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Tevva gets go-ahead for electric truck manufacturing in UK and mainland Europe

Posted on January 11, 2023 by dishanth

The company is today (11 January) celebrating the achievement of European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval (ECWVTA) for its 7.5-tonne battery-electric truck. In doing so, regulators have deemed the model as compliant with relevant safety and environmental standards. This is a prerequisite to selling any new vehicle models within the European Union (EU).

Tevva states that this model has a range of up to 180 kilometres (110 miles) per charge and that it can charge to 90% of this maximum range within five hours using existing charging technologies. It is marketed as a solution for urban routes and last-mile deliveries for international routes. The model is manufactured at Tevva’s factory in Tilbury, Essex, with the brand eyeing new manufacturing locations elsewhere in Europe for the future.

The first Tevva 7.5T Electric Trucks were delivered to commercial customers in the second half of 2022. The first one off the assembly line was purchased by Kinaxia Logistics in September 2022, for use on a trial basis in the first instance.

With the confirmation of the ECWVTA, Tevva is anticipating sales of up to 1,000 electric trucks this year, predominantly to the UK market. Customers on the brand’s books include Travis Perkins, Expect Distribution and Royal Mail. Royal Mail is notably working towards a net-zero value chain by 2040, with plans to operate more than 5,500 electric vehicles (EVs) and increase charging infrastructure investment by spring this year.

Tevva’s founder and chief executive Asher Bennett has called the ECWVTA “the most important landmark [the company] has reached to date”. No other pure electric truck of this size has received the Approval yet.

The news will be welcome amid the ongoing uncertainty around EV battery manufacturing in the UK. Britishvolt this week wrote to existing investors confirming that it is in talks to sell a majority stake, in order to safeguard a sustainable financial future for the development of its Gigafactory in Blyth.

In the coming months, Tevva is set to deliver its first 7.5T hydrogen-electric trucks to customers, following the first public launch of the model at the Road Transport Expo in Warwickshire last summer. Combining a hydrogen fuel cell system with a battery-electric design extends the vehicle range; this model touts a range of up to 435km (270 miles). Tevva is then exploring heavier hydrogen trucks of 12 tonnes and 19 tonnes in the longer term.

Bennett said: “We are on a mission to make sustainable trucks accessible at scale and believe our technology will empower the transport sector and the governments of Europe to meet their net-zero goals. By embracing both hydrogen and electric fuel sources, we can rethink the energy mix in transport, reduce strain on our electricity grid and accelerate electric truck adoption.”

Trucks in the clean transition

The UK is set to end the sale of new diesel and petrol heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) weighing 3.5 tonnes to 26 tonnes from 2034. A later deadline of 2040 has been set for heavier models. These targets, set under the 2021 Transport Decarbonisation Plan, are in support of the UK’s legally binding 2050 net-zero climate goal.

EU lawmakers are currently being pushed by large fleet operators to set similar targets. More than 40 corporate members of the Climate Group’s EV100 coalition signed an open letter to EU lawmakers last month, asking for emissions targets for HGVs and a deadline on ending the sale of all new trucks which are not zero-emissions. Supporters of the letter included PepsiCo, Unilever and Henkel.

Source edie

Converting captured carbon into rock really is that easy

Posted on October 4, 2022October 17, 2022 by dishanth

Capturing carbon from the atmosphere is quickly becoming a popular venture. The sector skyrocketed in 2022 as the top emerging segment of climate tech funding, and the Inflation Reduction Act passed earlier this year increased the financial compensation for every ton of carbon captured in the U.S. But Icelandic company Carbfix has been capturing and storing carbon in rocks for over a decade.

Edda Sif Pind Aradóttir, Carbfix’s CEO, has been with Carbfix since its inception in 2007. Beginning as a PhD student working on the R&D of the relationship between CO2, hydrology and geology beneath the earth, Aradóttir worked her way up after earning her doctorate, first to project manager, and then eventually to CEO of the innovative company paving the way for a new frontier of carbon capturing.

Carbfix specifically dissolves CO2 into sparkling water and injects the mixture into a carefully chosen subsurface, or the layer beneath the earth’s surface. Once among the subterranean rock (most commonly basalt) a naturally occurring phenomenon takes over and solidifies the combination into solid carbonate minerals. While other types of rock can also host this process, basalt is one of the most common rock types on Earth, according to Aradóttir, making the adoption of the technology more feasible across the globe.

