UK's 'green day': is net zero achievable? | The Week UK

The government has unveiled its “Powering up Britain” plan to increase the country’s energy security and deliver net zero by 2050.

The revised strategy, dubbed a “green industrial revolution” by ministers, includes dozens of measures, from increasing UK wind, solar and nuclear energy to investing in carbon capture and storage. Energy Secretary Grant Shapps also plans to extend the scheme to offer households £5,000 towards the cost of a new heat pump, insulate 300,000 of the poorest-performing homes and stand by the proposed 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars.

But critics say the announcements are made up of rehashed policies and lack new funding.

What did the papers say?

Today’s plans “quickly drew criticism from Labour”, said the Independent. What was billed as the government’s “green day” turned out “to be a weak and feeble groundhog day of re-announcements, reheated policy and no new investment”, said shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband.

Other “campaigners and critics suggested ministers had missed the chance to pursue a more radical green industrial strategy”, added the paper.

Under Theresa May, Britain became the first major economy to enshrine a net zero target in law, promising that by 2050 the amount of emissions produced by the country would be the same or less than the emissions removed.

But net zero “finds itself taking a back seat to Rishi Sunak’s tougher-sounding promise of ‘energy security’ for the nation”, said Politico. Sources say his newly created Department for Energy Security and Net Zero seems keen to emphasise the first half of its brief and “reluctant to trumpet the second, fearing a Tory backlash”, the news site said. “Former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, a perennial thorn in the Tory party’s side, is also campaigning against net zero.”

And the reality is that today’s announcements were “forced, in part, by the government’s previous failure to hand in its homework”, said Politico. They were published in response to a High Court ruling last July that found the government’s original flagship climate plan was not detailed enough to show how net zero would be achieved.

The Climate Action Tracker, last updated in October, found that the UK would “remain off-track to meet its climate targets” unless it addressed key “policy gaps” such as improving energy efficiency in homes, reducing demand for the most polluting goods, increasing uptake of heat pumps and ending the development of new oil and gas reserves.

What next?

Friends of the Earth, which brought the legal challenge against the government in the High Court last summer, is “poring over” the new strategy “to see if it still fails to meet legal obligations to cut carbon emissions”, said Sky News. Katie de Kauwe, a lawyer with the environmental group, told the broadcaster that sufficient plans and policies to reach net zero were a legal obligation, not “some sort of wishy-washy requirement”.

The new plan comes in the wake of the European Commission’s Green Deal Industrial Plan and Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a $370bn green investment package that vows to subsidise domestic companies investing in net zero. As these two industrial giants engage in a “transatlantic arm-wrestle over the technology, investment and skills needed for net zero, the UK has effectively said it cannot compete”, said Sky’s business correspondent Paul Kelso.

Writing in The Times today, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt acknowledged that the UK’s approach would be “different”, saying: “We are not going toe-to-toe with our friends and allies in some distortive global subsidy race.”

But his fellow Tory MP and former Cop26 president Alok Sharma told The Guardian that “what we still need to see is that big bazooka moment, commensurate with the scale of the challenge”.

UK government greenlights first new coal mine in three decades | CNN

CNN —

Scientists, environmentalists and even the UK government’s own climate advisers have strongly criticized its decision to approve a plan to open the country’s first new coal mine in three decades, a little more than a year after the nation tried to convince the world to ditch the filthy fossil fuel at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow.

Michael Gove, the UK housing and communities secretary, on Wednesday approved the plan to open the Whitehaven coal mine in Cumbria, a county in northwestern England that is home to the World Heritage-listed Lake District.

The controversial mine is expected to create more than 500 jobs. But the environmental trade-off is steep: The UK Climate Change Committee (CCC), an independent group that advises the government, has estimated the mine and the coal it will produce will emit around 9 million tons of planet-warming emissions every year.

Supporters of the mine argue the project will create jobs and secure the fossil fuel for British steelmaking; however, 85% of the coal mined is due to be exported.

Demonstrators outside the proposed Woodhouse Colliery on September 7, 2021. Owen Humphreys/PA Images/Getty Images

The CCC has criticized the decision. Committee chairman Lord Deben said in a statement: “Phasing out coal use is the clearest requirement of the global effort towards Net Zero. We condemn, therefore, the Secretary of State’s decision to consent to a new deep coal mine in Cumbria, contrary to our previous advice. This decision grows global emissions and undermines UK efforts to achieve Net Zero.”

The mine’s approval was also met with fierce criticism from scientists and environmentalists.

