Environmental campaigners have taken the European Commission to court, reports Reuters, and are “seeking to force Brussels to upgrade its emissions rules for 2030 and, in a second case, scrap rules that label some planes as climate-friendly investments”. The newswire adds: “In a case before the court of justice of the European Union’s general court, non-profit groups Climate Action Network and the Global Legal Action Network argue that national limits on greenhouse gas emissions for sectors such as transport and agriculture are unlawful. The campaigners said on Tuesday the thresholds would fail to cut Europe’s planet-heating emissions fast enough to meet the Paris Agreement’s goal to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. A European Commission spokesperson declined to comment on ongoing legal proceedings…A second case, filed by five campaign groups to the EU’s general court on Tuesday, seeks to force Brussels to revise rules adding aviation to the EU’s ‘taxonomy’, a list of investments labelled green and therefore eligible to receive green finance from investors and banks.” The Guardian says of the first case: “The lawsuit was formally filed before the court of justice of the EU earlier this year and has been fast-tracked. The NGOs filed their last written comments in August before an oral hearing expected in 2025. The newspaper quotes Sven Harmeling, the head of climate at CAN Europe, saying: “We have to use all available channels to push the European Commission to bring the EU’s climate ambition on track with its fair share for the 1.5C goal of the Paris agreement. The EU has to ramp up emissions reduction and achieve at least a 65% cut by 2030 if it wants to be a credible actor. The recent acceleration in expanding renewable energies in many countries and related cost reductions provide new momentum for this.”

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that the “EU is poised to put a fierce advocate of emissions reduction in charge of its climate and environment agenda just as critics are saying the plans are weakening the bloc’s competitiveness”. The newspaper continues: “Spanish Socialist Teresa Ribera is the frontrunner to become the next climate and environment commissioner after the Greens and Socialists in the European parliament said they would back her for the job. After supporting Ursula von der Leyen in her bid for a second term as European Commission chief, the two political groups expect her to appoint an ambitious green commissioner in return. All 27 commissioners will have to undergo parliamentary hearings and the assembly can force von der Leyen’s hand on appointments.” (See Carbon Brief’s 2018 interview with Ribera.)

The Financial Times covers a new report from the Swiss-based International Gas Union, a “key global gas industry body”, which criticises the scenarios “relied on by policymakers in tackling climate change for failing to take into account future energy demand”. The body also warns of “energy shortages by 2030”. The newspaper adds: “The [report says there is] a ‘significant gap’ between what was forecast for demand based on historical consumption patterns and the pathways shown by institutions such as the International Energy Agency to achieve the cuts in emissions behind climate change.” It continues: “The IGU report showed that between 2021 and 2024, global energy demand had risen 2.7% annually. At that pace, the world would consume 586 exajoules (EJ) of energy in 2030, according to the IGU. This would be led by ‘new sources of power demand’ such as the adoption of energy-intensive AI, as well as the increased need for cooling, especially in developing countries, brought about by more extreme temperatures, the group said. In contrast, ‘all the diverse energy demand scenarios examined…assume that the growth rate of global energy demand will significantly decelerate towards 2050’, the report said. It added that the scenarios indicate ‘a flattening and eventual decline in demand’, something that it said had not been seen since the Industrial Revolution apart from periods of severe disruption such as the Covid-19 pandemic, when economic activity slowed and energy consumption waned.”

Meanwhile, there is continuing coverage of ExxonMobil’s latest views about global energy demand. Forbes says that, according to the US-based oil major, the “world is in for an energy shock if oil producers start assuming that a dip in global demand will occur by 2050”. The outlet adds: “While the…energy major does see an oil demand plateau beyond 2030, it expects it to remain above 100m barrels per day (bpd) through to 2050. The prediction, offered in the company’s latest global outlook, is just shy of 102.1m bpd – the actual oil demand figure for 2023. Exxon’s projected figure is also 25% above a prediction made by industry rival BP of a demand decline to 75m bpd through to 2050.” The Financial Times says “ExxonMobil has said global oil demand will remain virtually unchanged by 2050 and warned that any move to curtail investment in fossil fuels would trigger a new energy price shock”. Reuters says that the company, which is the “most ambitious among western oil majors”, has “painted a more sombre view on global carbon emissions reductions than BP…advancements in technology will allow for emissions reductions after 2029, compared to the middle of this decade according to BP”.

