Addressing methane emissions is key if the world is to succeed in limiting global warming and preventing drastic climate change. In the short-term, it is significantly more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide. But to properly address the world’s methane problem, there needs to be data on where emissions come from. A new satellite aims to help do that. MethaneSAT was launched earlier this month and boasts unmatched accuracy and precision. It aims to keep track of 80% of the world’s oil...

Currently, 10-25% of EU buildings host solar panels and the rooftop market continues to grow. It could see another boost as Europe agrees new support for the industry. This includes the new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which introduces an EU Solar Standard, expected to change solar from an add-on to a core construction element. For this live podcast recording, Watt Matters producer Kira Taylor looks into the emerging trends and what more is needed to boost the industry, with a...

Record falls in fossil fuels and record levels of renewables - Sarah Brown from think tank Ember joins the Watt Matters team to discuss Europe’s latest electricity stats The EU’s electricity transition is in full swing Ember’s European Electricity Review 2024 concludes. The report celebrates new records, including a record fall in both fossil generation and CO2 emissions. Renewables are on the up. Ember’s 2022 review found wind and solar generated a fifth of EU electricity. In 2023, they...

From climate change to air pollution, there are a lot of issues that need solving in the 21st century. With all the doom and gloom, it’s hard to see that some progress has actually been made. Hannah Ritchie is a researcher and deputy editor at the University of Oxford’s Our World In Data publication. Her new book “Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet” argues that advancements are being made every day in the quest for a sustainable...

The energy transition is taking place in a complex world of ongoing historic geopolitical tensions and financial divides between countries. Lisa Fischer from climate think tank E3G joins the Watt Matters team to discuss decarbonisation policymaking in a complicated and adversarial world. The world needs to decarbonise if it is to limit drastic global warming. However, this is happening in the context of growing conflicts and a varying list of priorities and ideologies. With 2030 targets now...

2024 is likely to be the year of elections, with just under half of the world’s population expected to head to the polls, according to Bloomberg. That includes major players in energy and climate, like the US, India, the EU and, potentially, the UK. These elections will take place in a world where the climate crisis and the energy transition are becoming ever more apparent in people’s lives, but also where the political climate around these topics is growing more difficult. As the world...

The US’ electricity system is complicated, with each of the 50 states setting its own rules for how markets work, how power is priced and who manages customer relations. But amid the complexity, Octopus Energy US sees a big opportunity to continue its UK success story across the pond and help US customers benefit from decarbonised electricity. According to Michael Lee, the CEO of Octopus Energy US, customers can be the centrepiece of a grid based around more flexible demand if the focus is...

There are no studies where absolute zero emissions can be reached with reductions alone, meaning carbon removals are crucial to reaching ‘net’ zero emissions, according to the IPCC. After the world has reached that point, any remaining emission would need to be countered by an equivalent removal from the atmosphere. Because of this, the world of carbon removals is rapidly growing in importance, from technological innovations to legislation looking into how to verify removals. To introduce...

Public transport operators are highly visible to the wider public. Increasingly their services are being electrified or run on clean energy. In this special live episode, Watt Matters delves into the procurement issues these operators are facing when it comes to low-carbon solutions. The transport sector is a crucial area of the economy that needs to decarbonise. As public transport operators face pressure to transition to low-carbon alternatives, they are also coming up against several...

Since 2015, Poland has been governed by the Law and Justice Party, which has been sceptical about EU climate policy and been at loggerheads with Brussels over rule of law, leading to the suspension of EU funds, including those earmarked for the green transition. This could all be about to change following October’s national election, where the opposition parties together won more support than the Law and Justice Party. With the groups now expected to form a coalition, this could mean a more...

Every year, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) puts together a report, looking at the cost of renewable power production. 2022’s shows that, despite inflation, the cost has dropped. According to the report, the global weighted average levelised cost of electricity from new utility-scale solar, onshore wind, bioenergy and geothermal production fell. Thanks to the rise in fossil fuel prices, this makes the cost argument for renewables more compelling, according to...

In a special live recording of the podcast, Michael Liebriech, Katharina Umpfenbach and Dennis Hesseling join the team to discuss shifting the energy infrastructure of today into a decarbonised system of tomorrow Sufficient and effective physical infrastructure—either electricity cables or gas pipelines—is vital for a successful energy transition. But the planning and building of any new such infrastructure has not received the attention it deserves with most debates focussing on the scaling...

