Reality Check – “Electric Vehicles emit more CO2 than diesel cars”

On April 2nd 2019, the European Policy Centre hosted an event in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the Bellona Foundation.

In this paper, Bellona examines available environmental impact study documents released at a public hearing and a Strategic Master Plan for decontamination. Questions of handling the legacy of radioactive contamination at the Mayak Production Association (pdf)

The purpose of this overview is to draw attention to the fact that such an important and complex industry as the nuclear industry cannot successfully operate, evolve, and gain public acceptance without public oversight, as stipulated by Russian law. Therefore, efforts should be made in the nuclear industry to construct a system of legal regulations […]

Russia’s civilian nuclear industry is expanding. Where the Soviet Union built reactors in countries all over Eastern Europe, Russia is now taking it one step further – to a global scale. Russia is the biggest exporter of nuclear power plants in the world, offering big, favorable loans to governments that want to strengthen their energy […]

Construction is a fundamental component of human civilisation. It lies at the heart of economic and social development. In fact, the construction industry generates roughly 9% of European GDP and accounts for 18 million jobs. In spite of this, construction sites are also a major source of environmental and human health damage throughout all aspects of the construction process. Combined with increasing urbanisation trends and a fast-growing global population, it goes without saying that construction is here to stay. This calls for the adoption […]

Sufficient publicly accessible charging infrastructure is a key enabler for the accelerated uptake of electric cars. This briefing by the Platform for Electro-Mobility analyses the current and planned future roll-out of EV charging infrastructure in European Member States, based governments’ plans (National Policy Frameworks) submitted to the European Commission as part of the implementation of the EU Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Directive.

The Platform for Electro-Mobility, of which Bellona is a founding member, welcomes the European Commission (EC) proposal to amend Directive 2009/33/EU on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road vehicles in public procurement (or so-called Clean Vehicles Directive), and considers it holds potential to set the transport sector on a course to swift decarbonisation and improved air quality in urban centers. This paper calls on the European Parliament and Member States to build upon the Commission’s proposal and deliver a bolder text […]

In this paper the Platform for Electro-Mobility suggests how the European Commission and Member States can play a key role in stirring investments towards the deployment of future-proof recharging infrastructure. The recommendations are divided into three main categories, namely 1) private domain: buildings; 2) public charging points in urban areas; and 3) electrification along and beyond the TEN-T network. Having lead the Platform’s infrastructure-related work, Bellona has brought together the platform’s members in producing this […]

Bellona Europa highlights some major accomplishments in the electrification of the marine transport fleet in its new factsheet. Drawing on Norwegian best practices, the factsheet explores what are the solutions and possible first steps to facilitate this transition, moreover that it is very much real and happening in many parts of the world.

With its Clean Energy Package, the EU is on the verge of repeating costly energy and climate policy failures of the recent past. Attempting to provide a low-carbon transport fuel replacement alternative to conventional biofuels, the European Commission in its revision of the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) proposes a 2030 target for ‘low-emission and renewable fuels’. The proposed target includes so-called ‘’renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin’’. This opens the door for massive public […]

Almost every modern country faces problems with radioactive waste (RAW) disposal, as nuclear
technologies are now used in many areas – power generation, medicine, science, defense, safety
tools, etc. As a result of using these technologies, the world has accumulated about 250 mln m3
of solid RAW and an unknown amount of liquid RAW. Each country solves the problems of
handling RAW (including disposal) according to its government’s abilities and the amount of waste
accumulated.

Poor air quality, largely resulting from conventionally fueled road transport, is Europe’s largest environmental health hazard, claiming thousands of lives each year. In its newly launched policy brief, Bellona explores the heavy yet unaccounted for human health costs from the fossil car industry and estimates that if these were to be paid by car makers themselves, we would see a doubling in ICE cars price tags. Our conclusions are simple: electro-mobility is the only viable cost-effective approach to drastically reducing damaging air […]

The Platform for Electro-mobility, of which Bellona is a founding member, has launched its new paper ‘The Energy Union Strategy: a plug-in plan for making Europe the world’s leader in electro-mobility’. This paper identifies measures to ensure that Europe will be the leader on a fast and effective transition to electro-mobility.

