Temperatures in India and Pakistan are “expected to climb to dangerous levels” this week, CNN reports, with Delhi recording temperatures above 40C “at least three times this month” and parts of Pakistan “likely to experience heat up to 8C above normal”. Locals in Balochistan tell CNN that this year’s early summer heatwave arrived with an “intensity that caught many off guard” and that power outages “last[ing] up to 16 hours a day” are making it harder for people to cope. Climate experts tell the outlet that “rising temperatures are testing human limits”, warning that “by 2050[,] India will be among the first places where temperatures will cross survivability limits”. It adds that “pregnant women and their unborn children are particularly at risk” from extreme heat, with an advisor from the International Confederation of Midwives pointing to “an increase in pregnancy-induced hypertension [in summer], (which could) lead to preeclampsia – the leading cause of maternal mortality”. Balu Lal, a farmer from Rajasthan, tells CNN: “We cannot even stand to work…When I am out, I feel that people would burn due to the heat outside. We have nowhere else to go”. 

In a Himal Southasian investigation looking at heat deaths in the subcontinent, India’s top met scientists and administrators “admitted, on condition of anonymity, that India’s heatwave alert system needed to be updated” and that “temperature readings from automatic weather stations are unreliable”. According to Berkley researchers’ estimates published in Down to Earth, a single day of an India-wide heatwave “leads to an estimated 3,400 excess deaths nationally”, while a “single five-day heatwave leads to approximately 30,000 excess deaths, distributed across rural and urban districts”.

Separately, the Independent reports that at least 100 people were killed in just 24 hours on Friday in three north Indian states “due to intense thunderstorms and lightning strikes”, with most victims caught outdoors during the storm, despite a “yellow alert warning for thunderstorms”. At the same time, Reuters reports that India is “likely to see above-average monsoon rains” in 2025, “raising hopes” that good rains “will help to bring down food prices, to keep inflation at the central bank’s comfort level, and to allow the world’s biggest rice exporter to ship more of the staple”.

In energy news, the Indian government launched auctions for three coal bed methane blocks, along with 55 small discovered fields for exploration and production, Reuters reports. It adds that the country’s top oil explorers – Oil and National Gas Corporation (ONGC), Oil India and Vedanta – have all signed contracts for oil and gas blocks “offered under a licensing round earlier this year…as the world’s third largest oil consumer seeks to boost its local output”. In a “key development”, UK energy major BP won an exploration license in partnership with ONGC and Reliance Industries, Economic Times reports. A BP spokesperson quoted in the story describes the development as a “strategic collaboration” that “leverages the strengths of all parties and is another step towards strengthening India’s energy security goals”.

A federal judge has ruled that five government agencies must release billions of dollars in funding for climate and infrastructure-related projects, which had been paused by the Trump administration, reports the Washington Post. Trump-appointee US district judge Mary McElroy has issued a temporary, nationwide injunction that instructs the administration to release the funds, while a lawsuit launched by environmental nonprofit groups proceeds, the newspaper continues. The lawsuit was filed last month after the federal government froze funds approved by Congress under two Biden-era laws, it adds. McElroy has concluded that the seven nonprofits who launched the lawsuit have demonstrated that the freeze was “arbitrary and capricious”, reports the Associated Press. Additionally, they have shown that the powers asserted by the federal agencies, including the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, to stop the payouts are not found in federal law, it adds. AP quotes McElroy, who wrote that “agencies do not have unlimited authority to further a president’s agenda, nor do they have unfettered power to hamstring in perpetuity two statutes passed by Congress during the previous administration”.

In other US news, the Trump administration has exempted 47 companies from regulations to curb mercury and air toxics from coal-fired power plants for two years, reports Reuters. “The exemptions list is the latest move by the administration to use executive or emergency orders to immediately shield polluting facilities from compliance with air and water standards tightened by the Biden administration as the Environmental Protection Agency undertakes a lengthier process to roll back those rules”, it adds. The list of exemptions was “quietly” posted to the EPA’s website on Tuesday, reports the Associated Press. 

