In new research published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, they show that electrifying Ukraine’s steel sector to have near zero emissions would generate $164 billion worth of additional gross value added, compared to a pathway based on traditional coal-based steelmaking.

Electrifying eastern Ukraine’s coal-fired forges to run on low carbon renewables could radically also shift the nation’s steel industry from the coal fields of the Donbas towards western and southern regions, and accelerate economic growth.

Robust production of green steel would have ripple effects across Ukraine’s entire economy, argues lead author Dr Alli Devlin, from Oxford University’s Department of Engineering Science

“The vast destruction of Ukraine’s iron and steelmaking assets represents a stark opportunity to rebuild a thriving industrial sector which is independent of fossil fuels”, writes Dr Devlin.

“Ukraine is well positioned to supply European green steel markets, which will provide employment throughout the value chain, and deliver returns to the economy well beyond the original investments.”

Steel makes up a big chunk of Ukraine’s economy. Before Putin’s psychosis, its 21.4 million tonnes produced in 2021 ranked Ukraine as the world’s 14th biggest producer.  But its steel is among the world’s dirtiest, with 2020’s 48 Megatonnes of CO_{2 equivalent}, making up 15% of the country’s entire carbon emissions.

Ukraine wants to join the Eurpoean Union. When it succeeds, it will become subject to the trading block’s EU Green Deal’ target, which mandates for steel at near zero emissions by 2030.

Curiously, south Wales nurtured eastern Ukraine’s early history of producing iron, then steel in industrial volumes, first for Imperial Russia, then for the Soviet Union.

Donetsk, capital of the Donbas coalfield, was named Yuzovka for nearly 50 years until 1919, in honour of Merthyr Tydfil-born John Hughes. Hughes was the forgemaster who sailed from Britain in 1869with over 100 of his countrymen, miners and skilled iron smelters, to set up one of Imperial Russia’s first high-volume iron furnaces.

A Welsh-speaking community in eastern Ukraine with an English-language school and churches dedicated to saints David & George, prospered until 1919. In that year Russia’s new Bolshevik government nationalised the town’s iron works, forcing many families to return to Wales.

So great was Donetsk’s affinity with Britain that, after Putin’s annexation of the Donas region in 2014, locals even jokily campaigned to have Britain assume sovereignty of the city, in view of the region’s debt to John Hughes.

In their new paper, Dr Devlin & colleagues suggest new electrified steel mills should be situated close to cross-border rail hubs and close to the best sources for solar & wind energy.

This strategy would significantly increase demand for land and sea transport services, re-routing them towards Western/EU markets, and also create new demand for the production of green hydrogen and green ammonia for fossil-free fuels.

The report lays out an investment bill of $62 billion over 20 years for Ukraine’s full recovery in steelmaking: $46bn for renewable energy kit, $7bn for energy storage, and $9 billion for electric furnaces. Based on recent performance, the team believe every $1 invested in Ukraine’s basic metals industry would yield an additional $3.28 elsewhere in the economy.

The World Bank estimates that Ukraine’s full post-war recovery and reconstruction needs will require $486 billion.

The Oxford paper says Ukraine’s green steel requirements amount to only 6% of the country’s total $486 bn post-war reconstruction bill, as calculated by the World Bank for the nation’s first decade free of Russian attack.

Ultimately, says the paper, Ukraine could provide the world’s template for the urgently needed transition towards low-emission steel . Now comprising around 8% of total global emissions, steel ranks top of all human production sectors, at 2.8 Gigatonnes of CO₂ per year. In comparison, air transport accounts for only 2.5%.

The war-ravaged country last year outranked England in the new capacityof onshore wind capacity which it commissioned.

With prospective international donors and private investors gathering in Berlin today and tomorrow for the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2024 , the Oxford researchers hope that green steel will be high on the agenda.

“This research is not just another feasibility study”, declared report co-author Dr Vlad Mykhnenko, the university’s associate professor of sustainable urban development.

“It is a call to action for steelmakers, investors, and politicians to ensure that after the war we really build back better.

“Green steel would become a sustainable growth promotion machine for Ukraine’s post-war development, and would generate almost twice as much economic growth than the traditional coal-based steel. This means more income and higher living standards for all Ukrainians”.

Through its research commercialisation arm Oxford University Innovation, Oxford is the number one filer of patents among Britain’s universities.  It’s ranked first in Britain too for commercial spin-offs, having created more than 300 new companies since 1988. Over a third of those have sprung into life since 2019.

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Under plans approved by Worthing Borough planners, heat network developer and operator Hemiko – the rebranded Pinnacle Power – will begin construction this July on its £500 million piped heat project.    £7 million of that funding comes from the national government’s Heat Networks Investment Project.

Expected to be operational by summer 2025, the network’s first stage will link Worthing’s Town Hall, hospital, Assembly Hall, museum, its Connaught Theatre and Portland House.  A connection to every building in the town is earmarked for 2050. By then 500 new local jobs are expected, 40 of them created in the project’s first five years.

The scheme’s backers calculate that first phase will save more than 3,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, the equivalent to taking 2,000 cars off the roads.