“A new coal mine in Cumbria makes no sense environmentally or economically,” said Paul Ekins, Professor of Resources and Environmental Policy at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, in a statement. “It will add to global CO2 emissions, as the new supply will not replace other coal but divert it elsewhere, and it will become stranded in the 2030s as the steel industry globally moves away from coal.”

Ekins also said that the mine’s approval “trashes the UK’s reputation as a global leader on climate action and opens it up to well justified charges of hypocrisy – telling other countries to ditch coal while not doing so itself.”

The government initially approved the project, but then put it on hold after a wave of protests, including a 10-day hunger strike by two teenage activists.

It came under intense pressure to reject the plan in 2021, the year it hosted the COP26 talks in Glasgow.

Alok Sharma, the COP26 President and a lawmaker for the governing Conservative Party, campaigned against the mine.

“Opening a new coal mine will not only be a backward step for UK climate action but also damage the UK’s hard-won international reputation, through our COP26 Presidency, as a leader in the global fight against climate change,” he said ahead of the announcement on Wednesday.

The decision comes a little more than a year after the conference, and after lengthy discussions between the UK government, local authorities and the public.

The Cumbria County Council had also approved the plan three times, but it backtracked its decision last February and called for a planning inquiry, effectively shifting the decision to the national government.

The Whitehaven mine, also known as the Woodhouse Colliery, is scheduled to operate until 2049, which is just a year before the UK’s self-imposed deadline to slash greenhouse gas emissions to net zero (emitting as little greenhouse gas as possible, and offsetting any emissions that cannot be avoided).

According to the International Energy Agency, investment into new fossil fuels infrastructure must stop immediately if the world wants any chance of achieving net zero by 2050. The latest climate science shows that achieving net zero by mid-century is necessary to keep temperatures from rising well above 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared with pre-industrial times. Beyond that threshold, the world will face climate crisis impacts that could take millennia to correct, or could be irreversible altogether.

Climate activists have protested against the project, while West Cumbria Mining, which is developing the mine, said the project would bring hundreds of new jobs into a struggling region. Its opponents argue these jobs may not be secure, given the huge momentum in Europe to phase out coal.

“Opening a coal mine in Cumbria is investing in 1850s technology and does not look forward to the 2030s low carbon local energy future,” Stuart Haszeldine, a professor at the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh, said in a statement.

Where the Tory leadership candidates stand on net zero | The Week ...

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Anthony Albanese and Australia's new left-leaning government ...

Brisbane, Australia CNN —

After almost a decade of conservative leadership, Australian voters turned their back on the ruling coalition, instead backing those who campaigned for more action on climate change, greater gender equality and political integrity.

New Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was sworn in on Monday before his departure to Japan for his first meeting with allies including US President Joe Biden.

For much of its history, Australian politics has been dominated by the two major parties: the Liberals on the center-right and Labor on the center-left. But this election threw all the balls up in the air, tossing more than a few to minor parties and Independents who were fed-up with the two-party system.

Here’s what we learned.

Australia’s coming in from the climate cold

Election results showed a strong swing towards Independents who campaigned on issues relating to the climate.

The candidates – many first-time entrants to politics – were seeking cuts to emissions of up to 60% – more than twice as much as promised by the ruling conservative coalition (26-28%) and also more than Labor (43%). Known as teal candidates, they targeted traditionally blue Liberal seats with more green-leaning policies.

“Millions of Australians have put climate first. Now, it’s time for a radical reset on how this great nation of ours acts upon the climate challenge,” said Amanda McKenzie, CEO of the research group the Climate Council, on Saturday’s election result.

Australia has long been known as the “lucky country,” partly due to its wealth of coal and gas, as well as minerals like iron ore, which have driven generations of economic growth.

But it’s now sitting on the frontier of a climate crisis, and the fires, floods and droughts that have already scarred the country are only expected to become more extreme as the Earth warms.

The ruling conservative government had been called a climate “holdout” by the United Nations Secretary-General after outlining a plan to get to net zero by 2050 by creating massive new gas projects. Incumbent Scott Morrison had said he would back a transition from coal to renewable energy, but had no plans to stop new coal projects.

Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese promised to end the “climate wars,” a reference to the infighting that has frustrated any efforts to push for stronger action on climate over the past decade and even cost some prime ministers their jobs.

Labor has pledged to reach emission net zero by 2050, partly by strengthening the mechanism used to pressure companies to make cuts.

But research institute Climate Analytics says Labor’s plans aren’t ambitious enough to keep the global temperature rise within 1.5 degrees Celsius, as outlined in the Paris Agreement.

Labor’s policies are more consistent with a rise of 2 degrees Celsius, the institute said, marginally better than the coalition’s plan.