Elsewhere, green groups are suing the Trump administration for pulling federal websites that track shifts in climate, pollution and extreme weather impacts on low-income communities, and identify infrastructure that is vulnerable to climate disasters, reports the Guardian. It quotes Gretchen Goldman, president of the science advocacy non-profit Union of Concerned Scientists and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, who says:  “The public has a right to access these taxpayer-funded datasets. From vital information for communities about their exposure to harmful pollution to data that help local governments build resilience to extreme weather events, the public deserves access to federal datasets.” Separately, Trump’s administration has said it will freeze $2.2bn in federal research grants for Harvard University, following pushback on demands to change campus policy, reports the Associated Press.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says that oil demand is expected to slow sharply this year following US tariffs on trade, reports the Financial Times. In the first forecast since Trump’s “liberation day”, the agency has cut its expectations for oil demand growth by around a third from 1.03m barrels a day to 730,000 b/d, it continues. The IEA has also signalled that further downward revisions are possible depending on how the US’s tariff programme changes, the article adds.The FT carries a direct quote from the IEA, saying: “While imports of oil, gas and refined products were given exemptions from the tariffs announced by the US, concerns that the measures could stoke inflation, slow economic growth and intensify trade disputes weighed on oil prices. With negotiations and countermeasures still ongoing, the situation is fluid and substantial risks remain.” Roughly half of the 300,000 b/d decline is due to reduced demand in the US and China, the article notes. The benchmark price fall oil fell from almost $75 a barrel to four-year lows of below $60 in the week following Trump setting global tariffs, including “particularly punitive rates for Chinese goods”, reports the Guardian. The IEA notes that the falling oil prices are likely to upend Trump’s election promise to expand the US’s oil and gas industry by calling on producers to “drill, baby, drill”, the article notes. Relatedly, the Financial Times says that Canadian oil producers see an opportunity in Trump’s trade war. “US tariffs on its northern neighbour have renewed calls for pipelines and fast-tracking oil and gas projects”, it notes.

Households in the UK could face different electricity rates based on their income, reports the Financial Times. Jonathan Brearley, energy regulator Ofgem’s chief executive, has said that it will launch a review this summer looking at how the electricity network and other costs, including renewable energy subsidies, are added to household bills, it continues. The article quotes Brearley, who says: “Over the next few years, we do expect variable costs to come down, but the proportion of costs that are fixed will rise, which, if unchecked, could exacerbate inequalities that we see today.” Ofgem will consult with industry, as part of “a root-and-branch review into how the costs of upgrading Britain’s energy networks can be recovered through home energy bills in a way that is fairer”, reports the Guardian. Separately, the government and Ofgem have confirmed a “major overhaul of a grid connection regime”, reports BusinessGreen. This will help speed up the connection of clean power projects to the grid, with some currently waiting 15 years for one, it continues. The overall will include axing so-called “zombie projects” from the regime, which has been branded a “joke” by developers, the article notes. “Zombie projects are speculative plans that may not be viable because they do not have for example land rights or financing but they still hold a place in the connection queue”, reports Reuters.

In other UK news, the national energy system operator (NESO) has warned that electricity demand could reach record lows over the summer, as solar power generation grows, reports Bloomberg. NESO may have to issue warnings to the market “when there’s too much supply and not enough demand”, something that happens a few times in winter but rarely in summer, it adds. According to BusinessGreen, “efforts to boost grid flexibility mean it is well placed to manage record low electricity demand and potentially deliver periods of fossil-free generation”. The Times quotes NESO, which says: “Operating at low demands requires careful balancing by Neso’s expert control room engineers, to ensure that supply does not outstrip demand, whilst also ensuring that the national electricity network receives a minimum continual flow of electricity to maintain its optimal operation”.

Elsewhere, plans for a Chinese state-run nuclear company to develop and operate a proposed nuclear power site in Essex will not go ahead, reports the Times. Bradwell B was “earmarked” for investment by China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) in 2015, but “amid renewed focus on Chinese involvement in Britain’s critical infrastructure”, the company will not develop the site, it adds. Politico reports that Trump is planning to send a fossil-fuel supporting delegation to the UK’s high-profile energy summit with the International Energy Agency next week.

An amendment to Peru’s forestry and wildlife law is “drawing fierce backlash from environmental and Indigenous groups that warn it could accelerate deforestation in the Amazon rainforest under the guise of economic development”, reports the Associated Press. The amendment will mean landowners or companies will not need to get state authorisation before converting forested land for others uses, a change that critics say could legitimise years of illegal deforestation, the article continues. It quotes Alvaro Masquez Salvador, a lawyer with the Indigenous Peoples programme at Peru’s Legal Defense Institute, who says the change is “gravely concerning”. He argues that the reform sets a troubling precedent by “effectively privatising” land that Peru’s constitution defines as national patrimony, the article continues. Marsquez adds that “forests are not private property – they belong to the nation,” it notes.

