Diana-Paula Gherasim of the IFRI Center for Energy & Climate summarizes her data-rich 36-page report on the progress and challenges of the ten Central and Eastern EU countries (CEECs) in decarbonisation. The Russian invasion of Ukraine focused all minds on energy security and the best solutions: less fossil fuels, increased efficiency and clean energy produced in the EU. Gherasim says vital progress has been made in preventing the "carbon wall" between the Western EU and CEE countries. The West recognizes the financial and political support they need to provide CEE countries to achieve EU decarbonisation and energy security for all. The Clean Energy Package and the Green Deal create a set of tools for all Europeans to move in the same direction. Gherasim covers a wide range of issues, including progress in clean energy production, the phasing out of free emission allowances and nuclear, coal, gas and LNG policies, and more. Challenges will remain, including German and Austrian resistance to nuclear power, the location of innovation opportunities, and the volume of state aid and subsidies for industries. He points out that overcoming such obstacles is another argument in favor of EU sovereignty. (Diana-Paula Gherasim, Energy Post)

The Obama administration's 2015 Clean Power Plan, which aimed to reduce carbon emissions from power plants, The US Supreme Court overturned. The Trump administration's much-criticized replacement, the Affordable Clean Energy Rule, derided as "a tortured series of misreads" of the US Clean Air Act, was also rejected by a federal court. But the Biden administration's Environmental Protection Agency is back at bat with a new proposed rule to control carbon dioxide in fossil fuel power plants, which is responsible for about a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in the USA. The EPA says its new rule, issued Thursday, is based on "cost-effective and affordable control technologies" and will prevent up to 617 million metric tons of CO2 emissions by 2042, the equivalent of reducing the annual emissions of 137 million passenger vehicles. (Robert Zullo, New Jersey Monitor)

The finding could help scientists better predict the continent's future as the climate warms. How microbes survive in lakes far below the Antarctic ice sheet is a mystery. Now scientists have figured out what's on offer for microbes in a buried lake in West Antarctica. Lake bacteria and other microbial residents dispose of carbon left behind by seawater thousands of years ago, researchers report in April AGU Advances. The finding adds to existing evidence that during a period of warming about 6,000 years ago, the ice sheet in West Antarctica was smaller than it is today. This allowed the seawater to deposit nutrients into what is now the bottom of the lake buried under hundreds of meters of ice. The study is one of the first to provide evidence from beneath the ice that the ice sheet was geologically smaller in the not-so-distant past before it grew back to its modern size, says Greg Balco, a geochemist at the Berkeley Geochronology Center. in California. (Freda Kreier, ScienceNews)

"EPA Calls Energy Industry's Bluff." Carbon capture and storage, or CCS, has been promoted for years by companies and fossil fuel companies as a way to reduce climate pollution from the energy sector. Now federal regulators are asking them to walk the walk. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a new rule on Thursday to nearly eliminate climate pollution from the nation's coal- and natural-gas-burning power plants by 2040. Energy companies to replace their fossil-fuel power generators with renewables, a strategy the Supreme Court rejected last summer - the new proposal focuses on what can be achieved with technologies such as carbon capture and storage or CCS. At least they focus on what is theoretically achievable based on optimistic forecasts from CCS proponents. Although the EPA claims that CCS technology is “adequately demonstrated' and 'highly cost-effective', experts are deeply skeptical that it can achieve the promised reductions in emissions. Ultimately, some told Grist, they might find it more economical to shut down fossil fuel power plants and switch to renewable energy. (Joseph Winter,  GRIST)

A former adviser is concerned that sea level rise and storm surges have not been taken into account by ministers when choosing sites. Successive governments since the 1980s have planned new generations of nuclear power stations located around the UK coast. Although the main reason for building them, according to politicians, is to provide a low-carbon form of electricity to combat the climate crisis, no thought seems to have been given to what the climate crisis could do to nuclear power plants. Professor Andy Blowers, former government adviser on nuclear waste, in the Town and Country Planning Association Journal points out that the eight sites identified in 2011 as suitable for new stations are the same as those identified half a century earlier where the first generation of nuclear power plants were built. The reason the sites were originally chosen was their remoteness for safety and proximity to the sea for cooling. The latest reason is that they would have a better chance of public acceptance because two generations of local people have worked in the industry. The new facilities are planned to operate for 60 years and will need another century after closure to cool enough to remove the waste. Blowers, an opponent of the government's plans, is concerned that ministers may not have considered rising sea levels, intense storms and the prospect of flooding in these areas. (Paul Brown, The Guardian)