To speed up the transition to renewable energy, Labor plans to modernize Australia’s energy grid and roll out solar banks and community batteries. But despite its net zero commitment, Labor says it’ll approve new coal projects if they’re environmentally and economically viable.

Women are being seen and heard

Morrison’s popularity with women plummeted after several scandals involving his ministers.

Morrison himself was accused of lacking empathy when he responded to an allegation of a sexual assault in Parliament House by suggesting his wife, Jenny Morrison, had made him realize the gravity of the accusation.

“She said to me ‘You have to think about this as a father first. What would you want to happen if it were our girls?’ Jenny has a way of clarifying things. Always has,” he said.

Thousands of women later marched around the country calling for stronger measures to ensure women’s safety – which snowballed into demands for greater gender equality.

The teal Independents were mostly older women who under other circumstances may have joined the Liberal Party.

Albanese read the room and promised to improve gender equality. He was even endorsed by his former boss, Australia’s first and only woman Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who famously ripped into her Liberal rival with the words: “I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man.” Gillard fronted the media the day before the vote to say she was “very confident” an Albanese government will be a “government for women.”

Indigenous voices will be amplified

Among the first words Albanese uttered when he walked onto the stage to claim victory Saturday was the promise to enshrine the voice of Indigenous people in Parliament.

“I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet. I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging. And on behalf of the Australian Labor Party, I commit to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full,” he said.

Indigenous groups across Australia are calling for the constitution to be changed so they’re formally consulted on legislation and policies affecting their communities. That would require a national referendum, which needs political support before a yes-no question is put to the Australian people.

Albanese’s Labor government is giving that support. The last time Australians voted in a referendum on Aboriginal rights was in 1967, when 90% of the country supported a move to include Indigenous people in the Census.

Albanese said during his acceptance speech: “All of us ought to be proud that amongst our great multicultural society we count the oldest living continuous culture in the world.”

Australia is prioritizing Asia and the US

One of the first tasks for Albanese will be to head to Tokyo to meet his counterparts from the United States, Japan and India at the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) summit.

Beside him will be Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, a seasoned Labor politician of Asian descent who has long been a respected voice in the Senate.

The new Labor government promises to create stronger ties with Asia. Albanese said one of his first ports of call after Japan will be Indonesia, which he said will “grow to be an economy that’s substantial in the world.”

“We live in a region whereby in the future we will have China, India and Indonesia as giants. We need to strengthen that economic partnership and one way that we can do that is by strengthening people-to-people relations as well,” Albanese said.

“Indonesia is an important nation, for our economy, for those social relationships as well…We need to really strengthen the relationship with Indonesia and that’s why it would be an absolute priority for me.”

Analysts say Australia’s new Prime Minister faces a tough challenge when it comes to China – especially after a bitter election campaign that has put Chinese President Xi Jinping and his intentions front and center.

Australia’s relations with China have deteriorated under the coalition’s stint in government – which started at the same time as Xi’s rule. Relations soured further in 2020 when the Australian government – then led by Morrison – called for an investigation into the origins of Covid-19. China responded with sanctions against Australian exports, including beef, barley, wine, and rock lobster.

China’s reaction hardened public attitudes in Australia and pushed Canberra to lead the charge against China’s coercive actions.

The coalition has suggested Labor will be soft on China, but on paper, Labor’s position on China seems little different from that of the conservatives. Labor says it’s committed to the AUKUS security pact, the deal Morrison struck with the United States and United Kingdom, to the detriment of Australia’s relations with France. It has also voiced strong support for the Quad.

Money can’t buy votes

One of the big losers in this election was Clive Palmer, the mining magnate who reportedly spent close to $100 million on advertising for his United Australia Party for next to no influence.

The man Palmer had touted as “the next Prime Minister,” Craig Kelly, a renegade from the Liberal Party who was reprimanded for spreading Covid-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories, lost his seat after securing just 8% of the primary vote.

Palmer, who has been dubbed “Australia’s Trump,” campaigned on the issue of freedom and opposing Covid-19 vaccine mandates and lockdowns.

This is not the first time Palmer has tried to win elections with big money. In 2019, he spent millions campaigning during the federal election, but failed to land a single seat.

The government's green strategies in a nutshell | The Week UK

Boris Johnson’s claim that “it is easy to be green” will be put to the test this week as the government publishes its plans for the UK’s transition to becoming more environmentally friendly.

Ahead of Cop26, No. 10 is setting out its strategy for the UK to reach net zero by 2050. Its neighbours at the Treasury are also sharing the calculated costs, and how they will be distributed, in an accompanying review.

The overarching Net Zero Strategy was expected to be given the green light on Friday during a cabinet “away day”, but the release was delayed following the murder of Conservative MP David Amess.

