EU chief calls for more military independence amid new ‘era of regional rivalries’

Published

4 years ago

September 19, 2021

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European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen addresses European lawmakers on the inauguration of the new President of the United States.

FRANCISCO SECO | AFP | Getty Images

LONDON — There is a new international order, where competition is fierce and some nations “stop at nothing to gain influence,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday.

Speaking at her annual “State of the Union” parliamentary address, von der Leyen described the currrent environment of foreign relations as “a new era of hyper-competitiveness.”

“An era of regional rivalries and major powers refocusing their attention towards each other,” she said, while adding that “recent events in Afghanistan are not the cause of this change — but they are a symptom of it.”

The withdrawal of American and allied troops from Afghanistan fueled a much faster-than-expected takeover of the country by the Taliban. The whole process and subsequent evacuation efforts have raised concerns in the EU about its dependence on the United States in terms of defense and security.

As such, some EU leaders have resurfaced the concept of a strategic autonomy — the idea that the bloc needs to develop its own defense capabilities — and a topic that von der Leyen is keen to pursue.

“Witnessing events unfold in Afghanistan was profoundly painful for all the families of fallen servicemen and servicewomen,” von der Leyen said Wednesday.

“Europe can — and clearly should — be able and willing to do more on its own … What we need is the European Defense Union,” she said.

The topic is likely to be in focus in the first half of 2022, when France, a keen supporter of the idea, is in charge of leading the discussions at the EU-level.

China’s Climate Plan

During her hour-long speech, von der Leyen also asked China to be more concrete about its carbon neutrality plans.

The country has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2060, but for von der Leyen this is not enough.

“The goals that President Xi has set for China are encouraging. But we call for that same leadership on setting out how China will get there. The world would be relieved if they showed they could peak emissions by mid-decade — and move away from coal at home and abroad,” von der Leyen told lawmakers.

She said that all major economies, including the U.S. and Japan, should present detailed plans toward carbon neutrality by the upcoming COP26 conference in Glasgow in November.

The EU has been leading this space, presenting in July a concrete set of measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030.

This topic is becoming increasingly more important as Europeans face higher energy bills amid a natural gas shortage and structural issues. This is raising concerns across the bloc as member states look ahead to colder temperatures in the coming months, which could result in even higher costs when the economy is still just resurfacing from the coronavirus pandemic.

The governments of Spain and Greece have already announced measures to offset some of the recent spike in energy prices. While Spain introduced temporary tax cuts, Greece said it would spend 150 million euros ($177 million) to cut energy bills for consumers over the next three months.

Mateusz Morawiecki, Poland’s prime minister, claimed last week that energy prices were going up due to the EU’s climate policies, Politico reported.

Frans Timmermans, who leads the climate policy portfolio at the European Commission, said Tuesday that “only about a fifth of the price increase can be attributed to CO2 prices rising.”

“The others are simply about shortages in the market,” he told the European Parliament.

“Had we had the green deal five years earlier we would not be in this position because then we would have less dependency on fossil fuels and natural gas,” Timmermans said, arguing that the commission’s climate plan would avoid such energy price increases.

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How Saudi Arabia is diversifying away from oil — and betting big on AI

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3 hours ago

October 28, 2025

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How Saudi Arabia is diversifying away from oil — and betting big on AI

President and CEO of Saudi’s Aramco, Amin H. Nasser, speaks during the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia October 29, 2024.

Hamad I Mohammed | Reuters

Think of Saudi Arabia and the first thing that comes to mind might be its massive, oil-derived wealth.

While oil continues to drive Saudi Arabia’s economy, the kingdom is now expanding into areas such as artificial intelligence, tourism and sports to diversify its growth avenues.

According to Saudi Arabia’s Minister for Investment Khalid Al Falih, more than half — 50.6% — of the Saudi economy is now “completely decoupled” from oil.

“This percentage is growing,” Al Failh told CNBC’s Dan Murphy, adding that government revenue used to be almost completely derived from oil money, but now, 40% of its revenue comes from sectors and sources that “have nothing to do with oil.”

