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Seher Dareen, Reuters
The rate of output decline from global oil and gas fields is accelerating, meaning companies would “need to step up the pace of investment just to keep output flat”, Reuters reports, covering a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). The Financial Times says production is “growing more precarious because of an increasing reliance on shale oil and gas, where fields need continuous new drilling to maintain their output”. It says the IEA’s findings are “likely to be greeted enthusiastically by the oil industry”, which has argued that it needs to invest in more production. It adds that the IEA has faced “pressure from the Trump administration”, which has accused it of discouraging investment by forecasting “peak oil” this decade. Euractiv headlines its coverage with the IEA’s conclusion that “halting investment in oil and gas would tip [the] security balance towards [the] Middle East and Russia”, noting that “western oil and gas fields decline more rapidly”.
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Oil giant ExxonMobil is introducing a unique shareholder “auto-voting” mechanism that may help “fend off” activists, following “several high-profile activist shareholder campaigns tied to climate issues in recent years”, Reuters reports.
Radio France Internationale
The heatwaves, droughts and floods that struck Europe this summer are expected to cost the region’s economy more than €120bn in the long term, according to a new study covered by Radio France Internationale. In total, it says experts calculated that there were around 100 heatwaves, 200 droughts and more than 50 floods in Europe over recent months. Politico says the EU has already faced an estimated €43bn in costs this year due to these events, “knocking nearly half a percentage point off the region’s economic output”. It notes that the study included physical damage to buildings and infrastructure, the impact on worker productivity and “spillover effects” on other parts of the economy. Euronews notes that the study “hasn’t yet been submitted for peer review, but is based on relationships between weather and economic data published in a separate academic study earlier this month”.
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Riham Alkousaa, Reuters
Germany plans to phase out fixed-price subsidies for new renewables, shifting to market-based mechanisms, Reuters reports. It says a 10-point plan from the economy ministry emphasises “pragmatism and realism”, as German electricity demand grows more slowly than projected. Tagesschau quotes economy minister Katherina Reiche criticising “uncontrolled electricity production by renewables”. It notes that the plan also includes expanding gas-fired plants that could later switch to hydrogen, as well as enabling carbon capture and storage for gas power plants. FAZ notes that energy-intensive industries welcomed the proposals, while WirtschaftsWoche says the plans may spark controversy within the ruling CDU-SPD coalition.
Clean Energy Wire carries a Q&A on the ministry’s report: “The highly anticipated report that economy minister Katherina Reiche labelled as a ‘reality check’ of the transition's progress found that Germany continues to need a faster expansion of renewable energy sources, power grid infrastructure and flexibility options to manage the expected surge in electricity demand. However, it also concluded that cost efficiency so far has been given insufficient importance in energy policy, leading the government to announce it will limit capacity expansion to a level required for achieving the country's climate targets while maintaining supply security.” A commentary for Der Spiegel by reporter Markus Becker is headline: “How Katherina Reiche is slowing down renewable energies.” He criticises the push for more gas plants, arguing that claims of excessive renewable subsidies are “flimsy”, as new backup gas units would also require “massive subsidies”.
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Fuel Cell Works reports that Germany will relax the EU’s “strict” definition of “green” hydrogen in favour of “a more flexible, technology-neutral approach” as part of the economy ministry’s energy policy reset. Handelsblatt notes the government is considering purchasing a significant portion of German power grids currently owned by the Netherlands. Die Welt highlights that German state-owned company SEFE has finalised a strategic liquefied natural gas (LNG) partnership with China.
Sky News
The Australian shadow home affairs minister Andrew Hastie has announced he is prepared to quit or be dropped from the shadow cabinet, if the right-wing Coalition – of which he is a member – does not abandon its support for the nation’s net-zero target, according to Sky News. The Liberal Western Australian MP’s comments, made in a radio interview with ABC Radio Perth, placed him among “a growing number of Coalition MPs to speak out against net-zero”, the Guardian says. It adds that this comes as Sussan Ley, the opposition leader, is leading a post-election review of the Coalition’s policies, including those concerning climate and energy. The Sydney Morning Herald describes Hastie as a “leading light in the [Liberal] party’s hard right or conservative faction”, as well as “an outspoken critic of Australia’s commitment to net-zero”. ABC News reports that Hastie also described a new national climate risk assessment as "climate alarmism". Shadow education secretary Jonno Duniam warned that the Liberals could face a “mass exodus” from the frontbench if they pursue net-zero by 2050 at “any costs”, the Guardian reports.
