Several “climate groups” have “joined forces” to begin a $55m advertising campaign in support of Kamala Harris ahead of the US presidential elections, the New York Times reports. According to the newspaper, three of the adverts will “​​frame President Biden’s climate policies and Ms Harris’s prospective policies in terms of economic benefits rather than environmental ones, and also touch on economic issues not directly related to the climate”. The adverts will run adverts in six key swing states, according to the paper. It continues: “The messaging is in line with that of the Biden-Harris administration. Mr Biden enacted the country’s largest investment in climate-change mitigation by signing the Inflation Reduction Act, but he and Ms Harris have often promoted it primarily as a force that is benefiting working-class Americans by pushing companies to create manufacturing and construction jobs for green-energy projects.” The Hill says a recent press release highlighted three adverts that will be part of the campaign. It continues: “One spot declares that bolstering the middle class will be a ‘defining goal’ of a Harris presidency; another seeks to contrast Harris’s record with former President Trump’s on issues including standing up to banks and major oil companies. The third advertisement declares Harris will ‘triple America’s clean energy production,’ saving consumers money on their electric bills.” It adds that the campaign “will include broadcast and cable ads, as well as ads on websites such as YouTube”. Meanwhile, BBC News reports that the Democratic National Convention began in Chicago yesterday. It says that the convention “focuses on a broad range of issues, including plans to lower inflation, mitigate climate change and tackle gun violence”. Politico says the convention “offers Kamala Harris a prime opportunity to test out her climate change messaging”. The Daily Mail reports that protestors are set to rally outside the convention centre this week “aiming to address a myriad of issues including climate change, abortion rights and racial equality, to name a few”. An immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war is the main message of the protest, the outlet says.

In other US news, Reuters reports: “Donald Trump said on Monday that if elected he would consider ending a $7,500 tax credit for electric-vehicle purchases and that he would be open to naming Tesla CEO Elon Musk to a cabinet or advisory role.” Separately, Reuters reports that “the Biden administration on Monday issued an offshore wind lease to the state of Maine for a small project that will demonstrate floating turbine technology off the US East Coast”. According to the newswire, the lease covers an area of almost 4,000 hectares, situtated 28 miles from the shore. It adds: “The area could accommodate up to 12 floating offshore wind turbines that could generate about 144 megawatts of electricity.” The Associated Press adds: “The research array will use floating offshore wind platforms designed by the University of Maine and deployed by partner Diamond Offshore Wind. But construction is not likely for several years.” The Hill reports that 23 Republican-led states and at least two coal companies are asking the Supreme Court to halt a Biden administration rule that tightens emissions limits for “toxic substances such as lead and arsenic” by 67%. Separately, the Hill reports that a Washington appeals court has “ordered the Biden administration to rewrite sweeping new pipeline safety rules issued in 2022”. The Guardian says that a storm has hit Connecticut and then moved on to Long Island, leading to widespread flooding. It says: “The storms cancelled more than 450 flights at Newark Liberty, LaGuardia and John F Kennedy airports, officials said.” The Associated Press reports that 30cm of rain fell in some parts of western Connecticut late Sunday and early Monday, leading to more than 100 people being evacuated. The New York Times also covers the storm. CNN reports on why the US “has more tornadoes than any other country”.

Ministers have approved London City airport’s application to expand, increasing its capacity from 6.5m to 9m passengers per year by scheduling more weekend and early morning flights, the Guardian reports. However, according to the newspaper, the government rejected the airport’s proposals to extend its Saturday afternoon operating hours to 6.30pm. It continues: “Analysis published by the Guardian last week found that more than half of the journeys taken from the airport last year could be done in six hours or less by train. The Climate Change Committee has recommended there should be no net airport expansion in the UK if the country is going to meet its legally binding target of net-zero emissions by 2050.” The Financial Times adds: “The approval comes after Newham Council, the airport’s local authority, last year blocked the expansion request over concerns around the impact of noise pollution and other environmental impacts from the extra flights…According to the decision, the additional morning flights would cause ‘no harm in terms of noise effects, and any additional effects at that time would be mitigated in terms of the use of quieter aircraft for the three additional flights, as well as the enhanced sound insulation scheme’. It added there would be ‘no conflict in terms of national policy’ on air quality.”

