The European Commission is “set to propose a mandatory target to cut power use”, Bloomberg reports, as well as “measures to funnel energy company profits to struggling consumers”. The publication says the commission will set out the package of measures this week with the proposals still needing to be signed off by member states before they are implemented. It adds: “Deep divisions were on display at a meeting of ministers last week and governments are likely to push for changes to commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s plan.” Reuters reports: “The European Union is set to unveil a package of proposed emergency measures this week including a windfall profit levy on energy firms, but countries are split over the details and whether to impose a cap on gas prices.” Another Reuters article reports: “Fossil fuel firms may have to share their excess profits to help European households and industries cope with red-hot energy bills, a draft European Union plan showed on Monday as the cost of the West’s ‘energy war’ with Russia took a growing toll…The draft European Commission proposal, which is expected to be unveiled this week, would see the 27 EU countries introduce a ‘solidarity contribution’ for the fossil fuel industry.” Separately, Reuters says EU countries will be allowed to use €225bn in untapped loans from the EU’s Covid recovery fund “to address energy problems and other challenges resulting from the Russian war in Ukraine, a senior EU official said on Monday”. Reuters also reports that the EU securities regulator “said on Monday it was considering a rare move to relieve energy companies struggling to find enough cash to cover their positions”.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reports: “The United Nations has called on European Union countries not to resort to more fossil fuels as they face soaring energy prices amid fears of winter shortages.” The Financial Times reports: “Russia’s war in Ukraine is straining Europe’s commitment to international aid and climate action, Bill Gates has said.” A comment for Reuters by columnist Gavin Maguire is titled: “Europe’s climate credentials sullied by coal import binge.” For Bloomberg, columnist Lionel Laurent writes: “Hostage to Putin’s gas shutoff, Europe has no pain-free options on energy.” Columnist David Fickling writes for Bloomberg: “By cutting off almost all gas supply to Europe, Putin all but guarantees a similar outcome to the Gulf oil embargoes of five decades ago – losing market share.” Elsewhere, Reuters reports on G7 plans for a cap on Russian oil prices “in an attempt to limit Moscow’s ability to fund its invasion of Ukraine”. It explains: “Officials in G7 countries, including US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen, say the unprecedented measure, set to begin 5 December, will cut the price Russia receives for oil without reducing its petroleum exports to world consumers.”

Germany’s economy will shrink next year due to high energy prices, according to leading thinktanks, reports the Financial Times. It says that the Ifo thinktank in Munich has warned that the recent surge in electricity and gas prices is “wreaking havoc” on the German economy and would lead to a 0.3% decline in GDP next year. Another thinktank, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, slashed its forecast for German GDP next year to -0.7%, notes FT. Although the German government recently announced a €65bn relief package to cushion the impact of the energy crisis on households, Ifo said this would “fall far short of offsetting” the blow to household disposable income, adds the paper. Despite halving imports in July compared with the same month last year, Germany still paid more for Russian fossil fuels, reports Manager Magazin, due to higher prices.

Meanwhile, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reports that the German environment ministry has started the first nationwide “week of climate adaptation” to help cities and municipalities “to arm themselves against further periods of drought, storms with heavy rain and hot summers”. Zeitungsverlag Waiblingen explains that in March, environment minister Steffi Lemke presented an emergency programme to adapt better to “phenomena”, such as drought, heavy rain and heat waves in Germany, including the investments of €60m by 2026.

In neighbouring Austria, the Conservatives and Greens governing coalition announced on Monday that, as in Germany, a limit of 19C in public buildings and an advertising ban are planned due to the energy crisis, reports FAZ. Overall, it continues, Austrian environment minister Leonore Gewessler aims to save 11% of current energy consumption.