MORE ON AUSTRALIA
Zhang Yuwei, Jiemian
China’s atomic energy law, the country’s first law for its nuclear energy sector, has been adopted by the country’s legislature, business news outlet Jiemian says. It adds the new law will help with the “healthy and sustainable development of the atomic energy industry and the establishment of China's image as a responsible nuclear power”. The new law calls for the “active, safe and orderly development of nuclear power”, promotion of “comprehensive utilisation of nuclear reactors” and application of nuclear reactors in fields such as power generation, heating and hydrogen production, energy news outlet International Energy Net reports. The law also says the development of China’s nuclear research and industry “shall adhere to the strategies of innovation-driven development, green development and sustainable development”, industry news outlet BJX News says. Elsewhere, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reports China is considering plans to “convert retiring coal-fired plants into nuclear power stations”.
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Former climate envoy Xie Zhenhua and MEE minister Huang Runqiu “will visit Brussels on 16 September to meet with Teresa Ribera”, the EU’s top climate official, Reuters says, adding current climate envoy Liu Zhenmin is not confirmed to attend. Huang recently met with COP30 executive director Ana Toni, Tanpaifang says. In a commentary for Economic Daily, Huang Runqiu and party secretary Sun Jinlong call for a “more effective, dynamic and internationally influential” carbon market. Liu Zhenmin said China must pursue technological breakthroughs in the face of “fierce global competition in green technology”, the Paper reports. Inspection teams found that “some regions” in China are continuing with “high energy consumption and high pollution” projects and that “some [state-owned enterprises]” failed to enact environmental policies, China Daily reports. China issued a policy clarifying pricing rules for “localised new energy projects”, such as directly-connected renewable power supply projects, Jiemian reports. Reuters reports that low solar power prices in China’s first provincial auction for wind and solar power could “discourage new project investments”.
Matthew Brown, The Associated Press
A group of young climate activists who won a “landmark” climate trial against the state of Montana are asking a federal judge to block US president Donald Trump’s executive orders promoting fossil fuels, according to the Associated Press. In a two-day court hearing starting on Tuesday, the young people filing the federal lawsuit will argue that Trump’s boosting of fossil fuels and halting of renewables “violates their constitutional rights”, the article explains. The New York Times says the US Department of Justice is “urging the judge to toss the case”, arguing that it is similar to another case led by the same NGO – Our Children’s Trust – which was dismissed in 2015. The activists’ previous victory – on the basis that Montana had deprived them of a “clean and healthful” environment – “resounded across the country”, according to the Daily Montanan. Nevertheless, it adds that state policies “haven’t changed in the wake of the case”.
MORE ON US
Energy secretary Chris Wright says the US should boost its strategic uranium reserve “to buffer against Russian supplies and increase confidence in the long-term prospects of nuclear power generation”, according to Bloomberg. A Washington Post analysis finds that the Trump administration has “axed nearly two dozen projects addressing health and environmental issues” in black communities across the US south. Danish wind power company Ørsted plans to sell new shares at a 67% discount as it “moves to shore up its finances after its US developments were derailed by the Trump administration”, the Financial Times reports. Politico reports on US solar industry hopes that they will benefit from the “urgent need for electricity”, amid rising power prices and demand from new data centres.
Fiona Harvey, The Guardian
The Guardian interviews Nigel Topping, the recently appointed chair of the UK’s Climate Change Committee (CCC), who says there is “robust evidence” that the country would benefit economically from strong climate policy. The newspaper notes that this comes amid “calls from some politicians to back down” on the nation’s net-zero targets. Topping tells the Guardian: “The business community want[s] strong, stable policy signals and flip-flopping is not good for investment. We see it right now in the US with a huge brain drain and capital drain, as whole sectors are being de-invested or even attacked.”
MORE ON UK
Conservative shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho tells the Daily Express that she thinks Labour energy secretary Ed Miliband is the “most dangerous man in Britain” due to his support for net-zero policies. The Press Association reports that, despite recent rainfall, groundwater and reservoir levels across England continue to decline, with drought conditions likely to remain through autumn amid the “
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