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The report analyzes four decarbonization pathways for California's cement sector, all incorporating carbon capture and storage (CCS) to address process emissions. Pathways involving limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) and alternative fuels (woody biomass or engineered municipal solid waste) demonstrate the lowest lifetime carbon abatement costs, around $100 per metric ton of CO2. In contrast, full electrification combined with CCS is the most expensive at $479 per metric ton. While all pathways significantly reduce emissions relative to a baseline, the report highlights that energy costs are the primary driver of lifetime expenses. Qualitatively, the transition to these technologies is expected to provide net air quality benefits by reducing SO2 and particulate matter, although amine-based CCS may slightly increase VOC emissions.

The report finds that while Poland has significant geological storage potential (estimated at 15 Gt) and industrial demand in hard-to-abate sectors like cement, the CCS sector remains pre-commercial due to regulatory uncertainty and a lack of revenue support. It identifies regulatory certainty and revenue adequacy as the most critical barriers to final investment decisions (FID). To address these, the report proposes a three-phase roadmap: establishing regulatory and financing foundations by 2027, initiating pre-commercial value chains by 2030, and expanding infrastructure for market scale-up thereafter. Key recommendations include adopting a national CCS strategy, implementing Carbon Contracts for Difference (CCfDs), and creating a digital 'one-stop shop' for permitting to align with Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) requirements.

ClientEarth argues that the European Commission's proposed revision of the EMFAF lacks a necessary Impact Assessment and fails to address the misalignment of public resources. The organization recommends the full transposition of WTO fisheries subsidy prohibitions into EU law, specifically by strengthening inadmissibility criteria for funding. It advocates for a strategic reallocation of funds toward small-scale, low-impact fisheries, which it describes as more economically resilient and employment-efficient than industrial fleets. Additionally, ClientEarth calls for a binding minimum of 25% of national envelopes to be dedicated to biodiversity restoration and the removal of fossil fuel tax exemptions for the fishing sector to support a genuine energy transition.

The report finds that military climate strategies across 26 nations are largely unambitious, with most emissions uncovered by targets and progress relying on civilian grid decarbonisation or reduced activity rather than military technological innovation. While some success was seen in stationary base emissions in neutral countries like Ireland and Switzerland, core mobile emissions and supply-chain emissions remain largely unaddressed and are likely to rise due to increased global military spending.

The June 2026 heatwave in Western Europe is the most severe ever recorded for the region, with temperatures 5–12°C above seasonal averages. Analysis shows that such an event would have been virtually impossible in 1976 and significantly rarer in 2003, indicating that extreme heat is increasing rapidly due to global warming. The event caused widespread disruption to transport, energy systems, and health services, with 45% of European cities breaking indoor Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) thresholds.

Europe is facing a significant demographic shift characterized by declining working-age populations and increasing old-age dependency, which is expected to create tighter labour markets and labour shortages by 2050. While this trend may stunt GDP growth and complicate investment, it provides an opportunity for trade unions to increase worker bargaining power and revitalize their membership, particularly by organizing the expanding care sector.

The EU petrochemical industry, a €635 billion sector employing 1.2 million people, is facing a deep structural crisis characterized by ageing assets, high energy costs, and intensifying global competition. The industry is physically organized around approximately 150 chemical parks, with the Antwerp-Rotterdam-Rhine-Ruhr corridor serving as the world's densest concentration of production. However, the EU's global market share in chemical sales fell from 21% in 2009 to 13% in 2024, while China now accounts for 46% of global sales. The sector is experiencing a 'closure wave' of steam crackers—the central units for producing ethylene, propylene, butadiene, and aromatics—due to their 1970s-era scale and high carbon exposure under the EU ETS. Between 2022 and 2025, the industry lost approximately 37 Mt of production capacity, and investment CAPEX dropped from €7.6 billion in 2022 to €1.5 billion in 2025. The report highlights acute vulnerabilities in the supply of primary 'building block' molecules, noting that the EU produces less than 10% of global primary petrochemical capacity and is increasingly dependent on imports for molecules like methanol, where domestic production covers less than 15% of consumption.

The document analyzes a 68 percent increase in antisemitic social media content following military strikes on Iran in February 2026. It identifies a shift toward narratives of Jewish political control and backlash against Israel, noting that this online escalation coincided with at least eight offline antisemitic attacks in March 2026 across five countries.

In 2025, global electricity generation reached a historic milestone as renewables overtook coal power for the first time in 100 years, accounting for 33.8% of the global mix. This shift was driven by a record increase in solar power generation (636 TWh), which alone met 75% of the global electricity demand growth. Consequently, global fossil generation saw a slight decline of 38 TWh, marking the first such decrease since 2020 outside of a global recession or exceptionally mild year. This trend was most prominent in China and India, where fossil generation fell for the first time simultaneously in the 21st century. While Asia remains the only region where coal still exceeds renewables, the global emissions intensity of electricity fell to 458 gCO2e per kilowatt hour in 2025.

In 2025, global electricity generation saw a significant shift toward low-carbon sources, with solar and wind reaching a combined 17.3% share of total generation. Solar was the fastest-growing source, adding 636 TWh and meeting 75% of global demand growth. Conversely, coal's share of global electricity fell below one-third for the first time on record to 33.0%, and renewable generation exceeded coal generation for the first time. Low-carbon sources (including nuclear) reached 42.6% of total generation, while the emissions intensity of electricity dropped by 2.7% in 2025, the largest annual decline in two decades.

