ENGAGE
ENGAGE aims to explore the feasibility of pathways that can meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement. It is operated by a global consortium of nearly 30 partners including Central European University that co-leads work on defining feasibility of climate mitigation based on empirical evidence from past energy transitions . The project runs from 1 September 2019 through 31 August 2023.
Publications related to ENGAGE project
M. Suzuki, J. Jewell & A. Cherp. (2023). Have climate policies accelerated energy transitions? Historical evolution of electricity mix in the G7 and the EU compared to net-zero targets. Energy Research & Social Science. Open Access. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2023.103281
V. Vinichenko, J. Jewell, J. Jacobsson, A. Cherp. (2023). Historical diffusion of nuclear, wind and solar power in different national contexts: implications for climate mitigation pathways. Environmental Research Letters. Open Access. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acf47a
M. Hyun, A. Cherp, J. Jewell, Y. J. Kim & J. Eom. (2023). Feasibility trade-offs in decarbonisation of power sector with high coal dependence: A case of Korea. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Transition. Open Access. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rset.2023.100050
V. Vinichenko, M. Vetier, J. Jewell, L. Nacke & A. Cherp. (2023). Phasing out coal for 2 °C target requires worldwide replication of most ambitious national plans despite security and fairness concerns. Environmental Research Letters. Open Access. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acadf6
V. Vinichenko, A. Cherp, J. Jewell. (2021). Historical precedents and feasibility of rapid coal and gas decline required for the 1.5°C target. One Earth. Open Access. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.09.012
E. Brutschin, A. Cherp, & J. Jewell. (2021). Failing the formative phase: The global diffusion of nuclear power is limited by national markets. Energy Research & Social Science. Open Access. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102221
A. Cherp. (2021). Cost of non-uniform climate policies. Nature Climate Change. Gated. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01133-3. Free SharedIt link (view only).
A. Cherp, V. Vinichenko, J. Tosun, J. Gordon & J. Jewell. (2021). National growth dynamics of wind and solar power compared to the growth required for global climate targets. Nature Energy. Gated. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-021-00863-0. Free SharedIt link (view only) code on GitHub: https://github.com/poletresearch/RES_article.
E. Trutnevyte, L.F. Hirt, N. Bauer, A. Cherp, A. Hawkes, O.Y. Edelenbosch, S. Pedde, & D.P. van Vuuren. (2020). Societal transformations in models for energy and climate policy: The Ambitious Next Step. One Earth. Open Access. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2019.12.002.
J. Jewell & A. Cherp. (2020). On the political feasibility of climate change mitigation pathways: Is it too late to keep warming below 1.5°C? Wiley Interdisciplinary Rev (WIRE) Climate Change. Open Access. DOI: 10.1002/wcc.621.
Commentary and news related to ENGAGE project
G7 countries and the European Union have committed to decarbonise electricity by 2035. Is this target feasible? We show that it would require expanding low-carbon electricity 4.5 times faster and reducing fossil-based electricity 2 times faster than in 2015-2020 between 2020 and 2035. Unfortunately in 2021, most G7 countries increased the use of fossils and slowed down the growth of low-carbon electricity, making it even more challenging to achieve the target by 2035.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has massively disrupted global and European energy markets. While most of the attention has focused on the EU’s dependence on Russian gas and oil supplies, Russia is also at the center of global nuclear power. The current crisis could lead to shifts in supplies of nuclear technologies which reverberate for decades to come.
The IEA Net Zero 2050 Roadmap envisions adding 310 GW of onshore wind in 2030. This is the same as was added globally in the last five years. Has such a rate been ever achieved in any country?
Replacing gas heating with heat pumps would reduce 90% of UK’s direct greenhouse gas emissions from the residential sector. Here we look at whether such a replacement would be feasible if the UK would adopt heat pumps as fast as one of the leaders in this technology, Finland.
Renewable power capacity additions in China often attract widespread attention for their sheer magnitude. But how useful are these raw numbers without considering the size of the country? Using installed capacity per capita and renewables’ share of national electricity production as illustrative examples, I make a case for normalising data when making inter-country comparisons. In addition to offering richer insights into the pace and extent of energy transitions, such analyses allow for a more nuanced view of change, help contextualise progress and set more realistic expectations.