Category Archives: Energy

Tory MPs angrily challenge Rees-Mogg’s fracking revival plan

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Energy secretary considers bypassing local planning rules as backbenchers voice opposition

Ministers face a furious backlash from Conservative MPs after overturning a manifesto pledge to pause fracking until it is proved safe, and then indicating drilling could be imposed without local support.

Outlining a return to shale gas extraction in England after three years, Jacob Rees-Mogg dismissed worries about earthquakes caused by the practice as “hysteria”, claiming this was often down to a lack of scientific understanding.

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National insurance increase will be reversed from 6 November, says Kwasi Kwarteng – UK politics live

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The chancellor says the move will save 28m people £330 on average next year

Catholics outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland for the first time, a demographic milestone for a state that was designed a century ago to have a permanent Protestant majority, my colleague Rory Carroll reports.

Thérèse Coffey is deputy prime minister as well as health secretary. Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain this morning, and responding to a question from the former Labour MP Ed Balls, who was presenting, she said that as deputy PM whould be would “chairing things like the home affairs committee and different elements like that”. But she rejected claims this meant she would be doing the health job part time. She said:

I’m conscious that in two weeks we’ve already pulled together our plan for patients and we will continue to develop that.

I don’t think it will be a case of being part-time ... We don’t have fixed working hours.

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Senator Joe Manchin unveils bill that would speed fossil fuel projects

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The centrist Democrat believes he has votes to pass the measure, which would also power transmission for renewable energy

The US senator Joe Manchin released an energy permitting bill on Wednesday to speed fossil fuel projects and power transmission for renewable energy.

The bill is expected to be attached to a measure to temporarily fund the government that Congress must pass before 1 October. Manchin’s staff told reporters the senator believed he had the 60 votes needed to pass it.

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Vales Point coal-fired power station in NSW could be polluting in breach of clean air laws

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Environment groups question whether ageing station’s exemptions from some pollution standards are valid

Environment groups say an ageing coal-fired power station in New South Wales that sold for hundreds of millions of dollars may be operating in breach of the state’s clean air laws.

This week Delta Electricity announced it sold the 1,320-megawatt Vales Point power station, located in the state’s Hunter region, to Sev.en Global Investments, owned by Czech billionaire Pavel Tykač.

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Labor urged to axe $1.9bn in ‘zombie’ fossil fuel subsidies promised by the Coalition

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Exclusive: Morrison government announced support for coal and gas projects in ‘gas-fired recovery’ but didn’t formalise contracts, PBO analysis reveals

Labor is being urged to axe nearly $2bn in handouts to fossil fuel developments that the Parliamentary Budget Office found were promised under the Coalition but have not been contracted.

The PBO analysis, commissioned by the Greens, found the Morrison government announced $1.93bn in support for coal and gas developments that had not been formally committed.

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Burning world’s fossil fuel reserves could emit 3.5bn tons of greenhouse gas

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The world will have released more planet-heating emissions than have occurred since the industrial revolution, analysis found

Burning the world’s proven reserves of fossil fuels would emit more planet-heating emissions than have occurred since the industrial revolution, easily blowing the remaining carbon budget before societies are subjected to catastrophic global heating, a new analysis has found.

An enormous 3.5tn tons of greenhouse gas emissions will be emitted if governments allow identified reserves of coal, oil and gas to be extracted and used, according to what has been described as the first public database of fossil fuel production.

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Origin Energy to quit Beetaloo gas project but green groups warn environmental threat remains

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Sale will come at a loss but distance company from both environmental controversy and Russian oligarch

Origin Energy will sell its stake in its Beetaloo Basin gas project at a loss and review all its other exploration permits in a move that will distance it from an environmental controversy and end its association with sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.

Chief executive Frank Calabria said gas remained “a core part of our business” but getting out of gas exploration would free up money to “grow cleaner energy and customer solutions, and deliver reliable energy through the transition”.

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University drops Santos branding of kids’ science roadshow after climate concerns raised

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Exclusive: high profile scientist Lesley Hughes had called on Macquarie University to pull out of hosting Santos Science Experience event

Macquarie University has dropped Santos branding and support for a school science roadshow after a senior Australian climate scientist complained sponsorship from a company expanding fossil fuel production was inappropriate.

Prof Lesley Hughes asked her own institution, Sydney’s Macquarie University, to pull out of hosting one of the events for the Santos Science Experience, arguing the company’s expansion plans were putting children’s future at stake.

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Luis Vuitton reduces thermostat and light use in shops to save energy

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LVMH announced measures after Emmanuel Macron urged France to reduce power consumption

LVMH, the owner of Louis Vuitton, plans to lower the thermostat at its stores around the world as part energy-saving measures this winter.

The French conglomerate will also turn off the lights at its stores earlier, starting in France in October before being deployed worldwide.

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BoM forecasts wetter-than-average summer for eastern states – as it happened

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Hearing that house prices are going down but looking around and seeing they are still astronomical?

Grogs explains why – yup, house prices are falling, but they are coming from eye-watering heights.