An international research team led by Bert Weckhuysen (Utrecht University) and Sara Bals (University of Antwerp) showed that a promising catalyst for the purification of CO ₂ becomes significantly more active and selective if its preconditioning is modified. Scientists have visualized the mechanism underlying this concept with unparalleled precision. The results of the study are published in Science May 11. The first authors are Matteo Monai, Kellie Jenkinson and Angela Melcherts. Cleaning carbon dioxide or turning it into something useful is increasingly common, for example in the energy and transport sectors, where huge amounts of greenhouse gases are released. In order for such a cleaning process to take place correctly and quickly, catalysts are needed. In the case of CO2 hydrogenation _, which is a widely used chemical reaction to purify CO2 _, a catalyst based on titanium dioxide on a nickel support is used. In this study, the researchers show that the performance of the catalyst is highly dependent on the temperature at which it is prepared. The selectivity and activity of the catalyst were much better during CO2 hydrogenation _at at a pretreatment temperature of 600 °C than at 400 °C. Better selectivity is desirable because the catalyst provides fewer undesired by-products. The improved activity results in a faster progression of the catalytic reaction. The researchers expect the same principle to apply to catalysts with other metal oxides such as titanium oxide.

(From Utrecht University)

Last year, the world built more new solar capacity than all other energy sources combined. Solar energy is now growing much faster than any other energy technology in history. How fast? Fast enough to completely displace fossil fuels from the entire global economy before 2050. The rise and rise of cheap solar energy is our best hope for rapid climate change mitigation. Total solar capacity exceeded 1 terawatt (1,000 gigawatts) for the first time last year. The sector is growing by approximately 20 % per year. If this continues, we will reach 6 terawatts around 2031. In terms of capacity, this would be greater than coal, gas, nuclear and hydro combined. (Andrew Blakers)

Spain's government has approved a €2.2bn (£1.9bn) plan to help farmers and consumers cope with the ongoing drought, made worse by the warmest and the driest April on record . The measures, which the government described as unprecedented, signed by the cabinet on Thursday. They include €1.4 billion from the Environment Ministry to fight drought and increase water availability, and €784 million from the Agriculture Ministry to help farmers maintain production and avoid food shortages. The plan came a day after the Socialist-led coalition government announced legislation that will mean outdoor workers such as waste collectors, street sweepers and builders will not have to work when Spain's meteorological office issues high temperature warnings. This step follows after death of a street sweeper and a leaflet delivery man during last July's heat wave in the Madrid region. Spanish Environment Minister Teresa Ribera said her department would spend 1.4 billion euros to build new infrastructure, such as desalination plants; on doubling the share of water that is reused in urban areas from 10 % to 20 % by 2027; and on subsidizing those whose water supplies for irrigation would be reduced. She said: “Spain is a country that is used to dry periods, but there is no doubt that due to the climate change we are experiencing, we are seeing much more frequent and intense events and phenomena. ( Sam Jones)

MEPs said a long-delayed plan to create an EU ethics body to oversee the conduct of officials and politicians could "miss the point" of key reform demands. The European Parliament, which voted overwhelmingly in February for the EU to finalize plans to create an independent ethics body, is growing concerned that the proposals will not work when the European Commission presents later this month own proposal. Ursula von der Leyen in 2019 she promised to "support the creation of an independent ethics body common to all EU institutions" when she urged MEPs to back her ultimately successful bid to become commission president, but little happened before the Qatar cash scandal behind influencing did not shake . European Parliament and moved this issue back to the agenda. Reformers have long pushed for an independent body that could investigate and sanction officials who breach EU ethics standards, such as by taking lucrative private sector jobs in industries they recently regulated.

( Jennifer Rankin

ALTHOUGH low carbon prices can be beneficial – especially when carbon pricing instruments are implemented with sufficient time for market participants to learn and adapt. It is difficult to justify current price levels in developed Asia-Pacific markets such as South Korea and Japan. a new report shows. It takes into account how far they lag behind equivalent systems in the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. Low carbon prices have the potential to dampen decarbonization efforts because they can discourage investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency, according to a May 9 report from BMI, the financial research arm of Fitch Solutions. While estimates of appropriate carbon price levels vary, the report cited the International Monetary Fund's argument for carbon prices to rise to $75 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030 for developed markets. For emerging markets, prices would range between $25 and $50 per ton. (Janice Limová)

CNN - The Environmental Protection Agency will propose one of its most anticipated climate rules to date on Thursday, forcing nearly all U.S. power plants that generate the nation's electricity to capture or otherwise reduce emissions of planet-warming fossil fuels. The rules would apply to the nation's fleet of existing and new power plants powered by coal and natural gas — the two main fossil fuels that are at the root of the climate crisis. The Biden administration's proposal would force utilities to equip many power plants with costly carbon capture technology or add clean hydrogen fuel to reduce emissions.

