Renewable Energy

Researchers say event described as ‘major tipping point’ for clean energy in era of destabilised politics

Wind and solar overtook fossil fuels in the European Union’s power generation last year, a report has found, in a “major tipping point” for clean energy.

Turbines spinning in the wind and photovoltaic panels lit up by the sun generated 30% of the EU’s electricity in 2025, according to an annual review. Power plants burning coal, oil and gas generated 29%.

Government opts against phasing out new boilers by 2035 in effort to cut energy bills by as much as £1,000 a year

• Analysis: Labour’s warm homes plan is all carrot and no stick for UK households

There will be no phaseout date for gas boilers in the government’s warm homes plan despite its pledge to wean the UK off fossil fuels, but billions of pounds will go towards heat pumps and insulation upgrades.

Labour’s principal attempt to solve the UK’s cost of living crisis, the £15bn warm homes plan, will overhaul 5m dwellings, aiming to cut energy bills by as much as £1,000 a year, in the biggest public investment yet made into home upgrades.

£5bn for upgrades, including insulation, solar panels, batteries and heat pumps, for people on low incomes.

£2bn towards low-cost loans for people who can afford them.

£2.7bn for the boiler upgrade scheme, by which people can swap their existing gas boilers for £7,500 on a new heat pump.

£1.1bn for heat networks, which distribute heat from a central source, which could be a large heat pump or geothermal or other low-carbon source.

£2.7bn towards innovative finance through the warm homes fund, which could include schemes such as green mortgages offering a lower interest rate to homes that have been insulated and equipped with solar panels and heat pumps.

Grants, loans and ‘innovative finance’ will fund green technology, with insulation no longer the main objective

• No ban on gas boilers in UK warm homes plan but heat pumps get £2.7bn push

Attempts to insulate the UK’s draughty homes have failed time and again, with botched schemes over the past two decades leading to a massive drop in the number of insulation upgrades. With its long-awaited warm homes plan, the Labour government has a different strategy: to bypass insulation in favour of installing green technology such as solar panels and heat pumps.

About £5bn will be invested in home upgrades, including solar panels and batteries, in the form of grants to people on low incomes, as well as £2bn in consumer loans for people who can afford them, and £2.7bn in “innovative finance”, which could include schemes such as green mortgages, whereby householders get a lower interest rate if they invest in making their home more energy efficient.

Chancellor, who flies to Davos on Tuesday, will announce changes aimed at encouraging global firms to bring highly skilled staff to Britain

Rachel Reeves will pledge to refund visa fees for some global businesses on Tuesday, as she flies to the World Economic Forum in Davos aiming to showcase the UK as a haven of stability, despite Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats.

The chancellor, who will be accompanied by the business secretary, Peter Kyle, will hold a series of meetings with business leaders at the annual gathering of the global elite in the Swiss mountain resort.

Guardian analysis shows electricity bills were up 6.7% last year, and much higher in some states, and gas bills up 5.2%

• Trump’s failed energy bill pledge leaves US households struggling: ‘It’s obscene’

Donald Trump has comprehensively failed to meet a key election promise to slash Americans’ energy bills in half within the first year of his presidency, with power prices instead surging across the US.

The average household electricity bill in the US was 6.7% more expensive in 2025 compared with the previous year, according to a Guardian analysis of data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Department of Energy’s statistical arm. The increases meant that, on average, US households paid nearly $116 more across 2025 than they did in 2024.