What is it about?
This issue of ICE Energy illustrates the international nature of the climate change challenge and the development of clean energy technologies. In this regard it includes papers related to renewable energy technologies (solar PV and tidal power plants), load frequency control of micro-grids, and the fundamental thermal properties of geothermal resources. All of them stem from authors based in Asia, including contributions from two of the largest 'greenhouse gas' (GHG) emitter nations: China and India.
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Why is it important?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC], in its most recent (2023) scientific assessment, asserted that human activities have “unequivocally” caused observed global warming since the mid-20th Century, with mean global surface temperature reaching 1.1°C above 1850-1900 levels in the last decade. Such changes affect the energy balance of the global climate system, that will give rise to even higher surface air temperatures in future causing extreme weather events that are already having significant impacts on the biosphere. The second US Donald J Trump Administration – often termed ‘Trump 2.0’ – that was inaugurated in January 2025 has been averse to methods of climate change mitigation and so-called clean energy technologies. It has indicated its intention of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, and prefers drilling for oil and gas than investing in renewable energy technologies. As the second largest national GHG emitter nation that will set a poor example for China and other high emitters. It will make achieving progress at the next annual United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conferences of the Parties (COP) difficult. This will take place at what will be designated COP30 to be held within the lower Amazon basin at the Brazilian city of Belém in late 2025. Other nations and regions, such as the European Union, with therefore need to do the ‘heavy lifting’ on climate change mitigation at COP30.
Perspectives
The 2023 Climate Action Tracker in its global stocktake report found that, in terms of fossil fuel production/operations and the uptake of clean technologies, China, the USA, India, the EU and Saudi Arabia were all moving in “the wrong direction”. They also criticised countries aiming to adopt what they regard as unrealistic technological options that come into play after fossil fuel has been burned, such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) - a process not yet proven at scale . Likewise, the Interanational Energy Agency in their 2023 'Net Zero Roadmap' report observed that to date CCS had been a story of “underperformance”. However, the IPCC (2023) viewed this technology as being potentially valuable in mitigating hard-to-abate sectors, such as cement and plastics. The Parties (i.e., participating nations and regions) attending the UN Dubai Climate Summit (COP28) in late 2023 agreed to “transition away from fossil fuels” in order to reach ‘net-zero’ anthropogenic GHG emissions by 2050 in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement. In addition, they committed themselves to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency by 2030. Energy research of the type presented in this issue of ICE Energy will contribute towards meeting these challenging commitments.
Professor Emeritus Geoffrey P Hammond
University of Bath
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Editorial, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Energy, July 2025, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1680/jener.2025.178.3.112.
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