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Secretariat Receives High-Level Delegation from Montenegro

Foto: EPCG
Photo: EPCG

Director Kopač and Deputy Director Buschle held a working meeting with State Secretary responsible for Energy, Marko Perunović, and representatives of state-owned power utility “Elektroprivreda” Crne Gore (EPCG), Chairman of the Board of Directors, Milutin Djukanović, and Generation Manager, Bojan Djordan, at the premises of the Energy Community Secretariat in Vienna.

The meeting focused on Montenegro’s progress in reforming its energy sector in line with the country’s obligations under the Energy Community Treaty.

The Secretariat welcomed Montenegro’s commitment to the energy transition and the adoption of a National Energy and Climate Plan and a coal phase-out timeline. The Secretariat urged Montenegro to respect the Large Combustion Plants Directive’s opt-out timeline for the thermal power plant (TPP) Pljevlja, the subject of an infringement procedure. The Montenegrin delegation explained the planned roadmap for the reconstruction of TPP Pljevlja, which envisages emission standards compliance in 2023 and the reasons for delay.

The Secretariat agreed to extend its assistance to Montenegro, in particular with respect to the development of the missing secondary legislation for renewables, environmental impact assessment for hydropower projects in Komarnica and Krusevo, and social and environmental impacts of the transition at local level in Pljevlja.

Source: Energy Community

South African Companies Now Allowed To Generate Up To 100 MW Without Applying For Generation License

Photo-illustration: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has just announced that the threshold for companies to produce their own electricity without a licence will now be increased from the current 1 MW to 100 MW. Generation projects will still need to obtain a grid connection permit to ensure that they meet all of the requirements for grid compliance.

In a surprise but very welcome move, the new threshold, which had previously been set at 10 MW in the Draft Schedule 2 to the Electricity Act, will catalyze private sector investment into the electricity sector. This move will go a long way in relieving pressure on Eskom and the government and is the quickest route to plugging the country’s massive deficit in the electricity generation sector.

South Africa’s current installed generation capacity is about 50 GW, made up of mostly old coal plants. Just yesterday, Eskom, the national utility company, announced it was implementing Stage 4 load-shedding to manage the generation shortfall on the day. Eskom’s load-shedding program is structured in “Stages” where Eskom sheds a certain quantum of load from the grid to stabilize the grid.

So, depending on the severity of the crisis, load-shedding is implemented in stages from Stage 1 to Stage 8, where Stage 1 sheds 1000 MW of load from the grid and in a Stage 8 scenario, Eskom takes out 8,000 MW of load from the grid. Load-shedding is implemented over 2-hour or 4-hour blocks on a rotational basis depending on the severity of the crises. Stage 8, however means most consumers will experience a blackout for about 12 hours. As of yesterday, breakdowns at Eskom’s plants in total were adding up to a massive 15,087 MW! A further 1,273 MW was out of service for planned maintenance.

The process of obtaining a generation license for PV plants above 1 MW for the commercial and industrial segment had been a long and complicated one, slowing town the adoption of solar by large energy consumers. The new threshold removes this burden and opens up a huge segment in the solar industry. Large factories such as large cement factories, data centers, mines, shopping malls, and universities can now build their own power plants to compliment what they currently get from the grid.

Source: Clean technica

Tourism Stakeholders Invited to Share Progress on Climate Action

Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Lea Kobal)

UNWTO is inviting public and private stakeholders from around the world to take part in a Global Survey of Climate Action in Tourism and help identify frontrunning initiatives and opportunities to accelerate climate action in tourism.

Launched on World Environment Day, the survey aims to support the ongoing efforts of the sector to reduce its environmental impacts and carbon emissions, as well as to strengthen its capacity to adapt to a changing climate.

In May, the Tourism Ministers of the G20 nations stressed the need to rethink tourism and shape a more resilient, sustainable and inclusive sector. They also committed to take action and to promote such a green transformation. The UNWTO Recommendations for the Transition to a Green Travel and Tourism Economy, welcomed by the G20 Tourism Ministers, highlighted the need to transform tourism operations for climate action. Otherwise, emissions from global tourism could rise by at least 25 percent by 2030, as estimated in the latest research carried out by UNWTO and ITF.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili says: “The pandemic and its impact on tourism, jobs and revenues, offers an unprecedented reminder of the need to rebalance our relationship with people, planet and prosperity. The green transformation of the sector is needed, not just for the planet, but also for tourism itself, boosting competitiveness and increasing resilience.”

The Global Survey is part of the preparations for the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 and the results will be presented in November 2021 in Glasgow. It has been developed within the framework of the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme.

The survey is open until 15 July 2021 and destinations, businesses and tourism associations are all invited to take part. 

Please find more information on the survey here.

Source: World Tourism Organization

Tons of toxic microplastics are covering Sri Lanka’s western coastline

Foto: pixabay

Sri Lanka is facing one of the worst environmental disasters in its history after tons of plastic pellets have washed ashore near its capital devastating kilometers of pristine beaches and threatening marine life. The pellets, microplastics the size of lentils, are the type used as raw materials in the production of single-use plastic packaging.

On May 20, the Singapore-registered X-Press Pearl container ship caught fire on its way from India to Singapore, following a leak of nitric acid from a container which is thought to have triggered a chemical reaction in the cargo. This caused a fire which eventually made the ship a total constructive loss.

Although the fire was largely out by May 30, eight containers full of countless plastic pellets fell overboard during the accident and their contents spread with the ocean current.

Why it matters

Why are hundreds of tons of newly produced microplastics shipped as pellets across the world’s oceans? As if the plastic pollution crisis wasn’t already dire enough!

