Earth reached its hottest year on record in 2024, according to the European Commission’s Copernicus Climate Service, the UK Met Office and Japan’s weather agency, the Associated Press reports. The article says analysts concluded that last year’s global surface average temperature was more than 1.5C above the pre-industrial baseline used to measure global warming, with different services arriving at figures between 1.53C and 1.6C of warming. The news outlet notes the significance of passing the 1.5C figure, as this is part of the long-term target that nations agreed to limit warming to under the Paris Agreement. However, “scientists were quick to point out that the 1.5C goal is for long-term warming, now defined as a 20-year average”, it adds, noting that long-term warming since pre-industrial times is now at 1.3C. (Read more on the 1.5C limit on Carbon Brief.) Politico quotes researchers saying humanity is “dangerously close” and “teetering on the edge” of the 1.5C target, with each year in the last decade one of the 10 warmest years on record. While the natural weather phenomenon of El Niño contributed to higher temperatures last year, scientists are clear that human-caused climate change, primarily driven by burning fossil fuels, is the main cause, the article adds. BBC News quotes Carbon Brief’s climate science contributor Dr Zeke Hausfather, who noted: “It’s not like 1.49C is fine, and 1.51C is the apocalypse – every tenth of a degree matters and climate impacts get progressively worse the more warming we have.” The Financial Times says Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo noted that the climate disasters last year were not statistical anomalies, but clearly linked to climate change. The newspaper added that the rising threat of climate change comes as incoming US president Donald Trump is poised to withdraw his nation from the Paris Agreement, and various major businesses are rolling back their climate commitments. (Keep an eye out for Carbon Brief’s coverage of global temperatures for 2024 later today, when the other major observational datasets release their findings.)

Meanwhile, an article in the Conversation notes that 2024 was also the warmest ever measured for global oceans. “A warmer ocean means increased evaporation, which in turn results in heavier rains in some areas and droughts in others. It can power hurricanes and downpours,” the article says.

Five major fires continue to burn across Los Angeles, including some of “America’s most iconic and wealthy neighbourhoods”, Channel 4 News reports. “The southern California fire season has become an annual event. But after eight months of no rain and unusually high winds, the start of 2025 has been catastrophic,” it says. CNN describes the Palisades fire that is burning through the wealthy seaside area between Malibu and Santa Monica as the “most destructive fire in Los Angeles history”. The latest figures, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, suggest that the fires across the city have killed at least 10 people, damaged or destroyed more than 9,000 structures and placed at least 130,000 residents under evacuation orders. “Experts say Los Angeles is not out of danger yet and that these fires have the potential to be the costliest wildfire disaster in American history,” the newspaper reports. A separate article in the same newspaper says losses are estimated at $50bn or more, and that these losses will make things even harder for the hundreds of thousands of Californians who already struggle to “find and keep affordable homeowners insurance”. There is a risk of insured losses exceeding $10bn, partly due to the expensive properties that are being destroyed, according to Bloomberg. (Meanwhile, the Insurance Journal reports on data from insurance company Munich Re that shows last year was the third most expensive for natural catastrophe losses – with climate change “show[ing] its claws”.) The Los Angeles fires will also deepen a long-running shortage of affordable housing in the city, according to the New York Times. California “has long relied on incarcerated people for its response” to wildfires, and has deployed nearly 400 imprisoned firefighters on “meagre” wages to help fight the fires this week, the Guardian reports.

Several publications make the link between the wildfires raging in Los Angeles and climate change, with Le Monde noting that “climate change is lengthening the fire season, which now starts earlier and ends later while expanding risk areas to higher latitudes and elevations”. It says fires are also becoming more numerous, more intense and longer-lasting. The Los Angeles Times reports that the wildfires in southern California have erupted following a sudden shift from wet weather to extremely dry weather, a phenomenon termed “hydroclimate whiplash”. It explains that research shows such swings are “growing more frequent and intense because of human-caused climate change”. The Associated Press also points to “weather whiplash that grew tonnes of plants in downpours then record high temperatures that dried them out to make easy-to-burn fuel”. Vox has also published an explainer on these links. The south-western US is undergoing the driest 22-year period in the last 1,200 years, as Time notes. High temperatures and dry vegetation “proved disastrous when coupled with the gusty Santa Ana wind”, the magazine says. Scientists have calculated that climate change has contributed to a 172% increase in areas burned by wildfires in California since the 1970s, Euronews says. The New York Times has an article about firefighters in Los Angeles struggling with a lack of water supplies to fight the blazes. “As urban growth spreads into wilderness areas around the country and climate change brings more challenging fire conditions, an increasing number of cities have confronted a sudden loss of water available for firefighting,” it says.