The impact of extreme weather events continues to be reported around the world. The Associated Press covers a warning by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) that the “collapse of the Arbaat dam in Sudan’s eastern Red Sea state over the weekend flooded nearby homes and killed at least 30 people following heavy rains”. The newswire adds: “Additionally, about 70 villages around the dam were affected by the flash flooding, including 20 villages that have been destroyed. The Arbaat dam, which is about 38 kilometres (nearly 25 miles) north-west of Port Sudan, was massively damaged because of heavy rains. In areas west of the dam, the flooding either destroyed or damaged the homes of 50,000 people – 77% of the total population living there. Those affected urgently need food, water and shelter, OCHA warned, adding that damage in eastern parts of the dam is still being assessed. More than 80 boreholes collapsed because of the flooding, OCHA said, citing officials, while 10,000 heads of livestock are missing, and 70 schools have been either damaged or destroyed.”

Meanwhile, the death toll in Nigeria has risen, says CNN, with “at least 170 people” dead and “more than 200,000 others displaced” following weeks of flooding in Africa’s most populous country. It adds: “Although parts of Nigeria are prone to floods during the rainy season, [Manzo Ezekiel from the National Emergency Management Authority], said this year’s flooding has been reported in areas where it had previously been rare. ‘The situation is such that some places that were not previously known to be prone to floods are experiencing floods this time because of climate change,’ he told CNN.”

Separately, Reuters says that, in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, residents and farmers have “anxiously watched and waited for clouds to bring rain to refill dried-out dams, water wells and lagoons”. So far, “they’ve waited in vain”, adding: “Amid the drought farmers have decided to leave land unplanted or use the scarce water to keep long-standing groves of walnut trees from dying.” Another Reuters article is headlined: “Heat stroke risk won’t stop Japan’s ageing farmers as temperatures soar.”

In the US, the Associated Press covers the ongoing heatwave affecting “much of the midwest”, adding: “The National Weather Service issued excessive heat warnings and advisories Tuesday in large swathes of Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and into mid-Atlantic states including Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The weather service warned of ‘dangerously hot conditions’ and predicted heat index values – which take into account the temperature and relative humidity and indicate how hot it feels outdoors – of up to 110-115F (43.3C-46.1C) in some locations, including Chicago. The city’s high broke the record of 97F (36.1C) set for this day in 1973, according to the weather service.”

Finally, the Guardian says: “Scorching temperatures across Europe have killed tens of thousands of people in recent years. But as fatalities rise, researchers are finding that one group is disproportionately bearing the brunt of extreme heat: those living in poverty.”

Extreme rainfall and flooding-related incidents in India’s western states of Gujarat and Rajasthan have claimed 17 lives in the past two days, reports the Hindustan Times. In Gujarat, authorities tell the newspaper that “96 reservoirs were flowing above danger levels”, with the state receiving “nearly 100% of its average annual rainfall so far”. Many areas that received “exceptionally heavy rainfall” were in arid, desert districts in the two states, says the Indian Express. The city of Vadodara recorded 28cm of rainfall in 24 hours, the highest across India on August 27, according to Scroll.in. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted more rains over the next few days, with the entire state of Gujarat on red alert until 29 August, according to the Press Trust of India. Down to Earth says the flooding is being “caused by a land-based deep depression, which intensified over land and was exacerbated by moisture influx from the soils along its path or the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea”, a “rare” atmospheric phenomenon, according to climate experts. 

Meanwhile, in India’s north-east, the death toll in Tripura state from flooding has risen to 31, with “72,000 people still in 492 relief camps as their houses were washed away”, the Print reports. DeutscheWelle features a factcheck examining a “few of the most viral claims” that flooding in Bangladesh was “artificial” or “exacerbated by India opening dams and barrages on rivers near the border with Bangladesh”. The Indian Express reports on a potentially “major upgrade” of the IMD’s existing capabilities, as the “demand for even more accurate and specific predictions continues to grow, particularly in light of the increasing instances of extreme weather events being triggered by climate change”. 

Separately, Reuters reports that US customs authorities have detained nearly $43m in electronics equipment shipments from India since October under a 2022 law banning goods made from forced labour, of which “solar panels have historically made up most of the stopped shipments”. While no such detentions were made in previous years, according to the newswire, “[n]early a third of detained Indian electronics shipments were denied”, a “setback for Indian producers seeking to cast themselves as an alternative for US solar project developers”. Meanwhile, an Indian Express investigation has found that India’s renewable energy ministry “ignored concerns flagged at the highest levels in the government over market concentration in India’s solar PV module industry”, with “domestic manufacturers now charging 90% more for solar modules compared to their foreign [mainly Chinese] competitors”. 

