Octopus Energy Features in Newsom’s California-UK Clean Energy Pact
LONDON — Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday signed a new memorandum of understanding with U. K. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband that pledges collaboration on clean energy technologies and market access, and Newsom said he welcomed nearly a billion dollars in clean tech investment from octopus energy. The deal, reached as Newsom continued a European tour, includes greater collaboration on offshore windfarms — a development that Donald Trump repeatedly criticises.
Deal signed in London Monday
Newsom, a Democratic presidential hopeful, met Miliband in London and signed the memorandum of understanding as part of a European tour in which he has sought to reassure the United States’ European allies that Donald Trump’s shake-up of transatlantic relations — and climate politics — is "temporary. " The agreement is aimed at deepening cooperation between the U. K. and California and creates a new framework to scale up clean energy technologies and enhance ties between businesses and researchers in Britain and the American state, which is in effect the world’s fourth largest global economy.
Octopus Energy: near‑billion investment welcomed
The pact will enable better access for U. K. firms including octopus energy — the country’s biggest energy supplier — to California’s market, the U. K. ’s Energy Security and Net Zero Department said. Newsom said he "welcomed nearly a billion dollars in clean tech investment from Octopus Energy, " and described California as "the best place in America to invest in a clean economy because we set clear goals and we deliver. " The memorandum will also underpin collaboration between British and Californian research institutions and enshrine both sides’ continued commitment to international efforts to fight climate change through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change treaty; the Trump administration withdrew the U. S. from the UNFCCC earlier this year.
What Newsom and Miliband agreed
The U. K. and California will share practical expertise on protecting biodiversity and building resilience amid extreme weather, Miliband’s department announced on Monday. On Monday in London, Newsom and Miliband also discussed artificial intelligence and the implications for energy, and lessons from California’s wildfires — an issue over which Trump and Newsom have clashed, the U. S. president blaming the fires on the state’s management of fires. Miliband said that "strong international partnerships" would strengthen "opportunities for U. K. businesses and secures investment for our country. " A source close to Miliband said: "It was a productive meeting based on the huge clean energy jobs and investment opportunities that the UK and California can bring to one another. " The signing follows their meeting in New York in September.
Trump's sharp public rebuke in interview
President Donald Trump vented his fury at the deal, using a derogatory nickname for Newsom and attacking the governor’s record. "The UK's got enough trouble without getting involved with Gavin Newscum, " Trump said in an interview, adding: "Gavin is a loser. Everything he's touched turns to garbage. His state has gone to hell, and his environmental work is a disaster. " He went on to call it "inappropriate" for Newsom to strike such agreements and "inappropriate for them [the UK] to be dealing with him. " The deal’s emphasis on offshore wind drew particular attention given Trump’s history of railing against windmills; the U. K. Energy Secretary hits back at the U. S. president’s jibe that offshore wind is for "losers. "
Other UK political developments and rows
The visit came as Newsom continued cultivating European leaders after attending the Munich Security Conference, where he said: "Donald Trump’s administration is temporary. California’s commitment is not. " He also met Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz. Separate items of UK political news emerged alongside the pact: the Druzhba pipeline has provoked a row between Hungary and the EU over support for Ukraine; Trade Minister Chris Bryant is heading to Paris next month to lobby France, described as the EU’s toughest industrial hawk; and a controversial Whitehall gas contract is up for renewal, with MPs and Ukrainian campaigners urging the British state to change its supplier. On the domestic political front, Nigel Farage said he believed Ed Miliband was the most likely candidate to take over from Keir Starmer if Starmer were forced out in the event of a disastrous Labour party performance in upcoming local elections, adding that Labour would then "shift to the left. "
Newsom framed the pact as a demonstration of California’s ongoing climate leadership, saying the state "will continue showing the world how we can turn innovation and ambition into climate action. "
