Today’s ESG Updates:
- TotalEnergies to Slash Investments on Weaker EU SAF Mandate: CEO Patrick Pouyanné argues that current targets lack realism and that renewables offer better economic decarbonisation benefits.
- Power Plant Outages in Eastern US During Gas Supply Squeeze and Freezing Weather: A major winter storm, combined with gas-supply bottlenecks, has forced large chunks of Eastern U.S. generation offline.
- Chilean Regulator Fines Antofagasta’s Centinela Mine for “Non-Compliance”: SAM fined Antofagasta’s Centinela copper mine about $775,000 for minor water-management noncompliance following 2019–2020 inspections.
- A Review Finds Bangladesh’s Electricity Deals Add Billions to Power Costs: Bangladesh’s review committee says Hasina‑era power deals entrenched cronyism, raised tariffs, and created costly overcapacity. urging renegotiation or cancelling the Adani Power deal.
TotalEnergies to slash investments on weaker EU SAF mandate
TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné told the World Economic Forum (WEF) delegates the company will scale back planned sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and other clean fuel investments because he expects the EU to dilute its ReFuelEU mandates, echoing the recent shift from a 100% to 90% CO₂ reduction target for new cars by 2035. He warned “without regulation, there is no market” for costly biofuels and criticised the jump from 2% SAF in 2025 to 6% in 2030 as “forcing overinvestment for a limited market.”
While airlines push for more SAF and accuse TotalEnergies of underinvesting, Pouyanné said the company could supply 10% SAF by 2030, but that would come at a cost. He fears weakened targets will strand biorefinery assets. He argued that solar and wind abatement costs around US$200 per ton of CO₂, compared with US$350–400 for biofuels, calling for a focus on “the most affordable and sustainable as possible.”
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Further reading: TotalEnergies CEO Says Company Will Reduce Investment in Clean Fuels on Expectation that EU Will Water Down SAF Mandate
Power plant outages in eastern US during gas supply squeeze and freezing weather
A major winter storm and constrained gas supplies have forced about 21 GW of generation offline in the PJM interconnection (roughly 16% of an average Sunday demand), hence triggering pre‑emergency load curtailments and record‑high spot prices. Power prices in the PJM interconnection, New York and New England jumped to US$400–US$700/MWh, with Dominion’s Virginia zone briefly spiking above US$1,800/MWh compared to US$200/MWh the prior morning.
New England met nearly 40% of demand with oil-fired plants, while gas fell to 30%, resulting in rapidly eroding reserve margins. PJM now forecasts a new winter peak of 147.2 GW, surpassing the previous record of 143.7 GW set in January 2025, driven by data centre loads, leaving nearly 1 million customers without power across several Southern and Mid‑Atlantic states. Grids warned that prolonged cold and fuel logistics could deepen reliability risks.
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Further reading: Power plant outages surge in Eastern US amid restricted gas supplies and frigid weather
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Chilean regulator fines Antofagasta’s Centinela mine for “non-compliance”
Chile’s environmental regulator (SMA) fined Antofagasta’s Centinela copper mine ~$775,000 for “minor” violations of water management rules tied to its El Tesoro project following a prior inspection from 2019–2020. SMA found the company failed to properly track water resources, kept no records for the exploration well “LE-1”, and did not measure flows at the “La Cascada” spring as frequently as required under its environmental impact study and monitoring plan.
Antofagasta said it is reviewing the decision, stressing that the SMA resolution “marks the conclusion of a process in which Minera Centinela (Centinela Mine) has actively and transparently collaborated with the authorities” and “reaffirming its commitment to environmental compliance and the sustainable development of its operations.”
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Further reading: Chilean regulator fines Antofagasta’s Centinela copper mine for non-compliance
A review finds Bangladesh electricity deals add billions to power costs
Bangladesh’s National Review Committee has found that power contracts signed under the 2010 “Speedy Increase of Power and Energy Supply” Act entrenched “organised corruption,” contributed to ~25% higher electricity tariffs, and left the country with around 9,500MW of overcapacity and large annual fiscal losses.
In its review of the Bangladesh Power Development Board’s 25‑year 1,496MW power purchase agreement (PPA) with Adani Power, the committee reported “extensive corruption” indications, including “unusual transactions” to foreign accounts coinciding with the deal. It concluded that the coal pricing formula is based on Indonesian and Australian indices, resulting in Adani Power being 85% more expensive than other Indian imports in 2024.
The panel recommended either renegotiating the coal price or cancelling the Adani contract if talks fail, while leaving any final decision to the next elected government.
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Further readings: How cronyism and kleptocracy dominated Hasina-era power sector; Either renegotiate coal price or cancel Adani deal: Review panel
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of impakter.com — In the Cover Photo: Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Total. Cover Photo Credit: World Economic Forum via Flickr.
