a built-in market, support is needed to ensure sufficient demand as the …

Worldwide internet carbon footprint

It might not be one of the first things we think about when it comes to carbon emissions, but our online presence directly contributes to global emissions. In this guide we delve into the digital landscape, uncovering the extensive environmental impact of internet usage (and more) across the globe. From vast data centres to individual users’ digital habits, we examine the environmental implications of our interconnected world and highlight the challenges and opportunities in reducing the internet’s carbon footprint. And we explore what steps can be taken to foster a more sustainable digital future.…

100% Renewables Roadmap for Avellaneda, Argentina

The Municipality of Avellaneda, along with ICLEI Argentina, ICLEI América do Sul, and the ICLEI World Secretariat, developed the city’s 100% Renewables Roadmap.

Avellaneda plans to make use of the potential of improved energy efficiency, expand innovation within its territory, and take advantage of its large bioenergy potential, particularly to fulfill its high industrial energy demand and transport demand.…

Analysis of Novel EV Battery Technologies, with a Focus on Tech Transfer and Commercialisation

This report summarises the recent advancements in battery technologies for mobility applications, focusing on electric vehicles, and looks at the main barriers encountered in their journey from lab to market. Both Li-ion batteries and next-generation batteries are discussed. The report includes information about identified barriers for scaling-up the battery manufacturing industry in Europe and proposes solutions to overcome them. It identifies technical challenges, such as manufacturing of Li-ion and next-generation batteries at industrial scale, while maintaining high yield and quality without excessive cost. It also reveals that scaling up is hindered by financial issues and lack of funding, especially given …

Accelerating City Climate Action Through Geospatial Data

In a decisive move towards forging ahead with tangible climate action in cities, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM) and the World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC) jointly launched today at Cities & Regions Summit of the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) in Nairobi, Kenya, a new white paper titled “Accelerating City Climate Action through Geospatial Data”.

As cities and local governments continue to face mounting and myriad pressures, tackling climate change has become evermore challenging – especially where in-house capacity and knowledge are low. This white paper sheds light on how geospatial …

Toward a Cleantech-Led Economic Development Strategy for South Carolina

South Carolina has an unprecedented opportunity to leverage federal policy and global momentum in the clean energy transition, and has the existing industries and policy tools to capitalize on this moment. This report identifies industries where South Carolina is competitive, constraints that may hold it back, and opportunities to coordinate in a cleantech-led economic development strategy.…

Ethical Framework Principles for Climate Intervention Research

Climate intervention, also known as geoengineering or climate engineering, is the deliberate large-scale intervention in Earth’s climate system to counteract global warming. Climate intervention includes primarily carbon dioxide removal (CDR) techniques, which address the root cause of climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and solar radiation modification (SRM) techniques, which offset the effects of greenhouse gas concentrations by preventing Earth from absorbing as much solar radiation.

The urgency to address climate change has led to rapidly growing interest in climate intervention research. However, both CDR and SRM techniques, as well as other methods, present opportunities and risks …

Equity in Energy Resilience

Across California, 4.4 million households face an energy affordability gap totalling $4.1
billion dollars, where energy costs in these households are greater than 8.5 percent of their net income. If the costs of dealing with power outages are included, another $900 million dollars in resilient energy affordability gap emerges for 4.9 million households. While the energy gap is emerging as an equity and affordability metric for energy policy decision making, considerations of resilient energy affordability gaps are so far lacking. Here they provide a method to measure the affordability gap incurred by a lack of resilient energy, using similar methods …

Capturing the Benefits of Industrial Decarbonization for Houston and Beyond

The energy transition is well underway and represents an enormous opportunity for economic growth and emissions reductions worldwide. This report identifies the double benefits the Houston region could experience through a concerted effort to decarbonize existing industrial activity and presents an outline for other jurisdictions to follow.

This paper identifies four primary pathways for achieving emissions reduction in the Houston region — electrification, energy efficiency measures, hydrogen utilization, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) — between 2025 and 2050. Three scenarios — a business-as-usual case, a selective investment scenario reflecting economic limitations on the cost of carbon abatement measures, and …