Currently, Aradóttir told GreenBiz, “point sourcing, or capture and storage at the same location, is always going to be the most cost effective. But when that’s not possible, [Carbfix] can add the transport link, whether that means pipes, trains, trucks or ships.”

But once it arrives at Carbfix’s facilities, it requires storage until it can be sequestered into the rock. Aradóttir explains that temporary CO2 storage infrastructure is the next project the company is undertaking.

The European Union recently pledged significant financial support to Carbfix to “build the first of a kind of such [a storage facility] in Iceland.” Carbfix expects to break ground in the upcoming months.

Image courtesy of Green by Iceland, photographer Gunnar Freyr Gunnarsson

Speaking to GreenBiz at the recent US-Iceland Energy Summit hosted in Washington, D.C., Aradóttir shared an upcoming local project. According to the CEO, the U.S. Department of Energy is funding Carbfix’s research in Minnesota, with the ultimate purpose of the R&D to determine whether local rock formations could one day host injected CO2.

In addition to the Minnesota project, Carbfix is simultaneously scoping the U.S. geology for other sites amenable for future CO2 injection and storage. While all U.S.-based projects are in the infancy of the R&D phase, Aradóttir confirmed that substantial local job creation is to be expected. For example, she estimates 600 new jobs at the upcoming storage facility about to break ground in Iceland. For the U.S., a country whose transition to 100 percent renewable energy depends upon steady job creation to compensate for the fossil fuel-based jobs lost, this is only good news.

Aradóttir passionately advocated for an expedited adoption of climate change mitigating measures.

“We have the technologies and we know what to do, but we’re still not really doing it at the pace needed,” she said. “I don’t think this gets the attention it should get.” Aradóttir acknowledged that “doom and gloom” is not an effective communication strategy to spur action. Optimism is needed to encourage hope and drive motivation. But still she knows it’s hard when, “year after year after year, we don’t deliver, but it’s something we absolutely can do.”

Carbfix is taking that mantra to heart. Currently, the company has injected 83,957 metric tons of CO2, or the equivalent of 208 million miles driven by an average combustion vehicle, into the earth since 2014, and it’s taking that technology on an international tour. Currently, Carbfix has 14 ongoing projects within Iceland and around the world, including Germany, Turkey and Italy. And its website features an atlas of all of the potential geological sites where subsurface CO2 injection and storage should be compatible. Time will tell if Carbfix can get buy-in to take advantage of these sites.

Source GreenBiz

Goodbye gasoline cars? E.U. lawmakers vote to ban new sales from 2035

Posted on June 15, 2022 by dishanth

European lawmakers have voted to ban the sale of new diesel and gasoline cars and vans in the E.U. from 2035, representing a significant shot in the arm to the region’s ambitious green goals.

On Wednesday, 339 MEPs in the European Parliament voted in favor of the plans, which had been proposed by the European Commission, the E.U.’s executive branch. There were 249 votes against the proposal, while 24 MEPs abstained.

It takes the European Union a step closer to its goal of cutting emissions from new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles by 100 percent in 2035, compared to 2021. By 2030, the target is an emissions reduction of 50 percent for vans and 55 percent for cars.

The Commission has previously said passenger cars and vans account for roughly 12 percent and 2.5 percent of the E.U.’s total CO2 emissions. MEPs will now undertake negotiations about the plans with the bloc’s 27 member states.

The U.K., meanwhile, wants to stop the sale of new diesel and gasoline cars and vans by 2030. It will require, from 2035, all new cars and vans to have zero tailpipe emissions. The U.K. left the E.U. on Jan. 31, 2020.

Dutch MEP Jan Huitema, who is part of the Renew Europe Group, welcomed the result of Wednesday’s vote. “I am thrilled that the European Parliament has backed an ambitious revision of the targets for 2030 and supported a 100 percent target for 2035, which is crucial to reach climate neutrality by 2050,” he said.

