EU lawmakers have voted “overwhelmingly” for the bloc to leave the controversial energy charter treaty (ECT), reports the Financial Times. The EU voted to leave the international treaty, seen by climate advocates as protecting fossil fuels, by 560-43 in a ballot on Wednesday, it adds. Since the ECT was signed in the 1990s, fossil fuel companies have used it to demand billions of euros of taxpayers’ money in “opaque tribunals set up to protect investors”, reports the Guardian. German MEP Anna Cavazzini, from the Green group who was in charge of the proposal, said the “absurd” treaty had slowed down the protection of the climate and cost billions in taxpayers’ money, it adds. Several European countries have already announced that they would leave the ECT, but efforts to coordinate an EU-wide withdrawal had been met by resistance, the article notes. The EU leaving the ECT will roughly halve its current 50 signatories, which also include Azerbaijan, Japan and Turkey, reports Reuters. The EU parliament’s approval means that countries can now take a final decision on exiting the treaty, expected in May, it adds. To ease concerns from countries who feared that efforts to modernise the treaty would go to waste with their departure, EU countries are expected to agree that they will first allow reforms to modernise the ECT to pass, before formally quitting it, it continues. These reforms were agreed by signatories last year, but will have little chance of coming into force without EU support, Reuters notes.

The number of power outages in the US is rising due to climate-related extreme weather, placing strain on “an already burdened energy grid”, reports the Guardian. A new report from non-profit research group Climate Central shows that high winds, rains, winter storms and tropical cyclones including hurricanes have accounted for 80% of all power interruptions over the past 20 years, it continues. Over the past 10 years, severe storm outages have increased by 74% in comparison to the previous decade, it adds. “We’re seeing that the warming is having a direct impact on severe weather. The conditions that our infrastructure was built to handle are much different [now] than what they were,” says Jen Brady, author of the report and senior data analyst at Climate Central, the Guardian notes. Between 2000 and 2009, there were 15 heat-related major outages, which rose to 32 from 2014 to 2023, reports Axios. The states with the most reported weather-related power outages were Texas, Michigan, California, North Carolina and Ohio, it adds.

In other US news, Joe Biden’s administration has announced plans to hold 12 offshore wind development auctions up to 2028, including four before the end of this year, reports Reuters. The interior department has held just four offshore wind auctions since Biden took office in 2021, the last of which in the Gulf of Mexico last August, which attracted “lacklustre industry interest”, it adds. The 12 auctions announced by interior secretary Deb Haaland at a conference in New Orleans, are expected to include sales in the central Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Maine, Gulf of Mexico, the New York Bight and off the coast of Oregon, California, Hawaii and a yet-to-be-determined US territory, reports the Hill. Elsewhere, US solar manufacturers are asking the Biden administration to investigate a record influx of Chinese-linked solar parts that have been imported from four Southeast Asian countries, reports Politico. The new trade petitions ask that the administration levy new penalties on solar components from the countries, a prospect that will likely “spark uncertainty at a time when US solar installations are soaring, thanks in part to Democrats’ climate law”, it adds.

Elsewhere, US Democrats are “turning their backs” on Tesla CEO billionaire Elon Musk, as he gains traction as a right-wing influencer, reports the Daily Telegraph. New figures from research company Strategic Vision show that the proportion of Tesla buyers that identify as Democrats plunged last Autumn, with Republicans buyers now outnumbering Democrats by two-to-one despite the electric car maker’s eco credentials, it adds.

The World Bank is advising South Africa’s National Treasury on climate risk strategies, such as taking out climate insurance or setting up contingency funds, reports Bloomberg, following floods which have caused billions of dollars of damage in recent years. This follows two years of torrential rainfall in the southeastern province of KwaZulu-Natal, which has killed more than 450 people and caused $2bn of damage according to research from Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand, the article notes. More than 350 millimetres of rain over two days have been attributed to climate change by scientists collaborating under the World Weather Attribution initiative, it adds.

