Daily Briefing: COP17 wraps | US oil’s ‘$130bn’ profit | ‘Veto’ for UK offshore wind

02.11.26

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News

COP17: Countries agree to step up to save nature but funding and action still short

Kenza Bryan, The Financial Times

The COP17 UN nature talks ended in Yerevan, Armenia on Saturday with countries “agree[ing] to step up efforts”, reports the Financial Times. It says the summit “recognised” that the world is “set to miss its 2030 conservation goals as finance and action have fallen short”. The newspaper continues: “A plan was agreed to accelerate progress ahead of the next summit in Ecuador in two years, dubbed the Yerevan Pathway. It would mean redoubling efforts to tackle subsidies and incentives that are harmful to nature, increasing financial, scientific and technical support for developing countries, and strengthening monitoring and reporting mechanisms.” It adds: “Steven Guilbeault, former Canadian minister of environment and climate change, said that finance remained one of the biggest obstacles.” BBC News notes that a UN report shows the world is “on track to achieve just one of…two dozen [nature-protection] targets” agreed for 2030.

The New York Times says this year’s meeting “marked the halfway point” for countries to meet their targets, set in 2022. It adds that, while there were “tense questions over how to pay for nature protection”, the summit did see pledges for “almost $2bn in new financing”. Le Monde says the agreement at COP17 was only possible after some decisions were “watered down”. Politico says the agreement left “little clarity on how to pay” for renewed efforts. Climate Home News says the summit agreed to “invite wealthy emerging economies like China to assume donor status”. Le Monde also interviews Guilbeault who says “the issue of harmful subsidies is probably the major battleground for the coming years”. The Guardian says: “Calls grow for COP summit reforms”. Agence France-Presse says Saudi Arabia, Russia, Argentina and Brazil were “accused of undermining science at UN nature talks”. [See Carbon Brief’s detailed summary of COP17’s key outcomes.]

UK: Healey to veto new offshore wind projects if they will not lower bills

Sammy Gecsoyler, The Guardian

There is ongoing fallout from last week’s UK budget, announced by chancellor John Healey. The Guardian reports: “Healey has said he will veto new offshore wind projects if they will not lower bills, adding to concerns that the government is moving away from the pro-renewables agenda…The move appears to be a further shift away from Labour’s target of having clean power by 2030.” It quotes Healey writing in the Times saying this is “not a retreat from clean power” [see Comment below]. The story is the frontpage splash for Saturday’s Times: “Ministers will veto new clean-energy projects if they add to Britain’s multibillion-pound wasted-wind bill and push up electricity costs for consumers…In a shift from Labour’s signature pledge to decarbonise all Britain’s power supplies by 2030, the chancellor said the government’s priority must be to cut bills.”

The Financial Times quotes a “government insider” saying: “The idea that it’s green power at all costs has passed…High energy costs have become one of the biggest things holding back the economy.” [High energy costs are predominantly due to the UK’s reliance on expensive gas.] The climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph reports Healey’s comments as “effectively kill[ing] off” the clean-power target. The Daily Telegraph also reports on an energy department consultation on shifting windfarms onto a new type of contract as a “tax raid from John Healey”. The Sunday Times says the National Wealth Fund’s chief investment officer “said the fund would continue to invest in sectors that it had already targeted in line with the government’s industrial strategy, such as clean energy”.

Bloomberg reports on a “cabinet split” over the Rosebank oilfield in the Atlantic, with Healey in favour and energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh opposed. The climate-sceptic Mail on Sunday reports that Fahnbulleh “was looking increasingly isolated in cabinet last night as Labour sources indicated the government was breaking with net-zero ideology in order to tackle the cost-of-living crisis”. It quotes a “Labour source” saying the decision on Rosebank “will be taken across government and just rubber-stamped by Miatta”. The Sunday Times looks ahead to the government’s upcoming “10-year plan”, which it says is intended to be an “ambitious programme covering every stage of life in Britain”.

MORE ON UK

The Sunday National on its frontpage: “How Big Oil lobbied Labour and SNP ministers over North Sea.”
The Press Association reports Scottish “concern” over a budget decision not to fully fund the Acorn carbon-capture project. The Scotsman says it will only receive £12m of an initially planned £200m in support.
Bloomberg: “UK tries to map out risks to public services of extreme weather.”
BusinessGreen: “Sea Link: Government approves 2GW [gigawatt] undersea power connection between Suffolk and Kent.”
The Daily Telegraph: “Britain’s energy policy is driving us to Middle East, says gas storage boss.”
Politico: “A firm owned by French nuclear giant EDF is locked in talks with the UK government as it tries to buy a prime site for nuclear power development.”