In less than 70 years of mass production, plastic has worked its way into every nook and cranny of the planet and its effects on the environment and climate are everywhere.

Images of soldiers and volunteers tirelessly working to remove the tiny microplastics from Sri Lanka’s beaches are once again shedding light on a broken system that is failing both us and the planet we call home. Natural resources are extracted to maximise profits over people. Fossil fuel and consumer goods companies are working together to power a throwaway economic model, where profit trumps the costs to our communities.

“Big brands cannot continue increasing plastic production without devastating the health of communities and our biodiversity around the globe while fueling runaway climate change,” said Abigail Aguilar, Regional Campaign Coordinator at Greenpeace Southeast Asia. “The clock is ticking. Enough of the greenwashing by big brands and the fossil fuel industry”.

What needs to happen

Plastic is not just an ocean and waste problem, it is a climate, health and social justice problem too. There is no human health without planetary health: big consumer goods brands that rely on single-use plastic, like Coca-ColaNestle and Pepsi, must rethink their business model and embrace a green and just future.

And in terms of environmental disasters such as this, the shipping company should be held responsible for all lost containers, their contents and any adverse impacts caused. Importantly, plastic should be classified as an environmentally hazardous material and handled as such by being allocated IMDG codes (international code for the maritime transport of dangerous goods in packaged form).

You can sign the petition against plastic pollution HERE.

Source: Greenpeace 

Meeting a New Generation of Batteries

Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay
Photographs: courtesy of Milica Vujković

There is a massive technological appetite for lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries. However, their mass application is limited by lithium resources and problems related to the cost and safety of the battery due to the presence of lithium, cobalt and hazardous organic electrolyte. Scientists around the world are trying to find a better solution based on more sustainable energy storage technologies.

One Serbian team joined those efforts. Researchers from scientific research institutions such as the Faculty of Physical Chemistry, the Institute of Technical Sciences of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences are trying to reduce the cost of Li-Ion batteries and their weight and volume, by developing innovative electrode and electrolyte materials, and increase energy. They want to make multivalent-ion batteries, and for their development, it is necessary to obtain materials that will be able to store a large number of multivalent ions during the multiple charging and discharging process. Materials should have high specific capacities that would allow batteries to store a large amount of energy. The name of the project is HiSuperBat, and it is financed by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia through the Program for Excellent Projects of Young Researchers (PROMIS). Our interlocutor is Milica Vujković, the manager of the mentioned project.

EP: We are witnessing a sharp increase in public interest in electric vehicles. What is your opinion on electromobility, and how close or far are we in the Balkans from electrifying traffic? 

Milica Vujković: The development of electromobility is of great importance due to the reduction of harmful gas emissions and our dependence on fossil fuels. Due to significantinvestments in this field, the number of electric cars produced has been growing exponentially in recent years, and it is almost certain that this trend will include the Balkan countries. Competition of manufacturers to maximize the mileage that vehicles can travel between two battery charges is actually a competition in innovation developed by the given companies’ research sectors. In general, research aims to reduce the price of Li-Ion batteries, their weight and volume, and increase energy by developing innovative electrode and/or electrolyte materials. However, we must also be aware that the mass production of electric cars brings with it the problems of lithium deficiency, whose reserves are constantly decreasing.

EP: What is the price-safety ratio when it comes to car batteries? How to find the way to new cheap high-security materials? 

Milica Vujković: Problems related to the price and safety of the battery limit the mass production of electric cars. The limitations actually stem from the materials of which the batteries are composed, i.e. lithium and cobalt in the cathode material (each battery consists of anode, cathode material and electrolyte) and an organic electrolyte that is flammable and toxic. Therefore, materials that do not contain lithium and cobalt are necessary, while safe electrolytes would replace the dangerous ones. HiSuperBat will respond to these challenges by developing new and cost-effective high-capacity electrode materials for multivalent ion batteries (Ca, Mg or Al-ion) and supercapacitors. 

EP: What other challenges will the HiSuperBat project respond to? 

Photographs: courtesy of Milica Vujković

Milica Vujković: The ultimate goal of the project is to develop a new, cost-effective and sustainable hybrid model for energy storage, applying the concept of hybridization of battery and supercapacitor components into one device or cell. The constructed coin-shaped model would be based on multivalent cations (Ca, Mg or Al) that are highly present on Earth and an aqueous electrolyte that would improve safety, reduce cost, and simplify the production of the storage system itself. The developed battery cell would not contain expensive and scarce lithium, flammable and toxic organic electrolyte. It would deliver specific energy higher than the corresponding lithium-ion cell and commercial water batteries (lead-acid battery, nickel-cadmium and nickel-metal hydride batteries). 

EP: Are there any other advantages of a multivalent-ion battery over a lithium-ion battery?

Milica Vujković: The high price, limited resources of lithium, and Li-Ion batteries’ safety are factors that have driven researchers around the world, even in Serbia, to develop alternative solutions for energy storage. Multivalent-Ion batteries could be a great solution. Divalent Mg and Ca ions or trivalent Al ions can transfer more electrons during battery charging/ discharging than monovalent Li-Ion, which allows multivalent batteries to have a higher capacity than Li-Ion batteries. On the other hand, the interaction of electrolyte ions and electrode material during battery charging/discharging is more pronounced in the case of multivalent charge (Mg2 +, Ca2 + or Al3 +), which can cause structural collapse and thus a decrease in battery capacity. These are also obstacles that we will try to overcome within the HiSuperBat project. 

Interview by: Jovana Canić

Read the whole interview in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine CIRCULAR ECONOMY, march 2021 – may 2021.

