Thursday, 10 September 2026

European and Asian gas benchmarks are trading 40% to 60% higher than before the conflict in Iran began in late February, according to pv magazine.

Crude has moved less. Brent sits roughly 20% above pre-crisis levels over the same period, pv magazine reported.

The pressure runs through the shipping lane. pv magazine reported that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has been severely disrupted by the conflict, and that war-risk terms have tightened for voyages in the Middle East as a consequence.

That split between gas and oil is the detail worth holding onto: pv magazine records the sharpest reaction in the gas benchmarks rather than in the crude marker.

Environmental activists from across Indiana handed more than 1,300 petitions to Governor Mike Braun and Attorney General Todd Rokita, asking the two officials to challenge President Trump's latest emergency energy order, according to CleanTechnica.

The order would keep coal burning units running at two Indiana plants, CleanTechnica reported: NIPSCO's Schahfer station and Centerpoint's Culley station.

The petition drive targets state legal authority rather than federal rulemaking, directing its demand at the governor's office and the attorney general.

The EU's new "Made in Europe" guidelines landed without binding quotas, and Semafor Net Zero reported that some observers worried the omission would undermine their efficacy.

Quotas are not off the table elsewhere. A separate proposal to boost European industry does include them, and it has split France and Germany, according to Semafor Net Zero.

The reach of Chinese exporters into European product niches runs deep enough to include garden equipment. Nine Chinese companies selling robotic lawnmowers are targeting the EU, given China's lack of lawns, Semafor Net Zero reported.

The United States and Colombia signed an agreement covering minerals and civil nuclear cooperation during a visit by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with both governments framing the pacts as part of a wider push on economic and security ties, Inside Climate News reported.

Rubio traveled to South America carrying a message that the United States wants access to minerals and an expanded military presence in the region, according to Inside Climate News.

The minerals agreement commits the two countries to finance mining and processing projects within six months, according to the US State Department.

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella used the meeting to press his own request, asking Rubio for aircraft, drones, radar, intelligence and other tools to fight armed groups, per Inside Climate News.

The security backdrop is what worries environmental campaigners. Global Witness verified the killings of 48 environmental defenders in Colombia in 2024.

A single oil producer accounted for close to half of Gulf corporate earnings last quarter. Aramco reported net profit of USD 32.3 billion in the second quarter, roughly 43% of the USD 74.8 billion in profits posted by listed companies across the region, according to KAMCO Invest, a Kuwait-based asset manager, cited by Semafor.

The concentration figure came in a comparison of earnings across Gulf economies. KAMCO Invest put regional listed-company profit at USD 74.8 billion for the quarter.

Kuwait offers the sharpest contrast in that comparison. Semafor reported that the country has been hit hard by Iranian strikes and has not exported much oil since March. Earnings growth there still rose sharply, which Semafor attributed to a lower base and one-off gains in banking and telecoms rather than broader economic strength.

Romania has approved two subsidy programs worth a combined EUR 650 million for solar and storage installations on public buildings, pv magazine reported.

The schemes were signed off by Ilie Bolojan, who serves as Romania's prime minister in a caretaker capacity, and will be financed through the Modernisation Fund, according to pv magazine.

One of the two programs, budgeted at EUR 150 million, is reserved for public institutions that already own renewable generation assets, pv magazine reported. It funds behind-the-meter battery systems to store output from their existing self-consumption installations.

Beneficiaries can apply for support covering up to 100% of eligible costs, with a ceiling of EUR 10 million each, according to pv magazine.

The call for proposals opens on September 11 and closes on November 6, or earlier if the budget runs out, pv magazine reported. Projects that win funding must be completed and commissioned by the end of 2029.

Romania passed 8.5 GW of installed solar capacity recently, with roughly 1.8 GW of that added during the first six months of 2026, according to pv magazine.

The UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) released its quarterly count of heat pump installations across the United Kingdom, covering the period up to the end of June 2026.

DESNZ dated the statistical release 10 September 2026.

The department flags the figures as "official statistics in development", saying they are still undergoing methodological development.

The series is issued as a quarterly statistical release on the number of heat pumps installed in the United Kingdom, according to DESNZ.

Cyclic Materials has opened its first commercial-scale rare earth magnet recycling facility in Mesa, Arizona, according to Electrek. The plant can handle up to 25,000 metric tons of magnet-bearing end-of-life products a year, Electrek reported.

Mesa is the first commercial-scale deployment of Cyclic's proprietary MagCycle process, per Electrek. The line turns scrap into a rare earth magnet concentrate the company calls Mag-Xtract, and also recovers copper, aluminum, and steel.

Electrek reported that Cyclic finished the site 17 months after announcing it.

A second project is in development: a recycling campus in South Carolina, scheduled to open in 2028, which will put magnet recovery and rare earth refining at one site, according to Electrek.

Cyclic says global demand for rare earth elements is projected to triple by 2035.

Canada has committed loan guarantees of up to CAD 757 million to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to back Ukraine's energy security, covering emergency natural gas purchases and strategic fuel reserves ahead of the 2026/2027 heating season, according to a joint statement published by Natural Resources Canada.

The commitment was set out after Canada's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson met Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Denys Shmyhal on September 10, 2026, to discuss bilateral energy cooperation and ways to deepen the two countries' partnership.

Separately, Canada's total contribution to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund now stands at CAD 100 million, the statement said.

Export Development Canada has dedicated a CAD 200 million Concessional Trade Finance Envelope to priority projects in Ukraine, including a hydroelectric infrastructure opportunity that Canada intends to support, according to Natural Resources Canada.

On the nuclear fuel side, the two ministers pointed to the partnership between Ukraine's Energoatom and Cameco Corporation, which secures long-term uranium supplies and conversion services through 2035 and, in their words, underpins the energy independence of Ukraine's nuclear fleet.

Hodgson and Shmyhal also condemned Russia's ongoing attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.