Green Innovation Time

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) announced today that it will contribute 110 million euros (US $125 million) to support a new global partnership to bring affordable insurance and other financial protection to millions of vulnerable people around the world. This major new initiative supports the Fijian’s Presidency’s priority of ensuring COP23 looks for ways to take care of the vulnerable. The announcement was made during the launch of the InsuResilience Global Partnership for Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance Solutions as part of the High-Level COP23 Presidency Event on resilience and risk sharing. The contribution from BMZ follows a £30 million (US $39 million) commitment that was made by the Government of the United Kingdom in July. BMZ has joined forces with COP23 Presidency, the Ethiopian Chair of the V20, the United Kingdom and the World Bank to launch this Global Partnership. It builds on the InsuResilience initiative,

watch vidoe of Norway being announced as the winner of the Fossil of the day award 2017 at COP 23 in Bonn.

The Fossil of the Day Award goes to Norway for defending continued Arctic oil exploration in court. Imagine if you will, a wonderful place filled with beautiful fjords, super cozy knitted sweaters, and 5.2 million really happy people. This place does everything amazingly well! In fact, their oil is cleaner and safer, and they are better equipped to keep it flowing for generations to come! Wait, what?! In the not so far future, tomorrow morning in fact, the first of seven court days begins in Oslo. There, the government of Norway will defend (to environmental organizations) their decision - made less than six months after signing the Paris Agreement - to allow new oil exploration in the Arctic. More generally, the Norwegian government will defend a delusional fairy tale spun by the oil industry. It’s clear that the world’s oil and gas reserves already in development will take us to 1.5°C. Unfortunately, Norway is far from alone in their hypocrisy in continuing fossil fuel exp

COP 23 Side-event to showcase innovative approaches to Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) Thursday 9 th  November, 2017 The event  will showcase innovative approaches endorsed by the European Union (EU) to enhance Measuring (and monitoring), Reporting and Verification (MRV) capacity and their engagement in the transparency framework under the Paris Agreement. The side event will provide an overview of three specific projects, emphasizing new solutions which can be accessed and potentially replicated in other contexts: two major EU-funded projects, the  ClimaSouth project  and the Regional implementation of Paris Agreement project (RIPAP), and Information Matters, a project supported by Germany and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). source: europa.eu

For four consecutive days Portugal was powered entirely by renewables, a major milestone in its journey to a clean energy future. For a 107-hour run, Portugal’s electricity consumption was fuelled entirely by renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydro power, an analysis of national energy network figures found. This landmark achievement comes as April smashed temperature records, keeping 2016 on track to be the hottest year on record. This temperature increase (1.1 degrees Celsius above average for the month) highlights the urgency of a switch to renewables – a move that many countries are embracing. In 2013, Portugal was generating only 7.5% of its electricity from wind, but in 2015 this increased to 22%, with renewable sources providing almost half of the country’s energy for the year. Portugal isn’t the only country stepping up its transition to clean energy. Germany has been praised for consistently increasing its use of renewable energy, which acc

Environmental activists are applauding the Volta River Authority’s decision to build a wind power plant to help Ghana’s power generation. The Volta River Authority (VRA) plans to construct a 150-Megawatt wind power plant to supplement power generation in Ghana. The project, the first of its kind, is part of the VRA’s Renewable Development Programme and will be completed in two phases. The first phase, which would generate 75 MW would be located in Anloga, Anyanui and Srogbe communities in the Keta Municipality in the Volta Region, while the remaining 75 MW would be located at Wokumaglje and Goi communities in the Ada West District in the Greater Accra Region. In its July scoping report, the VRA said that the project was to help Ghana use more renewable energy sources. Currently, all grid-supplied electricity is generated using a mix of hydro and imported fossil fuel. Only 0.1% of energy is generated from renewable sources, specifically solar power, the VRA noted in the report.

The rapidly falling cost of solar energy is going to make it difficult for President Trump to deliver on his promise to put coal miners back to work. Trump has taken steps to ease the burden on coal country by  ripping up environmental rules  and pledging to  withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord. But those deregulatory steps do little to offset the mounting long-term challenge that coal faces from cleaner forms of energy, especially solar. By 2040, U.S. power generation from renewable energy is likely to skyrocket by 169%, according to a recent  forecast  from the research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Coal-fired power is projected to plunge by 51% in the United States over the same period. "The greening of the world's electricity system is unstoppable," wrote Seb Henbest, the lead author. SOURCE: money.cnn.com

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday said Nigeria must use its oil wealth to prepare for a future when the world no longer runs on fossil fuel. The Vice-President made this statement at the 55th anniversary of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in Lagos. He said Nigeria, as a member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), needed to develop renewable energy and help other businesses flourish to adjust to the reality of the dwindling significance of fossil fuels. “It is no longer a question of if but when,” Osinbajo said, referring to global efforts to shift away from oil as a fuel. “Oil-rich countries, such as ourselves, have an obligation to prepare for a destiny that may well be beyond oil”, he said. The vice president called on oil and gas majors in Nigeria, many of them represented in the audience, to invest in renewable energy research and development to help Nigeria prepare for a “clean ene