In other African news, the continent’s leading environmentalists have urged it to take greater control in industries it supplies with raw materials in order to lift its people from poverty and “seize its own destiny in a low-carbon world”, reports the Guardian. Products such as cobalt, copper and gold are increasingly in demand for renewable energy production and other low-carbon technologies, but the processing is nearly all done overseas, providing few economic and social benefits for Africans themselves, says Wanjira Mathai, the managing director for Africa and global partnerships at the World Resources Institute thinktank. She is quoted in the article saying: “How do we activate value chains in food and agriculture that build wealth for small farmers? Not commercial agriculture [that just means getting] bigger, bigger, bigger. But how do we get really good at building these sorts of economies for small farmers that are fairer, more equitable, that are about wellbeing?”

Airlines in the UK will have to progressively switch to “greener, but more expensive”, fuel sources under the government’s plans for the industry to decarbonise, reports the Financial Times. It continues that, by 2030, 10% of jet fuel used on flights taking off in the UK will need to be made up of so-called “sustainable aviation fuels”, or SAFs, the government has announced. SAFs are made up of a diverse range of sources – from crops and used cooking oil to household wastes – and can emit about 70% less carbon dioxide over its lifecycle than traditional aviation fuel, the article notes. The fuel, which is largely compatible with existing aero-engines, currently represents the “only realistic way” that the airline industry can reach its net-zero by 2050 target, the FT notes, as breakthrough technologies such as hydrogen or electric-powered passenger aircrafts remain in the experimental stages.

In other UK news, a new report has suggested that the destruction of nature over the rest of this decade could trigger a bigger economic slump than those caused by the 2008 global financial crisis and the Covid pandemic, reports the Guardian. The Green Finance Institute has warned that further breakdown of the UK’s natural environment could lead to a 12% loss in gross domestic product (GDP) by the 2030s. The report’s authors argue that “gradual, year-to year environmental degradation is as detrimental or more so than climate change”, the newspaper adds. Elsewhere, the UK and Europe risk becoming increasingly dependent on China to hit their net-zero targets without a massive increase in battery production, a new report from the International Energy Agency suggests, reports the Daily Telegraph. The agency’s latest reports shows that China continues to lead the battery technology market, controlling 85% of production capacity, as well as dominating in the extraction and processing of critical minerals used to produce key components, it adds.

Ministers from four leading economies have suggested that billionaires should pay a minimum of 2% tax on their fast-growing wealth, to raise £250bn a year to support the “global fight against poverty, inequality and global heating”, reports the Guardian. Brazil, Germany, South Africa and Spain say that such a tax would reduce inequality and raise much needed funds that could help manage the economic shocks of the pandemic, climate change and military conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, it continues. The ministers are calling for more countries to join their campaign, highlighting that the estimated annual sum raised would be enough to cover the cost of damage caused by all of last year’s extreme weather events, it notes. In a separate comment piece in the Guardian, finance ministers Svenja Schulze, Fernando Haddad, Enoch Godongwana, Carlos Cuerpo and María Jesús Montero from the above countries, discuss growing inequality and the potential of a billionaire tax. They write: “Fighting inequality requires political commitment – a commitment to the objectives of inclusive, fair and effective international tax cooperation. Surely, it needs to go hand-in-hand with much broader approaches that reduce not only wealth inequality but also social and carbon inequalities. The challenges that lie ahead are huge, but we stand ready to engage in concerted multilateral action to tackle them.”

India’s election authorities have set up a task force “to review the impact of heatwave[s]” for the remaining six phases of India’s general election after a significant decrease in voter turnout, the Indian Express reports. The outlet says that in the 102 constituencies that went to the polls in the first phase, voter turnout “decreased by around 4%” compared to 2019. The task force will comprise representatives from India’s national election, disaster, meteorological and health authorities, the newspaper adds, while pointing out that the poll panel was told “there is no major [heatwave] concern” for the second phase of voting tomorrow. In contrast, the Economic Times reports that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a “severe heat warning” for five states until 29 April, with temperatures ranging 42-45C in the country’s eastern states of Odisha and Telangana earlier this week. (See Carbon Brief’s new interactive article: “India election 2024: What the manifestos say on energy and climate change.”)