Elsewhere, energy giant Chevron has announced plans to invest $989m in India’s western state of Karnataka, the Press Trust of India reports. Chevron India’s chief Akshay Sahni tells the newswire that the company’s new engineering and innovation centre “will provide an opportunity for India’s exceptional talent to work with the resources and expertise of our global network to provide affordable, reliable clean energy”. And, at a national workshop on carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), India’s government thinktank NITI Aayog has said that India is “on track” to achieve its Paris Agreement emissions pledge, according to PTI.

The Wall Street Journal covers new analysis published by BloombergNEF showing that “zero-carbon technologies comprised more than 40% of global electricity generation for the first time in 2023”. The newspaper adds: “Renewable energy sources like wind and solar made up 17% of total electricity generation, and hydroelectric and nuclear power contributed 24%. Fossil fuels including coal and natural gas produced 57% of global electricity last year. ‘We’ve consistently seen the penetration of renewables rising every year, and this year we hit quite a few milestones that had felt harder to reach in past years,’ said Meredith Annex, head of clean power at BNEF.” The article continues: “One such milestone: solar and wind represented more than 90% of global energy capacity additions last year, a step up from 2022. Global wind capacity also crossed the one-terawatt threshold. And Brazil, the country with the cleanest power mix of the G20 economies, hit 88% renewable power generation in 2023. ‘It just shows the momentum that the space is having. A lot of that does tie into the investment story, where you’ve got rising – skyrocketing, honestly – investment into solar,’ Annex said.” BusinessGreen also covers the story, saying: “Just 10 economies worldwide accounted for almost three-quarters of total renewable energy generation in 2023, with China alone providing nearly a third of last year’s clean power output, followed by the US, Brazil, Canada, and India which completed the top five.”

China’s “new-energy storage” installation capacity in 2025 might reach more than double its target, as the goals set by a number of local governments will “bring the total installed capacity of their storage facilities…to 86.6 gigawatts (GW) by the end of 2025”, business news outlet Caixin reports. It adds that the rapid growth of installations was due to “local government support for the industry”. State news agency Xinhua says that, as of June, China’s installed capacity of energy storage projects exceeded 100GW for the first time. Profits for China’s high-tech manufacturing sector – which includes lithium-ion battery manufacturers – “buoyed” overall industrial profit growth, Reuters reports. Energy news outlet China Energy Net also covers the news, stating that the lithium-ion battery industry saw profits rise 46% year-on-year, as “promotion of a high-end, smart and green manufacturing industry” accelerated growth in “related industries”.

Elsewhere, Bloomberg reports that the south-western province of Sichuan is experiencing “blistering heat”, putting “pressure on the…grid” and damaging crops. The outlet adds that last week the “maximum power demand in the province hit a record 68GW…13% higher than the previous year’s peak”. Economic news outlet Jiemian also covers the story, saying that the high demand for electricity in the province has “led to power cuts” in the provincial capital Chengdu, affecting electric vehicle charging stations and office air conditioning systems.

Industry news outlet BJX News reports that China has published an “encouraged list” for finance leasing companies, calling for a focus on lending wind and solar power projects, as well as solar-thermal and other new energy projects. State broadcaster CCTV reports that China’s western regions “need to accelerate” construction of “clean energy bases”. BJX News republishes a WeChat post from the account of power industry newspaper Dianlian Xinmei, written by China Electricity Council chief expert Chen Zongfa, which argues that the “low-carbon transformation” of coal power in China is now “compulsory”, but that China “should improve” carbon and electricity pricing mechanisms, “establish a quota-based market adjustment and reserve mechanism”, plus develop a “coal power capacity market”.

State newswire Xinhua covers the Ministry of Commerce’s “strong dissatisfaction” with Canada’s imposition of duties on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs). State-run newspaper China Daily publishes a comment article arguing that the EU “provid[es] various subsidies for its local ‘new trio’ industries”, despite opposition to Chinese subsidies. Xinhua also carries a commentary arguing that EU “import duties on Chinese [EVs] will definitely hurt European businesses”. Finally, Reuters reports that the US will announce final plans for tariff hikes on Chinese imports this week, although US businesses have called for many of the duties to be “softened”.

