Climate Change

  • Commercial and market outlook

    EU Commission publishes climate change mitigation taxonomy

    An excerpt from our European Weekly Bulletin, part of our Energy Spectrum Europe package. On Wednesday 2 February, the EU Commission presented its Taxonomy Complementary Climate Delegated Act on climate change mitigation and adaptation covering certain gas and nuclear activities. The commission states that it aims to prevent greenwashing and...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    What’s happened at COP26 so far

    We’ve summarised the latest news so far from COP26. The latest updates can be found in our Daily Bulletin, and our insight and commentary in our weekly Energy Spectrum. Find out more here PM addresses World Leaders at COP26 Summit Opening Ceremony The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, spoke at the...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    How can research help: what is the gap in understanding that should be addressed most urgently?

    In the last two decades, the debate around addressing climate change has rightly focused on identifying – and supporting – the most suitable technologies to decarbonise our economies. Consequently, significant progress has been achieved in the decarbonisation of the power sector. However, as the priority is now to decarbonise hard-to-abate...

  • E-mobility and low carbon

    Off the pace: Irish EV sales lag 2030 target levels

    This week’s blog compares the number of electric cars, including hybrid variants, sold in Ireland to date in 2020 against the same period for 2019. It shows that in January, EV registrations rose by 73.6% to 5,739 compared with January 2019. In February, sales rose by 13.3% compared with the...

  • Low carbon generation

    Sail away: Offshore wind vs. RESS

    Last week the European Commission proposed a “Climate Law” enshrining in legislation the objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. In this week’s blog, we consider the role of wind in achieving this goal, and Irelands role in the European Green Deal. As we would expect, the green deal identifies...

  • Regulation and policy

    Getting it done? What the Budget means for energy and clean growth

    New Chancellor Rishi Sunak has delivered his first Budget after less than a month in the job. On areas such as the living wage, growth and investment, Sunak said again and again that the government is “getting it done!” However, there was relatively little news in the speech on what...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Editor’s Pick | The costs of the net zero transition

    This article was originally published in Energy Spectrum Issue 705 on 9 March 2020. For recent news and analysis on the energy market, find out more about our weekly publication, Energy Spectrum, here. As the scale of the net zero challenge becomes clearer, Cornwall Insight Non-Executive Director Sonia Brown considers how the UK...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Editor’s Pick | Jump start: accelerating net zero commitments

    With the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting having just taken place on 21-24 January, there has been increased focus on global sustainability. In this Perspective, we take stock of the countries and companies that are accelerating net zero commitments a decade or more ahead of the widely held 2050...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Editor’s Pick | EC presents European Green Deal for 2050 net zero target

    The European Commission (EC) presented the European Green Deal on 11 December, which sets out how to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The EC said the deal, shown in Figure 1, provides a roadmap to move to a clean, circular economy and stop climate change, revert biodiversity...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Five things we learnt from Energy Spectrum | 655

    A programme as complex as the smart meter roll-out was always going to be subject to significant challenges. Last week BEIS Committee Chair Rachel Reeves commented that the roll-out would not meet its 2020 notional deadline, echoing growing sentiment in the industry but, in this week’s Energy Perspective we suggest that...

  • Low carbon generation

    When the Wild Wind Blows… time for offshore wind?

    On 22 January 2019, an announcement was made that ESB and Parkwind, which has been developing the Oriel Offshore Wind project off the coast of Louth, have entered into a partnership for the Oriel project, as well as ESB’s Clogherhead project. This has been a welcome announcement in light of...

  • Announcement

    Tony Ward | 12 days of Christmas

    Our 12 Days of Christmas series is timed to coincide with issue 600 of Energy Spectrum. It commemorates 12 years of our weekly publication, which first debuted in 2005. It offers perspectives from senior industry figures on the past 12 years and discussion on where the energy market could be...