Energy Transition, Renewables, Emissions, Carbon
September 2, 2026
ET Highlights: ADB observations on Asia’s decarbonization, US-Canada’s battery partnership potential, Brazil's investment in data centers
Energy Transition Highlights: Our editors and analysts bring together the biggest stories in the industry this week, from renewables to storage to carbon prices.
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INTERVIEW: ADB highlights rapid clean energy leapfrogging in Asia-Pacific
The Asian Development Bank said the recent Middle East conflict has reinforced, rather than undermined, the case for accelerating the energy transition across Asia-Pacific. According to Pradeep Tharakan, director of energy transition at ADB's Energy Sector Office, the region's focus on energy security is increasingly aligned with its decarbonization goals.
ADB is expanding support for regional power grids and critical mineral supply chains, arguing that investments in renewables, stronger electricity networks, interconnected systems and energy storage can simultaneously improve energy security and lower emissions.
Tharakan said Asia-Pacific is also seeing significant clean energy "leapfrogging", with smaller economies such as Nepal and Pakistan emerging as leaders in areas including electric vehicle adoption and distributed solar deployment.
The comments highlight a growing view among policymakers and development institutions that energy security and decarbonization are mutually reinforcing priorities for the region's fast-growing economies, rather than competing objectives.
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Platts assessed J-credit Renewable Energy (Electricity) on Aug. 31, down 2.36% month over month amid a lack of active buying.
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UK delays carbon market entry for waste incinerators
The UK government has abandoned plans to bring waste incineration into its emissions trading scheme by 2028, saying it will set out a new timeline "in due course" as it works to finalize policy details for the sector. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which oversees the UK Emissions Trading Scheme Authority, said that a lack of clarity around the expansion had made it difficult for local authorities and industry to plan and budget, prompting the delay to the 2028 target date first proposed in 2023.
Victoria opens first offshore wind tender for 2 GW in Australia
Victoria has launched the request-for-proposal process for its first 2 GW of offshore wind capacity, marking Australia’s first offshore wind auction, according to the state government. The tender is expected to attract billions of dollars in investment, support the replacement of aging coal-fired generation, and provide enough renewable electricity to power around 1.5 million homes annually. Besides, it is expected to lower power costs in the renewable resources-rich country, the state government said.
US, Canadian battery sectors eye 'huge potential' to partner despite trade feud
Rising trade tensions between the US and Canada have cast a shadow over efforts to create an integrated North American supply chain for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and energy storage systems, according to a panel of industry groups and market participants on both sides of the border. But previous initiatives and investments have built a foundation that can endure if trade partners can end a deepening feud that threatens to raise material prices and impede cross-border business, panelists agreed.
Woodside Energy puts US low-carbon ammonia project under strategic review
Woodside Energy has placed its 1.1 million mt/year Beaumont low-carbon ammonia project in the US under strategic review and scrapped its planned $5 billion clean energy investment target through 2030, citing slower-than-expected development of hydrogen, ammonia and carbon capture markets, the company said in its half-year results for the period ended June 30. The move marks a renewed focus on the company's core conventional energy business and a scaling back of its clean energy ambitions.
Nobian, Air Products enter multiyear Dutch offtake agreement for RFNBO-certified hydrogen
Nobian BV has signed a multiyear agreement to supply certified renewable fuel of non-biological origin-compliant hydrogen to Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. from its chlor-alkali electrolyzer in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the companies said in a joint statement. Nobian’s plant runs on renewable energy and in 2025 became the first large-scale European producer of renewable hydrogen with ISCC EU certification for RFNBO, according to the companies. The plant has a capacity of over 14,000 metric tons/year of hydrogen, making it Europe’s largest RFNBO-certified hydrogen plant.
Brazil leads Latin America in data center growth on renewable energy
Brazil has been leading investments in data centers among Latin American countries, due to the country’s high renewable generation capacity and local data consumption. As of August, Brazil had a total of 706 megawatts of data center inventory, a record-high increase of 106 MW from December 2025, reaching about half of Latin America’s total capacity, according to a recent study from JLL Research. Since 2012, data center capacity in the country has increased more than sixfold, driven by cloud computing and AI, and the current vacancy rate is only 4%.