CNN reports that Republican officials in 24 US states have asked the supreme court to “halt a Biden administration effort to reduce emissions of the planet-warming gas methane, adding to a series of emergency appeals challenging environmental regulations”. The outlet continues: “Led by Oklahoma, the states are asking the high court to pause an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that went into effect earlier this year and that the agency estimates will slash methane emissions from oil and gas operations by nearly 80% through 2038. The latest filing is part of a much broader campaign by the groups battling Biden administration environmental regulations, a push that has repeatedly resonated with the supreme court’s conservative majority in recent years. Many of the same states and industry groups have filed other emergency appeals in recent weeks challenging different regulations, including those to curb power plant pollution and mercury emissions. An appeals court in Washington, DC, previously denied the states’ request to put the new methane regulations on hold.”

In other US news, the Hill reports that the Biden administration has announced it will protect 28m acres (11.3m hectares) of public lands in Alaska, reversing a Trump administration effort to open them up to development. “The move protects the lands from activities including mining and oil and gas extraction,” it adds: “The decision is not a surprise because the administration indicated earlier this year it planned to protect the acreage. However, the decision represents a reversal of orders signed at the very end of the Trump administration that sought to open up the lands for industry use.”

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the Biden administration is “awarding $521m in grants to build out electric vehicle charging and deploying more than 9,200 EV charging ports”. The newswire adds: “The White House goal is to grow the nationwide network of chargers to 500,000 ports, including high-speed chargers – no more than 50 miles (80 km) apart – on the nation’s busiest highways. As of August, the US had 192,000 public charging ports and since the start of the Biden administration, the number of publicly available fast-charging ports has increased by 90%…In June, just seven EV-charging stations had been deployed under the 2021 US programme consisting of a few dozen total charging ports, said Shailen Bhatt, who heads the Federal Highway Administration. ‘That is pathetic. We’re now three years into this…That is a vast administrative failure,’ said Senator Jeff Merkley at [a recent] hearing. ‘Something is terribly wrong and it needs to be fixed.’” The Hill also covers the story.

Finally, the Guardian covers new research by the US Department of Agriculture which shows that the “moisture – or ‘sweat’ – that corn and other crops release in high temperatures is contributing to the humidity in the air in the midwest US…the increase in moisture pushes up dew points, making it harder for water vapour to condensate – and for it to feel cooler”.

The Guardian says “more than 40 green groups have called on [new UK energy and climate secretary] Ed Miliband to scrap plans to pay billions in subsidies to the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire for it to keep burning wood pellets imported from overseas forests”. The newspaper continues: “In an open letter to the energy secretary, 41 groups from across Europe and the US say they are ‘deeply concerned’ about the UK government’s plans to foot the cost of extending the subsidy scheme, which supports the UK’s most polluting power plant from 2027 until the end of the decade. The subsidy scheme, which has paid the FTSE 250 owners of Drax more than £7bn since 2012, also supports the Lynemouth biomass plant in Northumberland, which is owned by the billionaire investor Daniel Křetínský. ‘These power stations are burning trees from some of the world’s most biodiverse forests in the southern US, Canada and Europe, with devastating impacts on communities, wildlife and the climate. This puts at risk forests and wildlife in many of our countries,’ the letter says.” The Guardian quotes a government spokesperson saying: “The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change defines biomass sourced in line with strict sustainability criteria as a low carbon source of energy. We will continue to monitor biomass electricity generation to ensure it meets required standards.”

Separately, the Times reports that the UK’s new trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds says that “moving away from North Sea oil and gas to renewable energy will make the UK less susceptible to economic threats from other countries”. The article continues: “Offshore industry figures have expressed dismay at Labour’s decision to add a further three percentage points to the energy profits levy, which would take the headline tax rate to 78%. The end date for the charge has also been extended for a further 12 months to March 2030. Reynolds argued that although trade was ‘crucial to prosperity and to resilience…there are things that are threats that we have to manage as a government’. He said: ‘We have to have more sight of them, to understand [them] as our economy is in transition, particularly around net-zero, some vulnerabilities are reduced, particularly around oil and fossil fuels.’” Another Times article says “only one in 10 Scots would oppose new electricity pylons being built if it meant they got a discount on their energy bills, research has found”.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times covers a report by the Global Government Forum, led by former UK cabinet secretary Lord Gus O’Donnell, which examines how “civil servants around the world are increasingly suffering strained relationships with ministers as conflicts over providing quick-fix solutions and serving long-term national interests rise”. O’Donnell says he is “increasingly concerned that against the backdrop of rising populism and increasingly divisive politics, we are seeing weak leadership on vital issues of long-term importance”, such as climate change. The article adds: “Global pressures including post-Covid 19 economic recovery efforts, military conflicts, ageing populations and the ‘green transition’ to cleaner energy systems were also identified as challenges for civil services internationally.”

