Environmental groups protest Trump's decision to repeal US climate regulations
On Wednesday, a coalition of environmental and health groups sued the Trump administration over its decision?to revoke?the scientific findings that form?the basis of?U.S. Climate regulations. The lawsuit filed before the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia challenges also the Environmental Protection Agency decision, announced last week, to repeal the tailpipe regulations that limit greenhouse gas emission from cars and trucks. The groups suing include the Center for Biological Diversity…
What's in the EU's proposed 'Made in Europe' law draft?
Next week, the European Commission will introduce a new law requiring a minimum percentage of products to be "made in Europe" when using public money to support 'key strategic technologies. Why do it? Why do it? Prioritizing European-made products in public contracts will allow the EU to leverage the financial power of public procurement, which is more than 2 trillion euro ($2.37 trillion), or 14% of EU output. What will the law do? According to a draft of the "Industrial Accelerator Act", which is due to be published by February 26…
Chevron and a consortium of companies sign contracts for gas exploration offshore Greece
The United States has expanded its presence in the Eastern Mediterranean with the signing of exclusive lease agreements by a?consortium headed by U.S. major oil company?Chevron? to search for natural gas offshore southern Greece. This deal, the second to be signed in recent months by a 'U.S. company, doubles the amount available of Greek marine acreage for exploration. The European Union is phasing out Russian supplies and the United States is looking to replace them. The European Union is looking to replace them.
Trump ends US vehicle emission standards, revokes climate regulations
On Thursday, the administration of President Donald Trump announced that it had repealed a scientific conclusion that greenhouse gasses endanger human life and removed federal tailpipe emission standards for cars and trucks. The administration has rolled back its climate change policies in the most dramatic way possible, following a series of regulatory changes and other actions designed to promote fossil fuels and to impede the development of "clean energy". Trump stated that the EPA had just finished a process to 'terminate the endangerment findings…
Norway Parliament rejects any challenge to LNG plant power supply
The Norwegian parliament rejected on Thursday a proposal that would have blocked?Equinor from supplying electricity to its Hammerfest LNG plant using the power grid of the region. This allowed the "ongoing" development to continue. The Socialist Party, which had previously supported the plan but now deemed it to be "in reality unlawful", withdrew their support. The Storting is the parliament of the Netherlands. It has 48 members. Opedal said that such an intervention "would be destructive to the trust and predictability necessary for long-term investment" for Equinor, but also for all Norwegian industry.
Norway Parliament Rejects Challenge to LNG Plant's Power Supply Plan
Norway's parliament on Thursday rejected a proposal to block Equinor's plan to supply electricity to its Hammerfest liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant from the region's power grid, allowing the ongoing development to continue.Opposition parties had sought to revoke the LNG plant's planned link to the power grid, but the motion failed when the Socialist Party withdrew its support for the plan, calling it "in practice unlawful".A total of 48 members of parliament, known as the Storting, backed the opposition's proposal while 54 voted against."For Equinor and our partners, it is crucial to be able to trust the authorities' dec
Eni, the Italian biorefinery company, has teamed up with Q8 in Sicily to build a biorefinery.
The two companies announced on Tuesday that they had agreed to "jointly" build and operate a biorefinery at Priolo in Sicily. This is a "major" step in the conversion of former chemical facilities. Eni is reorganizing its?chemical division, which has been losing money. The European petrochemical industry is struggling with "overcapacity". Eni shut down its steam cracker in Priolo last year and plans to move part of its staff to a new biorefinery?and possibly a new mixed plastic recycling?plant. The investment in the 'biorefinery' follows an offer made by Q8 that was accepted both by Eni…
Norway Socialist Party Withdraws Support for LNG Electricity Project Opposition
Norway's Socialist Party has withdrawn its support for a proposal to block Equinor's Hammerfest liquefied natural gas plant from receiving a planned onshore power connection, clearing the way for the grid development to proceed.Parliament is due on Thursday to vote on an opposition proposal seeking to revoke the LNG plant's planned link to the power grid, but the motion is likely to fail without backing from the Socialist Party.The government approved the connection in 2023 to cut greenhouse gas emissions at the plant on Melkoeya island off Hammerfest and extend its lifetime.Critics say hooking up the currently gas-driven
Brussels approves $3.4 billion in Spanish state aid to highly efficient power
It announced on Wednesday that the European Commission had approved a 3.1-billion-euro ($3.4-billion) scheme of state aid to Spain to help support electricity production from highly efficient power plants. This comes amid a push by the EU to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The support will be available for new or substantially renovated combined heat and energy (CHP) plants?using bioliquids, solid biomass, and natural gas. To avoid perpetuating the dependence on fossil fuels, natural gas?projects should include equipment that allows the use of at a minimum?10% renewable hydrogen by volume.
In Poland's 2030 climate plan, renewable energy will make up 51-53% of the power mix.
