More than half of all MSPs at Holyrood have joined forces with MPs to call for the chancellor to immediately back a major carbon capture project in Scotland. The huge cross-party group – which includes 71 MSPs and 10 MPs – is urging Rachel Reeves to deliver the money needed to progress the Acorn carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Aberdeenshire. Reeves has been warned that any further delay to Acorn “will jeopardise Scotland’s industrial decarbonisation, put significant private sector investment at risk and compromise our energy security”. Carbon capture is the process of trapping emissions produced by the burning of fossil fuels. The Acorn project would take emissions from the country’s biggest polluters and store them in depleted gas reservoirs under the North Sea. Tuesday’s letter to the chancellor says the Acorn project is needed as the country’s green energy transition is failing to happen fast enough to make up for the decline in the North Sea oil and gas sector. “Acorn is Scotland’s only at-scale CO2 transport and storage solution,” it says. “Without it there is no viable route for Scottish industry to decarbonise.” The letter, which includes politicians from the SNP, Labour, Tories and Lib Dems, says the project could generate £17.7 billion for the UK economy, create 15,000 new jobs and protect 18,000 existing jobs. Signatories include former first ministers Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf, Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay, Lib Dem MSP Willie Rennie and Livingston Labour MP Gregor Poynton. The letter states: “If the UK is serious about decarbonisation, economic growth and energy security, we must move faster and more decisively on CCS. “We urge you to take the necessary action to ensure that Acorn is delivered at pace.” The letter also says a decision to fast-track Acorn now could quickly enable SSE’s

ITM Power has been selected to provide electrolysis technology to Uniper’s Humber H2ub (Green) project in Killingholme, in North Lincolnshire. ITM has been tasked with supplying six 20MW Poseidon core electrolysis process modules for the project. This comes after the UK government announced in April that Humber H2ub was one of the 27 green hydrogen projects shortlisted under the Hydrogen Allocation Round 2 (HAR2). These projects have been invited to proceed to the next stage of the HAR2 process – a due diligence phase for which Uniper is to submit a request for information (RFI) form by May 16. The government is expected to decide which of the shortlisted projects to award contracts to in 2026, with successful projects then required to be commissioned by the end of 2029. Humber H2ub (Green) will have an initial capacity of 120MW, with the potential to expand it by an additional 200MW or more further down the line. Uniper signed a collaboration agreement in March 2024 to work towards supplying green hydrogen from the Humber H2ub project to Phillips 66’s Humber Refinery, which is also located in Killingholme, to replace some refinery fuel gas in fired heaters at that facility. Uniper is targeting a final investment decision (FID) on Humber H2ub (Green) in 2026, after which it would bring the project online by 2029, in line with HAR2 requirements. In its announcement, ITM said that Poseidon offered “unmatched efficiency, rapid response times, and an optimised footprint for large-scale projects”. Elsewhere on its website, the company says Poseidon consists of consists of skid-mounted units enabling scale-up, which are suitable for both indoor and outdoor installation. Humber H2ub ITM’s CEO, Dennis Schulz, welcomed the selection of his company for the project, saying Humber H2ub would “contribute to the decarbonisation of the Humber Refinery and create

Oil and most other commodities powered higher, while gold fell, after China and the US ratcheted down trade tensions that had threatened to slash demand for raw materials. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.5% to settle at $61.95 a barrel in New York, while copper advanced 0.8%. European natural gas, soybeans and iron ore also rallied. Shares of the top mining companies surged. The truce between the world’s two largest economies brought some temporary relief to commodity markets roiled by tariffs that dented the outlook for global economic growth in recent weeks. Oil watchers have slashed demand forecasts, and the trade war already was showing signs of reducing the volume of goods arriving in the US. China will reduce tariffs on US goods to 10% from 125%, while America will cut its own curbs to 30% from 145% in an arrangement lasting for 90 days. At a briefing after the talks, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said neither nation wanted their economies to decouple. Both countries said they would establish a mechanism to continue discussions on economic and trade relations. “The oil market got caught up in the euphoria, but the damage has already been done to demand in the short term,” said John Kilduff, founding partner of Again Capital LLC. Still, reduced trade war tensions have removed $3 to $5 of downside from the market, rendering the new price floor near $60 a barrel, he said. Commodities have been volatile ever since President Donald Trump first announced so-called reciprocal tariffs in early April. Oil prices are still down more than 10% since then as the market contends with rising supplies from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies. While commodity trading advisers are still largely betting against crude, they’re moving off their extreme bearish stance. The

