The National Grid has released a “£58bn plan” to rewire Great Britain’s electricity grid, the Guardian reports. The newspaper says: “The new ‘blueprint’ recommends a ‘high-capacity electrical spine’ running onshore from the north-east of Scotland through to the north-west of England, alongside a complex collection of cables stretching along coastlines…In 2022, the energy system operator released a £54bn plan designed to connect 23GW of offshore wind. The new blueprint should enable a further 21GW, as a result of a leasing round for developers building projects on the seabed held by the Crown Estate Scotland.” The newspaper notes that the UK’s electricity grid was formed in 1935, based around “a coal-focused system centred on industrial powerhouses in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and the north-east, with nuclear later playing a significant part”. It adds that the push towards low-carbon power has “necessitated greater need for strong connections between the east coast of Scotland and the urban centres of England, where demand is greatest”. According to the paper, Scotland already generates nearly 15GW of renewable power, while peak winter Scottish demand is only 5GW. The Daily Telegraph says: “The project is designed to make the UK’s power networks carbon neutral. However, the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) said this goal would not be reached until 2035 under current plans. This fits with government targets, but not with Labour’s, placing ESO in the front line of a key pre-election battle over energy policy. The deadline prompted a backlash from Ed Miliband, the shadow energy secretary, who said a Labour government would make ESO accelerate its programme to hit the 2030 target…Mr Miliband is expected to repeat the pledge in a speech to the Green Alliance environmental pressure group on Tuesday morning…Asked if Labour’s 2030 target was feasible, a National Grid ESO spokesman suggested it ‘could be possible’ to decarbonise the grid by 96-98% by the end of the decade. However, analysts warn that decarbonising the grid by 2035, let alone 2030, remains a huge and expensive challenge.” reNEWS.BIZ notes that, according to the report, investing £60bn would boost the UK economy by £15bn. The Press Association says the plan claims it could create around 20,000 jobs, 90% of which would be outside London and the South East. The report calls the proposed upgrade “the biggest change to the electricity network since the high voltage transmission grid was established back in the 1950s”, the newswire adds. BBC News reports that the investment would add £20-30 per year to customer bills. Reuters says that the plan needs to be approved by the government and by regulator Ofgem. The Daily Mail covers the report under the headline: “Keeping the lights on while meeting green energy targets will require £60bn to fix the UK’s electricity grid, report warns.” Sky News and the i newspaper also cover the report.

In other UK news, the Guardian previews the speech at the Green Alliance that Labour shadow energy minister Ed Miliband will deliver this morning. According to the paper, Miliband will accuse ministers of “stoking the fires of the culture wars over the UK’s net-zero target instead of addressing the urgency of the climate crisis”. It continues: “It is the first time Miliband has made a public speech on the climate crisis since the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, decided to cut back on the party’s pledge to spend £28bn a year on cutting emissions and building a green economy, a move that was widely criticised by green campaigners. Miliband is expected to say that Labour will create the conditions for private sector investment in renewable energy, grid upgrades and clean technology. He will accuse the Tories of failing to grasp these opportunities because of an obsession with appeasing rightwing voices who have fixated on net-zero as a culture war issue.” The Times covers a new report by the Green Alliance which accuses Rishi Sunak of leaving a “sorry legacy” on climate change, after its “analysis found his delays to net-zero measures meant only half the carbon emissions cuts needed by 2032 are backed by confirmed policies”. The newspaper adds: “The impact of weakening and dropping so many net-zero policies has now been tallied by the thinktank Green Alliance. It found confirmed policies in place for 52% of the 833m tonnes of CO2 that the UK must legally cut by 2032. For 16% of the emissions reductions required, there are no policies in place at all. The rest are covered by policies under consultation or which officials have an ambition for.”

Elsewhere, BBC News covers a new report from the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), which finds that “roads in England and Wales are at ‘breaking point’ due to potholes, with repairs at an eight-year high”. The Daily Mail covers the report under the misleading headline: “Heavier electric cars are blamed for the £16bn cost of Britain’s pothole plague as crumblin@ali roads reach ‘breaking point’”. [As highlighted by Carbon Brief’s Leo Hickman on Twitter, the AIA report itself does not mention “electric” cars or “EVs”. It mentions heavier vehicles once, as well as making multiple mentions of higher traffic volumes, more frequent extreme weather and inflation.] Separately, the Guardian reports that “Tata Steel has abruptly announced it will cease operations of coke ovens at its Port Talbot plant in south Wales, a move condemned by one union as a ‘massive blow’”. And Politico reports that “UK 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”. 

