The OECD welcomes the release of voluntary G20 peer reviews of Indonesia and Italy’s efforts to phase out and rationalise their inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies at the 2nd meeting of G20 Energy Transitions Working Group under the Japanese Presidency in Toyama, Japan.

Fossil-fuel subsidies are environmentally harmful, costly, and distortive. After a 3 years downward trend between 2013 and 2016, government support for fossil fuel production and use has risen again, in a threat to efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, and the transition to cleaner and cheaper energy.

A new OECD report presents around 550 measures that support fossil-fuel production or use in the OECD’s 34 member countries and also highlights the successes and challenges in bringing about reform, says this OECD Insights blog post.

Government support to fossil fuel consumption and production in OECD countries and key emerging economies remains high, at USD 160-200 billion annually, according to a new OECD report. This support is hampering global efforts to curb emissions and combat climate change.

The OECD has welcomed the release by China and the US of peer reviews of their fossil fuel subsidies.

Fracking in the UK was doomed a decade ago – Tories have wasted precious time on a fossil fuel fantasy  The Conversation UK

Scientists in the US have found a way to make a 'biorenewable' plastic from wood by-products. Their fossil fuel-free plastic is similar to polyethylene terephthalate (PET) - a material used to make plastic bottles and packaging. Such green chemistry approaches could help reduce reliance on dwindling fossil fuel resources.

Implementation of technology to clean the flue gases of coal-fired power plants has significantly reduced sulphur and fine particle emissions that cause environmental damage. However, recent research suggests that plants applying this technology would emit more ultrafine particles (1-10 nanometer (nm) diameter) that affect the formation of clouds, with the unintended consequence of changing the amount and intensity of rainfall downwind of fossil fuel power installations.

Climate activists are about to launch two weeks of protest against a pipeline from Alberta's tar sands to the Gulf Coast. They'd do well to remember there are n

This new documentary is a love song to Big Oil, and it's underwritten by oil and gas interests. Watch the trailer with awe and wonder.

Ireland's national investment fund will sell all investments in coal, oil, gas and peat as soon as possible.

Engineers have developed a prototype for an engine that's fueled by microwaved air.

By 2020, onshore wind and solar power are expected to be cheaper sources of new electricity than any fossil fuel.

While the Central American country of Costa Rica is the king of clean electricity, it has some serious work to do when it comes to transportation.

Coal mines are closing. Oil giants are announcing layoffs. What happens to workers when the low-carbon economy arrives in earnest?

As the fossil fuel divestment movement grows, a new tool helps investors figure out exactly where their money is.

As environmental targets go, this one is about as ambitious as you can get.

Renewables are getting cheaper all the time. Interestingly, they may also drive up the cost of the competition.

Are we about to see a brain drain from fossil fuel industries?

In the long run, fossil fuel investments are an increasingly risky bet. And investors are beginning to take note.

Cofiring of biomass and coal at electrical generation facilities is gaining in importance as a means of reducing fossil fuel consumption, and more than 40 facilities in the United States have conducted test burns. Given the large size of many coal plants, cofiring at even low rates has the potential to utilize relatively large volumes of biomass. This could have important forest management implications if harvest residues or salvage timber are supplied to coal plants. Other feedstocks suitable for cofiring include wood products manufacturing residues, woody municipal wastes, agricultural residues, short-rotation intensive culture forests, or hazard fuel removals. Cofiring at low rates can often be done with minimal changes to plant handling and processing equipment, requiring little capital investment. Cofiring at higher rates can involve repowering entire burners to burn biomass in place of coal, or in some cases, repowering entire powerplants. Our research evaluates the current status of biomass cofiring in North America, identifying current trends and success stories, types of biomass used, coal plant sizes, and primary cofiring regions. We also identify potential barriers to cofiring. Results are presented for more than a dozen plants that are currently cofiring or have recently announced plans to cofire.

By Jessica Corbett Common Dreams Analyses show how demand for electric vehicles and rapidly falling renewable energy prices could take down oil and gas industry As an increasing number of nations make plans for banning gas and diesel vehicles within … Continue reading →

Method of extracting syngas between the zone in a furnace where oxygen-starved combustion of biomass occurs and the zone in the furnace where secondary air is added to complete combustion, conditioning and cleaning the extracted syngas, and delivering it in a metered amount to the oxidizer or upstream of the oxidizer to reduce or eliminate the need for additional fossil fuels once the oxidizer has achieved its operating temperature. The gasifier or furnace burns solid waste and produces a syngas containing relatively high levels of CO, which is extracted from the furnace, conditioned, and introduced into an RTO as a fuel source. In certain embodiments, no extraction of syngas from the furnace takes place; the furnace conditions are manipulated so that normally undesirable levels of CO and other VOC's remain in the process stream. The heat from the furnace is used as intended (e.g., to heat a dryer), the stream is conditioned, and ultimately proceeds to a downstream RTO. Since the gas stream remains rich in CO and VOC's, its fuel value in the RTO is substantially higher than otherwise would be the case.