Others commenting on the news included Alex Keynes, clean vehicles manager at Brussels-based campaign group Transport & Environment. “The deadline means the last fossil fuel cars will be sold by 2035, giving us a fighting chance of averting runaway climate change,” Keynes said.

Source NBC News

The great detox – Largest ever ban of toxic chemicals announced by EU

Posted on May 5, 2022 by dishanth

Europe will greatly accelerate the way it eliminates harmful chemicals, Brussels announced on Monday. Officials will block the use of large families of chemicals, instead of one by one. The EEB predicts that with this ‘the great detox’ 5,000 to 7,000 of the most notorious chemicals will be gone by 2030, including all flame retardants, bisphenols, PFAS and PVC plastics.
Thousands of the most notorious chemicals will be banned in Europe, officials announced on Monday, part of a zero pollution goal in the EU Green Deal.

The action will be the largest ever regulatory removal of authorised chemicals anywhere and covers substances that environmental, consumer and health groups have fought against for decades.

The news spread quickly, with 250+ headlines appearing across Europe, including at El Pais, Le Monde, The Guardian, TAZ, The Irish Times, Kurier, Le Soir and the front page of Denmark’s Information. Le Monde hailed the move as the “promise of a revolution” while the financial daily Les Echos wrote “Brussels intends to hit hard and aim wide.”

The plan is called the Restrictions Roadmap, a political commitment to use existing laws to ban all flame retardants, substances that are frequently linked to cancer, and all bisphenols, widely used in plastics but that disrupt hormones. It will also ban all forms of PVC, the least recyclable plastic that contains large amounts of toxic additives, and restrict all PFAS ‘forever chemicals’, plus around 2,000 harmful chemicals found in baby diapers, pacifiers, baby bottles and other childcare products. The list of chemicals is ‘rolling’, meaning substances could be removed or added.

European officials are unhappy that some 12,000 chemicals known to cause cancer, infertility, reduce vaccine effectiveness and generate other health impacts, are estimated by industry to be widely found in everyday consumer and professional products, including sensitive categories like baby nappies and pacifiers, but also food contact materials, clothes, furniture, etc. Officials consider the roadmap a rapid first step in an EU chemical strategy, with more fundamental changes coming later, starting in late 2022. The EEB estimates that the roadmap will lead to roughly 5,000 to 7,000 chemicals being banned by 2030.

Some chemicals on the roadmap list were already facing EU restrictions, but most are new. The banning process for all chemicals on the list will begin within two years. All substances will be gone by 2030, the EEB estimates.

Industry raised a “storm of protest” over early drafts of the plans and is expected to try to water them down. Chemicals make up the fourth largest industrial sector in the EU, with firms owned by some of Europe’s richest and most powerful men. Industry association CEFIC acknowledged in December that as many as 12,000 chemicals, present in 74% of consumer or professional products, have properties of serious health or environmental concern.

EU member governments unanimously support the roadmap, although Italy is opposing measures to ban PVC plastics.

European Environmental Bureau chemicals policy manager Tatiana Santos said:

“What Ursula Von der Leyen’s Commission has announced today opens a new chapter in facing down the growing threat from harmful chemicals. This ‘great detox’ promises to improve the safety of almost all manufactured products and rapidly lower the chemical intensity of our schools, homes and workplaces. All that said, this is a political commitment and not yet action. We’ll be watching officials closely to ensure they walk the talk.”

An estimated 200,000 chemicals are used in Europe. Global chemicals sales more than doubled between 2000 and 2017 and are expected to double again by 2030. By volume, three quarters of chemicals produced in Europe are hazardous. Scientists recently declared that chemical pollution had crossed a planetary boundary, while last month a UN environment report found that chemical pollution is causing more deaths than COVID-19.

Daily exposure to a mix of toxic substances is linked to rising health, fertility, developmental threats, as well as the collapse of insect, bird and mammal populations. Some 700 industrial chemicals are found in humans today that were not present in our grandparents. Doctors describe babies as born “pre-polluted”.

Official polling finds 84% of Europeans worried about the health impact of chemicals in products and 90% about their impact on the environment.

