UK's energy policies have come under fire from Donald Trump. /Matthew Childs and Cheney Orr/Reuters
"The UK is making a very big mistake. Open up the North Sea. Get rid of Windmills!"
Donald Trump is famous for jumping onto social media in the morning. With just over two weeks until his return to the White House, he has laid into the UK government's energy policy, demanding the country "opens up" the aging North Sea oil and gas basin and get rid of wind farms.
The North Sea is one of the world's oldest offshore oil and gas basins where production has steadily declined since the start of the millennium. At the same time, it has become one of the world's largest offshore wind regions.
Climate-skeptic Trump has long opposed wind farms. Perhaps he's still stewing after unsuccessfully fighting plans in 2015 to construct one near his luxury golf course in Scotland.
Climate campaigners accused Trump of attacking Britain's energy policies on behalf of the fossil fuel industry, which made record donations to his presidential campaign.
Tessa Khan, executive director at Uplift, a group that campaigns for a swift but fair transition away from oil and gas production in the UK, said Trump was "clearly looking after the interests of U.S. oil and gas firms."
"His team is shot through with oil and gas interests that want the rest of the world, the UK included, to slow its transition to clean energy and remain hooked on oil and gas for years to come just so they can keep profiting," Khan added.
UK's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Labour government won last year's elections with a pledge to build up Britain's low-carbon economy. The government aims to quadruple offshore wind generation capacity by 2030 to 60 gigawatts as part of goals to lower carbon emissions and improve air quality.
In October, the UK government said it would increase a windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas producers to 38 percent from 35 percent and extend the levy by one year. The government wants to use the revenue from oil and gas to raise funds for renewable energy projects.
There could be consequences though. Oil and gas companies have said the higher tax rate could lead to a drop in investments.
Trump's post on Friday included a link to a report from last November about U.S. oil and gas producer Apache's plans to exit the North Sea by year-end 2029. The company expects North Sea production to fall by 20 percent year-on-year in 2025.
The independent oil and gas producers Harbour Energy and Deltic Energy have set out plans to sell assets in the area. Other companies have merged operations and sought to diversify to other regions.
Asked about Trump's remarks, a spokesperson for Britain's government said it would continue to prioritize a "fair, orderly and prosperous transition in the North Sea in line with our climate and legal obligation."
"We need to replace our dependency on unstable fossil fuel markets with clean, homegrown power controlled in Britain - which is the best way to protect billpayers and boost our energy independence," the spokesperson added.
U.S. president elect Donald Trump is a big fan of Scotland's golf courses but less so of its wind turbines. /Henry Nicholls/Reuters
Sticky decline for oil?
Oil companies have been exiting the North Sea to focus on newer basins. Production has declined from a peak of 4.4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) at the start of the millennium to around 1.3 million boed now.
The UK and countries in mainland Europe have overseen major offshore wind farm development, but the sector's growth has stalled as costs ballooned due to technical and supply chain problems as well as higher interest rates.
Some developers have been reconsidering their investments in offshore wind, or have assumed impairments, due to the rising cost of building wind farms that can be more than 100 kilometers offshore.
Danish company Orsted, the world's biggest offshore wind farm developer, trimmed its investment and capacity targets last year.
Britain has a target to largely decarbonize its power sector by 2030, which will mean reducing its reliance on gas-fired power plants and rapidly increasing its renewable power capacity.
Wind turbines dot the coast line along a giant solar farm near Weifang in eastern China's Shandong province. /CFP
Despite the wobbles in the market and Trump's windy rants, there clearly remains a drive across Europe and the rest of the world, especially China, that turbines should be a huge contributor towards green ambitions.
Wind currently makes up around 20 percent of Europe's electricity consumption with expectations this will rise to 30 percent by 2030. With concerns that growth is not enough to meet the EU's ambitious energy security targets, wind capacity in the EU is expected to rise from 225GW to 350GW by 2030. The EU target is 425 GW.
This all ties in with the EU's climate law target to reach climate neutrality by 2050. Just over a year ago, the EU Wind Charter was established, committing 26 EU Governments, the EU Commission, and the European wind industry to implement 15 measures to strengthen Europe's wind industry.
It's not all talk. There is plenty of action in the markets with Spain, France and Italy all recently placing massive orders for new wind turbines.
China is undoubtedly a world leader in harnessing wind power as it strives towards achieving carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.
Wind is key to this and the country's first national offshore wind power research and test base recently began operations in Fujian Province. Companies like Mingyang Smart Energy are exemplifying this effort by leveraging advanced technologies in the push for clean energy initiatives.
China has just turned on the largest ever offshore wind turbine called the MingYang 20 MW, which is situated in Hainan, China's southernmost province. It is designed to withstand typhoons and can generate electricity for up to 96,000 households per year and reduce 66,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide gas emissions annually.
In the first seven months of 2024, wind and solar power generation in China totaled 1.05 trillion kilowatt hours, accounting for roughly 20 percent of the country's total electricity generation. Since 2013, the country's wind power installed capacity has grown sixfold.
At the Republican national convention in July, Trump urged domestic oil production to increase by saying: "We will drill, baby, drill." For countries like China and much of Europe who seem determined to press on with their green targets, it may just be a case of 'blow, baby, blow.'