On this edition of Your Call’s One Planet Series, we're speaking with journalist and author Antonia Juhasz about the 10th anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, which spewed over 130 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, making it the worst oil spill in US history.

In an attempt to reduce its carbon footprint, the University of Michigan has pledged to freeze its investments in fossil fuel companies. This move has drawn praise from such activist groups as the U-M's Climate Action Movement (CAM). But it also says the school needs to go much further. CAM member and U-M doctoral student Noah Weaverdyck discusses it all with WEMU's David Fair on this week's "Issues of the Environment."

In an attempt to reduce its carbon footprint, the University of Michigan has pledged to freeze its investments in fossil fuel companies. This move has drawn praise from such activist groups as the U-M's Climate Action Movement (CAM). But it also says the school needs to go much further. CAM member and U-M doctoral student Noah Weaverdyck discusses it all with WEMU's David Fair on this week's "Issues of the Environment."

The new energy storage will help the ACT avoid blackouts and meet its commitment to renewable electricity.

Cutting off asylum-seekers isn't the only controversial policy issue President Trump has forged ahead with under the guise of fighting COVID-19.

Clean energy wants a level playing field with fossil fuels and nuclear power. It needs government funding for that to happen.

Invitation Only Research Event

Event participants

Christophe McGlade, Research Associate, UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources
Chair: Shane Tomlinson, Senior Research Fellow, Energy, Environment and Resources, Chatham House

Invitation Only Research Event

Event participants

Paula Hodges QC, Partner; Head, Global Arbitration Practice, Herbert Smith Freehills
Stéphane Brabant, Partner; Chairman, Africa Practice Group, Herbert Smith Freehills

Invitation Only Research Event

Engineers in China have developed a fossil fuel-free jet propulsion prototype design that uses microwave air plasmas.

Fossil fuels, long regarded for their high-energy return on investment, are not as efficient as once thought. In fact, their final yields are not much better than those of renewable options, according to a new study.

Fossil fuels, long regarded for their high-energy return on investment, are not as efficient as once thought. In fact, their final yields are not much better than those of renewable options, according to a new study.

Fossil fuels, long regarded for their high-energy return on investment, are not as efficient as once thought. In fact, their final yields are not much better than those of renewable options, according to a new study.

Actress Natalie Portman, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and other high-profile Harvard University alumni are calling for demonstrations to urge divestment from fossil fuels.

Yale University police cited 19 students after they staged a sit-in outside President Peter Salovey’s office to push for divestment from fossil-fuel companies.

Renewable energy will draw almost two-thirds of the spending on new power plants over the next 25 years, dwarfing spending on fossil fuels, as plunging costs make solar the first choice for consumers and the poorest nations.

Fossil fuels, long regarded for their high-energy return on investment, are not as efficient as once thought. In fact, their final yields are not much better than those of renewable options, according to a new study.

Fossil fuel-funded front groups repeatedly spread disinformation on renewable energy standard and net metering policies in an effort to overturn pro-clean energy laws in 2013 and 2014.

The green revolution and, in particular, renewable energy products such as solar power, wind turbines, geothermal and algae-based fuels are not waiting for viable technology — it already exists in many forms. What they are waiting for is a massive sea change in our antiquated financial accounting systems.

Humans are causing irreversible damage to the planet from burning fossil fuels, the biggest ever study of the available science concluded in a report designed to spur the fight against climate change.

Germany’s biggest utility E.ON — long a pillar of the country’s fossil fuel and nuclear industry — dropped a bombshell on Europe’s business world with the announcement that the multinational was exiting the conventional energy market in favor of a new business model based on renewables, intelligent grid systems, energy management and other services. Indeed, the company seems finally to have drawn the logical consequences from the Energiewende, Germany’s renewable energy transition, after years of resisting the ambitious transformation of the nation’s energy supply.

Actress Natalie Portman, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and other high-profile Harvard University alumni are calling for demonstrations to urge divestment from fossil fuels.

Yale University police cited 19 students after they staged a sit-in outside President Peter Salovey’s office to push for divestment from fossil-fuel companies.

Fossil fuels, long regarded for their high-energy return on investment, are not as efficient as once thought. In fact, their final yields are not much better than those of renewable options, according to a new study.

MEPs have voiced concern over the definition of "fossil fuel sectors" used by the European Supervisory Authorities (ESA) in their consultation paper on technical standards for environmental, social and governance disclosure for financial market participants. "ESA's definition is in striking contradiction with the disclosure and taxonomy regulations, climate science and commonly used definitions," MEPs said in a letter. ESA's paper defines "fossil fuels" as solid fossil fuels only.

Humans are causing irreversible damage to the planet from burning fossil fuels, the biggest ever study of the available science concluded in a report designed to spur the fight against climate change.

Fossil fuels are reaping $550 billion a year in subsidies and holding back investment in cleaner forms of energy, the International Energy Agency said.