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French Environment Minister’s Resignation: A Frustrated Call for Climate Action

On Tuesday, August 28, French environment minister Nicolas Hulot announced he was quitting Emmanuel Macron’s government—on live radio. During his interview with France Inter, a frustrated Hulot explained, “I don’t want to give the illusion that my presence in government means we’re answering these issues properly—and so I have decided to leave the government.” Hulot, Macron’s most popular cabinet minister and former television presenter and environmental activist, said that his decision was “the most difficult decision of my life,” and was made on the spot—neither Macron nor Hulot’s wife were aware that he was going to resign.

Cambodia’s Renewable Energy Prospects

Cambodia has made great strides in its efforts to develop its economy and improve the standard of living of its mostly rural population, with current GDP growth rate hovering around 7%. But a 2016 WWF report claimed that more than 6 million Cambodians still lacked access to energy, and Cambodia’s developing industries—particularly textiles—are energy-hungry. Cambodia developed a blueprint for development in 2013, Rectangular Strategy, Phase III, that identifies cheaper energy sources for households and business/industrial consumers as key to continuing development. The report says that while large-scale hydro and coal-fired plants have thus far been the preferred strategy due to their high generation potential and low production costs, diversifying energy sources to reduce fossil fuel reliance is also an important goal going forward.

An Evaluation of Brazil’s RenovaBio Program

According to the Paris Accords on Climate Change, each country is to develop its own goals for CO2 reductions and develop a program to meet these goals.  Brazil is an interesting case study in this effort.  Unlike other countries, Brazil has chosen to place a strong emphasis on transportation rather than electrical generation and building efficiency.  Brazil has a long history in renewable fuels with a continuous ethanol blending protocol since 1931. In December of 2017 the Brazilian government passed the RenovaBio program in record time under the leadership of Congressman Evandro Gussi, pictured below.  Since then, the RenovaBio Committee has quickly moved to work out details of the program which is strongly based on California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. In April and May, the proposed protocol was opened to public comment in Brazil.

Leaders in Energy 2016 Year in Review

Around the world, 2016 was a year of tremendous change, upheaval in some cases, and new opportunities that the Leaders in Energy group, now in its fourth year, has explored during our twelve sustainability networking events in the Washington, DC area. Here is our review of the past year.