6. Weekly Newsletter
UK Carbon price falls
The price of UK carbon emission permits dropped to an all-time low when it hit £31.48/ tonne of carbon dioxide due to tame winter temperatures, leading to less demand on energy suppliers needing permits to cover any spike in energy usage over the winter period. The price has dropped by 43% compared to just one year ago when it was at €62/tonne. This has raised concerns about weakened incentives to build cleaner renewable energy sources.
Chief Analytics Officer at a Carbon Consultancy Company, Marcus Ferdinand, feels a growing distrust in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his climate policies as he has introduced measures which have weakened the push to reduce the effects of climate change. Sunak recently announced the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars would be postponed from 2030 to 2035. However, the Government has said it remains committed to its net zero carbon goal by 2050.
Newspapers
The UK’s front page news cycle over the last seven days has covered a wide range of topics. Range Rover boss calls for more police ahead of tax cuts after an influx in car thefts, O’Neill tells Sunak that £3.3bn in funding for N. Ireland is not enough, and UK house prices rise more in January than expected. Some of the newspaper headlines from this week were:
• Financial Times-‘UK mortgage rates fall for first time since 2021’
• Financial Times-‘UK population to hit 70mn faster than expected, says ONS’
• Financial Times-‘UK shop price inflation drops sharply to lowest level in almost 2 years’
• Financial Times-‘Sunak launches new business council as Labour woos corporate sector’
• The Times-‘Jeremy Hunt review ‘set to end tourist tax’
• The Times-‘Bahraini owners pump in £30m to keep McLaren on the road’
• Sunday Telegraph-‘Hundreds of criminals may have to be released as ‘Scotland’s jails are too full’
Iran uses UK banks to avoid sanctions
Iran used Lloyds and Santander to move money around the world as part of a Tehran intelligence service sanctions-evasion scheme. According to documents seen by the Financial Times, Lloyds and Santander gave accounts to front companies owned by Iranian National Petrochemicals Company. The state-controlled company was part of a network that the US accuses of raising hundreds of millions of dollars for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and proxy militias. European banks that breached US sanctions on Iran have been severely punished in the past, with Standard Chartered penalised with over $1 billion in 2019.
