The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Dr Fatih Birol, has criticised the “inexplicable” failure of governments and businesses to accelerate energy efficiency efforts, the Guardian reports. It continues: “New analysis by the IEA showed that doubling the rate of energy efficiency improvements seen in the last decade would, by 2030, slash global energy use by the same amount used in China every year, savings households $650bn. It would also cut oil and gas use by far more than Russia exports to the EU.” The paper adds that the UK government “has committed £37bn to helping households with energy bills but has not announced any new efficiency measures”.

TheFinancial Timesreports Birol’s comments in an interview with the paper: “Europe is at risk of energy rationing this winter, particularly if cold weather coincides with resurgent economic demand in China, the head of the world’s watchdog for the sector has warned…Birol said governments needed to drive down energy demand by improving efficiency.” The paper adds: “Birol argued that energy security should be achieved through increased efficiency, more use of renewable energy and ‘making the most of existing [oil and gas] fields’ – rather than new, large fossil fuel projects, which could last into the 2040s and 2050s and could mean ‘saying goodbye to our international climate policy’.”

In related news, thePress Associationreports calls from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) for the government to “upgrade the UK’s leaky housing stock rather than spending billions on massive energy bills every year”. It quotes the head of the CBI saying: “Do we want a new normal of energy efficiency, or a new normal of billion-pound bailouts every quarter?” AndReutersreports that the Japan government “will ask households and companies to save as much electricity as possible during the peak summer demand season to alleviate a possible power crunch”.

欧洲议会成员(议员)to vote today on a series of EU climate policies, Reuters reports, adding that “the outcome of the votes [is] still uncertain as lawmakers are split over whether to uphold or weaken the plans”, which are designed to put the bloc on track for its goal of cutting emissions to 55% below 1990 levels by 2030. The newswire says there will be votes on eight proposals, confirming the parliament’s position ahead of negotiations with EU member state governments over the final legislation. It says that the votes include the level of the cap in the EU Emissions Trading System and a target for CO2 emissions of new cars that could effectively ban new combustion engine car sales.Politicoalso previews the votes, reporting: “Fears over war and living costs are testing the European Parliament’s commitment to climate action.” It says: “MEPs will vote on eight proposals Wednesday afternoon: The reform of the EU’s carbon market; whether to introduce a carbon border tax; new national emissions reduction targets; whether to establish a Social Climate Fund to support poorer households; new carbon sequestration targets; emissions standards for cars; and two sets of rules for aviation emissions.”Bloombergsays MEPs “sparred” during debates yesterday, held ahead of today’s votes. It reports: “Some European Parliament members, predominantly in the Socialist, Liberal and Green political groups, are seeking to further toughen proposals by the European Commission, while others, led by Christian Democrats, urge caution to avoid excessive burden for the continent’s industry and citizens.” AnotherPoliticoarticle says the “tight” vote on EU car standards will be a “nail-biter” and “will decide whether or not to set a total ban on combustion-engine cars”.

Island nations have said they cannot wait another three years for a funding mechanism to help victims of climate disasters, Climate Home News reports. It says small island states used the first session of a “dialogue” on funding for climate loss and damage to argue that 2024 – when the dialogue is due to finish – would be too late for money to start flowing. In other reporting from the UN climate talks currently taking place in Bonn, Germany,Carbon Copysays the agenda for the meeting has been formally adopted, with adaptation and mitigation included but “loss and damage dropped”.BusinessGreen说,波恩会议”踢(ed)请求nations to deliver on Glasgow Climate Pact promises”. It says COP26 president Alok Sharma “called on governments to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting turmoil on global energy and commodity markets by doubling down on their decarbonisation strategies”. The publication adds that UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa “warned that without urgent action the promise to ‘keep 1.5C alive’ that was at the heart of the Glasgow Climate Pact would be quickly broken”. Elsewhere,New Scientisthas a feature under the headline: “The world’s 1.5C climate goal is slipping out of reach – so now what?”

