iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 5h

Last week it seemed there was a fresh strategic oil release of 100mn barrles, IEA confirms yesterday and reported via @iancjohnston.bsky.social that these are simply a continued commitment to release the same set of 400mn barrels promised in March www.ft.com/content/2761...

ft.com

Diesel price jumps after IEA says no additional fuel will be released

Agency members say 100mn barrels promised by G7 will come from 400mn stock release agreed in March

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Reposted by Ben McWilliams

John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 6h

Good news. A larger, more liquid carbon market allows UK and EU emitters to buy permits from plants that can decarbonise at the least cost. Plus it avoids pointless CBAM charges on both sides. A no-brainer. www.politico.eu/article/uk-e...

politico.eu

UK and EU reach Brexit agreement to link carbon emissions trading systems

The two sides are now just “tying a ribbon” on the agreement, according to one EU diplomat.

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 5h

Yeah it's optimised for the laptop, so would be tricky on the phone. Thanks, we are working to add in transformers and cable production for grids.

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 20h

Hi Bo, thank you. If you select only the wind technology in legend should be easy to select them? But, generally, we are aware that our wind data are less complete than other technologies (it is harder to get precise CAPEX investment values) - and we are working to improve

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Where are Europe's clean tech factories? Wind factories are concentrated along coastlines; while Sicily hosts the largest solar cell facility Largest clean iron plant is Stegra in northern Sweden (with cheap hydropower) while other investments are alongside legacy plants in Germany 1/2

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

China battery lead is striking for LFP innovation. Lower energy density than NMC, but exciting for not needing nickel or cobalt, and far cheaper. 🇨🇳 EV market is already dominated by LFP, and Chinese inventors make more than half of global patents. european-clean-tech-tracker.bruegel.org/s/YnL02Q

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

A privilege to join the IMF for the launch of their World Economic Outloook. Our panel discussion with Chiara Maggia, Prof Shantayanan Devarajan and Andrea Shalal focussed upon chapter 2 on optimal fiscal response to commodity price shocks. www.imf.org/en/publicati...

imf.org

Coming Soon: World Economic Outlook, October 2026

Stay tuned for the IMF's October 2026 World Economic Outlook, with analytical chapters released on October 5 and 6 and the full report published on October 13 during the 2026 Annual Meetings in Bangko...

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

🆕 Competitiveness and opportunities for European clean tech We combine national-level trade metrics with factory-level investments to reveal distinct clean technology patterns across Europe. We argue that effective industrial policy must look locally. www.bruegel.org/working-pape...

bruegel.org

Competitiveness and opportunities for European clean tech

EU green value chains are losing competitiveness, but strong regional specialisation means support should target regions with the best industrial fit

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

For India, clean tech manufacturing is all about solar. Quarterly investments into solar panel factories are estimated at $2.5 billion by @rhg.com For context, the US boom in solar manfuacturing during Biden term reached just under $2 bn quarterly

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Denmark is fast becoming the new Norway. Battery electric vehicles are approaching 90% of new sales. Substantially ahead of the next EU cluster (BE, NL, FI, SE) at 50%. european-clean-tech-tracker.bruegel.org/s/PJ7Luw

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Typically not till November, AGSI actually reports that we saw net withdrawals yesterday but I suspect this is an anomaly (data or real-world)

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

European weekly LNG imports are up to levels not seen since April. Higher European prices ahead of winter are pulling cargoes in.

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Wholesale electricity prices were > €100 for most of Europe last week. european-clean-tech-tracker.bruegel.org/s/UoP5pQ

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Average EU petrol and diesel prices are now both > €2 per litre, a politically salient point (see Ireland). In nominal terms, both are above highs reached in 2022. Figure shows prices **before taxes**, a truer reflection of scarcity. Diesel above 2022 highs, while petrol remains a little under.

