High-emitting emerging economies, including China and India, should pay into a fund to help countries rebuild after climate change-driven disasters, the prime minister of island nation Antigua and Barbuda has said at COP27, according to Reuters. The comments by Gaston Browne, speaking on behalf of the Association of Small Island States (AOSIS), are significant because, as the article notes, they “marked the first time the two nations have been lumped into the list of major emitters that island states say should be held to account for damage already being wrought by global warming”. In fact, China itself has supported the creation of a loss and damage fund but has not said it should pay into it, Reuters adds. The Independent notes that “calls are growing” for large developing nations such as India and China to also be made liable to pay for the costs of climate impacts, alongside developed countries that are already obliged to provide other forms of climate finance.

BBC News has a piece about countries calling for more financial support to address climate change. It quotes leaders from the Bahamas, Ghana and Namibia, and notes that AOSIS has also said that fossil fuel companies “could carry a portion of their burden” by paying a tax on profits. Another Independent story reports on comments from Barbados prime minister Mia Mottley who told attendees at COP27 that the number of people displaced by the impacts of climate change will increase without a different approach to countries suffering from disaster. Specifically, it notes that Mottley repeated her demands for an overhaul of international development loans and a 10% tax on fossil fuel companies. The Press Association quotes the Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon saying that the inability to deliver the climate finance promise of $100bn annually to developing countries has eroded “trust and faith” in the COP process. In an “exclusive” story, the Independent quotes the Marshall Islands natural resources minister John Silk who says that as billionaires “are building rocket ships to go to Mars” all they want is “money to make sure the Marshall Islands can continue…to exist in the world”. In his address to leaders, Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif called the floods that recently struck his country a “manmade disaster”, Nikkei Asia reports. The Independent interviews flood survivors from Pakistan and discusses their experiences and demands from the climate conference. A piece in the Conversation by loss-and-damage researcher Prof Lisa Vanhala considers “three reasons rich countries can no longer ignore calls to pay developing world for climate havoc”.

According to Business Standard, India has supported the rollout of early-warning systems for extreme weather events, which have already received various funding commitments this week. India’s environment minister Bhupender Yadav said such systems would save lives, it notes.

Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that, according to experts, Mexico – a major emitter – “is expected to announce a hotchpot of old, inadequate and undeliverable climate pledges” at COP27 that will compromise its climate plans under the Paris Agreement. Another Guardian story quotes the online speech to world leaders at COP27 by Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who told them that they will not be able to tackle climate change unless Russia’s invasion of his country ends: “There can be no effective climate policy without the peace”.

Also at COP27, BusinessGreen reports that the Egyptian COP27 presidency has launched a new global plan that aims to mobilise state and non-state actors behind a shared set of climate adaptation goals for 2030, dubbed the Sharm El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda. And the New York Times reports on Climate TRACE, a coalition of environmental groups, technology companies and academic scientists backed by Al Gore, which provides a “global compendium of emissions” down to the level of individual steel and cement factories, power plants, oil and gas fields, cargo ships and cattle feedlots.

After the issue of “loss and damage” finance was placed on the formal agenda of COP27 for the first time, the New York Times reports that several rich countries have come forward with finance pledges to help developing countries bear the “costs of devastating storms and droughts caused by climate change”. It notes that Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, endorsed the idea of new funds, telling other world leaders: “The COP must make progress on minimising and averting loss and damage from climate change…It is high time to put this on the agenda”. Other leaders rose to the occasion, with RTE reporting that Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheál Martin declaring in his speech to leaders that his country would provide €10m ($10m) towards the Global Shield initiative, which is aimed at protecting against climate risks in poor countries through insurance schemes.

A Reuters story reports that World Bank president David Malpass has announced that it will host the new Global Shield Financing Facility instrument, and Germany, which has spearheaded the initiative, will provide €170m ($170m) for it. Reuters also reports that Austria has committed €50m ($50m) of funds that could support the “Santiago Network”, a scheme for providing technical support for loss and damage, and a programme providing early-warning systems to countries prone to extreme weather. Yet another Reuters story says that New Zealand has announced NZ$20m ($12m) of climate funding to address loss and damage, noting that “loss and damage for Pacific countries takes many forms such as to culture, language, people’s mental heath and physical wellbeing”. A thread by Carbon Brief’s policy correspondent Josh Gabbatiss has tracked the loss and damage finance commitments that have been made so far – and the criticism that has been levelled at them. Carbon Copy has a piece on the lack of clarity around climate finance more broadly, and says that developing countries are seeking more definition. “This absence of a definition, has made it impossible to gather accurate data on climate finance flows,” it says.

The Guardian reports that the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, had accused opposition leader Peter Dutton of trying to “score a cheap domestic political point” by demanding Albanese “rule out signing Australia up to compensating other countries” with loss and damage funds at COP27. (However, there is no mention of Albanese committing such funds.)

