Octopus Energy investment anchors Newsom-Miliband clean energy pact as Trump lashes out
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new clean energy memorandum in London on Monday that names Octopus Energy among U. K. firms gaining improved access to California’s market, a move Newsom framed as part of sustained global climate action and welcomed nearly a billion dollars in clean tech investment from Octopus Energy. The deal matters because it ties commercial access, research collaboration and offshore wind development to broader transatlantic tensions and active criticism from the U. S. president.
Octopus Energy: market access and the investment headline
The memorandum of understanding creates opportunities for British companies, explicitly including Octopus Energy, to expand into California. The U. K. 's Energy Security and Net Zero Department noted that the pact will ease access for U. K. firms to California’s market. Newsom highlighted nearly a billion dollars in clean-tech investment from Octopus Energy as part of the announcement, positioning private capital as central to the partnership.
Offshore wind and research ties drive the California-UK clean energy pact
California and the U. K. pledged collaboration on clean energy technologies such as offshore wind and committed to enhanced cooperation between British and Californian research institutions. Both signatories remain committed to pursuing net zero emissions goals and to international efforts under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change treaty; the U. S. federal administration withdrew from that treaty earlier this year. The deal also frames joint work on biodiversity protection and resilience in the face of extreme weather.
Trump lashes out at the California-UK green energy deal
President Donald Trump reacted angrily to the agreement, venting fury at Newsom and calling him derogatory names in a recent interview and saying it was inappropriate for the U. K. to do business with the governor. The president described Newsom in dismissive terms and said it was improper for the U. K. to deal with him. The exchange underscores a sharp contrast between the governor’s push for international climate partnerships and the president’s public hostility to offshore wind, which the memorandum specifically advances — a technology the president has repeatedly derided.
Newsom’s European tour: context, prior meetings and key talking points
Newsom met U. K. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband in London as part of a European tour intended to reassure allies that the president’s reorientation of transatlantic relations and climate politics is temporary. The signing follows a meeting in New York in September and came just after Newsom attended the Munich Security Conference, where he said that the administration in Washington is temporary while California’s commitment to climate action is enduring. The London talks also touched on AI and its implications for energy policy, and on lessons from California’s wildfires — a topic over which the president and Newsom have clashed, with the president blaming the fires on state management decisions.
Wider UK energy and political ripples
The announcement arrives amid a flurry of UK domestic and geopolitical energy issues. The Druzhba pipeline has provoked a row between Hungary and the European Union over support for Ukraine. Trade Minister Chris Bryant is set to travel to Paris next month to lobby France, described in context as the EU’s toughest industrial hawk. Domestically, a controversial Whitehall gas contract is up for renewal, and MPs alongside Ukrainian campaigners want the British state to change its supplier. The U. K. Energy Secretary has pushed back on the U. S. president’s jibe that offshore wind is for "losers, " framing the partnership with California as a way to secure investment and opportunities for British businesses.
Political reverberations and party-level commentary
The pact also feeds into partisan and leadership narratives. The governor has used his European visit to cultivate leaders who have criticized the president’s policies. Last week he met Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who criticized the president’s reorientation of U. S. foreign policy. On the British political scene, Nigel Farage of the Reform UK party said he believed Ed Miliband could be the likely candidate to replace Keir Starmer if Starmer were forced out after poor local election results, and predicted that Labour would then "shift to the left. "
Taken together, the memorandum links private investment — most notably the near-billion dollar Octopus Energy commitment highlighted by Newsom — with a wider strategy to deepen transatlantic clean-energy ties. The pact simultaneously surfaces contested domestic debates about energy strategy and exposes those moves to sharp criticism from the president. Details may continue to evolve as the commercial and political threads of the agreement are implemented.
