Policy & Regulatory China will stop building new coal-fired power projects abroad 23 Sep 2021 China has pledged to stop building new coal-fired power projects abroad, ahead of the COP26. The country will instead step-up support for renewables and low-carbon energy projects. South Korea and Japan made similar moves earlier…
Volume 6 Issue 9, September 2021 Electrifying membrane synthesis Membranes based on metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) could offer an energy-efficient way of separating chemical mixtures, but it can be difficult to prepare the high-quality MOF films that are needed. Zhou et al. use an electrochemical method to fabricate high-performance defect-free MOF…
Policy & Regulatory Lithuania caps the capacity of its interconnector with Belarus at 262 MW 20 Sep 2021 The Lithuanian power transmission system operator (TSO) Litgrid has capped the amount of electricity that can enter its grid from Belarus at 262 MW, with throughputs calculated every day. The country, as well…
Volume 4 Issue 9, September 2021 Iron and steel production emissions standards Governments’ interventions to curb industrial emissions are rarely evaluated. Mi and colleagues have now developed hourly, facility-level emissions estimates to assess the effects of strengthened emissions standards on pollution from China’s iron and steel industry. See Bo et…
2021 EnerOutlook – Energy and climate forecasts Discover our online application providing long-term energy trends through intuitive maps and graphs. Browse and visualise annual data from 2000 to 2050 on global and regional forecasts for primary and final energy consumption by source, power generation and CO2 emissions, and indicators. Discover Eneroutlook – Edition 2021 Company news…
Policy & Regulatory The UK will launch the 4th CfD round for renewables projects in late 2021 14 Sep 2021 The UK government has unveiled plans to award £265m/year (€310m/year) in the fourth round of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, including £200m (€230m) for offshore wind project. In addition, the country allocated…
Volume 2 Issue 9, September 2021 River floods have direct and indirect consequences for society, causing fatalities, displacement and economic loss. This Review examines the physical and socioeconomic causes and impacts of disastrous river flooding, and past and projected trends in their occurrence. See Merz et al. Image: Pavel Metluk…
Companies South Korean companies could buy the Mintia-Deva thermal power plant (Romania) 8 Sep 2021 A South Korean consortium, which includes Hyundai Power Systems, AKEDA and BKB, intends to buy the Mintia-Deva coal-fired power plant (3×180 MW) in Romania and to invest to develop biogas and solar projects on the site….
Volume 5 Issue 9, September 2021 Neanderthal art The toe bone of a giant deer, from Einhornhöhle(Germany), was intentionally engraved by Neanderthals about 51,000 years ago — long before our species, Homo sapiens, arrived in Europe. The stacked-offset chevron pattern is unique in the Eurasian context at that time. The…
Volume 11 Issue 9, September 2021 Warmer waters, slower fish It is unclear whether fish body size will decrease with future warming and, if so, what the ecological consequences of such changes will be. Writing in this issue of Nature Climate Change, Jorge Avaria-Llautureo and colleagues use phylogenetic data to…
Policy & Regulatory The European Commission approves the Belgian Capacity Mechanism 30 Aug 2021 The European Commission has cleared Belgium’s capacity mechanism, aimed at ensuring electricity supply after a nuclear phase-out in 2025 (Belgium’s seven nuclear reactors (5.9 GW) accounted for 44% of power generation in 2020). Read more Bangladesh sets more…
Table of Contents: August 2021 Article | 27 August 2021 Strategic deployment of riparian buffers and windbreaks in Europe can co-deliver biomass and environmental benefits Oskar Englund, Pål Börjesson, Blas Mola-Yudego, Göran Berndes, Ioannis Dimitriou et al. Communications Earth & Environment 2 , Article number: 176 | doi: 10.1038/s43247-021-00247-y Article |…
Actualidad científica: Del 1 al 30 agosto, 2021 Cambio Climático En los océanos, la amenaza de «un mundo que ya no será como este» Daniel Lingenhöhl Calentamiento, acidificación excesiva, conchas que se forman con mayor dificultad: a los ecosistemas cercanos a grandes partes de la superficie de los mares les…
Policy & Regulatory Myanmar releases its new Nationally Determined Contribution 25 Aug 2021 Myanmar has unveiled its new Nationally Determined Contribution. Read more Denmark officially launches its third technology-neutral tender 25 Aug 2021 The Danish Energy Agency has officially launched its third technology-neutral tender, open to solar photovoltaic, onshore wind,…
Volume 6 Issue 8, August 2021 Algorithms for all Neighbourhood-scale batteries can help regulate supply and demand in renewable-heavy electricity systems, but their control algorithms tend to focus on techno-economic needs. A new interdisciplinary study shows how incorporating stakeholder perceptions into algorithm design can lead to diverse outcomes in the…
Volume 4 Issue 8, August 2021 High-performance textiles from plastics As a major polluter, the fashion industry would benefit from the development of sustainable textiles. Boriskina and colleagues engineer plastic waste into wearable fabrics with combined low environmental impact and advanced functionalities such as moisture wicking, stain resistance and recyclability….
