The South China Morning Post reports that the European Union has “imposed duties on Chinese-made electric vehicles after talks with Beijing failed to reach a deal that would have halted their passage”. The Hong Kong-based newspaper continues: “In a final ruling published on Tuesday, the European Commission confirmed that a top rate of 35.3% would be applied to EVs from the state-owned company SAIC Motor and its subsidiaries, on top of a baseline 10% duty that applies to all EV imports.” The Associated Press says the duties on imports of electric vehicles from China will commence today after “talks between Brussels and Beijing failed to find an amicable solution to their trade dispute”. The newswire adds: “Electric vehicles have become a major flashpoint in a broader trade dispute over the influence of Chinese government subsidies on European markets and Beijing’s burgeoning exports of green technology to the bloc.” It quotes European Commission executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis saying: “By adopting these proportionate and targeted measures after a rigorous investigation, we’re standing up for fair market practices and for the European industrial base. In parallel, we remain open to a possible alternative solution that would be effective in addressing the problems identified and (World Trade Organisation)-compatible.” The duties would stay in force for five years, unless an “amicable solution” is found, he added. Reuters says the tariffs range from “7.8% for Tesla to 35.3% for China’s SAIC, on top of the EU’s standard 10% car import duty”. Another article in the South China Morning Post is headlined: “China eager to resolve EU’s ‘divide and conquer’ tactics during EV talks: analysts.” The Financial Times has a “big read” headlined: “Why Europe’s car crisis is mostly made in China. The once-lucrative market is now highly competitive and more Chinese EVs are being exported, compounding slower sales at home.” The Financial Times also reports that “Volkswagen has stressed ‘the urgent need’ to carry out significant plant closures and job cuts after Europe’s largest carmaker reported a 64% drop in quarterly net profit from a slump in China sales”. 

Several outlets cover the findings of the latest annual update of the Lancet medical journal’s “Countdown on health and climate change”. The Times focuses on how it found that “between 2016 and 2021 the number of people killed by air pollution from fossil fuels fell by almost 7%, from 2.25 million to 2.09 million, largely thanks to the closure of coal-fired power stations”. The newspaper adds: “The finding was one bright spot in an otherwise bleak survey of the effects of climate change on health. Of the 15 impacts considered in the annual ­report, ten are more severe than ever before.” Reuters says the report shows how “climate change, driven by fossil fuel emissions, is raising temperatures to dangerous new heights, while also worsening drought and food security”. The newswire continues: “The record temperatures of 2023 – the hottest year on record – meant the average person experienced 50 more days of dangerous temperatures than they would have without climate change, according to the [report].” The Guardian quotes Dr Marina Romanello, executive director of the Lancet Countdown at University College London: “This year’s stocktake of the imminent health threats of climate inaction reveals the most concerning findings yet…No individual or economy on the planet is immune [to] the health threats of climate change. The relentless expansion of fossil fuels and record-breaking greenhouse gas emissions compounds these dangerous health impacts, and is threatening to reverse the limited progress made so far and put a healthy future further out of reach.” BBC News says the report shows that the “area of land surface affected by drought has trebled since the 1980s”. Carbon Brief also has a detailed summary of the report’s findings.

Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Prince Abulaziz bin Salman has said his country is “committed” to maintaining its crude oil production capacity at 12.3m barrels per day, reports Reuters. The newswire adds: “Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Riyadh, he said the world’s largest oil exporter would maintain its crude targets while also pursuing its climate aims. ‘We will monetise every molecule of energy this land has, period,’ Prince Abdulaziz said. That policy would be carried out hand in hand with other goals, such as emission reduction, he added. ‘We are committed to maintaining 12.3m (barrels per day) of crude capacity and we are proud of that,’ he said. He was speaking ahead of an announcement…about a carbon credit exchange involving the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund.” The Reuters report continues: “More than 100 countries had lobbied at [COP28 in Dubai last year] for the ‘phase out’ of fossil fuels, but faced opposition from the Saudi-led oil producer group OPEC, which argued that the world can cut emissions without shunning specific fuels. ‘We are not ashamed of our record when it comes to emissions,’ Prince Abdulaziz told the FII conference. ‘We are proud of it, but the pundits try to create a smoke screen not to allow us to be on the so-called higher moral ground.’ He also said Saudi Arabia would update its national climate pledge under the Paris Agreement to raise its target. ‘We ensure we will have a refreshed NDC (nationally determined contribution) next year, and I can guarantee you out of knowing the number will be higher.’”

