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
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
Readers’ survey 2023 – We need your feedback!
The Energy Transition Blog has been published for more than a decade by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, the German Green political foundation. It started as an outlet to explain Germany’s Energy Transition (Energiewende) and it progressively broadened its geographical coverage and thematic scope. 15 contributors from around the world write about different aspects of the green socio-ecological transformation and the efforts to transition to 100% renewables.
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Shell Games: Holding them accountable
Recently the powerful climate NGO ClientEarth took the unprecedented step of filing suit directly against Shell’s Board of Directors on behalf of investors for failing to manage risks posed to the company by climate change and implement an energy transition strategy that aligns with the Paris Agreement. Nevertheless, at their most recent shareholder meeting, Shell announced plans to reduce renewables spending while investing more in fossil gas and LNG. So will legal action be able to force Shell to actually change course? In this edition of the Shell Games series (read part 1 and part 2), lead blogger and podcaster, Michael Buchsbaum reviews the status of even more lawsuits and legal questions now being brought against this oil and gas behemoth. Read More
Wind bad because German, gas good because Polish
In May 2023, the Polish parliament has passed a law that facilitates the construction of biogas plants. The new rules are intended to help smaller towns in particular ensure energy stability and accelerate the transition away from coal. Critics, however, argue that the new law is a case of too little, too late in an agricultural country that would be ideally suited to biogas. Read More
Poland’s answer to the climate crisis: one hundred nuclear reactors
The good news is that Poland is no longer denying or ignoring the climate crisis. The bad news is that it believes the solution to eradicating its 80 percent dependency on fossil fuels – the highest in the EU – is an expansive nuclear energy program. Even the three democratic parties likely to form a new, liberal-minded coalition government, the outcome of the October 15 general election, believe that their country is going nuclear – big time and very soon – by building in total six full-size conventional reactors and as many as one hundred small modular reactors (SMR) in coming years. Paul Hockenos reports. Read More
Shell games: dodging lawsuits and greenwashing charges on both sides of the Atlantic
In 2021, a court in the Netherlands, where Shell was long been headquartered, ordered this leading historical global polluter to drastically change tactics and begin reducing emissions, immediately. Since then, Shell has moved their HQ to the UK and is enjoying record profits while announcing plans to reduce investments in renewables. Undaunted, Civil Society continues taking aggressive action. In February 2023, Global Witness lodged a greenwashing complaint against Shell to U.S. authorities, a tactic also used by NGO ClientEarth. Recently an advertising board in the UK ordered Shell ads off the airwaves for making false environmental claims. How can legal action force Shell to actually change course? In this edition of the Shell Games series (read part 1 and part 3), lead blogger and podcaster Michael Buchsbaum reviews a few of the mounting legal challenges being brought against this oil and gas behemoth. Read More
In winter 2022-23 Europeans got serious about energy conservation. But can they do it again?
Facing embargoes on Russian fossil fuels and high energy prices, Europe survived last winter largely because of renewable energies, and the hard-nosed scrimping and saving of both Europe’s private sector and citizenry – not because of nuclear power. The continent’s populations hunkered down to conserve energy as never before: turning down heating, switching off non-essential lighting, taking shorter showers, donning heavier sweaters and woollen socks, vacationing closer to home, and insulating windows and doors, among other energy efficiency measures. However, as we will see, it was European industry that really saved the day, writes Paul Hockenos. Read More
More clean cooking solutions are needed to combat deforestation in Uganda
Uganda’s forests are declining at an alarming rate amid the widespread use of traditional biomass for cooking. As only 5% of the population can access clean cooking solutions, Sarah Helen Rüdenauer explores how alternative options can combat deforestation while addressing economic challenges and raising awareness of sustainable energy practices in rural Uganda.