Traditionally, the EU regulates chemicals one by one, an approach that has failed to keep up with industrial development of a new chemical every 1.4 seconds. The EU has banned around 2,000 hazardous chemicals over the last 13 years, more than any other world region. But these restrictions apply to very few products, such as cosmetics and toys. Roughly the same substances will now be banned from childcare items, a larger product group than toys or cosmetics. In addition, most other chemical groups targeted in the roadmap will apply to many product groups, greatly expanding regulatory impact.

The roadmap will step up a group approach to regulating chemicals, where the most harmful member of a chemical family defines legal restrictions for the whole family. That should end a cynical and irresponsible industry practice of tweaking chemical formulations slightly to evade bans.

Source META

Greece doubles 2030 energy storage target to 3GW

Posted on May 2, 2022 by dishanth

Greece has doubled its 2030 target for energy storage deployment to 3GW as it aims for a renewable electricity generation proportion of 70%.

The country’s Minister of the Environment and Energy Kostas Skrekas announced the plans at a meeting with US politicians on Tuesday last week (19 April), according to the Ministry’s official website.

The target for ‘electricity storage’ is double the 1.5GW outlined in an existing national plan, reports Insider.gr, and will accompany a renewable energy capacity of over 20GW by the 2030 deadline according to the Ministry.

Also discussed at the meeting were near-term plans to increase Greece’s energy security through increased local natural gas production, the Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) gas pipeline and new interconnections with Egypt, Cyprus and Israel.

Greek minister Kostas Skrekas meeting with members of the US Congress and House of Representatives last week. Image: YPEN.

Skrekas said that Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine would accelerate the green transition, as Europe seeks to wean itself off its fossil fuels, as would the falling price of renewable energy.

Insider reported that Greece already has a renewable energy capacity of 10.1GW at the end of 2020, so the 2030 target amounts to a doubling of that figure.

The storage projects will be supported by money from the post-Covid National Recovery and Resilience Plan, majority funded by the European Union, totalling €450 million (US$480 million) of which €200 million will be for battery-based projects.

In August last year, consultancy Clean Horizon’s head of market analysis Corentin Baschet told Energy-storage.news shortly that the €200 million would fund a 700MW tender for energy storage announced in June. He said Greece had all the drivers to become an important European market for lithium-ion-based energy storage in the coming years.

That tender may now have increased in size, with Insider reporting that regulatory steps and discussions with the EU have taken place and a tender totalling 800-900MW of storage could launch this coming September.

Source Energy Storage News

Global coal plant projects down 76% since 2015

Posted on October 5, 2021 by dishanth

The global pipeline of new coal plant projects has shrunk 76 per cent since 2015, a new analysis shows, putting many countries in a good position to carry out UN Secretary General António Guterres’s call for no new coal investment.

“The economics of coal have become increasingly uncompetitive in comparison to renewable energy, while the risk of stranded assets has increased. Governments can now act with confidence to commit to ‘no new coal’,” reports climate think tank E3G in its analysis.

Based on findings by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), worldwide coal use will need to fall by around four-fifths during the current decade to keep average global warming below 1.5°C. The International Energy Agency says advanced economies will need to cut off coal by 2030, followed by a full global cessation by 2040.

For this to happen, “a pivotal first step is ensuring no new coal-fired power stations are built,” say Leo Roberts, E3G’s research manager for fossil fuel transitions, and Christine Shearer, program director at Global Energy Monitor, in a guest post for Carbon Brief.

To date, say the authors, 44 world governments have committed to stopping new construction of coal projects, and another 33 have cancelled their project pipelines. Seven other countries have no plans to develop new coal at all.

Only five OECD countries are considering building new coal, and projects in four of those five are not expected to come through. For the fifth country—Turkey—“fears of the impact of a potential European carbon border adjustment mechanism and climate-exacerbated wildfires are increasing pressure to cancel the country’s remaining pipeline and explore alternatives,” says Roberts and Shearer.

In China, which accounts for more than half of the world’s planned coal projects, coal capacity has scaled back 74 per cent since 2015. All the other non-OECD countries have reduced their collective pre-construction pipeline by 77 per cent.

In all, “the shift in coal dynamics means that fewer and fewer countries have new coal plants under development—and an increasing list are making this into a formal ‘no new coal’ commitment,” the authors write.

