Worldwide: Energy and Natural Resources

Climate change is reshaping Scotland's water landscape, making riparian rights—the legal rights of landowners over rivers flowing through their property—increasingly important for developers and property owners. This article explores the complex framework of Scottish water law, from ancient Roman origins to modern hydroelectric schemes, and examines how competing interests over this finite resource may lead to future legal reforms.

As data centres transition from largely unregulated facilities to designated critical infrastructure, their environmental impact and energy consumption have come under unprecedented regulatory scrutiny. With the AI boom driving exponential growth in data centre capacity, new EU reporting requirements, energy audits, and forthcoming rating schemes are reshaping the investment landscape and forcing operators to balance digital expansion with climate commitments.

On Tuesday, 17 March 2026, the European Commission published draft amendments to the Climate Delegated Act (CDA) and the Environmental Delegated Act (EDA) setting out the criteria...

Senior Battery Scientist Ceren Zor shares her expert perspective on the rapidly evolving battery sector, examining current growth areas from high-nickel cathodes to emerging iron-air technologies. The discussion explores the critical interplay between hardware innovation and software advancement in manufacturing and deployment, while highlighting the UK's distinctive research ecosystem and the global landscape of battery development.

The UK government's Reformed National Pricing Delivery Plan signals a fundamental shift in energy policy toward strategic planning and coordination. The Strategic Spatial Energy Plan, expected in autumn 2027, will identify optimal locations for electricity and hydrogen generation infrastructure, guiding private investment decisions. These reforms will reshape how generation, storage and network infrastructure is sited, financed and built across the UK energy sector.

The United Kingdom faces a critical energy infrastructure challenge as chronic grid connection delays and soaring electricity costs drive a fundamental shift towards behind-the-meter power solutions. This transformation is creating a new paradigm where energy capacity has become the fourth pillar of real estate valuation, alongside location, access, and planning status.

Two cases filed by mining companies before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea highlight the challenges of competition for governance and economic exploitation of deep-sea resources.

Battery technology advances are driving unprecedented growth in recycling innovation, with patent filings for end-of-life battery processing increasing seven-fold in the last decade. The European Patent Office's latest analysis reveals how the race to create a circular battery economy is accelerating, particularly in chemical transformation processes that could address critical material shortages and mounting waste concerns.

The pound (GBP) was muted against most of its peers at the end of last week, as expectations for any meaningful tightening from the Bank of England (BoE) continued to fade.

Satisfying demand for dispatchable baseload power generation is a priority for governments. Even better if delivered via low carbon solutions. Hard-to-abate industries are also focusing on how to decarbonise their processes.

As solar power patent filings surge globally, driven by next-generation technologies and shifting manufacturing centres, innovators face critical decisions about where and how to protect their intellectual property. With China now accounting for over half of all new international solar patent families and emerging markets rapidly expanding their solar infrastructure, understanding the evolving patent landscape has never been more crucial for securing competitive advantage in the renewable energy sector.

As part of our Resilient Infrastructure series, we sat down with Andy Cox, Head of Energy Transition at insurance group Howden, to discuss the industry's role in building assets that last.