Worthing’s layout puts it, according the Office of National Statistics, in the top fifth of most densely populated English local authorities, thus favouring a network’s efficiency and ease of reach.

Figures from the 2021 census reveal the town’s population as both growing and ageing.  The last count showed total inhabitants rising by 6.4% since 2011, with 42.9% of Worthingtonians aged 50 and over, up from 39% a decade earlier. The town’s median age of 44 years is now four years older than England’s average of 40 years old.

The Worthing Heat Network was identified in 2019 in the borough’s Carbon Neutral Plan as the most economic and efficient way to decarbonise Worthing’s Civic Quarter.

Connected buildings will in consequence be able cut carbon emissions related to heating by as much as 90%.  The net’s initial driver will be air sourced heat pumps located at the network Energy Centre. More sources of locally available, unused heat will be brought in over time.

Developer Hemiko is planning to roll out £1billion of networks nationwide this decade.  It says Worthing is already its fourth project in West Sussex alone.

CEO Toby Heysham said the project follows two recent projects in south London.

“We’re incredibly proud to have been selected as the borough’s partner. Worthing Heat Network be an invaluable piece of infrastructure for the local community, not only because it will improve public health, but it will also offer jobs, apprenticeships, and a hub for innovation and investment into the town.

Law firm Burges Salmon advised the borough on design & ownership of the planned network.  In March it published its optimistic assessment of heat networks’ potential to speed Britain towards Net Zero.

From the firm’s Clean Heat practice, director Emma Andrews said Worthing highlighted the huge opportunities which district heating networks present in allowing local communities to access greener heat on a town-wide scale.

Wilde about being earnest 

“Our experience in clean heat and energy regulation means we’re well positioned to advise project sponsors, investors, and developers across both the public and private sectors”, Andrews added.

For the government, energy minister Lord Callanan said: “Ambitious projects like Worthing’s are why the UK is a world leader in reducing emissions.

“We awarded over £7 million to Worthing Borough Council to help get the project off the ground”, the minister went on.  “I’m pleased to see they now have a partner in Hemiko to deliver a scheme that will benefit the whole town by delivering cheaper energy bills and lower carbon emissions. We have invested more than £500 million since 2019 to transform this sector.”

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Headed by Devrim Celal, the fulfilment platform has announced a multi-year deal with municipal utility Saint John Energy, (SJE) in New Brunswick on Canada’s east coast, licencing Kraken’s end-to-end customer service platform.

As Kraken’s first partner in the North American energy market to license its customer platform, SJE can now use Kraken to support its progress towards a decentralised, decarbonised grid for its 36,000 customers.

SJE will adopt Kraken’s end-to-end utility operating system, enabling it to create & brand new green energy-focused services, deliver advanced customer care through relentlessly efficient processes, and flexibly manage its distribution network.

Kraken, which is part of Octopus Energy Group, will import and integrate all of SJE’s residential & business customers onto its all-in-one customer service, billing, optimisation, and asset management platform.

As Canada’s oldest incorporated city, Saint John on the 45^th parallel has been a test bed for electrification. Its 70,000 or so inhabitants face average January temperatures of minus 12 Celsius, and 167 days a year when temperatures do not rise above freezing point.

So the municipal power provider has had to come up with energy innovations, deemed among the most forward-looking in north America. More than 75 percent of the city’s customers have homes & premises heated by electricity. More than 70 percent of customers rent water heaters, and more than 20 percent of residents rent heat pumps.

In 2019, SJE became the world’s first utility to deploy a Tesla Megapack to store power, cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and reduce grid strain.

As the utility continues to employ solutions to reach Net Zero, the partners say Kraken’s end-to-end management platform will be critical in supporting the utility’s future energy transaction needs while easing emerging grid constraints resulting from new technologies in renewable generation and consumer low-carbon behaviours.

Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy Group, said: “Around the globe, Kraken partners with some of the most trusted energy brands to decentralise, decarbonise, and above all, modernise the grid.

“Saint John Energy’s track record as an innovative early adopter makes this partnership a natural fit for us as we look to drive the energy transition worldwide. As our first utility and distribution partner in North America, we are excited to support Saint John Energy in bringing more affordable, reliable solutions to its customers in Canada.”

Ryan Mitchell, president and CEO of Saint John Energy said: “We’re proud and excited to partner with Kraken, which not only has a transformative platform but an international reputation for best-in-class solutions tailored to the energy industry.”

“Implementing its solutions will give our customers more information and control over their energy needs” Mitchell added.  “It will allow Saint John Energy to pursue more innovative solutions in clean energy and the transition to Net Zero.”

The Canadian deal follows Kraken’s recent pilot partnership to reduce grid constraints in Connecticut, its successful U.S. launch of SmartFlex, and a licensing agreement with a Texas-based energy asset manager, Tenaska.

Kraken currently looks after 54 million utility customers across the globe. Managing around 155,000 domestic devices— or over 38 GW of contracted power, it stands as one of the largest residential virtual power plants in the world.

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Only one person in eight, or 13%, says their local communities are investing enough in becoming more sustainable.

