In a “lengthy and sometimes rambling” state of the union address, US president Donald Trump announced a new “ratepayer protection pledge” to shield residents from higher electricity costs in areas where “energy-thirsty” artificial intelligence (AI) data centres are being built, reports the Los Angeles Times. It says the president said that major tech companies will be obliged “to produce their own electricity” to circumvent issues with the US “old grid”. The newspaper notes that the speech comes as polling has shown that Americans are “dissatisfied with the economy and concerned about the cost of living” and states that “electric bills” have been soaring as the Trump administration has focused on ramping up domestic production of oil, gas and coal. It was the “longest state of the union” address in history, according to the Guardian. [See Carbon Brief’s tracker summarising how climate and energy announcements featured in the annual presidential address.]

MORE ON US

• Bloomberg looks at what Trump’s clean-energy tariffs – relaunched this week after the Supreme Court struck down the president’s original plans last week – means for US clean-energy industries. 
• The US has appealed the World Trade Organization’s 30 January ruling that clean-energy tax credits granted under the Inflation Reduction Act were “inconsistent” with international trade agreements and should be withdrawn, reports Associated France-Presse. (The dispute was launched by China in March 2024.)
• Bloomberg: “The US is embracing gas-guzzling cars, while everywhere ese goes electric.”

A lawsuit involving “billions of dollars” of clean-energy grants cancelled last year by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headed to court on Tuesday, reports the New York Times. It says the case comes after the agency “seized” $20bn of grants known as “green bank funding” that had been awarded to eight environmental groups under the Biden administration. According to the newspaper, EPA boss Lee Zeldin claimed at the time that there had been “misconduct, conflicts of interest and potential fraud”. In its coverage of proceedings at the court of appeals of the DC circuit, the Associated Press reports judges questioned the administration’s allegations of mismanagement and fraud by the nonprofits, which federal officials “did not substantiate in earlier court filings”. Bloomberg Law reports the appeals court “seemed sceptical” of the administration’s claims that it has the right to claw back the grants, noting that judges “repeatedly” grilled the government’s lawyer about whether the funds could have been frozen, instead of terminated.

MORE ON US LEGAL BATTLES

• The Guardian explores how the Trump administration’s repeal of the “endangerment finding” that underpins US climate regulation could “clear a path for new litigation and policies targeting big oil”. [Read Carbon Brief’s in-depth explainer about what the repeal means for climate action.]
• A federal judge in Texas has axed a “bombshell defamation lawsuit” against environmentalists brought by oil giant ExxonMobil – but has said a parallel case against the California attorney general can go ahead, reports the New York Times. 
• Separately, the New York Times reports that the Supreme Court heard arguments in a long-running dispute over the fate of an oil and gas pipeline in the Great Lakes.

EU countries have given their final approval to scale back rules that require companies to address environmental and human rights risks in their supply chains, after “months of pressure” from businesses and governments, reports Reuters. It says that under the new rules, the EU will limit its corporate sustainability due diligence directive (CSDDD) to large corporations with more than 5,000 employees and €1.5bn annual turnover. The newswire adds that weaker laws have “dismayed environmental campaigners and some investors who said it would become harder to identify genuinely sustainable companies”. However, it notes that the US and Qatar had “demanded” the EU scale back the CSDDD, warning that it risks disrupting their gas supplies into the bloc.

MORE ON EU

• Bloomberg: The German government has watered down a “controversial” law which would have required newly-installed heating systems to use at least 65% renewable energy. 
• Business lobby group BusinessEurope has urged the EU to keep free carbon permits ‌for industries under its emissions trading system, “piling pressure” on officials preparing a major overhaul ‌of the EU carbon market, reports Reuters 
• Climate Home News: “Rush for critical minerals tests Europe’s resolve to protect nature.”
• French power prices have dropped to their lowest level since June as solar power generation pushed down spot prices, according to Bloomberg.

Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice has outlined the hard-right party’s plans for a new government “super department” covering business, trade, energy and housing that he says would work to “reduce energy costs, scrap new-zero madness and change course on renters’ rights legislation”, according to the Press Association. The newswire says the MP for Boston and Skegness said Reform UK – if elected – would “reindustrialise Britain” and set up a “game-changer” sovereign wealth fund which could own British Steel. It adds that Tice promised to bring in “tight quotas and significant tariffs”, as he emphasised that UK national interests should not be “decimated by the growth of Chinese EVs coming in and taking our jobs”. The newswire says he also pledged a “great repeal act” that would revoke “laws that are against the UK’s strategic national interest”, a “huge” new sovereign wealth fund that would invest in energy and other sectors and to “maximise” domestic oil and gas production.