“Top oil executives took to the stage of a major energy conference on Monday to vocally oppose calls for a quick move away from fossil fuels, saying society would pay a steep cost to replace oil and gas,” Reuters reports. The newswire continues: “Big oil companies including BP and Equinor have written down renewable energy projects and others have been forced to push back their greenhouse gas reduction targets due to greater uncertainties with the transition to clean fuels. That and unexpected strong demand for oil has stiffened the industry’s opposition to government and activist demands to phase out fossil fuel development. Policymakers also have shifted their focus to energy supply security and affordability since Russia invaded Ukraine and during the latest conflict in the Middle East.” The outlet adds that Amin Nasser, CEO of Saudi Aramco, received applause from the audience after saying that “we should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas, and instead invest in them adequately”. 

Elsewhere, the Financial Times reports that the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, which includes Shell, Saudi Aramco and ExxonMobil among its members, is “expanding a satellite monitoring campaign to detect methane emissions in emerging economies following detection of 26 large leaks of the planet-warming gas over Kazakhstan, Egypt and Algeria”.  

The UK Court of Appeal has ruled that climate activists prosecuted in England and Wales for criminal damage can no longer use the “consent defence” – in which they argue that they believed the property owner would have given their consent to the action if they understood the reason for the protest – the Financial Times reports. The newspaper says that juries in several criminal damage cases have previously found activists not guilty after they used this tactic, prompting the UK government to apply to the Court of Appeal for a review of the use of the tactic. An analysis in the Guardian notes that the consent defence “had been available on the statute books since 1971”. The Daily Telegraph reports that the rule was previously used to secure the acquittal of XR protesters who “caused £500,000 of criminal damage to HSBC’s London headquarters”, as well as that of four protesters who toppled the statue of the slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol. The Evening Standard calls the ruling “a blow for environmental groups like Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion”. It reports that, following yesterday’s court ruling, climate protesters “can be blocked from talking about the effects of climate change when they are put on trial for criminal damage”. The paper quotes Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, delivering the ruling at the Royal Courts of Justice: “It is only the circumstances of the damage which are relevant…The circumstances must relate to the destruction of, or damage to, the property. Thus, the relevant circumstances may include matters such as the time, place and the extent of the damage caused…These factors would be linked to the damage and directly relevant to the owner’s hypothetical decision as to consent. They do not include the political or philosophical beliefs of the person causing the damage.” Reuters adds: “XR co-founder Clare Farrell, one of nine people acquitted in November of breaking windows at bank HSBC’s London headquarters, said the ruling would ‘criminalise’ non-violent protesters.” The Guardian also covers the ruling in a separate news story.

Elsewhere, the Financial Times reports that “Cambridge University has temporarily stopped accepting donations from fossil fuel companies”. According to the newspaper, the moratorium on funding from oil and gas companies comes in response to “mounting pressure” after an independent report published in July last year found that the fossil fuel sector made up 0.4% of the university’s research and philanthropy funding in the six years leading up to 2022. The report also “noted that Cambridge’s due diligence process had underestimated the reputational threat of ties to these companies”, the paper says. It adds: “British oil and gas giants Shell and BP have jointly given at least £19.7m to the university in philanthropic and research funding between 2016 and 2023, according to FT analysis of university data, which did not list any other donors in the energy sector.” The Daily Telegraph reports that this is the first time that a UK university has ended research funding partnerships with the fossil fuel industry. It adds that “the moratorium would only apply to collaborations with companies and would not stretch to individuals, regardless of their backgrounds”. Le Monde also covers the news.

In other UK news, the Financial Times reports that “the boss of easyJet airline has led an aviation industry call for the UK government to put more public money into helping hydrogen-powered passenger planes get off the ground”. Elsewhere, the Press Association reports that more than 50 “leading economists and campaign groups” have penned a letter to the Bank of England, urging it to “step up its work to align the financial sector with UK climate goals”. 

Coal production in China has decreased for the first time since September 2021, which may indicate that Beijing’s “long campaign” to enhance energy security by increasing coal excavation may have reached a peak, reports Bloomberg. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), coal production decreased by 4.2% compared to the previous year, totalling “705m tonnes for January and February [2024]”. Industry outlet BJX News also covers the data released by the NBS, reporting that coal power generated for industrial use “accelerated” in the two months, while wind and solar power generation slowed. 

Energy outlet IN-EN.com reports that the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has issued regulations to provide “full guaranteed purchase of renewable energy electricity”, in which “full guaranteed purchase” refers to the amount of electricity that should be “purchased by relevant members of the electricity market, according to the national renewable energy consumption guarantee mechanism, proportional targets and other relevant regulations”. Jiemian says that the policy document changes the previous policy descriptions regarding the purchase of renewable energy electricity to place a “greater emphasis on market behaviour”. BJX News adds that the policy will be implemented from 1 April.

