The International Energy Agency is launching the next phase of its work to expand access to cleaner cooking in sub-Saharan Africa, where progress has been slower than in other regions.

Why it matters: Widespread use of polluting fuels like wood, charcoal and dung — and open fires or inadequate stoves — is a massive health and economic problem.

• Lack of low-polluting cooking methods contributes to 815,000 premature deaths annually in Africa, IEA said in a new report.
• Energy Secretary Chris Wright in January described access to clean cooking fuels as "the most urgent energy challenge on the planet today."

Threat level: "Women and girls pay the highest price, spending hours each day collecting firewood or other biomass, and breathing in harmful smoke that leads to serious long-term health impacts," IEA head Fatih Birol writes.

• This also comes at the expense of education, the report notes.

Yes, but: It's a solvable problem with existing tech and fuels like liquid petroleum gas, advanced biomass cookstoves, and electrification.

• IEA estimates that clean cooking access for every African household would take less than 0.1% of annual global energy investment over 15 years.

Driving the news: The report explores policies and infrastructure across Africa, where there's lots of action but more needed on finance and policy.

• It's a very granular, country-specific look at the landscape and solutions needed — think stuff like LPG cylinder safety and tariff policies that avoid thwarting bioethanol while keeping duties on alcohol, to name just two.
• IEA has a new policy and infrastructure roadmap to full access in Africa by 2040 that requires an estimated $37 billion in investment. It follows work like a 2024 summit that brought new financing pledges.

State of play: Diplomatic attention has already risen at recent Group of 7 and Group of 20 summits.

• And a number of countries in Africa and elsewhere have made big gains and launched new efforts, with a suite of new policies of late.
• Over the past five years, countries like Kenya and Nigeria are extending access to 2.7% of their population annually, IEA said.
• But clean cooking nonetheless lacks the profile of some other energy topics.

The big picture: Daniel Wetzel, who heads IEA's sustainable transitions unit, notes it crosses global health, development, and energy agendas. "Because it's straddling these different pieces, sometimes it gets lost," he said in an interview.

• "But ... from a solutions perspective, the energy industry is the key to unlocking it, and all the benefits are the ones that are accruing to women, to health, to emissions and ... greater prosperity," he said.
• "How do you tie it together, how do you elevate it? This is where the IEA and Dr. Birol has really wanted to come in — using that convening power to move it up the agenda," he said.

What we're watching: IEA sees South Africa's G20 presidency this year as an opening for accelerating work.

Chevron's blockbuster, $53 billion acquisition of Hess Corp. is complete after a dispute panel ruled against Exxon in arbitration over Hess assets in a massive oilfield off Guyana's coast.

Why it matters: The International Chamber of Commerce panel's decision enables a pivotal deal for Chevron that had been held up for over a year in a clash with rival titan Exxon.

The latest: Chevron said today that it had formally completed the acquisition, which had previously been blessed by U.S. regulators.

• Its stock is up over 4% in pre-market trading. The deal brings Chevron new oil and gas assets not only in Guyana, but also the Bakken shale, Gulf of America (formerly the Gulf of Mexico), Southeast Asia and beyond.
• "The combination enhances and extends our growth profile well into the next decade, which we believe will drive greater long-term value to shareholders," Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said in a statement.

Driving the news: Exxon had asserted a contractual right of first refusal for Hess' stake in Guyana, among the most important oil finds in recent decades and one already producing large volumes.

• The project is operated by Exxon, which has the largest stake. China's CNOOC, which also has a major stake, had joined Exxon in disputing Chevron's acquisition.
• Exxon is producing 650,000 barrels per day in Guyana and is eyeing 1.7 million barrels per day by 2030.

State of play: "We disagree with the ICC panel's interpretation but respect the arbitration and dispute resolution process," Exxon said in a statement.

• Exxon said it had a "clear duty to our investors to consider our preemption rights to protect the value" it created through "innovation and hard work."

The bottom line: The Guyanese assets are a foundational piece of Chevron's acquisition first announced in October 2023, one of several deals that are reshaping the industry.

• The plan came on the heels of Exxon announcing its $60 billion purchase of shale giant Pioneer Natural Resources.