The study quantifies growing public demand for more sustainable energy – allied to cleaner air in cities and greater investment in greener lifestyles.

23% of people flatly say they’d consider moving away if their city or town does not become greener.  That figure has risen by almost half from a similar nationwide E.ON survey from 2022, when 16% of people made the same claim.

In workplaces, 26% of people said they would be prepared to quit their job if the company didn’t become greener in the next five years, rising from 18% in 2022.

E.ON’s study of 10,000 people across Britain highlights widespread discontent at the speed investment programmes are being rolled out. 51% of respondents don’t think the country is working fast enough to reduce carbon emissions. Fewer than one in ten – 8% –  feel listened to on decisions around local green investments.

A meagre 8% –  up from 7% in 2022-  feel listened to when decisions are made about local green investments, including energy generation. That number falls to just 6% in the North, Wales, and across the Midlands.

Energy co-ops give local agency as well as power 

Only 10% of respondents expressed pride in their local communities’ efforts to invest in green initiatives. The lowest levels of pride are in the East Midlands, East of England, North East and North West.

Across the UK, 60% of adults want more say in how taxpayers’ money is invested in green initiatives for businesses and communities, peaking in the South of England & London, both on 63% and Scotland, 59%.

E.ON UK chief executive Chris Norbury observed: “This survey shows public attitudes & ambitions towards building more sustainable communities are growing year on year. It’s on all of us across business, public life and within our communities to respond to that clamour for change.

“Investing in sustainability brings so many social benefits and it’s something absolutely everyone can see the value of, whether that’s helping people with lower energy bills, cleaning the air in our streets, or creating the jobs and skills we need for the future. What we call the energy transition has benefits right across society and we have to share that message wider.

“While our study highlights frustration among the public around the speed and scale of sustainable investment, it also demonstrates people understand and really want the benefits such investment will bring. Chief among these is the positive impact on jobs and prosperity.”

74% of people agree environmental change starts with communities or businesses, yet two in five (39% – although a reduction from 46% in 2022 – ) do not think that their region is doing enough to reduce carbon emissions and make life greener.

Leading the way among potential home-movers, more than a third (34%) of Londoners threatening to move if their city doesn’t become greener in the next five to ten years.

The top five sustainable improvements people would like to see in their community emerge as :

• Making homes greener & cheaper to run – 55%
• Reducing public buildings’ carbon impact – 47%
• Create more green spaces in built up urban areas – 44%
• Make sure all new building projects are completed to Net Zero targets – 43%
• Electrify all public transport – 36%

Old and young generations agree. More than three quarters of all age groups say communities (76%) and businesses (77%) need to become greener for the benefit of younger generations.

People younger than 24 were twice as likely to cite the sustainability credentials of a business as a reason to work there; 43% versus 18% in the over 55s.  Youngsters were twice as likely to move companies if their employer did not take steps to go greener (42% versus 16%).

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The London Efficient & Decentralised Generation of Energy (EDGE) fund will support new low-carbon infrastructure projects across the capital’s 32 boroughs.

Khan has committed £50 million from City Hall funds, to be matched pound for pound from SDCL’s resources. The asset managers will also manage the public-private EDGE project.

The EDGE fund’s remit is to invest in projects which promise significant reductions in energy usage, greenhouse gas emissions or other pollutants across London.

SDCL first floated its EDGE concept in July 2019. Building on the private asset managers’ expertise in low-carbon infrastructure, EGDE will focus on energy efficiency, on-site generation and clean energy. Projects will include installing building management systems, heat pumps, solar panels and EV-charging.

Running until 2027, EDGE will nurture projects accelerating London’s shift to Net Zero. Its backers claim it will set a global example of how private finance and cities can work together to achieve decarbonisation goals by investing in projects promoting green jobs and low-carbon infrastructure.

EDGE monies will take the lead in attracting private investment, acting as a keystone investment for the London Climate Finance Facility, which also includes the Green Finance Fund.

Khan’s faces re-election for a third term in May. His 2021 manifesto promised a finance facility dedicated to the capital. The GLA commissioned advice on methods and structures needed for a London Climate Finance Facility (LCFF).

In 2018 under Khan’s leadership London was the first global city to declare a climate emergency. He wants it to reach Net Zero by 2030, ahead of the UK Government’s 2050 goal.   The Mayor’s office cites the EDGE Fund as one of several ways he works with private investors to cut London’s carbon emissions.

Khan declared: “I’m committed to making London Net Zero by 2030. This is achievable, as long as we work closely together to help deliver energy efficient and low carbon projects.

“This new fund will help us unlock additional investment from the private sector and enable us to support many more organisations across the city as they make energy efficient choices.

“London is a world-leading city and this fund will support hundreds of companies as we build a better, cleaner and greener London for all.”

SDCL’s founder and CEO Jonathan Maxwell said: “London is a global hub for servicing the transition we need.

“Since SDCL launched we’ve worked with industrial customers around the world to help improve their economic competitiveness and drive their decarbonisation strategies”.

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Friday’s summit follows the regulator’s announcement last month that it will create detailed regional energy plans spanning the UK, aimed at improving local energy planning and speeding up decarbonisation.

