Today’s global energy inequities are staggering. Video gamers in California consume more electricity than entire nations. The average Tanzanian used only one-sixth the electricity consumed by a typical American refrigerator in 2014. Globally, the top 10% of countries consume 20 times more energy than the bottom 10%. And 1.1 billion sub-Saharan Africans share the … Read more
The government has unveiled a $1.9 billion package of investments in new and emerging energy and emission-reducing technologies, and reinforced its message that it is time to move on from assisting now commercially-viable renewables. The package will be controversial, given its planned broadening of the remit of the government’s clean energy investment vehicles, currently … Read more
Two important global events are coming up that are widely hoped to help address what the United Nations calls the “dual challenge” – fighting climate change and ensuring that poorer countries can develop sustainably. Energy is a central theme in both. For the first time in 40 years, the U.N. General Assembly is convening … Read more
South Africa’s economy has taken a number of very heavy body blows recently. These include a slowdown due to measures taken to control the spread of COVID-19, on top of increased state dysfunctionality due to corruption. The country has also just experienced the worst riots since it became a democracy in 1994. All have … Read more
Chinese President Xi Jinping recently announced at the UN General Assembly that China “will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad”. Chinese banks have already swung into gear. Three days after Xi’s speech, the Bank of China declared it would no longer provide financing for new coal mining and power projects outside China from … Read more