Weekly News and Views: Energy security, tax-exemption jitters and emissions targets (2025)

The latest sustainability policy and regulatory news

The week that was

For US climate non-profits there was little opportunity to enjoy an Easter break. Rumours abounded over the weekend and into the start of this week that President Donald Trump was about to issue an executive order rescinding their tax-exempt status. And, just to make the move even more brutal, it was expected to be timed to coincide with Earth Day on Tuesday. It did not materialise and the speculation was dismissed by administration sources on Wednesday.

There has been some suggestion the plans were dropped because it would not have been possible for the government to limit its scope to just climate change organisations — conservative groups could have been affected too.

However, the Trump administration continued to make its feelings on climate issues clear elsewhere. Finance ministers and bankers have gathered in Washington DC this week for the IMF and World Bank spring meetings. The fact that the US’s funding of both institutions — their biggest shareholder — is under review has hung heavily over proceedings.

Right on cue then were remarks on Wednesday from US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who accused the IMF of “mission creep”, suggesting it “devotes disproportionate time and resources to work on climate change, gender and social issues. These issues are not the IMF’s mission”. In this context, any major developments or announcements on sustainable finance seem unlikely at the meetings.

Bessent’s messaging was in stark contrast to that coming from China this week. Chinese President Xi Jinping told a UN-convened leaders’ meeting on climate change and the just transition that “China will not slow down its climate actions, will not reduce its support for international co-operation”.

China is, however, notably absent from the International Energy Agency and UK government’s joint summit on global energy security taking place in London. The summit comes at a crucial moment, with IEA head Fatih Birol warning earlier this week that global energy supplies are still vulnerable to shocks. But, without China’s presence and the US increasingly determined to pursue an America-first energy agenda built on the revival of domestic fossil fuel production, it is unclear what meaningful breakthroughs on global energy co-operation are really on the table at the talks.

Person in the news:

The death of Pope Francis on Monday represented the loss of “an unflinching global champion of climate action”, UN climate chief Simon Stiell said. His papal name was apparently chosen in tribute to St Francis of Assisi — often referred to as the patron saint of ecology.

The Pope advocated on climate issues throughout his papacy, writing several high-profile public letters on the topic. Even when in hospital with pneumonia in March this year, he wrote to the national conference of bishops in Brazil,praising their choice to prioritise climate issues in the run-up to COP30.

Religious considerations aside, the loss of a high-profile climate advocate, who was unafraid to speak out, is something to be regretted at the current time.

Europe

The European parliament’s budget committee has adopted the parliament’s first report on its priorities for the EU’s post-2027 long-term budget. The report highlighted the need for increased defence investment, but argued this must not be done at the expense of spending on social and environmental priorities.

The Good Lobby — an organisation that advocates for more transparent and ethical corporate lobbying — has published research detailing the lobbying work done by EU public affairs and law firms on behalf of fossil fuel companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies. The non-profit suggested engaging in such work contradicts the sustainability commitments of many of these firms. “The industry’s reputational risk-taking is astounding,” said The GoodLobby senior adviser Dieter Zinnbauer. “Claims of helping fossil clients ‘transition’ no longer hold water, especially as many of these companies are actively rolling back their climate goals,” he added.

The European Commission has presented a proposal to integrate the Treaty of the High Seas into EU law. The treaty, also known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, is a UN-convened international accord governing activities that take place in areas outside national jurisdictions. The EU proposal focuses on areas such as addressing environmental degradation and curbing marine biodiversity loss.

UK

Ahead of its two-day joint summit on global security with the IEA, the UK government announced £300mn in funding to be delivered through Great British Energy, the government-owned clean energy company. The funding will go towards developing domestic supply chains for offshore wind.

The North Sea Transition Authority has granted three carbon storage permitsto energy company Eni for its Liverpool Bay carbon capture and storageproject. Eni and the government also announced they have finalised a deal that will see the government grant around £2bn in supply chain contracts for the project.

Under an amendment to the Great British Energy bill, the energy company will be required to ensure there is no forced labour in its supply chain.