In more energy news, Reuters analyses German energy generation potential saying that “the north coast will be at the heart of those efforts, both for generating more renewable energy and importing gas as fuel in the transition away from nuclear power and heavily polluting coal-fired plants”. It also adds that the northern states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern already host half of Germany’s 64 gigawatts (GW) of wind energy, now mostly land-based, and these coastal states will play an “even bigger role” as Germany expands offshore wind generation to 70GW by 2040 from 7.7GW now.

Finally, Deutsche Welle reports that German environmental activists have demanded a ban on transporting Russian nuclear fuel, uranium, through Germany.

The UK government is to hold an emergency budget that will include more details of its plans for a “£100bn plus” energy cap freeze, a frontpage story for the Guardian reports, adding that the announcement of the idea last week has been “completely overshadowed” by the period of “national mourning”. It says new prime minister Liz Truss is “under pressure from Tory MPs to set out her plans potentially on Thursday or Friday next week”. The Daily Telegraph reports under the headline: “[Chancellor Kwasi] Kwarteng criticised for leaving businesses in the dark over £200bn energy bailout.” It says details of the plans are not expected until 22 September and adds: “Energy industry insiders warned this week that details were needed within days for businesses to benefit from support this winter.” The i newspaper reports: “Households are starting to cut back on energy use amid soaring prices for electricity and gas, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).” The UK’s largest banks will face “stress tests” over the potential for defaults linked to sky-high energy prices, the Guardian reports. Another Guardian piece is titled: “Fears drought and high gas prices could cause UK food shortages this winter.”

Meanwhile, the Press Association says the energy cap freeze at £2,500 for a typical annual household bill will make charging an electric vehicle (EV) at home around a third cheaper than it would have been under the previously announced October cap, according to the RAC. The Daily Telegraph also has the story. BBC News reports that “rich households will receive twice as much support aimed at reducing the cost of living than poorer households next year, a thinktank has claimed”. Separately, the Guardian reports that housebuilding firms “privately lobbied for the government to ditch rules requiring electric car chargers to be installed in every new home in England, documents have revealed”. The Times follows the Guardian’s report. The Guardian also reports: “Soaring energy costs are threatening the future of the electric car, industry bosses in Germany have warned.”

In other UK news, Reuters reports that there will be no further details of Truss’s plans to hold a new oil and gas licensing round for the North Sea “until end of mourning ends”. It adds: “No new exploration licences will provide an immediate fuel supply boost since it typically takes five to 10 years from exploration until oil and gas is produced from a new field, requiring a significant commitment from companies involved.” (The average is, in fact, 28 years, according to the North Sea Transition Authority.) BusinessGreen covers a new report finding that putting panels on warehouse roofs “could double UK solar capacity”.

Finally, the Independent reports: “The installation of a hydroelectric turbine in the river Thames could soon provide renewable energy to the Palace of Westminster, under plans suggested by the House of Commons Speaker.”

Climate finance needs to be “reframed” to move beyond the currently unmet $100bn per year support pledged by developed countries according to the UN high-level climate champion for Egypt, Reuters reports. It continues: “‘The finance architecture of climate is inefficient, insufficient and unfair,’ [Mahmoud] Mohieldin said in an interview, noting that the $100bn pledge made in 2009 will expire in 2025. To date, it has only ever been partially met. Mohieldin said the funding gap could be addressed through measures aimed at mobilising the private sector finance, reducing poor country debt, extending highly concessional multilateral financing, and creating tailored carbon markets in Africa.” Separately, Climate Home News republishes an Associated Press report which says: “An international human rights group called Monday on the United Nations to ensure that countries hosting its climate conference commit to meeting human rights standards after it documented instances of repression against environmental groups in Egypt.”

