Daily Debrief · Weekend edition

The watershed summit in 2015 was far from perfect, but its impact so far has been significant and measurable Ten years on from the historic Paris climate summit, which ended with the world’s first and only global agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions, it is easy to dwell on its failures. But the successes go less remarked. Renewable energy smashed records last year, growing by 15% and accounting for more than 90% of all new power generation capacity. Investment in clean energy topped $2tn, outstripping that into fossil fuels by two to one. Continue reading...

Axing green levies and scrapping the ECO energy efficiency scheme could impact tens of thousands of jobs across the UK, industry body warns

This page outlines details of the certification scheme for the Clean Heat Market Mechanism (CHMM) provided by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS).

Secretary of state can procure additional 3GW while remaining cost neutral, claims study

In this week’s newsletter:​ The government’s bid to speed up nuclear construction could usher in sweeping deregulation, with experts warning of profound consequences for nature • Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here When UK prime minister Keir Starmer announced last week that he was “implementing the Fingleton review”, you can forgive the pulse of most Britons for failing to quicken. But behind the uninspiring statement lies potentially the biggest deregulation for decades, posing peril for endangered species, if wildlife experts are to be believed, and a likely huge row with the EU. 2025 ‘virtually certain’ to be second- or third-hottest year on record, EU data shows Just 0.001% hold three times the wealth of the poorest half of humanity, report finds ‘Even the animals seem confused’: a retreating Kashmir glacier is creating an entire new world in its wake Continue reading...

Navigating the current market challenges for power deals means developers taking decisions over where to direct their resources, says Patrick Schmidt-Braekling

Two projects supported through Grangemouth Just Transition Fund are set to deliver hundreds of jobs and demonstrate site's long-term potential as sustainable manufacturing hub

A diversity in storage systems as well as energy sources can contribute to a more stable and resilient electricity grid

UK researchers will get a chance to develop applications for the tech giant's quantum processor.

One of our data-tracking, EV-focused readers, Madan Rajan, notified me this weekend of a big milestone. Cumulative plugin vehicle sales have surpassed 75 million units. He points out that we were at 74.3 million cumulative plugin vehicle sales at the end of October 2025, and with 1.3 million plugin vehicles ...

Plus, how UK oil majors attempted green transitions and then backed off

Many manufacturers are increasing production, building up regional capacity and redesigning products to fill the backlog

RTES System Cuts Energy Consumption and Costs Over a Simulated 20-Year Period By Hannah Halusker, NLR The rise of artificial intelligence, cloud platforms, and data processing is driving a steady increase in global data center electricity consumption. While running computer servers accounts for the largest share of data center energy ...

Uniper has taken the decision to start construction of Berryhill solar farm just north of Dundee, Scotland.

DNV’s Global Energy Outlook for 2025 predicts that annual demand for electricity in Europe will increase by 2% and in North America by 1.5% towards 2050.