Ofgem is looking for more local input to energy planning, as it targets investment inflows into offshore and onshore generation, grids and networks.

Key to the drive is the regulator’s framework for accelerated strategic transmission investment (ASTI). Officials see this as the pathway to ensuring greener energy is distributed faster and at lower upfront cost to businesses and households across the nation.

Newly empowered Regional Energy Strategic Planners (RESPs) will work with organisations at local authorities level including in city halls and gas and electricity distributors, to plan the cable and switches needed in different parts of the country and attract investment for projects.

RESPs will also provide resources and tools to support local authorities to speed up energy planning, and improve accountability.

At Friday’s roundtable Ofgem’s CEO hosted Mayors and representatives from the Electricity System Operator ESO, to discuss how new regional planning roles can improve on the current patchwork approach to planning.

This will help to create roadmaps for how local energy systems need to be developed to reach net zero by 2050, and decarbonise the UK’s electricity system by 2035. The ESO will become the new independent Future Systems Operator (FSO) in 2024, and will be the delivery body for RESPs.

Participants agree local energy systems need better planning. Measures now being enacted are intended to give leaders of big conurbations the opportunity to guide how the RESP roles can deliver local buy in, sharing insights, best practice and challenges from each region.

Among mayors attending were Andy Street from the West Midlands Combined Authority, Steve Rotheram from Liverpool City Region, Tracy Brabin from West Yorkshire, North Tyne’s Jamie Driscoll and Nik Johnson, Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Deputies for the mayors of London and Greater Manchester also contributed.

The regulator’s boss Jonathan Brearley commented: “The new RESP roles will end the patchwork approach to energy planning by defining tailored regional strategies so Mayors can unlock investment, create green jobs, cut through planning red tape, and speed up the building of vital energy infrastructure.

“The creation of the Future Systems Operator (FSO) will provide a once in a generation opportunity to design an energy system that works for everyone, and I look forward to collaborating with leaders from across Great Britain in the future to transform the way energy is planned and delivered at a local and national level.”

He went on: “We’re working hard to create a modern energy system by ending unacceptable delays to renewable power and halving the time to build new transmission networks“.

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That’s the warning today from Heat Trust to Whitehall and to regulator Ofgem.

Responding to a joint consultation by Ofgem and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero on their planned statutory protections, the national consumer champion outlined areas in which it intends to hold regulation to account on behalf of consumers.

They include ensuring consumers do not pay an unaffordable premium for being on a heat network – requiring transparency, monitoring and regulation of the root causes of high heat bills.

So is driving improved heat network reliability on both networks existing and planned, through requiring minimum technical standards, backed up by sharp enforcement teeth.

Ensuring heat suppliers are held to account for standards of fair, transparent and good-value customer service is also an area flagged by the Trust.

The protection organisation says informed, timely and targeted enforcement action are needed where these aren’t met. Clear, independent dispute resolution via the Energy Ombudsman’s office is needed, says the trust, when things go wrong.

The watchdog’s key demands included ensuring that:

• a clear culture of regulatory compliance exists from the outset
• housing and energy regulations work in harmony, not conflict, to protect consumers That’s critical, it says, since the overwhelming majority of heat suppliers are landlords.
• Britain’s most inefficient, most expensive heat networks are targeted for the speediest upgrades and repair to improve their efficiency
• Where service failures give rise to compensation, heat suppliers cannot simply recover these costs from consumers

“Since Heat Trust’s launch in 2015, we have consistently called for government intervention, to ensure heat network consumers have equivalent rights and protections to traditional gas and electricity consumers“, its director Stephen Knight said.

“We have continuously advocated for statutory regulation of heat networks and believe this can’t come quickly enough.

“Consumers must be able to have confidence in heat networks, if these networks are to help decarbonise heat through the government’s target of serving 20% of homes by 2050.

“Many heat network consumers get a reliable and value-for-money heating system. But sadly too many suffer high prices, unreliable systems and poor customer service. The experience of consumers facing huge, uncapped, price rises during the energy crisis has been especially difficult. Because heat network consumers cannot switch supplier, it’s vital that regulation delivers tangible improvements in terms of price protection, reliability and service quality.

“Our voluntary consumer protection scheme continues to lead the way in heat networks best practice and we’re delighted that the proposed statutory protections recognise this by building on our own standards of customer service. As a voluntary scheme, we cannot regulate price or technical standards and so it’s crucial that regulation addresses the root causes of consumer detriment in these areas.

For more on Heat Trust’s arguments, see here.

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Only 18,000 on-street or publicly accessible chargepoints for EV drivers are currently registered, analysis this month has found.

Today e-mobility campaigners Zemo Partnership, motoring journalist Quentin Willson’s FairCharge activists & the Climate Group have bonded with the Renewable Energy Association, making clear to minister Norman steps on how he can rescue the government’s faltering roll-out of chargepoints.

The bodies’ joint letter to minister Norman came on the day that the House of Lord’s Climate Change committee announced an inquiry into the growth of electric vehicles.  Public responses are invited before Friday 15 September.