As for the political response to the fires, Bloomberg says US president Joe Biden has increased federal assistance to California – covering 100% of costs for 180 days – to help deal with the disaster. The news outlet says Biden has also pushed government resources for the region, including 400 additional federal firefighters and over 30 firefighting helicopters and planes. In a briefing with officials, the Daily Mail reports that Biden made the link between climate change and the fires, stating: “There is, in case you haven’t noticed, there is global warming – it does change weather patterns.” It says he also stressed the importance of communicating this to Americans and “not mak[ing] a political deal out of this”. Meanwhile, president-elect Donald Trump has been “claiming he could do a better job managing the crisis, spewing falsehoods and casting blame on the state’s Democratic governor [Gavin Newsom]”, according to the Associated Press. 

New analysis by research organisation the Rhodium Group finds that US emissions dropped by just 0.2% last year, the New York Times reports. Despite the growth in renewables across the nation, “emissions levels stayed relatively flat last year because demand for electricity surged nationwide”, the newspaper explains. This led to a lot more gas being burned, it adds. This slow progress means the US is “even further off-track” from US president Joe Biden’s goal of cutting emissions 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 – with emissions currently just 20% below those levels, the article continues. To hit its target, US emissions cuts will need to be 10 times faster in the coming years than they have been in the past decade, even as incoming president Donald Trump is poised to dismantle the nation’s climate policies, the newspaper explains. Bloomberg’s coverage offers a more optimistic take on the numbers. It says that while economic growth and emissions growth normally happen in tandem, last year the US emissions “declined even as the economy expanded”. It says emissions from US industry dropped last year, partly due to a switch from gas to coal, and emissions from the oil and gas sector dropped largely due to less methane leaking from infrastructure. Carbon Brief has also covered the Rhodium Group’s new analysis.

China has revealed plans to “use super heavy rockets to build solar power stations in space”, a senior member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering tells the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. The plan is known as “the ‘Manhattan project’ of the energy sector” and China has already begun building its first experimental space solar power station in 2021, adds the newspaper. 

Meanwhile, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that it will “work with African countries to build the ‘Africa Solar Belt’ programme and help Africa truly embark on the path of green and low-carbon development”, says the state-owned China Daily. State news agency Xinhua adds that “green development will be another highlight of China-Africa cooperation” and that a total of 1.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar plants have been jointly built by China and Africa. Xinhua publishes another story under the headline: “Chinese companies help drive UAE’s transition to clean energy.”

Elsewhere, Bloomberg says China’s coal output “is likely to rise 1.5% in 2025 for a ninth consecutive annual increase, while demand should expand 1%”. The world’s “first 300-megawatt compressed air energy storage” entered operation yesterday in China, according to state-sponsored Global Times. The local government of Shanghai has issued a notice on expanding energy storage capacity in Shanghai, with a goal of reaching 2GW by 2030, says industry news outlet BJX News. Shanghai has also made a plan to promote the usage of hydrogen from 2025-30, another BJX News article reports. 

Finally, Dialogue Earth publishes an article under the headline: “Why China’s clean energy need not fear US tariffs”. The article says half of China’s exports of solar and wind power equipment and electric vehicles (EVs) now go to the global south. Only 4% go to the US, compared with 15% of China’s overall exports, adds the outlet. The article continues: “It’s entirely possible for the US and India to build their own supply chains for solar. Yet the impact on China’s cleantech industry will be limited…their producers won’t be able to compete overseas, surrendering this market to China.”

Despite European efforts to stop supporting the Russian war effort by buying its fossil fuels, Europe purchased a record amount of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia last year, the Guardian reports. Analysts at Rystad Energy say that ships carrying 17.8m tonnes of Russian LNG docked in European ports last year, up by more than 2m tonnes from 2023, the article says. This means Russia has overtaken Qatar as the second-largest supplier of LNG to Europe, after the US, it adds. The newspaper explains that while Europe has curbed supplies of piped gas from Russia, it has not built out renewables and other alternative energy sources enough to end its reliance on Russian gas entirely. LNG from Russia continues to enter the German grid, with state-owned energy company Sefe playing a key role in importing it into the EU, reports Tagesspiegel Background. In 2024, Sefe – formerly part of Russian Gazprom – imported record volumes of Russian LNG through the French port of Dunkirk, despite the EU’s goal to curb Russian LNG trade. Sefe denies direct sales of Russian LNG to Germany. The article emphasises difficulties in tracing gas origins, which energy expert Georg Zachmann likens to Europe’s gas market functioning as a “large pool”. Ukrainian NGO Razom We Stand has called for a complete embargo of Russian gas, criticising the EU’s limited measures. Nevertheless, Russian LNG shipments via European ports will end on 25 March this year, when the EU’s transhipment ban takes effect. 

