Egyptian security forces have arrested nearly 70 people ahead of the COP27 climate summit in connection with plans for protests, according to rights group the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), Reuters reports. The newswire notes that some people were detained on charges such as “spreading false news” after sharing content on a Facebook page calling for demonstrations around the summit. Al Jazeera reports that in the “ongoing crackdown ahead of a COP27 climate summit” Indian environmental activist Ajit Rajagopal was also detained while on a peaceful march from Cairo to Sharm el-Sheikh, where the event is being held. The Guardian says such events highlight the “daily repression and surveillance faced by ordinary Egyptians”, noting that the right to protest and free speech have been eroded since the Arab spring, and the subsequent takeover by current president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. It notes that the crackdown on dissent could “potentially embarrass” the el-Sisi regime during COP27. Bloomberg has a feature about the climate impacts already affecting Egypt, noting that the nation “is almost 2C hotter today than it was at the start of the 20th century”.

The Financial Times reports that Coca-Cola has increased its use of newly manufactured plastic by 3.5% since 2019, “heaping more pressure on the world’s largest soft drinks group” as it prepares to sponsor the COP27 UN climate summit. Reuters has a piece titled “how UN climate conferences have tackled global warming”, which includes a timeline of key events from COPs since the first climate treaty, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, was agreed in 1992.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg has an article headlined: “Egypt climate summit won’t be ‘inflection point’ for 1.5C target.” And Bloomberg also carries a “big take” feature, titled: “Egypt’s barren fields are dire bellwether for climate summit.”

Clean-energy investments in emerging markets are less than a tenth of what is needed to keep the world on course to limit global warming to the Paris Agreement target of 1.5C, according to a new report from BloombergNEF covered by Bloomberg. The piece notes that the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that emerging economies will need an additional $1tn of investment per year to achieve net-zero energy systems, but only $67bn went to emerging economies last year. Reuters also covers the new report, noting that investments in emerging markets actually sank over the past four years even as financing jumped in developed economies. The article notes that reversing this trend will be “high on the list of priorities for world leaders” gathering at COP27 in Egypt, where climate finance broadly is expected to be a key issue. Carbon Copy has an interview with Nabeel Munir, lead negotiator for the G77 and China group of developing countries at COP27, who points out that the extent to which developing countries will implement their commitments to cut emissions will depend on the financial resources and technology provided to them by developed nations. Steve Cutts, a former UN assistant secretary general, has written to the Guardian to say that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which monitors climate finance contributions by wealthy countries, uses a methodology that exaggerates donor generosity and leaves developing nations “paying for the climate crisis”.

In more climate finance news, Climate Home News reports that wealthy nations are pushing for the UN’s flagship Green Climate Fund (GCF) – which provides funds to developing countries to support climate action – to seek donations from big businesses and rich philanthropists as government donations prove “increasingly unreliable and insufficient”. Specifically, the piece notes that the UK and US have failed to hand over more than $2bn of promised money to the fund, which has been forced to put three projects on hold.

A further story from Climate Home News lifts the lid on one of US climate envoy John Kerry’s ideas for boosting climate finance. It says that Kerry wants to allow private companies to offset their emissions by investing in the transition from coal to clean energy in developing countries, as part of the Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) that are being rolled out to wean emerging economies off fossil fuels. A feature in the Financial Times explores progress on the first JETP, which is aimed at encouraging South Africa to stop burning coal. It says “negotiations between South Africa and western lenders have been fraught”, with the governing African National Congress wary of damaging the coal industry, “one of the few in the country that is black-majority owned”.

The UK press continues to obsess over whether or not the nation’s latest prime minister, Rishi Sunak, will attend the conference in Sharm el-Sheikh. The latest turn of events, as reported by BBC News, is that recently ousted prime minister Boris Johnson has announced his plans to attend the summit. In an interview with Sky News, Johnson said it had “become unfashionable” to talk about the previous COP that was held in Glasgow last year, which the news outlet says may be a “dig at some of his less climate conscious colleagues in parliament”. The Daily Telegraph notes that this will “add to pressure on Rishi Sunak to attend the global meeting, after the prime minister initially said he would not go”. PoliticsHome reports that while his attendance is still not being confirmed, Sunak is now “expected to go to the climate change summit”. The Daily Mail suggests (not online) that a decision to go could be announced today.

In Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald reports that prime minister Anthony Albanese will skip the event in Egypt, “despite wanting to host the 2024 UN negotiations”. Instead, climate and energy minister Chris Bowen will lead Australia’s delegation, it adds. The newspaper notes that Albanese was critical of his predecessor Scott Morrison when he had not yet confirmed if he would attend the COP26 summit in Glasgow. The Australian reports that Albanese defended his decision, saying he “can’t be everywhere at once”.

The Washington Post has a piece titled “5 people to watch at the COP27 climate talks in Egypt”. It lists Pakistan’s climate minister, Sherry Rehman, Germany’s climate envoy and previous head of Greenpeace International, Jennifer Morgan, US climate envoy John Kerry, Chinese climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua (see below) and Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate as key figures at the event. In an interview with New Scientist, Egypt’s chief climate negotiator Mohamed Nasr says that countries coming to COP27 should prioritise delivering on existing plans to cut emissions rather than drawing up fresh strategies to achieve the 1.5C temperature goal. (Nations were requested last year to come forward with new climate plans to help close the gap between current pledges and the Paris Agreement temperature goals. However, very few have done so.)

Saudi Aramco’s profits have surged 39% in the third quarter of 2022, hitting $42bn, Arab News reports. It notes that the news from “the most profitable oil company in the world” has surpassing the average of analysts’ forecasts, and was “primarily driven by higher crude oil prices and volumes sold”. The Times quotes Amin Nasser, the company’s chief executive, stating: “Our long-term view is that oil demand will continue to grow for the rest of the decade, given the world’s need for more affordable and reliable energy”. The New York Times notes that Aramco is the latest oil company to report “very large profits” amid high petroleum prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Guardian reports that, in the UK, chancellor Jeremy Hunt is facing renewed calls for an extension to the windfall tax on oil-and-gas companies as BP posted “eye-watering” profits of $8.2bn (£7bn) in the third quarter. It quotes Ed Miliband, Labour’s shadow climate secretary, who says BP’s profits are “damning evidence of the failure of the government to levy a proper windfall tax”. The Financial Times reports that following the news from BP, Aramco and others, oil companies are “increasingly in the crosshairs of governments in Europe and the US, which are exploring additional levies and possible windfall taxes to make up shortfalls in national budgets”. It says the UK government is “looking at extending windfall taxes”. The Times says the government is considering raising the windfall levy from 25% to 30% and extending its duration from 2025 to 2028. It notes that BP is trying to “head off calls” for a tougher tax. The Sun quotes COP26 president Alok Sharma, who has repeated a previous call for the government to increase the windfall tax on oil-and-gas companies. In an analysis piece for the Financial Times, David Sheppard.

In an “exclusive” interview, Haitham Al Ghais, secretary general of the OPEC group of oil producing nations, tells Reuters that the world must act quickly to invest in oil to prevent future energy emergencies, claiming that global demand will continues to grow in the long term.

A long-awaited government decision on whether to re-open the nation’s first deep coal mine in three decades has been delayed yet again, according to Sky News. Following “years of wrangling”, the decision about the proposed Woodhouse Colliery near Whitehaven in Cumbria will now emerge “on or before 8 December”, the according to the news outlet. This is a shift from the previous deadline of early November, the Independent notes. The news website adds that while the mine has been backed by some Conservative MPs, it has “drawn the ire of environmentalists, who warn the coal is for steelmaking so would not help lower energy bills, most of the coal would be exported, and it would damage the UK’s climate leadership credentials”. In an interview with Politico, COP26 president Alok Sharma, who was not included in new prime minister Rishi Sunak’s cabinet, says that the government should not go ahead with the mine. He says that the decision would be bad news for the climate, and would also not have the positive impact on local jobs that many people have claimed.

