WIND AND SOLAR power for the first time generated more electricity in the European Union (EU) than fossil fuels in 2025, driven by a surge in solar output, data from energy think tank Ember showed on Thursday.

Wind and solar made up a record 30% of the 27-country bloc’s power last year, overtaking fossil fuels that contributed 29%. Solar alone was responsible for 13% of power generation and expanded by more than 20% for the fourth-year running, surpassing both coal and hydro.

“As fossil fuel dependencies feed instability on the global stage, the stakes of transitioning to clean energy are clearer than ever,” Beatrice Petrovich, senior energy analyst at Ember and lead author of the report, said.

Solar generation grew in all EU countries amid widespread solar panel installations and supplied more than a fifth of electricity in Hungary, Cyprus, Greece, Spain and the Netherlands in 2025.

Renewable sources provided nearly half of the bloc’s power mix at 48%, even as unusual weather pushed hydro output 12% lower and wind 2% lower. Despite this, wind contributed 17% of electricity in the EU, more than gas.

Early 2025 was exceptionally sunny, marked by low wind speeds and low rainfall, but strong solar output helped keep the overall share of renewables stable, Ms. Petrovich told Reuters.

Fourteen EU countries produced more electricity from wind and solar than from fossil fuels, reinforcing a structural shift in the region’s power system that includes phasing out coal.

“Coal power is in its terminal decline. We could say it’s becoming history for the EU,” Ms. Petrovich said in the interview. The fossil fuel share in the power mix was at a record low of 9.2%.

“The next priority for the EU should be to put a serious dent in reliance on expensive, imported gas,” she added.

Gas generation in the EU rose 8% due to lower hydro availability, lifting gas import costs by 16% to €32 billion ($37 billion, $1 = 0.8601 euros) for the power sector, the first increase since the 2022 energy crisis.

Increased gas usage also lifted average wholesale power prices, which were 11% higher during gas-heavy hours than in 2024.

But rapid growth in battery storage, particularly in Germany, Italy and Poland, could help shift solar and wind power to meet evening demand peaks and stabilize prices, Ms. Petrovich said. — Reuters

DAVOS, Switzerland — President Donald Trump’s use of tariffs as a foreign policy tool added fresh impetus in Davos this week to efforts to boost global trade beyond the US, with frustration palpable among many of Washington’s top trading partners.

Tariffs roared back into focus when Mr. Trump last weekend threatened new tariffs on European allies opposing his designs on Greenland, before stepping back from them on Wednesday after announcing a deal framework with NATO over the Arctic island.

“It’s the speed, scale, and scope of change that is really rattling the world,” Canadian Finance Minister Franзois-Philippe Champagne said during a panel discussion on tariffs at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in the Swiss mountain resort.

The WEF is meeting in Davos for the first time since Mr. Trump last year hiked US tariffs to their highest level in nearly a century, sending countries scrambling to pick up the slack by trading more with each other.

Mr. Trump, who says his policies are bringing back jobs to the United States, spurring trillions of dollars in investment and firing up growth, is ever present in WEF debates over how to temper exposure to the US, which studies forecast will play a lesser role in overall global trade than it did in the past.

Canada’s Mr. Champagne said countries were diversifying their commercial relations and doing more at a regional level to make their economies more resilient to trade policy shocks.

“When you talk to CEOs today, what do they want? Stability, predictability, and the rule of law. I would say it’s in short supply,” he said, days after Canada and China struck a deal to slash tariffs on electric vehicles and canola.

Hot on its heels came the signing of a free trade agreement this month between the European Union and South American bloc Mercosur after 25 years of negotiations – the EU’s largest ever trade pact, if it overcomes remaining legal obstacles.

Diversification of supply chains and reducing over-dependence are backed by the World Trade Organization, whose director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said such moves helped spread job creation and growth to other countries.

“This helps build global resilience and we are very supportive of it,” she told Reuters in Davos.

‘THE WORLD HAS BECOME MORE EXPENSIVE’
Boston Consulting Group forecasts the US share of global goods trade could decline from 12% to 9% in the decade through 2034, giving way to more domestic US economic activity.

“Trump is sawing on the branch he’s sitting on,” Dirk Jandura, head of Germany’s BGA exporters’ association, said this week after data showed German exports to the US falling by 9% during the first 11 months of 2025.

Volker Treier, foreign trade chief of the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce, said surveys showed tariffs on raw materials like steel and aluminum were making it dearer for companies to build up US industrial capacity.

US manufacturing activity contracted for a tenth month running in December, according to a closely watched survey.

“The world has become more expensive, and structurally it will get even more expensive,” Mr. Treier said.

‘WE HAVE TO RECONFIGURE OURSELVES VERY FAST’
BCG posits a patchwork of four main nodes dominating world trade: the US, China, BRICS+ minus China, and so-called plurilateralists comprising most of Europe, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, and several Asia-Pacific economies.

In the BCG study, trade among plurilateralists and China’s commerce with allies in the Global South would be key drivers of global trade, with US trade advancing more slowly.

Noel Hacegaba, CEO of the Port of Long Beach, said trade flows have been evolving significantly since Mr. Trump’s first term.

In 2019, 70% of the port’s cargo was trade with China; by last year, that figure had fallen to 60%, with more coming instead from farther afield in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia, Mr. Hacegaba told Reuters.

Boudewijn Siemons, CEO of the Port of Rotterdam, Europe’s biggest, said trade flows were adjusting rapidly to the new reality, and that the continent needed to be nimble.