“We’re seeing great results, but we’re not satisfied. We want to do more. We want to accelerate the kingdom’s diversification and growth story,” he said.

Saudi Arabia is doubling down on fast-growing sectors such as artificial intelligence, naming it one of its new growth areas, with Al Failh saying the kingdom will be a “key investor” in developing AI applications and large language models. Saudi Arabia would also build data centers “at a scale and at a competitive cost not achieved anywhere else.”

“AI has emerged [in] the last three, four years, and it’s definitely going to define how the future economy of every nation. Those who invest will lead, and those who lag behind, unfortunately, will lose,” he pointed out.

On Monday, AI chip company Groq’s CEO, Jonathan Ross, told CNBC that for AI infrastructure thanks to its energy surplus. The country could see more than $135 billion in gains by 2030 thanks to AI, according to PwC.

Saudi Arabia’s quarterly budget performance report revealed that total government revenue for the first half of 2025 came in at 565.21 billion Saudi riyals ($150.73 billion), with oil making up 53.4% of the country’s overall revenue, down from 67.97 % in the same period in 2019.

In 2024, the country reported a 1.3% rise in full-year GDP, mainly driven by a 4.3% increase in non-oil segments. Oil activity, on the other hand, fell 4.5% year on year.

The country’s sovereign wealth fund — the Public Investment Fund — has acquired stakes in tech giants, video game publishers and football clubs as it uses oil revenues to diversify into other sectors.

PIF has acquired stakes in video-game heavyweight Electronic Arts, establishing the SoftBank Vision Fund with Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group Corp in 2017, and a takeover of English Premier League club Newcastle United in 2021.

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When asked if declining oil prices were piling pressure on Saudi Arabia’s economy and government revenue, Al Falih said that the country was not scaling back budgets and there were no cuts to public spending.

Oil prices have fallen in 2025, with Brent crude spot prices down 13.4% so far this year, according to FactSet. Saudi Arabia’s oil revenue slid 24% in the first half of 2025 from a year earlier.

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The government will continue to address all activities that require government spending, Al Falih said, noting that the PIF has grown sixfold since its creation and that the country was approaching nearly $1 trillion in capital deployed across sectors of strategic interest.

Tourism has also been a key growth area for Saudi Arabia. Ahmed Al-Khateeb, the country’s tourism minister, told CNBC that the sector’s share in GDP had grown to 5% in 2024 from 3% in 2019.

“We are [opening] resorts, new airlines, new airports, and the numbers are growing, and we are focusing on countries and visitors that are coming from outside to experience our great culture,” Al-Khateeb highlighted.

The tourism minister also expressed confidence that the sector could contribute 10% of GDP by 2030, aiming to raise it to 20% eventually.

“This 20% will help Saudi Arabia to diversify the economy and make it more sustainable,” he added.

Environment

A $900M Texas solar mega-farm will power Meta’s data centers

Published

7 hours ago

October 27, 2025

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A 0M Texas solar mega-farm will power Meta's data centers

Texas solar Meta — Photo by Mark Stebnicki on Pexels.com

Meta just signed more power purchase agreements (PPAs) with ENGIE North America, expanding their partnership to more than 1.3 gigawatts (GW) of solar across four projects in Texas. It’s just a shame the social media giant is also going big on gas plants in Louisiana to power its data centers at the same time.

The latest PPAs include ENGIE’s new 600-megawatt (MW) Swenson Ranch Solar project in Stonewall County, southeast of Lubbock. When it comes online in 2027, Swenson will become ENGIE’s largest solar farm within its 11 GW North American portfolio of solar, wind, and battery storage projects. Meta will buy 100% of Swenson’s power to run its US data centers.

ENGIE says the $900 million project will create over 350 construction jobs and generate over $158 million in tax revenue for Stonewall County and the local hospital district over its lifetime.