Policy & Regulatory India launches tender for 21 oil and gas blocks 9 Aug 2021 The Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has launched the Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP) Bid Round VI, offering 21 blocks, with an area of approximately 35,300 km2, to investors. The blocks are located across…
Volume 2 Issue 8, August 2021 The Indian Ocean has undergone substantial heat and freshwater changes. This Review uses various data sources to examine the causes of such contemporary and longer-term shifts, revealing that trends over the twentieth century are linked to anthropogenic forcing, but that those since 1980 are…
Volume 11 Issue 8, August 2021 Shifting risk of plant pathogens Global crop production is impacted by pathogens and pests which damage plants, such as these lesions on a rice leaf caused by brown spot disease. Writing in this issue, Bebber et al. model the impact of future temperature changes…
Companies India aims to raise its refining capacity by 20% by 2025 5 Aug 2021 Indian state-owned oil and gas groups, which include Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Bharat Petroleum and their affiliates, plan to invest INR2,000bn (US$27bn) to increase the country’s refining capacity by 20%…
Volume 5 Issue 8, August 2021 The young ones An exceptionally preserved juvenile specimen of the lower Cambrian chancelloriid Allonnia phrixothrix from the Haiyan Lagerstätte of southwest China. See Yang, X. et al. Image: Xianfeng Yang. Cover Design: Allen Beattie. Editorial Editorial | 04 August 2021 Agriculture isn’t all rocket…
Policy & Regulatory Nigeria’s updated NDC targets 47% conditional cut in GHG emissions by 2030 2 Aug 2021 Nigeria has unveiled a new update of its First Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), setting an unconditional greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction target of 20% and a conditional reduction target up to 47% of…
Volume 6 Issue 7, July 2021 Trending disruptions As electric power generation is affected by temperature and other meteorological conditions, variations in power production patterns due to climate change should be increasingly observable. Ali Ahmad shows that the rising number of temperature anomalies led to an increase in the number…
Table of Contents: July 2021 Article | 23 July 2021 Northern hemisphere cold air outbreaks are more likely to be severe during weak polar vortex conditions Jinlong Huang, Peter Hitchcock, Amanda C. Maycock, Christine M. McKenna & Wenshou Tian Communications Earth & Environment 2 , Article number: 147 | doi: 10.1038/s43247-021-00215-6…
Actualidad científica: Del 1 al 29 julio, 2021 Memoria Revierten la pérdida de memoria en ratones ancianos Marta Pulido Salgado La manipulación genética de las redes perineuronales permite recuperar la plasticidad neuronal. Psicología del deporte ¿Cómo se logra la excelencia en el deporte? Christiane Gelitz La práctica multidisciplinar a temprana…
Policy & Regulatory China’s ETS begins trading with a price of US$7.4/tCO2 19 Jul 2021 The Chinese national carbon emission trading scheme (ETS) has officially begun trading with 4.1 MtCO2 quotas worth CNY210m (US$32m) exchanged on 16 July 2021. The opening price was CNY48/tCO2 (US$7.4/tCO2), and the price closed at CNY51.2/tCO2 (US$7.9/tCO2). Read more Brazil…
Volume 2 Issue 7, July 2021 Anticipating the timing, style and size of volcanic eruptions is essential for hazard mitigation. This Review discusses the accumulation and evolution of magma storage regions, the processes that trigger magma reservoir failure, and the ascent of magma through the crust. See Caricchi et al….
Volume 5 Issue 7, July 2021 Y chromosomes matter Females of Poecilia parae are large and grey (centre), but males are always one of five discrete morphs that differ in colour, body size and mating behaviour. Each morph has a unique Y chromosome, allowing the different complex reproductive strategies to…
Volume 11 Issue 7, July 2021 Water-table impact on peat emissions The climate impact of water-table drawdown in peatlands is unclear as carbon dioxide emissions increase and methane emissions decrease due to drying. Writing in this issue, Huang et al. show that decreasing water-table depth results in net greenhouse gas…
Policy & Regulatory The Netherlands adopts the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) II 5 Jul 2021 The Netherlands has transposed into Dutch law the European Renewable Energy Directive (RED) II, which requires fuel suppliers to reach a 14% renewables target in the transport sector by 2030. The most recent decree required…