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Gwyn Topham, The Guardian
There is widespread UK media coverage of the Labour government’s new budget, which was announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves yesterday. The Guardian reports that electric vehicles will face a 3p-per-mile charge from 2028. According to the newspaper, Reeves “pledged to accelerate the rollout of public EV charging and exemptions from business rates, but disappointed some by not lowering VAT on public charging to meet the domestic rates for electricity”. It adds: “The new EV pay-per-mile charge is expected to raise £1.1bn in 2028-29, rising to £1.9bn in 2030-31. Electric vans, buses and HGVs will not be liable.” Bloomberg reports that, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, “the change will lead to 440,000 fewer electric car sales over the coming years”. BBC News reports that the new EV tax is about half the fuel-duty rate paid by drivers of petrol cars. The Financial Times reports that fuel duty will increase from September, for the first time in more than 15 years. It says: “Fuel duty, which at present is 52.95p per litre for petrol and diesel, is supposed to rise every year in line with inflation, but the last increase came into effect on January 1 2011 as successive chancellors curried favour with motorists.” (See Carbon Brief’s analysis of the emissions impact of this long-term freeze.)
Bloomberg reports that Reeves is implementing measures to cut annual energy bills by £150 per household on average, by “cutting some green levies that support renewable electricity and abolishing a scheme funding home efficiency upgrades”. The outlet says: “Labour has promised to cut energy bills by £300 over the course of this parliament, banking on renewable generation to provide cheaper energy for the country. Chancellor Rachel Reeves plans to shift 75% of the cost that energy suppliers pay for renewable electricity certificates from customers’ bills to general taxation saving an average of £2.3bn a year, according to Treasury documents.” BusinessGreen reports that Reeves is also scrapping the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) energy efficiency scheme. The Daily Mail quotes Reeves, who said: “[The ECO] costs households £1.7bn a year on their bills and for 97% of families in fuel poverty, the scheme has cost them more than it has saved. It is a failed scheme.” The newspaper adds that Reeves “also increased funding for the warm homes plan by £1.5bn to ensure those households don't lose out”. Separately, BusinessGreen says: “Green groups warn [the] decision to axe ECO energy efficiency scheme and plans for [the] new pay-per-mile EV levy are sending mixed signals to the green economy.”
Stuart Stone, BusinessGreen
The government has released a strategy paper, confirming its intention “ban drilling licences and end offshore exploration in new oil and gas fields in the North Sea”, reports BusinessGreen. The outlet continues: “Published in response to a consultation on the future of the UK's energy sector, the North Sea Future Plan aims to make good on Labour's manifesto pledge to halt the issuance of licenses for new oil and gas field, while also confirming an end to new onshore licences in England in support of a commitment to end fracking. The government said the plan would implement the manifesto promise to manage existing fields for the entirety of their lifespan and not issue new licences to explore new oil and gas fields. However, it also confirms the government will allow new drilling that is either in or connected to existing fields.” The Guardian says: “The government hopes that by allowing ‘tie-back’ projects that are linked to existing schemes it can strike a balance between protecting thousands of North Sea jobs and meeting the UK’s climate commitments.” The newspaper adds the government will maintain the windfall tax on oil and gas producers. It says: “Greenpeace said that holding firm on the oil and gas windfall tax, despite fierce industry lobbying, would support the transition to clean energy.” The Financial Times reports that trade group Offshore Energies UK “criticised the government’s decision not to end the windfall tax on oil and gas drillers, which it warned was leading to cuts in investment and jobs”.
MORE ON OIL AND GAS
The Financial Times reports that the National Energy System Operator has warned that there is a risk of gas shortages in the UK, if the UK moves to lower carbon energy “slower than planned”. The newspaper continues: “While supplies were expected to be sufficient to meet demand under normal weather conditions, stress testing for poor conditions had revealed an ‘emerging risk to gas supply security’ in the early 2030s, it said.”
Lisa Friedman and Maxine Joselow, The New York Times
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is delaying a regulation that would have required the oil and gas industry to limit its methane emissions, the New York Times reports. The newspaper continues: “Under the requirement, which dates to the Biden administration, oil and gas companies were supposed to start this year reducing the amount of methane they release into the atmosphere. Instead, the Trump administration is giving them until January 2027 and is considering repealing the measure altogether.” Bloomberg reports that, under the regulation, oil and gas producers would need to “replace leaky equipment and routinely monitor for escaped methane”. The Hill adds that EPA administrator Lee Zeldin “said the administration was acting in order to protect US energy production”.
