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Steff Chávez and Jamie Smyth, Financial Times
US president Donald Trump has told reporters that he may block ExxonMobil from investing in Venezuela after the US oil company’s chief executive said the country was “uninvestable” during a White House meeting last week, reports the Financial Times. It quotes Trump speaking to reporters travelling on Air Force One on Sunday as saying: “I didn’t like Exxon’s response…I’d probably be inclined to keep Exxon out. I didn’t like their response. They’re playing too cute.” The FT adds: “Trump’s comments come as the US government steps up negotiations with western oil companies in a bid to attract at least $100bn in private-sector investment to help rebuild Venezuela’s oil sector…[Exxon’s] remarks underline how some of the world’s biggest energy groups remain reluctant to rush into making big capital commitments in Venezuela even as Trump seeks to cajole them to help deliver his strategy.” The New York Times says Trump’s plan received a “cool reception” from the oil executives.
MORE ON US
Wind industry bosses have warned of “negative spillover” effects on investor sentiment after the Trump administration suspended leases on all large US offshore wind projects, reports the Financial Times. E&E News reports that executives from the nation’s largest coal producers – Peabody and Core Natural Resources – have been “tapped to head the newly revived National Coal Council and advise the energy department on all things fossil fuels, according to internal agency documents”. Reuters: “California governor proposes $200m in new state EV tax rebates.” BBC News has a feature on how US families are “struggling with soaring energy prices”. It says: “Some analysts argue that if the federal government were to embrace clean energy, it would help lower prices.” Climate Home News: “Governments defend energy transition as US snubs renewables agency.” Reuters covers a new “note” to investors from Goldman Sachs which argues that oil prices are “likely to drift lower this year as a wave of supply creates a market surplus, although geopolitical risks tied to Russia, Venezuela and Iran will continue to drive volatility”. Separately, another Reuters article says: “Oil prices edged higher on Monday as escalating protests in Iran sparked concerns about supplies from the OPEC producer, while efforts to resume oil exports from Venezuela and expectations the market will be oversupplied this year limited gains.”
Dan Jervis-Bardy, The Guardian
Australia’s environment minister Chris Bowen “wants to use his stint as the world’s chief climate negotiator to lobby Saudi Arabia and others to stop resisting progress at UN summits, heeding calls for a ‘hard-nosed’ approach in dealing with big emitters obstructing the transition”, reports the Guardian in an “exclusive”. The newspaper quotes Bowen, who has been appointed “president of negotiations” for COP31 under the deal that handed Turkey hosting rights for the conference, saying: “We won’t get anywhere if we just have a jamboree of the willing…We need to have a COP which really tries to cross some of those bridges that have been very difficult to cross in recent COPs.”
MORE ON AUSTRALIA
Wildfires in the Australian state of Victoria have killed at least one person, destroyed dozens of homes and burned nearly 400,000 hectares since last week, reports the New York Times. The Australian Financial Review: “‘Long rebuilding journey’: Fires still burning as Victoria takes stock.” Prof David Bowman, a professor of pyrogeography and fire science at the University of Tasmania, explains in the Conversation how climate “whiplash” can drive unpredictable fire weather.
Emily Gosden, The Times
The UK government is on course to miss its target of decarbonising the power sector by 2030 “by as much as a decade”, reports the Times covering new “forecasts” by Cornwall Insight. The newspaper adds: “Rising electricity demand, nuclear plant closures and delays building new low-carbon generation will together leave a shortfall that will be met by polluting gas plants, according to Cornwall Insight. Britain is on course to achieve only 86% low-carbon generation by 2030, falling well short of Ed Miliband’s goal of 95%.” In response to the forecast, an energy ministry spokesperson is quoted saying: “This is wrong. People only have to wait a few days to see the results of our flagship renewables auction, which will demonstrate progress on our clean-power mission by 2030.” A separate article in the Times on “constraint payments”, for what it calls “wasted wind”, traces the issue to a 2010 government policy called “connect and manage”.
Meanwhile, several right-leaning newspapers platform the central claims from a new report penned by an "independent analyst” with links to climate-sceptic lobbyists. The Sunday Telegraph opens its article with the sentence: “Britain risks electricity rationing by the next general election unless its fleet of ageing gas-fired power stations is urgently upgraded, a new report has warned.” The Daily Express also leaps on the claims: “Ed Miliband 'in denial' as he's warned UK at grave risk of having to ration electricity.” The article ends: “A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: ‘This report is nonsense scaremongering, as confirmed by the National Energy System Operator, who has been clear the faster we decarbonise, the more secure we are.’”
