Search Climate Insights Directory

This report by Ember analyzes Indonesia's energy transition, focusing on the RUPTL 2021-2030 and the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). It argues that increasing renewable energy ambition, particularly in coal-producing regions, can drive economic growth, create high-skilled jobs, and reduce reliance on fossil fuels while ensuring a just transition for affected communities.

This research paper examines the shift in India's renewable energy procurement, specifically focusing on the Firm & Dispatchable Renewable Energy (FDRE) tenders introduced by SECI in 2023, and the resulting need for developers to adopt more sophisticated risk management and trading capabilities.

This report by Ember analyzes national wind capacity targets for 2030, finding that while current targets aim for a doubling of global capacity, they fall short of the tripling required to maintain the 1.5C climate goal. The report highlights a significant implementation gap outside of China, where most countries are projected to miss their targets, while China is expected to over-deliver.

This report by Ember examines Malaysia's electricity transition, arguing that leveraging the country's vast solar resources and improving grid flexibility through battery storage and regional interconnections can enhance energy security and affordability. It highlights the potential for solar to meet daytime demand peaks and suggests that aligning with more ambitious pathways, such as those from IRENA, could significantly reduce reliance on volatile fossil fuel imports.

This report by Ember analyzes the performance of coal-fired power plants in Türkiye, concluding that domestic coal plants fail to provide reliable baseload electricity due to low efficiency, high failure rates, and low capacity factors. The study highlights that coal generation reached a record 118 TWh in 2023, contributing 20% of the country's total emissions, and argues for an accelerated transition to renewable energy to meet climate targets and reduce economic losses.

This report by Ember examines the role of large state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China's transition from coal power to renewable energy. It argues that while a strategy of diversification into renewables has successfully led to a relative decline in coal's share of the generation mix, China is approaching a critical turning point of absolute coal power decline. The authors advocate for a 'beyond-diversification' approach to manage the socio-economic impacts on the interconnected coal-electricity ecosystem and coal-dependent regions.

Ember submitted a statement to Australia's Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water arguing that the Boggabri Coal Mine's Modification 10 proposal significantly underestimates fugitive emissions. Ember contends that the mine uses an unverified, decade-old emissions factor that is 95 times lower than state guidance, potentially under-reporting Scope 1 emissions by millions of tonnes, especially as the mine seeks to operate at greater depths.

In the first half of 2024, wind and solar power generated 30% of the European Union's electricity, surpassing fossil fuels (27%) for the first time. This shift occurred despite a 0.7% rebound in electricity demand, driven by structural capacity growth and favorable weather conditions, leading to a 17% decline in fossil fuel generation and a 31% drop in power sector emissions compared to the first half of 2022.

This report by Ember advocates for the implementation of transparent grid hosting capacity maps to accelerate the energy transition in Europe. It outlines how such maps can reduce grid connection queues and optimize network use, discusses new EU legislative requirements for TSOs and DSOs, and proposes a framework for an "ideal" map including substation-level granularity and open-source data access.

The UK is currently off track to meet its 2030 offshore wind targets, facing a capacity shortfall of approximately 20-22 GW. While a sufficient pipeline of potential projects exists, the report argues that policy failures—specifically low strike prices in recent Contracts for Difference (CfD) auctions—have stalled development. To course-correct, the report recommends increasing the budget for the AR6 auction, shifting the CfD focus from price competition to delivery scale, and implementing strategic industrial growth plans to support the supply chain.

This report by Ember examines the risks associated with a proposed shift in Australia's emissions reporting for open-cut coal mines, moving from state-based average emission factors (Method 1) to unverified company-led estimates (Method 2). The analysis of ten mines suggests that this shift allows companies to significantly under-report fugitive methane emissions, potentially erasing millions of tonnes of CO2-e from the national inventory without actual mitigation.

This research paper by Ember analyzes draft National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) from EU Member States to determine if current national ambitions align with the REPowerEU plan and the Fit-for-55 package. The analysis finds that while renewable energy targets have increased significantly since 2019, the EU is still projected to fall short of its 2030 goals for renewable electricity share, solar capacity, and wind capacity.

This briefing by Ember reports that in April 2024, fossil fuels generated less than a quarter of the European Union's electricity for the first time, reaching a record low of 23%. This decline was driven by record wind and solar output and a recovery in hydropower, leading to a 22% year-on-year drop in power sector emissions for that month.

This report by Ember analyzes global electricity generation trends in 2023 across solar, wind, coal, gas, hydro, nuclear, and bioenergy. It highlights record growth in solar and wind, a slight increase in coal generation driven by droughts in China, and the gap between current growth rates and the IEA Net Zero Emissions (NZE) scenario requirements.

In 2023, the world's top six electricity emitters showed diverging trends: China, India, and Russia saw emissions increases driven by demand and coal reliance, while the US, EU, and Japan recorded declines. China led global renewable growth but remains the largest emitter. The EU achieved its largest absolute emissions reduction since 2000, and the US continued its long-term decline in coal. However, most of these regions still need to accelerate clean energy deployment to align with IEA Net Zero targets.

In 2023, the share of renewables in the global electricity mix exceeded 30% for the first time, driven by record growth in wind and solar. However, a record fall in hydropower generation and rising electricity demand led to a marginal increase in fossil fuel generation, resulting in global power sector emissions reaching a new record high of 14,153 million tonnes of CO2.

The report 'The Big Picture' by Ember analyzes the global electricity transition in 2024, arguing that 2023 likely marked the peak of fossil fuel generation and power sector emissions. It highlights the dominant role of solar energy, the emerging drivers of electricity demand such as data centers and electrification, and provides case studies on the rapid transition strategies of China, Brazil, and the Netherlands.

This report by Ember analyzes Singapore's path to a net-zero power sector by 2045, emphasizing that the city-state's limited land and renewable potential necessitate a heavy reliance on regional grid interconnections and renewable energy imports from neighboring countries to replace natural gas.

The report 'Making clean power flexy' by Ember argues that clean flexibility—specifically battery storage and demand side flexibility (DSF)—is essential to integrate the rapid growth of wind and solar power in the European Union and phase out fossil fuel 'peakers'. It highlights a significant gap in national policy targets for these technologies despite projections that EU flexibility needs will double by 2030.

This executive summary by Ember argues that the rapid deployment of clean flexibility—specifically battery storage, demand-side flexibility, and grids—is essential to integrate increasing volumes of wind and solar generation into the European power system and avoid renewable energy curtailment.