The state-run newspaper Global Times reports that China’s “largest” desert solar power “base”, located at Tengger desert in Zhongwei, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, has “started construction”, citing local newspaper Ningxia Daily. The Global Times says that this move marks an “important step in the national development of new energy infrastructure amid the country’s push for carbon neutrality”, adding that the solar power base will have an installed capacity of 3 gigawatts (GW) and entails investment of 15.2bn yuan ($2.19bn). Additionally, China Energy News reports that, according to the data by National New Energy Consumption Monitoring and Early Warning Center, in the second quarter of 2022, the installed wind power “grew steadily”, and solar installed capacity “increased significantly”, with the cumulative installed capacity reaching 342GW and 336GW respectively. The state-run industry newspaper adds that during the same period, wind additions reached 5.53GW, an increase of 4%, while solar additions reached 18.2GW, an increase of 114%.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal carries an editorial saying: “An unspoken truth of the climate-change crusade is this: anything the US does to reduce emissions won’t matter much to global temperatures. US cuts will be swamped by the increases in India, Africa and especially China. Look no further than China’s boom in new coal-fired electricity.” (As reported earlier this month by Carbon Brief, China’s emissions fell a record 8% in the second quarter of this year, extending what was already the longest sustained drop in recent history. Additions of new coal power are at their lowest level in five years and coal consumption has been falling for the past year.)

Elsewhere, water authorities will “venture further into the heart of China’s biggest freshwater lake to tap supplies as drought plagues the Yangtze River”, among “other parts of the country”, South China Morning Post writes. It adds that, according to authorities in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing, conditions had “eased with rainfall but the drought was far from over and could be severe during autumn and winter”.

Elsewhere, the state-run newspaper China Daily reports that a project of building a gas-fired power plant by China Energy, a state-owned mining and energy company, is “expected to be completed by the end of next year”. The project is part of the “belt and road” initiative and will provide about 8% of Uzbekistan’s installed power generation capacity, generating up to 10TWh (terawatts hours) of electricity per year, the outlet says. Finally, Reuters writes that oil prices “settled higher” on Monday, “shaking off weaker demand expectations as supply concerns mount heading into the winter”. The newswire adds that China’s oil demand could “contract for the first time in two decades this year” as Beijing’s “zero-Covid policy keeps people at home during holidays and reduces fuel consumption”.

Mining is “spurring tropical deforestation” with the largest losses in Brazil, Indonesia, Ghana and Suriname, Reuters reports, citing new research. It says 80% of tropical deforestation linked to mining since 2000 took place in those countries, according to the research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The newswire adds that while “at least 70% of deforestation is done to clear land for agriculture, the scientists called out industrial mining as an emerging concern”. Meanwhile, MailOnline reports: “The ability of forests to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere will be compromised as the planet gets hotter due to climate change, a study has found.” Separately, EurActiv reports: “The wildfires that swept across Europe this summer, driven by high temperatures and prolonged dry conditions, have caused the highest CO2 emissions from fires in 15 years, EU satellite data shows.” Reuters says Indonesia and Norway “have agreed to start a new partnership to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation in the Southeast Asian country, officials said on Monday”.

“Friends and advisers” to King Charles “say he will not cool on the issue of global warming”, BBC News reports. It recounts Charles’ history of interest in and campaigning on environmental issues and adds: “The question is whether as king, Charles, will be so outspoken on this or any other issue.” It continues: “[H]is passion for environmental issues will not suddenly evaporate. Much of his work has already taken place away from the glare of publicity.” Time says the new king’s stance on the environment “could strain relations” with prime minister Liz Truss. The San Francisco Chronicle carries a comment by Furqan Sayeed titled: “Queen Elizabeth’s passing doesn’t erase the crown’s most enduring legacy: climate change.” It says: “While Pakistan constitutes only 0.5% of global emissions, it is arguably one of the hardest hit by sweeping climate change and its catastrophes. How is British colonialism part of this? British industrialisation and colonisation fed into one another, as raw materials like cotton and wheat were extracted from the colonies using subjugated labor and then exported to the United Kingdom to be manufactured and sold. For two centuries, Pakistan, along with the wider Indian subcontinent, was exploited by the British Empire.”

