Gravity could be the new tech for generating electricity: Switzerland-based Energy Vault Holdings is close to completing one of the only systems in the world that generates electricity using gravity, company CEO Robert Piconi told Bloomberg last week. The project, built in China’s Rudong, will be completed by September and will be able to deliver up to 25 MW of power for four hours.

How it works: The technology involves using electric motors to lift and lower composite blocks to store and dispatch electrical energy, according to the startup’s website. The potential energy is then converted into electricity for grid-scale applications, allowing for long-duration energy storage.

Why this is important: This form of energy storage could help address a major hurdle facing clean energy transition: Determining a zero-carbon method to keep lights on when winds are calm and the skies are cloudy, Wired writes. Advocates of the gravity energy storage technology say it could help provide an alternative to relying on lithium-ion batteries, which eventually degrade over time. Piconi told Wired in January that the technology could help bring in a system that offers cheap, abundant, and long-lasting energy storage.

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Big Oil owes at least USD 209 bn in annual climate reparations: 21 of the world’s top fossil fuel firms — including Saudi oil giant Aramco, BP, Shell, and TotalEnergies — owe at least USD 209 bn in annual financial restitution to communities harmed by their operations, The Guardian writes, referencing a study published in One Earth. The study says that the USD 209 bn price tag is a “conservative estimate,” as it does not take into account the deaths, loss of livelihood, and biodiversity damage caused by big oil operations. Between 2025-2050, oil and gas operations are expected to cause an additional USD 5.4 tn in climate losses in the form of wildfires, droughts, glacier reductions, and sea level rise.

REMEMBER- Oil giants are backtracking on climate targets, and Shell’s board may be ousted for it: The Church of England has jumped aboard the bandwagon of shareholders in Shell who are planning a coordinated vote against reappointing Shell Chairman Andrew Mackenzie over “signals” the board would backtrack on climate commitments. The company’s annual general meeting is set to take place today. Shell CEO Wael Sawan said in March the company’s plans to pare back oil production by 1-2% by 2030 would be “reviewed” in a bid to prioritize the company’s performance and returns.