Saturday, 3 October 2026

The U.S.-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund (URIF) approved a batch of new investments across energy and critical minerals, the fund said in a press release.

URIF's debt financing covers DTEK's 200 MW/400 MWh battery storage system, built across six sites in Ukraine, according to the release.

The fund will set up a joint investment platform with Ukrainian company BGV Group Management, the release said. The platform targets a portfolio of early-stage mining projects across Ukraine within the country's critical minerals sector.

URIF also took an equity stake in a multi-site distributed combined heat and power (CHP) cogeneration platform. That stake funds construction and operation of local energy hubs meant to restore electricity and heat supply damaged by the war, according to the release.

The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 would expand federal transmission authority through four grid policy provisions, according to the Niskanen Center. The bill is sponsored by Senators Mike Lee, Shelley Moore Capito, Martin Heinrich, and Sheldon Whitehouse.

The legislation directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to set standards for interregional transmission planning and cost allocation, the Niskanen Center said.

The bill would grant FERC enhanced federal backstop siting authority for lines over 230 kV. Under that provision, developers could apply to FERC and state regulators at the same time, according to the Niskanen Center.

To clear the backlog of power plants waiting to connect, the bill would require FERC to initiate a rulemaking obliging grid planners to use software automation on interconnection queues, the Niskanen Center said.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has ordered officials to prepare an energy-resiliency policy package by August, according to Event Registry.

Event Registry reported that new nuclear reactor construction is likely to feature as a primary recommendation in that package.

The move follows the war in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz energy crisis, which have returned nuclear power to the center of energy security debates in Japan and across Asia, according to Event Registry. The same crisis has quickened efforts to diversify and stockpile energy supplies.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Air Resources Board joined a coalition of 25 states, counties, and cities in suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its rescission of three main aspects of the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards, according to the office of Attorney General Bonta. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The EPA rule change repeals protections against greenhouse gas emissions from coal-, oil-, and gas-fired power plants, according to the attorney general's office.

Bonta and the coalition asked the court to vacate the EPA's rescission of the 2024 standards and restore the agency's greenhouse gas emission standards.

California and the coalition allege that the rescission of the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards violates the Clean Air Act.

All three candidates running for governor of Maine agree that energy affordability is a priority, according to The Maine Monitor.

The average cost of heating oil recently reached a record of more than USD 6 per gallon, The Maine Monitor reported. That figure sits behind a race in which the candidates diverge on how to hold costs down.

Democrat Hannah Pingree and independent Rick Bennett believe energy affordability and climate action can be pursued together, according to The Maine Monitor.

Republican Bobby Charles said the state should focus on affordability while supporting both renewable energy and fossil fuels, including new natural gas pipelines, The Maine Monitor reported.

The shared emphasis on affordability spans the field despite the different paths each candidate favors.

Arizona has joined about 20 other states in suing the Trump administration over its efforts to eliminate emissions standards for fossil fuel power plants, according to KJZZ.

Maine joined 20 other states and several cities in the challenge, which targets the repeal of EPA rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from coal and natural gas power plants, according to Fox23 Maine.

Arizona and other states and cities asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to strike down the EPA's decision, arguing it was made illegally, according to KJZZ.

The UK Foreign Office said Russia is attempting to build a new shadow fleet to circumvent sanctions and sustain revenue from its gas exports.

Russia has reportedly built at least two new tankers, each about 300 meters long, to carry liquefied natural gas (LNG) through the Arctic, according to the Foreign Office. Both vessels entered service earlier this year.

Britain imposed sanctions on eight additional vessels, including the Russian-flagged LNG tankers Alexey Kosygin and Konstantin Posiet.

Azerbaijan and Greece discussed expanding cooperation in energy, transport, trade, investment and emerging technologies at the sixth meeting of their Joint Commission on economic, industrial and technological cooperation in Athens, according to MENAFN.

The bilateral meeting between Theoharis and Shahbazov focused on energy, trade, investment and connectivity, and examined prospects for further developing economic relations.

In the energy sector, the two countries highlighted the strategic role of the Southern Gas Corridor and the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector in strengthening Europe's energy security and diversifying gas supplies, according to MENAFN.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission wants to eliminate a rule that lets shareholders formally petition companies, according to Inside Climate News. The mechanism has served as one route for shareholder advocacy groups pressing for more action on climate and sustainability.

Investor and advocacy groups warn that the move would impede efforts to pressure public companies to account for climate risks that could affect their operations, Inside Climate News reported.

An SEC spokesperson said in a statement that the agency's proposal would give states both the legal clarity and the motivation to implement their own ideas for a shareholder proposal framework.

Under the proposed change, shareholders could still submit proposals, but what happens next would sit with each company, according to investor advocates cited by Inside Climate News.

Stakeholders representing eight shareholder companies in Kazakhstan's major oil projects are studying the feasibility of expanding oil exports westward through the Caspian Sea and Azerbaijan, according to Arab News.

Kazakhstan sends more than 80 percent of its crude exports through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, Arab News reported. The consortium operates a pipeline more than 1,500 km long that connects western Kazakhstan's major oil fields with a terminal near Novorossiysk on Russia's Black Sea coast.

The energy market fallout from the Strait of Hormuz crisis is hitting diesel markets hardest, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol told a G7 Leaders' video meeting. He joined the call to discuss conditions across global energy markets and the heavy strain on diesel supplies.

Birol said about 325 million barrels have been released under the IEA collective action announced on 11 March. That volume covers more than 80% of the 400 million barrels the action originally pledged.

Middle East crude oil exports have rebounded sharply, but Birol said refined-product flows stay severely constrained. He tied the worsening diesel picture to Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries.

The Supreme Court will hear Suncor Energy v. Commissioners of Boulder County as the first oral argument of its October Term 2026, according to National Review.

The city and county of Boulder, Colorado, brought tort claims in Colorado state court seeking to hold Suncor and ExxonMobil liable for alleged past and future harm from global climate change, National Review reported.

Sen. Kevin Cramer said state and local liability rules in the dispute threaten federalism, according to The Washington Times. Cramer said "lawfare" works by wearing down energy producers.

Poland's government cut value-added taxes on fuels for the rest of 2026 and pledged to cap pump prices, according to Bloomberg, after the president signed legislation imposing windfall taxes on the energy industry.

The measures are aimed at quickly lowering fuel prices, according to Bloomberg.

Fuel prices jumped 36% year-on-year in September, according to Bloomberg. Over the same period, headline inflation reached a 15-month high of 4%, Bloomberg reported.

The VAT cut on fuels runs for the rest of 2026, according to Bloomberg, alongside the government's commitment to cap prices at the pump.

Redwood Materials says it recovers more than 95% of the lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper contained in spent batteries and manufacturing scrap, according to Reuters.

Researchers at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research demonstrated a solar-panel recycling process that recovers silicon at purity levels of up to 99.998% and silver at 99.7%, with recovery yields of roughly 97%, Reuters reported.

Veolia has developed a process that turns previously unrecyclable fiberglass wind-turbine blades into pellets, according to Reuters. The pellets can replace coal, silica and limestone in cement kilns.