Separately, the Indian Express covers a new International Labour Organisation (ILO) report on workplace health and safety under a changing climate, which found “epidemics of chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology are affecting large numbers of workers conducting heavy manual labour” in “hot and rural” countries such as India. Last week, India’s labour ministry issued an advisory to all states “to safeguard workers at factories, mines, construction sites” from the ongoing heatwave, the newspaper adds. Business Standard, meanwhile, looks at how heatwaves are affecting the cost and quality of the Indian “thali” (meal plate). Another Business Standard story reports that heatwaves and election rallies are driving sugar consumption to a record high this summer. With India’s supreme court ruling earlier this month that “climate change impacts the constitutional guarantee of the right to equality”, a separate story in Business Standard unpacks the importance of attribution science “[a]mid the likelihood of a rise in litigation”. 

Elsewhere, new research by India’s space agency ISRO reveals that India’s Himalayan glaciers have been melting at “alarming rates, leading to the significant expansion of glacial lakes”, the Times of India reports. The study analysing satellite data between 1984 to 2023 found “drastic” changes, with 601 glacial lakes doubling in size since. In the Himalayan state of Sikkim, the dam that burst because of a glacial lake flood last October was “at the heart of political campaigns”, Al Jazeera reports. Mongabay carries a feature on how rising ocean temperatures are pushing “[m]any of India’s more than 4m fishers” to sail beyond the country’s exclusive economic zone into “distant and more dangerous” waters. Finally, a story in Down to Earth flags “serious flaws” with a “key document” from a body overseeing UN carbon markets, “including the fees that it intends to levy on communities with concerns”. According to the story, the body is considering imposing a standard fee of up to $5,000 for filing grievances, appeals or “claims involving access to project benefits or natural resources”.  

Nearly 80% of Mexico’s territory is now under drought conditions, Excélsior reports. Mexico’s drought monitoring agency explains that an “anticyclonic circulation in the middle atmosphere” is causing the lack of rain as well as the past fortnight’s “hot to a very hot environment”, the newspaper adds. 

Meanwhile, Colombia’s government has launched new incentives to reduce electricity consumption across the country, as a result of a “severe drought” ravaging the country and diminishing local hydroelectrical plants’ capacity, the Associated Press reports. The newswire points out that the mining and energy minister will impose additional tariffs for each extra kilowatt-hour used in the following weeks, with the aim of helping the recovery of local reservoirs.

Elsewhere, even though La Niña could be starting to cool the Pacific ocean, experts fear that it might affect crops for the second half of the year, according to Argentina’s La Nación. The agriculture sector was damaged by El Niño in the past three years, however, the “crop forecast is still in “reserved status”, according to the newspaper.

In other Latin American news, Brazil is “lagging behind the discussions over the COP30” and world leaders need to push the government to define its priorities, writes journalist Mauro Zafalon in a comment piece for Folha de São Paulo. He notes that 26 leaders from large companies, the federal government and other institutions, met in São Paulo and agreed that the government and the private sector must address climate change and participate in the upcoming G20 and COP30 to be held in Brazil next year.

Finally, in Chile, La Tercera reports that a new UN Development Program study has found that Chileans believe economic development to be the main cause of environmental degradation and want development that equally considers social and environmental factors.

Coinciding with the US secretary of state Anthony Blinken’s three-day visit in China, the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) carries an article on its WeChat social media channel saying that officials from the both sides have held a “climate meeting” on methane emissions, expressing willingness to work together in the future in order to “implement the outcomes of the China-US presidential summit in San Francisco”. The New York Times says Blinken’s trip is to “try to preserve the recent and delicate stabilisation of ties” between the two countries amid tensions over territorial disputes, national security threats, as well as China’s “dumping” of cheap EVs and solar panels into the US. State newspaper China Daily publishes a commentary article, arguing that the “narrative of overcapacity is crafted by the US to curb China’s industrial upgrading” and an “excuse” to contain Beijing’s “made in China” policy.

