Indonesia is bracing for protests this week after the government raised fuel prices by more than 30% to curb soaring subsidies, as higher costs hit households and small businesses across the archipelago.
For the first time ever, the giant fleet of UK wind farms are earning the government money.
A first draft of a deal for COP26 calls on countries to strengthen their emissions-cutting plans in the next year in a bid to keep a goal to limit warming to 1.5C within reach.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has signed up to provide $530 million to construct a transmission line in Angola.
Several months ago I joined many others in petitioning the UK Government to “convert fossil fuel subsidies into subsidies for renewable energy”.
Consumer energy bills could be set to fall as the government aims to slash renewable subsidies.
Scottish Power has warned no new framework has been created for windfarms when subsidies come to an end in April next year.
The Government has been accused of “irrational” curbs to renewables subsidies after official projections revealed lower than expected energy bills by 2020. Ministers have said cuts to support for technology such as onshore wind and solar are necessary to prevent rising costs to consumers and to curb the projected overspend on the £7.6 billion budget by 2020 for a raft of green measures paid for on bills. But emails obtained by climate change analysis website Carbon Brief under Freedom of Information rules reveal Government projections which show that, while the overspend will add £12 to average household bills by 2020, overall bills would be £97 lower.
The Government has been accused of “huge, misguided cuts” to clean energy after it announced reductions of almost two-thirds to subsidies for solar panels on homes. The move, which ministers say is necessary to curb rising costs of green energy on consumer bills, comes just days after the UK backed the world’s first universal agreement to avoid dangerous climate change by bringing down greenhouse gas emissions. Reductions in payments under the “feed-in tariff” scheme for energy generated by new small-scale renewables are not as severe as originally proposed in the summer, when ministers floated an 87% cut for domestic solar electricity compared with current levels.
Subsidies for small scale solar panels on homes are to be cut by 64%, the Government has announced. Reductions in payments under the “feed in tariff” scheme for energy generated by new small scale renewables are not as severe as originally proposed in the summer, when ministers floated an 87% cut for domestic solar electricity.
The Government is expected to announce key decisions on solar power and fracking, amid warnings ministers are “unravelling” policies on clean energy. The latest round of licences for shale gas exploration are set to be unveiled, in the wake of a vote by MPs to allow controversial fracking for the fossil fuel under national parks and other protected areas. And a final decision will be made on cuts to small-scale renewables subsidies after ministers proposed dramatic reductions of 87% for domestic solar schemes.
Offshore wind schemes could be built without subsidies in a decade with clear support from the UK Government, the head of Europe’s biggest renewables company has said. The most recent awards of clean power subsidies saw guaranteed payments for offshore wind of £114 to £120 for each megawatt hour of electricity generated, more than double the wholesale electricity price and much more expensive than onshore wind farms.
Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida and republican candidate for the US presidency, has told a group of voters he would favour ending government subsidies for all forms of energy. Bush said this would include oil and gas if he makes it to the White House next year. This video, which was posted online by environmental group 350 Action, shows the brother of former President George W. Bush saying that if he was elected, he would "phase out, through tax reform, the tax credits for wind, for solar, for the oil and gas sector, for all that stuff".
Prime Minister David Cameron insists the Conservatives have been the greenest government ever. The Tories have taken criticism this week after unveiling plans to slash subsidies to solar power projects - with opponents claiming it would take Britain’s renewable energy sector “back to the dark ages”. And today questions have been raised about the UK’s decision to suspend a ban on a type of pesticide linked to serious harm in bees and pollinators. However, Mr Cameron hit back at his detractors and argued his administration had done a great deal for the environment and renewable energy.