In related news, the Independent covers the findings of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, which has concluded that the government has failed to give an “effective lead on cutting damaging greenhouse gas emissions”, despite setting its net-zero emissions target. More specifically, as the Financial Times notes, the committee says UK government emissions data are so poorly reported that parliament cannot properly assess whether the public sector is on track to meet its decarbonisation targets. Thinktank Green Alliance has recommended a raft of measures to help cut UK methane emissions by more than 40% by 2030, warning that the UK risks losing its reputation as a global leader in methane reductions, the Guardian says. Amid all of this, the Press Association reports on polling for aid agency Cafod that finds nearly six in 10 people think the UK government is doing too little to tackle climate change. Notable, the poll also finds that more than a third of people thought the UK was not doing enough to support poorer countries tackle climate change – a key negotiating issue at COP27.

Finally, an “exclusive” story on the frontpage of the Guardian reports that the government has “war gamed” emergency plans for energy blackouts lasting up to seven days in the event of a national power outage over winter.

An analysis of the national climate plans submitted by nearly 200 nations to the UN has concluded that they would require a total of 1.2bn hectares of land for nature-based solutions to remove carbon from the atmosphere such as tree planting, the Financial Times reports. The researchers concluded that the plans are therefore “dangerously overreliant” on these approaches, noting that they could spark conflict by putting climate and food security objectives at odds, the newspaper continues. The lead author tells the Financial Times that relying on an areas greater than the size of the US to absorb emissions meant these climate plans were avoiding “the hard work of steeply reducing emissions from fossil fuels, decarbonising food systems and stopping the destruction of forests and other ecosystems”. Reuters has also covered the “land gap” report, which levels criticism at companies for pushing to scale up the voluntary carbon offset market so that they can make claims about carbon neutrality.

Separately, the Financial Times reports that a group of climate scientists has taken aim at the independent Science Based Targets initiative, which has become “an arbiter of corporate net zero plans”. The article notes that the initiative “does not check the accuracy of the underlying emissions data reported by companies, and does not require the data to be verified by a third party”.

According to a Caixin-sponsored survey, activity in China’s manufacturing sector “contracted for the third consecutive month in October”, as Covid-19 outbreaks “continued to disrupt logistics and demand weakened”, reports Caixin Global. Additionally, Reuters says that global factory output “weakened in October as widespread recession fears, high inflation and China’s zero-Covid policy hurt demand”, according to “business surveys”. The newswire says they have added to “persistent supply disruptions and darkening recovery prospects”, while inflation has “soared globally as supply chains still healing from the coronavirus pandemic were hit again by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, forcing consumers to rein in purchases”.

Meanwhile, as mentioned above, the Washington Post has published an article, titled: “5 people to watch at the COP27 climate talks in Egypt”. It says that while Chinese president Xi Jinping “will not attend COP27, Chinese climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua is expected to participate, despite the country’s ‘zero covid’ campaign”. The article adds that “many observers will be watching whether Xie interacts with Kerry after China suspended climate talks with the US in retaliation for the visit of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan”. China News Service says that Xie Zhenhua on Monday “encouraged young people to find solutions for global climate governance and make more innovative contributions to carbon neutrality goals in mid-21st century” at the Action Plan for Global Youth Development and Global Youth Climate Week held at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Xie “hopes” that the Global Youth Climate Week will be “sustainable and institutionalised, building momentum for the success of the annual UN Climate Conference and contributing more to carbon neutrality”, the state newswire highlights. The Diplomat carries a comment piece by Bonnie Girard, titled: “Xi Jinping’s energy policy: contradictions and caveats.”

Elsewhere, the state-run industry newspaper China Energy News reports that nine government bodies, including the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), have jointly issued an implementation plan for establishing a “sound” standard measurement system for China’s dual climate goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. Finally, Yicai writes that China’s semiconductor industry has “posted a mixed performance” in the first three quarters of 2022 as the consumer electronics sector “experiences a downturn”, but “demand from industrial fields such as new energy vehicles and photovoltaics surges”.

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) officials have defended the auction of oil-and-gas licences in the Congo rainforest ahead of COP27, arguing that the auction is important for the economic development of one of the poorest countries on Earth, the Guardian reports. It adds that they have also highlighted that countries such as the UK, Norway and the US are “urging them not to drill while continuing to explore for new fossil fuels themselves”.