Commission Proposes a Trusted and Secure Digital Identity for all Europeans

Foto-ilustracija: Unsplash (Robin Worrall)
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The Commission proposed a framework for a European Digital Identity which will be available to all EU citizens, residents, and businesses in the EU. Citizens will be able to prove their identity and share electronic documents from their European Digital Identity wallets with the click of a button on their phone.

They will be able to access online services with their national digital identification, which will be recognised throughout Europe. Very large platforms will be required to accept the use of European Digital Identity wallets upon request of the user, for example to prove their age. Use of the European Digital Identity wallet will always be at the choice of the user.

“The European digital identity will enable us to do in any Member State as we do at home without any extra cost and fewer hurdles. Be that renting a flat or opening a bank account outside of our home country. And do this in a way that is secure and transparent. So that we will decide how much information we wish to share about ourselves, with whom and for what purpose. This is a unique opportunity to take us all further into experiencing what it means to live in Europe, and to be European.”, said Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age

The European Digital Identity framework           

Under the new Regulation, Member States will offer citizens and businesses digital wallets that will be able to link their national digital identities with proof of other personal attributes (e.g. driving licence, diplomas, bank account). These wallets may be provided by public authorities or by private entities, provided they are recognised by a Member State.

The new European Digital Identity Wallets will enable all Europeans to access services online without having to use private identification methods or unnecessarily sharing personal data. With this solution they will have full control of the data they share.

The European Digital Identity will be:

  • Available to anyone who wants to use it: Any EU citizen, resident, and business in the Union who would like to make use of the European Digital Identity will be able to do so.
  • Widely useable: The European Digital Identity wallets will be useable widely as a way either to identify users or to prove certain personal attributes, for the purpose of access to public and private digital services across the Union.
  • Users in control of their data: The European Digital Identity wallets will enable people to choose which aspects of their identity, data and certificates they share with third parties, and to keep track of such sharing. User control ensures that only information that needs to be shared will be shared.

To make it a reality as soon as possible, the proposal is accompanied by a Recommendation. The Commission invites Member States to establish a common toolbox by September 2022 and to start the necessary preparatory work immediately. This toolbox should include the technical architecture, standards and guidelines for best practices.

Source: European Commission

Back to Nature in the Big City

Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

“Nature-based solutions” is a term for all solutions that use the natural world to mitigate the effects of climate change. It sounds rural, but the phrase covers multiple possibilities, from tree planting to soak up carbon emissions to flood protection through providing more green space – and so is increasingly used to provide effective and cost-effective solutions in cities too.

The way urban nature-based solutions can work, says Dr David Tyler, EBRD Associate Director and water sector specialist, is by providing “a softer approach to the hard-engineered conventional solution – one which is arguably also cheaper, but has added benefits, too, particularly in terms of amenity and introducing nature.”

Media interest in nature-based solutions has grown since they became a campaign issue in the run-up to the UK presidency of the COP26 global climate summit, due this November.

Among the adventurous early projects now being conceptualised are several in the parts of the world where finance is provided by the EBRD, a development bank at the forefront of climate finance, which operates around central and eastern Europe, Central Asia and the southern and eastern Mediterranean region – notably in some of the 47 cities already working to improve their sustainability through the innovative EBRD Green Cities programme.

The idea of this EUR 3 billion programme is to help each member city identify, prioritise and tackle the challenges it faces in becoming more sustainable, through a tailor-made programme of improvements drawn up with the support of EBRD experts. (The thinking behind the programme is that cities, where an ever higher proportion of the world’s population choose to live, are the source of three-quarters of greenhouse gas emissions, and thus an important focus of climate action.)

Where nature-based solutions come into this planning, Tyler says, is in providing new answers to questions such as, “how can a city increasingly plagued by heavy rainfall, which brings localised flooding that can endanger lives, deal most sensibly with it?” The conventional urban-planning wisdom is to collect and convey away water pouring down from rooftops through a network of underground pipes. But as cities grow, drawing all that water away through an ever-increasing network of pipes is a very expensive approach. As Tyler says, “the wisdom increasingly is to bring in more sustainable urban development solutions – a way of including nature in planning and design.”

An effective nature-based solution is to manage excessive rainwater through localised solutions ranging from green roofs, artificial basins, grass embankments to ponds with reeds that capture and use the rainwater as the first line of defence against flooding. These are called Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems, Tyler explains: “When it rains heavily, the water is attenuated in these green pockets, and stored locally. Once the storm is over, the water will seep back gradually into the conventional system in a more controlled way”.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The beauty is all in the simplicity. A water retention pocket might be as basic as, say, a small patch of green land, containing an artificial pond with reeds, between blocks of flats. They often have the added benefit of being more aesthetic – softer in appearance, with the plants providing micro-habitats for small animals, birds and insects.  

One example Tyler cites of a city that could benefit from this approach is Varna, in Bulgaria, which joined EBRD Green Cities in June 2019 and began consultations on its Green City Action Plan soon afterwards. One focus has been the rehabilitation of key segments of Varna’s water infrastructure, strengthening the city’s climate resilience and improving resource efficiency.

“They have this problem with rainwater running down the streets causing severe localised flooding. Conceptually this is the type of solution we are imagining for Varna.”

“We talked two years ago about whether they were interested in sustainable urban draining systems and now we are actively considering these types of solution – a softer engineered approach that works in partnership with existing systems, using green features within urban environments.”

Another flood-prone member city of EBRD Green Cities is Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. Here the solution being examined is to re-engineer the River Bic, reintroducing more natural features along its edges to help control the combined effect of river and storm water more sustainably.

“Rainwater from streets ends up in rivers and when those rivers are also surcharged the risk of flooding is high. Here the idea is to deliberately slow down the path of the river, by looking at the catchment and where flooding occurs … introducing something that is more natural in combination with traditional flood defences.”

