net zero

With the last incumbent to enter and leave the revolving door of UK prime ministers having caused alarm by reportedly preparing plans to effectively ban big solar on farmland, Harald Överholm, CEO of clean energy company Alight, says politicians need to put discredited arguments behind them and get on with the urgent business of shoring up energy security.

Indonesia will have to get to work installing more than 24 GW of solar this year – and every year – if the region is to achieve the 2.1 TW to 2.4 TW of photovoltaics Irena has estimated it will require to achieve a net zero carbon energy system by 2050.

Solar Energy UK members have made positive noises about a plan to shift historic, fixed-payment incentive contracts over to contracts-for-difference deals, which would limit the profits they would receive from soaring energy prices.

The United Kingdom’s most energy-intensive manufacturers, already exempt from 85% of the contributions paid by other companies for green incentive schemes, could be spared from them entirely, according to a new consultation exercise.

The war in Ukraine continues to disrupt the global energy sector and, combined with the recent heatwaves affecting Europe, the need to restructure economies is starker than ever. Luckily, there are some countries that have kept working on their energy transition reforms and taking tangible actions towards tackling climate change. Uzbekistan is one of them.

The International Renewable Energy Agency’s latest annual report on the progress towards UN sustainable development goal seven estimates 670 million people will still lack electricity in 2030, and more than 2 billion will be reliant on unhealthy, polluting cooking methods.

The remarkable results of what is already being called a ‘historic’ 2022 federal election have put Australia “back on the map” in the eyes of big low-carbon investors.

Academics in Denmark and Berlin have calculated Europe will need 400 GW of new solar and wind facilities per year from 2025 to 2035 to contribute to capping global temperature rises, in line with the Paris Agreement.

With each of the 10-year network development plans produced by Europe’s electricity transmission system operators years in the making, the latest such publication may already be out of date as the bloc prepares to fast forward its energy security and climate change ambitions.

Photovoltaics can wipe out 4.25 billion tons of carbon emissions every year this decade, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Even so, the actions announced so far remain way short of what is needed, with capital flows to fossil fuels still greater than the cash directed toward combating climate change.