“We’ve been relying on cheap production in China, cheap energy from Russia, and cheap defense from the United States,” he said, adding: “And all three of these securities are falling away, so we have to reconfigure ourselves very fast.” — Reuters

TOKYO — Tokyo Electric Power will shut down the No.6 reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant after a malfunction was detected early on Thursday, a day after the unit went online for the first time in more than 13 years.

In early hours of Thursday, an alarm was triggered during work to withdraw control rods from the reactor, TEPCO said in a statement, adding it would stop the reactor to investigate the cause of the malfunction.

It did not say when the reactor could be restarted.

TEPCO restarted the No.6 unit at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, the world’s biggest nuclear power plant, on Wednesday evening in what was its first nuclear reactor to be turned on since the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

The process had been delayed from Tuesday as TEPCO investigated an alarm malfunction. As of early Wednesday, the equipment in question was functioning normally, TEPCO said at the time.

Shares in TEPCO lost 3.5% on Thursday, underperforming the benchmark Nikkei share average, which gained 1.7%. — Reuters

SEOUL — South Korea introduced on Thursday what it says is the world’s first comprehensive set of laws regulating artificial intelligence, aiming to strengthen trust and safety in the sector, but startups fretted that compliance could hold them back.

Aiming to become one of the world’s top three AI powerhouses, South Korea is hoping that its new AI Basic Act will help position the country as a leader in the field. The laws in their entirety have taken effect sooner than the EU’s AI Act which is being applied in phases through 2027.

Global divisions remain over how to regulate AI, with the US favoring a more light-touch approach to avoid stifling innovation. China has introduced some rules and proposed creating a body to coordinate global regulation.

Under South Korea’s laws, companies must ensure there is human oversight in so-called “high-impact” AI which includes fields like nuclear safety, the production of drinking water, transport, healthcare, and financial uses such as credit evaluation and loan screening.

Other rules stipulate that companies must give users advance notice about products or services using high-impact or generative AI, and provide clear labelling when AI-generated output is difficult to distinguish from reality.

The Ministry of Science and ICT has said the legal framework was designed to promote AI adoption while building a foundation of safety and trust.

The bill was prepared after extensive consultation and companies will be given a grace period of at least a year before authorities begin imposing administrative fines for infractions.

The penalties can be hefty. A failure to label generative AI in South Korea, for example, could leave a company facing a fine of up to 30 million won ($20,400).

That said, potential penalties in the EU are much higher. Non-compliance with rules there can result in fines that range from as much as 1% of global turnover for smaller violations to as much as 7% for breaking bans on the use of high-risk AI.

GLOBAL AI POWER
Lim Jung-wook, co-head of South Korea’s Startup Alliance, said many founders were frustrated that key details of the law remain unsettled.

“There’s a bit of resentment — why do we have to be the first to do this?” he said.

One concern of the group is that the law’s language is vague and companies may default to safe but less innovative approaches to avoid regulatory risk.

President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday was sympathetic to such concerns. He urged policymakers to listen to the concerns of industry and ensure that venture companies and startups have enough support.

“It is essential to maximize the industry’s potential through institutional support, while pre-emptively managing anticipated side effects,” Mr. Lee said during a meeting with aides.

The Ministry of Science and ICT is planning a guidance platform and dedicated support center for companies during the grace period.

“Additionally, we will continue to review measures to minimize the burden on industry,” a spokesperson said, adding that authorities were looking at extending the grace period if domestic and overseas industry conditions warranted such a measure. — Reuters

WELLINGTON — Rescue workers combed rubble on Thursday at a campsite in New Zealand as they searched for the missing, children among them, following a landslide triggered by heavy rains that snapped power links to thousands and caused widespread damage.

Homes were evacuated and roads closed as the rain lashed almost the entire eastern seaboard of the North Island, killing two people, while police put the number of those missing after the landslide in the single digits.

Rescuers at the campsite in the tourist spot of Mount Maunganui will use earthmoving equipment to claw away layers of debris as they work through the night to locate the missing, emergency services said in a statement.

“This is a complex and high-risk environment,” added Megan Stiffler, a fire and emergency services official. “The teams will be operating overnight until the search is complete.”

The number of missing was in the “single figures”, police superintendent Tim Anderson told a press conference, adding, “It is possible we could find someone alive.”

Helicopters and search and rescue dogs fanned out in the hunt, while media said 8,000 people are still without power, down from 16,000 earlier. No deaths had yet been confirmed.

SIGNS OF LIFE DETECTED
One witness, Nix Jaques, told Radio NZ she heard an incredibly loud noise as she was about to walk up a mountain.

“I turned around and I could see the land coming down onto some structures,” she said. “It came down on an ablutions block – I believe there were some people in the showers – and it shifted a campervan, there was a family with a campervan.”

No voices have been heard in the rubble since fears of further ground movement prompted first responders to withdraw despite detecting signs of life, said fire and emergency commander William Pike.

“My understanding was members of the public … tried to get into the rubble and did hear some voices,” he said, adding that the sounds were also heard by a fire crew at the scene.

“Shortly after our initial crew arrived, we withdrew everyone from the site, due to the possible movement of the slip,” Mr. Pike said.

Children were among the missing, media said, citing Mark Mitchell, the emergency management minister.

PEOPLE MISSING ELSEWHERE
Police said they found the bodies of two people who went missing after a landslide engulfed a house in the suburb of Papamoa on Thursday. A third was missing after a vehicle was washed away north of Auckland on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the government was doing all it could to support those affected.

“We are standing with these local communities in the response – and we will stand with them in the recovery too,” he added on X.

Transport authorities said roads had been closed in the areas of Northland, Bay of Plenty and Waikato, while local authorities said road damage cut off some small communities.

Weather officials have lifted all North Island warnings as a tropical low moves east. — Reuters