A £38m “virtual” centre that will study whether alternative protein sources such as lab-grown meat, plant proteins and insects could become part of the UK diet is due to be launched in the UK, reports the Press Association. The newswire adds: “The National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (Napic), headed up by the University of Leeds, will explore whether cultured meat or proteins derived from plants, fungi, algae, insects and microbes can be healthy as well as sustainable. As well as academics, more than 120 organisations are involved, including small and large businesses, farmers, regulators and councils, according to Prof Anwesha Sarkar, project leader for Napic and director of research and innovation at Leeds’ school of food science and nutrition…Researchers said their aim is to create an innovation centre that can secure ‘a continuous supply of safe, tasty, affordable and healthy proteins which also support net-zero goals and futureproof the UK’s food and animal feed security’.” Sky News also covers the story. Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that new research from the Food Foundation shows “plant-based alternatives to meat are better for the planet and mostly healthier than products such as burgers and sausages made from animals”.

The Guardian has published a news feature focused on the “degrowth” movement, which includes an interview with Jason Hickel, the author of Less Is More. The newspaper says: “Hickel is one of the leading lights in a growing post-growth or degrowth movement. Its proponents argue that economic success cannot be measured through the crude metric of gross domestic product (GDP) and that there needs to be a managed reduction in growth in carbon-intensive countries and industries. ‘Growth simply means an increase in aggregate production, as measured in market prices,’ says Hickel. ‘So, according to GDP growth, producing £1m worth of teargas is considered exactly the same as producing £1m worth of affordable housing or healthcare.’ Hickel says that what matters in terms of social progress is not aggregate production but the production of specific goods and services that are necessary for improving people’s lives and achieving ecological goals – and a reduction in overall growth in high-emitting sectors and countries. ‘Every time a politician says they want more economic growth, we need to ask: growth of what and for whose benefit?’” However, the article adds: “While the degrowth movement has gained a foothold among economists and ecologists in the global north, there has been a degree of scepticism among academics and activists in the global south.” It quotes Morena Hanbury Lemos, an ecological economist from Brazil: “We have been using the slogan recently ‘degrowth in the north and delinking in the south’…Delinking in the south means moving away from this relationship of dependency, where economies in the global south are subordinated to the interest of economies in the global north, where they must do whatever capital requires.”

Separately, the Daily Mail provides a full page to the climate-sceptic commentator Andrew Neil to rage that Keir Starmer offered “no blueprint for fixing Britain” in a Downing Street speech yesterday: “He promised that the state-owned GB Energy company he plans to form will ‘make money for taxpayers’. I wouldn’t hold your breath. GB Energy will invest in renewable energy sources that still require huge state subsidies, with pay-back in the dim and distant future. Equally fatuous was his claim that Labour’s emphasis on renewables, under the control of a green zealot (Ed Miliband), meant we’d ‘no longer depend on foreign dictators’ for our oil and gas. By banning any new licences to exploit the remaining reserves of the North Sea, the government is actually increasing our reliance on said dictators – because we will still need oil and gas for the foreseeable future.” [See Carbon Brief’s “Analysis: UK could approve 13 new oil and gas projects despite North Sea pledge.”]

New research explores the effectiveness of communicating the scientific consensus on climate change in 27 countries and the impact of describing warming as a “crisis”. Using online surveys with members of the public in the summer of 2023, the researchers tested two scientific consensus messages: “A classic message on the reality of human-caused climate change and an updated message additionally emphasising scientific agreement that climate change is a crisis.” The findings show that the classic message “substantially reduces” misperceptions and “slightly increases” climate change beliefs and worry, the researchers say, “but not support for public action directly”. The updated message “is equally effective, but provides no added value”, they add. Overall, the authors conclude that “both messages are more effective for audiences with lower message familiarity and higher misperceptions, including those with lower trust in climate scientists and right-leaning ideologies”.

Climate change contributed to a deadly avalanche in Nepal in 2015 that was initially triggered by an earthquake, new research suggests. On 25 April 2015, the Gorkha earthquake “triggered a large rock-ice avalanche and an air blast disaster in the Langtang Valley”, which saw 350 people killed or left missing, the authors explain. Reconstructing the event using field investigations and models, the researchers find that deep snow cover and high temperatures both contributed to the disaster. Specifically, “elevated air temperatures intensify meltwater production and lubricate the flowing mass”, the authors say, while “deep snow cover fosters the formation of a dispersed avalanche, which increases the mobility and destructive power of the powder cloud air blast”.