Delegates have arrived in Cali, Colombia for the start of COP16, a biodiversity summit that is “decisive for the fate of the world’s rapidly declining wildlife populations”, the Guardian says. The talks are the “first time countries will meet to discuss global biodiversity since the Kunming-Montreal agreement in 2022 when world leaders made a series of unprecedented pledges to protect the natural world”, the newspaper explains. This time, 15,000 people from 190 countries are descending on the South American city for two weeks to attempt to “thrash out global budgets for protection of nature and create a mechanism to ensure countries hold to their word on protecting the world’s forests, rivers and oceans”. The host nation is “also hoping that the summit…will be the most inclusive in history”, the Guardian says. It quotes Susana Muhamad, Colombia’s environment minister, who says: “One of Colombia’s objectives is that this is recognised globally as the COP of the people, where citizens, afro-descendant and campesino communities, Indigenous peoples, scientists, social actors and all sectors are heard and have a broad participation in the discussions.” 

At the same time, the Financial Times reports that “armed rebels who control swathes of the Amazon have threatened” the summit. It continues: “Militants from a faction of the Estado Mayor Central leftist rebel group launched attacks in the western hamlet of El Plateado last weekend, injuring 17 people and shutting down highways days before the nearby city of Cali hosts 14 heads of state and dozens of ministers and diplomats. The EMC warned delegates not to attend the summit starting on Monday [last week], in a post since removed from social media.” The FT says that “the group had earlier pledged not to carry out attacks in Cali during the summit”, adding that Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro “dispatched 11,000 police and soldiers to Cali last weekend and 1,400 more to secure control of El Plateado”.

The Associated Press, Le Monde and Press Association all preview the summit, while Agence France-Presse reports on the video address by UN secretary general Antonio Guterres as the meeting opened yesterday. He said: “We must leave Cali with significant investment in the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), and commitments to mobilise other sources of public and private finance.” The Press Association reports on analysis by Greenpeace revealing that, at current rates of progress, a UN nature target to protect and restore 30% of nature by 2030 “will not be achieved in ocean environments until 2107”. The Financial Times has a “big read” on COP16, focusing on the “new corporate green goal” of being “nature positive”. And Tagesspiegel reports that, this year, the German government is providing €1.36bn for the preservation of species and ecosystems in developing and emerging countries, about €450m more than the previous year. However, environmental organisations “accuse” the German government of “failing to lead by example at home”, says the article. It quotes the president of the German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), Jörg-Andreas Krüger, saying that “Germany is lagging behind…There is a lack of clear, measurable, and binding targets at the national level, as well as effective measures”.

(Covering all the developments at COP16 will be Carbon Brief’s team of five journalists in Cali. To keep up to date, sign up for Carbon Brief’s free Cropped newsletter, as well as our free “what to watch at COP16” webinar, tomorrow at 3pm (UK time). Also see Carbon Brief’s interactive tracker of negotiating texts, interview with UN biodiversity chief Astrid Schomaker, reporting on the “fair share” of biodiversity finance, plus analysis showing that the vast majority of countries missed the UN’s deadline to submit new nature pledges before COP16.)

In related news, the Guardian reports that the UK government has appointed Ruth Davis as its new special representative for nature. The newspaper says Davis – who is in Cali for COP16 – “has worked on environmental policy for 25 years and is renowned for her commitment”. It adds that she has “previously held senior roles at charities including Greenpeace, the RSPB and Plantlife, and the thinktank and consultancy E3G”. The Daily Telegraph reports that the UK government is considering “slash[ing] by £100m” the post-Brexit Environmental Land Management Scheme (Elms), which is “aimed at incentivising farmers to make nature-friendly choices”. Elsewhere, Reuters reports that US president Joe Biden is expected to visit the Amazon rainforest and meet Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva before they attend the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro in November. The New York Times reports on the impacts of the “record dry conditions in South America” that have touched almost every country on the continent. And Mongabay reports on how the drought “wrecks rivers and daily life in Amazon’s most burnt Indigenous land”.