The European Commission has conducted a public consultation as part of the revision process of the EU regulations setting CO2 emission performance standards for new cars and vans (together referred to as light duty vehicles (LDVs)). Bellona shares its views on the topic of fuel economy targets and the uptake of zero-emission vehicles in this response.

Drastically reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is necessary to reach the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. The permanent geological disposal of CO2 captured from industrial facilities, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), provides an essential and achievable avenue for reaching this objective. In this brief, Bellona explains why Carbon Capture and Use/Utilisation methods, except for those allowing for permanent storage of CO2, should be excluded from the ETS.

On the back of the EU’s need and stated goal of improving its bioenergy policy and sustainability, Bellona has submitted a response to the European Commission’s consultation on the matter.

Electro-mobility offers an unequalled solution to make Europe’s transport more efficient, less dependent on imported energy, low carbon, clean and quiet. Specifically, the electrification of surface transport will enable Member States to meet their greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for 2030; and addresses the public health crisis arising from urban air pollution.

CCS is an indispensable component of national and global decarbonisation pathways as recognised by the IPCC, the IEA, and the European Commission. Using estimates of the CO2 required to be stored in the North Sea for Europe to reach its 2050 decarbonisation objectives, Bellona has estimated the size of the future North Sea CO2 storage sector. The CO2 storage sector has the potential to become a major North Sea enterprise, employing 22,000 people by 2030. Countries surrounding the North Sea basin must act to encourage the sectors development and […]

Bellona sees energy storage as a required piece of the decarbonisation puzzle. The technology will rapidly become an integral part of European electricity supply systems. The huge disruptive effect of energy storage to the existing energy market is being driven by two trends: the need for energy storage to optimise the deployment of renewable energy sources on the one hand, and the high return potential for manufactures, operators and home owners, on the other. This report was launched at the high-level event ‘Energy storage – the […]

The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 5AR, 2014) issued a stark warning: to stand a reasonable chance of avoiding disastrous climate change, we have to remain within a ‘safe’ level of CO2 emissions so that average global temperature rise is limited to 2°C. Because more than half of the CO2 ‘budget’ that allows us to remain within this threshold has already been used and current rates will exhaust the remainder within 25 years, the IPCC’s scenarios now rely on negative emissions to keep temperature […]

Transport constitutes a large and untapped sector for significant amount of cost effective mitigation potential. Meeting the EU’s target of reducing CO2 emissions from transport by 60% and of eliminating the use of fossil fuels in cars by 2050 will, however, necessitate significant and immediate efforts. Bellona sees electric vehicles (EVs), in particular, as representing one of the most promising technologies for cutting CO2 emissions, reducing petroleum reliance and improving local air quality. EVs will, furthermore, help to optimise the […]

In order to realise the Paris agreement and the climate pledges of more than 150 countries, we need closer cooperation between actors, increased focus on knowledge sharing and faster industrialisation of innovative solutions. Bellona and CICERO, with the help of Yara and the Norwegian government, has established Connection Point – a pavilion and delegation room […]

Bellona’s compendium of articles investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill from 2010 to 2015.

In October 2014 the European Council reached an agreement on a 2030 Climate and Energy Framework, featuring a binding domestic target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions of at least 40% in 2030 as compared to 1990. To meet this target, the European Council agreed that the emissions in the EU Emission Trading System (ETS) should be reduced, compared to 2005, by 43%. The purpose of this EC-conducted consultation was to gather stakeholders’ views on key elements, including free allocation to industry, the establishment of a modernisation […]

Ukraine is at present in an unenviable position. Conflict with Russia is jeopardizing national security and the security of the country’s energy supply. Ratcheting up the pressure on the country is Kiev’s need to rapidly alter its energy legislation, bringing it into accord with that of the European Union and the European Energy Community. The Bellona Foundation, a Norwegian-based energy and environmental NGO, has started a three-year project in Ukraine to assist in the ongoing transition of the country’s energy supply and industrial […]

