What mattered this week

How big a business is batteries for China? Bigger than you think.

I knew it. $60B in 9 months - up 25%. Larger than US soy and LNG exports - combined.
Why does it matter? The Chinese saw this years ago - the West still doesn’t. Germany is their biggest customer 🤷‍♂️.
Read more: The Electricity Hub

Last week 22m GB homes were running on wind alone

New record? Indeed. At 7.30pm on 11th November wind hit 23GB - 44% of all power.
Why does it matter? Proves it works. Yes, we also need gas, and nukes, and whatnot.
Read more: Energy Live News

AI leading a new boom in carbon credits

Carbon credits? Thought they were debunked? Yet they come back, time & again. Now $10B of “high quality” credits - mainly to ease Big Tech’s conscience 🤔.
What’s the new trend? Biochar. Really.
Read more: Reuters

One thing to worry about

2025 was the second worst GB harvest on record.

Worst ever: 2020. Third worst: 2024.

See a pattern? (Eastern Daily Press)

One thing to be optimistic about

China’s heavy trucks are shifting to electric at a crazy rate. Almost HALF already (AP).

• 2020: 1%

• 2024: 9.2%

• 2025: 22% (first half year)

• 2025: 28% (in August)

• 2025: 46% (rate by end of year)

• 2026: 60% (forecast)

If you’ve got more time…

More batteries, more recycling, right?

No. Battery recycling is a dud.

Why? Not because battery growth has stalled (in fact it’s accelerated) but because batteries are lasting longer. There’s very little supply of old batteries.

CES has a useful primer on what’s going on.

Short answer: recycling, refurbishment and reuse are likely to be extremely hard industries to make work in the short term - despite the explosion in production.