In an “exclusive”, the Washington Post says it has obtained documents showing that “an influential oil and gas industry group whose members were aggressively pursued for campaign cash by [Republican presidential nominee] Donald Trump has drafted detailed plans for dismantling landmark Biden administration climate rules after the presidential election”. The plans – drawn up by the American Exploration and Production Council (AXPC), a group of 30 mostly independent oil and gas producers, including several major oil companies – reveal a “comprehensive industry effort to reverse climate initiatives advanced during the past nearly four years of Democratic leadership”, the newspaper explains. The lobbying blueprint “takes particular aim at a new tax on emissions of methane”, the article says, as well as “more than a half-dozen executive orders that lie at the centre of the Biden administration’s efforts to combat climate change”. The newspaper adds: “While AXPC says it would pursue the rollbacks regardless of who wins the November election, almost all the policies it targets for elimination and rewrite were enacted by the Biden administration.”

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that the Biden administration is “racing” to shell out “billions of dollars for clean energy and approving major offshore wind projects” before the election. Energy secretary Jennifer Granholm tells the newswire that it would be “political malpractice” to undo clean energy incentives that are benefiting all pockets of America, with most of the investments going to counties with below-average weekly wages and college graduation rates. The article notes that Donald Trump “has pledged to rescind unspent funds in Biden’s landmark climate and healthcare bill and stop offshore wind development if he returns to the White House in January”. The Hill reports that, on Friday, the US government announced $2bn in funding for projects to strengthen the resilience of the US grid against extreme weather, “an increasing concern following two consecutive major hurricanes in the Atlantic”. 

In other news around the US presidential election, Politico profiles Carla Sands, a top energy official at the America First Policy Institute, whose “outlandish” ideas on climate and energy policy “could make their way into a second Trump administration”. Sands tried to claim last year that “children are committing suicide because they don’t want to put out CO2”. USA Today debunks “six misleading claims” on climate change made by the Trump campaign. With the US south-east struggling to rebuild after back-to-back hurricanes, the Guardian says that “some environmental advocates are demanding [vice president] Kamala Harris flesh out a strong climate plan”. And veteran environmentalist Bill McKibben makes a similar point in the New Yorker, where he notes that “since becoming the Democratic nominee, has spoken very little about climate change”. He writes: “The next president will have to deal with a stream of unnatural disasters. So perhaps it would be wise for Harris to more aggressively remind voters of the stakes.”

In a frontpage story, the Sunday Telegraph reports that Robert Jenrick “has promised to tear up the Climate Change Act” if he becomes leader of the Conservatives party and, eventually, the UK’s prime minister. Speaking to the newspaper, Jenrick – who is vying with former business secretary Kemi Badenoch to lead the Conservatives – said “we must repeal and amend the Climate Change Act, Equality Act and Human Rights Act and restore decision-making to ministers accountable to parliament”. Jenrick has also pledged to scrap new quangos promised in Sir Keir Starmer’s manifesto, including Great British Energy and the nationwide climate export hubs, the newspaper says. Of the government’s carbon budgets, Jenrick tells the outlet that “it is ludicrous to set out soviet-style five-year plans at a sectoral level which specify where you plan to reduce carbon emissions”. He adds: “The state does not have sufficient understanding of the economy to do that well. It’s impeding us from building the critical national infrastructure we need.” Voting has opened in the race to be party leader – decided by Conservative party members – and the winner will be announced on 2 November. [When a minister in the last government, Jenrick boasted about “our world-leading commitment to net-zero by 2050”.]

Elsewhere, the Financial Times reports that UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer is “taking a firmer grip of his five missions for government” by launching in depth “stocktake” meetings to monitor progress. The first of these was an “in-depth update on his green energy mission, which lasted almost two hours”, the newspaper says. It notes that the meeting involved an “interrogation” of, among others, energy secretary Ed Miliband and mission control lead Chris Stark. The meeting “centred heavily on speeding up environmental consent programmes and considered offering greater support to environmental regulators so they can move quicker”, it adds. And the Daily Telegraph reports on concerns over new pylons for the energy transition. 