EV re-sales now account for 5.7% of the UK market for used cars, figures from industry trackers the SMMT disclose today for 2023’s second quarter.   “Pure” battery-only pre-loved cars account on their own for 1.7% of used car trades, the 30,600 units changing hands in the three months to June rising by nearly 82% year on year.

Actions urged on decarbonisation minister Norman & on transport secretary Mark Harper in the campaigners’ Recharge UK report ‘Charging Forward to 2030’ include:

• Introducing a right to charge: Tenants in residential blocks should be protected by government from the high upfront cost of grid connections & installing chargepoints
• Give councils a duty to speed chargepoint connections, via an obligation to plan for EV infrastructure. That new requirement would also help power transmission operators to plan new grid capacity.
• Prioritise chargepoints in grid planning: With road freight & “blue-light” services increasingly needing chargepoints, planners should consider them as ‘nationally significant infrastructure’, ensuring TSOs push them up the pecking order for grid hook-ups
• Introduce a van charging standard to enable tradespeople to top up as easily as private car drivers
• Mandate more public chargepoints in car parks by specifying more cabling & connections in Whitehall’s continuing Future of Transport Regulatory Review

““By adopting this report’s recommendations in, the government can achieve 300,000 chargepoints by 2030, creating new jobs and driving economic growth“, REA chief executive Dr Nina Skorupska CBE tells in the campaigners’ joint letter.

“Reinvigorate the charge to Net Zero transport will help end criticism of the capability of charging infrastructure to meet future demand. It will also directly address the geographic inequalities of charging infrastructure that are reported today.

FairCharge’s founder Quentin Willson, pictured, tells minister Norman:

“It’s essential we have political leadership in resolving to create a charging infrastructure that both reassures consumers and generates UK growth, investment and jobs.

“2023 has seen the largest number of charging connections ever and charge point operators have pledged a further £6 billion by 2030. The UK is in a global race to secure EV and charging investment, but we risk becoming last if we don’t have enough connections to support the many billions being spent by the likes of Tata, JLR, Ford, BMW and Stellantis.

A word-class charging infrastructure will keep our UK car industry globally competitive. Building it as fast as we can is critical.”

Read the Charging Forward to 2030 report here.

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In the run up to CoP27 in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt this autumn, the head of a claimed 1.2 billion Roman Catholics – one in eight of humanity – has added his support for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Initiative, already backed by a claimed 1,000 Nobel Laureates and 60 cities including London, Paris, Amsterdam and Sydney.

The FFNPI adopts the model of the worldwide nuclear non-proliferation treaty signed in 1968, and designed to head off the planet’s destruction by nuclear weapons.

Originated in 2016 by civil society activists and environmental campaigners in the south Pacific imperilled by rising sea levels, the FFNPI substitutes global destruction by intentionally extracted hydrocarbon fuels, in place of atomic annihilation.

The Argentinian-born pontiff, in his youth a trainee chemist and a technician in a food processing laboratory, was elected to the Holy See in 2013.

His endorsement of the proposed fossil fuel ban came last week in an announcement from the Vatican.  Speaking for the Holy See’s communications office, Cardinal Michael Czerny, declared;

“Regarding CoP27, Pope Francis again joins scientists in holding to the Paris Agreement’s temperature increase goal of 1.5°C. The planet already is 1.2°C hotter, yet new fossil fuel projects every day accelerate our race towards the precipice. Enough is enough.

“All new exploration and production of coal, oil, and gas must immediately end, and existing production of fossil fuels must be urgently phased out,” said Cardinal Czerny, speaking with pontifical authority.

“This must be a just transition for impacted workers into environmentally sound alternatives. The proposed Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty holds great promise to complement and enhance the Paris Agreement.”

Laudato Si, Pope Francis’ encyclical published in May 2015 is  the Holy See’s most far-reaching call for humanity to acknowledge man made climate change, equating it as a sin putting humanity at greater distance from the universe’s creator.

Christians celebrate the five weeks from early September as Creationtide.  Last week’s announcement quoted Pope Francis’s message for its opening day, in which he implores “the great extractive industries…to stop destroying forests, wetlands, and mountains, to stop polluting rivers and seas, to stop poisoning food and people”.  The pontiff calls for “responsible cooperation between all nations” in fulfilling the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Well, well, well: Heavens above

Backers of the FFNPI allege that, in the past decade alone, coal, oil and gas have contributed 86% of planet-warming carbon emissions.  Governments are still on track to emit by mid-century 10% more than they committed to Glasgow’s CoP26 in November.

Tzeporah Berman, Canadian environmentalist and chair of the initiative behind the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, welcomed the Holy See’s support:

“What is needed now is moral courage. We welcome Cardinal Czerny as part of this growing choir of voices….all recognizing that expansion of fossil fuel production magnifies the climate crisis”, she declared.

“This is not a drill. We need urgent and bold action to slow the damage and put us on a more sustainable, just path.”

Later this year the FFNPTI will for the first time make public an open-source database of oil, gas and coal production worldwide, with reserves.  It will be co-administered by London-based green finance advisers the Carbon Tracker Initiative.