Seven English regions could face severe water stress by 2030 - spreading to almost the entire south and midlands by 2040, new analysis has shown. Based on data from water companies and the Environment Agency, research by home improvement company Kingfisher suggests that a total of 12 out of 17 English regions could face severe water stress in the next two decades if action is not taken. Water stress is when demand exceeds available supply. No region is currently facing water stress, but a warming climate is expected to bring longer and warmer spells during the summer, putting further pressure on the UK's water resources. Households use an average of 144 liters per day and the government has set a target to reduce this to 122 liters by 2038 and 110 liters by 2050. The government said in its Water Plan that installing taps, using water more wisely and efficiently, as well as quickly fixing leaks, turning off the tap when brushing teeth and installing smart meters will help reduce demand. He also wants water companies to reduce leaks in their pipes; in this way approximately 20 % of public water pipes will be lost. Kingfisher, which teamed up with economic consultants Cebr for the analysis, said water consumption has increased by three liters per person per day over the past five years. Thierry Garnier, CEO of Kingfisher, said: “We are experiencing more extreme weather across Europe, leading to increasing water scarcity in many regions. "As the impact of climate change becomes more apparent, measures such as hose pipe bans will become much more common, with increasingly stringent measures needed to reduce demand." A separate survey of 3,000 UK adults, commissioned by Kingfisher, found that people tend to underestimate water consumption; about 66 %s said they were likely to use less than 140 liters per day, while 29 %s felt unable to estimate. (itvNEWS)

Sustainability will be a key theme at this year's Phocuswright Europe. Phocuswright, the world's leading authority on tourism research, has published its new report on green innovation ahead of the upcoming Phocuswright Europe conference, which takes place in Barcelona on 12-14 June. Sustainability will be a key theme at this year's Phocuswright Europe. Eugene Ko, director of marketing and communications at Phocuswright, said: “Climate change is now underway, which means tourism is at a crossroads; it can either take steps to become more sustainable through innovation – or be forced to do so through crises and regulation. Growing global action on climate change will create a variety of challenges for tourism – but travel companies must innovate now or these challenges will become more complex and fall behind.” A new Phocuswright report details the main drivers of change in the travel industry, as well as meaningful steps travel companies can take. (TradeArabia, Zawya)

The number of internally displaced people worldwide reached a record 71.1 million last year as a result of conflict and climate change, according to figures released today. The Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) said the figure represented a 20% increase from 2021, with an unprecedented number of people fleeing in search of safety and shelter. The IDMC said nearly three-quarters of the world's displaced people live in 10 countries, including Syria, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ukraine and Sudan, as a result of conflicts that required significant displacement in 2022. The war in Ukraine caused almost 17 million displacements last year, according to the IDMC. Figures show that 8.7 million people have been displaced by disasters such as floods in Pakistan. "Conflict and violence have caused 28.3 million internally displaced people worldwide, three times the annual average over the past decade," the report said. Most of the people displaced last year - 32.6 million - were caused by disasters including floods, droughts and landslides. "Conflicts and disasters have combined in the past year to exacerbate people's pre-existing vulnerabilities and inequalities, triggering displacement on a scale we've never seen before," said Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, which founded the IDMC in 1998. “The war in Ukraine has also fueled a global food security crisis that has hit internally displaced people the hardest. This perfect storm has undermined years of progress in reducing global hunger and malnutrition.” (RTE)

New research implicates emissions from the 2019-2020 Australian fires in the three-year super La Niña that fueled droughts in Africa and hurricanes in the Atlantic. Aerosol fallout from the bushfires that burned more than 70,000 square miles of Australia in 2019 and 2020 was so persistent and widespread, that brightened a vast area of clouds over the subtropical Pacific Ocean. Beneath those clouds, the ocean surface and atmosphere cooled, shifting a key tropical rainband northward and pushing the Equatorial Pacific toward an unexpected and prolonged cold phase of the La Niña-El Niño cycle, according to research published today in Science Advances. Fire aerosols are essentially fire dust – microscopic pieces of charred mineral or organic matter that can carry superheated wildfire plumes into the stratosphere and spread across the hemispheres with different climatic effects depending on where they are produced and where they end up. In a new modeling study, scientists have quantified how aerosols from Australian wildfires caused clouds over the tropical Pacific to reflect more sunlight back into space. The cooling effect was equivalent to turning off a 3-watt light bulb over every square meter of ocean area. And that cooling, their data showed, shifted a band of clouds and rain called the Intertropical Convergence Zone towards the north. Together, these effects may have helped trigger a rare three-year La Niña from late 2019 to 2022. The effects of La Niña spread across the globe, intensifying drought and famine in East Africa and preparing the Atlantic Ocean for hurricanes. 2020 became the most active tropical storm season on record with 31 tropical and subtropical systems including 11 storms making landfall in the US, including four isolated in Louisiana. (Bob Berwyn, Incise Climate News)