Meanwhile, the Times has a news feature on how “Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is to stop investing heavily overseas in order to divert more of its spending to domestic projects as the kingdom attempts to wean its economy off reliance on oil revenues”. It adds: “The shift in allocation reflects Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to steer the Saudi Arabian economy away from oil, from which almost all of the kingdom’s wealth is derived.”

Ahead of today’s first budget by the new UK government, the Daily Telegraph reports that “Rachel Reeves is planning to make the Bank of England take climate change as seriously as growth, as the chancellor seeks to use her maiden budget to overhaul the economy”. The newspaper adds: “In a letter to [BoE governor] Andrew Bailey on Wednesday, Ms Reeves is expected to call on [the BoE] to reinstate climate change as one of the bank’s key priorities. This will once again put the environment on an equal footing with issues such as improving growth and boosting home ownership, while also reversing [former Conservative chancellor] Jeremy Hunt’s decision to downgrade the significance of climate change for the Bank last year…Before taking power, Labour vowed in its manifesto that it would reverse the decision to stop the bank from giving ‘due consideration’ to climate change in its mandate.”

In other UK news, BBC News reports: “Chris Packham has reached a settlement with the government over two legal challenges against its decision to remove or delay some environmental policies. The TV presenter took legal action against the previous Conservative government in late 2023, arguing it acted unlawfully by delaying some policies aimed at helping the UK reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. Law firm Leigh Day said Packham had reached ‘a legal settlement’ with the new Labour government that said the Tory administration ‘had acted unlawfully’ by axing or watering down climate policies. The government said it had settled both cases as it would reconsider the decisions as it updates its carbon budget delivery plan (CBDP). The CBDP aims to outline how the UK will reach targets set out in the sixth carbon budget, which runs until 2037, as part of wider efforts to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.”

Elsewhere, the Times reports that “Rolls-Royce, a frontrunner in the race to deliver Britain’s first mini nuclear power plants, has sold a 20% stake in its business developing the nascent technology”, adding: “The Czech power company CEZ is understood to have paid millions of pounds for the stake in Rolls-Royce SMR as part of a joint push by the companies to deploy small modular reactors (SMRs). The utility has placed an order for units producing three gigawatts of electricity in the Czech Republic.” And DeSmog reveals the somewhat unsurprising finding that “columnists at the Telegraph newspaper repeatedly attacked the new Labour government’s climate policies during its first 100 days in office”. It continues: “A DeSmog analysis of over 1,600 opinion pieces and editorials from the Telegraph’s website found that 94% of those written about environmental issues were anti-green – attacking or undermining climate science, policy and technological solutions, or environmental activists. DeSmog found anti-climate claims in 16% of all of The Telegraph’s opinion pieces and editorials published over the 100 days, and in one fifth of all articles that focused on the Labour party.”

The Guardian covers the findings of an investigation by Global Witness which reveals that “scores of apparently fake social media accounts are boosting Azerbaijan’s hosting of the COP29 climate summit”. The newspaper says: “The accounts were mostly set up after July, at which time seven of the top 10 most engaged posts using the hashtags #COP29 and #COP29Azerbaijan were critical of Azerbaijan’s role in the conflict with Armenia, using hashtags such as #stopgreenwashgenocide. By September this had changed, with all of the top 10 most engaged posts coming from the official COP29 Azerbaijan account. Global Witness…said artificially inflating the reach of government posts was drowning out independent criticism of the country’s record on the climate crisis and repression of human rights…Azerbaijan’s ministry of foreign affairs and the COP29 press office failed to respond to requests for comment from the Guardian.”

Relatedly, the Washington Post covers similar analysis conducted by Marc Owen Jones, an expert on disinformation at Northwestern University in Qatar, which shows that “at least 1,800 bots on the social media site X are promoting the controversial choice of Azerbaijan, a major oil and gas producer, to host next month’s [COP29]”. 