In other UK news, the Guardian reports that the secretary for transport Louise Haigh has said that “the Labour government will invest ‘unprecedented levels of funding’ in cycling and walking as a critical part of plans to improve health and inequality”. BusinessGreen covers a new poll which finds that “more than a third of UK drivers planning to buy a new car in the next year say they intend to go electric”. Elsewhere, DeSmog reports that “Conservative Party leadership hopeful” Kemi Badenoch received £10,000 towards her campaign from the chair of Net Zero Watch – the campaigning wing of the climate-sceptic lobby group known as the Global Warming Policy Foundation. The Daily Telegraph reports that “a Labour MP whose constituency borders the proposed Sizewell C nuclear power station has been criticised for accepting a £2,000 donation from the developer behind the project”.

Elsewhere, the Guardian covers new analysis from energy consultancy Cornwall Insight, which forecasts that “energy bills across Great Britain could rise by 9% from October to an average of £1,714 a year for the typical household’s gas and electricity”. The paper continues: “The energy regulator, Ofgem, is expected to set out the next price cap for October until the end of December by Friday. If the analysts’ predictions are correct, the price cap would be £121 lower than energy costs last winter when the cap was set at £1,835 a year for gas and electricity after a rise in global energy prices because of Russia’s war in Ukraine. However, winter energy bills will remain well above the levels paid before Russia’s invasion triggered a global energy market shock, when the price cap was set at £1,216 for the winter of 2020-21.” BBC News notes that the price cap affects 28m households across England, Wales and Scotland. The Daily Telegraph adds: “The chancellor announced plans earlier this month to axe winter fuel payments for 10m pensioners as she scrambles to plug a £22bn black hole in the public finances which she claims was left by the Tories.” The Associated Press and BusinessGreen also cover the news. 

According to China’s Ministry of Water Resources, 2024 has seen “25 significant flood events”, the “highest number recorded since data collection began in 1998”, reports the Global Times, a state-supporting newspaper. It quotes Wang Bao’en, vice minister of water resources, saying that this year’s extreme rainfalls have been “marked by higher-than-usual cumulative rainfall influenced by Typhoon Gaemi”. State news agency Xinhua also quotes Wang Bao’en, who says that, despite “the end of a critical flood-control period from mid-July to mid-August”, China still remains in the “main flood season”, facing “a complex and severe flood-control situation”.

Meanwhile, another Global Times article says that the EU’s “protectionist actions” against Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) and biodiesel will “have negative impacts” on the bloc’s “green” transition. Xinhua says the EU’s tariff move could “backfire”. The New York Times reports that some companies in the US are “stockpiling parts and delaying expansions” in fear of the “prospect of increased tariffs on Chinese goods”, with the solar industry appearing “especially vulnerable”. Another Xinhua report says that the “European green deal” is facing multiple challenges due to the “slow recovery” of the bloc’s economy, and the EU and its member states will compromise more “on climate and environmental efforts in favour of economic recovery”.

Elsewhere, in its “supply lines” newsletter, Bloomberg quotes Yvonne Mhango, an African economist, saying that “the next US administration will likely seek to challenge China’s dominance” in key mineral space in Africa. The Global Times reports that analysts are expecting China and Fiji to “explore new cooperation opportunities in green industries, such as renewable energy generation”. 

Finally, Reuters says that “Beijing’s latest choice” of placing antimony – a component for solar panels – under export limits is “very much a way to defend China’s green offensive”, as “the demand for antimony for photovoltaic glass will be high”. A comment article from the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) by energy analyst Tim Daiss argues that China should “start to retire older coal-fired power plants earlier than planned” or “decide on a complete coal phase-out instead of a partial pullback”. Otherwise, coal power will “cancel out many of the gains renewable energy can make in reducing carbon dioxide emissions”, the outlet adds. 