Just 37 countries have remaining pre-construction pipeline projects, and 16 of them only have one project each. In all, more than four-fifths of the planned coal plants can be found in just six countries: China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey, and Bangladesh.

“Because the global distribution of proposed power plants is highly concentrated, firm commitments to ‘no new coal’ by just these six countries would remove 82 per cent of the world’s remaining pipeline, should such pledges be forthcoming,” say Roberts and Shearer.

Although they host a concentrated percentage of the world’s remaining pre-construction coal projects, several within this handful of countries are especially vulnerable to climate change, despite historically contributing only modestly to global emissions. The report from E3G calls on the international community to support these countries in moving away from coal through public and private clean energy finance.

“COP 26 will be a key moment for OECD and EU members and China to demonstrate that such support is available now for all countries that are willing to shift from dirty coal to clean energy,” says E3G in its report.

This story was published with permission from The Energy Mix.

Source Business Green

European Union enshrines net zero and emissions targets into law

Posted on July 5, 2021 by dishanth

The European Council adopted a climate change law Monday that legally obliges its 27 nations to collectively slash greenhouse emissions by 55% by 2030 — from 1990 levels — and to become a net-zero-emissions economy by 2050.

The European Union and several other nations increased pledges to cut greenhouse gases and reach carbon neutrality at a virtual climate change summit hosted by US President Joe Biden in April. But there have been concerns over whether world leaders would win the backings of their parliaments to actually enshrine the pledges into law.

Until Monday, only five countries had actually made their pledges legally binding, according to Climate Watch Data: The United Kingdom and New Zealand, as well as EU members Hungary, Luxembourg and France.

Monday’s approval of the package of policies is the final seal on the climate law, which the EU’s parliament passed last week. The EU has been working toward this law since it launched its vision, under the European Green Deal, in 2019.

“I warmly welcome this final step of the adoption of the EU’s very first climate law which enshrines into legislation the 2050 climate neutrality objective,” said Portuguese Minister of Environment and Climate Action João Pedro Matos Fernandes in a statement. Portugal is currently holding the presidency of the EU.

“An agreement on the European climate law has been a priority for the Portuguese Presidency and I am glad that we have successfully brought it over the finishing line.”

Net zero is a scenario where the number of greenhouse gases emitted are no greater than the amount removed from the atmosphere, largely through a method known as carbon capture. Some scientists and environmentalists criticize net zero plans for relying too heavily on technology that isn’t fully developed, arguing the world should be aiming to cut the use of fossil fuels entirely and aim for low- or zero-carbon economies.

The new law seeks to limit its reliance on carbon capture by capping the amount to 225 megatons of carbon. It will also seek to become a negative carbon economy — where it removes more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits — after 2050.

The European Commission also agreed to propose an intermediate climate target for 2040, “if appropriate,” within six months after a first “global stocktake” of emissions carried out under the Paris Agreement. The law states that a scientific board on climate change will be established to advise the EU on its policies.

The current increase in pledges from the EU — as well as other countries, including the US and UK — are aimed at keeping average global temperature rises within 1.5 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial levels and well below 2 degrees. The International Panel of Climate Change paints a catastrophic picture in a 2-degree-rise scenario, where 1.7 billion more people experience severe heatwaves at least once every five years, sea levels rise by another 10 centimeters and coral reefs are all but wiped out, among other impacts.

But some environmentalists have warned that even the more ambitious pledges do not go far enough, and are not enough to keep temperature rise to 1.5C.

Source CNN

Researchers say EU climate change plans will ripple through foreign policy

Posted on February 17, 2021 by dishanth

The European University Institute and two influential think-tanks have predicted the European Union’s goal to have zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will have “profound geopolitical repercussions,” including sharply lower revenue to oil and gas exporting neighbours such as Russia, Algeria and Libya.

By its own estimates, EU oil imports by 2050 would drop to 79 per cent below 2015 levels to meet climate goals, at the same time gas imports would fall by 67 per cent.

Reuters Newsagency reports EU states import most of their fossil fuel energy needs, and the experts said sharp cutbacks in these purchases would hurt nearby economies and could destabilise some countries economically and politically.

“The EU needs to wake up to the consequences abroad of its domestic decisions,” the researchers, who included experts from Bruegel and the European Council on Foreign Relations, said.

