Tag Archives: energiewende

Carbon pricing in Europe: where the UK and France leads, will Germany follow?

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power station at duskThis post is by Matthew Duhan, adviser at Global Counsel. It first appeared on Global Counsel’s blog.

On Monday 9 May 2016 at 23:10 something remarkable happened. For the first time since 1882 coal made no contribution to UK electricity generation. At the same moment, Germany, Europe’s leader in renewable energy and home to the Energiewende (‘energy transition’), was generating three quarters of its electricity from a mixture of hard coal and even more polluting lignite (see graph below). Read more

Learning from Merkel’s approach to energy politics

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CC-BY-NC-ND Number 10This post is by Matthew Lockwood, a senior research fellow in the Energy Policy Group at the University of Exeter.

Angela Merkel’s visit to London yesterday is being widely reported in the context of David Cameron’s efforts to secure EU reform. However, the presence of Europe’s electorally most successful leader is also a reminder of some contrasts between Germany and the UK in the area of energy policy. Read more

Let’s follow Germany with a renewable gas strategy instead of fracking

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gas flame partThis post is by Dr Bruce Tofield, associate consultant at the Adapt Low Carbon Group, University of East Anglia.

In launching Next steps for shale production, energy minister Michael Fallon said that fracking “is an exciting prospect, which could bring growth, jobs and security”.  There is, however, great concern about the damaging local environmental impact of fracking in Britain.  Less remarked upon is fossil fuel lock-in, highlighted recently by Rachel Cary.  As Michael Liebreich, CEO of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, has pointed out  “If the UK ever becomes dependent on shale gas, it will never be able to kick the fracking habit.” Read more