Zero emissions

The government has a legal duty to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and it’s “taking a high-stakes gamble” by focusing its plans to do so on the publication of its Net Zero Strategy this close to the Cop26 summit, said Westminster’s independent advisory body on climate earlier this year.

“The challenges involved are monumental,” said The Guardian, but one solution is likely to be the UK’s “slow-moving and long-awaited nuclear power programme”, predicted the Financial Times. The strategy will “put nuclear power at the heart” of the government’s plan to reach net zero, with a “regulated asset base” funding model “key to delivering a future fleet of large atomic power stations”, said the newspaper.

Indeed, the strategy, published this afternoon, vowed to invest £120m in the development of nuclear projects, which it claimed could support the path to decarbonising the UK’s electricity system as early as 2035.

The plans also include investing in electric vehicles and green tech, kick-starting the commercialisation of sustainable aviation fuel, and accelerating industrial carbon capture and hydrogen. The government has promised to unlock up to £90bn of private investment by 2030, and support 440,000 well-paid jobs in green industries in 2030.

Heating homes

Another “piece in the Boris Johnson climate-calming jigsaw” is the Heat and Buildings Strategy, said the BBC’s environment analyst Roger Harrabin. This encompasses decarbonisation plans for homeowners, the public sector and social housing at a total cost of £3.9bn to the Treasury over the next three years.

UK blackouts: Facing risk of power cuts this winter Britain is drilling ...

London CNN Business —

The UK government could award oil and gas companies more than 100 new licenses to drill in the North Sea, as it looks for ways to bolster energy security amid a global supply crunch.

Launched Friday, the licensing round won’t lead to new UK production for several years. And when drilling does begin, Britain will still be dependent on energy imports, according to the government, leaving it vulnerable to soaring prices and supply disruptions of the kind that threaten blackouts this winter.

UK utilities company National Grid (NGG) warned Thursday that households and businesses could be left without power for up to three hours at a time in a worst-case scenario of very cold weather, low levels of wind, gas shortages and an inability to import electricity from Europe. It said it would take steps to mitigate the risk, including bringing old coal-fired power stations back online if necessary.

Starting November 1, National Grid will also offer financial incentives to customers to reduce power consumption at peak times.

Kathryn Porter, an energy consultant at Watt-Logic, told CNN Business that National Grid was still underestimating the risks to supply, but that blackouts for households were unlikely because it could disconnect large energy users at peak times if necessary.

Climate concerns

The latest licensing round won’t improve the immediate supply picture and could face a legal challenge from environmental activists. Greenpeace said that new oil and gas licenses were “potentially unlawful” and that it would be looking for ways to act.

“New oil and gas licenses won’t lower energy bills for struggling families this winter or any winter soon nor provide energy security in the medium term,” Philip Evans, energy transition campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said in a statement.

“New licenses — and more importantly more fossil fuels — solve neither of those problems but will make the climate crisis even worse,” he added.

Analysis by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), the regulator that grants licenses, shows the average time between discovery of oil and gas deposits and first production is close to five years, though that lag is “falling.”

In a statement on Friday, the NSTA said it will prioritize areas in the southern North Sea that can be developed quickly and where gas has already been discovered. Companies have until January 12 to apply for licenses, with permits expected to be issued as soon as the second quarter of 2023.

The NSTA said the licensing round has been subject to a “climate compatibility check” to ensure it aligns with the UK government’s commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. It added that producing gas domestically has a much lower carbon footprint than importing it from abroad.

The International Energy Agency said last year that investment in new fossil fuel supply projects, including drilling for oil and gas, must stop immediately if the world is to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

The UK government set out plans earlier this year to generate 95% of Britain’s electricity from low carbon sources by 2030. The plan, which allows drilling for oil and gas, will also ramp up nuclear power and wind energy.

Explained: UK's aim to be first 'net zero-aligned financial centre ...

It’s finance day today at the Cop26 climate summit and Rishi Sunak has outlined the government’s plan for the UK to become the world’s first “net zero-aligned financial centre”.

The chancellor arrived in Glasgow carrying a green version of the traditional red budget briefcase and addressed an audience of finance ministers, central bank governors and senior industry leaders.

Sunak told delegates it was “easy to feel daunted by the scale of the challenge we face” but is optimistic that Cop26 will bring together leaders to “direct the world’s wealth to preserve our planet”, Yahoo Finance! reported.

Net zero finance centre: how would it work?

Sunak said the UK will “go further” in the climate fight by becoming the first net zero-aligned financial centre. “This means we are going to move towards making it mandatory for firms to publish a clear, deliverable plan setting out how they will decarbonise and transition to net zero with an independent task force,” he said.