Petrol prices set to hit record high under Trump on eve of US elections

Myles McCormick and Jamie Smyth, The Financial Times

Petrol prices are “poised to set a record high for a US presidential administration”, says the Financial Times, “just a day before Americans vote in midterm elections dominated by the rising cost of living”. It continues: “The US president’s unwelcome record comes as fuel costs – which have surged since he launched his war against Iran in February – have emerged as a major liability for Republicans ahead of this week’s vote.” The newspaper says: “On the campaign trail in 2024, Trump won over many voters with a pledge to slash petrol prices to $2 a gallon and tackle rampant inflation that had dogged Americans under Biden. Instead, the war has sent prices markedly higher.” It adds that this year, “Trump has stirred up anger by hailing energy groups’ [near-record] earnings as a boon for the US”. CNBC says: “Trump promised to slash energy costs – but gasoline, diesel and jet fuel all soared instead.”

MORE ON US

The New York Times: “How Trump is dismantling America’s scientific research machine.”
The Guardian: “Trump boosted half of US coal plants with taxpayer dollars and ‘free passes to pollute’, report says.”
Reuters: “Trump touted a record Venezuela oil deal. Now reality is setting in.”
Deutsche Welle: “The US turns it back on electric vehicles.”
Time: “The key climate issues to watch in the midterm elections.” Also in Time: “A Democratic wave in the midterms could change how companies talk about climate.”
The Guardian carries comments on high energy prices in the US ahead of the midterms, from journalist Steven Greenhouse and energy economist Mark Wolfe.

US oil industry earned over $130bn in profit during Iran war

Rebecca F Elliott and Keith Collins, The New York Times

Since the start of the Iran war, the US oil industry has “earned more than $130bn in profit as people pay much higher prices for gasoline, diesel and other fuel”, reports the New York Times. It says this is a “conservative estimate”. It continues: “The blockbuster oil profits this year highlight longstanding concerns about who gains, and who pays the price, when wars interrupt the flow of energy…As of this week, Americans had spent an extra $147bn on gasoline and diesel since the US and Israel began striking Iran on 28 February…[or] more than $1,100 per household.”

MORE ON OIL PROFITS

Bloomberg: “Big Oil is grappling with how to spend its windfall profits.”
The Washington Post: “Oil giants report windfall profits as high gas prices loom over the election.”
The Guardian: “Nine big oil firms on track to share more than $95bn profit two quarters in a row.”
The Times: “BP profits reach 18-year high as Iran war drives up fuel prices.” The Wall Street Journal: “BP slashes net debt as earnings soar.”
The Independent: “Profits of European oil giants doubled this year amid Middle East war, report finds.”
CNBC: “Chevron and Exxon hit all-time highs as refining profits soar in reaction to Iran and Ukraine wars.”

NEA: China’s installed capacity of large-scale wind and solar bases in desert areas exceeds 157GW

Xinhua

China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) says the combined capacity of large-scale wind and solar power bases in desert areas has exceeded 157 gigawatts, reports state news agency Xinhua, adding that it will “focus primarily on local consumption of the electricity generated” in the following wave of large-scale bases. Another NEA official says China is advancing the development of “new-type” power grids, according to Xinhua. Meanwhile, the NEA has issued guidelines to promote gas turbine development, aiming to “strengthen innovation capabilities and achieve progress” in “green development” by 2030, reports BJX News. The NEA says China’s gas turbine technology “still lags behind international leaders”, reports Xinhua.

MORE ON CHINA

Bloomberg says “improved profits at China’s state-owned oil majors are likely to help them deliver on Beijing’s demands for energy security”.
Chinese president Xi Jinping has urged Germany to “maintain a pragmatic policy toward China” while stressing the importance of cooperation between China and the EU, reports Bloomberg. Reuters: “China’s Xi calls on EU to work with China, says Beijing handles ties with sincerity, goodwill.”
A Global Times editorial says the concept of “made in China” is a “transition from advantages of scale to systemic strength”.
China’s electricity supply could “face challenges” during this year’s winter peak-demand period, according to the NEA, reports state news agency China News Service.

