❌

Normal view

US launches 10th round of strikes as Iran says it is in ‘full-scale war’

Diplomats say de-escalation talks continue as Trump vows retaliation over US soldier deaths

The US military said it has launched its 10th consecutive round of strikes on Iran to force the reopening of the strait of Hormuz.

Earlier on Monday, Iran’s president said the country is in a “full-scale war” after the US expanded its aerial campaign and Tehran struck Washington’s Gulf allies, even as diplomats said talks to de-escalate were continuing.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: US Central Command (CENTCOM)/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: US Central Command (CENTCOM)/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: US Central Command (CENTCOM)/AFP/Getty Images

Jackdaw gasfield would create only 27 direct full-time jobs, documents show

Campaigners say field will bring minimal benefit for UK economy, as industry lobbies Burnham for go-ahead

More people can fit on to the top deck of a standard London bus than will be directly employed on the new Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea, industry documents show.

Only 27 direct full-time jobs would be created by Jackdaw, one of the biggest gasfields remaining in the North Sea, according to an environmental impact assessment filed publicly by its owner, Adura, a joint venture between Shell and Norway’s Equinor.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

North Sea oil industry urges Burnham to approve new drilling in UK waters

14 July 2026 at 06:00

Lobby appeals to prospective PM’s reindustrialisation agenda as it pushes for Rosebank and Jackdaw approval

The UK’s North Sea oil industry has made a last-ditch attempt to curry favour with the Labour government by appealing to Andy Burnham’s reindustrialisation agenda just days before he is expected to become Britain’s next prime minister.

Industry lobbyists have written to more than 400 Labour MPs to call on the government’s new leaders to allow more oil and gas drilling in UK waters to support homegrown energy and show “a commitment to UK manufacturing, industrial capability and the skilled workforce that has powered the nation for generations”.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Rick Wood Photography/Alamy

© Photograph: Rick Wood Photography/Alamy

© Photograph: Rick Wood Photography/Alamy

Smoke, soot and toxic fumes: Nigerian families living in shadow of burning oil well six years after blowout

Villagers in Awoye in the Niger Delta say the ongoing pollution is causing sickness and environmental destruction, while pleas for help go unanswered

Perched on a narrow hospital cot across from her son, Bodunwa Orugbemi can hear the distant Atlantic Ocean and smell the stench of crude oil on the air drifting in from the shore. For days, her 21-year-old son has been lying in this hospital in the Niger Delta, swallowing small spoonfuls of food without being able to speak.

Seventy‑year‑old Orugbemi says Ijadopin started coughing one evening in May, inside their small wooden home in Awoye on Nigeria’s Atlantic coastline. After a few days his cough intensified, then he developed a skin irritation, followed by difficulty breathing.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

© Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

© Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

Competitiveness, Cost and Climate: Five Themes From the BNEF Summit Amsterdam

19 June 2026 at 13:27
The US energy landscape is changing quickly. Demand for artificial intelligence is driving up power demand while electric vehicle (EV) adoption slows down and enters a more complex phase. Together, these trends are reshaping how utilities, policymakers, financiers and automakers respond to emerging challenges in the energy sector.

Data Centers and the Future of Energy Storage

7 May 2026 at 18:59
The AI boom is ushering in a new era for energy storage. As data center buildout accelerates, batteries are evolving from short-duration backup tools into larger, more flexible systems that can help bring facilities online faster and manage complex power needs. In the US in particular, a growing pipeline of projects is emerging, with batteries increasingly paired with on-site generation or used to smooth demand and unlock faster connections to the grid. So how are data centers changing the energy storage market, and what role could these systems play in the power grid of the future? On today’s show, Tom Rowlands-Rees is joined by, Caitilín McManus, a technology and innovation associate at BloombergNEF, to discuss her recently released note “Data Centers’ Energy Storage Ramp Up: Project List Grows.”

Have Oil Prices Already Peaked? Three Things to Know

10 June 2026 at 11:07
An oil price rally has been evasive even though the Strait of Hormuz is largely closed and inventories are falling sharply. The oil market is dealing with a temporary supply disruption on top of a structurally bearish backdrop. BloombergNEF’s oil price modeling reflects the possibility that Brent futures have already peaked just above $104 per barrel, or are close to peaking, when measured on a monthly average basis. Once the shock effect starts to fade, attention is likely to shift back to slowing demand growth and rising supply.

‘Happiness is not just about GDP’: ambitious plan or utopia?

4 June 2026 at 07:28

Some will question its credibility – but the alternative future to the one imagined in the Global Justice Report is far more bleak

In our increasingly dystopian world, who wouldn’t want to at least be open to a utopian antidote? The Global Justice Report, published on Thursday, outlines how to build a prosperous, equitable world within safe planetary boundaries. It’s a push from the modern eco-socialist left in a global battle for ideas that will shape the future.

Based on past social achievements and future energy transformation, it indicates that the overwhelming majority of people on the planet could, by the end of the century, work less and earn more – while keeping temperatures down and avoiding much of the current destruction of nature. It is an ambitious, comprehensive and upbeat plan, and a stronger argument around which to build a political campaign than abstract goals of net zero or decarbonisation.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Emmanuel Croset/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Emmanuel Croset/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Emmanuel Croset/AFP/Getty Images

Data Centers and the Future of Energy Storage

1 June 2026 at 18:59
The AI boom is ushering in a new era for energy storage. As data center buildout accelerates, batteries are evolving from short-duration backup tools into larger, more flexible systems that can help bring facilities online faster and manage complex power needs. In the US in particular, a growing pipeline of projects is emerging, with batteries increasingly paired with on-site generation or used to smooth demand and unlock faster connections to the grid. So how are data centers changing the energy storage market, and what role could these systems play in the power grid of the future? On today’s show, Tom Rowlands-Rees is joined by, Caitilín McManus, a technology and innovation associate at BloombergNEF, to discuss her recently released note “Data Centers’ Energy Storage Ramp Up: Project List Grows.”

The BHP files: World’s biggest miner BHP backtracks on climate action with key projects put on ice, leaked documents reveal

Exclusive: Cache of internal documents leaked to the Guardian and the ABC’s Four Corners show multinational has war-gamed ways to massively delay decarbonisation

The world’s biggest miner has halted or delayed projects to cut vast amounts of emissions and has quietly war-gamed options to push major climate investments in its Western Australian iron ore operations into the next two decades, internal documents show.

An exclusive investigation based on documents leaked to the Guardian and the ABC’s Four Corners can reveal that BHP, one of Australia’s biggest historic emitters, has dumped plans for a facility that could have significantly reduced emissions and has put on ice renewable projects designed to power its iron ore operations in the vast, resource-rich Pilbara region.

Continue reading...

© Illustration: Guardian Design

© Illustration: Guardian Design

© Illustration: Guardian Design

AI Data Centers, Energy and Finance: Dispatch from the BNEF Summit New York 2026

5 May 2026 at 13:27
The US energy landscape is changing quickly. Demand for artificial intelligence is driving up power demand while electric vehicle (EV) adoption slows down and enters a more complex phase. Together, these trends are reshaping how utilities, policymakers, financiers and automakers respond to emerging challenges in the energy sector.

BNEF Talk: Copper’s World of Wires, Wheels and Worries

30 April 2026 at 20:53
Copper is the unsung hero of the energy transition—powering everything from electric vehicles and data centers to tomorrow’s grids. But as global ambitions for electrification accelerate, copper is caught in the crossfire of structural supply shortfalls, decades of underinvestment, tariffs, and shifting industrial policies.
❌