Meanwhile, state-run newspaper China Energy News reports that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) has issued guidelines on “accelerating the establishment of a modern ecological environment monitoring system” and calls for the “digital transformation” of ecological environment monitoring to be accelerated in the next five years. Another article by China Energy News reports that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council have jointly issued a policy document to strengthen “ecological environment zoning control”, prioritising improving environmental protection of areas facing “significant pressure to improve ecological environment quality, high intensity of resource and energy consumption, concentrated emissions of pollutants, severe ecological destruction and high environmental risks”.

Economic outlet Caixin quotes Wang Qing, a deputy director at the state council’s in-house thinktank, the Development Research Centre, saying that China’s vehicle exports will drop to to 4.5-4.7m vehicles, a level similar to that of “Germany and Japan”, following a “bumper” year in 2023. China Energy News republishes a commentary in China Auto News which argues that the global growth rate of new energy vehicles (NEV) appears to be “slowing down, indicating a period of intermittent inertia in the market” that could still prove to be an opportunity. Tokyo-based Nikkei Asia interviews executives of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) and battery firms, both of whom say their companies will “increase the volume” of their exported products. China Energy Net covers comments by NDRC director Zheng Shanjie, who says that the country’s top economic planner will implement “more pragmatic measures to support the development of the new energy vehicle (NEV, mostly EVs) industry”. Finally, Bloomberg reports that Longi Green Energy, the world’s largest solar manufacturer, is reducing its headcount by almost “one-third” to slash costs in an industry struggling with overcapacity.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, writes in the Daily Telegraph that “if our planet were a patient, it would be admitted to intensive care”. Ghebreyesus says: “The health of humans, animals and our environment are woven together in a bond that is inextricable, yet fragile. We belong to the same unique, finely balanced ecosystem…We are now re-learning what humans have always known, but which, since the industrial revolution, we have forgotten or ignored – that when we harm our environment, we harm ourselves.” He outlines the threats to health from climate change, adding that these threats are “right here and right now”. COP28 was the first COP to include a day dedicated to health, Ghebreyesus notes. He adds: “The World Health Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Organisation for Animal Health are working together in a group called the Quadripartite to support countries to take a ‘One Health’ approach, recognising that policies on human health, animal health, agriculture and the environment must be mutually informed, and mutually reinforcing.”

Elsewhere, in the Conversation, Prof Kate Appleton and Danielle Guy from Bournemouth University compare the “health-related, environmental and financial effects of a number of sustainable dietary actions”, to see which have the greatest benefits for “your diet, the planet and for your pocket”. They list the four switches that result in the greatest benefits, including replacing meat with pulses, eggs and cheeses. Separately, Tom Rogers – a senior lecturer in sustainable energy engineering, Nottingham Trent University – writes in the Conversation that “oil firms want to drill in four of the UK’s areas of outstanding natural beauty”.

Chris Wallace – a professor of political history at the University of Canberra – writes in Asia Nikkei about the recent revival of Australia’s nuclear debate. He says: “In the wake of the opposition’s defeat in a parliamentary by-election in the state of Victoria last month, coalition leader Peter Dutton has publicly championed a plan to build nuclear power stations on the sites of up to six coal-fired power plants that are to be decommissioned in the future. The proposal is essentially the first concrete policy idea offered by the coalition since returning to opposition two years ago. Yet at heart, it seems more about politics than policy…Even if the coalition does manage to win back control of government, the laws needed to give effect to its nuclear plans would stand very long odds in the upper house of parliament, where the Australian Greens and independent senators typically hold the balance of power. Moreover, even on Dutton’s optimistic timeline, nuclear power would not be able to deliver energy to Australia’s grid for at least a decade…With an election due by next year, the discussion looks set to roll on, but it is highly doubtful nuclear power will ever be part of Australia’s energy mix given plentiful and cheaper solar, wind, coal and gas alternatives.” This comes as the Guardian reports that “Australia’s big private electricity generators have dismissed nuclear energy as a viable source of power for their customers for at least a decade”. The paper continues: “[The comments] follow an announcement by the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, that the Coalition would back both large-scale and small modular nuclear reactors (SMR) as a way to cut electricity prices and increase grid reliability.”

Separately, Adam Morton – Guardian Australia’s climate and environment editor – has penned a comment piece arguing that Australia should “forget nuclear” and instead “focus on rooftop solar”. He says that nuclear power is “already dead on arrival” in Australia, but notes that “renewable energy will be able to provide more than 90% of Australia’s electricity needs at much cheaper cost long before a nuclear industry could be built from scratch”.

US federal housing policies, specifically community development block grants, can accelerate energy efficiency measures among low- and moderate-income communities, new research finds. The study examines how federal housing policies can affect energy efficiency measure uptake in low- and moderate-income families, using 6m observations of housing programme participation and utility consumption across the southeastern US. The authors say: “We provide long-run evidence across 16,680 properties that housing policies generate 5-11% energy savings as spillover benefits to economically burdened households not conventionally targeted for energy efficiency participation.”