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In this episode of the Global Energy Transition podcast, host Michael Buchsbaum, talks with David Schlissel, attorney and Director of Resource Planning Analysis for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) about carbon capture and storage (CCS) which got a lot of attention at the recently concluded COP28 in Dubai.

The international response to Russia’s brutal February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has altered and transformed the energy transition, in some ways accelerating the move towards wind and solar generation but also forcing countries dependent on Russian fossil fuels, particularly European nations and the European Union as a whole, to search for and secure alternative supplies.

The sudden shocks of this new reality largely acerbated the already growing triple crisis of climate, energy and inflation that we continue to face. For decades renewable energy proponents have advocated for the transformation of aging or abandoned coal mines and coal power plants into...

In response to Russia’s invasion and brutal war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022, many European nations, particularly Germany, have banned Russian fossil fuels imports. For Germany this has meant not only finding new sources of liquified natural gas (LNG), but also spurred the government to establish several new LNG terminals. However, LNG, which is mainly cooled and compressed methane, represents a major source of climate-harming emissions. Germany, which had no LNG ports prior to Russia’s invasion, has now embarked on a very controversial port and terminal-construction binge, citing the need to maintain energy security. As demand for LNG rises,...

Representing a district near several of Germany’s largest coal mines and lignite-burning power plants, Kathrin Henneberger entered the Bundestag, Germany’s Federal Parliament, on a mandate from Green voters to accelerate the clean energy transition both at home and abroad. 

Long involved in the campaign to curtail global coal and fossil fuel production as well as human rights, during the summer of 2022, Henneberger traveled to Colombia, visited with front line coal, oil and gas communities and began forging a new intergovernmental climate alliance. 

But with her own country struggling to phase out coal, her constituents living near the edges of...

Aftershocks from Russia’s war against Ukraine continue rippling around the world, including to the deserts and jungles of Colombia. Producing increasing volumes of oil and fossil gas, this Andean country is also one of the world’s largest coal exporters. 

Long rocked by violence, civil war as well as government and industry-linked terrorism, prior to Russia’s invasion European buyers had been curtailing fossil fuel and “blood coal” imports from Colombia due linkages with human rights violations. But faced with its own energy crisis, following a personal call in April from German chancellor Olaf Scholz to Colombia’s then President Ivan Duque, more...

While much of the international community’s climate action has focused on controlling carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, in doing so, we’ve essentially given a pass on another very powerful greenhouse gas: methane.

With 86 times the warming impact of CO2 over a twenty-year period, new studies show that methane accounts for about 30-50 percent of today’s global warming.

Thankfully, after years of pressure from activists and climate scientists, in 2021 world leaders finally started paying attention to our growing methane problem. While US President Biden created something of a stir leading an international pledge to reduce methane emissions, the EU actually...

While much of the international community’s climate action has focused on controlling carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, in doing so, we’ve essentially given a pass on another very powerful greenhouse gas: methane. 

With 86 times the warming impact of CO2 over a twenty-year period, new studies show that methane accounts for about 30-50 percent of today’s global warming.

Thankfully, after years of pressure from activists and climate scientists, in 2021 world leaders finally started paying attention to our growing methane problem. While US President Biden created something of a stir leading an international pledge to reduce methane emissions, the EU actually...

Bonn leads the way

We all know that climate change is a worsening problem, but which paths do we take to find solutions to this vexing challenge? 

In this episode, we evaluate several technological solutions while also updating how cities around the world are taking an aspirational policy approach.

In this rather Bonn, Germany-centric episode, host and proud-Bonnerite, Michael Buchsbaum celebrates his city’s endorsement of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. The subject of our first podcast, Buchsbaum interviews Seble Samuel, Global Cities Campaign Lead for the treaty. 

He then talks about emerging clean energy solutions with Dolf Gielen, Director...

After committing to phase out coal by 2032, Romania has begun a sweeping energy transition. But it is off to a very rocky start. Though a key condition of their nearly €30 billion EU Recovery and Resilience Plan approved by the European Commission calls for the nation’s coal mines and coal burning power plants to shutter, what will replace them remains a cause of concern. During COP26 in Glasgow, Romania’s provisional government surprisingly inked a deal with the U.S. to construct a fleet of experimental nuclear units while partnering with a Norwegian company to convert an old coal plant to...

Now committed to phasing out coal by 2032, Romania is set to embark on a sweeping energy transition. A key condition of their nearly €30 billion Recovery and Resilience Plan approved by the European Commission, the mines and old power plants will be replaced by new solar and hydrogen as well as fossil gas development. But during COP26,  Romania’s provisional government surprisingly inked a deal with the U.S. to construct a fleet of experimental nuclear units their too. 

In this episode, lead blogger and podcaster Michael Buchsbaum takes a deeper look in Part One of his Romanian Power Move series....