In addition, Handelsblatt reports that Germany’s “heavy reliance” on LNG from the US is causing “concern” among experts and politicians, who fear that the future US president, Donald Trump, could “exploit this dependency to pressure Germany and other countries”. Last year, 86% of LNG imported into Germany came from the US, notes the outlet. However, the vast majority of all “natural” gas consumed in Germany comes via pipeline from Norway, which supplied 48% of the country’s gas needs last year, adds the outlet. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reports that the German gas association warns “against dependence on Norway”. In an interview with FAZ, Timm Kehler, managing director of the Gas and Hydrogen Industry Association, warned that Germany is “not prepared for the failure of this supply line,” citing the Nord Stream sabotage as an example.  

Meanwhile, Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico has said he is ready to “introduce harsh reciprocal measures” against Ukraine if it continues to block piped Russian gas into the EU, according to Politico. Despite the EU saying Ukraine’s decision has not caused shortages or price spikes, Fico’s government says it will miss out on as much as €500m in transit fees it previously earned by pumping the gas to neighbouring countries, the article explains.

Finally, Reuters reports that Austrian energy company OMV’s Romanian business has struck a deal to supply German utility Uniper with gas from its Black Sea project from 2027.

Eric Holthaus, US meteorologist and climate journalist, has an analysis piece in the Guardian about the “exceptional mix of environmental conditions” that have led to the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles. “These fires are a watershed moment, not just for residents of Los Angeles, but emblematic of a new era of complex, compound climate disaster. Conditions for a January firestorm in Los Angeles have never existed in all of known history, until they now do,” he writes. Holthaus points to similar disasters happening around the world: “As the climate crisis escalates, the interdependent atmospheric, oceanic and ecological systems that constrain human civilisation will lead to compounding and regime-shifting changes that are difficult to predict in advance.”

Dr Peter Gleick, a leading climate and water scientist, writes in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists about how “misinformation about water and fire in Los Angeles” from incoming president Donald Trump “inflames the situation”. Gleick says Trump has falsely laid the blame for the fires, and issues with the response to the fires, on Democratic governor Gavin Newsom and state water policies. “No state policies have led to water shortages for southern California cities or had any effect on firefighting resources,” he writes, unequivocally. He continues: “Of course, Trump is also ignoring another key factor at play here: climate change…The fires we’re now seeing in southern California are unprecedented in timing, scope, and intensity, and they are certainly influenced by accelerating human-caused climate change.”

In other commentary on the Los Angeles fires, freelance journalist Diyora Shadijanova writes in the i newspaper that “one thing is clear: climate change is here, and no amount of wealth will stop it from burning your house down”. A Daily Mirror editorial urges readers to remember the plight of “ordinary Americans” as well as Hollywood A-listers. “The devastation caused should stand as a rebuke to those who continue to deny the climate crisis. This is not a natural disaster but a man-made one,” it adds.

A Wall Street Journal editorial points the finger at the state of California, which it says has “refused to let insurers do proper pricing for risk”. The newspaper, which often takes a climate-sceptic line in its editorials, says: “Democrats blame climate change, which has become an all-purpose excuse for any disaster-relief failure. But the real insurance problem is that state regulators have barred insurers from charging premiums that fully reflect risks and costs.” In the Daily Telegraph, writer Freddy Gray says that California’s state government has a “myopic obsession with climate change”.

Separately, the Financial Times has an editorial about Trump’s proposal of buying Greenland from Denmark, noting that “if the incoming US leader takes any steps to act on this week’s musings, his second presidential term promises to be tumultuous indeed”. It notes that the appeal of Greenland “include its mineral wealth and a strategic location close to Arctic shipping lanes and natural resources that a warming climate is opening up”.

Using “spatially optimised” offshore charging stations as part of a solution to decarbonise the shipping industry could reduce costs and emissions, despite potentially increasing voyage distances, a new study says. The researchers develop a “route-specific” model for the optimal placement and sizing of offshore charging stations in order to assess their economic, environmental and operational impacts. Analysing 34 global and regional shipping routes, the study finds that offshore charging stations can reduce the cost for electric ships by US$0.3-1.6 per megawatt per kilometer and greenhouse gas emissions by 1.0-8.9kg per megawatt per kilometre by 2050.

The concept of using “climate analogues” – places on Earth today that have similar climate conditions to what a specific area will experience in the future – will become more difficult for European locations as the climate warms, a new study says. Using multiple climate models and emission scenarios for different time periods, the study finds that Europe’s future analogues “are mostly located today south of Europe, except for the Balkans which need to look east” to find their analogues. However, towards the end of the century, the similarity between future and current climate conditions declines and the distance between a location and its best analogue will increase, the study says. This means that finding suitable climate analogues “becomes more challenging”, thus “leading to more challenges in thinking about how to adapt”.