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Maha
Dahan, Reuters
There
is widespread coverage of the
UAE’s decision to leave the
Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC), as
well as the OPEC+ alliance
which includes other oil
producing countries such as
Russia. Reuters reports that
the UAE’s exit deals a “heavy
blow” to OPEC and marks a
“win” for Donald Trump, who
has in the past accused the
cartel of “ripping off the
world”. The UAE, it notes, was
the fourth-largest producer of
OPEC+ group, which controlled
nearly half the world's oil
before the Iran war. Operating
outside the producer group
allows the UAE to “fully
leverage its position as a
supplier of some of the
world's lowest-cost and
lowest-carbon barrels”,
Reuters says. CNBC says
the decision will be effective
from Friday. The story
features on the frontpages of
multiple newspapers, including
the Financial Times,
Times, Daily Telegraph
and Guardian.
Axios says
the UAE’s energy ministry
stated its decision reflects
the country’s “evolved energy
profile, including accelerated
investment in domestic energy
production". The outlet quotes
Rystad’s analyst Jorge Leon
saying that oil demand
“nearing a peak” means that
“the calculation for producers
with low-cost barrels [like
the UAE] is changing fast”.
The Associated
Press also links the
UAE’s move with projections of
peak oil demand. It says: “One
reason for producing more now:
Experts think oil consumption
will peak in coming years as
the world transitions to
renewable energy sources.” BBC News
says “one way to read the
UAE's action is as a sign of
this world of reduced oil
reliance…in this view, it
makes sense to raise as much
money from oil reserves as
quickly as possible before
demand craters”.
MORE
ON FOSSIL FUELS
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EU
foreign policy chief Kaja
Kallas has urged countries
in south-east Asia not to
turn to Russia for oil
supplies to cope with
widespread fuel shortages,
reports Reuters.
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Reuters:
“Europe’s jet fuel imports
from Middle East stop,
raising supply crunch
fears.”
-
The
World Bank projects that
energy prices will surge
by 24% in 2026 if the most
acute disruptions caused
by the war end in May,
reports Reuters.
-
Petrol
prices in the US rose to
their “highest level in
four years” as peace talks
between the US and Iran
appeared at an impasse,
according to the New York Times.
-
Bloomberg
reports that rising oil
prices have coincided with
“surging” sales of
electric vehicles (EVs),
with 1.1m EVs sold in
March – 2% more than the
year before. Rising sales
in Europe and Asia
counteracted a downturn in
China and the US, it says.
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Reuters:
“Australian state offers
first gas exploration
permits in a decade.”
Mark
Chediak, Bloomberg
US
clean energy installations are
on track to hit “another
record” this year and account
for the vast majority of new
power additions, despite
facing policy opposition from
the Trump administration,
reports Bloomberg. The
American Clean Power
Association trade body said
yesterday that the US power
sector is expected to add
about 60GW of solar, battery
storage and wind capacity in
2026, marking a 20% increase
on 50GW last year, the outlet
says. The Guardian
covers data from thinktank
Ember which shows the US
generated more electricity
from renewable sources than
gas in March, in a first. The
newspaper adds that 93% of all
electricity capacity added in
2026 is expected to come from
solar, wind and batteries. The
rollout, it says, comes as the
“Trump administration’s
attempts to stymie the
industry have floundered in
court”.
Meanwhile,
there is continued
coverage of the
administration’s decision to
block two permitted US wind
energy projects from
development and provide
millions of dollars in refunds
to the companies behind them
if funds are reinvested in oil
and gas. The Guardian
reports that the decision came
after Democratic US
representatives had called the
mooted agreements “outrageous
and unlawful”. Politico’s E&E News
says the decision was
“blasted” by the Democrat
governor of North Carolina
Josh Stein as “senseless”.
Elsewhere, Politico
notes that developer Ocean
Winds’ decision to return its
offshore wind leases marks a
“high-profile victory in
[Trump’s] anti-wind campaign”.
But it notes the deal “notably
excluded” the lease of the
SouthCoast Wind project, which
Ocean Winds has “already sunk
more than $600m into”. The
fate of SouthCoast, it says,
is a “barometer of whether
permitted projects will find a
pathway to completion or
succumb amid growing
headwinds”.
MORE
ON US
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There
is widespread coverage on UK newspaper frontpages
of King Charles’s state
visit to the US. E&E News
reports that the king
devoted a “portion of his
speech to Congress to
conservation” and the Guardian
says sources reveal that
he is “likely to touch on
the environment in public
as well as private”.
-
Inside Climate
News speaks to
experts about the impact
of Trump’s decision to
fire all 22 members of the
National Science Board
last week.
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Bosnia
and Herzegovina signed a
deal with Croatia to
construct a gas pipeline
backed by investors
connected to Trump which
promises to reduce the
country’s dependence on
Russian supply, reports Al Jazeera.