Most big UK firms and financial institutions will be forced to show how they intend to hit climate change targets, under proposed Treasury rules, the BBC reported. By 2023 they will have to set out “detailed public plans for how they will move to a low-carbon future” and an expert panel will “set the standards the plans need to meet to ensure they are not just spin”.

In a statement The Treasury explained that next year the UK will publish a “transition pathway” for the financial sector to achieve the 2050 net zero goal. The “comprehensive plan” will give the sector the “information they need to take climate into account in every financial decision”.

‘Greenwashing’ the financial sector?

Sunak hopes to “rewire the entire financial system” to help protect the climate. However, any commitments will not be mandatory and green groups have said this is not enough, the BBC reported.

The Guardian’s environment correspondent Fiona Harvey said there’s “widespread concern” that Sunak has “missed the opportunity to make a real change” to the way businesses and financial institutions operate when it comes to the climate and net zero.

Jennifer Larbie, Christian Aid’s UK advocacy and policy lead, welcomed that the chancellor recognises London’s financial sector as “critical to any meaningful progress” towards a global net zero. But the announcement “does little to shift the dial now on the trillions still flowing into fossil fuel projects every day”. She added: “The UK government must mandate the financial sector to act with urgency to end fossil fuel investments.”

Campaigners have also warned that the chancellor’s plan falls short of what is needed to halt the climate crisis and risks amounting to no more than “greenwash” for a sector which has profited massively from decades of pollution, The Independent reported.

Greenpeace UK accused Sunak of going to Cop26 with “a marketing slogan” instead of taking transformative action. Rebecca Newsom, Greenpeace UK’s head of politics, said the new rules seem to allow “plenty of wriggle room for financial institutions to continue with business as usual, rather than ‘rewiring’ the system as the chancellor claims”. She added: “The chancellor is once again falling short of what the climate emergency requires.”

Gulf Arab states can't give up oil. But they can slash their emissions ...

Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here.

Abu Dhabi CNN —

As Western states try to wean themselves off their addiction to hydrocarbons, Gulf oil nations have been pushing back hard, warning that a hasty transition away from fossil fuels will be counterproductive.

But as they tell the world that it cannot live without the natural resource that has brought them enormous wealth, the Gulf states are embarking on their own ambitious clean energy projects.

Some of the world’s largest hydrocarbon producers and exporters, Gulf countries are also among the globe’s biggest polluters. Gas-rich Qatar and oil-wealthy Saudi Arabia have some of the heaviest carbon footprints on the planet. According to the World Bank, Qatar had the highest carbon emissions per capita as of 2019, followed by Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

The Gulf monarchies are trying to change that, investing billions in the renewable energy sector, a plan that allows them to save more of their hydrocarbons for export to an energy-hungry world.

Analysts say the move is more than a publicity stunt in a world where hydrocarbons are increasingly stigmatized. It is pragmatic, they say.

“The Gulf states are making net zero domestic targets in some ways to increase their hydrocarbon assets for export, to take advantage of a window of opportunity of those products as demand is expected to gradually decline,” said Karen Young, senior research scholar at Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy.

Their push for going green at home also helps them battle their longstanding image of being heavy polluters, said Rafiq Latta, senior correspondent at Energy Intelligence, an energy information company.

“The last thing the Gulf states want is to appear dirty,” Latta told CNN, “So they are investing heavily in green energy,” which also opens avenues for business as the green energy industry gains global traction.

So, investment in clean energy projects and renewables “makes very good business sense and PR sense for the Gulf,” he said.

Gulf petro-states are warning against a quick transition away from hydrocarbons, with the UAE calling for a “mixed energy” approach that minimizes emissions without cutting hydrocarbons.

The UAE is one of the biggest oil exporters, but has made renewable and green energy a priority, arguing that clean and dirty energy are complementary, not competing.

That view of the symbiotic relationship between the two types of energies that the UAE believes in is perhaps best demonstrated by Sultan Al Jaber, the CEO of the nation’s main oil company ADNOC, who also happens to be the government’s climate envoy. He has argued that by 2050, the world will need to produce 30% more energy than today.

“The world needs all the solutions it can get,” he said at an energy summit in Abu Dhabi last month. “It is not oil or gas or solar or wind or nuclear or hydrogen. It is oil and gas and solar and wind … It is all of the above.”

The UAE was the first Middle Eastern state to add nuclear power to its energy mix 14 years ago and the first to set a net-zero emissions goal, by 2050. The Gulf state is home to the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and is due to host next year’s COP28 climate summit.