The energy ministry said that Poland aims to have 51%-53% of its electricity mix made up by renewable energy sources by 2030. This is according to a draft version of the national energy and climate plans, which Warsaw will submit to the European Commission. The range of policy scenarios is higher than the 30% Poland announced a year ago, but still slightly lower than the 56% Poland predicted a year ago, as natural gas will now be used to generate more electricity. By 2040, it is projected that the share of renewables will rise to between 65% and 68%.
Canada announces new rules for reducing oil and gas methane emission
Canada has announced rules that have been promised for years to reduce methane emissions in the country's oil & gas sector. The regulations set out a way?for?Canada, the fourth largest oil producer in the world to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 75% from 2014 levels by the year 2035. The new rules fulfill the promise made by Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada to strengthen Canada's methane regulations. However, they allow for a slightly extended timeframe than that announced in previous drafts under Justin Trudeau's predecessor.
German cabinet approves draft law on biofuels, and food-based ingredients to continue using
The Environment Ministry said that the German cabinet had approved a draft law on biofuels, allowing for continued use of animal feed and food as biofuels ingredients. In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Germany's program includes the use of biofuels such as biodiesel or bioethanol in combination with fossil fuels. Oil companies have set greenhouse gas reduction goals, which can be partially met by using biodiesel, often made from waste vegetable oil or rapeseed, and bioethanol, often made from grains or sugar.
Takeaways from COP30 Climate Summit in Brazil
The U.N. Climate Change Summit ended this year with a shaky compromise that ignored most of the countries' main demands, except for one: wealthy countries were obligated to triple their expenditures to help other countries adapt to global warming. Here are some key takeaways from COP30, the climate summit that took place in Brazil's Amazonian city of Belem. HOOKED UP TO HYDROCARBONES Luiz Inacio Lula, the President of Brazil, had called on countries to adopt a "roadmap" to move forward with a COP28 commitment to abandon fossil fuels.
Energy Transition' Future: Fractured, Bumpy and Long
As COP30 kicks off its second week in Brazil, much has changed since the landmark Paris climate agreement was penned 10 years ago.The spirit of cooperation that once reigned has been shattered by economic rivalries and a stark divergence in climate policies among the world’s biggest polluters.The landmark UN COP21 climate agreement signed in Paris on December 12, 2015 saw 195 nations commit to setting binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial levels.
COP30: Brazil seeks biofuel boom, but critics query climate impact
Timothy Searchinger is a senior research scholar from Princeton University. He said that when land produces fuel instead of food someone else will have to clear more land or eat less. Biofuels are counted at zero, so countries believe that they have cut emissions. He said that in reality, the pressure is shifted onto food and land systems. India has already shown signs of this pressure. It has increased the percentage ethanol in petrol, and saved $12 billion on oil imports over the last decade. It has also led to the destruction of engines and arable land.
What is climate financing and why is it important?
Money is needed by countries that want to switch to clean energy and prepare for the extreme weather conditions, as well as other effects of a warming world. Climate finance is becoming more controversial as the risks and costs of global warming increase. What is climate finance? This is all the funding that comes from governments, banks for development, private investors, and philanthropies to help countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or adapt to climate impact, such as through projects for renewable energy, or flood defenses. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Equinor abandons offshore electrification due to rising costs
Equinor, citing rising costs, informed the Norwegian government that it had scrapped its plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the connection of several offshore platforms with the onshore grid. Norway's oil and gas industry is the largest contributor to climate change emissions. It accounts for about one quarter of all emissions. Gas turbines that power offshore installations account for 80% of all industry emissions. The key strategy for decarbonisation has been to replace them with renewable energy from the shore.
Analysts say that China has set a renewable energy goal which it can easily exceed.
The climate goals that China made public on Tuesday promise to continue expanding renewable energy. It has done so at an accelerated pace. However, there is no commitment from China to increase its share of power generation or reduce coal. In announcing China's first goals for carbon reduction, President Xi Jinping stated that China's wind and solar energy capacity would be increased six-fold from the levels of 2020 to 3,600 gigawatts in 2035. Analysts say that China's tendency to set goals they know it can achieve is evident in its achievement of the 1,200 GW target six years earlier than scheduled.
Sources say that Canada could drop its oil emission cap as part of a new climate plan
Three sources familiar with the discussions said that the Canadian government was in talks with Alberta and energy companies about removing a federal cap for emissions in the oil and gas industry if both the province and the industry reduced their carbon footprints in other ways. Sources who weren't authorized to publicly discuss the discussions said that the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney has discussed the removal of the cap with the oil companies, and Canada's leading oil producing province, if they made other environmental concessions. Canada's emission cap has yet to be implemented by legislation.
US EPA proposes to end mandatory greenhouse gas reporting
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rule on Friday to end the mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions by 8,000 facilities. This program, the EPA said, was burdensome for businesses but left the public in the dark about the environmental impact. The rule is a response to an executive order that was issued on the first day of President Donald Trump's presidency. It aims to remove barriers to unleashing U.S. Energy, especially fossil fuels. This is just the latest in a long line of regulatory rollbacks that have undone previous U.S. attempts to combat climate changes.