Colombia’s environment minister, Irene Velez Torres, tells Agence France-Presse that the countries gathered in Santa Marta, Colombia, for this week’s conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels represent “a new power” in the world. The newswire says the “breakaway climate conference” has “drawn nations wanting to accelerate the fossil fuel phaseout despite the stalemate in the UN-led ‘COP’ summits”. It quotes Velez Torres criticising the “consensus methodology” of COP, which she says has resulted in a “de facto veto” against countries “that want more ambitious discussions”.

The New York Times says “high-level discussions” at the summit will begin on Tuesday and last through to Wednesday, with the expectation that any plans developed could be brought through to COP31 in Turkey, later this year. Down to Earth reports that a “global group of leading scientists in climate, economics and technology” has launched a new science-based panel at the Santa Marta conference to provide advice to governments on transitioning away from fossil fuels. More than 250 legal experts have issued a warning to governments that they have a legal obligation “under multiple sources of international law” to phase out fossil fuels, according to BusinessGreen. A lack of financing options has emerged as a key barrier to moving away from fossil fuels, notes an article in the Associated Press. Indigenous leaders warned at the event that “the energy transition must not be used as a fresh excuse to plunder Indigenous territories”, reports the Guardian.

MORE ON FOSSIL FUELS

• Oil giant BP has reported a more than doubling of profits to $3.2bn between January and March, as it benefits from high prices from the Iran war, reports BBC News.
• Oil prices rose on Tuesday despite Iran’s proposal to stop disrupting the strait of Hormuz in exchange for deferring nuclear talks with the US, reports Al Jazeera.
• Goldman Sachs says that global stockpiles of oil “are being depleted at a record pace”, reports the Daily Telegraph. 
• The first liquefied natural gas (LNG) for more than two months “appears to have traversed the strait of Hormuz to exit the Persian Gulf”, according to Bloomberg.
• CNN reports that “six of the world’s biggest fossil-fuel companies are on track to make almost $3,000 in profits every single second this year”.
• Analysts say that oil giant Shell’s acquisition of Canada’s ARC Resources “marks a vote of confidence in prime minister Mark Carney’s push to expand [Canada’s] hydrocarbon exports beyond the traditional US market”, reports Bloomberg.

The number of nations cutting energy taxes in response to the Iran war has roughly doubled to 39 over the past month, with the rise in “untargeted” support largely driven by Europe, reports the Financial Times. The newspaper says governments are under pressure to support consumers struggling with energy prices, but analysts warn that “price caps and tax breaks amplified scarcity and often failed to help those most in need”. The article notes that only three European countries have introduced policies to cut consumer energy use, compared to 19 in Asia-Pacific.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Italy is calling on ‌the European Commission to grant member states “the same budget leeway to ease surging energy costs as is currently allowed for defence”, enabling the country to “fund costly aid measures ​for firms and families”. Bloomberg says governments in Asian countries “have already raided their policy toolkits” to tackle an energy crisis “that could get worse”. 

MORE ON ENERGY CRISIS

• Reuters reports on how, in Europe, “countries with a higher renewables output have been protected from steep rises in electricity prices”. Bloomberg notes that power prices reached “record lows” on Sunday in Germany due to strong solar output.
• Across Africa and south Asia, where governments have encouraged people to use cleaner cooking fuels, the energy crisis is “undermining those gains” and pushing people back to firewood, according to the Associated Press.
• New analysis from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) concludes that “back-to-back” shocks triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the Iran war “are on track to cost the average UK household £4,800”, reports BusinessGreen.
• A group of 47 NGOs in the Balkans have called on governments in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia to “resist lobbying” from the US to build gas infrastructure and “focus on renewable energy, in line with EU policy”, reports Reuters.
• Major European investors and businesses have called on the EU to become the world’s first “electro-continent”, with a target for 50% of the bloc’s energy to come from clean, domestically produced electricity by 2040, reports BusinessGreen.
• Bloomberg reports that Indonesia is looking to introduce a new “B50” biofuel blend that could help it curb its reliance on fossil fuels.

During a press conference on Monday, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said China’s installed renewable energy capacity reached 2,400 gigawatts (GW) by the end of March, accounting for more than 60% of the national total, reports state broadcaster CGTN. Wind and solar capacity reached 1,900 GW, accounting for half of total installed capacity, adds the outlet. Industry news outlet BJX News reports 20 provinces in China have disclosed key solar power construction plans for 2026, totalling 627 projects with major projects totalling 58.7GW. The NEA also said China’s green hydrogen production capacity exceeded 1m tonnes per year, reports International Energy Net. China has built a total “green fuel” production capacity of about 8m tonnes of oil equivalent per year, reports China Electric Power News (CEPN). State-supporting Global Times reports China’s oil and gas output rose by 1.3% and 3% in the first quarter. CEPN carries the full transcript of the NEA press conference.

MORE ON CHINA

• Addressing climate change and promoting sustainable development concern the “future of humanity”, says a comment article by People’s Daily. Chinese premier Li Qiang called for the “orderly development of marine energy resources” during a State Council meeting, reports Xinhua.
• Xinhua reports that the profit margin of China’s cleantech manufacturing sector has improved, with profits in lithium battery manufacturing rising 25%.
• There is ongoing coverage of a new policy document on evaluating local government action on climate change in BJX News, Science and Technology Daily and Jiemian.
• China said the EU’s new “made in EU” act imposes investment barriers on foreign firms in low-carbon technologies, reports China Daily. Reuters reports that commerce minister Wang Wentao urged Ola Kallenius, head of Mercedes-Benz and an EU trade body, to influence the bloc to resolve trade tensions over EVs.
• Peking University’s Tang Shiqi tells People’s Daily that major countries could cooperate on “carbon emissions monitoring platforms” to address climate change.
• In the first quarter of 2026, sales of Chinese-made EVs in South Korea surged 286% from a year earlier, reports South China Morning Post.

