More than 300 businesses and investors are calling on the Biden administration to a new climate goal that would cut US emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030, the Associated Press reports. The letter was organised by the “We Mean Business” coalition, which includes the likes of Apple, Google, Microsoft and Coca-Cola, it notes. According to the article, president Joe Biden is “considering options” for an emissions reduction target by 2030 ahead of a virtual climate summit the US is hosting later this month on Earth Day. The New York Times states that such a target is “roughly what most major environmental groups want” and notes that the previous target set during the Obama administration was to cut national emissions 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025. The newspaper says that according to officials “familiar with the deliberations”, the target is expected to be “a range that will include a 50% reduction in emissions”. It adds that the support from businesses is “all the more remarkable because Mr Biden’s plan for curbing climate change would be paid for in large part by raising corporate tax rates”. The Hill, which also reports the story, adds that besides US business leaders, more than 20 members of the European Parliament, as well as European CEOs and other leaders signed a letter on Tuesday making a similar call for the US to ramp up its climate ambition. InsideClimate News reports that the supporters of a 50% cut say it will be needed to persuade other nations to make comparable efforts to hold global warming below 1.5C under the Paris Agreement.

Meanwhile, in a separate piece, the New York Times reports that the Biden administration is nearing agreements with Japan, South Korea and Canada to increase their targets ahead of the Earth Day leaders’ summit. The piece states that Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga is expected to announce a new emissions target in the range of 50% below 2013 levels by 2030. However, it also adds that similar deals with major emitters China, India and Brazil “remain elusive”. This comes as Reuters and others report that US climate envoy John Kerry is heading to Shanghai in China and then Seoul in South Korea to continue his climate diplomacy tour. In China, Kerry will meet with his counterpart Xie Zhenhua following “fiery interactions” between officials at a recent summit in Alaska “that illustrated the depth of tension between the world’s two largest economies”, the newswire states. BBC News reports that the US wants China to “cease building coal-fired power stations and to stop financing coal ventures abroad”, while China “wants the US to give more cash to developing countries to obtain clean technology and adapt to climate change”. The article notes that neither side has yet announced its updated climate plan and that “each is struggling to coax more concessions from the other”. Sky News reports the visit under a headline quoting Kerry’s comments to the broadcaster, in which he said: “We recognise that China, with nearly 30% of the world’s emissions, is essential to resolving this crisis and our hopes are that China is prepared to assume responsibly – as we are, and as other nations are.”

Separately, a New York Times article says that a major new threat assessment report from US intelligence agencies emphasises the threat posed by China to the nation but also “offers a far more robust discussion of the national security implications of climate change” than previous assessments have.

In further US developments, Climate Home News reports that campaigners have said president Joe Biden’s plan to give $1.2bn to the UN-backed Green Climate Fund (GCF) is “not enough” to make up for missed US payments. Under Barack Obama, the US pledged $3bn but had only handed out $1bn before Donald Trump withdrew US support, the article notes. It adds that while the Biden administration has promised to “make good” on the previous commitment, its recent draft budget, if agreed in Congress, would fall short of the $2bn it owes. Meanwhile, the Hill reports that the Biden administration is drawing criticism from environmental groups after the Justice Department declined to temporarily shut down the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline while it undergoes regulatory reviews. The piece describes this as “the first signs of significant tension between President Biden and environmentalists since he took office”. Another Hill article notes that nearly 400 state and local officials have signed a letter calling for an outright ban on new federal permits for shale gas and fossil fuel infrastructure, after a temporary moratorium brought in by the Biden administration.

Elsewhere, Bloomberg reports that Tommy Beaudreau, a “veteran of the Interior Department” who played key role in the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster and mapped new restrictions for Arctic oil drilling, could return to the department as deputy Interior secretary.

The Woodland Trust has warned that the UK’s native woodlands are in crisis and face a “barrage” of threats that risk pushing climate targets out of reach and ecosystems to the point of collapse, the i newspaper reports. According to the organisation, just 7% of the UK’s native woodland is in good condition and while tree cover is increasing across the country, most of the new saplings are non-native trees, the piece states. The Guardian says threats to these woods include “destruction by development, imported pests and diseases, the impacts of the climate crisis and pollution”. BBC News quotes Abi Bunker, director of conservation and external affairs at the Woodland Trust, who says if threats to trees aren’t addressed “we will severely damage the UK’s ability to address the climate and nature crises”. A piece in the Times warns that the report also finds that “Scotland’s unique rainforests are at risk of being wiped out”.

In more UK news, the Press Association reports that business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has “rejected calls to bring an end to new licences for North Sea oil and gas as part of efforts to fight climate change”. The piece notes that despite the government’s “North Sea transition deal” being criticised by environmental campaigners for not ruling out new licences for oil and gas, Kwarteng told a committee it did not make sense to end the industry, having secured the deal.

French finance minister Bruno Le Maire has said that seven European countries – namely Germany, France, the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden – will commit on Wednesday to stop public export guarantees for fossil fuel projects, Reuters reports. The piece notes that “coal, oil and gas infrastructure have traditionally made up a large share of the portfolios of many countries’ public export finance agencies, which support exports through state-backed financing guarantees and insurance against losses abroad”. It adds that the UK, France and Sweden have already laid out plans to halt these export guarantees for the fossil fuel sector, while the others are yet to decide on the details. Le Maire also said he hoped US president Joe Biden’s administration would join the group, Reuters notes.