Saudi Arabia, which has its own climate program, followed by announcing a net zero carbon emissions target of 2060. On Monday, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that his $620 billion wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, will also target net zero emissions by 2050, adding that the kingdom will contribute $2.5 billion to the Middle East Green Initiative, which aims to reduce carbon emissions from regional hydrocarbon production by more than 60%.

This month, the United States and the UAE signed a memorandum that aims to mobilize $100 billion on clean energy projects that would “accelerate toward a goal of deploying 100 gigawatts of clean energy by 2035.” One gigawatt can power about 300,000 homes.

“The world will still have demand for oil and the Gulf approach, at least in Saudi and UAE, is to produce a cleaner oil product that emits less carbon from flaring and that is more efficient in extraction methods,” said Young, “And they are doing that.”

The flaring of natural gas is a by-product of oil production, and the waste contributes to severe air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Speaking to CNN’s Becky Anderson on Tuesday during the COP27 climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, the UAE’s minister of climate change and environment Mariam Almheiri said that the Gulf state has been working toward “a just energy transition.”.

“We are ramping up our renewables and at the same time decarbonizing our oil and gas sector,” Almheiri told CNN, adding that the UAE now offers some of the lowest carbon footprint oil barrels in the world.

Much of the hydrocarbons exported by Gulf states go to some of the world’s biggest consumers and polluters, including China and India.

Gulf states are however not directly responsible for the carbon footprints left by their consumers, and analysts say it’s unrealistic to advocate for a cut in oil and gas extraction and export, as it would be detrimental to GCC economies.

“They’ve got their own self-interest to look after, and clearly it would be economic suicide to advocate for a radical shift away from oil and gas,” said Latta.

“The turkey is not going to vote for Christmas, and the lamb is not going to vote for Eid, so I don’t see the Gulf en masse moving or accelerating away from hydrocarbons any time soon,” said Latta.

The UAE’s mantra of “maximum energy, minimum emissions” calls for a combined energy supply in a slow and gradual energy transition to avoid a shock to the global economy.

While it is in their self-interest, “GCC states have first a responsibility to their citizens, and that means they must generate revenue,” said Young. “Right now, the easiest and most efficient way to generate state revenue is to sell oil and gas. So that’s what they will keep doing.”

Iran protests

At least 18 people, including two children, were killed in last Friday’s protests in the city of Khash, in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province, said Amnesty International on Thursday.

“This latest deadly incident in Sistan and Baluchistan province reveals that protesters from the oppressed Baluchi minority have borne the brunt of the security forces’ particularly vicious crackdown on demonstrations,” the human rights organization added.

Last week, protests turned violent in several cities in the province in southeast Iran, state media and activists said. Sistan and Baluchistan, which neighbors Pakistan and Afghanistan, is home to the long-oppressed Baluch ethnic minority and has a history of unrest with armed groups carrying out attacks against Iranian security personnel.

The deadly protests are part of a wider nationwide movement gripping Iran in recent weeks.

Here is the latest:

Iran’s foreign minister on Thursday criticized his German counterpart after she tweeted a message of support for anti-government demonstrators on Wednesday.

Leading Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti posted a picture of herself on Instagram without the mandatory hijab to show support for the protests.

The Iranian government labeled London-based news channel Iran International as a “terrorist organization,” the state-aligned news agency ISNA reported Tuesday, citing the country’s information ministry.

Iranian forces then arrested a journalist from Iran International, ISNA reported Thursday. ISNA, referring to journalist Elham Afkari as an “agent,” reported that she was arrested Thursday by the Ministry of Intelligence while trying to “flee the country.” Iranian officials have identified Afkari as the sister of famous Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari, who was executed two years ago, according to the state news agency IRNA.

The digest

FIFA announces shared flights for Israeli and Palestinian football fans for 2022 World Cup

FIFA, football’s world governing body, announced on Thursday that shared flights have been organized to permit Israeli and Palestinian fans into Qatar to watch the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Background: In FIFA’s press release, the organization’s president Gianni Infantino said, “We are delighted that an agreement has been reached for Israeli and Palestinian fans to visit Qatar and attend matches during the FIFA World Cup. With this deal, Israelis and Palestinians will be able to fly together and enjoy football together.” Qatar does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, but a temporary consular services office will be set up during the tournament to handle Israeli visitors. More than the 8,000 Palestinians and 3,800 Israelis have bought tickets for the tournament, a source briefed on the matter, but not authorized to speak publicly, told CNN.

Why it matters: The temporary charter flights between Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv and Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, represent the only official direct flights between the two nations. Two Gulf Arab states neighboring Qatar, the UAE and Bahrain, signed historic normalization agreements with Israel in 2020, but despite direct flights for the World Cup, a Qatari official told CNN that the country’s stance on normalization “has not changed.”

