The Royal Bank of Scotland announced a new suite of energy financing policies at the end of May, which are designed to substantially reduce the bank’s exposure to fossil fuel investments and includes halting project-specific financing for new coal-fired power stations, coal mines, and oil sands and Arctic oil projects.
Coal and nuclear power are both dying, falling victim to natural gas and renewable energy. Trump used to blame the Democrats, and especially “Obama’s war on coal.” He used to take the position that removing subsidies for renewable power would be sufficient to bring a renaissance to the coal industry. But despite his efforts, coal plants have just kept closing.
The Trump administration is considering a plan that would order utility companies to purchase electricity from coal and nuclear generating plants even though the cost of that electricity will be higher than what they pay natural gas facilities and renewable suppliers. In other words, the Trump administration wants to force you to buy more expensive, dirtier electricity that is more likely to cause you health problems and perhaps even premature death.
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission has issued a directive to three utility companies in the state telling them to include the social cost of coal in their future planning. Under the new guidelines, the cost of coal calculation will be $42 per metric ton by 2020 and rise to $60 per metric ton by 2040.
Germany struggles to get its highly anticipated coal exit task force on track. The government on Wednesday postponed at the last minute the official launch of the phase-out commission for the third time. The quarrels over the commission’s leadership and remit bear witness to the enormous task ahead, and also foreshadow difficult negotiations. However, the government insists that its schedule to name an end date for coal by the end of the year will be kept.
As climate talks stall, it’s clear the UN process is no longer the major driving force of the climate transition. But does that matter?
While the climate crisis affects some places more acutely than others, the writing’s on the wall everywhere: We need to accelerate the global shift from the dirty fossil fuels driving climate change to renewables so we can power our lives. Here’s a look at the UK.
In this edition of the cleantech news roundup, we have news about new hybrid and electric vehicles for China, a Tesla towing record, dropping battery prices, the death of diesel (sort of), the social cost of coal, the rise of vertical farming, road trip-ready EVs, and more.
A new report from the Rocky Mountain Institute has shown that investing in “clean energy portfolios” made up of clean energy sources and distributed energy resources is a more cost-effective method of replacing aging fossil fuel-powered power plants in America than replacing them with new gas-fired power plants.
The Netherlands has announced that it will ban the use of coal for electricity generation from 2030 onwards, and that the two oldest plants must close by the end of 2024, in a move that Germany utility company RWE has deemed “ill judged.”