Separately, Reuters reports that UK Export Finance (UKEF), the nation’s export credit agency, will provide new loans to support countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including the option to defer debt repayments in the event of catastrophes. According to the Japan Times, debt restructurings tied to nature or climate-friendly outcomes – known as “debt-for-nature” or “debt-for-climate” swaps – present a multibillion-dollar possibility, according to Jennifer Morris, chief executive of the US nonprofit Nature Conservancy.

Politico reports on European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s “shopping spree” at COP27, referring to the various deals she has struck with other countries while leaders of other major powers – notably the US and China – are absent. It notes that she has signed forestry deals with Mongolia, Guyana, the Republic of the Congo, Zambia and Uganda, and deals to lock in supplies of rare and vital minerals or hydrogen with Kazakhstan, Egypt and Namibia.

Finally, following outrage in right-leaning sections of the UK press as the suggestion the UK should pay “climate reparations”, the Daily Mail reports that a self-selecting survey of its readers finds “98% said that no money should be handed over to developing countries hit by global warming”.

US climate envoy John Kerry has told an event at COP27 that a Republican win in today’s midterm election would mean the US would not provide climate finance to developing countries, Bloomberg reports. It quotes Kerry speaking on a panel about adaptation efforts, stating: “If what I think will happen in today’s elections happens and the House [of Representatives – the lower chamber of US Congress] is gone, you’re not going to see that money.” NPR notes that US president Joe Biden has pledged to direct $11bn annually of climate finance by 2024, “quadrupling the previous US high-water mark”. However, it adds that it “remains unclear whether the president will be able to meet his goal – particularly if Republicans make gains in midterm elections this week – because Congress has been reluctant to spend as much money as Biden has asked for”. At the same time, the New York Times says that Kerry’s idea for a carbon offset programme to raise climate finance, set to be announced on Wednesday, had met scepticism from some European nations and the UN secretary-general’s staff. It cites concerns that the “plan lacked details and was rushed”.

The Independent has a piece titled: “Climate at the 2022 midterms: Where Senate candidates stand and what’s at stake”. It examines the climate stances of Senate candidates, “whose wins will grant them the power to make or break legislation, confirm judges and approve international treaties”. The Washington Post reports that House Republicans from the US are heading to the UN climate summit in Egypt to argue that “nuclear power and natural gas are essential to meeting global climate goals”.

Meanwhile, the Hill reports on the latest version of the federal inter-agency National Climate Assessment (NCA), which concludes that climate change threaten “the things Americans value most”. Specifically, the report says: “More intense extreme events and long-term climate changes make it harder to maintain safe homes and healthy families, reliable public services, a sustainable economy, thriving ecosystems, and strong communities.”

Finally, the Daily Mail in the UK reports that prime minister Rishi Sunak hopes to reach an agreement with Biden this month “that could see the US supply billions of cubic feet of natural gas to Britain in the coming months to help ease the energy crisis triggered by Vladimir Putin”. It highlights that “ironically, this would make the UK more reliant on gas produced by fracking”, despite Sunak reimposing a ban on the practice on UK soil.

The small Pacific island nation of Tuvalu has become the first country to use UN climate talks to demand an international fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, which would phase out the use of coal, oil and gas, the Guardian reports. Following an earlier call by Vanuatu, it has become the second country in total to call for “an agreement to end the era of burning fossil fuels, which is the primary cause of the rapidly escalating climate crisis”, the newspaper continues. The articles quotes Tuvalu prime minister Kausea Natano stating that “the warming seas are starting to swallow our lands, inch by inch. But the world’s addiction to oil, gas and coal can’t sink our dreams under the waves”. The Associated Press says the concept of a non-proliferation treaty for coal, oil and natural gas has previously been advanced by campaigners, religious authorities such as the Vatican and some scientists, but Natano’s speech “gave it a boost in front of a global audience”. According to CNBC, the proposed treaty also intends to wind down existing fossil fuel production in line with the pursuit of the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C target and “support a shift to renewables where no community or country is left behind”.

Meanwhile, the head of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, aims to revive negotiations on a global environmental trade deal, according to Reuters.

A UN-appointed group of climate, financial and policy experts is calling for stricter rules governing the net-zero emissions promises of companies, the Wall Street Journal reports. It adds that in order to be credible, companies need to stop funding fossil-fuel expansion, ineffective carbon credits and anti-climate lobbying. According to the Independent, the report of the High Level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitments of Businesses, Financial Institutions, Cities and Regions saw UN secretary-general António Guterres state: “We must have zero tolerance for net-zero greenwashing. It is rank deception”. In an Indian Express explainer on the concept of “greenwashing”, the outlet notes that Guterres “warned private corporations to desist from such practices and mend their ways within a year”. Reuters notes that an estimated 80% of global emissions are now covered by net-zero pledges, but quotes the group chair and Canada’s former environment minister, Catherine McKenna, saying that “too many of these net-zero pledges are little more than empty slogans and hype”. More than 500 organisations worldwide for the report, according to the Times, adding that one conclusion was that cheap carbon offsets of the kind employed by some budget airlines should be dropped. In its coverage of the report, the Financial Times adds that it also takes aim at campaigns such as Race to Zero and alliances like the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net-Zero, chaired by former central banker Mark Carney, which it says “must reinforce high-quality voluntary efforts and consolidate best practices into general norms”.