The China Electricity Council (CEC) says that “China’s power demand will grow faster than expected” in 2024 because of “record heatwaves and Beijing’s economic stimulus”, according to Reuters. The newswire adds that, this year, China’s electricity consumption will grow by 7% to 9,900 terawatt hours (TWh), higher than the CEC’s previous prediction. Business news outlet Yicai also covers the story, saying that the “growing popularity” of electric vehicles (EVs) resulted in a 57% surge due to “charging and battery swapping”, while the country’s “mobile internet, big data and cloud computing services” caused a 24% growth in power use. Energy news outlet International Energy Net has published the full text of the report, which states that, between January and September, the solar manufacturing industry’s power consumption jumped 36% year-on-year, while that of the auto and wind-power manufacturing industries grew 11% and 20%, respectively. Bloomberg reports that China’s surging electricity demand is “prolonging” the lifespan of the country’s coal plants. Economic news outlet Jiemian reports that the CEC has released a draft “development plan for the national unified power market” that aims to complete the market by 2029, a year earlier than the previous goal. (See new analysis published by Carbon Brief yesterday: “No growth for China’s emissions in Q3 2024 despite coal-power rebound.”)

Separately, the Wall Street Journal says that oil giants PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC all posted lower revenues in the third quarter of 2024, reflecting pressure “amid a weaker economy and softer domestic energy demand”. Bloomberg reports that analysts are “forecasting a sales bonanza in the final three months of this year” for Chinese EVs. Hefei, in Anhui province, is set to produce more than 1.3m EVs in 2024, becoming the second-biggest EV manufacturing city, Yicai reports. Reuters says that Mexico has raised concerns about the Biden administration’s proposal to ban “key Chinese software and hardware in connected vehicles on American roads”, due to the “impact on Mexico’s automotive industry”. 

Elsewhere, the Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily carries an article by Zhong Yin (a nom de plume indicating that the article represents the view of party leadership) listing the performance of China’s EV sector as a “positive signal” in the country’s economic growth, adding that there should be “firm confidence” in the country’s long-term economic growth. The state-run newspaper China Daily publishes a commentary by Achim Steiner, UN under-secretary general and UNDP head, arguing that by “pursuing enhanced commitments in its next generation of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) due in 2025, China can point the way toward more ambitious targets and accelerated actions globally,” adding that China has the “potential to play a central role” in protecting our planet.

Climate Home News reports that “negotiators at the COP16 nature summit have weakened a draft decision on climate change and biodiversity, after removing a mention of the global commitment to ‘transition away’ from fossil fuels agreed at last year’s COP28 climate summit in Dubai”. The outlet adds: “At the nature COP [in Cali, Colombia], countries are expected to produce a text that aligns the priorities of the UN conventions on climate change and biodiversity. Campaigners told Climate Home News that leaving out a stronger mention to fossil fuels was a ‘missed opportunity’.” Reuters notes that “Colombia [has] launched a coalition with 20 other countries seeking to make ‘peace with nature’, as leaders warned that the rapid destruction of the environment risks humanity’s own extinction.” (Carbon Brief is hosting two free webinars – one in English, one in Spanish – next Monday to discuss the key outcomes from COP16.)

CNN reports that “several bodies have been found after parts of southern and eastern Spain were hit by severe flash flooding on Tuesday, with some locations receiving up to 12 inches [30cm] of rain in just a few hours”. It adds that “footage from the city of Valencia showed mud-coloured water flooding through the streets, tearing down walls and sweeping away parked cars”. The New York Times says Spain has faced “one of its most destructive rainfalls this year”, adding: “In some areas, more than a month’s worth of rain fell in a day. In the region of Andalusia, it was four times the amount of rain that usually falls in all of October.” BBC News says: “Radio and TV stations have reportedly been receiving hundreds of calls for help from people trapped in flooded areas or searching for loved ones, as emergency services struggle to reach some areas.” El Pais has removed its paywall for its extensive reporting of the flooding, while Reuters reports that the flash floods killed “at least 51 people in Valencia region”.

