Oil-and-gas company BP’s annual profits have hit an eight-year high following the global surge in energy prices, the Guardian reports. According to the newspaper, the company reported a profit of more than $4.1bn for the final quarter of 2021 – while the final quarter of 2020 saw profits of only $115m. It adds: “Over the year as a whole, BP made a profit of $12.8bn as global gas markets surged and oil prices rallied to seven-year highs. It compared with a $5.7bn loss in 2020. The bumper profits are likely to prompt fresh calls for a windfall tax on fossil fuel companies to fund extra help for hard-hit households braced for a sharp rise in energy bills and wider cost of living crisis.” Reuters says that the company “plans to boost its spending on low-carbon and renewable energy”. It quotes chief executive Bernard Looney who said in a statement that “2021 shows BP doing what we said we would – performing while transforming”. BP shares have risen by 24% this year, the Financial Times adds. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that the company “will repurchase another $1.5bn of shares using surplus 2021 cash flow before it announces first-quarter results later this year”.

Elsewhere, the Times reports that “BP is in line to receive a multimillion-pound dividend from the collapse of the household energy supplier it co-owned, after pulling the plug on it and leaving a £142m bill for consumers.”

The Daily Telegraph reports on its frontpage that six oil and gas fields in the North Sea – which have already been given a preliminary licence by ministers – will be approved for construction by the UK’s oil and gas regulator. The paper continues: “The combined reserves of all six sites are thought to be enough to power the whole UK for six months, with 62m tonnes of oil equivalent fuel in the ground…A Whitehall source tells [the newspaper]: ‘The business secretary is pushing for more investment into the North Sea while we transition – not just for jobs and tax revenue, but for domestic energy security. Kwasi [Kwarteng] is actively resisting insane calls from Labour and the eco-lobby to turn off UK production. Doing so would trash energy security, kill off 200,000 jobs, and we would only end up importing more from foreign countries with dubious records.’”

Meanwhile, the Times reports that the UK has approved the construction of a nuclear plant designed in China. The paper says the “landmark decision” will “boost Beijing’s hope of exporting the technology worldwide”. It continues: “British regulators have been studying the design, known as the HPR1000, for five years under a process that all new nuclear power plants must face.” Reuters adds: “China’s China General Nuclear Group (CGN) and French utility EDF, had planned to use the reactor design at a plant to be built in Essex, eastern England which could generate enough electricity to power around four million homes. However, since the regulatory process was started in 2017 relations between China and Britain have soured and some politicians have expressed concerns about China’s involvement in Britain’s nuclear industry.” Bloomberg also covers the story.

China said yesterday that it aims to “significantly increase” the iron ore production of its mines and boost utilisation of steel scrap, Reuters reports. The newswire says the announcement was “part of a plan to develop a higher quality, greener ferrous industry”. It noted that “no specific goals were given” in a statement jointly released by three government agencies. But the document “said more than 80% of steel capacity should complete ultra-low emissions reform by 2025, and the industry’s carbon emissions should peak before 2030”, Reuters writes. Reporting on the same statement, China’s state news agency Xinhua says: “China’s steel industry aims to achieve a high-quality growth featuring more advanced technology and equipment, stable resources supply, higher level of intelligence, enhanced global competitiveness and reduced emissions by 2025.”

Octopus Energy and the National Grid are planning a pilot scheme in which UK households will be offered financial incentives to limit their electricity use during periods of peak demand, the Financial Times reports. The 100,000 participating households will be asked to meet energy usage targets during set two-hours windows – and will receive free electricity during this window if they achieve their target – according to the outlet. It adds that the scheme will “test how consumers can help balance the grid and potentially reduce the need for new power stations.”

In other news, the Times reports that MPs will question Jonathan Brearley – chief executive of Ofgem – in Westminster today. The outlet looks at the questions that suppliers and consumer groups want answered – including “Why has Ofgem failed to tackle badly-run energy suppliers?” and “Is the energy price cap part of the problem?” Meanwhile, in continuing coverage of the cost-of-living crisis, the Guardian reports that one million adults went an entire day without eating in the past month, as they were unable to afford food.

US president Joe Biden and German chancellor Olaf Scholz met at the White House yesterday, later vowing in front of reporters to “respond in lockstep” to a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, Politico reports. However, according to the outlet, the “united front” did not stand up to questions about Nord Stream 2. It continues: “When taking questions from reporters, Biden forcefully pledged to shut down the pipeline should Russia invade, but Scholz refused to even say its name.” However, Reuters says that Biden “did not specify how he would go about ensuring the controversial pipeline would not be used”. The Hill adds: “The Russia-Ukraine crisis dominated Monday’s meeting between Biden and Scholz, which largely took place behind closed doors at the White House”. In a preview of the meeting, the Washington Post said the discussion would be “crucial for efforts to bolster Europe’s natural gas supplies amid a possible Ukraine invasion, as well as broader efforts to reduce emissions and combat climate change on both sides of the Atlantic.” And Al Jazeera notes that the meeting “came hours after the US and the EU expressed “firm support for a strong and resilient Ukraine” following a meeting of the US-EU Energy Council”.

