The European Union has warned that central Europe’s “devastating floods” and Portugal’s “deadly wildfires” will become “our new normal” as the climate warms, the Associated Press reports. The newswire quotes EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic, who says: “Make no mistake. This tragedy is not an anomaly. This is fast becoming the norm for our shared future…Europe is the fastest warming continent globally and is particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events like the one we are discussing today. We could not return to a safer past.” Lenarcic adds that the “cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of action”, according to AP. The Guardian reports that European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, will travel to Wrocław today to meet the political leaders of Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Times reports that Portugal has “declared a ‘state of calamity’ as scores of wildfires continued to rage, partially destroying a treasured national landmark and stretching thousands of exhausted firefighters to the limit”. The Associated Press says that around 210,000 people’s homes are currently at risk from the fires. Al Jazeera reports that three firefighters have died fighting Portugal’s fires, bringing the total number of deaths from the fires up to seven. It adds: “Portugal is fighting more than 50 active wildfires on its mainland and has mobilised about 5,300 firefighters, as well as calling for European Union help.” Reuters says reinforcements from Spain and Morocco have arrived to help. EuroNews also reports on the fires.

Meanwhile, Storm Boris has killed at least 21 people across central Europe, Al Jazeera reports. Time says: “The floods are caused by the slow-moving Storm Boris, which has brought an onslaught of intense rain. In the last four days, the storm has dumped five times the average amount of rainfall expected in September in the region.” Reuters adds that the flooding is central Europe’s worst “in at least two decades”, reporting that it has “left a trail of destruction from Romania to Poland, spreading mud and debris in towns, destroying bridges, submerging cars and leaving authorities and householders with a bill for damages that will run into billions of dollars”. Separately, Reuters reports that, yesterday, Austria “announced a package of measures in response to severe flooding across the country”. This includes tripling the federal disaster fund to 1bn euros and postponing tax for affected companies, it says. The Associated Press says “soldiers and volunteers in southwestern Poland laid sandbags Wednesday near swollen rivers around the city of Wroclaw to protect homes and businesses”. The Guardian reports that homes are being evacuated in northern Italy amid the regional flooding. 

Elsewhere, the New York Times says that floods are “sweeping across four continents”, with regions including Chad, Vietnam, Austria and “the American South” impacted by flooding. The newspaper says: “It’s a harbinger of the wild weather events that are a hallmark of climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, and it is highlighting the need to urgently adapt, in rich and poor countries alike.” However, it notes that no attribution studies for the flooding have been published yet. Yale Climate Connections reports that flooding in northwest and north-central Africa, western Europe and the Philippines and Vietnam have collectively “claimed over 1,500 lives and cost over $15bn in September”. 

Separately, in other European news, EnergyMonitor reports that “the number of electric vehicles has overtaken petrol models in Norway for the first time”. Of the 2.8m registered passenger cars in Norway, 754,303 are electric vehicles while 753,905 run purely on petrol, the outlet says. It continues: “The speed at which the passenger fleet is being replaced could indicate that electric cars may also outnumber diesel cars in 2026.” The Hill adds: “The sales of EVs in the country of 5.5 million people have been accelerated with government incentives and tax breaks.” Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that “Italy’s Giorgia Meloni has lashed out at the EU’s ban on the sale of new fossil fuel-powered car engines after 2035 as a ‘self-destructive’ policy and vowed to press Brussels ‘to correct these choices’”. Reuters also quotes Meloni. The Financial Times notes that Swedish battery company Northvolt is fighting for “survival”. And the Daily Telegraph reports that “one of Europe’s largest solar panel manufacturers has announced it will cut about 200 jobs as it battles to return to profitability amid stiff competition from China”.

The Brazilian Geological Service says water levels in many rivers in the Amazon basin have reached record-low levels amid a continuing drought, BBC News reports. The outlet continues: “Brazil’s natural disaster monitoring agency Cemaden has described the current drought as the ‘most intense and widespread’ it has ever recorded. It is particularly concerning because it has worsened relatively early in the Amazon’s dry season, which typically runs from June to November. That suggests the situation in the Amazon may not significantly improve for some months in a region which is critical in the fight against climate change, as well as being a rich source of biodiversity.” The outlet says the Amazon basin is receiving less rainfall than usual, while hotter temperatures are causing water to evaporate more quickly. Deforestation is “another factor in Amazon droughts”, it adds, because “trees provide resilience against drought”. The outlet continues: “The low water levels in the region’s main rivers are also severely impacting the lives of local people, who rely on them for navigation.” The Independent says this year’s drought is the worst since measurements began 40 years ago and has also “fuelled record wildfires” in the region. It continues: “A staggering 7.4m acres burned within the first half of this year, a 122% increase over last year.” The outlet says more than 38,000 fire hotspots were recorded in the region in August – the highest number in the past 14 years. Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Peru’s president has declared a state of emergency for three regions impacted by “devastating forest fires that have burned through swathes of the nation’s Andean and Amazonian crop lands and left 16 dead”. Inside Climate News covers a new study, which finds that “droughts in the coming decades could be longer than projected by current climate models”. The outlet says: “North America and Southern Africa, in particular, may endure longer dry spells than water managers expect, but research shows rising emissions magnifying both wet and dry extremes.”

