Projects in ex-colonies should count toward EU climate goal, Portugal says
The demand comes as the European Commission prepares its proposal for a blocwide 2040 climate goal. Several governments already want the EU executive to let them count international carbon credits — regulated permits that pay for climate-friendly projects abroad — toward the new target.
Lisbon, however, is going one step further.
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Portuguese Environment Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho said the country should also get credit for planet-warming emission cuts that result from Portugal's investments in renewable energy projects in Cabo Verde or São Tomé and Príncipe — the country's former colonies. That should occur, she added, even if those projects are not regulated under the global carbon credit regime.
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Boston Globe
an hour ago
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Trump pressures China and India to stop buying cheap Russian oil
Three countries are big buyers of Russian oil China, India and Turkey are the biggest recipients of oil that used to go to the European Union. The EU's decision to boycott most Russian seaborne oil from January 2023 led to a massive shift in crude flows from Europe to Asia. Since then China has been the No. 1 overall purchaser of Russian energy since the EU boycott, with some $219.5 billion worth of Russian oil, gas and coal, followed by India with $133.4 billion and Turkey with $90.3 billion. Before the invasion, India imported relatively little Russian oil. Hungary imports some Russian oil through a pipeline. Hungary is an EU member, but President Viktor Orban has been critical of sanctions against Russia. Advertisement The lure of cheaper oil One big reason: It's cheap. Since Russian oil trades at a lower price than international benchmark Brent, refineries can fatten their profit margins when they turn crude into usable products such as diesel fuel. Russia's oil earnings are substantial despite sanctions The Kyiv School of Economics says Russia took in $12.6 billion from oil sales in June. Russia continues to earn substantial sums even as the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations has tried to limit Russia's take by imposing an oil price cap. The cap is to be enforced by requiring shipping and insurance companies to refuse to handle oil shipments above the cap. Russia has to a great extent been able to evade the cap by shipping oil on a 'shadow fleet' of old vessels using insurers and trading companies located in countries that are not enforcing sanctions. Advertisement Russian oil exporters are predicted to take in $153 billion this year, according to the Kyiv institute. Fossil fuels are the single largest source of budget revenue. The imports support Russia's ruble currency and help Russia to buy goods from other countries, including weapons and parts for them.
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump pressures China and India to stop buying cheap Russian oil
U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing China and India to stop buying oil from Russia and helping fund the Kremlin's war against Ukraine. Trump is raising the issue as he seeks to press Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire. But cheap Russian oil benefits refiners in those countries as well as meeting their needs for energy, and they're not showing any inclination to halt the practice. Three countries are big buyers of Russian oil China, India and Turkey are the biggest recipients of oil that used to go to the European Union. The EU's decision to boycott most Russian seaborne oil from January 2023 led to a massive shift in crude flows from Europe to Asia. Since then China has been the No. 1 overall purchaser of Russian energy since the EU boycott, with some $219.5 billion worth of Russian oil, gas and coal, followed by India with $133.4 billion and Turkey with $90.3 billion. Before the invasion, India imported relatively little Russian oil. Hungary imports some Russian oil through a pipeline. Hungary is an EU member, but President Viktor Orban has been critical of sanctions against Russia. The lure of cheaper oil One big reason: It's cheap. Since Russian oil trades at a lower price than international benchmark Brent, refineries can fatten their profit margins when they turn crude into usable products such as diesel fuel. Russia's oil earnings are substantial despite sanctions The Kyiv School of Economics says Russia took in $12.6 billion from oil sales in June. Russia continues to earn substantial sums even as the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations has tried to limit Russia's take by imposing an oil price cap. The cap is to be enforced by requiring shipping and insurance companies to refuse to handle oil shipments above the cap. Russia has to a great extent been able to evade the cap by shipping oil on a 'shadow fleet' of old vessels using insurers and trading companies located in countries that are not enforcing sanctions. Russian oil exporters are predicted to take in $153 billion this year, according to the Kyiv institute. Fossil fuels are the single largest source of budget revenue. The imports support Russia's ruble currency and help Russia to buy goods from other countries, including weapons and parts for them.
CNBC
5 hours ago
- CNBC
India calls out EU and U.S.' trade with Russia after Trump threatens steeper tariffs on New Delhi
India said it was is being "targeted" by the U.S. and the European Union over its imports of Russian oil after U.S. President Donald Trump in an overnight social media post threatened New Delhi with much steeper tariffs. India began importing oil from Russia only after traditional supplies were diverted to Europe following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022, the country's foreign ministry said in a statement late Monday. The ministry called out the EU and the U.S. saying, "it is revealing that the very nations criticizing India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion [for them]." The EU's bilateral trade with Russia stood at 67.5 billion euros ($78.1 billion) in 2024, while its services trade in 2023 was at 17.2 billion euros, according to European Commission data. Citing that data, India said the bloc's trade was "significantly more" than India's total trade with Russia. Data from the Indian embassy in Moscow showed bilateral trade between New Delhi and Moscow reached a record $68.7 billion for the year ended March 2025, nearly 5.8 times higher than the pre-pandemic trade of $10.1 billion. The EU, meanwhile, was Russia's third-biggest trade partner in 2024, accounting for 38.4% of the bloc's total trade with the country, sliding from being Moscow's top partner in 2020. EU's goods trade with Russia dropped to 67.5 billion euros in 2024 from 257.5 billion euros in 2021. India's response comes after Trump threatened on Monday that he would be "substantially raising" the tariffs on India, although he did not specify the level of the higher tariffs. The U.S. president had threatened a 25% duty on Indian exports, as well as an unspecified "penalty" last week. He also accused India of buying discounted Russian oil and "selling it on the Open Market for big profits." Russia became the leading oil supplier to India since the war in Ukraine began, increasing imports from just under 100,000 barrels per day before the invasion, or a 2.5% of its total imports, to more than 1.8 million barrels per day in 2023, or 39%, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's report earlier this year. "The United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets stability," the country said in its statement. According to the International Energy Agency, 70% of Russian crude was exported to India in 2024. India said oil imports were meant to ensure predictable and affordable energy costs to the Indian consumer. India has in the past defended its oil purchases from Russia, with Hardeep Singh Puri, the country's energy minister, saying in an interview last month with CNBC that New Delhi helped stabilize global energy prices and was encouraged by the U.S. to do so. "If people or countries had stopped buying at that stage, the price of oil would have gone up to 130 dollars a barrel. That was a situation in which we were advised, including by our friends in the United States, to please buy Russian oil, but within the price cap," Puri said. India also took aim at the U.S, saying the country continues to import uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for the electric-vehicle industry, as well as fertilizers and chemicals. U.S. bilateral trade with Russia in 2024 stood at $5.2 billion, compared with nearly $36 billion in 2021, government data showed. The U.S. has not imposed any "reciprocal tariffs" on Russia. "In this background, the targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable. Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security," New Delhi said.