Similarly, the Mail on Sunday "exclusively" platforms the false claims of climate-sceptic Reform party deputy leader Richard Tice and Conservative energy shadow minister Claire Coutinho, who both come together to support the newspaper’s misleadingly headline: “The staggering cost of Ed Miliband's net-zero drive finally revealed: £4.5 TRILLION…that's more than the UK's entire GDP.” The Daily Express covers the claims, as does the Times, which repeats the false claim in its headline even though it ends the article with a statement from the energy ministry: “These figures are wrong and wilfully misrepresent NESO’s illustrative scenarios, which clearly set out that the vast majority of this potential expenditure would happen in any case, regardless of net-zero. NESO’s report…make[s] clear that driving for clean energy saves money by protecting future generations, and fundamentally reduces our exposure to fossil fuel markets, which have caused half of all recessions since the 1970s.” [Carbon Brief covered NESOs report in detail last month.]
MORE ON UK
The Times carries an interview with Green party leader Zack Polanski under the headline: “You can fly, drive, eat meat and still be green.” The Daily Telegraph: “Treasury scrambles to cut electric car charging costs over tax fears.” Another Daily Telegraph article claims that “ministers have announced an end to the sale of new fossil fuel-powered trucks in a move that opens up a new battle with the Tories and Reform”. The Sunday Times interviews the “son of the Heinz tycoon” under the headline: “I can make Britain energy secure by building a [gas] cavern under the sea.”
Damian Carrington, The Guardian
The world’s oceans absorbed “colossal amounts of heat” in 2025, setting yet another new record and fuelling more extreme weather, scientists have reported, according to coverage of a new study by the Guardian. The newspaper adds: “More than 90% of the heat trapped by humanity’s carbon pollution is taken up by the oceans. This makes ocean heat one of the starkest indicators of the relentless march of the climate crisis, which will only end when emissions fall to zero. Almost every year since the start of the millennium has set a new ocean heat record.” It also quotes one of the study’s authors, Prof John Abraham at the University of St Thomas in Minnesota: “If you want to know how much the Earth has warmed or how fast we will warm into the future, the answer is in the oceans.” The Independent runs the story under the headline: “Results are in for one of the clearest measures of global heating in 2025. It should be raising alarm bells.”
Bloomberg
China will cancel export tax rebates from April for almost 250 solar-related products and reduce rates on 22 battery-related goods, reports Bloomberg. The move comes as Beijing “seeks to reassure trade partners concerned about surging Chinese exports”, says the outlet. It also says the cancellation could “hasten the failure of the weakest companies” in China’s solar industry, which would help “ease [the] glut” in the sector. Financial news outlet Caixin notes that a “previous rebate cut for solar and battery products – from 13% to 9% – introduced on 1 December 2024” has had “little impact on lifting export prices or reversing the [solar] sector’s financial distress”. Reuters and Singapore-based Lianhe Zaobao also cover the news. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that the government held a meeting with several polysilicon manufacturers, warning them against “coordinat[ing] on production capacity, sales volume and prices”. Jiemian also covers the story, saying the government issued “explicit” directives to avoid monopolistic practices at the meeting. Bloomberg also reports: “Chinese solar shares rally on plan to scrap export tax rebates.”
Separately, Reuters reports on a new policy on “green industrial microgrids” that will require industrial parks that build their own wind and solar power capacity to use at least 60% of that electricity on-site and to sell no more than 20% of it to the grid. The outlet says the move aims at “greening manufacturing while boosting grid flexibility”. State news agency Xinhua also covers the story, saying China has over 300 “microgrid” projects currently in operation. The new policy could “encourage” the development of projects that use renewable power to produce hydrogen, reports the energy news outlet International Energy Net.
MORE ON CHINA
China has issued draft standards to regulate “pollution prevention and control” in utilising and disposing of “coal chemical gasification slag”, says International Energy Net. Caijing notes that “all indicators suggest China's oil consumption will peak” by 2030 and ahead of a global peak, adding that it is now a “natural outcome of the accelerated energy transition”. China has issued the first batch of its pilot projects for “enhancing capacity” for building a “new power system”, including “system-friendly new energy power plants”, “smart microgrids”, “virtual power plants” and “next-generation coal power”, reports International Energy Net.
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