Managed realignment is another option in flood management. One in London is located on the outer reaches of the River Thames, protected by a river barrier in the huge estuary that goes eastward to Essex – but now with a more natural area too, where “the UK Environment Agency very cleverly deliberately broke the defence in front of the Thames barrier, and have created an area of natural habitat that intentionally floods when there’s a sea surge – only maybe once every year or two – which is now part of a series of natural defences for London.”

“This is what Chisinau is thinking of, too – a park that might occasionally flood, but in a place where you want it to flood rather than trying to push the problem away by building canals or, worse, letting the city flood,” says Tyler, adding that urban planners were being lined up to “help understand how we can reengineer natural features to protect the city and also create public amenity space.”

Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Victor Garcia)

A third way of controlling stormwater and river flooding is being considered in the Albanian capital Tirana, where the city administration plans to develop an orbital forest, initially by persuading local citizens to donate individual trees. The orbital forest is to be located partly within Tirana’s floodplain where high river water spills over:

“When the river is flowing in wet conditions, the trees will slow the flow of water and, in a similar way to that embankment, add protection and reduce the risk of flooding in the city. By growing an orbital forest you also improve air quality – a dual benefit. The third component is that it’s a very nice natural feature, which is where I understand the Mayor has been engaging with the community to sponsor planting trees.”

While the natural benefits of these plans are clear and intuitive, the idea of nature-based solutions is so new that ways of working out how to count and cost such investments are still being developed. Questions under consideration include how to measure the benefit, and demonstrate whether a nature-based solution works better than a conventional engineering solution, as well as whether such investments might be paid for by the city in question through a small tax rise, Tyler says:

“How do you value the benefit of a solution? We have to do a bit of extra work on that. Developing this work is requiring us to think differently about how to demonstrate the value proposition. The value is difficult to monetise.

A way of measuring, for instance, flood protection measures is to count how much money a city saves if there is less flooding after the measures are introduced, he adds. “In case of a flooding solution, you’d establish the frequency of flooding and who is impacted. Then you’d understand the cost of that impact on people and commerce. With a flood protection scheme, you measure the reduced flood risk, more importantly the cost of avoiding flooding.”

The added benefit of a nature-based solution – the value to public amenity of creating an attractive green space – is also difficult to put a monetary value on. “We are including that in our solution, so we are having to work a bit differently. There’s a lot of evidence that this can be a cost-effective way forward. But we’re talking here about engineering work which still needs managing and maintaining, but is different to conventional infrastructure. We have yet to fully understand how to invest in that kind of infrastructure.”

This is where the consultation process each city undergoes as it draws up its tailor-made Green City Action Plan (GCAP) within the EBRD Green Cities process is especially helpful, Tyler says, as it allows each member city to explore nature-based solutions that have worked elsewhere in the world and, if appropriate, adapt them. “We won’t always find a nature-based solution, but if there is a legitimate, cost-effective, multiple-benefit approach then we should be promoting it. It may be new to us, but these solutions have been well rehearsed and well tested elsewhere in the world. We need to use the GCAPs in a deliberate way to tease out opportunities.”

Source: EBRD

 

 

Stop Destroying our Ocean

Foto - ilustracija: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Manuel Sardo)

European countries claim to want to protect the ocean and restore biodiversity in this ecological and climate emergency. As such, the EU must finally phase out destructive fishing practices, starting with an immediate ban of bottom trawling in all Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). This must be a commitment in the EU Action plan on oceans due to be released after the summer 2021.

Fishing nets as tall as a three-story building and as wide as a football field scoop up the seabed everyday. In seconds, these nets destroy everything in their path, killing dolphins, seals, corals, seahorses and hundreds of other marine species.

This harmful industrial fishing practice is called bottom-trawling. It’s happening right here in Europe, in the jewel of our oceans, inside Marine Protected Areas.

The EU claims to protect our seas and restore biodiversity in this ecological and climate emergency, yet they still have not banned the disgraceful and destructive practice of bottom-trawling in “protected” areas.

With every day that passes, bottom-trawling destroys more and more marine life living on the seafloor and irreversibly damages our fragile marine ecosystems. Let’s show an outpouring of support from thousands of us to ensure that marine life is immediately protected from this unacceptable destruction.

You can sign the petition HERE.

Source: WeMove Europe

Fiat Plans To Go All In On Electric Cars By 2030

Photo: Fiat
Photo: Fiat

7 short years ago, Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Chrysler, was begging people not to buy the battery electric Fiat 500e. He told an audience at the Brookings Institute, “I hope you don’t buy it because every time I sell one, it costs me $14,000.”

Today, Fiat is singing a very different tune. According to Autocar, Fiat boss Olivier François announced this week, “Between 2025 and 2030, our product lineup will gradually become electric only. This will be a radical change for Fiat. The decision to launch the new 500 — electric and electric alone — was actually taken before Covid-19. Even then, we were already aware that the world could not take any more compromises. We were reminded of the urgency of taking action, of doing something for the planet Earth.”

Why is this important? Because Fiat, for all of its long and illustrious history as an automaker, has been primarily a purveyor of mass market cars — the vehicles that ordinary people use for ordinary purposes. Browse through the thousands of stories CleanTechnica has done about electric cars and many of them are focused on cars that appeal to customers at the upper end of the automobile market, people who buy Porsches, Audis, BMWs, and Mercedes. We have even covered electric cars from manufacturers of exotic cars like Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Rimac.

General Motors says it will go all electric in 2035. Fiat intends on getting there 5 years sooner than that. EVs aren’t just for the wealthy any more. They are for everyday transportation for everyday people who do everyday things.