Meanwhile, the Guardian has published a piece entitled: “What have Nord Stream 2 and gas got to do with the Ukraine standoff?” It says that gas is “sometimes a political weapon”, adding that the EU gets 41% of its gas from Russia, and that Russia earns 60% of its import revenue from the bloc. Similarly, EnergyMonitor has published a piece entitled: “What the Ukraine conflict means for Europe’s energy crisis.”

A “major” new report from environmental charity WWF-UK warns that farming and nature “must be at the forefront of the British government’s plans to hit its net-zero targets and tackle the climate and biodiversity crises”, the Independent says. The report finds that the “untapped potential” of sustainable farming could deliver emissions cuts equivalents to removing 900,000 cars from the roads, the outlet adds. According to the Guardian, the charity also says that “British farmers must reduce their production of meat and dairy by a third in the next 10 years”. The newspaper quotes Tanya Steele, chief executive of WWF-UK: “If we are serious about tackling the twin threats of climate change and nature loss, farming and land use can’t be an afterthought. Many UK farmers are already using their skills and expertise to produce food as sustainably as possible, but they won’t be able to fix a broken system on their own.” Sky News adds: “The charity said introducing measures like ditching artificial fertiliser or boosting hedgerows would save even more emissions then previously estimated by the government’s independent advisors, the Climate Change Committee…The report accuses Westminster of a “missed opportunity” in its net-zero strategy, somewhat hurried out in October, to tackle emissions from farming and land use.“ BusinessGreen says that WWF-UK has warned of “a ‘distinct lack of detail’ on how the UK plans to decarbonise farming, coupled with “unambitious targets” for curbing its environmental impacts”.

New research finds that the world’s glaciers hold less water than previously thought, the New York Times reports. According to the newspaper, the study uses “a more detailed and realistic digital reconstruction of Earth’s 215,000 glaciers than had been possible before”. The outlet continues: “[The results] imply that further global warming could cause today’s ice to vanish in many places at a pace faster than previously thought.” The Washington Post says that, according to the research, mountain glaciers “could be tapped dry sooner than expected, especially as climate change hastens their melt.” It continues: “The researchers also found the potential sea level rise contribution from the glaciers would decrease by about 20%, from 13 to 10 inches. But since mountain glaciers contribute around only one-third of global sea level rise, this has only a modest impact on future projections.” Reuters adds: “The work analysed more than 800,000 pairs of images of glaciers taken between 2017 and 2018, and found that many were shallower than previously assessed.” According to the Independent, the new atlas covers 9% of the worlds glaciers.

Meanwhile, the Independent has published “dramatic new pictures”, which show the “rapid break-up of Antarctic ice the size of Barbados”. It says the sea ice was part of the Larsen ice shelf – a large glacial shelf extending along the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, which cracked into smaller pieces over 16-21 January. In other new research, Forbes covers a Nature Climate Change paper which finds that across Europe, “votes for green parties increased by 0.8% when heatwaves were on average one day longer per month over a 12-month period”.

US climate envoy John Kerry has nominated Rick Duke – one of his senior advisors – to be his deputy, Reuters reports. The outlet continues: “In a statement to Reuters, Kerry said Duke will play a leading role in implementing US commitments under the Glasgow Climate Pact and encourage other governments to implement emission reduction targets for 2030 that align with the goal of keeping global temperatures from rising beyond 1.5C…Duke previously served as a special adviser on climate change to former president Barack Obama and as a fellow at the Brookings Institution thinktank. He will join fellow deputy special envoy on climate change Sue Biniaz to lead US international climate policy in 2022, replacing Jonathan Pershing, who resigned from the post last month.” Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that Eric Lander – the top White House scientist – has resigned after apologising for “mistreating subordinates”. This news is covered by other outlets, including the Independent and Associated Press.

In other US news, Reuters reports that the Biden administration will make $725m in federal funds available to states to clean up abandoned coal mines. According to the newswire, the money will be distributed every year for the next 15 years to states and tribes “based on their needs”. Meanwhile, the newswire reports that the US Department of Agriculture will spend $1bn on “pilot projects that promote farming, ranching and forestry practices that cut greenhouse gas emissions or capture and store climate-warming carbon”. The Hill adds that the proposal “met with some Republican pushback”. In other news, the Hill reports on a new draft document, in which the Environmental Protection Agency’s science advisers “recommended that the agency tighten its air quality standards for soot pollution after the Trump administration declined to make such a move.” And Reuters says that a series of proposed carbon pipelines in the US midwest has “triggered a battle” over whether companies should be able to seize land from property owners.