With climate droughts, heat waves and fires ravaging three continents and the threat of a new surge in global warming, the world urgently needs to jumpstart solutions to reduce carbon pollution. But which solutions are the most critical? Project Drawdown has detailed the potential, feasibility and costs of nearly a hundred climate solutions since it was founded in 2017. Executive director Jonathan Foley, a leading climate scientist, spoke to AFP about how to assess and prioritize the actions needed to keep the Earth viable. The following interview has been edited for length and flow: Question: What are the three most important questions when evaluating the usefulness and integrity of carbon reduction solutions? Answer: Is it now available and ready to deploy? Because we need to start bending the emission curve immediately. Is it cost effective? Otherwise, it will not scale efficiently. Does it create co-benefits for people, especially in terms of health, jobs, equality and justice? This will make him much more attractive. Question: Much hope – and investment – is directed at technological solutions such as filtering fossil fuel pollution or removing CO2 from the air. Comment? Answer: While very limited carbon removal will be needed by mid-century, the vast majority of the work we need to do—more than 95 percent—is reducing emissions, and we're doing it now. I think that of the five percent focused on carbon removal, it should be more than 90 percent nature-based removal, such as ecological restoration and regenerative agriculture. Machine removal is unlikely to work to any meaningful extent. (Marlowe Hood, BARRON'S)

Sweden will struggle to meet its 2030 emissions targets, a government agency warned on Monday after the country's minority coalition limited biofuels that must be added to diesel and petrol. The right-wing coalition government, backed by the Sweden Democrats, has already cut fuel taxes, increased tax credits for people who drive to work and ended subsidies for new electric vehicles. Blending biofuels from renewable sources is a way to reduce emissions from cars, but the government said at the weekend that it would reduce the required amount of biofuels to 6 % in 2024 and stay at that level until the end of 2026. Under current rules, diesel must contain 30.5 % biofuel and gasoline 7.8 %. The percentage was to increase every year. The decision was motivated by a cost-of-living crisis amid soaring inflation. Sweden has some of the highest diesel and petrol prices in the world, mainly due to high taxes. This move was criticized by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. "A year ago we were on track with a high probability of achieving all our targets by 2030, but with this decision the conditions have worsened significantly," Stefan Nystrom, director of the climate department, told Reuters. "The transport policy target of reducing emissions by 70 % by 2030 is more or less impossible to achieve," he said. The government says that people who live in the countryside are being punished by the regulations. "Biofuel blending rules were not an effective climate policy," the government and Sweden Democrats said in Dagens Nyheter newspaper on Sunday. (REUTERS)

Millions of people rely on Africa's longest river for survival. JINJA, Uganda: Climate change, pollution and human abuse are putting existential pressure on the Nile River, a critical resource for millions of people. The United Nations predicts that the flow of water across Africa's longest river is likely to drop by 70 percent by the end of the century as a warming climate causes prolonged droughts. The resulting water shortages are likely to affect agriculture and power generation and worsen the livelihoods of millions of people dependent on the vital waterway, from its source in Uganda to its mouth in Egypt.  THE RIVER IS NO LONGER AS PRODUCTIVE AS BEFORE. A fisherman, Assad Magumba, for example, has spent much of his working life fishing on Lake Victoria, the world's second largest freshwater lake and the main source of the Nile River. He used to be able to make a good living as a fisherman, but the competition has grown by leaps and bounds over the years.  “The population of fishermen on the lake has increased. There are too many,” he said. "The numbers have gone from a few hundred to thousands, all looking for fish in the same lake, and as the population grows, so does the demand for fish." However, he added that the river is no longer as productive as it once was. (Michael Baleke, Calvin Yang, CNA)

An Italian energy company has quietly revived plans to develop a new gas field in the Timor Sea that contains the most carbon-rich gas in Australia.

Key points:

• The Verus gas field has a very high percentage of CO2 content
• Eni says it can still produce carbon-neutral LNG through carbon capture and storage
• IEEFA says Eni has little room to "bury" emissions if it shares the Santos CCS facility

The Evans Shoal gas field, about 300 kilometers northwest of Darwin, was discovered 35 years ago and has since passed through the hands of BHP Petroleum, Woodside, Shell and Santos. Since 2017, it has been controlled by Eni, an Italian energy company operating in more than 60 countries, which recently renamed the project Verus. The gas in the Verus field has a very high percentage of carbon dioxide — an average of 27 percent, according to Geoscience Australia. "That's far more than any other gas field being developed in Australia," said Kevin Morrison of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). (Daniel Fitzgerald)