Major EU economies – including Germany, France, the Netherlands and Spain – have called for the European Commission to set “an ambitious climate target for 2040”, in a letter obtained by Politico. This “breaks the dam on the silence that has so far prevailed among EU capitals” as the commission prepares its plans for 2040 emissions cuts, as a step on the way to the bloc’s 2050 carbon neutrality target. While the memo does not mention a specific percentage reduction, the news website says “its rhetoric implies…that the countries would back a push to cut at least 90% of the EU’s emissions by 2040 – a baseline the EU’s own science advisers have set”.

In more news from Europe, Politico reports that Czech industry and trade minister Jozef Síkela is aiming to be the EU’s next energy commissioner. It notes that the “centrist to centre-right figure” played “a key role in coordinating Europe’s response to soaring energy prices after Russia invaded Ukraine. In Ukraine, Reuters reports that the government plans to start construction work on four new nuclear power reactors this summer or autumn, in a bid to compensate for capacity lost during the war with Russia. Finally, the Irish Independent reports on Ireland’s first-ever climate change assessment report, which concludes that progress on cutting greenhouse gas emissions has been limited and “the country is not adequately prepared for current or future impacts”.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Spain is already seeing unseasonably high temperatures, with some parts of the country “up to 10C above normal levels for the time of the year” and the Mediterranean region of Murcia reaching 28C.

A group of 60 “largely left-leaning” European parliament members has written to US president Joe Biden stating that big oil is making Europe “the excuse” for an expansion in gas exports, the Hill reports. The article notes that the lawmakers expressed gratitude for the US liquified natural gas (LNG) that helped replace Russian gas in the winter after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but argued that that need has passed and gas use in the EU is now “structurally” declining. The letter also argues that the build-out of LNG infrastructure in the US would only “lock-in” unneeded gas resources. This comes amid reports that the Biden administration is set to undertake a review of new natural gas export terminals, which Politico says is expected to take up to 15 months. It adds that this review will assess “the Energy Department’s process for assessing whether new LNG meets the public interest”, including its impact on climate change. Reuters says this review is set to be formally announced today and it “will likely delay decisions on new terminals” until after the 5 November presidential election. The Hill says the Biden administration is “looking to appease progressives who want it to block proposed expansions of the nation’s natural gas exports”. It notes that while the review is underway, the administration is also expected to pause any new approvals on LNG infrastructure. 

In more US climate news, Reuters reports that the Biden administration will direct around $254m in funding for projects aiming to cut emissions from heavy industry such as iron, steel and cement.

The UK Labour party has “tried to quash growing doubts” that its target for decarbonising the nation’s power system is under threat after further delays to the flagship Hinkley Point C nuclear power station were announced, the Financial Times reports. The newspaper says a goal to achieve a “clean” power supply by 2030 is a key part of Labour’s much-discussed “green prosperity plan”, which also includes a pledge to spend £28bn a year on green investment. The new Hinkley Point power station was set to start generating low-carbon electricity next year, but has now been delayed until “between 2029 and 2031”, the article explains. Despite analysts’ concerns that gas power will have to make up the difference, a Labour source tells the FT that “the party’s plan for clean power by 2030 is not dependent on the delivery of Hinkley C”. The Times (not yet online) reports that Labour is considering alternatives including extending the life of existing nuclear power plants and “accelerat[ing]” interconnector capacity, to allow the UK to import more power from Europe. Meanwhile, the Guardian’s financial editor Nils Pratley has a piece on the “entertaining diplomatic row” brewing between the UK and France – whose state-owned EDF is behind Hinkley Point C – as French officials seek money from the UK to support the project.

Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that former Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls has said Starmer should perform a “big U-turn” over the £28bn commitment. Speaking on the Political Currency podcast that he hosts with former Conservative chancellor George Osborne, Balls is quoted as saying: “People need to hear Labour say that their commitment to sound public finances and the fiscal rules comes before spending more money on this agenda.” 

In more UK news, the Times reports that Climate Change Committee (CCC) chief executive Chris Stark has pushed back against “misleading attacks” and misinformation about one of the government climate advisors’ reports on net-zero. He specifically refers to an article in last week’s Sunday Telegraph that incorrectly suggested “the committee had privately admitted the report was based on insufficient data”. As Carbon Brief’s Simon Evans explains in a Twitter thread, the academic cited by the Sunday Telegraph had not spoken to the newspaper and was dismayed that his work was being used to undermine the net-zero target – which he fully supports.

Germany “is heading towards the highest number of people employed in renewables-linked jobs since 2010”, reports EurActiv. This is due to the increased demand for heat pumps and installations of solar panels and wind turbines, it explains, adding that 387,000 people were employed in the renewables sector in 2022, a “significant increase” from 2019’s figure of 309,000, according to the Institute of Economic Structures Research (GWS). Germany’s economy minister Robert Habeck is quoted saying that, “in addition to the expansion in Germany, the expansion of renewables abroad and, thus, the demand for imports from Germany is also relevant here”. Süddeutsche Zeitung notes that the expansion of renewables in 2023 has been “more pronounced” in Bavaria than in any other German federal state, driven almost 99% by new solar installations.

