Health Risks, the new Climate Policy Implications | COP26 postponement means climate action delay? | Legislative Initiative for 100RE Solutions

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Dear Colleagues and Friends,

No matter where this newsletter will reach you, it seems like we all shared similar experiences this month: Almost everything we do, everywhere we go or didn’t go, most things we’re reading and seeing were somehow influenced by the global coronavirus pandemic. There is no country & no economic sector left unaffected. We’re seeing and experiencing things that seemed impossible six weeks ago – like negative oil prices for example. What everyone should have realized by now: We’re all in this together and we can only get out of it together.

But the when’s and how’s of it are still up for debate. Together with several other renowned NGO’s, associations and companies active in the fields of climate, renewable energy and sustainability, the Energy Watch Group has sent an open letter to the German Government & Parliament demanding a social-ecological transition. Any economic recovery programme in response to the current pandemic must be based on the principles of ecology, sustainability and justice in order to help our society in the long-term.

That is why our April newsletter is full of discussions about…

  • … embedding crisis-prevention & recovery policies within the  European Green Deal.
  • … how the postponement of COP26 could be a chance for more ambitious climate  targets.
  • … why the 50th anniversary of Earth Day focused on climate action.

Moreover, the EWG has published a legislative proposal to incentivize 100% renewable energy solutions and innovations – a good starting point for re-strengthening the general rollout of renewable energies and the economy in general, by the way.

With this, we leave you to our monthly take on climate & energy policy. Happy reading!

Your EWG Team

Corona Dominating the Climate | Oil Price Crash: The danger of Fossil Fuels | East Asia, Coal’s last Hope?

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Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Like every month, we’re coming to you today with a brand-new newsletter and as always, it’s filled with our take on the most notable recent developments in the world of energy. In this month’s edition you’ll find reports on:
1) The dangers of fossil fuels (going even beyond heating up our planet) – as shown by this month’s oil price crash,
2) The EU Commission’s new climate law, which Greta Thunberg and other activists called a “surrender”,
3) The decline of coal, visible now even in one of the last strongholds of the dying coal industry – Southeast Asia.

As usual, we will also give you a little update about what we’ve been up to. And in fact, this month we’re quite proud about having launched a new study about the feasibility of a 100% renewable energy system in a very beautiful (and soon hopefully very sustainable) district in Bavaria, Southern Germany. Lastly, as always, we’ll give you a glimpse at the most recent climate science – this time with a paper suggesting that global inequalities might soon rise due to climate change.

Yet, during these times, one topic cannot be avoided and therefore tops this month’s newsletter: The Coronavirus (COVID-19). Just like everything else, it affects our own daily work as well as global energy and climate change developments. Flights have been cancelled, entire industries shut down and electricity demand is in free fall. Therefore, we’ll provide you with a short analysis of what the pandemic means for the climate change struggle and the energy transition. Let’s all try to learn and take away as much as we can from this crisis.

But enough introduction, let’s get going with our March 2020 Newsletter. Enjoy the reading!

Your EWG Team

Nuclear – Dead or Alive? | Plans for a Hydrogen Rollout | Facing Zero Emissions

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Dear Colleagues and Friends,

First of all, we’re sorry. Please excuse the belated delivery of our February newsletter. It’s just a very short month and our project pipeline for this year is already running at full capacity, like no natural gas pipeline ever will. Hopefully.

But enough excuses, we come to you with a wide bouquet of topics on the global energy transition: From the manifold obstacles paving the way to COP26 in Glasgow, to the re-emergence of the nuclear debate and the worrisome focus on carbon neutrality (“net zero”) rather than zero emissions, we have it all covered.

Before we get there, do you have a good sleep? No nightmares about climate change? Good for you then, because one out of five children between 8-16 years has nightmares about global warming, according to a recent study by UK pollster ComRes. The same poll among UK’s youth has also revealed that 41% of children don’t trust adults to tackle the climate crisis. And to be honest, looking at the past decades of climate governance, the young generation has every right to be worried about their future.

We adults, be it in business, politics, academia or just in “normal” life, have to do our best to regain that trust, to push for bolder steps and more ambitious climate policies. A key factor in limiting the climate crisis is a complete phase-out of fossil fuels and an accelerated roll-out of renewable energy. A key policy for realizing this measure is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary: Co-authored by our president Hans-Josef Fell, the German Renewable Energy Sources Act, also known as EEG, has laid the foundation for Germany’s energy transition and has been copied around 100 times in countries around the world.

Unfortunately, there is still far too little political commitment for climate protection, cutting emissions, rolling out renewables and bringing forward an energy transition across all sectors. But that’s exactly what we need to limit global warming and it’s what an increasing number of (youth) activists, politicians, organizations and businesses are working towards. It’s not too late to make the goal of a 100% renewable energy system a majority position in every country. And we won’t stop until this goal is reached and all of us can sleep without nightmares about global warming. Until then, enjoy our newsletter.