“The fast money on Wall Street has taken a close look at key sectors in the green economy and decided to bet against them,” reports Bloomberg. Assessing the positions of 500 hedge funds, Bloomberg analysis reveals that they are, on average, “short” on batteries, solar, electric vehicles and hydrogen and “long” on fossil fuels. The outlet continues: “Managers in the $5tn hedge fund industry say the reason is obvious: despite the promises, clean energy and green technology stocks have lagged far behind the broader market. Deep-pocketed institutions are concluding that many climate investments won’t pay off as quickly, or as lucratively, as they’d hoped.” Bloomberg speaks to various hedge fund managers about their findings. The outlet notes that most managers “pointed to an increasingly hostile geopolitical environment, with obstacles such as tariff wars leaving them unwilling to invest in classic green bets such as EVs or solar power”. It adds: “In fact, with much of the supply chain for green technology now depending on China, the risk of a full-blown trade war targeting its products has become a direct threat to the financial appeal of clean energy, they said.” The article includes a “sector-by-sector” analysis of the bets placed by hedge funds. Bloomberg says there are “a few bright spots, such as wind power and grids”, but, overall, “the data point to a reluctance among hedge funds to go green”.

A “founding ceremony” of China’s state-owned enterprise (SOE), the Resources Recycling Group, has been held in the city of Tianjin, state news agency Xinhua reports, adding that the new company will recycle used batteries from electric vehicles (EVs), as well as “decommissioned” wind power and solar equipment. Chinese president Xi Jinping says that the establishment of the company is an “important decision” to “perfect an economy that facilitates green, low-carbon and circular development, and advance the building of a beautiful China on all fronts”, a separate Xinhua report says. Reuters says that the establishment of the company is a result of “support” from National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner, “to improve recycling in various industries”.

Meanwhile, China’s ecology and environment minister, Huang Runqiu, has met with Simon Stiell, the UNFCCC executive secretary, in Beijing, discussing issues including preparations for COP29 and the establishment of a “new collective quantitative target for climate finance”, according to an article from the official WeChat account of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. Elsewhere, industry news outlet BJX News reports that the generation of “raw coal, crude oil, natural gas, electricity” from “large-scale” industries “steadily increased” in September. Reuters also covers the story. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that Xi has urged Hefei, the capital of Anhui province – a “once-poor” city. but current “southeastern hi-tech hub” – to pursue “comprehensive green transformation”, including advancing EVs, biotech and “clean-energy” production.

Finally, the state-run newspaper China Daily carries an article by its EU bureau chief Chen Weihua, arguing that China’s “potential contribution to the rest of the world in terms of renewables has been greatly hampered by the trade barriers erected by the US and some other countries”. Nengyuan Xinmei, which belongs to the state-run magazine Energy, carries an article under the title: “Electric power system reform: ‘market failure’ or ‘inadequate reform’?” It says that China’s development of a “fully market-oriented electricity spot market has been slow”, with electricity prices in most regions still “determined through medium-to-long term contracts”. 

Tagesspiegel reports that Germany has produced more renewable energy “than ever before”, with a significant rise in solar. “This is a global milestone,” the German vice-chancellor Robert Habeck is quoted saying in response, adding: “We are on track.” The outlet details that, in the first nine months of this year, wind, solar, hydro and biomass generated nearly 217 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity, accounting for about 56% of total demand. This represents a 9% increase on the same period last year.

In other German news, Der Spiegel covers a study by the Polish Reform Institute highlighting challenges for heat pumps in Germany, primarily due to “high electricity prices”. The study notes that heat pumps would be more appealing in Germany (compared to Poland) if electricity was cheaper or gas more expensive. Demand for heat pumps has decreased by 54% in early 2024 compared to last year, notes the outlet. Separately, Merkur reports that the German Industrial Association (BDI) advocates building renovations to achieve climate-neutral buildings.

Writing in Le Monde ahead of the COP29 climate summit in November, the prime ministers of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, and Barbados, Mia Mottley, argue in favour of scaling up state-backed “blended” finance instruments to channel private investment for climate action. They write that “the need to reform the global financial architecture and set an ambitious new goal for international climate finance has become even clearer”, adding: “Both are essential to deliver on the key tasks of climate mitigation and climate adaptation.”

Also on climate finance, an editorial in the Financial Times says the “World Bank and IMF matter more than ever”, as the two organisations gather this week for their annual meetings. The pair face “daunting pressures”, such as that “the developing world looks fragile”, the editorial says, noting: “[T]he fight against global warming has raised financial pressures on the Bretton Woods pair to support the climate transition, and to build resilience across the world to extreme weather. The FT adds: “Climate change, cycles of poverty, and economic conflict between superpowers create international problems that require international solutions.” 