On the Pope’s support for the FFNPI, Carbon Tracker founder Mark Campanale said:

“Science and economics have long pointed to fossil fuel production as the Achilles heel of the climate crisis. There is a finite science-based carbon budget to keep heating to no more than 1.5C, which means most fossil fuels need to remain in the ground. This vulnerability of a fossil fuel-based energy system can no longer be ignored.

“This latest endorsement from the Vatican makes it even harder for world leaders to ignore the central role of fossil fuels in the climate catastrophe unfolding around us”.

The post Pope backs worldwide call for ban on new pumping of fossil fuels appeared first on theenergyst.com.

Umbrella organisations representing 400-plus clean power co-operatives in the UK’s four home nations call this week for more intelligence from Whitehall & Westminster, joining them to exploit community renewables’ unique potential to change public attitudes to energy, and thus secure Net Zero.

Since mid-2021 D-BEIS under the Conservatives have continued to ignore or under-appreciate calls from activists, councils and even from Parliament’s Environmental Audit committee, national bodies Community Energy England, Community Energy Scotland and Community Energy Wales, according to a new report, “State of the Sector 2022”.

Ministers’ and civil servants’ continued failure to embrace fully the potential of grass-roots, community-controlled initiatives in energy use embeds central government’s patronising of the sector, leading to missed opportunities, and a ‘Whitehall-knows-best’ condescension, local co-ops complain.

Launching the report during Community Energy Fortnight ending on 25 June, the lobbyists urge serious action from ministers, delivering on honeyed words poorly supported by delivery.

More than 217,000 individuals invest in Britain’s energy co-operatives, according to the report.

Investment in local wind and solar advanced in 2021 to £21.5 million, with private individuals paying as little as £50 to secure a stake in new projects.

Yet government’s removal of pump-priming cash leads to a record number of co-ops this year reporting their projects as ‘stalled’. Together these total 68MW.

“The government is making it harder rather than easier for communities to take their own action towards net zero”, State of the Sector 2022 observes.

Community energy funds distributed nearly £500,000 to over 4,000 recipients last year.

Fighting fuel poverty in their localities is a key, growing activity among those individuals, according to the lobby groups’ report.   Nearly 650 people are employed full time in the sector, predominantly in fuel poverty advice.

Chief among Whitehall dead weight snagging the sector’s progress remains the government’s abiding failure to shape laws permitting co-ops to retail their power direct to their localities.

Three hundred MPs and Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee came out independently in 2021 in favour of a ‘right of local sale’ enjoyed successfully in by clean power co-ops in Germany and Denmark.

Beside the call for local retail, three reforms head the sector’s demands on energy ministers Kwasi Kwarteng and Greg Hands:

• Setting up a National Community Energy Fund to re-mobilise the sector
• Elevate community energy co-ops to front and centre of initiatives fighting fuel poverty
• Ordering DNOs and councils to put community energy at the heart of local energy planning

Duncan Law, Community Energy England’s policy chief and its acting co-CEO commented:

“Community energy will continue determinedly to drive local climate action and deliver community benefit.

“With a little investment from the government it could grow exponentially and be the indispensable local champions of net zero”.

Our report highlights not only the increasing local engagement and impact of community energy projects, but also the sector’s adaptability and resilience in the absence of support from government”, Law concluded.

From Bristol to London, Nottingham to online, nineteen events are planned for Community Energy Fortnight, sponsored by Thrive Renewables.    Oxfordshire’s Euro-prizewinning Westmill energy co-operative near Watchfield hosts an open day to its 5MW of wind and solar assets this Sunday 12 June at 11:00.

Read the full ‘State of the Sector’ report here.

Interest declared:  The current author invests in three energy co-operatives.

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As Putin’s war in Ukraine pushed Brent crude above $ 120 a barrel this morning, – a rise of 20% in only one week – , Frans Timmermans, first vice president of the European Commission, refused to rule out a reversal by Germany, the block’s biggest economy, in its policies to shutter coal-fired and nuclear power.

The EU chief was speaking on BBC Radio 4’s “Today” programme, in advance of next week’s expected announcement by EU on the bloc’s new energy policy,  revised in the light of Putin’s unprovoked onslaught on free Ukraine.

“In this unprecedented situation, there must be no taboos”, said the commissioner.

“In the short term, we are being threatened and there is a price to pay.  The secret is to ensure that that price is met in an equitable way, and which does not slow the deployment of clean renewables.“

Across its 27 remaining members, continental Europe is 60% reliant on imports of gas from now-sanctioned Russian players such as Rosneft and Gazprom.

The bloc’s biggest economy Germany takes around 65% of its gas from Russia. In former Soviet such as Latvia and Estonia, the reliance is 100%.

“Given a correct revision towards renewables, I am confident we can find that soon Russia will be depending on us, and not the other way round”, the commissioner told the BBC.

Timmermans was speaking after EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a security conference in Munich two weeks ago; “We are doubling down on renewables. This will increase Europe’s strategic independence on energy”.

