“Germany’s renewable energy power capacity is set to rise by
23 percent between 2015 and 2019, while related costs rise by over
a fifth… installed capacity of renewables [is expected to
increase to] 112 gigawatts (GW) in 2019 from 91 GW in 2015. Out of
the 2019 total, onshore wind power capacity would account for 50
GW, offshore wind power 6 GW, solar power 47 GW, and the rest would
be hydro, biomass and geothermal energy.”

President Obama is expected to veto a bill that would
sidestep the need for presidential approval of the Keystone
pipeline project in the US. The project has been a point of
particular political contention, and the administration has been
considering whether the allow the pipeline to be build for more
than six years.

“President Obama announced on Saturday that the United
States will contribute $3 billion to a new international fund
intended to help the world’s poorest countries address the effects
of climate change”, the New York Times reports. The move comes at
the end of a week of strong international leadership on the climate
issue from the US, with an emissions deal announced with China
earlier in the week, and a G20 summit that saw President Obama
deliver a strong message on the need for climate action, despite
the hostility of the Australian hosts towards the issue. The
Financial Times also has the story, noting that “Mr
Obama said no nation was immune to climate change and every country
had a responsibility to play its part in tackling
emissions”.

Australia appears to have found itself somewhat isolated on
the climate issue at the G20 summit. Although climate was not on
the agenda, the US made it a prominent part of the summit. The
Guardian reports that German chancellor Angela Merkel “intensified
pressure on Australia to say how deeply it will cut carbon
emissions”, saying that all countries should offer their pledges to
reduce emissions by the first quarter of 2015.

Shale gas development in Poland has been “much-hyped”, but
is stalling, the FT warns. The country has been an enthusiastic
advocate of shale gas, seeing it as a way to reduce reliance on
imported gas from Russia. But “foreign oil and gas companies [are
abandoning] their exploratory plans, citing bureaucratic tangles
and an unfriendly investment climate”, the FT says. “It is going to
take longer and cost more money than most people imagine,” one
shale gas company tells the paper.

World leaders have pledged money to a UN fund to help poorer
countries adapt to climate change, bringing it close to an initial
$10 billion capitalisation goal. More countries, including the UK
and Australia, are set to pledge money this week. The pledges have
coincided with the G20 leaders summit in Australia, where a final
connunique stressed the need for action on climate change. The
Guardianreportsthat Canada has been
persuaded to support the fund by US encouragement.

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu told an audience in Oxford
that the UK may need one more generation of nuclear power plants in
order to meet climate targets, but that nuclear could be a
financial drain unless it can be built on time and on budget. “We
are not moving fast enough” on climate, he warned.

As subsidies for renewable energy are cut across Europe,
offshore wind providers are seeking to reduce the cost of
generating energy. Offshore wind costs about 125 euros per megawatt
hour (MWh) at the moment, compared with 80 euros for onshore wind.
“However, that is expected to fall below 100 euros by the end of
decade” Reuters reports. New, larger turbines may lead to reduced
costs, it reports.

This summer has seen the highest global mean sea surface
temperatures since systematic measuring began, according to
researchers at the University of Hawaii, exceeding those of the
record-breaking 1998 El Niño year, The 2014 global ocean warming is
mostly due to the North Pacific, which has warmed far beyond any
recorded value and has shifted hurricane tracks, weakened trade
winds, and produced coral bleaching in the Hawaiian Islands, the
researchers say.