Fiat has just introduced a new version of the 500e built on a dedicated EV chassis which will likely also be used for the upcoming Centoventi Concept EV. That concept, for all intents and purposes, is a preview of the next generation Fiat Panda. For now, Fiat’s focus is on city cars, but in the future it will also develop EVs on the STLA platform used by Stellantis for the Peugeot e-208 and Vauxhall Corsa-e. Sales of the 500e have been red hot in the home market recently.

The company is not just focused on building electric cars. It has plans to address the need for EV chargers in communities with lots of apartments and condominiums and is looking to increase the number of fast-charging points available to customers

You can read  the whole article HERE.

Source: Clean Technica

 

Plant Pandemics are Affecting up to 30 percent of Major Food Crops – and They’re Getting Worse

Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Plant disease surveillance, improved detection systems, and global predictive disease modeling are necessary to mitigate future disease outbreaks and protect the global food supply, according to a team of researchers.

Plant diseases don’t stop at national borders and miles of oceans don’t prevent their spread, either. The recommendations appear in a commentary published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The idea is to “detect these plant disease outbreak sources early and stop the spread before it becomes a pandemic,” says lead author Jean Ristaino, professor of plant pathology at North Carolina State University. Once an epidemic occurs it is difficult to control, Ristaino says, likening the effort to efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.

“We’ve seen how important information sharing, data analytics, and modeling have been in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. These types of tools could also be leveraged to help build resilience to future plant disease outbreaks—from identifying risk in global crop trade networks to local citizen science monitoring,” says coauthor Graham MacDonald, assistant professor in the geography department at McGill University.

While some diseases are already under some sort of global surveillance—such as wheat rust and late blight, an important pathogen that affects potatoes and caused the Irish famine—other crop diseases are not routinely monitored.

“There are a few existing surveillance networks, but they need to be connected and funded by intergovernmental agencies and expanded to global surveillance systems,” says Ristaino. “We can improve disease monitoring using electronic sensors that can help rapidly detect and then track emerging plant pathogens.”

The researchers say the efforts from a wide range of scholars—so-called convergence science—are needed to prevent plant disease pandemics. That means economists, engineers, crop scientists, crop disease specialists, geneticists, geographers, data analysts, statisticians, and others working together to protect crops, the farmers growing crops, and the people who eat them.

Research is underway to model the risk of plant pathogen spread and help predict and then prevent outbreaks, they report in the paper. Modeling and forecasting disease spread can help mobilize mitigation strategies more precisely to stop pandemics.

Global plant disease outbreaks are increasing in frequency and threaten the global food supply, the researchers say. Mean losses to major food crops such as wheat, rice, and maize ranged from 21 percent to 30 percent due to plant pests and diseases, according to a paper published in 2019.

Take the case of bananas, specifically the Cavendish variety, which has no resistance to a specific pathogen called Fusarium odoratissimum Tropical race 4, which causes Panama disease. That pathogen spread rapidly from Asia to Africa, the Middle East, and recently into South America, where it affects the main type of banana grown in the Americas for export.

Climate change will likely exacerbate these outbreaks, the researchers say. In Africa, for example, climate change and drought in Saharan Africa affects the population and range of locusts, which devastate crops further south in sub-Saharan Africa. Climate data can help drive disease forecasting and spread models.

“More frequent rainfall can allow airborne plant pathogens to spread and fungal spores can move with hurricanes, which is how soybean rust came to North America from South America—via storms,” says Ristaino. “There are also cases of early emergence, when pathogens emerge earlier in the growing season than usual due to warmer springs.”

In addition, the global nature of food trade is driving some plant disease pandemics. The emergence of new harmful plant pathogens adds other risks to the food supply, which is already strained by growing global demand for food.

“Globalization means that agriculture and food supplies are increasingly interconnected across national borders. Analyzing these crop trade networks combined with greater information sharing among countries can help to pinpoint risks from pests or diseases,” says MacDonald.

The researchers say there is a need to link human global health and plant global health scientists to work together. Food security and livelihoods are linked to agriculture and human health is linked to the food we consume.

Source: World Economic Forum

What does net-zero emissions by 2050 mean for bioenergy and land use?

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Modern and sustainable forms of bioenergy play an important role in our new special report on how the global energy sector can reach net-zero emissions by 2050, which also examines bioenergy’s advantages and limitations in efforts to address climate change by limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1,5 °C.

Bioenergy is a versatile renewable energy source that can be used in all sectors, and it can often make use of existing transmission and distribution systems and end-user equipment. But there are constraints on expanding the supply of bioenergy, and possible trade-offs with sustainable development goals, including avoiding conflicts at local level with other uses of land, notably for food production and biodiversity protection.

We aimed to ensure that the peak level of total primary bioenergy demand – including losses from the conversion of biomass into useful fuels – falls within the lowest estimates of global sustainable bioenergy potential in 2050, namely around 100 exajoules (EJ). Bioenergy demand in our global net zero pathway – the Net-Zero Emissions by 2050 (NZE) Scenario – is lower than all comparable scenarios from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that are aligned with 1,5 °C. Those IPCC scenarios use a median of 200 EJ of bioenergy in 2050.

There is a complete phase-out of the traditional use of solid biomass for cooking, which is inefficient, often linked to deforestation, and whose pollution was responsible for 2.5 million premature deaths in 2020. The traditional use of solid biomass –estimated at around 40% of total bioenergy supply, or around 25 EJ, today – falls to zero by 2030 in the NZE Scenario, in line with achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 on universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

The use of conventional biofuels, which are produced from food crops, is also significantly reduced by 2050. Like all other aspects of the energy transition in the NZE Scenario, the pathway to ensuring bioenergy sustainability is challenging but achievable.

