Brussels, Belgium- Oil has hit the US$120 a barrel mark, its highest level in more than two months due to tight supplies and exports of diesel from Russia.
Traders are monitoring any European Union (EU) decision on restrictions or an outright embargo on Russian oil purchases in the coming days. Bloc members are due to meet on Monday and Tuesday.
Meanwhile, G7 countries (United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Japan, Italy, France and Germany) have decided to stop fossil fuel development funding from the end of this year.
According to analysts’ estimates, this could shift about US$33 billion a year from fossil fuels to clean energy sources.
“The G7 committing to end public finance for fossil fuels and shift it to clean (energy) is a massive win. This is a timely reconfirmation (amid the Ukraine war) that the most viable pathway to energy security is prioritizing public finance for clean energy. These promises should now urgently be turned into action,” said Laurie van der Burg, a campaign co-manager at the green group Oil Change International.
Meanwhile, in the United States, Hawaii is seeking to replace coal and oil with solar energy, aiming to rely extensively on rooftop panels.
The State has increased the use of renewable energy in large parts by getting electric utilities to accept rooftop solar rather than fight it, as energy companies in California, Florida and other states have been doing.
“In Hawaii, we have come to the recognition that rooftop solar is going to be an important part of our grid, (and) has to be part of our grid. Some people think we are crazy. Some people think we are pretty amazing,” said Shelee Kimura, president and chief executive of Hawaiian Electric Company, the State’s largest power provider.
According to the Energy Information Administration, power plants fueled by oil supplied nearly two-thirds of Hawaii’s electricity last year, down from nearly three-quarters a decade earlier.