Your EWG Team

Energy Watch Group Newsletter – January 2020

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Dear Colleagues and Friends,

A new year is here and with 2020 begins a new decade as well. Undoubtedly, it will be a decade in which major transformations must occur… in society, economics and politics. We will need more activism, bolder environmental politics, technological improvements and responsible economic behavior. The beginnings of certain trends have already become visible in the first days of this year and we will take a closer look at some of them in our January Newsletter.

We will observe, for instance, 1) the growing threat of climate-related natural disasters, as we had to witness in Australia this month, 2) the continued decline of king coal, which cannot be brought back even with the support of backwards-looking politicians like Donald Trump, 3) the struggle of fossil fuel companies that try to portray themselves as green innovators, and 4) the trend of financial investors and creditors that wake up to the financial and climatic risk of fossil fuels and global warming.

While things keep changing in the world of energy, others remain the same. We, the EWG, are still here, fighting for the cause of 100% renewable energy until 2030. Nothing has changed about our message – or our conviction that we need to decarbonize the energy sector and produce negative emissions in the near future. We will continue to spread the word and have done so already this month. For instance, we visited the General Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Abu Dhabi and engaged in promising dialogue with worldwide renewable energy leaders.

But one thing is new about the EWG as well: Our newsletter has gotten a fresh new design and now shines in glorious yellow. We hope you will enjoy this brand-new January Newsletter and wish you a great start to 2020!

Your EWG Team

COP25, just Another Failure | Europe’s Green Deal: A Big Shot? | On Fossil Lobbying & Greenwashing

Energy Watch Group Newsletter – December 2019

Dear Colleagues and Friends,
2019 is close to being over, so this is our last newsletter of the year. For us, this has been a challenging but very exciting year. We started in January with more (wo-)manpower than we ever had (scroll all the way down here) to intensify our efforts on energy policy. Which we did, here are just two highlights of our manifold year-round activities:
  1. In April, we published our flagship study together with LUT University: A global scenario outlining the way towards 100% renewable energy. After 4 and a half years of intense work and with 15 scientists involved, we finally published the first-of-its-kind study to outline a 1.5°C scenario with a cost-effective, cross-sectoral, global 100% renewable energy system. And while we were invited to present our roadmap to the European Commission, the recently presented European Green Deal doesn’t really reflect our findings and recommendations. Read more about the contents of the deal in this newsletter!
  2. Later this year, in September, our President Hans-Josef Fell and EWG’s Chief Research Officer Dr. Thure Traber warned in a co-authored study that “natural gas makes no contribution to climate protection” because of its alarming high methane emissions. Natural – meaning fossil – gas is the fossil industry’s new go-to fuel since it’s falsely considered a bridge-fuel that is needed for the energy transition. But we could show that there is no bridge at all and that fossil gas needs to be phased out as soon as possible (as all other fossils!) if we want to implement real climate protection.

And no, unfortunately, COP25 (also covered in this newsletter) showed us that the global community is not quite ready yet to come together to legally enshrine limiting global warming to 1.5°C and implement 100% renewable energy strategies worldwide. But all utopian hopes aside, a lot has happened this year despite governmental inactiveness & constant pressure from the fossil industry to water down any ambitious renewable energy or climate policy. It seems like big parts of society have woken up, shaken up by an increasingly rampant climate crisis and bold protesters & activists who will not stop demanding real action. We will be back in January, full of energy and enthusiasm to show the world that a global transition to 100% renewable energy should be at the core of any serious climate strategy.

Until then, enjoy reading our December newsletter and have joyful holidays,

Your EWG Team

World Energy Outlook 2019 | Will EVs Save the Transport Sector? | Renewables to Take Over Coal Countries

Energy Watch Group Newsletter – November 2019

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

This month, 11,000 scientists from all around the world warned in a joint statement that we are facing an “untold suffering due to the climate crisis” unless we don’t radically change the way we live. The crisis is huge; therefore, we need change that is fast, effective and profound.

We need solutions that do justice to the scale of the problems we are facing. No more tiny changes that hardly improve anything (if at all!) but above all waste our time and energy. This month we feature, inter alia, stories on the European Investment Bank and a number of climate litigation cases to prove that it doesn’t take so much to make a great impact. We are also talking about the biggest disappointment this month – the release of the new World Energy Outlook – and what we can do about it.Grüne Wiese

Be part of the change we need, spread positive stories – our November Newsletter will help you with that – and don’t forget to join the next global climate strike on November 29 to increase awareness and pressure – it seems we cannot get enough of it!

International Rebellion | European Green Deal & Natural Gas | IMF Fears Stranded Assets

Energy Watch Group Newsletter – October 2019

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

At the beginning of this October, Extinction Rebellion took over streets, squares and junctions in about 60 cities around the globe. The month was, once again, marked by protests for more ambitious climate policies.

Lately, we saw several reasons for climate protests to continue: The EU Environment Ministers did not decide on whether to update the EU 2030 emission reduction targets, leaving a back door open for an “update” that does not even include increased mitigation efforts. In Germany, the government adopted its Climate Action Strategy and while it is being sold as a great step forward, it should rather be considered as a backdrop. But it is not only Germany or the EU that lag behind, actually more than half of the signees of the Paris Agreement are not planning to update their currently insufficient mitigation efforts, as new UNDP & UNFCCC research shows.