Lawyer of British-Egyptian hunger striker refused prison entry, authorities say he is in “good health”

Khaled Ali, a lawyer representing jailed British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, tweeted Thursday that despite a permit, he was denied entry to Wadi Al Natroun prison to visit his client amid mounting concerns over Abd El-Fattah’s deteriorating health. On the same day, Egypt’s Public Prosecution said in a statement that a medical report shows jailed British-Egyptian writer and activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah is in “good health.”

Background: The Public Prosecution said it has ordered the formation of a medical committee to look into Abd El-Fattah’s health condition following a request by his attorney earlier this month to move him to a medical center. The Public Prosecution said in the statement that the medical report “concluded that Abd El Fattah is in good health and doesn’t require moving to a medical center and recommended regular follow up.” Abd El-Fattah, a leading activist in the country’s 2011 uprising who has been imprisoned several times over nine years, escalated a more than 200-day hunger strike on Sunday as he stopped drinking water.

Why it matters: The family of Abd El-Fattah said Thursday that Egyptian authorities had intervened medically after the activist stopped drinking water, and urged British authorities to get information about his health status.

It’ll be Bibi: Israel’s president to invite Netanyahu to form next government

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog announced Friday he will invite Benjamin Netanyahu to form the country’s next government.

Background: Herzog will officially issue the mandate to Netanyahu on Sunday, he said. Herzog made the announcement after meeting with all the Knesset’s factions to ask who they would back for prime minister. In a statement released by his office, he said: “At the end of the round of consultations, 64 members of the Knesset recommended to the president the chairman of the Likud faction, MK Benjamin Netanyahu.” He added that 28 Knesset members recommended outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid. The same number chose not to recommend anyone. Under Israeli law, Netanyahu will then have 28 days to form a new government, with the possibility of a 14-day extension if required.

Why it matters: The invitation paves the way for Netanyahu to take Israel’s top job for a record sixth time and his extend his record as the country’s longest-serving leader. Netanyahu’s ruling coalition is likely to be the most far-right government Israel has ever seen, which risks creating further tensions with Palestinians.

Around the region

Kathleen Martinez, an archaeologist at the University of Santo Domingo, has been searching for the lost tomb of Cleopatra for nearly 20 years. Now she believes she’s made a pivotal breakthrough.

Martinez and her team uncovered a 1,305-meter (4,281-foot) tunnel, located 13 meters (43 feet) underground, the Egyptian Ministry for Tourism and Antiquities recently announced – an architectural design experts called an “engineering miracle.”

“The excavation revealed a huge religious center with three sanctuaries, a sacred lake, more than 1,500 objects, busts, statues, golden pieces, a huge collection of coins portraying Alexander the Great, Queen Cleopatra and the Ptolemies,” Martinez told CNN.

“The most interesting discovery is the complex of tunnels leading to the Mediterranean Sea and sunken structures,” she added. Exploring these underwater structures will be the next stage of her search for the Egyptian queen’s lost tomb – a journey that began in 2005.

A series of clues led Martinez to believe Cleopatra’s tomb might be located in the Temple of Osiris in the ruined city of Taposiris Magna, on Egypt’s northern coast, where the Nile River meets the Mediterranean.

Chief among them was the name itself. According to Martinez, Cleopatra was considered in her time to be “the human incarnation of the goddess Isis,” as Antony was considered to be that of the god Orisis, Isis’ husband.

Martinez believes Cleopatra may have chosen to bury her husband in the temple to reflect this myth. Of all the 20 temples around Alexandria she has studied, Martinez said, “no other place, structure or temple combines so many conditions as the temple of Taposiris Magna.”

And after years of searching, Martinez feels she is getting close.

The excavations so far have revealed that “the temple was dedicated to Isis” – which Martinez believes is another sign that the lost tomb lies nearby – as well as the tunnels below the sea.

Now, Martinez said, she is at “the beginning of a new journey” – underwater excavations.

This is where Martinez and her team are looking next. Although it is “too early to know where these tunnels lead,” she is hopeful.

If the tunnels lead to Cleopatra, “it will be the most important discovery of the century,” she said.

By Christian Edwards

Photo of the day

How electric cars will leave road tax 'black hole' | The Week UK

A group of MPs has said the UK needs to introduce new motoring taxes for electric cars to avoid slipping towards “zero revenue” by 2040.

The sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans will be banned in the UK in eight years’ time, in a move designed to boost the electric vehicle market. But the transport select committee warned today that “policies to deliver net zero emissions by 2050 are likely to result in zero revenue for the government from motoring taxation by 2040”.