EU and Canada reach agreement on critical minerals and LNG

James Fernyhough, Politico

The EU and Canada have “agreed a framework to invest more European money in Canadian critical minerals, as part of a broader agreement to boost raw material and energy trade”, reports Politico. It says the agreement, sealed at the end of last week, will see the European Investment Bank putting money towards “critical raw materials”. It says there will also be a “long-term feasibility study” on exporting Canadian gas to Europe. Politico also reports on how EU president Ursula von der Leyen, along with European Council president António Costa and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney, “invoked individual and collective sovereignty as reasons to pursue a closer alliance to weather ‘new storms’ stoked by climate change, challenges to democratic norms and the weaponisation of trade”. For the Backchannel substack, Eddy Pérez and Michael Brewster reflect on the joint summit.

Commonwealth leaders descend on Antigua during global political turbulence

Dánica Coto, The Associated Press

Leaders from Commonwealth nations, which represent nearly a third of the world’s population, will meet in Antigua this week for a summit “during a time of global political upheaval”, reports the Associated Press. It quotes secretary general Shirley Botchwey saying: “We’re looking at issues like conflict, economic shocks, rising costs, climate change, trade, weaponisation of tariffs; and all of this hitting directly the pockets of our people.” It continues: “Climate will be a big talking point because 49 of the Commonwealth’s 56 countries share a border with the ocean as concerns grow over rising sea levels.”

Comment

How I’ll help Britain release its potential

John Healey, The Times

Writing for the Times, UK chancellor John Healey says that high energy bills, “driven by the international gas price”, are making it “harder to invest, to hire and to plan”. He says that last week’s budget “is the start of a new course for Britain on energy”. Blaming the previous Conservative government for “load[ing]” policy costs onto bills, he says: “My budget drew a line. We will stop loading costs onto overall bills and a new cost control framework will bear down on every part of them.” He continues: “Clean power is how we break the grip of international gas prices on our bills. Gas sets our electricity price less often every year and, without the renewable generation added in recent years, this year’s price shock would have hit families and firms even harder. Those who want to rip up renewables would leave Britain more exposed to volatile markets and the dictators who exploit them. But it has to come at the right pace, in the right places, with the grid to carry it. There’s no sense building power that can’t connect and then paying to switch it off…This is not a retreat from clean power. It is the credible route to it.”

The Financial Times asks if the budget “mark[s] the end of Miliband-ism?” It says: “New emphasis on cutting energy costs marks shelving of former energy secretary’s ‘mission’ to deliver clean power by 2030.” It adds that “sceptics, both inside and outside the government, view the symbolic repudiation of Ed Miliband’s time as energy secretary as more about political signalling at a time when the consensus over net-zero is fracturing”. The article quotes Adam Bell, partner at consultancy PF Global, saying: “Various measures like cutting heat pump grants means that the government is unlikely to hit its carbon budgets and will be subject to legal action.” For the Sunday Times, business editor Jon Yeomans writes under the headline: “The ‘clean power for 2030’ pledge is vanishing before our eyes.” An editorial in the Times calls for the government to “get on with” approving the Rosebank oilfield. Climate-sceptic columnist Matthew Lynn in the Daily Telegraph says it “must” be approved.

MORE COMMENT

In the Guardian, prime minister Andy Burnham says ahead of the Commonwealth summit: “We will also support the energy transition in the face of the climate crisis.”

For his Bright Spots substack, Prof Jan Rosenow reviews the latest book by Prof Dieter Helm, which he says is “clearer on what fails than on what works”.
A Washington Post editorial makes what it calls “an environmentalist’s case for permitting reform” in the US.
Contributor Dominic O’Connell in the Times: “Labour promised Scotland £200m for carbon capture. Now it’s in doubt.”
Reuters energy columnist Ron Bousso: “Big Oil’s spending caution speaks louder than its profits.”
The climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph carries comments from journalist David Stevenson on “how to profit” from high energy prices and from climate-sceptic Conservative peer Jon Moynihan on “Britain’s ruination”.

Research

The East Antarctic ice sheet has “much greater resilience” to global warming than the West Antarctic ice sheet – even at global warming of 10C or more | Nature Climate Change
Decarbonising Austria’s residential building sector will require €95-109bn in investment by 2040, accounting for more than 1% of annual GDP | Ecological Economics
Weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation over 1980-2100 will result in global ocean heat uptake, but will also, on average, drive surface ocean cooling | Environmental Research Letters

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