Europe’s dwindling fossil fuel consumption could in turn depress oil prices, affecting major producers such as Saudi Arabia, even if they have little trade with the EU.

The researchers said the EU should set aside funds to help neighbouring countries diversify hydrocarbon-dependent economies.

This would not only aid global climate goals, but also help EU industry enter fast-growing new markets, they said.

Reuter reports while climate policies will reduce Europe’s dependence on imported fossil fuels, the researchers said Brussels will need to mitigate other security risks, such as a dependency on imports of raw materials used in electric vehicle batteries.

Another geopolitical flashpoint is Brussels’ plan to impose carbon costs on imports of polluting goods, which could trigger retaliation from countries such as China or Russia, whose steel exports would likely be among the first sectors hit.

The researchers said the EU should work with the new United States administration to jointly introduce carbon border measures, and incentives for other countries to match their efforts.

By David Twomey

Source econews.au

How Sweden Is Transforming Homes Into Power Stations

Posted on October 18, 2020 by dishanth

By 2030, almost a third of all the energy consumed in the European Union must come from renewable sources, according to binding targets agreed in 2018. Sweden is helping lead the way.

As well as targeting 100% renewable electricity production by 2040, the country is transforming homes into highly efficient ‘prosumers’ – buildings which both produce and consume the vast majority of their own energy.

Meanwhile local ‘district heating’ plants are using excess heat to produce over 75% of the warmth that Swedish households need. The country also manages to combine the world’s highest carbon taxes with relatively cheap energy prices.

These are all reasons why Sweden tops the Forum’s Energy Transition Index – providing environmental leadership at a time when a Great Reset has never been more needed. Here’s how Sweden is building up local solutions in its energy revolution.

Sweden is a world leader in renewable energy consumption. Swedish Institute/World Bank

Naturally Warm

54% of Sweden’s power comes from renewables, and is helped by its geography. With plenty of moving water and 63% forest cover, it’s no surprise the two largest renewable power sources are hydropower and biomass. And that biomass is helping support a local energy boom.

Heating is a key use of energy in a cold country like Sweden. In recent decades, as fuel oil taxes have increased, the country’s power companies have turned to renewables, like biomass, to fuel local ‘district heating’ plants.

In Sweden these trace their origins back to 1948, when a power station’s excess heat was first used to heat nearby buildings: steam is forced along a network of pipes to wherever it’s needed. Today, there are around 500 district heating systems across the country, from major cities to small villages, providing heat to homes and businesses.

District heating used to be fueled mainly from the by-products of power plants, waste-to-energy plants and industrial processes. These days, however, Sweden is bringing more renewable sources into the mix. And as a result of competition, this localized form of power is now the country’s home-heating market leader.

Sweden is using smart grids to turn buildings into energy producers. Huang et al/Elsevier

Energy ‘Prosumers’

But Sweden doesn’t stop at village-level heating solutions. Its new breed of energy-generation takes hyper-local to the next level.

One example is in the city of Ludivika where 1970s flats have recently been retrofitted with the latest smart energy technology.

48 family apartments spread across 3 buildings have been given photovoltaic solar panels, thermal energy storage and heat pump systems. A micro energy grid connects it all, and helps charge electric cars overnight.

The result is a cluster of ‘prosumer’ buildings, producing rather than consuming enough power for 77% of residents’ needs. With high levels of smart meter usage, it’s a model that looks set to spread across Sweden.

This is Västra Hamnen in Malmö! Formerly a shipyard, this flourishing residenial area has a heating and cooling system which runs entirely on renewable energy. The district is often cited as Europe’s first carbon-neutral neighbourhood. @swedense pic.twitter.com/9SfkWLwsVo

— Patrick Isacson (@PatrickIsacson) June 18, 2020

Scaling Up

A recent development by E.ON in Hyllie, a district on the outskirts of Malmö, southern Sweden, has scaled up the smart grid principle. Energy generation comes from local wind, solar, biomass and waste sources.

Smart grids then balance the power, react to the weather, deploying extra power when it’s colder or putting excess into battery storage when it’s warm. The system is not only more efficient, but bills have fallen.