Quit hydrocarbons now, urges Emma Watson

Expected in next week’s new energy strategy proposed by Brussels are, per Reuters:-

• a requirement on energy companies registered in the EU to fill their storage tanks with natural gas this summer, and
• enforcement of a 40% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2030, and

Approval from a majority of the 27 will be needed. Some strongly oppose new legal goals for renewables and would prefer non-binding milestones, or else nothing at all.

The EU overshot its 20% target two years ago for renewables, securing 22.1% of its power from low carbon sources.

With the Nordstream2 pipeline suspended indefinitely, Germany was advancing construction of two new LNG facilities, Timmermans noted.

In addition, the Energyst understands Belgian green gas company Tree Energy Solutions is fast tracking by two years a €25 Billion hydrogen import terminal at Wilhelmshaven, on a tributary of the Rhine  The terminal now also plans to accommodate LNG as an intermediate energy source.

“The UK is following the EU’s lead”, Timmermans claimed when questioned on the strength of sanctions against Putin’s oligarchs, including Gazprom boss Igor Sechin and Alexei Miller at Rosneft,

“Even parties who accept money from oligarchs have to accept that the situation has changed, and that we need to change course”, he said.

Meanwhile Edinburgh has become the latest city to join the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, an alliance of local authorities worldwide dedicated to phasing out use or new development of hydrocarbons.  Paris, Amsterdam, Milwaukee and the London borough of Lambeth are among 39  towns and cities claimed as signed up.  “Harry Potter” star Emma Watson is the alliance’s ambassador.

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Piped systems heating homes in Liverpool, London, Bristol and Worthing will benefit from the funds, part of D-BEIS’s £320 million Heat Networks Investment Project.

With 14,000 networks across Britain, heat systems are a ubiquitous, un-glamourous, but growing Cinderella of carbon-free warmth, with potential to be delivered at scale.  Waste heat from industrial processes vie with geothermal and geological sources as energy sources. Government stats classify 2,000 of those 14,000 as multi-premise heat networks.

Against a background of impending soaring rises in domestic bills, climate change minister Lord Callahan vaunted the announcement’s likely effect in driving down energy costs for consumers.

“(This) announcement builds on our commitments made in the Heat and Buildings Strategy to regulate the UK’s heat networks, protect consumers, and create opportunities for green jobs and investment across the country,” the minister said.

“This will allow thousands of households and businesses to feel the benefits of projects that are breaking new ground and making our villages, towns and cities cleaner places to live and work.”

Heat networks’ growing importance in UK clean energy was signalled by the announcement’s appointment of Ofgem as the sector’s regulator.

As part of the government’s new Heat Networks Market Framework, Ofgem is tasked to increase investor confidence and guide the market in reducing the carbon footprint from heating homes and workspaces.

D-BEIS also confirmed Citizens Advice will be appointed the official consumer advocacy body for the growing heat network market.

Bristol gets two new networks under the announcement.   More details here.

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First launched last July, the programme to fill skills gaps among PV installation workers reaches its second stage on 14 January.

That’s the closing date for applications for the £1,000 training grants.  Afterwards, applicants among eligible firms adding value to domestic and commercial roofs will learn if they’ve won cash to help meet costs of deepening London’s pool of installer talent.

The scheme forms part of Solar Skills: London, a project fostering technical development and support for Londoners seeking to pursue a career in the ever-expanding solar industry.

The capital’s solar capacity is growing, with Mayor Sadiq Khan targeting 1GW of new deployment by 2030.  That figure could provide enough power to run over half a million electric vehicles each year.

A dearth of technically qualified tradespeople could yet frustrate the Mayor’s ambitions, though.  A 2020 survey of electrotechnical firms run by the Electrical Contractors’ Association with Solar Energy UK found that almost half of traders in solar and storage lacked access to skilled employees, due to insufficient industry training.

When launching the skills programme, Chris Hewett, director of Solar Energy UK said: “This is an exciting opportunity for London’s solar businesses.  The funding we are making available, with the support of the Mayor of London, will enable solar technicians to develop their skills.

“Solar power, energy storage systems and electric vehicles are vital to delivering a net zero capital. Now is the time to support the solar companies that are helping to realise London’s solar potential. We encourage everyone who is eligible to apply for a grant.”

Shirley Rodrigues, Khan’s deputy responsible for environment and energy, said at the time: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Solar Energy UK to invest in London’s solar workforce.

“This programme will provide training and apprenticeships in solar technologies and help create more green jobs”.

City Hall has also launched an online London Solar opportunity map, intended to spur interest among snoozy freeholders, property owners and asset managers.  UCL’s Energy Institute and its Centre of Advanced Spatial Awareness researched the resource, wjich was modelled on a forerunner in New York.

Full details of the £1,000 grants, including eligibility criteria and an application form, are available here.   For more information on Solar Skills: London, visit the project page.

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The mayor revealed last week on Fuel Poverty Awareness Day that he had secured over £40 million from D-BEIS’ Sustainable Warmth Fund, ready to upgrade as many as 3,200 fuel poor homes in the capital.

