Energy Transition, Renewables, Hydrogen, Battery Metals
November 5, 2025
ET Highlights: California's push for emissions caps; Singapore port authority, Belgium-based maritime group advocate marine decarbonization
Energy Transition Highlights: Our editors and analysts bring together the biggest stories in the industry this week, from renewables to storage to carbon prices.
Top story
CARB pushes cap-and-invest budget adjustments, program update timeline to 2027
The earliest year possible for the California Air Resources Board's long-awaited updates to the cap-and-invest program is now in 2027, CARB officials said in an Oct. 29 workshop.
A program update potentially adjusting emissions caps has seen multiple delays since 2024, and the recently passed Assembly Bill 1207 caused the timeline to be pushed back further. Updates to the program must take into consideration consumer affordability, cost effectiveness, emissions leakage and the enabling of a smooth transition to the program post-2030, CARB representative Michael Turgeon said.
“CARB has determined that the adjusted timeline to complete the rulemaking in 2026 means that 2027 is the earliest year available for budget adjustments and other potential updates to the program," Turgeon said.
CARB aims to achieve regulatory certainty as soon as possible, Turgeon said.
Benchmark of the Week
$32.07/alw
The California carbon allowance market is currently oversupplied due to delays in implementing new annual emissions caps. Prices slightly rose on the announcement that a new regulatory draft for 2027-2030 emissions caps could be released at the end of the year.
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SPGlobal.com
Singapore’s MPA signals determination to press on with maritime decarbonization
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore is going forward with a front-end engineering design study focused on low or zero-carbon bunkering proposals despite the International Maritime Organization's recent vote to delay regulatory talks for new marine decarbonization rules by a year. MPA awarded the study to a consortium led by Keppel, to examine solutions on Jurong Island. The Energy Market Authority of Singapore also awarded a study focused on low- or zero-carbon ammonia power generation.
UK strengthens climate commitments despite political pushback
The UK government doubled down on its clean energy ambitions by unveiling a comprehensive climate strategy on Oct. 29 focused on growing its renewables sector while lowering energy costs. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero published the carbon budget and growth delivery plan, which outlines how the UK will meet its legally binding emission reduction targets covering the period from 2023 to 2037.
Platts Connect
CMB.TECH raises bets on green hydrogen and ammonia despite IMO fumble
Belgium-based CMB.TECH has pushed ahead with more investments in renewable hydrogen and ammonia, according to CEO Alexander Saverys, even as a global decarbonization regulatory piece hangs in the balance amid US opposition. The company has begun talks with potential suppliers to buy green ammonia to power its ships while evaluating the business case to ramp up production from its pilot project in Namibia to 1 million metric tons per year later this decade, Saverys told Platts in an interview on Oct. 22 after the International Maritime Organization's members voted to delay the adoption of Net-Zero Framework to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
INTERVIEW: Global GHG shipping rules spur new, efficient solutions: Wartsila exec
Upcoming environmental rules in global shipping, including the impending ratification of the International Maritime Organization’s Net-Zero Framework, will provide global regulation and an opportunity to develop new and more efficient industry solutions, Sanjay Verma, director of Decarbonization Solutions Marine at Wartsila Singapore, told Platts. Verma said LNG is a clean alternative to fuel oil that is available today and can provide immediate relief when it comes to near-term decarbonization goals.
Singapore's Keppel, Siemens sign up to explore low-carbon power generation solutions
Keppel and Siemens Energy signed a memorandum of understanding to develop low-carbon power generation solutions in Singapore, aligned with the nation’s transition toward low-carbon energy systems. The collaboration, announced during Singapore International Energy Week, builds on Keppel's recent appointment to conduct a feasibility study for a utility-scale direct-ammonia combustion power plant on Jurong Island.