🍃 BP is selling its U.S. onshore wind business to LS Power in a deal that spans 10 assets with a combined capacity of 1.7 gigawatts.

• Why it matters: The energy giant is boosting emphasis on its core oil and gas business and getting more selective about renewables.

↩️ The Federal Trade Commission has reversed Biden-era restrictions that barred the top Pioneer Natural Resources and Hess execs from serving on the boards of Exxon and Chevron, respectively.

• What we're watching: "Mr. [John] Hess is a highly respected industry leader, and our Board would benefit from his global experience, relationships and expertise," Chevron said in a statement.
• Yes, but: Former Pioneer CEO Scott Sheffield isn't interested in joining Exxon. "Exxon signed a rushed, baseless and illegal order barring me and other Pioneer employees from taking an Exxon board seat," he said in a statement to Bloomberg.
• Go deeper: FTC Exxon decision...FTC Chevron decision

🌀 The Senate's spending panel approved $6.1 billion for NOAA in fiscal year 2026, rejecting Trump 2.0's push for deep cuts.

• Yes, but: The House proposal would reduce NOAA's budget by 6%.

🔍The Interior Department confirmed it's imposing new layers of review on wind and solar proposals on federal lands — and the intent isn't subtle.

• State of play: It's part of President Trump's moves to "tackle the Green New Scam" and end "preferential treatment for unreliable, subsidy-dependent" energy, the department said alongside the memo.
• The other side: Renewables groups said it will thwart projects. It's a "bewildering departure from the Administration's promise to bring down energy prices and make America competitive in the race against China for AI and data centers," the American Clean Power Association said.

🏭 Via Bloomberg, "President Donald Trump is allowing chemical makers, coal-fired power plants and other facilities to bypass a range of environmental regulations on grounds that the waivers are needed for national security purposes."

☀️ A group of U.S. solar manufacturers is petitioning the Commerce Department for new tariffs on imports from India, and "largely Chinese-owned" firms operating in Laos and Indonesia. Go deeper.

Gas flaring — or burning — at production sites grew in 2024 for the second consecutive year to its highest global level since 2007, World Bank data shows.

Why it matters: It's a big source of planet-warming emissions, releasing CO2 and methane.

• The bank also finds that flaring intensity — that is, the amount per barrel produced — has remained "stubbornly high" and largely unchanged for the last 15 years.

Stunning stats: Last year's increase alone was akin to putting 2 million more petroleum-powered cars on the road, the report finds.

• "In 2024, the gas lost in flares was almost equivalent to the total annual gas consumption in Africa," it states.

State of play: Countries including Russia, Iran, Iraq and the U.S. saw higher flare volumes in 2024.

• But the report notes industry progress in the U.S. as production has soared, with flaring intensity around 50% lower than in 2012.
• More broadly, countries that have endorsed a World Bank-UN pledge of zero routine flaring by 2030 have performed better than ones that haven't.

The bottom line: "When more than a billion people still don't have access to reliable energy and numerous countries are seeking more sources of energy to meet higher demand, it's very frustrating to see this natural resource wasted," Demetrios Papathanasiou, the World Bank's energy and extractives director, said in a statement.

EV maker Lucid Group's low share price bounced 36% yesterday on news of Uber investing in the company and ordering at least 20,000 vehicles for a new robotaxi service.

• It would use tech from the autonomous driving firm Nuro.

Why it matters: It's really hard and expensive for pure-play EV companies to viably achieve scale — even with Saudi investment, which Lucid has — and the new deal looks helpful.

• "We view the partnership [with Uber] as a clear strategic win, bringing in capital and two world-class partners while expanding Lucid's reach into autonomous ride-hailing," Benchmark analyst Mickey Legg said in a research note, per MarketWatch.

That's the drop in combined U.S. wind, solar, and storage additions that BloombergNEF sees in 2025-2030 relative to projections before the new budget law.

The big picture: "Onshore wind sees a staggering 50% cut to our 2025-2030 forecast relative to the 1H 2025 view, while solar and energy storage see a 23% and 7% drop, respectively," the research firm said in a new analysis.

• "We now expect 395 gigawatts (GW) of clean power build over this period compared to the 512GW we previously expected."