The US federal agency that regulates the country’s largest banks has “hired its first climate cop”, says the New York Times, explaining that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will start to assess the risks climate change poses to banks. Meanwhile, the Financial Times “moral money” newsletter takes a “look inside the ECB’s [European Central Bank] climate strategy”. City AM reports that “greenwashing is a ‘systemic problem’ at UK banks”, citing a new survey. And UnHerd carries a comment by author Thomas Fazi that criticises the net-zero pledges of major firms as “little more than PR stunts”.

A feature for Associated Press by science writer Seth Borenstein looks back at the special report on extreme weather events and climate change, published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2012, and quoting one of the co-authors calling it “clairvoyant”. The feature begins: “Record high temperatures in urban Europe as heatwaves bake the planet more often. Devastating floods, some in poorer unprepared areas. Increasing destruction from hurricanes. Drought and famine in poorer parts of Africa as dry spells worsen across the globe. Wild weather worldwide getting stronger and more frequent, resulting ‘in unprecedented extremes’. Sound like the last few summers? It is. But it was also the warning and forecast for the future issued by top United Nations climate scientists more than 10 years ago.”

A comment by economics editor Mehreen Khan for the Times says the UK energy price cap freeze is “of a scale that is warranted by the looming cost of living crisis”. But Khan says its “fatal flaw is that it does nothing to force households and businesses to use less power this winter…Brussels is facing a similar headache but has acknowledged that any price interventions will have to be accompanied by sweeping demand reduction targets.” She concludes: “Both the UK’s and EU’s caps are ill-fitting. In the white heat of crisis, governments face an apparently impossible trinity: few emergency policies can simultaneously achieve the aims of reducing demand, limiting price rises and stimulating the green transition. At best, the hope is that the caps can buy time for policymakers to come up with sweeping structural changes to their energy markets that will limit these painful trade-offs for good.” For the Daily Telegraph, chief city commentator Ben Marlow writes under the headline: “Our crumbling housing stock is helping Vladimir Putin blackmail Britain.” He says: “Liz Truss’s energy bailout does nothing to address the UK’s cold and draughty homes.”

For the Financial Times, columnist Helen Thomas writes: “The energy crisis comes with few, if any, really good policy options. The choices for softening the impact of rocketing gas prices and bolstering the country’s energy security have variously looked too slow, too complex, too blunt, too expensive, too environmentally damaging, too prone to unintended consequences, or some winning combination of the above. Some just feel a bit pointless – and it is on to one such gem that the UK government has latched, pledging to lift a three-year ban on fracking in England.” She concludes: “The challenges facing the UK shale industry would look sizeable even with the benefit of limitless political capital and time. It is not clear it has either.” (See Carbon Brief’s new factcheck on claims about fracking.)

A comment for the Guardian by retired professor of geophysical and climate hazards Bill McGuire reprises his view that it will be “practically impossible” to keep warming below 1.5C. He writes: “The key point, then, is not the precise value of the global average temperature rise, but the simple fact that it is continuing to rise. The climate system is so sensitive to additional heating that every fraction of a degree rise counts, so that every 0.1C rise is just as important as every other.” McGuire concludes: “The bottom line is that 1.5C is not sacred. Whether we crash through it or – by some miracle – stay below it, we cannot be certain what the consequences will be. The number has been a useful metric in the global heating story, marking a somewhat concrete focal point. But we mustn’t become obsessed with a single target figure. On the contrary, we need to knuckle down as much as we can to prevent every 0.1C rise, both below this figure and above, in order to rein in climate breakdown as best we can.”

Land subsidence can “increase local relative sea level rise many times that of global mean sea level rise”, a new study says, yet it receives less attention. The researchers provide high-resolution estimates of local land subsidence for the 48 largest coastal cities, which represent 20% of the global urban population. They find that the cities experiencing the fastest subsidence are in Asia. They also find that local land subsidence is “more variable across the 48 cities (−16.2 to 1.1 mm per year) than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimations of vertical land motion (−5.2 to 4.9 mm per year)”.