The Daily Mail also covers Tice’s speech, noting that the politician “backed the idea of fossil fuel digging in places like Lincolnshire, a party stronghold”. The newspaper quotes Tice as saying: “It’s our patriotic duty to use our energy treasure”. The Financial Times says Tice also pledged to scrap the UK’s zero-emission vehicle mandate. A number of outlets separately cover comments made by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage during the same visit to USP Steel in the Midlands. The Daily Express reports that Farage “hit out” at energy secretary Ed Miliband’s “fanatical rush to net-zero”, while the Daily Mail says in its print edition that the politician said he “genuinely believes” that Reform UK will “get the public behind fracking”. In its coverage of the politicians’ comments, BusinessGreen notes that Reform UK has reportedly received “more than £2.3m in donations from fossil fuel interests”.

MORE ON UK

• The UK government has announced a new cap on “sustainable farming payments”, with no farm allowed to claim more than £100,000 a year, according to the Guardian.
• A new study covered by the Press Association has found more than 800,000 homes in the UK are at “high risk” of flooding.
• Friends of the Earth has urged politicians to “make polluters pay” for flood defences, reports BusinessGreen.
• The Climate Change Committee’s latest report on Scotland’s climate progress finds the nation has “finally produced realistic short-term plans on cutting its emissions” – but there is a “real concern” about the credibility of its overall strategy, according to the Guardian.
• The Daily Telegraph reports on calls from the offshore oil and gas industry for energy secretary Ed Miliband to “reopen” the North Sea, as Denmark considers plans to extend production in its own fields. 
• The UK energy regulator has confirmed that energy bills will fall by £117 a year per household from April, reports the Guardian.

BusinessGreen covers a Global Witness report that finds that BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies have collectively amassed $467bn in profit since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The outlet says the analysis was published to mark the fourth anniversary of the conflict and finds that the firms’ joint profits jumped from $87bn in 2021 to $195bn in 2022. It adds that “many leading oil and gas firms” have used the windfall to “double down on fossil-fuel extraction and boost returns for shareholders”, as opposed to channelling profits into the clean energy transition. Euronews covers data from the Initiative on GHG Accounting of War which finds that the Russia-Ukraine war has produced 311m tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) – a figure it notes is “almost the equivalent of France’s annual emissions”. Meanwhile, in a comment piece reflecting on “lessons from four years of energy war”, Tim McDonnell at Semafor says the “most expensive, focused and prolonged military campaign against energy infrastructure in history has failed”.

The Trump administration has set preliminary duties of 126% on solar imports from India, “after determining the country unfairly subsidised manufacturing”, reports Bloomberg. It says the US commerce department also set “initial levies from 86-143% for Indonesia and 81% for Laos”, based on US estimates of subsidies that “allowed exporters from the[se] countries to undercut [US solar] products”. Citing BloombergNEF analysis, it says India, Indonesia and Laos “accounted for 57% of solar-module imports to the US in the first half of 2025” and could “heighten uncertainty for an industry not favoured by Trump and threaten to increase costs for producers as well as for consumers”. It quotes Citigroup analyst Vikram Bagri, who said that “relatively high levies will make the US market largely unavailable” for Indian solar panel manufacturers. 

According to Reuters, the announcement is “the first of two” expected in coming weeks in a trade case brought last year by a group representing small US solar manufacturers. Shares of Indian solar equipment manufacturers “fell between 4% and 11% on Wednesday” after the announcement, says a second Reuters story. The decision “threatens to derail” a framework agreed on “barely weeks” ago to “bring down tariff[s] on India’s exports to 18% from 50% earlier”, reports the Hindustan Times. It adds that “this latest protectionist pivot suggests that [the] ‘America First’ policy remains the priority, even at the expense of strategic trade deals”. A third Reuters story cites analysts saying that the US accounts for an “overwhelming share” of India’s solar exports, so the move could “drive Indian module makers to push their stocks” into the domestic market, leading to “oversupply”.