Added to £8.5 million from the municipal rump of the Conservatives’ abandoned Green Homes Grant scheme, and to £2.6 m from City Hall coffers, the London mayor’s Warmer Homes Scheme will be available to low-income Londoners who rent privately or own their homes.

Before the increased rates kick in, London’s earlier Warmer Homes scheme made grants up to £10,000 to over 1,700 homes, covering ‘deep retrofit’ upgrades such as heat pumps, whole-building insulation and multiple measures.

Around 900 Londoners die each winter in cold and damp homes, City Hall estimates.  Over 15% of the capital’s households are already fuel-poor; this winter’s rising fuel costs are likely to push another 75,000 into the bracket, towards a total thought by campaigners to be over 500,000 homes.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak wielded his axe in February over the Conservatives’ £1.5 billion national Green Homes Grant scheme, only six months after its launch and with less than 6,000 of the planned 600,000 homes upgraded nationwide.

Since then, England’s householders earning under £30,000 have had to rely on individual councils to dole out portions of the £500 million GHG money.  No government measure currently available addresses at scale Britain’s notoriously leaking housing stock.

Only measures such as the Warm Homes Discount to offset winter fuel bills are directly and universally available.

Khan commented: ““It’s unacceptable that many Londoners can’t afford to keep their homes warm and instead suffer cold, damp conditions throughout winter. We know the economic impacts of the pandemic and rising fuel prices are likely to plunge even more London households into fuel poverty.

Minister for London Paul Scully said:  “(The government) already have a strong track record in this area, and our £400 million of funding allocated to councils in London and across the country as a whole, will ensure we can go even further.”

Meanwhile supplier Octopus Energy has launched a twelve-week ‘Winter Workout’ challenge, offering its customers up to £64,000 from its new £2.5 million Octopus Assistance Fund.  Users who contribute energy-saving tips can win big.  Details are here.

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The agreement, unveiled this afternoon as COP26 focuses today on innovation and science, will see Octopus trial the uptake of new green energy tariffs for customers in Greater Manchester. The city-region’s ten boroughs have a population of 2.8 million.

Promised in the partnership are 300 skilled jobs, ranging from data scientists and heat pump engineers to frontline customer support.

Greater Manchester has an ambition to become the UK’s leading Green city-region. It wants to lead the UK’s energy revolution, trialling and facilitating innovative technologies underpinning the country’s net zero ambitions.

Under Andy Burnham, its elected mayor, Greater Manchester intends removing nearly a million tonnes of carbon from the city-region’s economy:

• 850,000 tonnes from building retrofits and on-site power generation
  • A “retrofitGM” drive for private homes
  • Decarbonisation of heat and retrofit programmes for social housing, schools and colleges
  • A “Go Neutral” programme promoting generation via renewables and smart energy assets
• 100,000 tonnes from overhauled transport, including more electric buses and taxis, more cycling and walking, increased use of Metrolink trams, and public EV chargers

Mayor Burnham said: “We are really pleased Octopus have committed to expand their operation and are opening their first hub in the North of England here in Greater Manchester.

“This has always been a place of innovation.  We’re showing that the transition to net zero is one with massive potential to make things better for our residents, and it’s great to have Octopus on board.”

Manchester-born KrakenFlex, Octopus’ cloud-based technology platform for managing energy devices and sources, is at the heart of the partnership.  Founded in 2014 as Upside Energy, the firm re-branded when bought last November by Octopus. Its platform has since been licenced to energy suppliers as far afield as Australia & Japan.

Driving “deep digitisation” of power grids, the platform promises greater flexibility across the city-region’s energy supply, managing energy supply and demand in real-time of clean energy technologies such as EVs and heat pumps.

These devices will be the core of the city’s vision for a Local Energy Market, improving ways Mancunians produce, consume, and transfer energy across its region.

Greater Manchester is the first British city to develop a Local Area Energy Plan. By April the partnership anticipates understanding how to heat and power every street in every borough.  As energy prices increase, locally generated power will increase regional security of supply.

KrakenFlex CEO Devrim Celal said: “As the world gathers in Glasgow at COP26, we and Octopus are delighted to be working (… ) to support Manchester in becoming the UK’s first carbon neutral city.

“We are at the cusp of a green energy revolution and partnerships like the one with the GMCA will help accelerate this transformation, making energy greener and cheaper for consumers whilst fighting climate change,” Celal added.

In September, former US vice-president Al Gore’s investment fund bought 13% of Octopus, valuing the generator-supplier at £3.8 billion.

Today ‘Power to the People’ a conference of North West Mayors, industry experts, academics and leading innovators came together to examine the future of energy across the region, and how the North West is finding sustainable ways of powering local communities and cutting emissions.

Councillor Neil Emmott, Greater Manchester’s lead for the Green City-Region, said: “This new agreement with Octopus Energy is a big boost to our plan for a carbon-neutral Greater Manchester by 2038. It’s also a major vote of confidence in our city-region to lead the transition to a more sustainable future, supporting low-carbon infrastructure and new jobs in green industries.

“Crucially, this partnership will lay the foundations for our Local Energy Market – the biggest project of its kind to revolutionise the way we produce, consume, and distribute energy in Greater Manchester.”

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