Crypto News: Pain or gain?

The day began with a tweet in the funny-if-it-weren't-so-serious bucket. One of the UK's best energy journalists, Dr Simon Evans, responded to the news that the government will issue more than 100 new licenses to drill North Sea oil and gas by posting a tweet of… Greg Hands, the current Conservative Party Chairman, last year saying it would make no difference to energy security to do this.

Today we get the promise of hundreds of new licenses and perhaps as many voices of criticism. Bloomberg reporters rounded up the responses here and it's a long charge sheet:

"Few energy experts believe boosting North Sea licenses will have a dramatic impact on energy security. UK oil and gas production peaked about 20 years ago and has been in near-constant decline since. New fields are still being found and exploited, but the size of the discoveries has declined considerably since the North Sea's heyday and the bulk of the resources have already been produced."

Speaking on Bloomberg TV, former Fortescue Metals CEO Andrew Forrest was even more blunt, saying he'd pull investments from the UK over "clickbait" climate policies. He said the country is "steering itself over a cliff, backing fossil fuel."

Mobile offshore drilling units in the North Sea, UK. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

More positive is the announcement of oomph for the UK's carbon capture and storage industry (CCUS). Projects Acorn in North East Scotland and Viking in the Humber have been chosen as the third and fourth CCUS clusters in the UK. Even so, the key will be ensuring this new CCUS industry does not allow business as usual emissions but the technology to become a serious player in removing future pollution that can't be reduced. The UK will get good jobs from this. Woop.

But aside from the CCUS move being welcome for the North Sea and UK generally, we'll have to wait years to learn what the new licensing regime is all about. Either we are dealing with a policy that will increase carbon emissions, or a policy that won't get the uptake, nor work the way the government hopes. In which case, today is mostly about politics not serious policy change — marginally better for the planet.

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The stories you need to know about this evening

The National Education Union voted to accept a pay deal and end strikes.
Donald Trump holds a commanding lead among likely Republican primary voters.
At least four people were killed and 42 injured in a Russian missile strike on the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Adidas signed a £900 million deal with Manchester United — agreeing to extend its shirt-sponsorship agreement.
The cost of UK pollution rights slumped to a two-year low, with prices now almost half those of their European Union counterparts.
The biggest UK banks have only passed through about a quarter of interest rate rises to savers, the Financial Conduct Authority said.

In Aberdeen to kick off today's announcement Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was grumpy when asked how he had travelled there (private jet.) In an interview, he said he was not going to back policies that drive up costs for voters. His predecessor but one Boris Johnson had the same position — always talking about going green "without so much as a hair shirt in sight."

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak Photographer: DANIEL LEAL/AFP

But even though neither men are keen on hair shirt climate politics, you can not move in the UK this wet August for talk that this government is ditching the Boris Johnson government's greenery. Bloomberg has this excellent primer on how Sunak might change things post-Boris Johnson: "Political rhetoric now leans towards a watering down of climate change policy. The unpopular Conservative government, facing electoral wipeout in next year's general election, is betting that there are votes in reassuring people that change will move more slowly."

Today Sunak tied himself to the 2050 target: "I'm committed to net zero, but I'm also committed to our energy security and we will get to net zero in a proportionate and pragmatic way that doesn't unnecessarily burden families with costs or hassle that they don't really need in their lives right now."

But it will include the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars — a relief to Jaguar Land Rover who only weeks ago announced a new gigafactory in Somerset (this was a huge announcement and should have had the same communications treatment as today's Aberdeen trip). Other than that, we are told to expect a pivot away from green policies that cause pain. The trouble is, other than the now infamous ULEZ expansion that is credited with handing the Tories their unexpected Uxbridge win, it is not obvious what else is in that category.

Perhaps it might be better to flip from pain to gain. As this brilliant piece by Bloomberg Opinion's Merryn Somerset Webb shows, the single biggest bottleneck to net zero is the National Grid. John Pettigrew of the National Grid can often be heard saying that in order to support a government target of 50GW of offshore wind in the next seven years, the National Grid will have to install more than five times the amount of transmission infrastructure than it has built in the last 30. On the surface of things, this too might be seen as another agenda for pain. Does that mean it, too, gets binned?

Most suspect the answer will be a new regime of incentivising community benefits for local areas that accept new low carbon infrastructure running through their areas and fields. Sunak is a politician who prides himself on being the man for long term solutions. Community benefits may be one way to do it. He's told us he doesn't want to inflict pain on communities, but what about starting to talk about gains?

Trade route at risk. Frequent low waters are threatening supply lines on the Rhine River which has been a reliable shipping lane for centuries.

Latest departure. Morgan Stanley hired Gillian Sheldon — a Credit Suisse veteran — in a leading role for its British investment bank.

Chill out. We should stop worrying about the carbon footprint from air conditioning — the biggest worry is heating homes, argues David Fickling for Bloomberg Opinion.

Waning consumption. Heineken shares plunged after the Dutch brewer cut its earnings forecast on weakening consumption following double-digit price increases.

Spending spree. The world's biggest shipping companies are spending on an unprecedented scale.

£1 billion

The UK government would save about £1 billion a year if the Bank of England cancelled interest on some of the money it controls, according to Numis analyst Jonathan Pierce.

One key story, every weekday

Family office management course at HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education, in Hong Kong Photographer: Lam Yik/Bloomberg

A global race — especially in Asia — to attract the booming family office businesses is underway. With residency, luxe living and low taxes mere table-stakes, the availability of trained employees to help the ultra-rich run their lives and their money has become a key battleground. Schools are popping up to train staff on everything from the perils of working for politically exposed people, to soft skills covering everything from Swiss watches to fine art.

Read The Big Take.

Allegra Stratton worked for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak when he was chancellor and runs an environmental consultancy, Zeroism.

Please send thoughts, tips and feedback to readout@bloomberg.net. You can follow Allegra on Twitter.

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