Environmental law NGO ClientEarth is “challenging the EU’s support for gas pipelines, arguing it is incompatible with the bloc’s climate targets”, Climate Home News reports. It says the European Commission has earmarked €13bn for gas infrastructure, including the Eastern Mediterranean gas pipeline to bring gas from Cyprus to mainland Europe. The publication notes: “The EU has been accused of hypocrisy for supporting fossil fuels in Europe while several of its biggest member states pledged at last year’s COP26 climate summit to end finance for fossil fuels abroad.”Associated Pressalso covers Client Earth’s legal challenge, reporting the group’s claim that the gas spending “will lock the region into dependency on the fossil fuel that EU institutions say that they want to get rid of”. Meanwhile,Reuters荷兰部长说th的评论报告at expanded use of the country’s Groningen gas field, which is being wound down, should be a “last resort”.

Elsewhere, theGuardianreports its interview with a former UN climate envoy under the headline: “Let Africa exploit its natural gas reserves, says Mary Robinson.” It quotes Robinson saying: “Africa is trying to get its voice out about its needs for just, equitable energy, and of course that implies some use of gas as a just transition…There has to be a certain leeway to tackle the energy poverty in Africa, and give Africa a faster capability to move.” Finally, theNew York TimesClimate Fwd newsletter reports on a meeting discussing the exploitation of fossil fuel resources in Latin America: “The pandemic has left many countries deeper in debt. One way out is to sell more fossil fuels.”

The German government is to present a package of measures to speed the expansion of wind energy, Reuters reports, citing “documents reviewed” by the newswire. It says the new law would “impose binding area targets for onshore wind energy expansion on the federal states” and relax planning rules. The newswire adds that a government plan to reserve 2% of land for wind energy is “meeting resistance in some federal states”.Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitungreports that the German federal government wants “to tear down hurdles for the expansion of wind energy and overturn the distance regulations of the federal states”. In order to enforce the 2% area target, the newspaper says laws on planning, building law and nature conservation could be changed. It adds that the federal government justifies its approach on the basis of climate protection, but also for security reasons because of the war in Ukraine noting that “it is part of a comprehensive regulatory package with the aim of a sustainable and greenhouse gas-neutral energy supply, which should drastically accelerate the expansion of renewable energies and remove all hurdles and obstacles for the accelerated expansion”.

Campaigners’ legal challenge against the UK government’s net-zero strategy has secured a hearing in the High Court, BusinessGreen reports. It quotes the legal challenge, first launched in January, describing the government strategy as “inadequate and unlawful”. TheIndependentalso reports on the case, noting that the challenge argues the government failed to detail the emissions reductions each policy would achieve, making it impossible for the public or parliament to hold ministers to account. The newspaper adds: “A spokesperson for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said they could not comment on ongoing legal proceedings, but that the government maintained that its net-zero strategy complies with its legal obligations and builds on the UK’s ‘proven track record’ of decarbonising faster than any other G7 country. they said.”

In related news, theDaily Telegraphreports the call for gas boilers to be banned “to tackle the cost of living crisis and help Britain meet its green ambitions”, according to Sir John Armitt, chair of the government’s National Infrastructure Commission. It continues: “Armitt said the sale of all gas boilers should be completely outlawed by 2035, warning that ‘the soaring price of gas’ has made the case for decarbonisation more urgent as households battle a cost of living crisis.”

Meanwhile, thei newspapersays that official figures show Scotland met its emissions target in 2020 due to Covid lockdowns but that a “substantial[] rebound” was expected once numbers for 2021 are published.BBC Newsreports that Wales is on track to meet its climate targets, according to the minister in charge. Separately, theGuardianreports that the food strategy for England is “likely to be watered down”. AndNew Scientistsays most English farmers are “willing to plant trees to combat climate change”, according to a survey.

Russian president Vladimir Putin’s “one great strategic miscalculation”, which “will be the nation’s undoing”, writes columnist Roger Boyes in the Times, is to have “launched his war [against Ukraine] at a time when global climate change was already pushing the developed world to bid a long farewell to the fossil fuels that accounted last year for 36% of Russia’s budget”. Boyes continues: “Now sanctions and a complete western rethink about Moscow’s energy leverage over Europe are massively accelerating that process.” He adds: “Putin’s political obituary will attribute his downfall to two factors: First, his complacency about the effects of global heating on Russia. Second, the bungled timing of the Ukrainian invasion.” Boyes explains: “Had he not slept through the climate crisis in his own country [Putin] would have realised the way to secure geopolitical influence is to become a clean-energy superpower…If he understood the truly precarious future of Russia’s fossil fuel industry, why would he choose to march into Ukraine in February? It has sent Europeans scrambling to disconnect from Russia long before the due date.” He concludes: “[Putin] has become not just a fossil fuel, but a fossilised, dictator.”

