EU: The European Union will require sale of mobile phones with “user-replaceable and longer-lasting batteries” starting in 2027.
The regulation demands “availability of spare parts and manuals for 10 years to curb planned obsolescence”.
Just sobbed hardest I have since my mom died in 2020.
She missed these trials by a few months.
One of most ruthless cancers. Hard to fathom that maybe she'd still be here.
I feel such a hole inside.
In case you're wondering if we should fund mRNA research instead of another stupid war ... yes.
A HUGE, narrative-breaking moment for the UK car market
New EVs are now cheaper than petrol cars on average, says Autotrader
Last yr CCC said price parity was due by 2028 – and it's already here
And EVs are already MUCH cheaper to run than petrol
It begins. The wave of AR3/AR4 mega projects at bargain basement prices (e.g. Sofia is ~£55/MWh in 2026 money) is starting to wake up.
Dogger Bank A and B emerging, too.
Hornsea 3 just around the corner.
All of which will be highly competitive with prevailing wholesale prices.
It's perfectly reasonable to challenge ministers on N Sea oil & gas as a response to the energy shock.
But this is the exclusive framing for EVERY interview on this topic.
No minister or opposition leader is ever asked if they'll "max out" wind/solar.
It's always framed as fossil fuels v inaction
we live in an endless downward spiral wherein the world’s worst people learn regulation is Good Actually right after the irreparable harm
Ship tracking data is the place to be. Inject it into my analytical veins.
Executive Board member of European Central Bank says fossil fuel dependence makes it harder for Bank to manage financial stability
"Europe spends €400bn each yr on fossil fuel imports... the marginal cost of producing homegrown renewable energy is structurally lower"
www.ft.com/content/6fa2...
I swear to god it's just the same story every two days
People just haven't tuned into how bad this could go for the EU and UK. Reality hasn't quite hit them yet.
if you thought China was going to be the big economic loser from our Iran War -- since CHina purchases so much Iranian oil -- think again.
Goldman Sachs thinks China will take half the hit to GDP growth we will, thanks in part to the country's massive investments in renewables + big oil reserves
The 2025 numbers are really striking.
www.kielinstitut.de/fileadmin/Da...
Hilarious how for years serious people have said that you can't rely on renewables because they are prone to disruptions in supply www.ft.com/content/19f1...
Yes. Yes to all of it.
My rule of 'if you use the phrase "break the link" you must clearly state what system replaces it' laid out here.
But also follows another good rule of thumb: start by describing why it exists in the first place.
All in all, essential reading for the upcoming culture war.
new acronym needed - Trump Strategies Usually Backfire.. T-SUB. Pushes UK closer to EU (and makes EU more open to trad deals around the world). Pushes countries into the arms of China.. Makes oil and gas incredibly risky and unpredictable so accelerates moves to decarbonise..
1/ Denmark was reportedly preparing for full-scale war with the US over Greenland in January, with military support from France, Germany, and Nordic nations. Elite troops and F-35 jets with live ammunition were sent, and runways were to be blown up to prevent an invasion. ⬇️
Oh man, the hit at Ras Laffan has taken almost 20% of output (i.e. roughly 3% of global LNG volumes) offline for *3-5 years*.
The current US/IS/Iran situation also shows the danger of reliance on a few suppliers. But sure, you go ahead and be the only modern, industrialised country without a strong domestic steel industry. Best of luck.
Sure. But then let China invade Taiwan and be completely reliant on foreign supply chains. Ukraine and COVID showed how dangerous this was. This is why the US/CA/EU/UK all taking similar actions on steel, which is vital to infrastructure, defence, energy, etc., etc.
The EU/US/Can/UK steel industries are competing with massively subsidised Chinese steel production. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and COVID showed that reliance on global supply chains is very risky.
Free trade is largely dead in the steel industry.
It is merely mirroring what the US, Canada, and the EU have done in response to Chinese overcapacity, which is being dumped and undermining domestic production. UK already has the lowest steel production amongst G7, which would threaten its economic resiliency in geopolitical turbulent times.
It's going from worse to worse. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
It is extremely difficult to construct a practical case against this position. Net Zero is now as much about patriotism as it is about climate change.
Every economist screams. Again.
Instead of subsidising consumption, to keep bills vaguely similar, subsidise reducing demand.
A huge missed opportunity the first time round when the government did nothing until it utterly had to, and was left with one lever... helicopter money.
FT exclusive:
Russia has shared targeting intelligence with Iran, including locations of American military assets in the Middle East, as Tehran unleashes a barrage of drone and missile strikes against the US and its allies, said people familiar with the matter.
www.ft.com/content/19be...
😬I'm sure this will be fine😬 "Pace of global warming has nearly doubled since 2015, reveals study"
www.carbonbrief.org/...
🎥IRAN WAR PRIMER
Six days on from the start of this war, what have we learnt about the economic consequences?
Here's our latest primer. 10 mins. Longer than usual. But a lot to cover in this one 👇 youtu.be/Mv7n3gqOWyI?...
FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?
We're living in the timeline when hundreds of millions of years of dead matter was compressed by vast amount of rocks which were pushed by tectonic plates to create this concentration of oil and gas in less than 5% of the global land mass which humans now may burn away in less than 500 years.
I’m struck by how every day the admin is like “whoever could have foreseen these consequences?!” when the consequences thus far — evacuations, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, rise in gas prices, etc. — are all the literal most obvious consequences.