Reporting from an energy conference in Abu Dhabi, Reuters says industry officials are pushing for African countries to use their gas reserves to lift more people out of poverty and build industry. Others are quoted saying that renewables will not be enough to help Africa catch up with more developed nations, which have relied on fossil fuels to industrialise in the past.

China Dialogue reports on the first-ever regional climate strategy Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which it says has been commended for bringing nations together to tackle threats, but “comes late and lacks detail”.

An intervention by a selection of high-profile conservative thinkers from the UK proposes a series of ideas for the Conservative government. The first two on the list relate to energy. “We need as much domestic energy as we can get. We should allow solar on low-grade farmland, onshore wind (which every poll shows is popular nationally and locally), and maintain sufficient gas storage,” they say. This is followed up with a call to reduce energy demand, which they say will be key to ensuring that blackouts are avoided this winter. “We need a national campaign, fronted by experts,” they say, adding: “We need to accelerate the rollout of energy efficiency measures and new technology such as heat pumps through individual incentives targeted at homeowners and collective incentives at the neighbourhood level.”

Meanwhile, an editorial in the same newspaper is titled: “The cost of net zero is now becoming clear”. It notes comments by John Pettigrew, the boss of the National Grid, who has said that for the UK to hit government renewable targets by 2030, there will need to be a 400% increase in offshore wind power. The newspaper states that “to do all this within eight years is an absurdly short time frame and risks making the country even more vulnerable to supply shocks of the sort caused by the Ukraine war”. The editorial does not mention the cost of not acting on climate change. (As Carbon Brief analysis has demonstrated, the energy crisis is predominantly driven by the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels, not renewables.)

An editorial in the Los Angeles Times lists some of the reasons for concern, and the bright spots, going into COP27. It starts out by noting that “most governments are falling far short of their climate goals, and the window is rapidly closing to prevent a dangerous overheating of the planet”. However, it notes that having signed the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration can “finally approach the negotiations at the meeting from a place of credibility”. It also points to this week’s election result from Brazil as a “hopeful sign”.

Writing in the Financial Times, columnist Pilita Clark argues against “defeatism” going into COP27. She says that “governments and regulators that have been missing in climate action are finally getting serious, and taking unprecedented steps that would have been unthinkable even a year ago”. She points to RepowerEU, a “sweeping €210bn plan to boost green energy”, as well as “$226bn of new renewable energy investment globally in the first six months of 2022”. The Economist has published a piece as part of a special report on climate adaptation, one of the key topics up for discussion at COP27.

Climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph columnist Ross Clark predictably has a more negative outlook on the climate summit. He says that climate activist Greta Thunberg is correct in her condemnation of the event as “greenwashing”. In a characteristically patronising turn, the non-engineer Clark then suggests Thunberg should learn “a bit about engineering” and the supposed harm low-carbon energy will cause to the world’s poor, and then “come back with a more measured message on climate change”.

A new study finds that autumn sea-ice cover in the Arctic’s Baffin Bay has changed “dramatically” since the turn of the millennium. Using both observations and an ocean model, researchers investigate the changes in sea ice in Baffin Bay during the month of October over the period 1950-2021. They show that since 2001, there has been “a transition to largely ice-free conditions in the northeast and thinner ice in the northwest” parts of the bay. The models reveal that these changes are likely caused by warmer water flowing from the Atlantic Ocean into the bay, which the scientists say “has stunted ice formation in this area”.

New research reveals the extent of a seagrass ecosystem off the coast of the Bahamas – totalling at least 66,000 square kilometres – and demonstrates how important the region is for carbon storage in the ocean. Researchers combine satellite data with diver surveys and images taken from cameras mounted on tiger sharks to gather data on the underwater ecosystem. They estimate that the seagrass ecosystem off the Bahamas contains around 0.5bn tonnes of organic carbon. The authors note that their work “provides evidence of major knowledge gaps in the ocean ecosystem…and underscores support for rapid protection of oceanic carbon sinks”.