WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and Happy Monday, readers! In today’s edition of Daily on Energy, Callie and Maydeen kick off the week by taking a look at new sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on Iran and its so-called “shadow fleet” of oil tankers.
In other crude news, oil giant BP is expected to abandon its renewable energy goals. Meanwhile, Greenpeace has been sued over delaying the start of Energy Transfer’s Dakota Access Pipeline project in North Dakota.
Plus, be sure to keep reading to find out which notable hearings, conferences, and events we’re keeping an eye on this week.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner energy and environment writers Callie Patteson (@CalliePatteson) and Maydeen Merino (@MaydeenMerino). Email cpatteson@washingtonexaminer dot com or mmerino@washingtonexaminer dot com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.
TRUMP CRACKS DOWN ON IRAN’S ‘SHADOW FLEET’: The Trump administration announced new sanctions aimed at Iran‘s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers that it said are used to fund destabilizing activities around the world.
The details: The sanctions, imposed Monday by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the State Department, are part of the administration’s recent maximum-pressure campaign on the nation to reduce Iran’s exports of crude oil to zero.
The administration is specifically placing sanctions on more than 30 people and vessels in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, India, and China — all of which the administration said have played a role in helping sell and transport tens of millions of barrels of crude oil from Iran. This includes Hong Kong-based oil broker Petronix Energy Trading Limited, which the Treasury Department said used two shadow tankers under Panama and Cook Islands flags to transport hundreds of thousands of metric tons of Iranian crude.
The State Department also designated eight entities located in Iran, India, Malaysia, Seychelles, and the UAE for their involvement in purchasing and transporting Iranian crude through this “shadow fleet.” These measures are meant to cut off these individuals and entities from the U.S. financial system, blocking all property and interests in the United States.
A reminder: These oil tankers, also commonly referred to as “dark fleets,” are known for using deceptive oil shipping practices and manipulating or disabling the universally used tracking system for ships, the Automatic Identification System. This is typically done to evade detection and conceal shipping paths amid Western sanctions.
Read more from Callie here.
BP TO DITCH RENEWABLE GENERATION GOALS: British oil giant BP reportedly will announce plans to abandon its renewable generation goals this week in an effort to boost earnings.
BP CEO Murray Auchincloss will tell investors Wednesday at the company’s capital market day that it will abandon its target to grow renewable generation capacity twentyfold by 2030 and instead refocus on fossil fuels to address low earnings, two sources told Reuters.
The company has been facing earnings trouble, with the company reporting last October a 30% drop in third-quarter profit to $2.3 billion, the lowest in nearly four years. In recent years, BP’s market capitalization has suffered, even as competitors, such as Exxon Mobil, Shell, and Chevron, have seen gains.
Auchincloss has promised the company would undergo “a fundamental reset” to combat its low earnings. The company has already ditched its goal of cutting oil and gas output by 2030.
BP also plans to divest assets and slash other low-carbon investments to reduce debt and increase returns, the sources told Reuters.
GREENPEACE FACES LAWSUIT OVER DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE PROTESTS: Environmental group Greenpeace is heading to court today in North Dakota over delaying the start of Energy Transfer’s Dakota Access Pipeline project due to months of protesting on the construction site.
Energy Transfer filed a lawsuit against Greenpeace, claiming that their months of protest on the construction site throughout 2016 and 2017 delayed the pipeline’s construction. The company is now seeking $300 million in damages. Energy Transfer initially attempted to sue Greenpeace in 2017, but the suit was dismissed by a federal court.
The lawsuit heading to trial today was filed in 2019 in North Dakota. The lawsuit accuses Greenpeace of an “unlawful and violent scheme to cause financial harm to Energy Transfer, physical harm to its employees and infrastructure, and to disrupt and prevent Energy Transfer’s construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.”
Greenpeace, however, told reporters in a call last week that the lawsuit is aimed at silencing Energy Transfer’s critics and if they lose the case, the organization could suffer significant financial ruin.
“This case is simple. Big Oil wants to silence its critics,” said Sushma Raman, interim executive director of Greenpeace USA.
USDA SUED OVER REMOVAL OF CLIMATE CHANGE REFERENCES: The U.S. Department of Agriculture is facing a lawsuit over the agency’s decision to remove numerous references to climate change on its websites, something environmentalists have dubbed as “censorship and obstruction.”
A reminder: At the end of last month, emails revealed that the USDA’s office of communications ordered agency employees to delete landing pages regarding USDA climate hubs, climate-related agriculture initiatives, wildlife information, and more. It specifically asked staff to “Identify and archive or unpublish any landing pages focused on climate change” as well as “Identify all web content related to climate change and document it in a spreadsheet.”
The details: The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Environmental Working Group filed the lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The groups have accused the agency of “unlawful” purging information regarding climate change policies, guides, datasets and resources from its websites without any advance notice.
They have claimed the decision to remove the information violated the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Freedom of Information Act. The lawsuit alleges that the information “purge” has already caused harm to farmers and farm advisors who rely on such data and resources for conservation and agriculture purposes.