The Trump administration has announced two more “payouts” for energy companies – totalling nearly $900m – to abandon US offshore wind projects under development, according to the Associated Press. It says that Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind were developing offshore wind projects in New Jersey, New York and California, but will no longer pursue them. Bloomberg notes that the “moves come in exchange for plans by the companies to direct hundreds of millions of dollars into US fossil fuel development”. Among the fossil-fuel projects being pursued are liquefied natural gas facilities along the Gulf Coast, according to the New York Times. The Los Angeles Times explains that the move follows a similar $1bn deal with TotalEnergies and marks “yet another escalation of president Trump’s efforts to obstruct clean-energy projects in favour of oil, gas and coal”.

MORE ON US

• Politico reports that the US house minority leader Hakeem Jeffries has “signalled” that “shielding consumers from rising electricity costs associated with the data centre boom would be a priority on Democrats’ artificial intelligence agenda”.
• Axios has an article about “how carbon removal tech is adapting to Trump’s energy agenda”.
• Two “sprawling” wildfires continued in the US state of Georgia, in conditions that scientists say are amplified by climate change, according to the Associated Press.

There is continued coverage of India reaching peak electricity demand over the weekend. Reuters reports that official data shows how the country increased both coal and gas-fired power ​generation to meet the record demand of 256.1 gigawatts (GW). The demand climbed over the weekend “after blistering heatwaves pushed power usage from cooling appliances, compounding the nation’s energy challenges brought by the Middle East war”, explains Bloomberg. The news outlet adds that India’s rapid increase in solar capacity over the past decade – combined with the recent growth in coal-fired power – has “enabled the nation to handle such demand surges”. Semafor reports that “solar accounted for a fifth of total generation” during peak demand on Saturday.

MORE ON INDIA

• India has formally submitted its new nationally determined contribution (NDC) to the UN, stressing that the developing countries’ commitments “cannot be fulfilled” without adequate “finance” and “technology transfer”, according to the Times of India.
• Reuters reports that a court in the Indian state of Karnataka has temporarily ​blocked new penalties for solar and ‌wind power producers for deviating from scheduled grid supply, following a challenge from industry bodies.
• India Today reports that India’s summer has “arrived early”, with heatwaves in 11 states and a “possible super El Niño” event threatening to increase the heat.

The New York Times has an interactive piece by columnist Robinson Meyer that examines the state of the US’s grid and power prices. He writes: “Our new age of electricity inflation is driven by an important change: For the first time in more than a decade, American electricity demand is steadily growing.” The article walks readers through the changing sources of electricity demand throughout history and how new sources – such as electric-vehicle charging and data centres – are set to grow in the coming years. Meyer explains: “All of this rising demand will eventually mean higher prices unless we build more power generation in the years to come.” Among other things, he stresses that the US should harness the buildout of data centres to improve the power grid overall. He says: “Some of the economy’s richest and most innovative companies are willing to invest in new power plants and improve the grid’s infrastructure. That is a generational opportunity.”

MORE US COMMENT

• The New York Times has a deep-dive feature by climate reporter Lisa Friedman exploring “how the Trump administration ended independent science” at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It notes that Trump’s EPA “no longer has researchers dedicated to climate science”.
• The Financial Times has a “big read”, trailed on its frontpage, on “the great American data-centre divide”, noting that many rural communities in the US are “viscerally opposed to AI infrastructure”.
• Andrew Puzder, the US ambassador to the EU, has another piece in the Financial Times taking aim at EU regulations. He says the EU methane regulation “imposes extraterritorial, prescriptive and paperwork-heavy requirements on importers”.

Andreas Sieber and João Enrique from the NGO 350.org write in Backchannel about the conference underway in Santa Marta, Colombia, and the energy choices facing leaders amid the Iran war and resulting energy crisis. They write: “The question today is not if, but when, countries will accelerate their plans to wean off fossil fuels.” The campaigners say three outcomes should emerge from the conference: “First, a concise set of actionable solutions; second, a structured process to track progress and sustain momentum; and third, concrete inputs into the global transition roadmap, including policy designs and financing approaches that can be adopted and scaled.”

Elsewhere, Mark Hertsgaard, executive director of the global media collaboration Covering Climate Now, has an article in the Nation headlined: “Wait, could this be a climate conference that actually works?” Reuters columnist Angeli Mehta has a piece that considers how the Iran war and wider geopolitics could affect the outcome in Santa Marta and at the International Maritime Organization climate talks this week in London.

MORE COMMENT

• Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald as she visits Australia, former UNFCCC executive secretary Christiana Figueres says “Australia stands at a crossroads” and should harness renewables for “true energy independence”.
• The Financial Times Lex column looks at “why flying less won’t do much to ease the oil crisis”.
• Business journalist Ruth Sunderland manages to use a column in the Daily Mail about Canadian prime minister Mark Carney and a Shell takeover of Canadian company Arc Resources to attack UK energy secretary Ed Miliband.
• Climate-sceptic columnist Melanie Phillips claims in the Times that “mainstream liberal politics is now moving in the direction of intimidatory and violent street mobs demonstrating over the ‘omnicause’ of Gaza, climate change and capitalism”.
• An editorial in the climate-sceptic Sun claims that the Green party of England and Wales has moved beyond “environmental activism” and that “a small army of cranks, loons, radical Islamists and Jew-haters is standing for the Greens at the upcoming elections”.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Josh Gabbatiss, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Anika Patel. It was edited by Simon Evans.

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