MORE ON US
The Associated Press reports that the EPA is moving to abandon a rule that “sets tough standards for deadly soot pollution”. Bloomberg says that “American households are paying more than ever before for electricity after prices surged the most in almost two years, according to the US Energy Information Administration.” Reuters reports that “US energy firms this week cut the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating for the first time in four weeks, with oil rigs dropping to a four-year low”. California is “allocating more than $100m” to “spur a market for affordable electric heat pumps and induction stoves to decarbonise housing”, reports Bloomberg. In an interview, Brazil’s environment minister Marina Silva has said the US absence from COP30 “helped undermine” proposals for an oil and gas roadmap, according to Bloomberg. The Financial Times says: “New York City’s top finance official has urged three of the city’s biggest pension funds to drop BlackRock as a manager of more than $42bn, as the metropolis looks to use its weight in markets to tackle climate change.”
Adam Morton and Petra Stock, The Guardian
Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 2.2% last financial year, the Guardian reports. The newspaper continues: “About half of the 9.9m tonnes reduction was due to an increase in solar and wind generation pushing coal-fired power out of the system, according to new government data to be released on Thursday. Pollution from power generation dropped 3.3%, or 5m tonnes, as the proportion of electricity from renewable energy across the year reached more than 40%. It reversed a brief rise in climate pollution from the power sector in the previous year. There were smaller emissions reductions from underground coalmines, heavy industry, farming and households burning gas for heating and cooking. But pollution from transport continued to increase due to greater use of diesel-power vehicles and more people taking domestic flights.” Reuters reports that Australia is on track to cut emissions by 42% from 2005 levels by 2030, in line with the government’s target. However, it adds that the country is not on track for its 2035 goal of cutting emissions by 62-70%. Bloomberg notes that the forecast “doesn’t take into account new action planned under the nation’s net-zero plan”. Agence France-Presse says that climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen told parliament that it was “normal” to have a gap between projections and a decade-long target.
MORE ON AUSTRALIA
Bloomberg reports that Australia is “set to pass a landmark bill that will overhaul its environmental laws” after the Labor government struck a deal to secure support from the Green party. BBC News says: “The changes include more protections for native forests, stricter rules for land clearing and a limit on fast-tracking of coal and gas projects but critics say more is needed.” Former US secretary of state John Kerry is calling on Australia to “gather the world’s 25 biggest greenhouse gas emitting countries and push them to draw up a roadmap to end the era of fossil fuels” ahead of COP31, the Guardian reports. Bloomberg says that some parts of Australia are “at risk of elevated [fire] danger after persistently warmer-than-average conditions dried the landscape throughout much of 2025”. The Guardian reports that temperatures in Queensland and northern New South Wales will remain up to 8C above average up to next week.
Zhang Yuwei, Jiemian
Around 200 retail electricity companies across China exited the country’s power market between August and October this year due to increased “regulatory oversight”, business news outlet Jiemian reports, citing calculations by industry outlet BJX News. It notes that interprovincial power transmission and market-based pricing reform for renewables have brought both “new opportunities” and “greater challenges” for power generators, adding that “intense low-price competition among new energy sources has driven electricity prices down”. The outlet quotes an unnamed manager at a private electricity company saying that profitability has “become difficult” for many retailers.
Meanwhile, power news outlet Dianlian Xinmei publishes an article by He Yang, deputy director at the National Energy Administration, on the need for managing “power reliability”, arguing that China’s energy transition means ensuring reliability is a “significant responsibility” and “faces new challenges” requiring “innovative” solutions. It says renewable energy is “characterised by high uncertainty and low controllability”, increasing volatility and “making the supply-demand situation increasingly complex”. China’s data also currently “only covers medium-voltage users”, with only 36% of wind power and 14% of solar power represented in statistics, making it “difficult to accurately reflect” the actual user experience, it adds.
MORE ON CHINA
An article in the print edition of People’s Daily says COP30 “injected confidence and momentum” into climate action. Xinhua says “Xi [Jinping] takes China to [the] forefront of global climate governance.” The recent trend of Chinese manufacturers building “ever-larger wind turbines” may slow due to insufficient data, lengthy required testing time and challenges transporting blades, Bloomberg reports. China has banned manufacturing products such as refrigerators or freezers that use certain super-pollutants, including for export, reports Science and Technology Daily. The UK plans on stockpiling critical minerals widely used in sectors such as electric vehicles (EVs), to reduce its reliance on China, Reuters reports.
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