The U.S. Department of Commerce has imposed a 126% preliminary countervailing duty on Indian solar cells and modules, effectively closing off the lucrative U.S. market and exacerbating overcapacity issues for India’s burgeoning solar sector. The levies follow a complaint by the Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade (AASMT), claiming that Indian firms benefited unfairly from government subsidies. AASMT, a coalition that includes U.S.-based First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) and Mission Solar as well as China’s Hanwha Qcells, filed…

When the UAE experienced severe floods two years ago, many questioned the country’s practice of so-called cloud seeding—the dispersion of certain chemicals in the air to basically squeeze more rain from clouds—as a possible cause of the floods. Officially, that explanation was rejected, yet cloud-seeding is not an unproblematic practice—and it is being employed more and more. Middle Eastern countries where rainfall is scarce are among those that have been seeding clouds for the longest time, but they are not the only ones.…

Last year was an event-filled period for South America’s growing oil industry. The continent’s energy map is being rewritten by a few unexpected world-class oil booms, which makes the region a key source of non-OPEC production growth. There is also the potential for Venezuela to reemerge as a major petroleum producer after U.S. President Donald Trump launched Operation Southern Spear in August 2025, which culminated with President Nicolas Maduro’s capture in a daring night raid. Let us take a closer look at what lies ahead for…

The UK may be quietly inching toward an awkward admission: the windfall tax experiment on oil and gas has been a flop. The Treasury is holding talks with North Sea oil and gas producers about potentially scrapping the Energy Profits Levy before its scheduled 2030 expiry, according to people familiar with the discussions. After multiple extensions and rate hikes, the levy has pushed the sector’s headline tax burden to 78% — a level producers argue borders on confiscatory, and a level critics argue borders on ridiculosity. The EPL was…