The groups are asking the court to declare the USDA move as unlawful and order the agency to restore all webpages that were removed in the last few weeks.
EU FACES PRESSURE TO RELAX VEHICLE EMISSIONS STANDARDS: The European Union is facing calls to offer more flexibility for its vehicle emissions standards, which are set to fully electrify the industry after 10 years.
The details: France in particular is increasing pressure on the European bloc, suggesting that the European Commission offer a “bank-borrowing mechanism” to allow carmakers to average out their emissions in order to meet 2025 targets, according to a document reviewed by Bloomberg.
“The risk of non-compliance with the CO2 regulation could lead several European car makers to face significant penalties,” the document reads, claiming it would help accelerate the transition to requiring all vehicles to be zero-emission by 2035.
Under the existing rules, any automaker that fails to meet 2025 emissions targets will face fines. However, they are reportedly allowed to “pool” their emissions reductions with companies that have exceeded this year’s targets.
It remains unclear whether EU officials will embrace the French suggestion, as critics say it would hurt the bloc’s authority in issuing such rules. The European Commission is expected to release a plan on better supporting the automotive industry next week.
MOST COMPANIES EXEMPT FROM EU CARBON BORDER TAX: The European Commission will propose new exemptions this week for companies under its carbon border levy, Reuters reports.
The draft proposal as seen by Reuters said it will change the carbon border levy or CBAM to apply to companies importing goods with a mass-based threshold of 50 metric tons per year.
“A mass-based threshold reflecting the average emissions intensity of the volume of imported CBAM goods would better translate the climate objective of the CBAM,” exempting most companies from the tax, the proposal said.
The tax would be imposed on importers starting in 2026.
An analysis by the EU Climate Commission found that the majority of the emissions covered by the carbon tariff is produced by 20% of the companies under the scheme.
“So would it then not be smart to leave that roughly 80% off the hook, in terms of the administrative work burden? In my view, it would,” EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told the Commission earlier this month.
UNITED NATIONS BIODIVERSITY CONFERENCE TALKS RESUME THIS WEEK: Unfinished discussions from the United Nations’ biodiversity conference (COP16) are set to restart this week in Rome, as delegates from around the globe seek to secure $200 billion a year for preservation initiatives.
The details: Delegates originally met for the conference in Cali, Colombia, last October, but failed to reach a final agreement on a number of key issues, including figuring out how to raise funds for the resource mobilization strategy that could be used for protecting biodiversity.
This money is expected to fund the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework – a globally-agreed plan on how to stop nature loss by 2030. However, it remains unclear which countries will pay what. As of October, only $163 million had been pledged for the fund, Reuters reported.
The resumed talks are set to start tomorrow and last until Thursday.
ICYMI – TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PULLS PLUG ON ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGERS: The Trump administration is reportedly not only targeting future development for charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, but also existing charging stations located at federal buildings.
The details: An email from officials within the General Services Administration – which manages all federal office buildings – reportedly reveals that staff have been instructed to shut down and remove hundreds of existing EV chargers. The email, reviewed by The Verge, described all GSA-owned charging stations as “not mission critical.” GSA operates around 8,000 charging plugs available for federal workers.
“Neither Government Owned Vehicles nor Privately Owned Vehicles will be able to charge at these charging stations once they’re out of service,” the email reads. The agency said the decision was to keep in alignment with the current administration.
The official guidance instructed employees to begin shutting down the chargers this week, a source with knowledge of the plans told the outlet. GSA is reportedly working on when to officially cancel current contracts with networks that operate the EV chargers. These contracts must be canceled first before the charging stations can be removed.
Some background: As promised on the campaign trail, Trump has targeted the EV industry since his first day in office. Just hours after being sworn in, Trump signed a sweeping executive order to eliminate Biden administration rules that boosted EVs. The president has likened these policies to an “EV mandate,” vowing to promote increased consumer choice in the industry. The order specifically called for the elimination of EV-related subsidies as well as state emissions waivers that limit gas vehicle sales.
A LOOK AHEAD:
Feb. 24–26 The American Public Power Association is holding its annual legislative rally on Capitol Hill.
Feb. 25 Unfinished discussions from the UN biodiversity conference COP16 resume
Feb. 25 Politico Playbook is hosting “First 100 Days: Energy Breakfast Briefing.”
Feb. 25 – 26 The Fusion Industry Association is holding its annual policy conference in Washington D.C.
Feb. 25 – 27 Intersolar & Energy Storage North America is holding a flagship conference looking at solar, energy storage, EV infrastructure, manufacturing and more in San Diego, California.
Feb. 26 – 27 The American Council on Renewable Energy is set to host its annual policy forum in Washington D.C.
Feb. 26 The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations is holding a hearing titled “Examining the Biden Administration’s Energy and Environment Spending Push.”
Feb. 26 The House Oversight and Government Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs is scheduled to hold a hearing called “Leading the Charge: Opportunities to Strengthen America’s Energy Reliability.”
Feb. 26 The Columbia Climate School at Columbia University is holding an online panel on sustainable finance and its role in emerging markets.
RUNDOWN
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