Equinor ASA got no new signals that the Trump administration would reconsider the halt imposed on the Empire Wind project when its CEO met with a top White House official last week. Now the company must decide whether it will kill the project.  “If no progress is made within days, Equinor will be forced to terminate the project,” Molly Morris, president of Equinor Renewables Americas, said Monday. “We are still fighting every day to find a resolution.” That came after there was no indication of a change in stance from US officials when the Norwegian oil and gas company’s Chief Executive Officer Anders Opedal and other top officials met with US National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on May 6, spokesperson Magnus Eidsvold said Monday. A termination would cause the company to lose much of its $2.7 billion investment on the project. “It would be a direct impact to Equinor and our balance sheet,” Morris said. The $5 billion project was halted in April when Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the Biden administration had rushed its approvals. Empire 1 was fully-permitted and slated to start commercial operation in 2027. Its 54 turbines were designed to power 500,000 homes. ‘Honoring Contracts’  Now, the paused project is costing the company $50 million a week, Morris said. While work at sea is completely stopped, operations at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in New York continue, and there are costs associated with keeping people and equipment on standby.  The halt on Empire is bigger than Equinor or even offshore wind, Morris said. “It’s about honoring contracts and financial investments made in the US,” she said. “They are setting a dangerous precedent by stopping a project in mid-execution.” Morris said Equinor has operated in the US for almost 40 years and has invested more than $60 billion in the

Heather Reams is president of Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions. China dominates the global critical mineral supply chain threatening the United States’ national security and goal of energy dominance. Last year, China mined 270,000 metric tons of rare earth elements, which comprises over two-thirds of global rare earth production. China also controls nearly 90% of global refining capacity. This is why President Trump’s Executive Order 14241 underscores a key challenge facing America’s economic and national security: the United States’ dependence on foreign critical minerals sourced largely from overseas, particularly from China.  To be specific, lithium, cobalt, graphite and rare earth elements — all crucial for batteries powering electric vehicles and renewable energy systems — flow largely through China’s processing facilities, creating a troubling strategic vulnerability. This makes the administration’s call for a robust domestic critical mineral supply chain not mere politics — it’s a strategic national and economic security imperative in the age of increasing geopolitical competition, surging energy demand and artificial intelligence.   However, an important question to ask ourselves is why America outsources almost all mineral needs to adversarial nations such as China. The answer lies in red tape, decades of underinvestment and regulatory delays amidst global market dynamics. These factors lead us to rely heavily on imports, often from geopolitically risky sources. Even when the United States does extract its own minerals, most are sent to China to be refined. That means America’s own vast and abundant mineral resources — cobalt in Missouri, antimony in Idaho, lithium in Nevada, Arkansas and Maine — are left untapped and unused.  There is some good news: the Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit, known as 45X, is a powerful policy lever created to strengthen our domestic critical minerals industry. 45X accelerates American refining and processing of critical minerals. Crucially, these tax credits are

President Trump on Friday signed four Congressional Review Act resolutions that will roll back energy efficiency standards and rules passed in the waning days of the Biden administration. The CRA allows Congress to rescind rules passed by federal agencies. The act, enacted as part of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act in 1996, applies to interim and final rules. The rules Trump rescinded Friday covered tankless natural gas water heaters, commercial refrigerators and freezers and walk-in coolers. A fourth resolution did away with certification requirements for a range of products subject to energy efficiency standards, but it did not alter the efficiency requirements themselves, according to the Appliance Standards Awareness Project. The water heater standard was expected to reduce total costs for consumers by an average of $112 over the life of the appliance, according to a fact sheet from the group. The rule for commercial refrigerators and freezers was expected to save businesses $4.6 billion and walk in cooler standards would have saved businesses up to $6.5 billion, both over 30 years of those products’ sales, the group said. “President Trump just signed a series of bills that will raise costs for families and businesses,” ASAP Executive Director Andrew deLaski said in an email. Trump has opposed energy efficiency requirements and has taken other steps to reduce regulation and oversight. The Environmental Protection Agency plans to end its popular Energy Star program, which helps consumers identify energy-efficient home appliances.  “It’s all about common sense,” Trump said at the signing ceremony Friday, arguing that the efficiency rules cost businesses money and leave consumers with less product choice. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had proposed the resolution rescinding regulations for natural gas water heaters. “The Biden-Harris administration knew they were increasing costs on American consumers and limiting consumers’ ability to choose the heater that works