MORE ON INDIA

• In a Hindustan Times comment, ReNew solar CEO Sumant Sinha argues that India is at an “inflection point” in its energy transition as the “economics have flipped decisively”, with the next step to “ensur[e] we can actually use all that clean energy”. 
• According to Down to Earth analysis, February 2026 is “the first [such month] in five years when a cold wave has not been recorded” in India. 
• At the same time, 32 cities across the country recorded “above-normal maximum temperatures” on Saturday, according to Down to Earth’s heat tracker, with Kashmir’s Srinagar seeing a 10C “jump”.

Achieving China’s carbon peaking target places “higher requirements on the energy transition”, as incremental energy consumption must be mainly met by non-fossil energy, writes Ren Yuzhi, director of the department of development and planning at China’s National Energy Administration (NEA), in industry news outlet BJX News. He adds that this means it is “urgent” to enhance the “safe and reliable substitution capacity” of new energy, and to ensure fossil fuel energy’s continuing role as a “safety net”. He says key tasks include “promoting the peaking of coal and oil consumption”. Ren writes that China’s clean-energy technologies are world-leading but face challenges, including “insufficient” innovation and weaknesses in key technologies. He concludes that between 2026-2030, China should strengthen “local energy balance and coordination in cross-provincial resource allocation”. 

Separately, the NEA recently held a meeting of top officials that called for “actively” revising China’s “electricity law” and the “renewable energy law” in 2026, according to business news outlet Jiemian. BJX News also reports on the meeting, citing the readout as saying the NEA will also provide “solid legal guarantees” for building a “strong energy country”.

MORE ON CHINA

• China Coal News reports on signals from major coal-producing provinces for their coal policy in 2026, noting that several are focusing on “high-quality” coal.
• Foreign minister Wang Yi said at a UN Human Rights Council meeting that “all countries” should “properly address emerging issues such as climate change”, says the People’s Daily.
• China’s commerce ministry called on Germany to “further explore cooperation” on clean energy, reports Xinhua. The EU has delayed its “Made in Europe” plan, which was slated to include local content requirements for cleantech, says Reuters.
• Deutsche Welle: “China cashes in on clean energy as Trump clings to coal.”
• Climate scientists Kwesi Quagraine and Erle Ellis write in the the Paper that the world should “abandon [cleantech] trade barriers” and view China’s provision of affordable cleantech as a “positive-sum game”, especially for the global south.
• Semafor: “Why Chinese wind power firms won’t give up on Europe.”

In an article for the Daily Telegraph, EU president Roberta Metsola argues that a “stronger and more pragmatic” relationship between the EU and UK is “in everyone’s interest”. She says that closer cooperation on energy “means more investment and steadier supplies when markets wobble”, while “linking carbon markets gives firms clearer rules before they commit to a new factory or upgrade a plant”. Metsola also points to the importance of collaboration on science, stating: “British scientists, engineers and start-ups are working with partners across the continent on medical breakthroughs, satellite systems and cutting-edge technologies.” She concludes: “This is not about reopening old debates. It is about dealing with the world as we find it…For now, the task is clear: Strengthen what works. Invest in security, in growth, in our young people. Build a partnership built for the world as it is, not as it was.”

In a long-read article for the New York Times published as the north-eastern US faces a record-breaking blizzard, author Porter Fox writes that snow and ice have “cooled our planet and buffered it against natural and man-made climate change for billions of years”. But, he warns, as humanity “rapidly warms the atmosphere with greenhouse gases that melt ice and snow and disrupt the patterns of winter”, it is leaving itself “dangerously exposed to the sun’s heat”. Blizzards, he notes, could become a distant memory “within a decade”, given that it only takes 1C of average warming to “melt the fragile crystals that blanket our mountains and backyards in the dark season”. Porter concludes: “When we lose them, we will lose the shield that has helped humanity thrive for the past 10,000 years.”

MORE COMMENT

• Bloomberg columnist Javier Blais notes that the “idea” of “net-zero” [which scientists say is the only way to stop dangerous warming] is “effectively dead” in the wake of last week’s International Energy Agency ministerial meeting. He argues this political shift should not be mistaken for the “end of renewable energy”, which he notes is “very much alive”.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Cecilia Keating, with contributions from Aruna Chandrasekhar, Henry Zhang and Anika Patel. It was edited by Simon Evans.

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