At the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, leaders from the US and EU have backed a phasedown of fossil fuels, with some qualifications. But many African countries say they deserve to exploit their natural resources and develop just like richer countries.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has sent energy costs surging, European leaders scrambling for alternative suppliers of gas, and redirected flows of Russian oil toward Asia. Some European countries also burned more coal in response to the energy shock. But the most transformational long-term change will be in increased investments in renewable energy, according to International Energy Agency chief energy economist Tim Gould.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine upended energy markets and sent prices through the roof. As Europe weaned itself off of Russian fuels, it turned to Norway. The country is now the largest exporter of natural gas to Europe.
Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many European countries have been trying to find ways to reduce their dependence on Russian energy. One place they’re starting to look is West Africa, where Senegal and Mauritania are capitalizing on recent discoveries of natural gas. But many locals are wondering how much they will benefit from their own country’s resources.
The small town of Akureyri, in Iceland, has set itself a big goal: to become the world’s first carbon-neutral city by 2030. It hopes that going green can serve as a model for other places.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year upended energy markets throughout Europe. No country was hit harder than Germany. At the time, more than half of Germany’s gas came from Russia. In the short term, the country had to double down on fossil fuels: keeping coal-fired power plants open longer and building new liquefied natural gas terminals. But in the long term, the war pushed a government falling behind on renewable energy goals to enact some ambitious new policies.
Along the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia sits Lake Kariba, where low water levels have interrupted power supply to both countries — profoundly impacting the economy.
Guyana is hoping that newly discovered offshore crude reserves can help transform the country's economy and offset its ongoing poverty crisis. But some people are concerned about what this may mean for the environment.
The lights may be off, but "crisis mode" is definitely switched on in South Africa. Despite a national state of disaster and a new minister of electricity, scheduled power outages, known as load-shedding, continue to heavily impact citizens.
Beijing signs onto a deal with the Taliban to extract oil from the north of Afghanistan. Graeme Smith, a senior consultant for the International Crisis Group, discusses the implications of the agreement with The World's host Carol Hills.
Panic spread across Pakistan as many major cities, along with remote towns and villages across the country, were left in darkness as authorities struggled to make even partial restorations of the power supply, after an energy-saving measure by the government backfired.