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443 documents from Ember
Europe’s great coal collapse of 2019
This report by Sandbag analyzes the significant decline in coal-fired electricity generation across the European Union during the first half of 2019, attributing the collapse to the rise of renewables, carbon pricing driving a switch to natural gas, and plant closures.
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Document type: Report
Just transition or just talk?
This report by Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe and Sandbag analyzes the draft National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) of 21 EU Member States that use coal for electricity. It finds that the EU is on track to miss the goal of stopping coal use by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5°C, with 60 GW of capacity projected to remain in 2030.
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Document type: Report
Coal To Clean
The report 'Coal To Clean' by Ember (May 2018) analyzes the UK's transition away from coal power, concluding that the country is on track to phase out coal by 2025 without the need for new large gas-fired power plants. It argues that renewables, interconnectors, and small peaking gas plants can provide the necessary capacity and backup, allowing the UK to avoid a 'gas bridge' and move directly toward clean power generation.
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Document type: Report
Barriers to Industrial Decarbonisation
This report by Sandbag summarises feedback from 15 stakeholders regarding the barriers to decarbonising industrial sectors within the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS). It identifies systemic issues in carbon pricing, the design of product benchmarks, and regulatory norms that discourage breakthrough low-carbon investments in favour of incremental improvements.
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Document type: Report
Coal to Clean
This report by Ember analyzes the UK's transition away from coal power, concluding that the country can achieve its 2025 coal phase-out without the construction of new large gas-fired power plants. The analysis suggests that renewables, interconnectors, and small-scale technology will replace coal capacity, allowing the UK to bypass a 'gas bridge' to clean power.
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Document type: Report
Climate of Cooperation
This executive summary by Ember outlines a report by Sandbag regarding the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR), which governs greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, buildings, and transport. The document argues that the agreed ESR reform is insufficient to meet the EU's 2030 climate targets and suggests that project-based cooperation between Member States is necessary to achieve cost-effective reductions and align with the Paris Agreement.
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Document type: Executive summary
Capacity payments: The final ingredient to supercharge coal
This briefing argues that without a carbon intensity limit of 550gCO2/kWh for capacity payments, Europe's coal plants could be 'supercharged,' extending their operational lives and crowding out cleaner energy alternatives. The document outlines existing EU policy gaps that favor coal and details how specific capacity market designs risk subsidizing fossil fuels over modern technologies like batteries and demand-side response.
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Document type: Briefing
Something nasty in the woodshed
This report by Ember examines the use of biomass co-firing in several European countries, detailing the subsidies that support the practice and its impact on the transition away from fossil fuels.
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Document type: Report
LIFTING EUROPE’S DARK CLOUD
Lifting Europe's Dark Cloud is a report published in October 2016 by a coalition of environmental and health organizations. It analyzes the health impacts of air pollution from coal-fired power plants in Europe and evaluates the effectiveness of the EU's Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) and the proposed revised Large Combustion Plants Best Available Techniques Reference Document (LCP BREF). The report argues that current pollution limits are undermined by widespread 'derogations' (exemptions) and that adopting stricter, proven Best Available Techniques (BAT) would significantly reduce premature deaths and healthcare costs across the continent.
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Document type: Report
2015 EU ETS Emissions analysis from EC data
This report by Ember analyzes European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) data for 2015, excluding aviation. It details a slight overall decrease in emissions, driven by trends in the power and heat sectors and specific national shifts in fuel use, while noting that 10% of emissions data—primarily from Poland—was unavailable at the time of publication.
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Document type: Report
The Final Carbon Fatcat
This report by Sandbag analyzes how flaws in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) have created perverse incentives for the European cement sector, leading to over-allocation of free allowances and a failure to incentivize deep decarbonization. The authors argue that the ETS has effectively subsidized the production of high-carbon clinker, resulting in a net import of emissions into the EU.
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Document type: Report
Review of the European Power Sector in 2015
The report reviews the European power sector in 2015, noting a record increase in renewables generation that was largely offset by increased electricity demand and a decline in nuclear and hydro output. Consequently, power sector CO2 emissions fell by only an estimated 0.5% in 2015, following a much larger 7.5% drop in 2014. The author maintains a forecast that EU ETS emissions will fall 21% from 2014 to 2020, potentially leading to 30% economy-wide CO2 cuts by 2020.
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Document type: Report
The Sovereign Emission Rights Framework: An international emissions trading regime without the hot air
The Sovereign Emission Rights Framework is a proposal by Sandbag, submitted to the European Commission in 2013, for an equitable global emissions trading regime. It argues that emissions rights should be distributed based on 1990 population shares and that historical emissions since 1990 should be counted against these budgets to avoid 'hot air' and ensure a fair distribution of the remaining carbon space needed to avoid 2°C of warming.
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Document type: Report
The Carbon Rich List
The report 'The Carbon Rich List' by Sandbag analyzes the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) at a company level for 2008 and projections through 2012. It identifies a group of 'Carbon Fat Cats'—companies that received excessive free permit allocations, allowing them to generate windfall profits or bank permits for future use without reducing emissions. The report highlights a systemic imbalance where the power sector bears the burden of emissions reductions to compensate for industrial surpluses, and recommends tightening the scheme through higher targets, limited offsets, and improved company-level data reporting.
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Document type: Report
O N E U K A L L O W A N C E the future of uK Carbon Pricing
This document is a response by the NGO Sandbag to a joint consultation by the UK, Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish governments regarding the future of carbon pricing in the UK. Sandbag argues against the creation of a standalone UK Emissions Trading System (ETS), citing risks of high volatility and market failure. Instead, it recommends that the UK remain part of the EU ETS or, if that is not possible, implement a carbon tax with a price floor based on EU ETS averages. The response also suggests expanding carbon pricing to fossil gas and fugitive methane, ending the zero-emissions treatment of large-scale biomass burning, and distributing carbon revenues to citizens as a 'climate dividend'.
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Document type: Report
Making power clean every hour: 9 clean flexibility tools
This fact sheet by Ember outlines nine clean flexibility tools categorized into store, shift, share, and supply, designed to balance power systems and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
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Document type: Fact sheet
المراجعة العالمية للكهرباء لعام 2026
The 2026 Global Electricity Review by Ember reports that record solar energy growth in 2025 met the entirety of new global electricity demand, halting the increase in fossil fuel generation for the first time since 2020. For the first time in the modern era, renewable energy sources collectively surpassed coal, accounting for over one-third of global electricity generation.
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Document type: Executive summary
طاقة الرياح والطاقة الشمسية - مصادر الكهرباء النظيفة الأسرع نمًوا - تصل إلى عشرة بالمائة من الكهرباء العالمية
This executive summary from Ember reports that wind and solar power reached 10.3% of global electricity generation in 2021. While clean energy sources collectively provided 38% of global electricity, the report highlights a concerning record increase in coal power and carbon emissions, driven largely by surging electricity demand in Asia.
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Document type: Executive summary
Comments About the Bill
Ember provides a submission on the Climate Change Bill 2022 and the Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2022, arguing that Australia's emissions targets are implausible without aggressive action on coal mine methane (CMM). The document highlights that CMM dominates Australia's energy sector methane emissions and suggests that official figures may be significantly underestimated.
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Document type: Statement
The Role of the European Union in the Fight Against Money Laundering
The provided text is a highly corrupted or encoded document that appears to be a report on the influence of the energy industry on climate policy, despite the metadata title referring to money laundering. The text discusses the role of 'Carbon Fat Cats' (large energy companies) in lobbying against climate regulations and their influence over political processes in the EU and USA.
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Document type: Report