The Russian part of the Barents Region comprises the Murmansk region, the Arkhangelsk region, the Republic of Karelia, the Nenets Autonomous District and the Komi Republic and constitutes ¾ of the entire area of the Barents Region. These areas, along with the other northern territories, play a significant role in the economy and strategic development […]

Carbon leakage is a term used to describe situations where, as a result of costs incurred from the implementation of climate policies, certain businesses relocate production to countries with less stringent (or no) climate policies in place. The European Commission has carried out a public consultation on the different options for a system to avoid carbon leakage after 2020 for sectors covered by the EU ETS. The results of this consultation will feed into further work on the 2030 Climate and Energy Policy Framework regarding the determination […]

The European energy supply is changing, with renewables supplying more of the energy needs of business and consumers. However, much of the renewable energy being deployed is intermittent sources of electricity, only providing to the grid when resources such as wind, solar or wave are available. Liberalisation of the electricity market has brought with it […]

During the first two trading periods of the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) we have observed a low and volatile Emission Unit Allowance (EUA) price, which has failed to incentivise sufficient abatement efforts and investments in clean technologies. Bellona’s views on the European Commission-proposed Market Stability Reserve and on the way forward are outlined in the brief on ‘Comprehensive ETS Reform’.

Five years after the European Commission passed the CCS Directive, it requires review to assess whether it still provides adequate regulatory framework for CCS in the EU. Article 38 of the Directive calls for an evaluation of its effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, relevance and added value – Bellona’s views on which are outlined in this response.

Bellona is a Steering Committee member of the European Biofuels Technology Platform (EBTP). In addition to this, the EBTP and the ZEP (Zero Emissions Platform – EU technology platform for CCS, for which Bellona has the vice presidency) on Bellona’s initiative together created a joint taskforce (JTF) on biomass and CCS in early 2011, with Bellona’s President Frederic […]

Download the report here. Aquaculture is an industry that provokes strong emotions in many people. While production and value creation is sizeable, the industry is criticised not least for spreading pollution, poor use of resources and threats to wild salmon. In 2003 Bellona published the report “Environmental Status of Norwegian Aquaculture”. Based on scientific fact, […]

Ukraine is a country in the middle of a turbulent transition toward developing energy sources free from Russian influence. Bellona has identified that in order for that transition to be successful, CCS must play a critical role in the country’s energy structure, which will continue to be highly dependent on fossil fuels. Ukraine is one of […]

This is a summary of the report published by Bellona about the possibility for electric taxis in the Oslo area. The full report is only available in Norwegian and can be found here.

Bellona submitted its response the European Commission’s Consultative Communication on CCS, outlining the necessary steps which need to be taken for CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) to be taken to the next level in Europe. Bellona recommends Member States to take the lead up till 2020, at which point a core EU CCS policy framework, […]

The European Commission’s 2030 Green Paper, released on 27 March, invited stakeholders to take part in a consultative process towards the Union’s climate and energy policies after 2020. The new policy framework towards 2030 is regarded as an important tool for the EU to reach its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95% by […]

Down load the report here. The objective of this report is to show how a regenerative hybrid-electric propulsion system can dramatically improve the economy as well as the experience during sailing of medium sized boats that operate by both motor and by sail. This report shows how these problems can be solved by using regenerative […]

Thorium-based nuclear fuel is thought to play a variety of roles depending on a particular nuclear energy system, which makes it challenging to form judgments regarding the economic prospects of thorium.

This is the second and updated edition of the report Nuclear Fissile Materials. The first edition of Nuclear Fissile Materials was prepared and published by Bellona’s experts in late 2011. Authors: Alexander Nikitin; Prof. Vladimir Kuznetsov, D.Sc. Eng.; Andrei Zolotkov; Valery Menshchikov, Ph.D. Eng.; Alexei Shchukin, Ph.D. Chem.