Reflecting on the “tech industry’s dash for nuclear”, an editorial in the Financial Times says that “AI must be not just another energy-hungry mouth to feed, but a central part of the green solution”. It continues: “Tech companies know that to get data centres built in countries such as the US, they will have to arrange much of their own power. Their net-zero pledges require the sources to be green, and they have already invested heavily in wind and solar. Expanding their portfolios to nuclear energy is understandable, but something of a gamble.” Nuclear power “has a strong claim, in principle, to be part of the climate solution”, the FT says, but “large plants are cripplingly costly and time-consuming to build”. Small modular reactors (SMR) “offer a cheaper, faster alternative”, but they remain unproven. Bringing in the “financial clout and innovative flair” of big tech “may aid SMRs’ development”, the editorial says, and “accelerate the shift from largely government-led and financed nuclear development to private financing and initiative”. But, adds, “finding ways to reopen or extend the life of existing nuclear stations might prove more feasible”.

Elsewhere, nuclear power continues to capture the imagination of climate-sceptic columnists. In the Sunday Times, Dominic Lawson writes that British political leaders have shown “staggering strategic short-sightedness…in their neglect of nuclear power”. Also commenting on power demands from Big Tech, Lawson concludes: “[T]he Starmer government says it wants to make the UK an ideal home for the tech industry’s data centres. Those boys have now made it clear what’s needed. Are we up to it?” And, in the Mail on Sunday, climate-sceptic columnist Peter Hitchens warns that the risk of blackouts will “grow more as our decaying nuclear power fleet goes offline”.

Amid continued speculation ahead of the new Labour government’s first budget on 30 October, an editorial in the Guardian says that the “risk of abandoning” self-imposed fiscal rules – of which there have been seven different sets since 2010 – “seems minimal”. It says: “The country faces pressure arising from an ageing society and the demands of net-zero. To meet such challenges needs a fresh approach.” On tax rises, there is “also a broader issue of fairness and efficiency”, the editorial adds: “Raising taxes could help the government curb wasteful spending, while targeting the wealthy could reduce environmentally damaging practices, like private jet use.”

An editorial in Saturday’s edition of the Sun says that “raising fuel duty in the budget would be a kick in the teeth”. The newspaper argues that the supposed “Tory black hole” in the UK’s finances is actually a result of “Labour’s costly ideological hobby-horses”, such as “launching Ed Miliband’s giant ‘GB Energy’ folly” and “bankrolling foreign countries’ climate action”. Alongside the editorial in the print edition, the Sun’s political correspondent Martina Bet travels to Rachel Reeves’s constituency in Leeds to look for members of the public opposed to raising fuel duty.

In other UK comment, an editorial in the Times says there are “glittering prizes” for improving relations with China, but “Labour’s ambition to boost trade with China must not be achieved at any cost”. It says: “Stressing the opportunities on offer before his trip, [foreign secretary David] Lammy said: ‘I’m struck by the scope for mutually beneficial cooperation on climate, on energy, on science and tech, on trade and investment, on health and development.’ China could reap benefits too. It has gambled on a huge expansion in production of cheap electric vehicles for export, an investment threatened by European Union tariffs. Britain remains an open market.” And, in his column in the Sun, veteran broadcaster and motoring journalist Jeremy Clarkson criticises London mayor Sadiq Khan for rejecting a new “Vegas-style sphere” music venue “over net-zero”.

A new survey suggests that around the world, endorsement of “climate justice beliefs” is “widespread”, although two-thirds of the people surveyed had never heard of the phrase “climate justice”. The study authors surveyed more than 5,600 adults across 11 countries in the global north and south. The study finds that climate justice “beliefs” were “associated with various indices of climate action and policy support. These “beliefs” tended to be stronger in countries with high greenhouse gas emissions and where social inequality is “more politically salient”, the paper adds.

Global sea level rose by 111mm between 1993 and 2023, according to new research. Using three decades of continuous sea surface measurements from satellites, the authors find that the rate of global mean sea level rise has increased from around 2.1mm per year to around 4.5mm per year over this time period. They add that if this trajectory of sea level rise continues over the next three decades, sea levels will increase by an additional 169 mm globally, comparable to “mid-range sea level projections” from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest assessment report.