Meanwhile, the German solar startup Nexwafe plans to build a factory in the US with an annual solar panel production capacity of six gigawatts (GW), as stated by the company’s CEO, Davor Sutija, in an interview with Handelsblatt. “Nexwafe’s expansion into the US is an important contribution to the diversification of the global photovoltaic supply chain with technology ‘Made in Germany’,” says Sutija. The outlet explains that, thanks to the billion-dollar Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) economic stimulus program, the expansion of renewables in the US has gained “massive momentum”.

Finally, Reuters reports that German energy group EON’s chief executive Leonhard Birnbaum has criticised the German government, calling for an energy masterplan to streamline regulations and introduce a capacity market. He has accused legislators of being “passionately inert” warning that Germany’s energy transition to renewables is becoming “expensive, bureaucratic and cumbersome”. 

Colombia has declared a disaster as wildfires rage across several parts of the country, which experts say are the result of “hot and dry conditions linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon”, CNN reports. Colombian president Gustavo Petro has called for international assistance for what he has described as “climate crisis”, it adds. Reuters reports that Colombia has put out 204 fires this month and 25 fires continue to burn. It also notes that, in a study earlier this week,“climate change has been blamed for driving a record drought that has hit all nine countries in the Amazon basin – including Colombia”. 

Meanwhile, Colombia’s renewable energy sector is set to receive investment of up to $2.2bn in 2024, across 66 predominantly solar power projects “that are soon to enter production or waiting to complete paperwork”, according to another Reuters story 

In Ecuador, environmental and Indigenous groups have stated that president Daniel Noboa “risks being removed from office if he does not comply with a referendum that called for the closure of an oil block in the country’s Amazon”, according to Reuters. And the Guardian has a piece surveying the state of climate policy in Brazil titled “optimism dries up in Amazon as Lula drifts from climate priorities”.

Danish wind power company Ørsted has submitted a new proposal with US energy company Eversource for the 924 megawatt (MW) Sunrise Wind offshore wind farm, in the latest New York auction, Reuters reports. Separately, Ørsted said it had “withdrawn from the Maryland Public Service Commission orders approving Skipjack 1 and 2 projects as they are no longer commercially viable due to high interest rates and supply chain constraints”, the article notes. Bloomberg explains that Ørsted will buy out Eversource’s 50% stake in the Sunrise Wind project, although this is contingent on winning the bid. Another Reuters article explains that the latest auctions comes after the industry took a “major blow” last year, due to developers saying “they could no longer complete projects profitably because of rocketing construction costs, higher interest rates and supply chain snags”. It adds that offshore wind is viewed as essential for meeting US president Joe Biden’s clean energy targets. Separately, the Hill reports that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) have completed their strategy for protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales during the offshore wind power development process.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that NextEra Energy – the biggest renewable energy developer in the US – has “expressed confidence that Republicans would not follow through on threats to rip up the Inflation Reduction Act if they win this year’s election”. As the company announced a “booming demand outlook” for the coming years, its chief executive John Ketchum said: “In the 21 years I’ve been at the company, as we’ve changed administrations and as we’ve seen changes in Congress, we’ve never seen a change or repeal of tax credits.”

A Washington Post editorial considers the drought that has struck Gatún Lake – the freshwater reservoir that feeds the locks needed to move ships along the Panama Canal – and brought its water level to “perilous lows” during what is supposed to be Panama’s rainy season. The newspaper asks: “To what extent can a long-term solution be engineered in the face of inevitable changes to the climate?” It also notes that the situation in Panama adds to “rising uncertainty” alongside other geopolitical shifts including the rising tensions between the US and China, and Houthi attacks on ships heading for the Suez Canal. The editorial says it may seem “callous” to focus on trade when climate change is causing “no end of human suffering”. However, it adds: “It would be foolhardy to ignore the impact of a changing climate on the driving forces of globalisation. Threats to global growth will make it harder to address the plight of the most vulnerable. An impaired world economy will be hard-pressed to respond to poverty and hunger.” Ultimately, it concludes that while “creative engineering” will be needed, “prevention, by arresting the emission of planet-warming greenhouse gases, is the only way to stop the list of looming climate-related threats to the global economy from getting even longer”.

A White House move to delay a decision on “approving a new natural gas megaproject” is “just what the climate activists wanted”, according to New York Times climate correspondent David Gelles in the outlet’s Climate Forward newsletter. “While the determination was nominally about one project on the Gulf Coast, the move could have far-reaching implications. If the Biden administration decides that CP2 [gas project] is not in the public interest, it is likely to come to a similar conclusion about 16 other proposed export terminals in the works,” he says. On the other hand, if potential Republican challenger Donald Trump wins the upcoming presidential election, “his administration seems almost certain to approve CP2, roll back environmental protections and expand fossil fuel production”.

An expanded dataset provides forecasts of “fire danger” – the risk of a wildland fire starting or spreading – up to seven months in advance, a new paper says. Researchers use medium-range weather forecasts and fire danger indices to predict areas that are primed for fire. They find that they can “predict with confidence” anomalously high fire danger globally up to one month ahead. But, they add, when those anomalies are the result of large-scale weather patterns, such as El Nino, it creates an “extended predictability window” in some parts of the world.