A report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) finds that 6.6m electric vehicles (EVs) were sold worldwide last year – roughly double the number in 2020 – making up 9% of the global car market, according to the Independent. “More than half of all electric cars are being sold in China (3.4m), but the market is steadily growing in Europe and the US” the outlet writes. The IEA report reveals just 15% of new cars sold in the UK are EV’s, it adds. However, a story in i news paper reports that demand for used electric cars in the UK has jumped 120% in the last year, with the average used electric car sold within 26 days, compared to 34 days for a used petrol car. The Daily Telegraph links the shift to the incoming “petrol and diesel ban”, which will see new petrol and diesel cars phased out by 2030, while the New York Times speculates that 2022 could be the “the year when the march of battery-powered cars became unstoppable”. Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph also published an article with the subheading: “Electric cars will not solve all our problems, ministers admit, with travel on foot or by bicycle to become ‘natural first choice’.”

In other EV news, Reuters reports on an EU-funded “blockchain rare earth scheme”, to certify sustainable output for EVs. “The system will track rare earths using blockchain tokens, or digital passports, through the complex supply chain from mining to end-of-life, said Teresa Oberhauser of [Dutch supply chain traceability firm] Circularise”, the outlet writes. It adds that the measure should be operational within three years.

Elsewhere, the Guardian covers a report by the campaign group Transport for New Homes, writing: “New greenfield housing developments are locking residents into car dependency”. BBC News adds: “Housing developments on former farmland are adding hundreds of thousands of extra car journeys to England’s roads”, with essential services such as shops, schools and doctors “often almost impossible to reach on foot or by bike”.

“Who pays for the missing millions,” asks Guardian financial editor Nils Pratley, writing that while “customers of failed [energy] companies do not lose a penny when they are transferred to a new supplier”, missing balances are replaced, “as it were, via charges on everybody’s bills”. He points out that “the cost of clearing up the mess of 29 corporate failures in the sector” – some of whom “played fast and loose with their working capital arrangements” – falls eventually on customers: their “surplus credit balances” could be used “to fund otherwise unsustainable business practices”.

Ahead of the fifth edition of “Africa Week”, the head of socialists and democrats in the European parliament Iratxe García Pérez writes in a sponsored Politico post that “a green recovery in Europe that doesn’t take Africa with it does not serve the interests of a mutually beneficial relationship”. She points out that the status quo “breeds a vicious cycle of aid without development” and that “the realisation of a solid, future-proof green pact between the EU and Africa” proposed in the EU parliament last March “is a step toward a green energy transition”, given its support for “large-scale, sustainable electrification programs and investments in renewable energy generation”.

In commentary focused on US energy, Lex in the Financial Times observes that while shale oil producers who “account for about 70% of US oil output” demonstrated “restraint [that] was understandable” last year, “holding back on new supply”, despite a rally in crude prices, shows “that discipline is now being put to the test”.

Meanwhile, in a comment in the New York Times, Bill McKibben and Akaya Windwood argue that the Joe Rogan-Spotify controversy heralds the return of “codger power”. They write that “we need older people returning to the movement politics they helped invent”. One of those campaigns, they suggest, could be to “take on the biggest banks in America for their continued funding of the fossil fuel industry”, given that “fairly or not, 70% of the country’s financial assets are in the hands of boomers and the Silent Generation”.

The knock-on impacts of rising temperatures could more than double the extinction risk of groups of wild meerkats in the Kalahari, a new study warns. Using 22 years of observed data from the Kalahari in southern Africa, the researchers project “group persistence under interactions between weather extremes and fatal tuberculosis outbreaks”. The findings show that higher temperature extremes “increase the risk of outbreaks within groups by increasing physiological stress as well as the dispersal of males, which are important carriers of tuberculosis”.

A new study explores the possibility that Arctic sea ice loss weakens mid-latitude westerlies, promoting more severe cold winters. The authors show that 16 models from the Polar Amplification Model Intercomparison Project (PAMIP) “simulate a weakening of mid-latitude westerlies in response to projected Arctic sea ice loss”. However, “the modelled response to Arctic sea ice loss is weak”, the authors note, adding that “the North Atlantic Oscillation response is similar in magnitude and offsets the projected response to increased greenhouse gases, but would only account for around 10% of variations in individual years”.

There is a “significant and sizeable effect” of unusual temperatures, heatwaves and dry spells on “environmental concern and voting for Green parties” in Europe, new research suggests. Combining high-resolution climate data with public opinion and electoral data, the researchers find that the effect is “stronger in regions with a cooler Continental or temperate Atlantic climate and weaker in regions with a warmer Mediterranean climate”. The relationships are “moderated by regional income level”, the study adds, “suggesting that climate change experiences increase public support for climate action but only under favourable economic conditions”.