China’s largest oil refiner, Sinopec, has announced the “official launch of the country’s first cross-region hydrogen heavy-duty truck route”, making a significant step in “advancing hydrogen energy development in China’s western regions”, state news agency Xinhua reports. It adds that the route now spans 1,150 kilometres across several provinces. China Energy Net reports that, according to BloombergNEF, Chinese wind power companies have seen overseas orders quadruple in the past three years. China Environment News reports that China has issued a notice setting out a compliance timeline for the national carbon market in 2025, including for the companies in the newly-added steel, cement and aluminum industries with “annual direct emissions reaching 26,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent”. Dialogue Earth publishes a commentary by Ember analysts Kostantsa Rangelova and Yang Muyi saying that China needs to “fundamentally re-engineer” its power system to cope with rising cooling demand in the face of “unrelenting heatwaves”.

China is tightening regulations on electric vehicle (EV) batteries to “reduce risks of fire and explosions”, Reuters reports. State-run newspaper China Daily says China released its “first-ever energy efficiency ratings for pure electric passenger vehicles” last week, covering 12 EV models. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that battery giant CATL is working with Sinopec and EV-maker Nio to “ramp up construction of battery-swapping stations across mainland China”. Yicai says that auto sales in China will “likely continue to grow in the second quarter of this year amid a competitive landscape in the Chinese auto market” due to the availability of financial incentives for consumers.

China will not attend a summit on energy security hosted by the UK government and International Energy Agency (IEA) next week due to a “diary clash”, the Guardian reports, adding that the move comes amid a “growing row over the country’s involvement in UK infrastructure projects”. SCMP covers comments by China that the US is “sowing discord between China and developing countries”, following US treasury secretary Scott Bessent’s claims that Beijing uses “rapacious deals marked as aid” to global south countries to “take mineral rights”. The Financial Times reports that Chinese president Xi Jinping urged Vietnam’s Communist Party chief To Lam in Hanoi to “oppose unilateralism and bullying” and instead cooperate to “uphold the global free trade system and maintain the stability of industrial and supply chains”. China Daily reports that Chinese and Vietnamese power companies have signed cooperation agreements, kicking off a “new chapter in bilateral energy collaboration”. Reuters reports that China has called on the US “to follow international law” in response to Trump’s plan to “enable stockpiling of deep-sea metals”.

The UK government needs a “proper plan” for steel, as the blast furnaces that have been rescued in Scunthorpe are not the “future”, argues an editorial in the Financial Times. While closing the blast furnaces at the steel plant would make the UK the only G20 country not to produce “primary” steel from ore – as more modern electric arc furnaces (EAF) make steel from scrap – their “day is nearly done”, it writes. While the end of blast furnaces has partly to do with decarbonisation, it has mostly to do with economics, the article notes. “To secure Scunthorpe’s future, ministers must persuade a new investor to turn it into a sustainable business”, and this means the government implementing an EAF plan and acting quickly to reduce industrial electricity prices, it adds. 

There was continued comment on the UK’s plans for the Scunthorpe steel plant in other publications. The Daily Telegraph carries several pieces, including an editorial arguing that “Britain should rethink its plans for coal” and reassess the proposed Whitehaven coal mine as a potential option for providing coking coal for the Scunthorpe steel plant. [The coal Whitehaven would have produced would not have been high enough quality to be used at the steel plant, according to experts]. Another piece from assistant editor Jeremy Warner argues that “reindustrialisation is back in fashion” as “Trump has thrown British Steel a lifeline”. Additionally, the Daily Telegraph’s economics editor Szu Ping Chan writes that “Britain’s ‘bonkers’ net-zero plan puts us at China’s mercy”.

In the Daily Mail, climate-sceptic writer Ross Clark argues that “it’s tragic a once great industrial power has to scrabble around the world for coal”. In the Daily Express, climate-sceptic commentator Tim Newark writes that “Labour’s scramble to save British Steel has laid bare Ed Miliband’s idiocy”. In the Guardian, financial editor Nils Pratley has a column asking: “The government refused to allow steel furnaces to be turned off. Should it be happy with just six days of stored gas?”

Elsewhere, Caroline Bragg, chief executive of the Association for Decentralised Energy, argues that the “heat that data centres waste could keep millions warm” in the Times. Asia Lex editor June Yoon writes that “Trump has given [Chinese car company] BYD the edge over Tesla” in the Financial Times. And Bloomberg opinion columnist Liam Denning argues that Trump’s tariffs are creating some of the worst conditions for the oil industry this century. 

A review paper offers a new framework for understanding climate-related risks under different pathways where temperatures “overshoot” the 1.5C limit. The research – described as a “conceptual review” – examines the state of current knowledge of temperature overshoot, which is a period when global warming exceeds 1.5C until temperatures are brought back below the temperature limit. It evaluates the feasibility of temperature overshoot and explores how climate-related risks will evolve under different overshoot pathways, while exploring the role of climate adaptation. The paper also investigates the origins of the concept of “overshoot” in science and climate policy and identifies critical barriers, challenges, and knowledge gaps.