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This report analyzes the emerging role of grid-scale batteries in the European Union as of 2025, highlighting their ability to compete with expensive gas-fired power during peak demand hours and reduce the curtailment of renewable energy. Using Italy as a primary example and California as a comparative case study, the document details how falling battery costs and widening price spreads are driving a record project pipeline aimed at lowering wholesale electricity prices and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.

In 2025, the European Union's power sector reached a tipping point as wind and solar generation surpassed fossil fuels for the first time, accounting for 30.1% of electricity. While solar generation hit record highs and coal reached a historic low, gas power saw a slight increase, though it remained below pre-crisis levels.

This fact sheet by RMI explains the liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply chain, the United States' role as a leading exporter, and the environmental and economic impacts associated with the liquefaction and transport of gas over long distances.

This report by Ember analyzes how electricity pricing structures in the European Union act as a barrier to the adoption of heat pumps. It argues that while heat pumps are significantly more efficient than gas boilers, high electricity prices—often inflated by policy-related levies—make them less cost-competitive. The report evaluates various policy interventions, such as removing levies or shifting them to gas, to lower the electricity-to-gas price ratio and accelerate the electrification of household heating to meet REPowerEU 2030 goals.

This report analyzes the climate transition progress of 594 pension funds in OECD countries, representing USD 22.5 trillion in assets, using data from the Net Zero Finance Tracker (NZFT). It evaluates funds across targets, implementation, and impacts, finding that while target-setting is increasing, significant fossil fuel exposure remains, and progress is heavily dependent on mandatory regulatory frameworks.

This report by Ember assesses the current state and future requirements of Europe's electricity interconnection. It finds that the EU is not on track to meet its 2030 interconnection targets, with 80% of the power system expected to miss the goal. To reach an optimal grid by 2040, Europe needs to nearly double its interconnection capacity, adding 151 GW, which requires an estimated €150 billion in investment. The report identifies a €30 billion public funding gap in the proposed Connecting Europe Facility for Energy (CEF-E) budget for 2028-2034, suggesting that this gap must be filled by EU loans and private funding to ensure energy security and cost-effectiveness.

This executive summary from the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) analyzes the climate transition progress of 594 pension funds in OECD countries, representing USD 22.5 trillion in assets. Using the Net Zero Finance Tracker (NZFT), the report evaluates these funds across targets, implementation, and impact, highlighting a trend of increasing climate target adoption and improved risk management, while noting a persistent material exposure to fossil fuel expansion.

A briefing by Zero Carbon Analytics detailing how soy-driven deforestation in Brazil's Cerrado biome reduces regional rainfall and agricultural productivity, creating a paradox where individual farmer profits are outweighed by regional economic losses and global supply chain risks.

This guide from the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) explains the nature of fossil fuel subsidies, the challenges of reforming them, and the benefits of transitioning to targeted social protection and clean energy. It highlights the role of the Coalition on Phasing Out Fossil Fuel Incentives Including Subsidies (COFFIS) in fostering international cooperation and transparency to make these reforms politically and socially viable.

This guide provides a structured framework for governments to develop and implement national or subnational fossil fuel subsidy (FFS) phase-out plans. It advocates for a whole-of-government approach to coordinate across ministries and proposes a three-category classification system to prioritize subsidies based on their risk to energy security, social stability, and political feasibility. The framework aims to move governments from general commitments to actionable, time-bound implementation roadmaps.

This policy brief by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) examines the 2024 reform of the European Union's public procurement framework. It argues that while green public procurement (GPP) is a powerful lever for the green transition—given that public procurement accounts for approximately 14% of EU GDP—its implementation is hindered by legal uncertainties, administrative burdens, and capacity gaps. The document advocates for the use of robust, third-party verified tools such as ecolabels and life-cycle costing to simplify GPP and recommends specific legal and structural reforms to the EU directives to foster their uptake.

The report 'Shockproof: how electrification can strengthen EU energy security' by Ember argues that accelerating the electrification of the EU economy, powered by homegrown renewables, is the primary mechanism to reduce the bloc's high dependency on imported fossil fuels. It suggests that fossil import dependency could be halved by 2040 through the adoption of mature technologies like electric vehicles and heat pumps.

In the first half of 2025, global solar and wind generation grew sufficiently to exceed total electricity demand growth, resulting in renewables overtaking coal in the global electricity mix for the first time. While global power sector CO2 emissions fell marginally by 0.2%, results varied by region, with emissions decreasing in China and India but increasing in the US and EU.

The report 'Global Electricity Mid-Year Insights 2025' by Ember analyzes global electricity generation from January to June 2025. It finds that solar and wind growth exceeded global demand growth, leading to renewables overtaking coal's share in the global electricity mix for the first time on record and causing power sector CO2 emissions to plateau.

This briefing examines how the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system hinders climate action and human rights by allowing corporations, particularly in the fossil fuel sector, to sue governments over environmental regulations. It highlights the 'regulatory chill' effect, the inadequacy of current reforms like the Energy Charter Treaty withdrawals, and the significance of 2025 advisory opinions from the ICJ and Inter-American Court of Human Rights which affirm state duties to reduce emissions regardless of prior investment licenses.

A research paper by Zero Carbon Analytics (ZCA) examines the economic and health costs of red and processed meat consumption in high-income countries. The analysis finds that wealthy nations in Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania face a substantial disease burden from meat consumption, with some countries spending heavily to treat preventable conditions rather than investing in primary prevention. The report argues that shifting toward dietary interventions could significantly reduce healthcare spending and improve public health outcomes.

A report by Zero Carbon Analytics (ZCA) detailing how deforestation in the Congo Basin disrupts a climate teleconnection that provides critical rainfall to West Africa, specifically threatening the global cocoa supply chain and increasing costs for European importers.

This research paper examines how the trade war between the US and China, alongside President Trump's critical mineral diplomacy, creates a strategic window for African nations to transition from raw material exporters to green technology manufacturing hubs. It argues that countries rich in minerals like cobalt and lithium can leverage geopolitical competition to secure technology transfer, domestic value addition, and diversified investment portfolios.

This fact sheet outlines the significant health and economic costs associated with livestock production and meat consumption. It links high red and processed meat intake to increased risks of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, noting that such diets caused 0.9 million deaths globally in 2019. The document also highlights systemic risks from industrial farming, including zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and air pollution. Economically, it estimates that red and processed meat consumption resulted in USD 285 billion in global healthcare costs in 2020. Conversely, it argues that transitioning to plant-based diets, such as the EAT-Lancet planetary health diet, could prevent millions of deaths annually and save trillions of dollars in health and ecosystem costs.

This report by Ember analyses the impact of a June–July 2025 heatwave on European power systems, noting that while extreme temperatures drove up electricity demand and prices and caused thermal plant outages, record solar generation and storage helped maintain grid stability.