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By Gavin Maguire, Global Energy Transition Columnist

Welcome to Power Up. Oil markets are creeping higher this morning after three days of losses, but still-delicate market sentiment won’t be helped by Russia’s  admission that it finds it challenging to keep a lid on output.  

    And there’s been a slew of interesting developments in the energy/climate space this week, including a report that wealthy nations like the U.S. and Germany have been raking in billions through a program meant to assist developing nations.

    Plus, stories and analysis on LNG demand growth, EV electricity use and China’s solar slowdown. Let’s dive in:

Activists gather for a protest against climate change at Trient Glacier, in Trient, Switzerland September 6, 2020. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

Backtracking, big bucks and small wins in climate change.  A number of key stories on the energy transition/climate change front this week:

Japan, Germany, the U.S. and other wealthy nations are reaping billions of dollars in economic rewards from a global program meant to help the developing world grapple with the effects of climate change, a Reuters special report finds. 

By channeling money from the program back into their own economies, wealthy countries contradict the widely embraced concept that they should compensate poorer ones for their long-term pollution that fueled climate change, more than a dozen climate analysts, activists, officials and negotiators told Reuters.

South Africa is in talks to delay coal plant closures with groups helping to fund its switch to a greener economy as it battles to boost power supplies, and is optimistic of an agreement, the head of its state electricity utility said. 

A global maritime court found that greenhouse gases constitute marine pollution, a major breakthrough for small island states threatened by the rise in sea levels caused by global warming.

In its first climate-related judgment, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea said emissions from fossil fuels and other planet-warming gases that are absorbed by the oceans count as marine pollution.

Countries raised a record $104 billion last year by charging firms for emitting carbon dioxide, but prices remain too low to drive changes needed to meet Paris climate accord targets, the World Bank said in a report on Tuesday.

There are 75 global carbon pricing instruments in operation, up two from a year ago, covering around 24% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The figure raised in 2023 in carbon revenues was up from around $95 billion raised in 2022.

Shell shareholders reject investor climate resolution

Shell shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a climate resolution filed by an activist group calling for the oil major to align its carbon emissions reduction targets with the Paris Climate Agreement, including emissions from fuels burnt by consumers.

Elsewhere, U.S. judge allowed a lawsuit filed by Exxon Mobil against two activist groups seeking to bar their climate resolution to go ahead.

Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers behind a congressional probe of major oil companies  called on the Justice Department to investigate whether the industry deceived the public about fossil fuels’ impact on climate change. 

China’s blistering solar power growth runs into grid blocks

China’s breakneck build-out of solar power, fuelled by rock-bottom equipment prices and policy support, is slowing as grid bottlenecks pile up, market reforms increase uncertainty for generators, and the best rooftop space runs short.

Forecasts show China’s solar build this year will be outpaced by growth in its photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturing capacity, raising the prospect the country will export more solar panels despite a trade backlash in Europe and the U.S.

Colleen Howe in Beijing reports.

Australia’s natural gas producers are increasingly confident that their fuel is vital to the energy transition and will play a role across Asia up to and beyond the 2050 net-zero emissions targets of companies and countries.

But as colleague Clyde Russell explains, there may be carbon price trouble ahead. 

U.S. electricity consumption from electric vehicles (EVs) over the first two months of 2024 jumped by over 50% from the same months in 2023 as EVs continue to penetrate the U.S. car market and impact electricity flows.

The sharp rise in EV electricity demand indicates that the impact from rapidly expanding EV sales continues to increase in electricity markets.

U.S. copper prices have soared to record highs recently in an eye-watering short squeeze that has lifted U.S. copper futures by 27% since January. But as colleague Andy Home explains, not everyone is short copper, and China has plenty.

Lula’s ambitions for Petrobras hemmed in by new rules

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva may soon discover that swapping the CEO of Petrobras is not enough to turn the state-run oil company into the engine for job creation and development it was during his first 2002-2010 terms.

After a major corruption scandal revealed in 2014, reformers set up internal and external checks and balances on business decisions at Petrobras. Reuters digs into how these checks may now limit government maneuvering in Petrobras.

Chesapeake lay offs

Chesapeake Energy, a top U.S. natural gas producer, began laying off employees this week after completing the divestiture of its oil assets last year, according to this Reuters exclusive. 

Turkey becomes Europe’s top coal burner

Turkey overtook Germany to become Europe’s largest producer of coal-fired electricity over the first four months of 2024.

The main driver of Turkey’s ascendance in regional coal rankings was a steep drop in Germany’s coal use during the January-April window, which was 32% lower than the same period in 2023 and the lowest for that time frame on record.

There will be no Power Up on Monday, May 27, due to the Memorial Day holiday in the United States. 

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