Reuters reports that China has “drafted a new plan to control methane and will promote new technologies and financing mechanisms to slash rising emissions of the greenhouse gas that traps 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide, the country’s top climate official said”. The newswire covers the remarks made by China’s climate change envoy Xie Zhenhua at a COP27 side-event yesterday.

In other news, Chinese state councillor and foreign minister Wang Yi said on Monday that China will “continue to participate” in international cooperation on climate change and make “positive contributions” to the success of COP27 when he met via video link with Csaba Korosi, president of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the state-supporting Global Times notes. Wang added that China would “provide support and help to developing countries within its utmost abilities”.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that Biden administration officials are “working to make climate change part of potential discussions between the president and Chinese president Xi Jinping” at the Group of 20 summit (G20) scheduled in Indonesia this month, according to “two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks have not been formally announced”. John D Podesta, a top climate adviser at the White House, is quoted saying “the US-China dynamics has reemerged as a key dynamic in finding the money to help other countries deal with climate change, central to success in Egypt”. He added: “I think the whole world is going to be asking the question, what’s going on with China?” Meanwhile, China Daily has a comment piece by Liu Yuanling, research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of American Studies, who writes that the US special envoy on climate change John Kerry was “right when he said it is time the two sides restarted the climate dialogue”, but that, according to the author’s view, it is “possible only when the US changes its belligerent stance against China and stops interfering in the Taiwan question”. The Wall Street Journal reports that Kerry said on Tuesday that he spoke with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua at COP27, “rekindling contact between countries that are pivotal in the global effort to limit greenhouse gas emissions”.

Citing a report by sputniknews.com, a Russian state-owned news agency, the Global Times writes that, according to new analysis published by Carbon Brief, the US should “have been paying nearly $40bn towards the $100bn climate-finance target in 2020. Still, the US actually gave only $7.6bn (or 19% of its fair share) in 2020.” Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph says data shows that China has “emitted more carbon dioxide over the past eight years than the UK has since the start of the Industrial Revolution”. It highlights the UK has “indicated” it is open to paying ‘climate change reparations’ to climate vulnerable countries and will discuss the issue at the ongoing COP27 summit, adding that China is “unlikely to be party to an arrangement because it still considers itself a developing country”.

Separately, Reuters reports that the head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) “aims to revive negotiations on a global environmental trade deal”, as part of “efforts to give the trade watchdog a bigger role in tackling climate change”. The newswire adds that WTO discussions “collapsed in 2016 after disagreements between China and western countries about which products should be on the environmental list”.

Elsewhere, Caixin Global has a cover story which focuses on “the dilemma of China’s power market restructuring”. It writes that, after “two decades of proceeding in fits and starts”, China’s “campaign to overhaul” its electricity market – the world’s “largest” – hit a “$1.39bn pothole” in September in eastern China’s Zhejiang province. Finally, the state-run industry newspaper China Energy News reports that four government bodies, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), has issued a notice on the implementation plan for “carbon peaking of the building materials industry”.

An “outburst” at a COP27 news conference involving an Egyptian MP and the sister of a political prisoner “showed the country is struggling to stage manage the global event and keep the lid on domestic controversies”, according to the Washington Post. Sanaa Seif, sister of British-Egyptian Alaa Abdel Fattah who is undertaking a hunger strike, had just finished discussing her brother’s case when lawmaker Amr Darwish stood up in the audience to berate her. “Human rights advocates said it perfectly exemplified to a crowd of foreign observers a side of Egypt that officials here have tried to conceal from COP27 delegates,” the article states. Abd el-Fattah, who stopped drinking water to coincide with the start of the conference, is “an icon of the 2011 uprising” against the previous government, according to Middle East Eye.

Climate change could cut Africa’s economic growth by two-thirds by the end of the century without significant investment in climate adaptation, according to Bloomberg. It draws on a new report by Christian Aid, which finds that the currently projected temperature rise of of 2.7C could curb the continent’s growth rates 20% by 2050 and 64% by 2100. The Guardian notes that The 54 countries of Africa account for 15% of the world’s population but contribute less than 4% of CO2 emissions. The Press Association adds that even if countries meet their Paris Agreement commitment to curb temperature rises to 1.5C, the economic hit for African nations could still average 14% in 2050 and 34% in 2100. It says that, according to Christian Aid, the report showed by funding for adaptation and loss and damage are essential for African countries.