This report has been published by the Bellona Foundation to fuel the debate in Romania on how to meet its emission and energy challenge. The report shows Romania’s unique potential to become CO2 negative, by not only producing electricity in a CO2-neutral way but actually absorbing already emitted CO2 from the atmosphere. It is the result of […]

This publication was prepared by the Bellona Foundation to fuel the debate in Hungary on how to meet its emission and energy challenges. By studying three potential emission trajectories to 2050, it offers a long-term appraisal of the economic and environmental consequences of broad CCS application in the Hungarian power and heavy industry sectors. Publicly […]

The Šoštanj project is the first case where a CCS feasibility assessment was carried out as a result of the CCS Directive, and the content of this CCS assessment was then challenged directly in front of the Commission. Unless the Commission provides further guidance to the interpretation of article 33.1 of the CCS Directive, there […]

The goal of the report is to analyze the true costs of the nuclear power generation in the Russian Federation.

The need for this report arose from the fact that in the past several years, the Russian State Nuclear Corporation Rosatom – the top authority governing the Russian nuclear industry, including its nuclear energy-generating sector – has been engaged in a massive propaganda campaign extolling the virtues of low-capacity nuclear power plants (LCNPPs), complete with […]

Murmansk Region, a large administrative area on the Kola Peninsula in Russia’s European North, has a broad range of non-conventional renewable energy sources at its disposal – the sun and wind, small rivers, tides and ocean waves, etc. Each of these resources has its own distinct seasonal characteristics. For instance, the supply of solar energy […]

This publication has been prepared by the Bellona Foundation to fuel the debate in Poland on how to meet its emission and energy challenge. It is the result of a year’s work both in Poland and Oslo. The Bellona Foundation would like to thank the European Climate Foundation, the Global CCS Institute and other sponsors […]

The present report is an update of many years of work by the international environmental foundation Bellona to prevent the negative impacts to the environment and public health caused by plants from Norilsk Nickel Mining and Metallurgical Company (MMC).

The article is a result of scientific work in the ECCO project, a project which received funding from the European Community`s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013). The main objective of the project was to facilitate strategic decision making regarding early and future implementation of CO2 value chains. Europe is the world region with the most comprehensive pricing of CO2 emissions. […]

This report aims at identifying three possible pathways Greece may take to respond to its emission mitigation challenge through 2050. Unless the price of carbon remains at today’s levels, an unlikely prospect given current EU policy, CCS will become a major contributor to Greece’s efforts to meet its energy demands while at the same time attaining its climate policy targets.

 The study looks at the role and possible contribution of CCS in a 2050 renewable/CO2 neutral Nordic region, with the total energy perspective in mind. It examines the full energy picture and how all emissions need to be considered, both large stationary that could have CCS and all other emissions. Mapping of current energy use and emissions in each […]

The Sahara Forest Project is a unique combination of proven environmental technologies, such as solar termal power, modern biomass production and the Seawater Greenhouse. The resulting synergies enable restorative growth in the world’s most arid regions. Find out more by downloading the project folder below.

This publication explains why capture and geological storage of CO2 is a necessary tool to combat global warming.

The purpose of the guidelines is to set out preliminary recommendations for the development of safe and effective projects. They are directed towards those who may be involved in decisions on a proposed project, such as developers, regulators, financiers and project operators.

“Nuclear and Radiation Safety in 2008 and for the Period through 2015” (Federal Target Program for Nuclear and Radiation Safety for 2008 through 2015) — analysed by Bellona.

Recommendations for how amines can be used for CO2 capture with minimal risk for environmental impacts

Bellona Europa has carried out a screening of the status and potential for CCS implementation in in nine EU Member States. Below you can download the final reports mapping the political landscape of CCS in nine EU member states in Eastern and Southern Europe. The reports will serve as a basis for further engagement by Bellona – […]

Recommendations for how the European Commission can perform its comitology process for financing CCS demonstration projects

Study of how electricity prices will be influenced by short or long distances for CO2transport.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the legal framework established by the Directive on geological storage of CO2 in order to anticipate some of the legal issues and challenges that Norway might meet when implementing the Directive in its national legislation.

The concept of a nuclear-powered subsea drilling site for oil and gas development on the Russian Arctic shelf.

This paper argues that the regulations and incentives neccessary to make CCS commercially viable by 2020 are: (1) adaptation of regulations that allows and regulate CO2 capture and storage, (2) incentives to ensure demonstration projects are established by 2015, and (3) market regulations to establish a market for CCS from 2020.