Just days after China’s “eastern seaboard” was hit by Typhoon Belinca, the “strongest typhoon it had seen in decades”, the region is expected to be battered by another storm, Typhoon Pulasan, on Thursday, Bloomberg reports. The outlet adds that “warming oceans and moisture air”, which are “two results of global warming”, could make storms “getting more intense, though not necessarily more frequent”. The China Meteorological News Agency quotes the chief forecaster of China’s National Meteorological Center, Zhang Ling, saying that Typhoon Pulasan is weaker than Bebinca, but the “short interval” between these two typhoons poses “big disaster risks” in China’s coastal areas. Zhang adds that Pulasan is an “autumn” typhoon, which are not as frequent as summer typhoons, but can be more “intense”, according to the outlet. China News reports that China’s Ministry of Natural Resources has issued a “Level III emergency response for marine disasters” in preparation for Typhoon Pulasan. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) publishes an opinion article by Genevieve Donnellon-May, a researcher at the Oxford Global Society, under the headline: “Can China strengthen climate defences before it’s too late?” 

Meanwhile, Mario Draghi, former prime minister of Italy, has told the European Parliament that the EU will “not be able to manage” the “challenge of China’s green technology” with “black and white solutions”, Reuters reports. Wang Wentao, China’s commerce minister, who is visiting the EU, has told his German counterparts that the EU’s tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) will “‘seriously interfere’ with trade and investment cooperation and hurt both China and Germany”, Reuters reports. Three diplomats have told Politico that “the EU’s national trade experts will not vote next week to impose duties on made-in-China electric vehicles”. Bloomberg cites a survey of consumers in Belgium, saying that “those least likely to buy a Chinese car most often cited distrust of the country rather than any specific concerns about the vehicles”. 

Elsewhere, SCMP reports that the US and China will meet for talks this week. However, the discussions between the two countries “might become another chicken-and-duck talk” – a non-conductive conversation, says a China Daily editorial. It adds that Beijing “rejects the [US’] overcapacity allegation” and says that China’s economy “remains fit and resilient”. Dianlian Xinmei, a Chinese industry news outlet, has published an article by Xin Baoan, chairman of the China Electricity Council and chairman of the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organisation, saying that, over the past decade, China’s energy consumption per unit of GDP has decreased by 27%, “a reduction more than twice the global average over the same period”. 

Former US vice-president and Nobel peace prize winner Al Gore has warned that a Trump victory in the upcoming US election “would be very bad” for climate action, Financial Times reports. The newspaper quotes Gore: “The contrast actually could not be any clearer. It’s a choice between a candidate who believes the climate crisis is real and has been very vigorous in acting accordingly…and another candidate who regularly spreads falsehoods about the reality of the crisis, the efficacy of the solutions and much else…Most climate activists that I know in the US believe that the single most important near-term decision America can make with regard to climate is who is the next president.” Separately, Reuters says the Biden administration is “spending climate cash fast”, because “Trump has said he would cancel all unspent funds from President Joe Biden’s signature climate law if he wins the presidential election on 5 November”. It continues: “The Biden administration has awarded $90bn in grants to climate, clean energy, and other projects so far under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which amounts to 70% of the law’s roughly $120bn in total climate-focused grant money and over 80% of what the law made available before 2025, according to administration officials. Another $15bn could be awarded in the coming months.” The Associated Press reports that “the Biden administration is moving to clarify how homeowners and businesses can receive lucrative tax credits for installing electric vehicle chargers”. 

In other US news, Reuters reports that an environmental group is “suing Tyson Foods for allegedly misleading consumers by saying it will reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and marketing climate-friendly beef without meaningful plans to achieve those goals”. The New York Times says the consumer-protection lawsuit “accused the company of taking advantage of the ‘well-intentioned preferences’ of shoppers by making false statements in marketing materials”. Meanwhile, E&E News reports that “Oregon tribes are suing the Biden administration to block the first offshore wind lease sale along the state’s southern coastline”. This comes as the Associated Press reports that “opponents of offshore wind around the US are pelting projects with lawsuits seeking to cancel them or tie them up for years in costly litigation”. There are 13 cases pending in federal courts targeting offshore wind projects, the newswire says. The New York Times reports that electric vehicles made by general motors will be able to use Tesla chargers. The Guardian lists the views of Jill Stein’s US Green party. The party is polling at about 1% and holds 149 out of the 500,000 elected positions, according to the paper. The Associated Press reports that a “pipeline fire that forced hundreds of people to flee their homes in the Houston suburbs burned for a third day Wednesday, with officials saying they don’t expect it to be extinguished until sometime Thursday evening”. And Reuters reports on wildfires burning in Los Angeles.

