Some Australian states have committed to 100% renewable energy targets, or even 200% renewable energy targets. But this doesn’t mean their electricity is, or will be, emissions free.
A Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, California.
AP Photo/Paul Sakuma
The opportunity won’t last forever. Countries that move first will gain an advantage in new industries, technologies and export markets. Those that wait may never catch up.
The point of divestment is to send a negative message, to undermine the oil industry’s social licence.
(Shutterstock)
Ryan Wiser, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Bentham Paulos, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Dev Millstein, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Joseph Rand, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Fifteen years ago electric power generation was the largest source of US greenhouse gas emissions. Now the power sector is leading the shift to a clean energy economy.
Steelworks at Middlesbrough, UK.
MediaWorldImages/Alamy Stock Photo
David Hall, Auckland University of Technology and Nina Ives, Auckland University of Technology
New Zealand has put just over half of its NZ$50 billion pandemic stimulus towards clean energy, but several fossil fuel powered projects will slow down the country’s shift to a low-emissions economy.
A mix of public and private forests in Oregon’s Coast Range.
Beverly Law
Permanently protecting large, mature forests is a faster and cheaper way to stabilize Earth’s climate than complex carbon capture and storage schemes, and more effective than planting new trees.
Concrete spillway from Lake Benmore Dam in Otago, New Zealand.
Shutterstock
Investment in renewable electricity needs bipartisan political support and some bold decisions if New Zealand is to meet its future energy commitments.
President Joe Biden’s executive order could be fatal to the Keystone XL pipeline. The Canadian oil sector now has no choice but to innovate to survive.
The Paris Agreement desperately needs to be updated. Currently the big exporters take no responsibility for the emissions created when those fossil fuels are burned overseas.