More than 200 people have died in southern Pakistan, as a result of flash flooding caused by monsoon rains, the Associated Press reports. The newswire continues: “Pakistan’s annual monsoon season runs from July through September. Scientists and weather forecasters have blamed climate change for heavier rains in recent years. In 2022, climate-induced downpours inundated one-third of the country, killing 1,739 people and causing $30bn in damage.”

Separately, Agence France-Presse reports: “Flooding caused by torrential rainfall in war-torn Yemen has led to at least 60 deaths since July, with 13 others still missing and a total of 268,000 people affected, the United Nations said Monday…Yemen, already grappling with an almost decade-long war, suffers from severe floods on a near-annual basis that are triggered by torrential rainfall, while climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of precipitation.”

Simon Kelner – columnist for the i newspaper and former editor of the Independent – writes that “extreme heat and the associated effects of climate change will stop us going to traditional resorts”. He says he cancelled his family trip to “an island in the Med” after learning how high the temperatures could rise and instead went to Scotland. He continues: “I would guess that we are not the only people who made such a decision this summer. Never mind the off-putting effects of Spanish residents demonstrating against the ravages of tourism…In the end, it’s extreme heat, the threat of fires and the associated effects of climate change that will stop us going to traditional southern European holiday resorts.” 

Elsewhere, William Becker, executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project, argues in the Hill that three weeks before the first US presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, “it is not clear what the rules of engagement will be”. However, he argues that “neither candidate should be careless with facts”, warning that Trump has “trafficked misinformation, disinformation, unfounded conspiracy theories, malicious invective, veiled threats of violence and character assassination, using cable and network news as his free megaphone”. Becker suggests that “moderators should frame their questions with facts rather than allowing candidates to make them up,” proposing a questioning to Trump on why he plans to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement. Meanwhile, JD Vance, the Republican pick for vice-president in the election, writes in the Wall Street Journal that the Democrat’s proposed net-zero policies “would enervate America”. He argues that “tragically, under the ‘net zero’ energy policies advanced by Kamala Harris, the Biden administration and the entire Democratic Party, families are being denied the hopeful and abundant future that comes with low-cost energy”. The Guardian’s Australia’s climate and environment editor, Adam Morton, has penned an article under the headline: “The Coalition has turned its renewable energy denial into a nuclear roadmap to nowhere. It’s exhausting.” And many scientists have written pieces for the Conversation about their new research. These include a review of nature based solutions, a discussion of how Ancient Rome used to combat urban heat islands, analysis of whether volcanoes could be used to produce electricity and an explanation of how warehouses and shopping centres could produce 25% of Australia’s power using batteries and solar panels. 

Solar geoengineering could help to reverse the negative impact of extreme climate change on water availability in four key Central African river basins, a new modelling study finds. The research uses modelling to simulate how two different solar geoengineering technologies could affect water availability in the Niger Basin, Lake Chad Basin, Cameroon Atlantic Basin and Congo Basin under various emissions scenarios. The two techniques include injecting reflective aerosols into the stratosphere and global solar dimming, which involves introducing large mirrors into space to reflect away the sun. The results suggest extreme climate change would reduce water availability over the basins by around 60%, whereas solar geoengineering could “significantly reduce this deficit by increasing water availability”.

Climate change threatens the survival of the Saimaa ringed seal, one of the most endangered seals in the world, with a population of just 400 individuals living in Lake Saimaa, Finland. The rare mammals choose to breed in “snowdrifts” – deep heaps of snow – on top of the lake when it is frozen over in winter months. However, using modelling, the new study finds that the mean depth of the snowdrifts on the lake is projected to decrease by around half by 2070-99, when compared to 1981-2010. At the same time, the ice-covered period on the lake is projected to decline by one and a half months, the results show. “The results highlight the importance of climate change mitigation and active conservation measures to enhance seal population growth, enabling it to survive in a changing climate,” the authors say.