As long as governments and politicians are not eager to implement policies that are ambitious enough, news of protests will – hopefully – continue to be our faithful companion. And as long as we have not reached 100% renewable energy worldwide, the Energy Watch Group will continue to speak up and provide research and insights on how to best get there in time.

It is more important than ever to stay active, stay involved and stay informed – our October Newsletter will help you with that!

Natural Gas More Climate Intensive than Coal & Oil | Expansion of Renewables | Global Climate Strikes | September 2019

Energy Watch Group Newsletter – September 2019

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

The EWG’s newsletter is back from summer break, reenergized and fueled with the most interesting news around the global energy transition, latest scientific findings and our own work. While politicians, business representatives and scientists still discuss about adequate measures against the climate crisis, the world experienced it second hottest summer ever measured. And it won’t be the last, according to researchers from Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute (IPSL) and France’s National Meteorological Research Centre 1.5 °C could already be out of reach and temperatures could even rise up to 6 or 7 °C by 2100, while the IPCC’s worst-case scenario expects ‘only’ 5 °C of global warming.  Not to mention the devastating wildfires in the Amazon and the Borneo rainforests.

These horrifying news and developments could easily lead to the conclusion that all is lost and nothing can be done anymore. But that’s far from the truth. We are convinced that the transition from a fossil to a renewable energy system is possible and the key measure in order to bring emissions down to zero, since it makes up 55% of all greenhouse gases. Is this just a randomly picked number? No, it’s the result of one out of two analyses the EWG has published in the last months. Our recent Natural Gas Study concludes that the climate effect of betting on fossil gas will be 40% stronger compared to coal and oil. Our research suggests that the current debate over natural gas as a bridging fuel is not only wrong but also dangerous. Speaking of dangerous, and no, not referring to global warming this time but rather the opposite: the fossil industry seems to be increasingly under pressure due to increasing divestment rates. 11$ trillion have already been divested and more and more investors follow that trail to prevent their assets from stranding.

And last, September 20th was the start of Climate Action Week and over 4 million people demonstrated for more ambitious climate policies while heads of state gathered in New York for the UN Climate Change Summit. Vocally sympathizing with the protestors, the urgency of climate action was still not reflected by the words and pledges of Merkel, Macron & Co. This means that global climate protests are far from over, as is our newsletter – find all the stories and more right here.

EU Falls Short on Energy Transition | People Take Climate Action | Who Reigns after King Coal? – July 2019

Energy Watch Group Newsletter – July 2019

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Discussions about global warming and its manifold devastating impacts have been dominating the international media landscape all along this summer – also this month, is on track to become earth’s hottest month on record. Despite all this and the associated transfer of political attention toward the climate crisis, the amount of action taken by governments over the last month has been woefully lacking. The EU’s newly inaugurated President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, presented the idea of a European Green Deal. While this sounds ambitious, concrete proposals and measures are missing. And while having introduced the idea of becoming climate-neutral by 2050, the EU bodies have not managed to commit to this goal either. Frustrated with such two-faced statements and actions of national governments all over the world, cities & communities are taking matters into their own hands: declaring „Climate Emergency“ and taking action for themselves. Another possibility to make your national government care about global warming: Sue them. A recently published survey found that climate litigation cases have drastically increased through the last years, with a resounding amount of success. Individuals, organizations, businesses and cities demanding and taking legal action for more climate action is one of the most remarkable accomplishments of our time. Yet, we have to emphasize: Aiming for net-zero by 2050 is not enough. In order to get even close to 1.5°C, we need to reach zero emissions way before. And how will such a zero-emission economy look like? We don’t know yet, what we do know is that it will be fueled by a 100% renewable energy system, as solar & wind are already picking up the torch from dying king coal. If you ask us, this cannot happen fast enough. And while it happens, read our newsletter right here to provide you with all the information and analysis you need on the way.

End of Human Civilization | EU Election: Greens Gain Ground | Why Gas is Not a Bridge Fuel – June 2019

Energy Watch Group Newsletter – June 2019

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

It seems like the world as we know it might come to an end much sooner than we expected: if we continue to ignore global heating human civilization could be history by 2050. But not all hope is lost. Leonardo DiCaprio and Damon Grameau present solutions to fight climate change in their documentaries and Fridays For Future is more successful than ever: after nearly half a year, students all over the world continue to protest for better climate policies and the movement keeps growing. It certainly seems that their efforts are being acknowledged considering that the EU elections last month saw a surge in green party support all over Europe. This was particularly the case in Germany. Here the Greens now stand even higher in the polls than the Christian Democrats, who are the  majority in parliament. The UK, despite ongoing Brexit troubles, still managed to commit to a net zero target by 2050. Finland managed to top this commendable effort by announcing carbon neutrality by 2035. A wave of so called progress reports in the energy field washed over us, unfortunately there was little progress to be seen. The European Coal Exit has equally little progress to show, reports the Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe. Dr. Traber, the EWG’s Chief Research Officer talked about an energy system of 100% renewable energy at EVS32 in Lyon, France and President of the EWG, Hans-Josef Fell, was asked to consult the Ukranian Government on a Renewable Energy Law.