As China heads into its annual Two Sessions in early March, the gap between climate ambition and implementation capacity is becoming a central policy question.
During a recent visit to China alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, BMW Group CEO Oliver Zipse signed a memorandum of understanding with CATL, formalizing a partnership aimed at lowering the embedded carbon footprint of BMW’s electric vehicles by reworking battery sourcing and production processes.
Germany is preparing to classify hydrogen production as being of “overriding public interest,” a legal designation designed to accelerate permitting and implementation at a moment when the country’s hydrogen strategy is visibly off track.
Australia’s energy storage buildout is increasingly defined by a geographic and technological split. In New South Wales, the state government has elevated two pumped hydro proposals totaling 1.8 gigawatts to priority planning status, even as battery energy storage systems continue to dominate deployment elsewhere in the country.
Energinet has awarded a five-year Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management contract to Worley for Phase 1 of the Danish Hydrogen Backbone pipeline.
Europe’s largest business lobby, BusinessEurope, is calling for targeted reforms to the multi billion euro carbon market, arguing that the current trajectory risks accelerating deindustrialization at a time when energy costs and global competition are already straining manufacturers.
In northern Sweden, the HYBRIT consortium has secured an extension of its temporary building permit for its underground hydrogen storage pilot in Luleå until 2031, allowing continued testing of a technology that early data suggest could cut variable hydrogen production costs by 25 to 40 percent.
Amazon has pledged more than 40GW of carbon-free energy capacity across over 700 projects worldwide, a portfolio the company says could power more than 12.1 million U.S. homes.