Electric cars are exempt from road tax and their drivers do not have to pay fuel duty either. Combined, those two levies “raise around £35bn a year”, said the BBC.

Unless the government acts to “reform motoring taxation” and plug the gap, the UK “faces an under-resourced and congested future”, the MPs said.

With vehicle excise duty currently bankrolling road repair, the report recommended an approach of “road pricing”, which would charge drivers per trip, based on the distance travelled, duration of the journey and vehicle type, said the Daily Mail.

Last week, The Guardian said road pricing could offer “a fairer, sustainable way to make polluting drivers pay, ease congestion and fund better transport” but “few politicians in power have ever wanted to take the flak that would come with introducing it”.

Singapore has had a road-pricing scheme for more than 20 years, in which motorists are billed automatically for journeys measured when they pass a series of gantries.

Past proposals to introduce such a scheme in the UK have tended to meet with public disapproval. MPs have now suggested that the Treasury and the Department for Transport need to embark on an “honest conversation” about how to maintain investment in roads and public services as the UK moves towards vehicles that do not pay towards these two motoring levies, said The Independent.

The impact of the lost revenue could spread beyond roads. Huw Merriman, the Conservative chair of the transport select committee, said the expected £35bn black hole in finances is “4% of the entire tax take” and as only £7bn of this goes back to the roads. As a result “schools and hospitals could be impacted”.

Steve Gooding from the RAC Foundation agreed that the rise of electric cars sets up a major dilemma for public finances, saying that the “silver-lining of zero-carbon motoring comes wrapped in a cloud of trouble for the chancellor”.

As a way to dispel that cloud, MPs have urged ministers to set up an arm’s-length body to recommend a new regime by the end of 2022.

With data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders showing that plug-in vehicles accounted for more than one in six new cars registered in the UK last year, the MPs said “the situation is urgent” and “work must begin without delay”.

A government spokesman said ministers were committed to keeping the transition to electric cars “affordable for consumers”.

France announces plans to build up to 14 nuclear reactors | CNN ...

Paris CNN Business —

France has announced plans to build up to 14 new nuclear reactors in a move that could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide a buffer against volatile energy prices.

President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that France would construct six nuclear reactors, and study the possibility of commissioning a further eight.

“Given the electricity needs, the need to also anticipate the transition and the end of the existing fleet, which cannot be extended indefinitely, we are going to launch today a program of new nuclear reactors,” Macron said.

Construction will commence in 2028, and the first new reactor could be commissioned by 2035.

The push deeper into nuclear marks a policy reversal for Macron, who promised four years ago to close 12 nuclear reactors as part of a move away from the power source. France was forced to turn to coal power this winter to meet its energy needs after more than a fifth of the country’s nuclear reactors went offline.

France wasn’t the only country in Europe to struggle this winter as wholesale gas prices spiked to record levels, pushing up heating bills for households across the continent. Struggling consumers in France received payments and grants from the government to help defray costs.

Barbara Pompili, France’s minister for energy transition, said the nuclear policy shift was needed due to an “acceleration” of the “unprecedented” energy situation.

“To have more electricity, we need to produce more,” Pompili told CNN affiliate BFMTV.

“Even if we develop a lot our renewable energies, we have a nuclear sector that constitutes 70% of our electricity supply, we have to use this sector as much as possible,” Pompili added.

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech at the GE Steam Power System main production site for its nuclear turbine systems on February 10, 2022. JEAN-FRANCOIS BADIAS/AFP/POOL/AFP/Getty Images

Climate concerns

Nuclear power is a low-carbon source of energy. But nuclear plants are notoriously expensive to build, and construction tends to run over budget and time. How to safely store the radioactive waste it produces is another headache.

Despite those limitations, some analysts argue the technology has a big role to play in addressing climate change.

The International Energy Agency says that nuclear power generation should more than double between 2020 and 2050 in the pursuit of net zero. Its share in the electricity mix will drop, but that’s because demand for power will soar as the world electrifies as many machines as possible, including cars and other vehicles.

The European Commission was criticized earlier this month when it unveiled a proposal to designate natural gas and nuclear power “sustainable” sources of energy.

Including the energy sources on the EU green list could unlock a wave of private investment into new nuclear and gas projects. But the plans have angered climate activists and could still be blocked by European lawmakers, who are also deeply divided over the issue along national and political lines.

The European Union is aiming to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 55% from 1990 levels by 2030 and become a net-zero-emissions economy by 2050. Net zero is where emissions are dramatically reduced, and any that remain are offset, whether using natural methods like tree planting or technology to “capture” emissions.

— Julia Horowitz, Ivana Kottasová and Angela Dewan contributed reporting.