The UK’s Public Accounts Committee, which examines whether government projects represent value for money, published a report on Friday raising concerns over financial subsidies granted by the government for biomass energy production. The report warned that sustainability certificates intended to prove biomass is sourced sustainably may not be strong enough and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero must increase scrutiny. A total of £22bn of government support has been provided to businesses and households using biomass for fuel since 2022, confirmed the report. Environmental groups in the UK have long raised concerns about biomass burning for energy production.

The DESNZ has introduced new smart tariff standards for heating devices including heat pumps and electric hot water cylinders. The new standards will allow consumers to activate “smart” functionality on appliances enabling them to use them when energy is cheapest. The rules also mean that devices cannot be tied to a single energy supplier. The standards will be in line with those already developed for electric vehicle chargers, the government said.

In other heat pump news, the BBC has told radio presenter Evan Davis that he can no longer host his personal podcast about heat pumps, due to concerns that discussing the technology is “steering into areas of public controversy”. Bean Beanland, co-host of the podcast and director for growth and external affairs at the Heat Pump Federation, said it was “extraordinary” that heat pumps have “fallen victim to some sort of culture war” in the pair’s final episode. The announcement comes as two UK political parties, the Conservatives and Reform UK, have been outspoken against net zero in recent months.

Non-profit ShareAction attended the annual meeting of UK bank NatWest in Edinburgh on Wednesday to protest a “fossil fuel policy loophole” used by the bank. ShareAction said an update to NatWest’s fossil fuel policy in February allows it to continue financing oil and gas majors “without a credible transition plan”, as long as their transition plan was assessed to be credible in 2021. This is regardless of what approach companies have taken on oil and gas since then.

US

New York state’s Department of Environmental Conservation has published draft regulations for its proposed mandatory greenhouse gas reporting programme. If adopted, the rules would require annual emissions reporting by facilities, fuel suppliers, waste haulers and transporters, electric power entities, and agricultural lime and fertiliser suppliers. Reporting would begin from 2026, with the first reports due in 2027.

New York City pension funds, which together manage around $284bn in assets, will drop asset managers that do not fulfil their climate commitments, comptroller Brad Lander has warned. On April 22, Lander — who is in the race for New York City mayor — asked asset managers for credible transition plans by June 30 that are aligned with the city’s goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2040.

President Trump has intensified his war on clean energy, with his administration halting construction of a major wind farm off the coast of New York. Empire Wind 1 would have provided enough electricity to power 500,000 homes, but on April 17 interior secretary Doug Burgum said the Biden administration had “rushed through” its approval without sufficient analysis. Norwegian energy company Equinor had already begun construction, but it has since announced it has halted all activities until the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has completed its review.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has approved Brazilian meat company JBS’s application for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. The approval had previously been delayed multiple times, in part due to objections from civil society organisations and US lawmakers about the company’s governance and corporate practices. As advocacy organisation Mighty Earth pointed out, during President Trump’s first term the SEC fined the company $280mn for its participation in a bribery scheme in relation to its acquisition of US-headquartered meat producer Pilgrim’s Pride. “Given the company’s long rap sheet of illegal and corrupt conduct, it’s hard to see how the SEC could have confidence that JBS won’t deceive US investors,” Mighty Earth chief executive Glenn Hurowitz said in a statement. The company — the largest meat producer in the world — is pursuing a dual listing in Brazil and the US.

Environmental non-profit, SkyTruth, has published research highlighting the world’s most-polluting offshore oil and gas facilities. The research documented oil slicks, greenhouse gas emissions and methane flaring using satellite technology during a 16-month period. It found that many of the most-polluting sites are located in West Africa, with Nigeria home to many of the worse offenders.

The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage is to hold its first high-level dialogue meeting in the margins of the World Bank and IMF spring meetings. The dialogue will bring together government ministers, bankers and UN agencies to discuss how to create an aligned and impactful global response to climate-induced loss and damage.

Asia-Pacific

China has committed to publishing its 2035 nationally determined contribution emissions reduction targets ahead of the COP30 climate summit taking place in Belém, Brazil, in November. Chinese President Xi Jinping made the commitment in remarks to the Leaders’ Session on Climate and the Just Transition, a UN-convened virtual summit that brought together 17 international leaders. Xi added that the NDC would cover all “economic sectors and all greenhouse gases”. UN secretary-general António Guterres described the announcement as “extremely important”.