Smart energy developments like those in Hyllie, Ludivika, and renewable-driven district heating, offer a radical alternative to the centralized energy systems many countries rely on today.

The EU’s leaders have a challenge: how to generate 32% of energy from renewables by 2030. Sweden offers a vision of how technology and local solutions can turn a goal into a reality.

Source: Eco Watch

Climate change: ‘Bleak’ outlook as carbon emissions gap grows.

Posted on November 27, 2019August 12, 2020 by dishanth

Countries will have to increase their carbon-cutting ambitions five fold if the world is to avoid warming by more than 1.5C, the UN says.

The annual emissions gap report shows that even if all current promises are met, the world will warm by more than double that amount by 2100.

Richer countries have failed to cut emissions quickly enough, the authors say.

Fifteen of the 20 wealthiest nations have no timeline for a net zero target.

Hot on the heels of the World Meteorological Organization’s report on greenhouse gas concentrations, the UN Environment Programme (Unep) has published its regular snapshot of how the world is doing in cutting levels of these pollutants.

The emissions gap report looks at the difference between how much carbon needs to be cut to avoid dangerous warming – and where we are likely to end up with the promises that countries have currently committed to, in the Paris climate agreement.

The UN assessment is fairly blunt. “The summary findings are bleak,” it says. “Countries collectively failed to stop the growth in global greenhouse gas emissions, meaning that deeper and faster cuts are now required.”

The report says that emissions have gone up by 1.5% per year in the last decade. In 2018, the total reached 55 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent. This is putting the Earth on course to experience a temperature rise of 3.2C by the end of this century.

Just last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that allowing temperatures to rise more than 1.5 degrees this century would have hugely damaging effects for human, plant and animal life across the planet.

This report says that to keep this target alive, the world needs to cut emissions by 7.6% every year for the next 10 years.

“Our collective failure to act early and hard on climate change means we now must deliver deep cuts to emissions – over 7% each year, if we break it down evenly over the next decade,” said Inger Andersen, Unep’s executive director.

The report pays particular attention to the actions of the richest countries. The group of the 20 wealthiest (G20) are responsible for 78% of all emissions. But so far, only the EU, the UK, Italy and France have committed to long-term net zero targets.

Seven G20 members need to take more action to achieve their current promises. These include Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, South Africa and the US.

For example, Brazil’s plans were recently revised, “reflecting the recent trend towards increased deforestation”.

Three countries – India, Russia and Turkey – are all on track to over-achieve their plans by 15% but the authors of the report say this is because the targets they set themselves were too low in the first place.

For three others – Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia – the researchers are uncertain as to whether they are meeting their targets or not.

That leaves China, the EU and Mexico as three countries or regions that are set to meet their promises or nationally determined contributions (NDCs), as they are called, with their current policies.

Without serious upgrades to most countries’ plans, the UN says the 1.5C target will be missed by a significant amount.

“We need quick wins to reduce emissions as much as possible in 2020, then stronger NDCs to kick-start the major transformations of economies and societies,” says Inger Anderson.

“We need to catch up on the years in which we procrastinated,” she added. “If we don’t do this, the 1.5C goal will be out of reach before 2030.”

The report outlines some specific actions for different countries in the G20.

So for Argentina it’s recommended that they work harder to shift the public towards widespread use of public transport in big cities. China is urged to ban all new coal-fired power plants, something that recent research casts doubt on.

The biggest focus of action is the energy system. To get a sense of the massive scale of change that is needed, the study says the world will have to spend up to $3.8 trillion per year, every year between 2020 and 2050 to achieve the 1.5C target.

The impression that time is running short is reinforced by the report – and UN negotiators gearing up to meet in Madrid next week at COP25 are feeling the pressure to increase their ambitions on carbon.

“This is a new and stark reminder by the Unep that we cannot delay climate action any longer,” said Teresa Ribera, Spain’s minister for the ecological transition.

“We need it at every level, by every national and subnational government, and by the rest of the economic and civil society actors. We urgently need to align with the Paris Agreement objectives and elevate climate ambition.

“It would be incomprehensible if countries who are committed to the United Nations system and multilateralism did not acknowledge that part of this commitment requires further climate action. Otherwise, there will only be more suffering, pain, and injustice.”

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc.

Environment correspondent