A new multimillion-pound project led by Heriot-Watt University’s global research institute for net zero is using AI to slash the time and cost involved in modelling carbon capture and storage (CCS) methods.
A report by the environmental think tank Ember states that growth in solar and wind power pushed renewable generation to a record 30 per cent of global electricity production in 2030, putting the target of tripling global renewable capacity by 2030 within reach.
Energy ministers at the G7 meeting in Turin have agreed on a time frame for phasing out coal-fired power plants, committing to shutting down these plants by the first half of the 2030s.
According to an annual report from Global Energy Monitor, global coal-fired power capacity grew in 2023, driven largely by a wave of new plants being built in China, which accounted for two-thirds of the global growth of newly operating coal-fired plants.
The European Commission has announced that carbon emissions from power plants fell by 24 per cent compared to 2022, the fastest decline in history.
Data from energy think tank Ember shows that India’s coal-fired electricity generation reached a new high in January 2024, with its share of the country’s generation mix reaching 80 per cent.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has published a report, CO2 emissions in 2023, that has found that global energy-related CO2 emissions rose less strongly in 2023 than the year before, even as total energy demand growth accelerated.
Power sector emissions in the EU fell by a record 19 per cent in 2023 as a result of sharp falls in both coal- and gas-fired generation, according to a report from the climate think tank Ember.
Six EU countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands), along with Switzerland, have signed a commitment to end carbon emissions in power generation by 2035.
The agreement reached at COP28 was, in some ways, a milestone, in that for the first time for nearly 30 years, specific mention of fossil fuels has been made.