Barclays Bank is backing the search for shale gas in Yorkshire andcould fund fracking in the area as early as next year. InManchester, the Telegraph writes that another company, iGas, is hasstarteddrillingas protestscontinue.

Chinese companies are on the hunt to buy overseas coal mines asBeijing’s switch to cleaner fuels stokes demand for higher-qualitycoal produced in countries such as Australia. In the UK,Labouris pushing for new amendments thatwill restrict the use of coal following estimates that the fuelcauses 1,600 excess deaths in the UK each year.

SSE and RWE have sold the high voltage link connecting the GreaterGabbard windfarm to the coast. The disposal is required by Ofgem toincrease competition in the energy sector but the Guardian writesit could increase uncertainty at a sensitive time.

Government officials have been pushing energy companies not toraise prices until after the next election in return for taking £50of green levies off gas and electricity bills, several industrysources have told the Guardian. The sources confirmed gas andelectricity firms are under the impression that they have beenasked to keep down prices for an extended period, unless there werechanges in international fuel prices – a claim dismissed by DowningStreet on Friday as “utterly misleading”.

Conservative MP and head of the Energy and Climate ChangeCommittee, Tim Yeo, has been dropped by his constituency party.Rumours include that he did not spend enough time inSouth Suffolk, or that he has been oustedamidconcerted attemptswithin government tocut green policies.

The Prime Minister and Deputy PM lay out their vision for keepingenergy bills down while continuing to help the fuel poor. Thisincludes extending the timeline for companies to enact the EnergyCompany Obligation, moving the Warm Homes Discount payment ontogeneral taxation and a £1,000 gift to new homebuyers to installenergy efficiency measures. TheSundayTimeshas more details: incentives will also be extendedto landlords. TheGuardianhas liveblogged theannouncements. Meanwhile, theFTreports that industry is urging thegovernment to extend the green rollback to large energyusers.

Wind power generation reached a new record last Friday, and gaspower use fell commensurately. As Goodall writes: “When the windblows, fossil fuel power stations simply work less”.

The Independent profiles environment secretary, Owen Paterson. Thehead of DEFRA has met only twice with the government’s chiefscientists, instead preferring to be briefed by an “alternativenetwork” of climate skeptics including Nigel Lawson and Paterson’sbrother-in-law, Matt Ridley.

Climate skeptic journalist David Rose keeps up his attacks ongovernment green policies. Claiming some credit for thegovernment’s decision to curb green levies on bills, Rose takes aimat “£300 billion” of green spending still in the pipeline under theClimate Change Act. Meanwhile, theTelegraphputs the bill at £85 billion bythe end of the decade, citing figures by the Global Warming PolicyFoundation.

The battle between the government and opposition is leading toincreasing confusion and disruption in the energy market. The PrimeMinister’s attempts to fix it aren’t working, according to thisObserver editorial.

Observations of black carbon deposited in Scandinavia and theEuropean Arctic are found to be a factor of two or three higherthan models suggest, according to new data.

Warming combined with more precipitation in the high Arctic tundramay see the amount of carbon it holds increase, scientists suggest.Other regions of the Arctic are likely to release carbon aspermafrost thaws, however.

Fish in marine protected areas are better able to deal with theimpacts of climate change than nearby areas open to fishing,according to new 20-year research.