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Le Monde
says the $1.5bn pipeline
deal came on the same day
that Albania signed a
20-year framework
agreement worth $6bn for
US liquified natural gas
(LNG).
Holly
Williams, The Press
Association
BP’s
profits more than doubled in
the first three months of the
war, prompting accusations
from campaigners that it is
profiting at the expense of
households, says the Press
Association. The firm revealed
its “underlying replacement
cost profit” increased by more
than 130% to $3.2bn (£2.4bn)
in the first quarter of 2026,
up from $1.38bn (£1.02bn) a
year earlier, reports the
newswire. Speaking yesterday
to the House of Commons, UK
chancellor Rachel Reeves said
that energy firms’ profits “is
exactly why” the government
had extended the energy
profits levy on oil and gas
firms, the newswire notes. The
Daily Mirror’s
frontpage
headline says BP’s “£2.4bn war
bonus” is “blatant
profiteering”. The Daily Mail
reports on a tweet posted, but
then deleted, by energy
secretary Ed Miliband where he
reportedly wrote: “Profiting
from a crisis is morally and
economically wrong. That’s
why we’re taxing these
windfall profits to help fund
support with the cost of
living. And [this is] why the
Tories, Reform and the SNP
are utterly wrong to oppose
the windfall tax.” The paper
says the tweet “was later
amended 'to make the political
message clearer' according to
sources”.
Meanwhile,
the Guardian
reports on analysis of
International Monetary Fund
figures by climate campaign
group 350.org, which found
that the burden of elevated
oil and gas prices will reach
“about $600bn” if the strait
of Hormuz “swiftly returns to
normal operations” and will
“surge above $1tn” if the
supply disruption continues.
The figures – which are
“likely an underestimate” –
strike a “stark” contrast with
the “fortunes of US and other
non-Gulf-centred petroleum
companies”, the newspaper
says, pointing to BP’s profits
as an example.
MORE
ON UK:
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The
hedge fund of Jeremy
Hosking – a Reform UK
donor and owner of the
climate-sceptic Critic
magazine – has increased
its investments in fossil
fuels by 54% this quarter,
according to DeSmog.
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Guardian:
“UK faces £35bn hit and
risk of recession this
year over impact of Iran
war, thinktank warns.”
-
The
chair of NatWest was
forced to defend the bank
against accusations of
“climate backtracking” at
a “chaotic annual
shareholder meeting” that
was temporarily suspended
owing to singing
protesters, reports the Guardian.
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The
Daily Telegraph
covers data from the
Energy and Utilities
Alliance – a group that
has long lobbied against
heat pumps – which claims
that heat pumps “could”
cost £138 more a year than
boilers. [For more on
claims around the costs of
heat pumps, read Carbon Brief’s
factcheck].
Victoria
Seabrook, Sky News
Almost
the entirety of Europe saw
“above-average” temperatures
last year, while wildfires
burnt a “record” area and
heatwaves struck “from north
to south”, reports Sky News.
It says the latest “European
state of the climate report”
from Copernicus Climate Change
Service and the World
Meteorological Organization
(WMO) revealed that 2025
brought 46C heat to Portugal,
temperatures of 30C within the
Arctic Circle and “20 large
wildfires at the same time” in
Spain. Reuters
notes that Europe is the
“world's fastest-warming
continent”. More than half of
Europe was hit by drought
conditions in May 2025, it
says, with the year “overall”
one of the three driest for
soil moisture since 1992.
The findings, it says, show
that “climate change is
having increasingly severe
consequences in Europe, at a
time when some governments
seek to weaken
emissions-cutting policies
over economic concerns”. Politico
says the findings come as the
world is bracing for a “major
El Niño” event likely to send
temperatures soaring higher. Euractiv
and the Financial Times
also cover the report.
MORE
ON CLIMATE CHANGE
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Reuters, Le Monde, Bloomberg
and Agence
France-Presse cover
World Resources Institute
and the University of
Maryland data which shows
that tropical forest loss
eased in 2025 after
reaching a record high the
year before.
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Scientists
and meteorologists tell Inside Climate
News that
destructive wildfires in
the south-eastern US have
been fuelled by widespread
drought. Axios says
the wildfires come as
“much of the US is ready
to burn”.
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The
Guardian
says climate change is one
of the causes of a rise in
the number of avalanche
deaths in the Alps.
Megan
Rowling, Climate Home News
More
than 60 governments are
participating in two days of
“high-level discussions” of
the first global summit on
transitioning away from fossil
fuels in Santa Marta,
Colombia, reports Climate Home
News. A group of 18
nations, it says, is calling
for a “formal negotiation
process for a binding
fossil-fuel treaty” and for
the progression of “new
mechanisms for international
cooperation and finance
including an
importers-exporters club, a
global just transition fund
and a debt resolution
facility”. It says that the
plenary saw government
interventions interspersed
with speakers representing
social groups, from women to
the private sector. It
continues: “The result was a
mix of views, with some large
oil and gas-producing nations
urging caution over how
ditching fossil fuels could
affect their economic
development, while civil
society groups piled on the
pressure to decarbonise fast.”