Meanwhile, in a “world first”, CNN reports that New Zealand is “set to consider legislation that would require banks, insurers and asset managers to disclose the impacts of climate change on their businesses as the country tries to slash its carbon emissions”.

China’s largest solar-power-based hydrogen production and energy storage project has been commissioned and put into operation in north-western China’s Ningxia Province, reports International Energy Net, citing China’s Industrial News. The report says the project – with an investment of CN¥1.4bn (£156m) – is expected to produce 160m cubic metres of hydrogen and 80m cubic metres of oxygen annually. The output can save 254,000 tonnes of coal consumption per year, leading to a 445,000 tonnes decrease in carbon dioxide emission, it adds. On the hydrogen topic, state-run newspaper the Global Times reports that China’s demand for hydrogen is expected to reach 35m tonnes by 2030, accounting for at least 5% of the nation’s energy system.

Meanwhile, Hubei Province has published its “outline for the 14th five-year plan and long-term targets for 2035” – a local policy document guiding the region to grow in line with the national 14th five-year plan. Hubei’s outline lays out pathways for the province to develop renewable energy, reports state-run China Energy News. Among others, it requires Hubei to build “million-kilowatt-level” [gigawatt-level] renewable energy bases, the publication says. It adds that the plan also calls for the total installed capacity of renewable energy units to exceed 10m kilowatts (10GW). Meanwhile, China’s State Power Investment Corporation – one of China’s five major electricity-generating companies – has also approved its version of the outline, reports Energy Magazine. According to the document, the group will stick to its “2035 first-class strategy”, which is set to turn the group into a “globally competitive and internationally first-class clean energy enterprise” by 2035. Read Carbon Brief’s in-depth Q&A explaining China’s national 14th five-year plan.

Elsewhere in Chinese media, China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBC), has pledged to launch carbon emissions reduction tools “as soon as possible”, reports Economics Daily. Sun Guofeng, director-general of PBC’s Monetary Policy Department, said the bank was researching relevant works, the article says.

All but three of Europe’s 22 largest utility firms have now set net-zero targets, according to new analysis published by S&P Global Market Intelligence. It adds that despite some progress towards meeting the goals “many of the companies still carry carbon-intensive business profiles”. The piece continues: “Direct emissions from the five biggest polluters in the sector are larger than those of Italy, the world’s eighth-largest economy. That is starting to become a liability as investors and other stakeholders increasingly focus on environmental, social and governance issues.”

An editorial in the South China Morning Post considers what could come out of US climate envoy John Kerry’s visit to China ahead of a virtual climate summit hosted by the US next week. “This is a chance for the two biggest carbon-emitters to steer their relations back towards cooperation amid a deep rift most recently exposed during a frosty meeting in Alaska in which barbs were traded between senior US and Chinese officials,” it says. The piece notes that climate policy is “symbolically important” as it is an area the two powers could agree on, adding that Kerry’s visit is intended to ensure both sides “get something” out of the summit. The editorial adds: “It reflects the reality that on climate change, as on other great issues, the two sides need each other.” Meanwhile, the Independent’s associate editor Sean O’Grady writes about what the Earth Day summit hosted by US president Joe Biden could mean for the UK government’s approach to November’s COP26 conference in Glasgow. “As a show of force and an event that will capture international attention it will be the largest such gathering since the Paris climate conference of 2015,” he writes.

Separately, another South China Morning Post comment piece, written by former secretary-general of the UN Ban Ki-moon, states that China, Japan and his native South Korea must work together to end coal use and funding. “ Every major economy in East Asia has already decided to decarbonise by the middle of the century, which is an important first step,” he says, and welcomes signs of accelerating progress in all three nations such as “China’s recent indication that it will no longer fund coal mines and power plants in Bangladesh as part of the Belt and Road Initiative”. However, to stand a chance of achieving the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement, he says “we need to end the construction of any and all new coal power plants. We also need to close one existing plant a day between now and 2040 at least”.

In an opinion piece trailed on the front of the newspaper, Europe editor of the Financial Times Tony Barber writes that with impending elections in Germany, the next government “appears likely” to include the Greens. He writes that they could be elevated by the decline of the Social Democrats to the main challengers to Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats. “For this reason, the draft election platform of the Greens, published last month, merits attention…One proposal of the Greens stands out. The party wants to stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project to import Russian gas across the Baltic Sea, an initiative dear to Merkel’s heart,” he says. On this he says the Greens are “more closely aligned…with the US and Germany’s eastern neighbours”. Barber also notes that the Greens hope to co-operate with China on climate change. There is also an analysis piece in Reuters on this topic titled: “Could Germany get a Green chancellor?”.

Education is the most important factor determining a person’s interest in vegetarianism – especially in low-income regions – new research finds. The study evaluates individuals’ interest in sustainable living and in vegetarianism for 115 countries using data from Facebook’s advertising platform. It finds a trend of increasing vegetarianism interest worldwide, although it does not indicate a negative relationship between vegetarianism interest and meat consumption. Females consistently have a higher interest in vegetarianism than males, the study finds. It adds that when ranking by age, people aged 20-49 have the highest tendency for vegetarianism and those aged 15-19 are the least interested.