Anna Cerneaz – managing director of the Graeme Wood Foundation – writes in the Guardian that hosting COP31 in 2026 would be a chance for Australia to “overcome our colonial mentality and the fossil fuel lobby”. Cerneaz says that Australia has put in a bid to co-host COP31 with Pacific nations, which presents a “pivotal opportunity to redefine our nation’s role in the global fight against climate change”. She says that Australia “has been held back from meaningful climate action by the powerful influence of the fossil fuel lobby”. She argues that the country “urgently needs to reduce emissions and restore its biodiversity”, noting that Australia has the highest per-capita emissions among developed countries. She continues: “For years, Pacific nations have been at the forefront of global climate action, securing key commitments in international agreements…COP31 offers these nations a platform in their own region, potentially strengthening their already significant influence…This event presents a unique opportunity to showcase our region’s challenges and amplify the voices of Pacific island nations and Australian First Nations peoples. It is a moment to galvanise public engagement on climate issues.” Separately, Prof Freya Higgins-Desbiolles writes in the Conversation that “climate change threatens Australian tourism more than is widely believed”, noting that all major airports and national parks are at risk from the impacts of climate change.

In US comment, a Wall Street Journal editorial discusses Kamala Harris’s views on liquified “natural” gas (LNG) exports. It says: “One of President Biden’s worst decisions is his moratorium on new LNG export projects, and the damage is growing to US interests. It’s also becoming a political liability for Democrats, and no fewer than a dozen House Democrats are urging the Administration to expedite projects to help Ukraine and investment in the US.” Fred Krupp – president of the environmental defence fund – writes in Bloomberg that the “fossil-fuel industry is lobbying to secure loopholes in rules on hydrogen-production incentives that will reward them but hurt the planet”. Krupp notes that the Inflation Reduction Act provides tax credits for “green” hydrogen made using renewable energy. However, more than 90% of hydrogen today is made from fossil fuels, he says. He adds the loopholes would allow fossil-based hydrogen to “receive significantly more government support than was intended”. He concludes: “Treasury must block the fossil-friendly loopholes in the final 45V rule to make sure the hydrogen tax credit succeeds, too. Otherwise, we will fail to see the environmental benefits we expected — and we may even fund projects that worsen the climate.” Separately, Reuters Breakingviews columnist Gabriel Rubin writes that “​a “gusher of private investment and strategic placement of projects in Republican-leaning areas has made the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) too valuable to repeal”. Rubin says that, even if Trump is elected, “the core of the IRA will remain intact”. He concludes: “Corporate investment was the linchpin in the law’s design: its tax credits were meant to be generous enough to spark a virtuous circle of investments in green technology, which would then further drive down prices and support new supply chains and jobs in the US, placating even the most sceptical political foe.” 

The Financial Times has published a transcript of a conversation between Gideon Rachman – the paper’s chief foreign affairs commentator – and UN secretary-general António Guterres. When the podcast was recorded, Guterres had just returned from the Pacific Forum in Tonga. Guterers discusses the dangers of sea level rise in the Pacific and in coastal regions around the world. When asked “do you have any sense that the largest economies in the world are ready to move faster”, Guterres said the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” is important, but added: “We absolutely need to have a drastic reduction of emissions in these decades, both in developed countries and in emerging economies…And this dialogue is not being sufficiently put on the table.” Guterres also talks about the upcoming climate and biodiversity COPs, saying: “We are having very serious discussions in order to try to put a lot of pressure in relation to the key actors to a much more responsible behaviour facing climate. Brazil is in a good position to do so because as you know, most of its electrical production is renewable.” When asked whether his attention has been diverted by crises such as Gaza, he says that while international attention has been “diverted to the serious security crises”, climate change is still “the emergency question”. When asked about his reasons for hope, he says: “I have two sources of hope. One is technological evolution. Now the cheapest energy is renewable…We see electric cars multiplying very quickly and we see that other very important technological discoveries and evolutions that make climate action the right thing to do from an economic point of view…The second source of hope is with the young generation and the growing pressure of the young generation in relation to political leadership because it is clear that they will pay most of the price and they have the moral authority and they are having more and more mobilisation in that regard.”

In UK comment, Guardian columnist George Monbiot writes that “a network of public bodies are supposed to safeguard us from flooding” in the UK. However, he says that “like old boys’ clubs, they are bastions of self-interest”. He concludes: “The internal drainage boards are beyond reform. They urgently need to be replaced with accountable, democratic bodies.” An editorial in the Sun about fuel duty says that higher fuel prices will “slam the brakes on the economic growth supposedly central to Labour’s mission”. And a Daily Mail editorial about foreign secretary David Lammy’s first major policy address says: “His claim that climate change posed a greater threat than war and terrorism couldn’t have been more lamentably wrong.”

A new study examining US state-led land reform finds that building new housing in neighbourhoods where people can drive less could cause emissions reductions “comparable with expanding electric vehicle policies”. The authors say that laws on “single-family zoning and car-centric planning” in the US “effectively mandate people to maintain more polluting lifestyles”. Using data on the number of national vehicle-miles travelled, the researchers develop a hypothetical scenario that “explores the potential for state urban land-use reforms to enable energy sufficiency”. Texas, California and Florida have the largest absolute emissions reduction opportunity, they find.