“Our objective is to bring reliable, cost-competitive power to the grid as rapidly as possible, and projects like Swenson demonstrate the importance of solar to meet the timely needs of our customers,” said Dave Carroll, ENGIE North America’s CEO and chief renewables officer.

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Meta’s head of global energy, Urvi Parekh, said the expanded deal with ENGIE “enables us to continue matching 100% of our electricity use with clean and renewable energy to support our data center operations,” Parekh said.

Electrek’s Take

Meta isn’t exactly putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to matching 100% of its electricity use with clean energy. The social media giant is also building a $10 billion data center – one of the world’s largest – in Richland Parish, Louisiana, that’s going to be powered by three gas-powered plants, which utility Entergy will build especially for Meta, which is paying 50% of the costs. Those three plants will produce 2,262 MW of dirty fossil fuel power. For perspective, that’s nearly 10% of Entergy’s current energy capacity across four states.

So while the 1.3 GW of clean energy that ENGIE will produce in Texas for Meta is great, it doesn’t make up for the CO2 emissions it’s about to create with this dirty project it’s building in a lower-income farming community in Louisiana. It certainly isn’t for speed, because solar is the fastest to put up. Limited state oversight – and a 2024 state law that lets the company skip paying sales tax – likely helped Meta make that destructive decision.

The 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

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Environment

Genesis is building a new luxury off-road SUV, and all signs point to an EV [Images]

Published

8 hours ago

October 27, 2025

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Genesis is building a new luxury off-road SUV, and all signs point to an EV [Images]

That rugged new Genesis SUV we’ve been waiting for might be electric after all. A Genesis EV was spotted in South Korea with a new off-road style and EV powertrain.

Is the Genesis off-road luxury SUV an EV?

Genesis is turning ten this year, and to celebrate, it’s giving the people what they want. The luxury brand has a slate of new vehicles set to launch over the next few years, including a flagship full-size electric SUV, high-performance cars, and a luxury off-roader.

Hyundai confirmed during last month’s CEO Investor Day that Genesis will offer vehicles across all powertrains, rather than electric only, as initially planned.

Although we knew the “ultra-luxe” GV90 would be electric when it arrives in 2026, Genesis has kept most details of its luxury off-road SUV a secret.

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We got our first look at it in April after Genesis unveiled the X Gran Equator Concept. The rugged-looking SUV is the brand’s “first adventure vehicle concept,” but that’s about all we know.

Genesis said the off-road SUV “marries on-road sophistication with off-road resilience,” offering adventure and refinement, but didn’t provide any specifics.

After a modified Genesis test car was spotted in South Korea with off-road upgrades, it’s looking more likely that the off-road SUV may actually be an EV.

The images posted by user hscarstory on an online forum are among the first to emerge. The vehicle, a modified Genesis Electrified GV70, was being tested by the “Chassis Test Team.” You can see a few added off-road elements like a fine-tuned suspension and bigger tires.

It also has a large tow hook or wrench on the front, a staple of Hyundai XRT test cars. The test vehicle is expected to be the first of a new Genesis off-road brand or trim, similar to Hyundai’s XRT.

Genesis said the X Gran Equator Concept wasn’t confirmed for production. Still, certain design elements and features, such as the integrated roof rails and split-opening tailgate, “showcase the brand’s future design potential.”

The brand has yet to say when the luxury off-roader will arrive. We do know Genesis is launching its first hybrid, the GV80, next year.

It will introduce its first extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) based on the GV70 in late 2026 or early 2027. We got our first look at the Genesis GV70 EREV and hybrid models earlier this month, out for testing.

The GV90 is expected to arrive in mid-2026 as the first vehicle built on Hyundai’s new eM platform. Genesis has yet to reveal when it will launch the luxury off-roader, but it’s expected to arrive as a 2027 model. Since it’s introducing new powertrains, we can’t rule out an EREV or a hybrid variation of the off-roader.

Can Genesis compete with the Rivian R1S? Or the upcoming Range Rover Electric? We should learn more soon. Check back for the latest updates.

Source: HSscarstory

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