Meanwhile, following this week’s extreme flooding in China, the Shanghai-based news outlet the Paper reports that “the defence against the severe flooding in Beijiang river has achieved a significant victory”. State-run newspaper China News warns that, from 24-26 April, the Pearl river basin will experience “heavy to torrential rain” and floods may be seen in the region again. State broadcaster CCTV and Xinhua both report that the Ministry of Water Resources has emphasised the importance of monitoring rainfall, water conditions and flood situations to safeguard residents.

In other China news, state-run agency Xinhua reports that during a recent meeting in Chongqing, Chinese president Xi Jinping stressed the need to “accelerate the construction of a new energy system and develop and strengthen a group of important energy bases in the nation”. The state news agency adds that the sixth most powerful leader in China, Ding Xuexiang, also participated in the meeting, saying that the country must speed up the “green and low-carbon transition” and “actively and prudently” achieve the nation’s “dual carbon” goals.

Finally, Reuters reports that “China’s domestic coal prices have bottomed out and will exceed 2023 highs this year”, according to a major coal industry group, saying that “recent government economic stimulus measures could boost demand for coal”. TaiwanPlus News reports that, in order to meet its energy demands, the island has developed a “fossil fuel addiction”, with 35% of its power being generated from fossil fuel, which has posed public health and security risks.

Despite a “tough patch”, with deliveries of EVs in the US failing to rise and actively falling in Europe, demand is expected to rise going forwards, argues an editorial in the Economist. “Having raced to boost EV production, established carmakers are slamming on the brakes”, but concluding that the electrified future is “in peril’ would be too “gloomy”, it continues. Some of the slowdown is due to cyclical trends and, although EVs have “green premium”, carmakers are learning lessons from the Chinese experience and investors are becoming more discerning, the article argues. Policymakers have been focused on expanding charging capacity and handing out subsidies, but they would do better to lift the barrier that keeps Chinese EVs off their roads, it concludes: “That would please motorists and, by boosting competition, jolt established carmakers into cleaning up their EV act.”

Wealthy nations exploit their position as the world’s bankers to “siphon off hundreds of billions from the needy”, argues an editorial in the Guardian. The climate transition is seeing wealthier countries look to develop domestic industrial policies and, “though welcome, this pivot is morally untenable as long as poor nations are prevented from doing the same”, the article adds. Economist Fadhel Kaboub has suggested instead that the World Bank and IMF could lend money to historical polluters to help them pay for their climate debt to poor nations, the Guardian notes. (See Carbon Brief’s coverage of the World Bank and IMF’s recent spring meetings). 

In other comment, Politico’s “The Fifty” explores how Republicans are aggressively targeting efforts to reduce carbon emissions across the US. In Reuters, María Mendiluce, CEO of the We Mean Business Coalition, and Mandy Rambharos, vice president of global climate cooperation at EDF, argue that SBTi’s proposal to include carbon credits is on the “right side of climate history”. And in Arab News, political commentator Zaid M Belbagi discusses the extreme weather events being experienced across the region.

The area of land in East Africa affected by heatwaves and wildfires occurring together could see an increase of 940% by the end of the century, according to new research. The study uses climate models to analyse the joint occurrence of pairs of extreme events within the same location and calendar year under a future medium emissions scenario (RCP6.0). River floods and wildfires increase by 900% in the simulations and river floods and wildfires increase by 250%, with areas close to the River Nile and parts of the Congo basin the most affected. The authors say their results highlight that “co-occurring extremes will become the norm rather than the exception in East Africa”, with more adverse impacts for humans, the economy and the environment than if the events occurred in isolation.