The EU is planning to build 10-12 demonstration projects for CCS. This report analyzes different funding options for the demonstration projects.

This report shows how available and emerging technological solutions can reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent by 2050.

What is CO2? Why is it so important to reduce CO2 emissions? Learn all of the basic facts on CO2 in just 5 minutes from our fact sheet.

CO2 emissions can be reduced significantly if CCS is deployed globally. But what is CCS?

A fact sheet explaining the basics of CO2 capture.

This paper documents the global potential for CCS. If CCS is widely deployed the global CO2 emissions can be reduced by 236 billion tonnes by 2050. The calculations indicate that wide implementation of CCS can reduce CO2 emissions by 54% in the EU and 33% globally in 2050 compared to emission levels today. Such a reduction in […]

The European Technology Platform on Zero Emission Fossil Fuel Power Plants – ZEP – is a project gathering more than 200 experts on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). The aim of ZEP is to establish gas- and coal power plants with no CO2 emissions.

The objective of this paper is to discuss different options for reducing global CO2 emissions. Furthermore, a strategy for achieving 50 to 80 percent reductions in global CO2 emissions by 2050 will be suggested.

An increased implementation of renewable energy productions is slowed down by economic, technical, land use, social and environmental barriers. Especially the technical, environmental and social barriers related to renewable energy sources indicate the continued domination of fossil energy sources also in 2030. The objective of this paper is to analyze the potential and barriers for increased […]

The objective of this paper is to analyze how global energy demand and CO2 emissions will develop based on the assumptions and scenarios established by the IEA. This paper will also present the suggested actions by IEA for reducing global CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the scenarios from IEA will be compared to scenarios established by the […]

Bellona has published the report “Carbon Dioxide Storage: Geological Security and Environmental Issues – Case Study on the Sleipner Gas field in Norway”. The report documents how safe storage of CO2 can be performed by evaluating CO2 storage at the Sleipner field.

Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) in deep saline aquifers is implemented fullscale at the Sleipner gas field in Norway. The offshore gas field Sleipner, in the middle of the North Sea, has been injecting 1 million ton CO2 per year since 1996 without leakage.

A fact sheet explaining the basics of CO2 storage.

This paper is part of the efforts initiated by the International Risk Governance Council (IRGC) which outlines the attributes that an effective regulatory regime for CCS should posses.

This paper investigates the criteria and possibilities of intermediate storage of CO2 in geological formations aiming at large scale implementation of CCS for deep emission reduction.

Energy demand scenarios show that there will be a gap between total global energy demand and renewable energy production over the next decades. Therefore, a short-term strategy must be implemented to minimize GHG emissions from existing energy production. This can be achieved by developing a carbon dioxide (CO2) value chain including infrastructure for CO2 capture, transport and safe storage.

Bellona’s case study shows technical possibilities and profitability of the CO2 capture for the enhanced oil recovery.

Released November 2004, the forth Bellona report on the Russian nuclear industry suggests solutions as well as giving further details on the current situation.

This report is a sober-minded, scientifically-based foundation that is intended to set the agenda for the debate on the environmental challenges in Norwegian aquaculture.

Bellona’s report on Sellafield and its comprehensive illustration of the plant presents new information about the dumping and spreading of radioactive waste.

This report is principally a survey of the state of technology and technological possibilities. It is simultaneously our hope that it will stimulate others to focus their thinking in terms of challenges and solutions as opposed to problems and obstacles.

The third Bellona report on the Northwest Russian nuclear crisis suggests solutions as well as giving further details on the current situation. Several projects are proposed, in order to solve the problems of further radioactive contamination and the ensuing adverse health effects to the people living in the Arctic areas.

This report sketches how Norway can reposition itself to become an important energy supplier that can help solve environmental problems instead of creating them.

The report gives a thorough overview of the sources of potential releases of radioactivity which could harm the public health and the environment. The problems of nuclear waste and disused nuclear submarines is a product of the arms race and the cold war. Russia continues to build new nuclear submarines, but there are very few provisions being made to properly store old nuclear submarines and develop sufficient storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel and other radadioactive waste.