| EWG Newsletter - December
2018 |
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100%
Renewables in Europe |
COP24 - Another
Failed Attempt? |
Germany Falls Back on
Climate Action
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Dear Colleagues
and Friends,
Transition to 100%
renewables is technically feasibly and
economical viable, all we need is a strong
political will. At COP24, Energy Watch Group and
LUT University have presented a new
study, showing a pathway to
100% renewables in Europe
across power, heating and transport sectors.
COP24 has agreed on a Paris
"ruleback", but failed to deliver on a needed
climate ambition. Also in
Germany, the times of climate
ambition are long gone. On a positive side, the
1000th institution has committed to
divest from fossil fuels.
Portugal and Puerto
Rico presented plans to become
net-zero by 2050, as did the
worlds biggest shipping company
Maersk. Find out more in our
new December
Newsletter.
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 Energy Watch
Group (EWG)
is an international network of scientists and
parliamentarians.
We commission research projects and publish
independent studies on global energy
developments. Our mission is to provide energy
policy - and you via this newsletter - with
objective information on global energy
developments! | |
| Study
Release: 100% Renewable Energy in
Europe Across Power, Heat, Transport and
Desalination
Sectors
“Can
Europe go carbon  neutral before 2050?
Experts say yes, but we have to act now”,
Deutsche Welle reports about a new study by Energy
Watch Group and LUT
University. The first-of-its-kind
scientific modelling shows that a
transition to 100% renewables in
Europe across electricity,
heating and transport is
feasible and
economically competitive with
the current energy system. The transition would
lead to zero GHG emissions before
2050 and create over 1.5
million new jobs in the renewable
energy sector. EWG and LUT have launched the
study on December 11 at a joint press conference
(video here) with CAN
Europe at the climate conference
COP24 in Katowice on December 11. EWG
president Hans-Josef Fell also
presented the study at official COP24 side
events hosted by Energy
Community and REN
Alliance. The full study, key findings
and press releases in English, German, French,
Spanish and Russian can be found here. The research is
part of the study “Global Energy System based on
100% Renewable Energy”, co-funded by the
German Federal Environmental Foundation
(DBU) and Stiftung
Mercator. | |
Germany
Falls Back on Climate Action
Former climate action
frontrunner Germany
increasingly turns into a climate laggard. Hopes
that the Energiewende pioneer would arrive
in Katowice with a clear
phase-out-plan for coal have
vanished as the decision was postponed
until February. Climate scientist Prof.
Hans Joachim Schellnhuber has warned the coal exit
commission as a whole could fail. Germany
again opposed stricter car emissions
limits by the EU but failed, as the EU
agreed on car
emissions limits of 37,5% by 2030. Not
surprisingly, Germany fell again in the annual
climate change performance
index, released by
Germanwatch at COP24, and was overtaken
by France as the most attractive G20
country for renewable energy
investments. Although Germany, already the
biggest donor to the UN climate adaptation
fund, announced additional
payment of €70 Million, the country should
finally start doing its homework on climate
action.
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New Net Zero Emissions
Pledges Around the
World
As divestment
commitments are increasing, the number of
pledges to go net-zero by 2050 is also on the
rise. Portugal is on a good
way, as the country’s Minister of Environment
and Energy Transition presented in December the
government plan to become carbon
neutral by 2050. On the other side of
the Atlantic, Puerto Rico has
also announced a plan to go 100% renewable by
2050. Meanwhile, pledges start to come also from
business heavy weights as
Maersk, the world’s largest
shipping company announced plans to achieve
net-zero emissions by 2050. The company plans to
develop carbon neutral ships by 2030 and have
already invested $1 billion in the last four
years. In terms of decarbonisation, the
shipping sector has yet merely
been left untouched, Bloomberg reports. | |
Limiting Fossil Fuel
Production in
California
In addition to an energy
transition to renewables, limiting the
production of fossil fuels could become
a key measure, helping to reach climate
targets and create a just energy transition
in the US. Three researchers from the Stockholm
Environment Institute US in Seattle published a case study on
California, in which they found
that “ceasing the issuance of permits for new
oil wells […] could reduce global CO2 emissions
substantially and also enhance environmental
justice”. | |
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art of COP24, the UN
Environmental Program (UNEP)
released its annual 