In 2025, wind and solar energy reached a record 22% of Türkiye's electricity generation, though coal remained the largest source at 34%. While the country has a massive 33 GW battery project pipeline that exceeds any single EU nation, it still trails European averages for renewable energy share. Persistent drought has significantly reduced hydroelectric output, increasing reliance on natural gas imports by an estimated $1.8 billion annually. A new purchase guarantee for domestic coal plants starting in 2026 may further increase coal generation, potentially contradicting the country's 2035 target of 120 GW of wind and solar capacity.

Ember's analysis reveals a significant gap between planned renewable energy expansion and available grid capacity in Europe, with at least 120 GW of projects at risk. While some distribution grids can support household electrification, transmission bottlenecks threaten large-scale wind and solar projects, particularly in countries like Austria, Bulgaria, and Poland. The report advocates for 'non-wire solutions' and administrative reforms to unlock capacity and ensure energy security.

The document argues that traditional carbon offsetting is inherently deceptive because carbon credits cannot reliably counterbalance emissions on climate-relevant timescales. It advocates for the 'beyond value chain mitigation' (BVCM) approach, where credits are treated as contributions to global climate action rather than offsets. The guide outlines principles for credible communication, including the prioritisation of internal decarbonisation and the use of transparent, non-ambiguous language. It also provides case studies of misleading claims from entities like Climate Impact Partners, Audi, and Apple, and offers recommendations for policymakers to ban offsetting claims and for consumers to identify 'red flags' in corporate communications.

The document argues that Norway's climate strategy relies on uncertain land-sink removals and international offsets rather than feasible domestic emission reductions. It identifies systemic deficiencies in impact assessments, a lack of separate LULUCF targets beyond 2030, and a conflict of interest where geological storage sites are evaluated based on their potential to interfere with future petroleum activity. While some industrial removal projections are cautious, the report notes a lack of binding limits on international credits and significant gaps in biomass sustainability evaluations.

The document argues that the combined effects of various slave trades and subsequent European colonialism fundamentally altered African agriculture. It details how the loss of productive labour and the imposition of export-oriented crop systems undermined domestic food security and regional trade.

The report advocates for reconductoring as a primary solution to the U.S. energy grid's capacity crisis, which currently stalls 2,500 GW of clean energy projects. By replacing traditional steel-core cables with advanced composite conductors, the grid can double its transfer capacity at less than half the cost of building new lines, with installation times of 18-36 months compared to 10-15 years for new construction. The document highlights the potential for $180 billion in system savings by 2050 and a 3-4% reduction in wholesale electricity costs. It details technical improvements, such as trapezoidal wires and carbon-fiber cores, and cites successful implementations in Texas, Nevada, California, and Minnesota, as well as international adoption in Europe and Asia. The report concludes by urging policymakers to support legislation like the High-Capacity Grid Act and the REWIRE Act to incentivize the adoption of these technologies.

A conflict in the Middle East involving Israel, the US, and Iran has caused global fossil fuel supply disruptions, leading to a nearly 50% increase in European gas prices in early March 2026. The briefing highlights that the EU's fossil import bill rose by an estimated €2.5 billion in the first ten days of the crisis. It argues that countries with high gas reliance for electricity, such as Italy, are most exposed to price spikes, while those that have decoupled gas from electricity prices, like Spain, are more resilient. The author contends that electricity market reforms or removing carbon costs (EU-ETS) are less effective than investing in renewables and clean flexibility to ensure long-term energy security.

A conflict in the Middle East in March 2026 caused European gas prices to spike by nearly 50%, increasing the EU's fossil import bill by €2.5 billion in ten days. The report highlights that countries with lower gas reliance, such as Spain, are more insulated from electricity price hikes than gas-heavy markets like Italy. It argues against suspending carbon costs under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, noting that gas volatility has a far greater impact on bills than carbon pricing.

The author contends that CORSIA fails to address aviation's climate impact because it only covers emissions above a high baseline and lacks binding national enforcement mechanisms. Even with penalties, the scheme would only cover 20% of emissions for a Brussels-New York flight by 2030. In contrast, the EU ETS is presented as a superior model due to its 100% coverage of intra-EEA flights and harmonised penalties of €100 per tonne of CO2. The document advocates for the European Commission to extend the EU ETS to all departing flights by mid-2026, which could generate up to €9 billion annually by 2030 to fund zero-emission aircraft and high-speed rail.

The document examines the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in overcoming the technical challenges of integrating variable renewable energy (VRE) in Southeast Asia. It highlights five commercially proven AI applications: improving forecast accuracy to reduce reserve needs, enabling predictive maintenance to extend asset life, optimising dispatch to lower balancing costs, providing real-time control for grid security, and supporting dynamic line rating (DLR) to increase transmission capacity. The report provides global case studies—including examples from Google DeepMind, Siemens, and various utilities in the US, UK, and Belgium—to demonstrate how AI can reduce operational costs, curtailment, and carbon footprints while enhancing the reliability of power grids facing high VRE penetration.