Charlie Cooper
The UK’s great disappearing energy summit
LONDON — It was billed as the summit that would “rewire the global energy system” — a chance for Bre...
8 months ago
UN expert ‘alarmed’ by UK politicians’ attacks on green protesters
LONDON — British politicians are putting environmentalists at risk of “threats, abuse and even physi...
8 months ago
Former Tory energy minister quits as MP over Sunak’s ‘harmful’ push for new oil and gas
The former energy minister who signed the U.K.’s 2050 net-zero target into law has quit the Conserva...
8 months ago
UK strikes energy deal with firm linked to Putin’s gas exports
LONDON — U.K. hospitals, town halls and government departments will be heated via a massive energy deal with a subsidiary of a firm still importing Russian gas to Europe — just days after U.K. ministers boasted they were “driving Putin out of the market.”...
6 months ago
‘Postcode lottery’ warning as UK energy chief weighs bills shake-up
LONDON — Claire Coutinho has promised to cut your energy bills. But she could end up hiking your neighbor’s in the process.The U.K. energy secretary is mulling sweeping reforms to the electricity market which, advocates say, could reduce bills by billions...
6 months ago
UK to quit energy treaty that ‘penalizes’ net zero
LONDON — The U.K. will leave an “outdated” international energy treaty after ministers concluded it could stymie efforts to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.Energy Minister Graham Stuart will confirm on Thursday that the U.K. is following several...
6 months ago
Oil and gas companies lash out at Labour’s new windfall tax plans
LONDON — More than 40,000 jobs in the U.K. energy sector could be lost because of Labour’s new oil and gas windfall tax plans, an industry group is warning.In a scathing attack on the U.K. opposition party's proposals, David Whitehouse, chief executive of...
6 months ago
Labour slashes green spending pledge in major U-turn
LONDON — Keir Starmer's Labour Party U-turned on its green investment plans after months of speculation.The party on Thursday ditched its totemic pledge to spend £28 billion a year on green policies — slashing those spending plans by nearly 75 percent.In...
6 months ago
UK vows to avoid Europe’s ‘clumsy’ green policies as protests rage
LONDON — Britain will not repeat the kind of “clumsy” climate policies which have caused social unrest elsewhere in Europe, the country’s energy secretary declared.Claire Coutinho told POLITICO in an interview that “riots and protest happening across Euro...
6 months ago
How a climate U-turn broke the Scottish government
It was meant to make Scotland a green world leader.But the country’s ambitious climate targets — and the Edinburgh government’s failure to keep up with them — triggered the break-up of the country's governing coalition and left the ruling Scottish Nationa...
5 months ago
UK’s climate plan ruled unlawful (again)
LONDON — The government’s plans for hitting climate goals have been ruled unlawful in the High Court for a second time.The High Court judgment, published Friday morning, upheld four of the five legal challenges brought by campaign groups Friends of the Ea...
5 months ago
Nobody even noticed the Tories’ biggest legacy
LONDON — When she needed a break from the Brexit wars, Theresa May would head for the hills. Far from the pressure-cooker of Westminster, May spent every summer between 2016 and 2019 — her three years as U.K. prime minister — walking in the mountains of S...
2 months ago
Starmer government rejects calls to ditch deal with firm linked to Russian gas
LONDON — Keir Starmer’s new Labour government has dismissed calls from Ukrainian campaigners to ditch a controversial public sector gas contract with a French fossil fuel giant that still trades in Russian gas. Campaign group Razom We Stand this week said...
2 months ago
How Ed Miliband became Britain’s most divisive government minister
LONDON — Six weeks on from Labour’s resounding election victory, no one in Keir Starmer’s Cabinet has moved quite as quickly as Ed Miliband. A former (failed) Labour leader, who critics deemed too left-wing and awkward to win over the British public, Mil...
2 months ago