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Data are from the great series of reports by @solarpowereu.bsky.social on the European battery market

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

〽️ European batteries surpass 100 gigawatt hours How much is that? Equivalent to roughly 10 million household batteries or theoretically storing continental European power generation for 20 minutes. Utility-scale segment growing rapidly y-o-y european-clean-tech-tracker.bruegel.org/s/PnOdfg

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Half of new heavy trucks sold in China are battery electric

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

German government was winding down the national EV subsidy scheme. They have since reintroduced it which has seen steady growth return. european-clean-tech-tracker.bruegel.org/s/MoyLpA

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Battery electric share of EU vehicle registrations continues to grow and break records. 28 percent of new registrations in August. Up 10 percentage points year-on-year. european-clean-tech-tracker.bruegel.org/s/E2BN1A

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

An unfortunate consequence of Brexit is that the UK stopped reporting data to Eurostat. We use DUKES to recreate Eurostat-style energy balances 👇 For 🇬🇧 - Electricity is 22 % final energy demand - Wind & bioenergy are fastest growing in FE supply european-clean-tech-tracker.bruegel.org/s/AiSN7w

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Reposted by Ben McWilliams

Bruegel @bruegel.org · 25/09/2026

We've just had another summer of record droughts, heatwaves, and extraordinarily high fossil fuel energy prices - good news might seem scarce. But as Bruegel Affiliate Fellow @bmcwilliams.bsky.social entails, there IS a lot of good news about Europe's energy transition. 📺 Watch the full video

youtu.be

The good news about Europe’s energy transition with Ben McWilliams | Euopean Clean Tech Atlas

Clean technologies are reshaping Europe — its economy, its energy system and its industrial landscape. The Bruegel European Clean Tech Atlas maps this transformation — bringing together the best…

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The EU has asked China to voluntarily restrict exports of hybrid cars. A focus on hybrids is overdue. Since EU introduced tariffs on BEVs in October 2024, net imports of Chinese PHEVs alone have grown from neutral to €600 million monthly european-clean-tech-tracker.bruegel.org/s/hIuMig

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Since start of summer, Ireland, Italy and the UK stand out for high wholesale electricity prices. Expensive gas still setting the price in more hours than neighbouring countries. european-clean-tech-tracker.bruegel.org/s/Qm-ysQ

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Reposted by Ben McWilliams

Bruegel @bruegel.org · 22/09/2026

🚘The European Union’s automotive sector needs a plan, not undue protection 📑 Read the new Policy Brief by Benjamin Bjerkan-Wade, Ignacio García Bercero, Antoine Mathieu Collin, @bmcwilliams.bsky.social & @tagliapietra.bsky.social 🔗 buff.ly/2pW3xbX

buff.ly

The European Union’s automotive sector needs a plan, not undue protection

European automotive policy should prioritise affordable competitiveness over protectionism, using resilience criteria and temporary safeguards

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

On China 🇨🇳 - Competition should be welcome up until a point - BEV tariffs are misguided as they leave out PHEVs - EU should pursue a negotiated agreement with China to set export quotas for a maximum volume of electric vehicles. - Falling back to safeguard measure if necessary

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

In our view: - Discussions on slowing the EV transition are an unhelpful distraction. - Rather than local-content requirements, focus on ensuring competitive access to global market on fair & reciprocal terms. A China trade issue is not resolved by pushing JP/KR/GB & other friendly partners away.

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The European Commission has - proposed to delay the transition to electric vehicles; - proposed to introduce compulsory local content requirements for EV subsidies. - The European Union has also imposed tariffs on Chinese EVs.

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

🆕 The European Union’s automotive sector needs a plan, not undue protection Faced with electrification, Chinese competition and stagnating domestic demand, the automotive sector attracts justified political attention. But the conversation is too centered around protecting incumbent industry 1/5

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Reposted by Ben McWilliams

Robbie Andrew @robbieandrew.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

And 70% in first two weeks of September.

