Renewable Energy

The US attack on Iran has made the need for renewable energy inarguable. Environmentalists are now being seen for the pragmatists that they are

Donald Trump has done more to accelerate the energy transition than anyone else alive. Fossil fuel companies bankrolled his presidential campaign to stop the transition in its tracks. But when you back a volatile narcissist, unable to concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time, you shouldn’t expect to control the outcome.

It’s not that the fossils are suffering yet. As prices have soared since Trump and Netanyahu attacked Iran, oil executives have been selling shares at gobsmacking prices: the CEO of Chevron, for example, has cashed $104m so far this year. Vladimir Putin has also received a massive boost to his Ukraine invasion budget. As promised, Trump has gutted clean energy rules and programmes, green alternatives and environmental science. A fortnight ago, he stated, with the usual quantum of evidence (zero): “The environmentalists, I mean, they are terrorists … I call them environmental terrorists.”

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

Chancellor aims to curb rising household bills as she consults on reforms to weaken link between gas and electricity prices

Rachel Reeves is poised to raise the government’s windfall tax on low-carbon electricity generators to help limit UK household energy bills, the Guardian understands.

The chancellor is ready to hike the levy introduced in 2022 to target the excess profits made by the owners of older renewable energy and nuclear plants as electricity market prices soared after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Santa Marta conference born out of frustration at Cop summits, where renewable progress has been stalled by major polluters

Everybody knows fossil fuels cause climate breakdown, but until recently, mention of them was all but erased from the annual UN climate summits. Last year, two weeks of discussions ended without fossil fuels being mentioned in the final outcome.

Frustration with those talks led a small developing country with a large fossil fuel sector – Colombia, the largest coal and fourth biggest oil exporter in the Americas – to rewrite the rules. With co-convener the Netherlands, and support from more than 50 countries, Colombia will host a groundbreaking new global conference this month to begin the long-awaited “transition away from fossil fuels”.

Exclusive: Minns government announces contract with Snowy Energy to power public transport in seven-year contract

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Electric bus, train and light rail services in New South Wales will run on fully renewable energy from next year under a new $1.9bn deal, the state government says.

The Minns government on Friday announced it had signed a contract with Snowy Energy to bring all public transport operations in the state under a single renewable energy agreement for the first time. The seven-year deal comes into effect from July 2027 and will last until 2034.

In today’s newsletter: The economic fortunes of the UK are intertwined with the price of the costly fuel – so why are we so slow to ditch it?

The economic fortunes of the UK are intertwined with the price of natural gas. It is an uncomfortable fact that we have all had to wrestle with in recent years. First, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused the biggest inflation shock in a generation as the price of natural gas exploded in 2022, sparking a cost of living crisis that shows little sign of abating. Now, the US and Israel’s attack on Iran threatens to heap further economic misery on the country.

As Rachel Reeves arrives in Washington DC for the International Monetary Fund spring meeting, the bad news for the chancellor keeps coming: the IMF downgraded Britain’s growth prospects, with the UK suffering more than any other wealthy nation as a result of the conflict in Iran – driven in part by soaring energy costs once again.

Middle East crisis | The US and Iran have been in indirect talks aimed at extending the two-week ceasefire beyond its expiry on 22 April, as Pakistan’s army chief arrived in Tehran to continue mediation efforts.

Environment | The world’s top 100 oil and gas companies banked more than $30m every hour in unearned profit in the first month of the US-Israeli war in Iran, according to exclusive analysis for the Guardian.

Politics | Rachel Reeves has stepped up her criticism of Donald Trump’s war on Iran, describing it as a “mistake” that has destabilised the global economy and damaged living standards around the world.

Media | The BBC is to cut as many as 2,000 jobs in the biggest downsizing of the public service broadcaster in 15 years. Staff were informed of the cuts, which will affect about 10% of employees, at a meeting on Wednesday.

UK news | Police are seeking two suspects believed to be behind an attempted arson attack on a synagogue in north London. The Met said two people “wearing dark clothing and balaclavas” approached Finchley Reform Synagogue just after midnight on Wednesday.