Sustainable use of bioenergy in the NZE Scenario not only avoids negative impacts such as increased deforestation and competition with food production – it also delivers benefits beyond the energy sector. Shifting from traditional use of biomass to modern bioenergy can avoid undue burdens on women often tasked with collecting wood for fuel, bring health benefits from reduced air pollution and proper waste management, and reduce methane emissions from inefficient combustion and waste decomposition.

You can read the whole article HERE.

Source: International Energy Agency

Protecting Fragile Marine Ecosystems

Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

This year’s World Environment Day, officially celebrated on 5 June, focuses on ecosystem restoration, an important aspect of a healthy world. The EBRD’s work with the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership (NDEP) shows how this can be successfully achieved.

The Baltic Sea is a shallow, almost landlocked, sea surrounded by nine countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden.  Its drainage area is about four times larger than its surface area and is inhabited by around 85 million people.

The sea is suffering from eutrophication, which is depleting its flora and fauna of oxygen and slowly killing sea life. This is caused by surplus nutrient run-offs, mainly phosphorous and nitrogen, which feed excessive algae and plant growth, in extreme cases causing poisonous cyanobacteria outbreaks. Eutrophication is just one of the problems faced by  the Baltic Sea, along with contamination, marine litter, the introduction and spread of non-indigenous species, underwater sound, fishing and hunting, habitat loss and disturbance.

The Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) was established in 1974 to protect this fragile Baltic marine environment. According to HELCOM, the peak of nutrient discharge was in the 1980s. International reduction targets were set and, over the next 20 years, the situation greatly improved, with the exception of the more land-locked Gulf of Finland.

At the start of the new millennium, the EBRD was asked to manage a new environmental fund to help restore the ecosystems in both the Baltic and Barents Sea. The Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership (NDEP) was established in 2002 by the European Union and the Nordic countries, with Finland in the lead. This international effort has grown to include 12 donors, which have contributed USD 182 million for environmental investments. Over the years Russia has became the largest contributor to this international cooperation. Donor funds were used as grants to co-finance IFI loans from the EBRD, EIB (European Investment Bank), NIB (Nordic Investment Bank) and NEFCO, the Nordic Green Bank, for municipal wastewater treatment projects in the north-west of Russia and northern Belarus, both part of the Baltic and Barents catchment areas.

The clean-up has had significant effects. The biggest transformation was achieved by the city of St Petersburg, which between 2002 and 2018 had managed to increase the level of wastewater treatment in the city from 50 percent to 98 percent.  HELCOM recorded a huge drop in phosphorus and nitrogen discharges in the Gulf of Finland, the biggest in the Baltic Sea region, mostly attributable to NDEP investments with St Petersburg Vodokanal.

Photo-illustration: Pexels

In addition, thanks to NDEP cooperation, the major Baltic Sea city of Kaliningrad opened a new wastewater treatment plant in 2017 – and increased its sewage treatment capacity from zero to 150,000 cubic meters per day.  When the plant became operational, Kaliningrad was removed from HELCOM’s list of Baltic Sea environmental hotspots.

The NDEP has brought more than physical investments – it is also fostering rising awareness of of environmental concerns. In St Petersburg, Vodokanal has not only constructed a world-class wastewater treatment infrastructure but also  a modern interactive water museum and children’s educational centre. Vodokanal is also co-financing a “seal kindergarten” where baby seals in distress are looked after and then released back into the wild.

There is more work to do on eutrophication, which persists in the sea, now mainly due to intensive animal farming and agricultural activities in the region. Rising temperatures, caused by climate change, are also boosting algae growth. The beaches are still closed from time to time because of cyanobacteria outbreaks, and other threats continue to affect the Baltic Sea.

But the NDEP is now a tried and tested financing instrument. The EBRD replicated it in 2010 by establishing the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P) for climate action in the Eastern Partnership countries of Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Moldova.

The EBRD is now actively exploring more such multilateral approaches, particularly in the context of Blue Economy marine sustainability investments. What is needed is to identify a core group of committed stakeholders or countries united by a shared concern and willing to cooperate with the IFIs to deliver investment projects of a high standard – and these efforts are fully aligned with the global actions to save fragile ecosystems which World Environment Day promotes.

Source: EBRD

Business Alliance for Scaling Climate Solutions: a New Key Piece to UNEP’s Forest Mitigation Arsenal

Foto ilustracija: Pixabay
Photo Ilustration: Pixabay

Forests soak up 30 percent of emissions from industry and fossil fuels and are our best natural ally in the fight against the climate emergency. However, the ongoing deforestation and degradation, especially of tropical forests, are responsible for 11 percent of carbon emissions: if deforestation were a country, it would rank third in carbon dioxide emissions behind China and the United States of America.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been working through the UN-REDD Programme to secure the full mitigation potential of forests of 5 gigatons a year by 2030. One crucial way forward is to work closely with forested developing countries that can supply high-integrity forest carbon credits (jurisdictional REDD) and corporations that would buy them as immediate stopgap solution, while working on reducing their emissions throughout their value chain.

The Business Alliance for Scaling Climate Solutions (BASCS), announced today at the occasion of the World Environment Day and the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, is such a novel partnership, co-founded by UNEP, WWF, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and corporate partners – from Amazon to Microsoft and Unilever. It aims to increase the scale and impact of business investments in nature-based climate solutions, a prerequisite for meeting the ambition of the Paris Agreement.