Graph showing: Share of NEVs in total passenger car sales: China (Source: https://robbieandrew.github.io/china/)

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Cars with a battery on board are > 60 % of new Chinese sales in Q3 ! @robbieandrew.bsky.social

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The @financialtimes.com reports today that the EU has approached China to set voluntary export limits on plug-in hybrid vehicles to the EU. This is overdue. Chinese PHEV imports have exploded since EU tariffs targeting only BEVs. Undermining initial tariff purpose & bad for climate.

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Reposted by Ben McWilliams

Simone Tagliapietra @tagliapietra.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

SOTEU speeches represent a good indicator of Europe's policy priorities. Here it is a quick overview of how priority areas have evolved since 2020. Tomorrow at 14:00-15:00 CET we will unpack the speech with Bruegel colleagues in a live podcast - link here: www.bruegel.org/event/sound-...

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Europe's share of global patenting for wind and heat pump technologies is growing, whilst the share for nuclear is constant. For all other clean technologies, Europe's share in the global mix is declining. Part of an update to the @bruegel.org Clean Tech Tracker which now includes patents 👇

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Thanks, this figure as well as 5 and 9 are the three remaining that we need to shift to new format, which should fix this

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Over summer, we have revamped the @bruegel.org gas import tracker. Mostly data pipeline, so webpage should look similar. Weekly updates are now resuming (thursday mornings) & data are downloadable now from the charts directly. Page has imports, LNG flows and storage balances 👇

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The Dutch government has lowered its winter gas storage target to 64%. For context, storages are at 52% today. A significant jump in daily filling would have been required to reach 80%, hence lower target should reduce price pressure.

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Reposted by Ben McWilliams

Robbie Andrew @robbieandrew.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Very strong policy support is sustaining strong growth in sales of battery-electric cars in France, reaching 38% in August, and 30% so far this year. Subsidies are higher for lower-income households, and there are also subsidised leasing schemes for this group. robbieandrew.github.io/carsales/?la...

Graph showing: Monthly sales of new passenger cars: France (Source: https://robbieandrew.github.io/carsales/?lang=en&freq=monthly&type=relative&sort=bev-share&country=France)

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Reposted by Ben McWilliams

Bruegel @bruegel.org · 02/09/2026

📢 BOOK LAUNCH 📗 The European Clean Tech Atlas offers a comprehensive map of Europe’s clean-tech transformation. ✒️ Hèctor Badenes Rodríguez, Benjamin Bjerkan-Wade, @mariejuge.bsky.social, @keliauskaite.bsky.social, @bmcwilliams.bsky.social & @tagliapietra.bsky.social 🔗 buff.ly/i4A4rX1

bruegel.org

European Clean Tech Atlas

The Atlas tracks Europe's clean-tech transformation, showing how adoption, investment and industrial change are unfolding across the continent

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Reposted by Ben McWilliams

Bruegel @bruegel.org · 23/08/2026

📗 Mapping Europe’s clean energy and industrial transformation 📅 2 September | 10:30–11:30 CEST 🗣️ Meet our speakers: @tagliapietra.bsky.social, Laura Cozzi @iea.org, Céline Gauer @ec.europa.eu & @bmcwilliams.bsky.social 🔗 Register now: buff.ly/cyVFQ4t #BAM26 #EconSky

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Noting that Belgium natural gas storage filling has accelerated rapidly since early July. Policy change? or what else caused this?

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Reposted by Ben McWilliams

Jaap Burger @jaapburger.eu · 16/07/2026

Open data = First of all, have a go at finding all our charging points out and about and make a note of their numbers. Good luck with the treasure hunt, and see you in a century!

Fetching EVSE Data

Use the bearer token to request charger details:

The charger label can be found physically on the charging point - it's typically a 4-6 character code displayed on the front or side of the unit.

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

A new report from the JRC shows gross value added grows far more in clean energy technologies than rest of economy for EU

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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

BYD used to only sell battery electric cars in Europe. In late 2024, the EU put tariffs on these cars but not plug-in hybrid (and far more polluting) models. The results are striking. A policy that must change.

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