Category: Knowledge Centre

In Europe, the EU published its Hydrogen Strategy in July 2020, closely linked to its Energy Sector Integration Strategy. Several European countries have also published their own hydrogen strategies during 2020 (e.g. Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Germany, France, and Spain). While other countries (e.g. Italy and the UK) have not yet finalised formal strategies, they are actively developing plans for hydrogen to play a role in the energy transition.

To combat climate change while capturing health and economic benefits, the City of Los Angeles has set ambitious goals to transform its electricity supply, aiming for a 100% renewable energy power system by 2045, along with a push to electrify the buildings and transportation sectors. LADWP and NREL have prepared a highly detailed, rigorous, and science-based study to analyze potential pathways the community can take to achieve a 100% clean energy future.

In 2020 alone, more than 260 cities either set a new renewable energy target or passed a new policy. As of the end of the year, over 830 cities in 72 countries had adopted renewable energy targets. More than 600 cities worldwide having targets for 100% renewable energy.

Achieving India’s economic development ambitions – significant growth, universal electricity access and clean modern cooking fuels for all – requires significant industrial capacity to achieve and, unless carefully managed, has the potential to increase greenhouse gas emissions. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Shell have created a scenario sketch to explore the ongoing energy transition in India. It illustrates a technically possible, but highly challenging pathway to steer the domestic energy system towards net-zero emissions by 2050.

Wind energy is a fast-growing source of new electric power generation, and U.S. wind energy production capacity has been increasing consistently over the past several years. Currently, in contrast to Europe, all but one commercial wind power facility in the United States is based on land. However, multiple offshore wind and related infrastructure projects have been proposed in recent years to BOEM.

The universe’s most abundant element has long been considered a potential alternative to traditional forms of fuel. However, until now, the cost barriers associated with hydrogen production were too high to make it a viable zero-carbon fuel source. The introduction of favourable climate-change policies, declining costs and growing use cases have resulted in renewed interest in hydrogen.

2020 was an important year for the environment for a number of other reasons. Europe raised its climate targets, in the United States the election of Joe Biden as president revived the climate debate, and even China committed for the first time to a date for becoming carbon neutral, while other countries also raised their climate ambitions. In addition, 2021 is also expected to be an important year for the planet.

Several important developments have been observed in voluntary carbon markets over the past 5 years and there is potential for future important changes. Demand has shifted from compliance with the Kyoto protocol and carbon credits generated through industry, waste and renewable energy projects to carbon credits from nature-based solutions demanded by unregulated companies and individuals. There is a chance that these trends will continue in the future, with air travel companies planning to offset their additional emissions and big companies making zero-carbon pledges.

A renewables-based energy transition promises to deliver vast socio-economic benefits to countries across Africa, improving energy access, creating jobs and boosting energy security. To realise these benefits, African countries have an opportunity to leapfrog fossil fuel technologies to a more sustainable, climate-friendly power strategy aligned with the Paris Agreement and low-carbon growth.

Coming off year-end extensions, the tax incentives for various renewable and clean energy sources and technologies could see an additional boost from Congress in the coming months. This report by KPMG briefly summarizes current law and describes the potential for additional extensions and enhancements.

The widespread adoption of clean energy goals by many U.S. states and businesses is underway, spurred by accelerating commitments to combat climate change and the growing cost-competitiveness of renewable resources. In January 2021, the Biden administration adopted ambitious decarbonization plans that aim to reach 100 percent clean electricity by 2035 and net-zero emissions across the economy by 2050. Reaching these goals efficiently will require a doubling or tripling of the size and scale of the nation’s transmission system.