In an extract from theDaily Telegraph“Economic Intelligence” newsletter, assistant editor Jeremy Warner writes under the headline: “Putin’s war and green zealots doom the west to a ruinous energy bill.” He says “the oil price cycle follows a wholly predictable pattern”, where high prices lead to investment but also weakening demand, such that prices “collapse”. Yet Warner claims that “this time around…it was obvious that climate change goals, which began to kick in with ever increasing intensity from around 2017 onwards, were going to result in a major supply problem”.Reutersreports the comments of Chevron chief executive Michael Wirth saying that high fuel prices could “erode the public support that will be necessary for the energy transition”.

In a comment for the Daily Telegraph, UK chancellor Rishi Sunak sets out his stall on how the government is responding to the cost of living crisis. He writes: “New carbon capture and storage sites, a new freeport, offshore wind, the Government’s new economic campus – it’s all there and is providing people with new opportunities. I want to see that kind of transformative change in every part of the UK.”

A separate comment for theDaily Telegraph, by columnist Mike Warburton, lists “five urgent tax cuts Boris Johnson must make to save his bacon”. He includes a further cut to fuel duty – the tax on petrol and diesel that has been repeatedly cut in real terms over the past decade – as well as “abolish[ing] the 5% VAT charge on heating fuels”. In addition, he argues that the government should “suspend green taxes”. (亚慱官网analysis published in January showed that household bills were currently £2.5bn higher than they would have been if previous governments had not cut climate policies paid for via bills.)

In theIndependent, chief business commentator James Moore writes under the headline: “Why we can never hear enough about the case for net-zero.” He writes: “It is vital that people like CBI director-general Tony Danker continue to face down the reductive arguments against a push for climate initiatives as we face an energy crisis…Investment in a greener future will pay rich dividends.”

Also in theDaily Telegraph, associate editor Ben Wright writes: “The UK car industry is caught between the death of the combustion engine and the full dawning of electric vehicles.”

Writing for the Washington Post, political scientist Leah Stokes has analysis looking at the latest executive climate actions taken by the Biden administration and “signals” on whether Democrats will be able to pass climate legislation. She says this week’s freeze on new solar tariffs “creat[es] financial certainty for the industry. This will make it easier for solar power to grow, supporting the administration’s goal of cleaning the electricity system of carbon emissions by 2035.” On legislation, Stokes says the Senate “still may act on climate change”. She concludes: “If a [budget] reconciliation deal that includes climate investments emerges in the coming weeks, the US may start moving towards Biden’s climate goals.”

Meanwhile, theGuardianreports under the headline: “Activists hail Biden’s use of security powers to boost clean energy.” It says environmental groups have welcomed Biden’s use of the powers to “rapidly expand the production of clean energy technology” including solar panels, insulation and heat pumps. Elsewhere,Associated Presssays some US solar manufacturers “are considering legal challenges after president Joe Biden declared a two-year pause for tariffs on solar imports from Southeast Asia”.Bloombergsays US solar panel makers have criticised the administration’s plans to support domestic manufacturers as a “pittance”. Finally,Reutersreports that five major carmakers including Ford, Volkswagen and Honda have “backed efforts by president Joe Biden’s administration to restore California’s ability to set its own strict tailpipe and zero-emission vehicle standards”.

“Extremely deep storms” in the Ross Sea over October-November 2021 were responsible for the record low Antarctic extent recorded in February 2022, according to new research. The authors find that when Antarctic sea ice extent dropped to a satellite-era record low on 25 February 2022, the largest “negative sea ice anomalies” were in the Ross and Weddell Seas. They conclude that storms in the Ross Sea moved sea ice away from the Antarctic coast, exposing the ocean surface and allowing further ice melt. “An additional factor was the very strong westerly winds north of the Weddell Sea that moved sea ice of this basin and towards the east,” the study adds. (For more on Antarctic sea ice’s recent past, see亚慱官网‘s guest post from last year.)