What is it about?
The global energy and climate change landscape are, at the time of writing, in a state of disarray. Most immediately, oil and natural gas markets have been panicked by the war in the Middle East. The United States of America (USA) and Israel launched airborne bombing raids on the Islamic Republic of Iran at the end of February 2026, who then hit back by closing the Straits of Hormuz. That cut off some 20% of world oil and gas supplies, thereby inducing corresponding rises in wholesale prices on international markets. On the climate change front, mitigation of 'greenhouse gas' (GHG) emissions has been made more difficult because President Donald Trump has initiated steps to withdraw the USA from the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The USA is the world’s second largest GHG emitter country (releasing 11.1% of global emissions) after the People’s Republic of China (25.9%) in 2025. Trump views the Paris accord as being a “unfair, one-sided” pact and wishes to prioritise American economic independence over such international climate commitments. He promised during his 2024 presidential election campaign to reverse environmental regulations, and boost domestic fossil fuel production (part of a broader “drill baby drill” approach). In contrast, many countries committed to the 2015 Paris Agreement seek to become net-zero GHG emitters by 2050; thereby achieving ‘carbon neutrality’. Other nations and regions, such as the Europe (collectively emitting some 12.3% of global GHG emissions), will consequently need to do the ‘heavy lifting’ on climate change mitigation via energy saving measures and the take-up of so-called ‘clean energy technologies’ (such as renewables and nuclear power) to replace fossil fuels.
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Why is it important?
The UK Institution of Civil Engineers’ [ICE] proceedings journal ‘Energy’ (published by Emerald Publishing Ltd.) has for some time adopted the ‘strapline’ of support for innovation in energy systems in the context of “transitions in the era of climate change”. In this issue the reader will find articles that address topics related to net-zero CO2e emissions in construction, renewable energy resources (two papers concerning biofuels), and the interdependencies of critical facilities in urban areas following disasters that cause power outages. They display the international nature of the energy and climate change challenge, including the development of clean energy technologies and power network vulnerabilities, with contributions from Vietnam, India (two pieces) and Taiwan.
Perspectives
This journal will continue to champion technological and behavioural science developments that can underpin a low-carbon energy transition in support of net-zero GHG emissions reduction for 2050. Over recent decades some of the key UK energy agencies and companies have embraced the concept of the so-called energy policy ‘trilemma’: balancing low-carbon energy technologies that, in addition, are secure and affordable. This balance has shifted over time from an emphasis on energy security after the two oil shocks of the 1970s to climate change mitigation from the 1990s. The challenges identified in the opening paragraph will no doubt shift the focus back toward the need for energy security. ICE Energy will stand fast in terms of encompassing the three pillars of the energy policy trilemma. Readers will find Earlycite (i.e., ‘Ahead of Print’) articles with contributions on UK climate change impacts, strategy and standards; as well as on the development of various ‘clean energy technologies’ (including methods for predicting extreme design forces of wave energy converters). Thus, the journal will persist in its support of the energy-related climate change challenges identified at successive UN Climate Change ‘Conferences of the Parties’ (COP), together with their potential solutions. In terms of fossil fuel production/operations and the uptake of clean technologies, the Climate Action Tracker ahead of the UN climate summit in Dubai at the end of 2023 (known as COP28) found that China, the USA, India, the European Union (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 IEA observed that CCS thus far had been a story of “underperformance”. Nevertheless, the IPCC view this technology as being potentially valuable in mitigating hard-to-abate sectors, such as cement and plastics. Engineering net-zero will consequently remain central to the content of this journal, although the achievement of UN climate change priorities will obviously depend on geopolitical events.
Professor Emeritus Geoffrey P Hammond
University of Bath
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Editorial, Energy, April 2026, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1680/jener.2026.179.2.81.
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