As found across Europe, the UK’s carbon emissions are on the rise. DECC’s provisional estimates indicate a 4.4% rise in carbon emissions in 2012 compared to 2011 little of which has been driven by an improving economy. Indeed, 50% of the rise, or 10 million tonnes came from the power generation sector despite a 1% fall in generation.

Whilst there is an obvious incentive for the UK’s utilities to talk up the possibility of an energy gap and the “lights going out” there is little incentive for them to invest in securing the UK’s gas supplies and develop new gas storage. Whilst George Osborne has been seduced by the promise of shale gas – a promise that may or may not be fulfilled – no UK government has properly looked at the considerably less sexy issue of gas storage.

Centrica has entered into a 20-year LNG procurement contract with Cheniere Energy Partners which is developing a natural gas liquefaction plant at its Sabine Pass facility in Louisiana. The annual volume of the contract is 89 billion cubic feet (bcf), it will have a 20 year duration and the first deliveries are expected in September 2018. The contract is subject to “Cheniere receiving the necessary regulatory approvals, securing finance, making a final investment decision and issuing a notice to proceed with the fifth LNG train”.

A report from the UK’s Energy and Climate Change Select Committee released today criticised the government for “crossing its fingers” that new nuclear would be built in time to replace the 9GW or so of active nuclear generation that is scheduled to be closed by 2023.

Whisper it quietly; the US has a more progressive renewable support policy than Europe.

Taxes on power generation, if not widespread, are becoming increasingly popular in Europe as governments’ target utilities making significant profits from burning cheap coal in a low carbon price environment.

Electricity prices for consumers in Europe and the US are on opposite flight paths, with German residential consumers paying more than 2.5 times their American counterparts in 2012.

Whilst countries that can afford it will continue with their electricity smart metering programmes, smaller countries and new accession states are now likely to back out of smart metering plans.

Brazil’s latest wind auction, held on 14th December 2012, produced some of the lowest prices for wind generation outside of China.

In many ways politicians and policy makers in the large and high-growth economies in India and China have been unfortunate - compared to their counterparts in developed economies. Pollution in China and India’s cities are the result of mass motor vehicle ownership arriving before from the use of coal as a domestic fuel and local power/heat generation fuel leaves.