Bloomberg reports that the Biden administration has “unveiled sweeping tariff hikes on a range of Chinese imports”, including electric vehicles (EVs), batteries, solar cells and critical minerals. It adds: “The moves represent Biden’s most comprehensive update to China tariffs…and a recognition that a hawkish approach to trade with Beijing remains popular…None of Trump’s tariffs will be reduced.” The Financial Times covers the story on its frontpage. Reuters carries a full list of affected products, adding that in 2024, tariffs on Chinese EVs will quadruple to 100% (plus a separate 2.5% tariff), while solar cell tariffs will double to 50%, lithium-ion EV battery tariffs will increase from 7.5% to 25% and tariffs on critical minerals rise from nothing to 25%. A separate Bloomberg report says that Biden’s new tariff regime “leaves room for companies to avoid duties on solar manufacturing equipment”. CNBC reports that US treasury secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday there may be “a significant response from China” following these tariffs. Reuters also reports that US trade representative Katherine Tai recommended higher tariffs on Chinese goods and called for “expanded enforcement to address China’s continued technology transfer actions”. 

State news agency Xinhua quotes Zhang Shaogang, deputy director of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), saying China and the US need to “work together to prevent further warming of the climate and promote the development of a green and low-carbon economy”. Economic newswire Yicai quotes Sun Lei, a senior partner at legal firm Dacheng, saying the tariffs “would likely breach the WTO’s most-favored-nation principle and the commitments the United States made in the global trade body to lower tariffs”. State-run newspaper China Daily interviews Fu Bingfeng, secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), who says that “exaggerating concerns” about China’s EV overcapacity is “typical trade protectionism”.

Elsewhere, Xinhua publishes two articles in a series on manufacturing capacity, the first of which argues that “China’s rise as a global leader” in new energy industries was gained through “strategic foresight and unwavering commitment to green development”. The second Xinhua article argues that China has made clean-energy technology more “popular” while reducing the cost of the energy transition. In addition, both the Times and the Daily Telegraph report that the owner of Vauxhall is to sell cheap Chinese electric cars in the UK.

The Chinese subsidiaries of solar giant Longi and Shanghai Electric have withdrawn tenders to supply a Romanian solar park in “the latest sign that the EU’s new anti-subsidy powers are having a deterrent effect” on companies suspected of receiving Chinese subsidies, the Financial Times says. It quotes the EU internal markets commissioner saying the regulation “is ensuring that foreign companies which participate in the European economy do so by abiding [by] our rules”. Bloomberg notes that this is “the second time that Chinese companies have withdrawn from a tender after officials opened an inquiry under the subsidy regulation”. Elsewhere, German chancellor Olaf Scholz said there are “many overlaps” between China and the West in the automotive sector, with western manufacturers producing half of Chinese electric vehicles (EV) exports, Reuters reports. 

Meanwhile, industry newspaper China Energy Net reports that the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner, released the “basic rules for electricity market operations”, which, according to a government official, will “effectively regulate the construction of the electricity market”. Another China Energy Net article says the NDRC “will accelerate the implementation of special energy-saving and carbon-reducing actions in different fields and industries”. Finally, Communist party-affiliated newspaper the People’s Daily reports that the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA) and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) convened a forum on “green financial services for the construction of a beautiful China”.

Extreme heat sweeping Asia this year was made much more likely and extreme by human-caused climate change, according to a new rapid analysis by scientists at the World Weather Attribution group covered by the Independent. The Independent reports: “Since the beginning of April, dozens of countries in Asia from India to the Philippines have seen record-high temperatures leading to school closures and the triggering of urgent health warnings across the region…A study, conducted by scientists from World Weather Attribution (WWA), has found that this year’s heatwave would have been ‘virtually impossible’ in the Philippines and a lot less extreme in South and West Asia without the climate crisis caused by burning oil, coal and gas.” The Guardian notes that, according to the findings, the extreme heat was made 45 times more likely in India and five times more likely in Israel and Palestine. The Guardian adds: “The scientists said the high temperatures compounded the already dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where displaced people are living in overcrowded shelters with little access to water.” The Associated Press quotes analysis author and Carbon Brief contributing editor Dr Friederike Otto: “People suffered and died when April temperatures soared in Asia. If humans continue to burn fossil fuels, the climate will continue to warm, and vulnerable people will continue to die.”