An editorial in the Guardian considers the need for climate finance as the COP27 summit progresses, with much of the conversation dominated by the need for loss and damage funds and wealthy nation’s failure to meet existing targets. It notes a new report presented at the summit, which says that about $2tn a year will be needed by 2030 if developing countries are to undertake necessary climate action [not all of this money is expected to come in the form of climate finance given by wealthy countries, with around half pegged to come from “local sources”]. The editorial notes that some European countries have agreed to contribute funds for loss and damage resulting from climate change, adding that these commitments “are welcome, but insufficient”. It states: “Channelling finance towards the countries that need it, if they are to pioneer this greener version of development, could not be more urgent, as the recent floods in Pakistan have tragically demonstrated. This is a moral imperative, since the people and places most imperilled by the climate emergency are those that did least to cause it”. It also says that “it is in all our interests, in our interconnected world, to limit global heating as far as we can”.

The Daily Telegraph’s climate-sceptic columnist Allison Pearson takes rather a different view of the prospect of climate finance for loss and damage. She thinks it is unfair and inappropriate that the UK should provide money for loss and damage to vulnerable nations in the global south because British people are also struggling. She also emphasises that she is proud of the Industrial Revolution. In her column, Pearson begins by reeling off a list of critiques of UN climate summits, asking why it isn’t held on Zoom and criticising the use of private jets to attend the conference. Pearson claims that when Rishi Sunak arrived at COP27, he “appeared to commit the UK to something called ‘climate reparations’…Basically, we are on the hook for untold billions to countries experiencing adverse weather conditions, because we invented factories. And cars”. [This is incorrect for several reasons: “climate reparations” is a controversial term and not one used within the COP process to refer to loss and damage finance; Sunak has not committed any money to loss and damage; and the “adverse weather conditions” Pearson refers to includes climate change-enhanced events that have killed thousands of people this year.] A Daily Mail editorial takes a very similar line while criticising the Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has committed money to loss and damage. It says: “Why, anyway, should Britain apologise? The technologies arising from our Industrial Revolution have lifted entire nations out of abject poverty. Perhaps we should be thanked, rather than asked to pay the bill!”

Writing in the Financial Times, Martin Wolf has a more nuanced critique of loss-and-damage finance. He says “diverting attention from the priorities of today to compensation for injustices in the past will lead not to action but to endless and unproductive disputes”. However, he acknowledges that in order to meet the world’s climate targets, there is a need for significant investment in clean energy systems, in particular, in emerging and developing countries. He therefore supports the provision of conventional climate finance and the mobilisation of private funds. “The only solution is for rich countries to underwrite a substantial part of that risk by providing concessional finance, both bilaterally and multilaterally, thereby promoting the desperately needed flows of private capital,” he writes.

Following “apocalyptic” forecasts about Europe’s energy supplies over winter, “now it seems the worst-case scenarios for widespread blackouts and rationing may have been averted”, according to a Financial Times editorial. It says this is partly to do with an unusually mild autumn as well as rapid action to build up stocks, boost efficiency and procure alternate supplies. However, it warns that “the region is not out of the woods yet. Getting through winter 2023 could be an even greater challenge”. It says the EU has replaced missing Russian pipeline gas with imports of liquefied natural gas so far this year. “This has been made possible by weaker demand elsewhere. China is a big gas guzzler, but weak economic activity linked to its Covid lockdowns have curbed its appetite for now,” it continues, adding that, in the future, Europe should expect more competition for gas. “Non-Russian gas supplies – including from Norway, Azerbaijan and Algeria – have also helped to plug the shortfall. But there may be limited scope to extract more from these sources,” it notes.

At the same time, contributing writer Anjana Ahuja writes in the same newspaper about “wind drought” – a prolonged period of slow wind, which happened in Europe in summer 2021 as some countries recorded their lowest wind speeds for decades. This may be linked to climate change, she says, noting: “As wind power spins its way into the European energy mix, operators will need to plan how to keep the lights on in a warming world girdled by lazy winds.”

Finally, the Times has an editorial taking aim at Just Stop Oil protesters in the UK, describing the group as “wrong in its diagnoses as well as its tactics”.

A new study finds that changing rainfall in eastern Europe will intensify extreme heatwaves more than would be expected from increased temperatures alone. Researchers use a high-resolution climate model to compare summertime weather patterns near the Black Sea for both current and late-century climate conditions. They find that the weather patterns driving the heatwaves under both sets of conditions are very similar, but that future heatwaves are made more severe by the decrease in evaporative cooling as rainfall decreases. The authors conclude: “The resulting intensification of heat events beyond the mean warming driven by climate change could generate significant future heat hazards in vulnerable regions.”