The
Associated
Press reports “more than
50 countries” are involved in
the talks, which are not
expected to result in a
“binding agreement”, but are
designed to “build political
momentum and bring together
countries willing to
accelerate the transition”
outside the UN climate
process.
MORE
ON SANTA MARTA
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The
French government unveiled
a plan to ditch all fossil
fuels by 2050, reports Le Monde.
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The
National
Catholic Observer
says two dozen catholic
groups are in attendance
at the “eagerly
anticipated” conference.
Ethan
Wang, Ellen Zhang,
Liangping Gao, Ryan Woo and
Claire Fu, Reuters
China’s
top decision-making body, the
Politburo,
pledged yesterday to
“strengthen the country’s
energy security while pursuing
rapid technological
development and greater
self-sufficiency”, reports
Reuters, citing a readout
released by the state news
agency Xinhua. The meeting
called for “improving the
security of energy and
resource supply” to address
“external shocks and
challenges”, according to Xinhua.
Efforts should also be made to
“strengthen the planning and
construction” of electricity
grids, adds the newswire. Bloomberg
says the Politburo meeting was
the first such meeting to
focus on the economy after the
Iran war started, as China
began to feel the pressure
from the blockade of the
strait of Hormuz, which has
driven up oil prices and hurt
Chinese exports.
Meanwhile,
China’s newly installed
renewable energy capacity in
2026 will exceed 300GW,
according to a new report by
the China Electricity Council
(CEC), reports state-run
newspaper Economic
Information Daily. CEC
also said that by the end of
this year, the combined
installed capacity of wind and
solar power will account for
half of China’s total power
generation capacity, adds the
newspaper. Xinhua says
“green development” has become
a new driver of China’s
growth. Reporter Wang Yichen
writes in state-run Economic Daily
that the expansion of
non-fossil energy is the “core
lever” for achieving China’s “dual carbon”
goals, helping it fulfil its
climate commitments to the
world. The NDRC’s Guo
Liyan writes in the
party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily
that green consumption and
green exports will grow
stronger over the next five
years.
MORE
ON CHINA
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Bloomberg
reports China is
considering a second
“green sovereign bond
sale” in London in the
second half of 2026 as it
looks to “fund climate
action”.
-
Reuters:
“China commerce minister
says reached ‘soft
landing’ with EU over EV
tariffs.”
-
Qinzhou
in southern China’s
Guangxi province was
battered by its highest
single-day of rainfall in
April, reports China Daily,
although it does not
mention climate change.
China will focus on
weather forecasting, early
warning and climate
adaptation to enhance its
response to extreme
weather, reports Xinhua.
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A
commentary in Lawfare
says two new reports
claiming China will
weaponise geoengineering
offer only “thin”
evidence.
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China
looks to “allow renewable
energy plants to supply
green electricity
directly” to “multiple
users”, with 99 such
projects totalling 34GW
approved, reports Caixin.
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PV Magazine:
“Chinese solar exports
surge 125% in March on
policy change rush, not
underlying demand
acceleration.”
Rajendra
Jadhav, Reuters
India’s
road transport ministry has
proposed amendments “to
formally incorporate higher
ethanol-blended fuels”,
reports Reuters, including
provisions for “E85 fuel, a
blend of 85% ethanol with
petrol, and E100, which would
allow vehicles to run on
nearly pure ethanol”. It adds
that in 2025, India ”achieved
its target” of 20% ethanol
blending and is “now looking
to increase blending further
to reduce costly imports of
petroleum products.” The draft
is now open for public
comments, per the newswire. At
the same time, the Economic Times
reports that the government is
“weighing a plan” to subsidise
electric cooktops, “aiming to
move at least some households
from LPG to solar-powered
electricity usage” amid energy
market disruptions.
Elsewhere,
according to Business
Standard, India’s coal
ministry signed its first-ever
commercial coal mining
agreements that allow for
“underground coal
gasification”, where synthetic
coal gas “can be used as a
feedstock” to make urea and
ammonia and “reduc[e]
dependence on imported
fertilisers”. And India’s coal
mine methane data “still has
major gaps”, according to
energy thinktank Ember’s new
review covered by the Economic Times,
with the International Energy
Agency’s emissions estimates
“still 67% higher” than the
country’s reported figures in
2024.
MORE
ON INDIA
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A
Hindustan Times
editorial says that
India’s new pledge to the
Paris Agreement “sends a
strong signal of continued
faith in this mechanism, a
renegade US
notwithstanding”, while
“upholding historical
responsibility”.
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On
Monday, the district of
Banda in the state of
Uttar Pradesh recorded a
maximum temperature of
47.6C, making it the
“hottest place in the
world” at the time, per
the Times of India.
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