The Biden administration in the US is awarding nearly $3bn to “boost climate-friendly equipment and infrastructure at ports across the country”, reports the Associated Press. The newswire adds: “President Joe Biden announced the federal funding Tuesday during a visit to the city’s main port, saying the money will improve and electrify port infrastructure at 55 sites nationwide while supporting an estimated 40,000 union jobs, reducing pollution and combating the climate crisis. The presidential visit, a week before election day, was intended to highlight efforts by Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris to promote clean energy while protecting and creating jobs.” Separately, AP reports that the “US government chose winning bids Tuesday to develop wind power off New England in the first commercial sale for floating offshore wind on the Atlantic coast”.

An editorial in the Times says that “the road to net-zero requires supercharging Britain’s energy networks”, which means “more disruption to scenic landscapes, but it is in the national interest”. It adds: “Voters must accept that the cleaner future which polling suggests most citizens desire and that is supported by most political parties comes at a cost…However reasonable local objections to the march of pylons across the landscape may seem when considered narrowly, the broader national interest can ill afford such extravagant wastes of time, money and indeed energy.”

There continues to be a steady stream of comment and analysis highlighting the stark choice facing US voters next week. Writing for Rolling Stone, Jeff Goodell says: “At this late hour, with so much at stake in this election, let’s get one thing straight: Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the American economy, to women’s reproductive freedom and to democracy itself. But he is not a threat to the planet. Whatever happens on 5 November, Earth will be fine. During her 4.5bn years spinning around the sun, our beautiful planet has been bombarded by meteors, cooked by volcanoes, and iced into a giant snowball. Earth doesn’t care about Trump. To her, he is a flea that sh*ts on a gold-gilt toilet. What’s at stake in this election is something more fragile: the stable climate that is the basis for civilised life as we know it. Because your job, your freedom, and your future are all dependent on the kindness and generosity of the Earth’s atmosphere. If we f*ck that up, we’re all in big trouble – and so is every living thing around us. There is no democracy in a world ravaged by climate-driven war, disease, displacement, and economic mayhem.” Relatedly, Grist has published an article headlined: “Authoritarianism is on the rise. Is climate change to blame? There’s evidence that global warming creates fertile ground for political strongmen to come to power.”

In other comment, African Business has a comment piece by Lina Ahmed from Germanwatch and Amy Giliam Thorp at Power Shift Africa with the headline: “COP29 must kickstart stalled progress on the lifeline that is adaptation.” An editorial in the Financial Times asks: “Does Africa need its own credit rating agency?” It says: “Africa faces an enormous investment gap to tackle climate change and boost productivity, which means fair and accurate financing costs are essential…Regional finance ministers should not be distracted from important, but difficult, public finance reforms. These include improving tax collection and phasing out wasteful subsidies. Multilateral debt restructuring efforts must also continue. Indeed, it will take a lot more than Africa’s own credit rating agency to turn the continent’s cash flow problems around.” Finally, an editorial in the climate-sceptic comment pages of the Wall Street Journal argues that Volkswagen’s “layoffs and pay cuts are a warning to America about Biden-Harris climate policies”.

More than half of the 60,000 deaths caused by Europe’s summer heatwave of 2022 can be attributed to the influence of global warming, a new study says. In a “brief communication” paper, the researchers combine epidemiological models with detection and attribution techniques to link approximately 56% of the deaths to human-caused climate change. In line with other research, the study finds that a higher number of heat-related deaths attributed to warming among women (22,501 deaths) and people aged 80 years or more (23,881 deaths), as opposed to men (14,026 deaths) and people aged 64 years or less (2,702 deaths).

A new study analyses the media coverage of India’s 2022 heatwave in the Indian and English press. The researchers find that “only one in every seven news articles (14%) mentioned climate change in their heatwave coverage in the English press, and less than 10% in the Hindi, Telugu, and Marathi language news media”. However, many English-language articles did report the links between climate change and the heatwave, the study says, “although the figure was much lower for the other languages”. The authors also note that two attribution studies analysing the heatwave were widely quoted, “albeit with some inaccuracies”.

Public support for climate intervention technologies, such as carbon dioxide removal and solar geoengineering, declines with age – apart from nature-based solutions, where support increases, a new study suggests. Presenting the results of an “original, first of its kind cross-country set of 30 nationally representative surveys”, the study says that its “most intriguing finding” is that gender had “little effect overall” on intervention support. The researchers also find that “those in poverty and the global south are nearly universally more supportive of climate interventions of various types”.