The world counts carbon emissions by country where fuels are combusted, i.e. where the CO2 is emitted. A new study shows how great the differences are when we count products consumed. Craig Morris takes a closer look at how Germany, the UK, Russia, China and France fared in the study.
All posts tagged: Emissions
OSCAPE: Oxygen Capture and Storage – and possible Eruption
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is sometimes touted as a promising technology for the future. But as Craig Morris points out, the technology is nothing new; it simply does not exist the way it is portrayed. Recent events in Canada and the US suggest that Germany’s lack of interest is sensible.
German energy strategy under threat from EU “paradigm shift”
Oliver Geden and Severin Fischer of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) recently published a study on how the German Energiewende fits into the European context. Today, Geden sums up the issue for us.
What price for carbon?
Will the EU 2030 carbon target revive the ETS market? The ETS scheme has been dismissed for its failure to generate a carbon price high enough to stimulate investment in low carbon technologies. Today, guest authors Jan Ondrich and Martin Bebiak discuss whether the EC’s new climate proposal will remedy this perceived failure. They say that a switch from coal to natural gas will require a carbon price of 36 euros per ton.
The EU 2030 Climate and Energy Framework: What is at Stake for the Global Climate?
In the coming months the European Union will lay the foundation of its European climate and energy policies for the next decade. The EU’s decisions on its climate and energy framework until 2030 will also have major impacts on the international climate trajectory in the run-up to COP21 in Paris. Silvia Brugger explains how the EU’s 2030 decisions will influence the global fight against climate change.
“4,000 subsidies for renewables”
Sometimes, Der Spiegel misconstrues issues so well that even experts have trouble understanding what is meant. Instead of a full rebuttal, Craig Morris takes a look at the two main claims in a recent article.
Zero net emissions by 2050?
Germany’s Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt or UBA) has come up with a proposal for a 95 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, far more than the country’s current goal of an 80 percent reduction. Craig Morris points out that the recommendations are intended not only for a German audience.
Power from Below Drives Clean Energy Campaign
Even though opinion polls show Germans staunchly behind the clean energy transition (82 percent), the barrage of negative press of late has clearly wounded the Energiewende.
German Exports of Coal Power Way Up
New figures out show a huge increase in German electricity exports for the first half of 2013. Green power being sold across borders? No, sadly not. It’s ugly power – brown coal itself, as Paul Hockenos explains.
The Energiewende and energy prices: Public support and Germany’s long term vision
Germany has committed itself to an ambitious long-term policy agenda to decarbonise the energy sector. The Energiewende – or energy transformation – policies aren’t cheap, but the German government says it’s a price worth paying for long term energy security and a low carbon economy. Mat Hope takes a look at the real causes for recent price increases, the prospects for policy reforms and the crucial role of public support.