Transport in the Balkans leaves a lot to be desired. Badly connected and lacking investment, the region sorely needs a mobility policy boost. This week, one of the top officials tasked with doing just that joins the show. In Europe’s southeast, the Balkan peninsula has a transport dilemma. Relatively short distances between cities take hours to navigate and what should be a well-connected region is anything but. Motorway expansion is the go-to government option while rail and waterways often...

The energy crisis put a spotlight on energy usage for British consumers as soaring bills dropped through letterboxes across the country. Renewable solutions can help tackle high prices, as well as lower emissions, and companies like Scottish Power are trying to roll these out. Heat pumps, solar panels and other solutions offer healthier home environments, lower energy bills and higher home values, but the transition can be tricky. To get around this, companies need to be transparent and help...

The energy transition is a big puzzle for Australia, an important player in the fossil energy world, with large coal and gas reserves. It ranks eighth highest globally for emissions per capita and first for coal power emissions per capita, according to Climate Action Tracker, an independent scientific project. In the last few years, the country has seen a surge in solar energy as fossil fuel prices have risen, and “Teal” candidates winning elections on platforms advocating for more climate...

In the past 12 months, the energy transition has had some successes: the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States and the EU’s response in the form of the Net Zero Industry Act are both designed to turbocharge green investments. But there is still the overwhelming feeling that progress is slow. With the recent wildfires in Greece and the repeated “hottest month on record” headlines, the urgency to decarbonise is ramping up. “The era of global boiling has arrived,” United Nations...

As we move into the second half of the year, a key trend of the first part of 2023 is the confidence that surrounds the solar sector. With a number of new policy packages announced over the past 12 months, the industry is buoyed by new momentum. In its latest Market Outlook, SolarPower Europe, a trade association, revealed that 239 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity was installed in 2022, with 118 GW in the rooftop segment. Having taken 22 years to reach its first terawatt of capacity,...

The European Union is currently working on a law to monitor and tackle methane emissions, which have a significant impact on the climate and have, so far, been somewhat overlooked in EU legislation. There are moves, both internationally and on the EU level, to tackle these emissions, including a pledge made at COP26 to reduce emissions by at least 30% by 2030, based on 2020 levels. The EU’s Methane Regulation should help the bloc meet this pledge, but the European Parliament and EU...

The smart use of energy within buildings could help support the energy transition. Most of us spend most of our time in buildings, and they are responsible for a huge share in overall emissions. The smarter use of energy, installation of smart controls and energy efficiency could help buildings play a role in the energy transition, and provide some additional benefits to its users: all of us. In this week’s episode of Watt Matters, Michaela, Jan and David are delving into the role households...

A number of synergies have yet to be unlocked between district heating and cooling networks and industries, with both sectors looking to decarbonise. Both sectors are highly complementary. The ability to recover excess heat from industrial processes—and more recently the likes of data centres—is opening new opportunities to help decarbonise district networks by supplying sustainable heat to residential or commercial buildings. But the rollout of new networks and the forethought to couple...

A growing trend within the energy transition is the use of energy communities – collectives of neighbours or nearby residents and end-users coming together to promote and source renewable energy for their own benefit. Yet this shift away from the traditional centralised energy system brings with it its own set of challenges. Our guest on the podcast this week is Anna Francis, a project manager with a particular interest in energy communities from Energy Cities—a European Association of...

The decarbonisation of heating is as important as any other sector in the energy transition but is perhaps sometimes a little overlooked. The sector’s main tools to help remove carbon emissions from space heating are heat pumps and the rollout of the technology is quickly gathering pace, particularly in Europe, but regulatory and technological barriers remain. The guest on the podcast this week is Thomas Nowak, secretary general of the European heat pump association. Nowak describes what...

Greenhouse gas emissions are a global problem as carbon dioxide, and the heating side-effects caused by it do not respect national frontiers. This means that a country or region that may have the best decarbonisation intentions will only partly achieve its objectives if the rest of the planet is not playing by the same rule book. An innovative and, in some circles, controversial new climate superweapon designed by the European Union is coming into frame. The carbon border adjustment...

Any discussion of energy efficiency immediately conjures images of how our homes can use power better or more economically. But this ignores the whole commercial and industrial sectors and how businesses and corporations can improve the efficiency of their activities. This week's guest is Toby Morgan from Climate Group, a non-profit organisation that helps businesses in their decarbonisation quest. Climate Group have published a new report, which looks at why there has never been a better...