“Drastically reducing deforestation and simultaneously restoring forests is the single largest nature-based opportunity for climate mitigation. UNEP is therefore proud to be a co-founder of the Business Alliance to Scale Climate Solutions, supporting the private sector’s climate ambitions for deep cuts in their own emissions – working towards high-integrity outcomes for carbon neutrality by 2050 or sooner,” said Susan Gardner, Director of UNEP’s Ecosystems Division.

Any financing of nature-based solutions through BASCS or similar, ambitious partnerships founded or supported by UNEP, such as the Green Gigaton Challenge (GGC) and the LEAF Coalition, will be an addition to, and not a substitute, for deep, science-based cuts in emissions by participating companies.

Complimentary to GGC and LEAF, that are focused on unlocking private finance and assisting forested, developing countries, BASCS will focus on gathering and disseminating best practices, lessoned learned and latest research from practitioners and experts to scale climate solutions and make hard-to-achieve reductions feasible in the near future. BASCS offers an opportunity to connect and support existing initiatives and the surrounding community of practice by providing a central, neutral platform for businesses and experts to meet, learn, discuss and act together.

Source: UNEP

Why the EU’s Proposed Carbon Border Must not be Used to Launch a Carbon Club

Foto-ilustracija: Unsplash (Alexander Tsang)
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Fuelled by frustration over the perceived insufficient progress on climate action among many of the world’s major economies, the idea of a so-called carbon club is gaining considerable momentum. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s apparent keenness to use the UK’s presidency of the G7 to discuss coordinating action on carbon border levies is perhaps the most prominent, though by no means the only, example. Many writers and seasoned campaigners are jumping on the bandwagon, in part emboldened by the support of Nobel prize-winning economist William Nordhaus.

Given the urgency of the climate crisis frustration is an understandable response – less so the belief that there might be a single silver bullet which can propel the world to net-zero by mid-century. If there is such a panacea, carbon clubs are not it. In fact, the mere discussion of them is likely to prove counterproductive. Opponents of climate action may well be quietly rubbing their hands at the prospect.

But let’s take a step back. The carbon club idea has taken hold against the backdrop of the EU advancing its plans for a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) – simply put a carbon border levy to ensure imported industrial products face the same carbon price as those covered by the domestic Emissions Trading System (ETS). Legislative proposals are expected by 14 July with implementation set for early 2023.

A carbon club – so the theory goes – would see other countries erecting carbon borders in a coordinated fashion, and establish what might be seen as an overwhelming force, with an undeniable market logic and an unstoppable momentum.

The problem starts with a misunderstanding of the EU move for a CBAM, a response to reform of its 15-year-old ETS, which will see domestic heavy industry facing a strengthened carbon price as free emissions allowances are phased out. The CBAM would avoid granting an immediate competitive advantage to foreign producers, leading to displaced domestic production and increased emissions outside the EU, i.e. carbon leakage.

It is not designed as a template to address the decarbonization of heavy industry world-wide but as a very specific, legitimate domestic response to safeguard the efficacy of the bloc’s carbon pricing system. For other jurisdictions with different carbon mitigation policies, an adjustment at the border, if any, is unlikely to resemble the EU’s. Some may choose to apply standards on carbon intensity to both domestic and foreign products, rather than a carbon price. A border adjustment may not be justified in this case. If anything, countries with different approaches could exchange experience on their policies to drive this industrial transition and avoid putting border measures at the core.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

We’ve already seen strong pushback on the EU’s CBAM plans from across the world, but most concerningly from China and India which will need plenty of convincing that the scheme is not first and foremost a protectionist measure. The idea that a group of countries needs to emerge around what is currently labelled as a protectionist initiative may neither help the EU’s ambition nor the multilateral process. Trust is also at a premium amid the COVID-19 pandemic and foot-dragging over long-promised climate finance to help poorer countries with the net-zero transition. Heading into November’s crucial COP26 UN climate negotiations, the necessity to offer plenty of carrots alongside sticks – but not “clubs” – is paramount.

There’s another concerning trend among carbon club advocates and that is to view the EU’s CBAM – against evidence to the contrary – as a blunt and ubiquitous instrument, which would apply indistinctly to all imports, from steel to TV sets and food products. Again, such talk is already negatively impacting perceptions of what is intended by the EU. Given the long supply chains involved, evidence of carbon leakage for consumer goods will be hard to establish and tracking their carbon content accurately will be plain impossible.

The fact is that carbon club advocates are approaching the most fiendish problem facing humanity with a simplicity that is doomed to failure.

Just as the fight against coronavirus can’t be won by one country or one vaccine – or indeed vaccines alone – so winning the climate fight will require many complimentary policies and approaches. We can only hope the ill-advised carbon club discussion will lead to a realization that industrial decarbonization won’t be straightforward, and policy discussions are needed rather urgently.

Regardless of the path trading partners choose to follow, they will increasingly require a shared approach to measuring and tracing carbon content. Therefore, convening strategic discussions centred on this topic of vital common interest appears to us to be a means of moving on from the current fractious – and perhaps short-sighted – debate over carbon borders and clubs.

Source: World Economic Forum

Key Trends That Will Transform the E-mobility World in the Western Balkans

Foto: Virta/Promo
Photo: Ville Vappula

Elias Pöyry is the Co-Founder & CBO of Europe’s fastest-growing electric vehicle charging company Virta. Since the company has also been present at our market as a partner in charge&GO – the first regional EV charging network, we asked Pöyry to give us insights on key trends that will change the market in the coming years and advice on how to prepare infrastructure for an EV future.

EP: Could you tell us about Virta and its mission?