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Australia is funding just one-tenth of its fair share of global climate action, study finds

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Wealthy high-polluting countries to face growing calls from poorer nations to help cover cost of extreme weather and sea level rises

Australia is being urged to increase its investment in climate action, with a new report estimating the country is funding just one-tenth of its fair share globally.

The study being released by Oxfam and ActionAid Australia on Thursday calls on Australia to immediately increase its climate finance commitments to $3bn ahead of the UN climate meeting Cop27 to be held in Egypt in November.

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Switzerland picks site near German border for nuclear waste storage

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In ‘project of the century’ country will bury spent nuclear fuel deep underground in clay

Swiss authorities have selected a site in northern Switzerland, not far from the German border, to host a deep geological storage repository for radioactive waste.

After nearly 50 years of searching for the best way to store its radioactive waste, Switzerland is gearing up for its “project of the century”, entailing burying spent nuclear fuel deep underground in clay.

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‘Nothing is decided’: EU energy ministers clash over price cap on Russian gas

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Countries that import large volumes fear Kremlin would respond by halting all gas flows, plunging them into recession

EU energy ministers have clashed over a plan to put a price cap on Russian gas, casting doubt on whether the measure will go ahead.

Speaking after emergency talks in Brussels in response to surging gas and electricity prices, the EU’s energy commissioner, Kadri Simson, said “nothing is decided” on proposals to curb Russia’s income.

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PM expected to reverse fracking ban as campaigners call for review’s release

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BEIS has been sitting on report delivered in early July into possible effect of fracking in UK

Liz Truss must publish a recently completed review on fracking in the UK, green campaigners have urged, amid expectations the new prime minister will lift the moratorium on shale gas drilling immediately.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has been sitting on a report delivered in early July by the British Geological Survey into the possible effects of fracking in the UK, including the danger of Earth tremors.

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German chancellor rejects calls to reverse nuclear power plant closures

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Olaf Scholz says country has enough energy to get through winter after Russia cut gas supplies

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has rejected calls for his government to commit to a longer-term extension of the life of the country’s nuclear power plants and insisted that Europe’s largest economy would have enough energy to get through the winter.

Scholz shut down criticism from the opposition conservative alliance and at least one leading economist, who have described his coalition’s decision to keep two remaining reactors in emergency reserve rather than letting them produce electricity, as “madness” while the government refuses to reverse its long-term plan to close down the last remaining plants.

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NT Labor members at odds with government after call to ban fracking in Beetaloo Basin

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Northern Territory party conference passes string of motions urging a ban on fracking and an end to gas industry subsidies

Grassroots Northern Territory Labor members passed a string of motions on the weekend calling for a ban on fracking in the Beetaloo Basin and an end to gas industry subsidies, putting themselves at odds with both the territory and federal Labor governments.

The previous federal Coalition government helped speed up gas exploration in the resource-rich Beetaloo Basin, about 500km south-east of Darwin, by handing tens of millions of dollars to fracking companies to incentivise exploration.

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Australia hails ‘new chapter’ in Timor-Leste relationship as leaders sign defence pact

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Albanese government looks forward to military cooperation as Jose Ramos-Horta calls for help to develop Greater Sunrise gas fields

Australia has signed a new defence agreement with Timor-Leste, one of its closest neighbours in the Indo-Pacific, allowing increased military cooperation, particularly in the waters between the two nations.

The deal was announced as the Timor-Leste president, Jose Ramos-Horta, prepared to address the National Press Club on Wednesday, where he called on Australia to do more to help Timor-Leste’s economy develop.

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Germany to delay phase-out of nuclear plants to shore up energy security

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Last two working plants were due to be mothballed, but will be used as emergency reserve into 2023 after Russia cuts off gas

Germany is to temporarily halt the phasing-out of two nuclear power plants in an effort to shore up energy security after Russia cut supplies of gas to Europe’s largest economy.

The economy minister, Robert Habeck, announced on Monday that the power plants, Neckarwestheim in Baden Württemberg and Isar 2 in Bavaria, are to be kept running longer than planned in order to be used as an emergency reserve until the middle of next year.

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South African court bans offshore oil and gas exploration by Shell

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Judgment is huge victory for campaigners concerned about effect of seismic waves on marine life

A South African court has upheld a ban imposed on the energy giant Shell from using seismic waves to explore for oil and gas off the Indian Ocean coast.

The judgment delivered in Makhanda on Thursday marks a monumental victory for environmentalists concerned about the impact the exploration would have on whales and other marine life.

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Johnson takes jibe at Truss plans for fracking and North Sea drilling

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Outgoing leader hails £700m funding for Sizewell C nuclear plant in penultimate speech

• Boris Johnson says ‘madness’ not to build Sizewell C – UK politics live

Boris Johnson has vowed to give his total support to the next prime minister, but could not resist using his penultimate speech to take a potshot at Liz Truss’s energy plans.

In an attempt to shore up his legacy just days before he leaves No 10, the outgoing Conservative leader hailed the government’s “accelerated, long-overdue reforms” to make the UK more energy independent and announced £700m for the Sizewell C nuclear plant.

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