India’s Business Standard also covers the WWA study, reporting that “[w]hile there is evidence that El Niño events increase[d] the likelihood and intensity of heatwaves over India, this does not diminish the role of global mean surface temperature in making the event hotter”. It adds that met authorities have “warned of a severe heatwave” in northwest India starting 16 May, with maximum temperatures likely to touch 44-46C. April’s extreme heat events “over large parts of South Asia were made 45 times more likely and 0.85°C hotter by the climate crisis”, the Hindustan Times says, also reporting on the WWA study. The Hindu reports that India’s health ministry has “issued standardised guidelines for confirming heatstroke and heat-related deaths” which acknowledge that climate change is “raising risks” to human health.

India is bracing for its “biggest power shortfall in 14 years” this June, following a “slump in hydropower generation” and delays in commissioning 3.6 gigawatts (GW) of new coal-fired power plants, Reuters reports, citing government officials. The country’s power sector planning body forecasts a peak shortage of 14GW in June “during nighttime hours when solar capacity is offline” as a “worst-case” scenario, the newswire adds. According to thinktank Ember, India’s coal-fired electricity generation and power sector emissions “hit record highs” of 338 terawatt hours (TWh) and 316m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e), respectively, in 2024’s first quarter, another Reuters story reports. The prolonged heatwave through most of the country has “likely resulted in even higher coal-fired generation since March, as power firms attempt to avert outages during the ongoing general election”, it continues. 

In energy news, US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti “set off a controversy” with remarks that “[India] bought Russian oil because we [US] wanted somebody to buy Russian oil at a price cap”, the Print reports. Russian crude oil supplies and lower international oil prices “helped” the country save “over $25bn” in foreign exchange in 2023-24 compared to 2022-23, according to analysis of government data in the Hindustan Times. The Economic Times reports that state-run oil and gas firms “cut 15,700 jobs, or 14% of their workforce, in six years even as their revenues nearly doubled”. The Times of India reports that “all political parties” were “out on the road to woo” thousands of informal coal miners in West Bengal’s Asansol district. Down to Earth, meanwhile, covers a study that places the “price tag of phasing-out coal” in India and China in line with Paris Agreement targets at “over $2tn”.

House Democrats in the US have launched an investigation into a meeting between oil company executives and Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home and club last month, the Guardian reports. It follows reports that the former president offered to dismantle Joe Biden’s climate policies and requested $1bn in contributions to his presidential campaign, the Guardian says. On Monday evening, Democrats on the House oversight committee sent letters to nine oil executives requesting information on their companies’ participation in the meeting, the newspaper reports. According to the Guardian, the letters include Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin saying: “Media reports raise significant potential ethical, campaign finance, and legal issues that would flow from the effective sale of American energy and regulatory policy to commercial interests in return for large campaign contributions.” The Guardian continues: “Oversight Democrats addressed letters to the CEOs of oil giants Chevron and Exxon, liquefied natural gas company Cheniere Energy, and fossil fuel firms Chesapeake Energy, Continental Resources, EQT Corporation, Occidental Petroleum and Venture Global. They also sent an inquiry to the head of the American Petroleum Institute (API), the fossil fuel industry’s top lobbying arm in the US.” Asked about the investigation, API spokesperson Andrea Woods said the organisation “meets with policymakers and candidates from across the political spectrum on topics important to our industry”, the Guardian says. The Hill adds that, in light of a separate Politico report that said the oil industry was writing executive orders for Trump to sign, Raskin also wrote that companies “may have already accepted or facilitated Trump’s explicit corrupt bargain”.

A cross-party group of MPs and peers has urged Rishi Sunak to make a U-turn on his oil and gas extraction plans and do more to restore the UK’s position as a climate leader, the Guardian reports. The 50 politicians, including three Conservatives, wrote to the prime minister calling for the UK to take steps to mend its reputation by ending the licensing of new oil and gas fields, appointing a climate envoy and backing the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, a group of nations forging a path away from fossil fuels, the Guardian says. It says the three Tories to have signed the letter are Zac Goldsmith, the former international climate minister; Tracey Crouch, a former sports minister and Pauline Latham, the MP for Mid Derbyshire. Other signatories include Labour’s Clive Lewis, Alex Sobel and Rosie Duffield, Richard Foord of the Liberal Democrats, and Deirdre Brock of the Scottish National party, the Guardian says. The Guardian also reports that experts have told a select committee that the UK is failing to put climate change at the heart of energy security measures. Meanwhile, the Times reports that the banking association UK Finance has joined calls for the government to improve its net-zero incentives or “risk the UK failing to create jobs in the green economy”.