Elias Pöyry: Already in 2013, Virta CEO Jussi Palola and i understood that the future of mobility is electric. We founded Virta with a vision to integrate electric mobility, energy system and digital sectors into one ecosystem. Virta is an independent platform that integrates chargers from different owners to enable the best user experience through interoperability and the most cost-ef- ficient way to handle payments and clearing. We grow fast: five times faster than the market average. The main reason for our rapid growth is the right partners. MT-KOMEX is a great example of this. Another example from Europe is E.ON. In Asia, Virta has partnered with Japan’s largest energy company ENEOS. We are currently expanding our reseller network.

Our solutions have been built to support electric vehicle charging infrastructure anywhere globally, and we have hundreds of professional charging network customers in Europe. Today our digital platform connects all the key players in the electric vehicle ecosystem and provides the whole value chain services. Virta operates in over 30 countries worldwide from French Caribbean to Finland – and in Serbia with MT-KOMEX.

EP: Why electric vehicles are the most important source of flexibility in the energy system?

Elias Pöyry: As you know, renewables cause volatility to our energy systems. They require flexibility, and demand response elements to keep the system stable, reliable, and reasonably priced. That’s where electric vehicles come in. According to the International Energy Agency, EVs can provide a critical source of flexibility in our energy system; in fact, they are big batteries on wheels. EVs are the most cost-efficient batteries and energy storages in the energy system because they come with zero incremental costs. They also come with zero infra costs because the charging network is already there. They also run with zero maintenance and operations costs because the operation costs are already taken care of by the EV drivers and charging operators.

EP: What are the key trends in the e-mobility world at the moment?

Photo: Virta/Promo

Elias Pöyry: The EV charging market in 2025 will look very different from today – both in the Western Balkan region and all over Europe. I would highlight four trends that will change the market in the coming years: partnership, brands, end-to-end and energy management.

The number one prerequisite for a profitable charging business is very traditional: location. Volumes, in turn, drive scale benefits and transaction efficiency. But partnerships are just as important. Valuable and carefully chosen partners and externalizing platform costs are the keys to success. Partnerships enable both parties to focus on what they do best and the end-user benefits, too.

The brand trend is another big one. People want to do business with familiar brands, for example, charge their electric vehicle at the NIS Gazprom Neft station. And on the other hand, the companies and property owners want their brand to be related to EV charging. That goes well beyond adding the company’s logo sticker to the charging station. It means full brand experience – from loyalty programs onwards.

The integrated end-to-end digital value chain is also a big trend. It means that anyone who wants to manage the best user experience or the best value for charging networks must understand and manage the entire value chain, end-to-end: From the customer journey to the hardware journey and from maintenance to operations and to customer experience.

The energy management trend is already in full motion. And no wonder energy management brings direct benefits in the form of saving costs. Electric vehicle charging often requires electrical upgrades, which means an increase in fixed and monthly energy costs. Smart charging solutions can alleviate many of those energy-related costs while helping futureproof businesses. All smart EV chargers can adapt to this and become active players in the energy flexibility markets.

Inteview by: Nevena Đukić

Read the whole interview in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine CIRCULAR ECONOMY, march 2021 – may 2021.

IRENA Members Welcome New Framework on Just and Inclusive Energy Transition

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Representatives from over 50 IRENA member countries gathered for the first meeting of the Collaborative Framework for Just and Inclusive Energy Transitions. The meeting took place during the last week’s IRENA Council and was co-facilitated by the United States and South Africa.

As IRENA members are stepping up action to meet global climate objectives and advance the socio-economic development agenda, countries increasingly recognise the social and economic implications of energy transitions beyond technology choices. This entails both substantial benefits but also challenges for societies, as highlighted in the Agency’s World Energy Transitions Outlook.

Against this background, the new Collaborative Framework aims to bring countries and relevant stakeholders together to identify priority areas and concrete actions and to foster greater international collaboration.

“As we seek to accelerate energy transitions, we must ensure they are just and inclusive. This concerns not only the ultimate outcome, but also the process of what will likely be a decades-long transformation that the world’s economies undertake from different starting points,” said IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera in his opening remarks.

Building on the strong body of knowledge on the socio-economic footprint of energy transitions developed by IRENA over the past 10 years, Rabia Ferroukhi, Director of IRENA’s Knowledge, Policy and Finance Centre, highlighted the multiple opportunities and benefits.

She also emphasised misalignments that may arise in moving from the current fossil fuel-centred economies toward more sustainable structures, in finance, labour markets, power systems, and the energy sector itself. “If not well-managed,” she said,”the transformation risks inequitable outcomes and resistance of affected social groups, potentially slowing the pace of the energy transitions.”

At the meeting, countries shared national experiences and challenges that can inform the design of the framework as well as new approaches in this space from establishing dedicated commissions and funds to multi-stakeholder dialogues on the energy transition, and national programmes seeking to address different dimensions of just and inclusive energy transitions.

Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Gonz DDL)

There was broad agreement on the need to develop a more thorough understanding of energy transitions. Members stressed the importance of focusing on holistic and integrated policy approaches and structural policies to reap the economic, social and jobs benefits and successfully address challenges along the way.

They also emphasised the importance of overcoming energy poverty in both developing and developed countries; designing solutions that focus on local value creation and high quality, decent jobs; and ensuring equitable benefit sharing and inclusion of marginalised groups.

Members recognised that IRENA, which has led the work on the socio-economic dimensions of energy transitions including jobs since its inception, provides a global and inclusive platform that is of particular value to these efforts.

At the meeting, participants adopted general principles and modalities that will provide the foundation for the work of the Collaborative Framework. Among others, it was agreed to open participation to relevant stakeholders such as other intergovernmental organizations, civil society, private sector actors and research institutions, to ensure concerted action and harness synergies among different efforts and initiatives.

Source: IRENA