The first of three pieces highlighting the potential of Ukraine’s post-war recovery to pioneer sustainability – especially the energy transition – but warning against complacency. Part 2 focuses on business and finance, and Part 3 highlights the risk of leaving Ukraine out of its own recovery. Josh Matthews reports. Read More
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The hype around Hyphen – path towards Namibia’s energy revolution or Global North dependency?
In his two parts blog series on “green hydrogen” (GH2), Andy Gheorghiu asked the question if it’s solution of pipe dream – outlining the decarbonisation challenge of the Global North’s energy-/feedstock intensive industry while showing that mainly the Global South has the potential to actually produce large amounts of GH2. In this blog, he draws our attention to Hyphen, one of the largest African hydrogen (H2) projects, in Namibia – highlighting significant open questions and explaining why local opposition is mounting. Read More
The complexities of the clean energy divide
At the height of power blackouts in South Africa earlier this year households went without electricity for 10 hours a days. The unprecedented spike in outage hours saw the middle class scramble for alternative energy sources to buffer against the failing electricity grid. However, the poorest and the most vulnerable were being left in the dark, writes Ufrieda Ho. Read More
Carbon capture and storage | The Global Energy Transition Podcast
In this episode of the Global Energy Transition podcast, host Michael Buchsbaum, lead blogger for the Energy Transition.org talks with David Schlissel, attorney and Director of Resource Planning Analysis for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) about carbon capture and storage (CCS) which got a lot of attention at the recently concluded COP28 in Dubai. Read More
How “green corridors” are driving sustainable policies in Medellín
Climate change impacts key parts of urban life, making climate resilience more important than ever. Rebecca Bertram looks at the Colombian city Medellín, exploring how smart climate resilience measures are boosting electric mobility and making it an example for the rest of the Latin American continent. Read More
Despite a record year in profits, oil and gas companies still aren’t doing enough to combat emissions
Oil and gas companies have been the biggest winners of the energy price hikes of 2022. But as yet, there is scant evidence that companies have invested their windfalls in the energy transition. Is there hope that they will? Joelle Thomas reports. Read More
COP28: an opportunity for Africa to reduce sovereign debt and stimulate renewable energy transitions
Almost 20 years ago, and following long debate, the wealthiest countries wrote off some of the debts owed to them by economically disadvantaged countries. With the United Nations recently declaring ‘a world of debt’, we’re back to it again, and so soon. But this time around, an imminent environmental crisis looms in the background. Developing countries simply cannot contribute to climate change solutions when weighted with debts. As many as 27 countries in Africa have ratio of debt to GDP above 60 per cent. Another important difference is that this time around, Africa holds more than half the raw materials needed for decarbonizing global economies. This year’s COP28 would be most effective by solving this paradox, as well as securing decarbonisation gains made so far, mostly in wealthier countries. Africa’s natural resources for energy transitions positions the continent to sustainably manage its debt, encourage economic growth and stimulate energy transitions across the continent, writes Michael Davies-Venn. Read More
Global gas demand: locking in the peak for economic, energy and climate security
Under current trends, global gas demand is set to peak before the decade’s end. Bringing forward this peak in line with climate imperatives can bolster economic growth, security, and resilience. To do this, demand must fall by 110 bcm per year until 2030. Structurally reducing demand should become a focus of international collaboration, write Kamila Godzinska, Maria Pastukhova, Lisa Fischer from E3G.* Read More
Hydrogen from heaven
Poland has a chance to be among the countries that will kickstart the hydrogen revolution. But will it seize the chance? Read More
The return of the returnable bottle
It took nearly 30 years of debate – and eventually pressure from the European Union – to restore the bottle deposit system in Poland. At the beginning of the 1990s the reusable packaging market, especially for reusable bottles, began to die out in Poland. This was one of the few elements of the economy that was worth preserving as a legacy from the People’s Republic of Poland. In times of widespread shortage of raw materials, virtually every glass bottle circled around in the socialist closed-loop economy. At the beginning of the 90s, however, the era of disposability and plastic packaging began in Poland. And it’s only now that there’s been a rethink. Read More