Elsewhere, a Daily Telegraph report trailed on its frontpage says that a written ministerial statement will be laid before parliament today urging councils not to approve planning permission for solar farms on high-quality farmland, under new plans from Sunak. [See Carbon Brief’s factcheck on claims solar threatens UK farmland.] The Daily Telegraph also reports that ministers are consulting on whether to allow farmers to build a single, small-scaled wind turbine on their land without planning permission. Finally, the Daily Telegraph reports that a scheme that would force farmers to dedicate 20% of their land to restoring nature has been postponed by the Welsh government following protests. In addition, experts tell the Guardian that the government’s second annual Farm to Fork summit failed to adequately address growing climate risks, among other concerns to farmers.

In other UK news, Politics Home reports that Labour’s general secretary David Evans has suggested that the party needs policies to win back Green votes after the local elections. DeSmog reports that one of the major backers of GB News has hired a lobbying firm linked to the oil and gas industry. Elsewhere, the MailOnline publishes unfounded social media comments claiming electric vehicles are making their drivers “sick”.

Responding to the news that the US has heightened tariffs on clean technology from China, Bloomberg columnist David Fickling says: “From all the talk of Chinese ‘overcapacity’ coming out of Washington, you might think that the problem of addressing climate change had already been solved…Beijing’s solar factories have more capacity than is needed ‘even relative to an ambitious climate agenda’, according to Brad Setser, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former Biden administration trade advisor. That underestimates just how ambitious the climate agenda needs to be.” Fickling concludes: “If western countries are truly contemplating green industrial policies that actually build things, rather than just an elaborate set of trade barriers to cut them off from a world that’s decarbonising with Chinese technology, we may finally be making progress. We’ll need all their industrial might – plus that of China, and a whole host of countries besides – to get there.” In the New York Times, columnist Paul Krugman is supportive of the increased tariffs, saying: “Why not just buy cheap Chinese batteries? Political economy. Given the existential threat posed by climate change, the political coalition behind the green energy transition shouldn’t be fragile, but it is. The Biden administration was able to get large subsidies for renewable energy only by tying those subsidies to the creation of domestic manufacturing jobs. If those subsidies are seen as creating jobs in China instead, our last, best hope of avoiding climate catastrophe will be lost – a consideration that easily outweighs all the usual arguments against tariffs.” The Financial Times has a Q&A on Biden’s tariffs, covering the global reaction and what they could mean for consumers. Meanwhile, China Daily publishes a commentary arguing that the tariffs are “a clear act of protectionism” and that “it is misleading to assume that China’s subsidies for the new energy industry have unfairly advantaged Chinese companies, leading to alleged ‘overcapacity’”. A China Daily editorial argues that the US government should “ensure the climate cooperation…which benefits the whole world, is not to be disrupted by the China hawks in Washington”.

FT columnist Katie Martin writes on new research showing net-zero commitments from banks amount to little action. She says: “It makes sobering reading, finding ‘no evidence’ (net-zero evidence, if you will) that signatory banks have stopped lending to un-green borrowers. Surely ‘engagement’, to use the buzzword, with high-polluting borrowers, helps those companies to renounce their planet-destroying ways? Again, the paper suggests this is wishful thinking…Bankers’ key point is that these things take time. But assuming it takes around a decade to build a renewable energy plant and plug it into the grid, time is in short supply. Scrutiny that agitates for faster change may feel harsh but is no bad thing.”

The summer of 2023 was the warmest for the northern hemisphere, outside of the tropics, for the past two millennia, a new study says. Using observed and reconstructed summer temperature data, the researchers show that the coldest summer of the past 2,000 years – in AD536 – was almost 4C cooler than 2023. The authors note that the heat of 2023 “is consistent with a greenhouse gases-induced warming trend” that was “amplified by an unfolding El Niño event” and the extremes emphasise “the urgency to implement international agreements for carbon emission reduction”.

“Chronic exposure” to heat for ageing populations around the world will double “in all warming scenarios” by the middle of the century, new research warns. Combining age-stratified demographic projections with downscaled temperature projections, the researchers find that more than 23% of the global population aged over 69 “will inhabit climates whose 95th percentile of daily maximum temperature exceeds the critical threshold of 37.5C, compared with 14% today, exposing an additional 177–246 million older adults to dangerous acute heat”. The authors add that “effects are most severe in Asia and Africa, which also have the lowest adaptive capacity”.