Preliminary data from the World Meteorological Organisation suggests that the first week of July was the world’s hottest on record, the Times reports. The paper says: “The WMO said that at least three datasets – run by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the University of Maine and the European Union’s space programme, Copernicus – indicated that preliminary temperature records had been broken.” The Independent adds that the global average temperature on 7 July was 17.24C, which is 0.3C above the previous record set on August 16 2016 – the last time El Nino was present. According to the Guardian, June was the hottest on record and record high sea surface temperatures for the time of year we recorded in both May and June. Politico adds that “an oncoming El Niño is likely to keep upward pressure on global temperatures”. The Conversation has written a piece under the headline: “What El Niño means for the world’s perilous climate tipping points.”

This comes as the Guardian reports that “temperatures in Italy could get close to breaking a European record this week as a fierce heatwave grips much of the continent”. Separately, the Guardian reports on the ongoing heatwave in the US south-west. It says: “The National Weather Service said next week’s temperatures will range in the highs from 113 to 118F (45 to 48C) across the lower deserts on Wednesday and Thursday. It added that there are pockets of 5-10% probability of reaching a dangerous 120F (49C).”

And there is widespread media coverage of a new study, which finds that extreme heat during the summer of 2022 was linked to more than 61,000 heat-related deaths across Europe. The research has been picked up in the Guardian, New Scientist, New York Times, Independent, Reuters and Daily Mail.

At least 23 people have died in northern India after heavy rainfall led to landslides and flash flooding, according to the New York Times. The newspaper continues: “Most of the deaths over the weekend appear to have been in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, which received more than 10 times its average rainfall for this time of year… Torrential rain continued to lash many states on Monday afternoon, including the capital region of Delhi, where roads in several areas were submerged in knee-deep water and court hearings had to be suspended or shifted online, away from flooded courthouses.” The Times of India discusses the links between climate change and extreme rainfall, noting that monsoon rainfall is projected to become more intense in the future due to an increase in atmospheric moisture content. It adds that the “frequency of localised heavy rain occurrences has significantly increased over central India”. Separately, the newspaper reports that the “recent monsoon fury in India, with its unprecedented rainfall, flash floods and landslides, serves as a grim reminder of the impact of climate change on our lives”. According to the Guardian, tomato prices in India have risen by 400% in recent weeks after months of heavy rainfall “devastated the growing crops and fuelled a deadly fungal disease”. India’s flooding is also covered in the Washington Post.

Elsewhere, the Guardian reports that “six people died and three others were missing after the ‘heaviest rain ever’ triggered floods and landslides in south-west Japan”. The paper continues: “Japan has been hit by unusually heavy rain and powerful typhoons in recent years, raising fears about its vulnerability to the climate crisis.” Reuters adds: “The Japan Meteorological Agency downgraded the special warnings for heavy rains, issued on Monday for northern parts of the island, to lower-level warnings and advisories, but urged residents to stay alert for further landslides.”

In US news, the Independent reports that a state of emergency has been declared in Vermont, as “ torrential downpours and flash floods cut off towns”. Reuters adds: “More than 13 million Americans were under flood watches and warnings from Eastern New York state to Boston and Western Maine to the northeast, the National Weather Service said in its forecast Monday, after storms that began over the weekend inundated rivers and streams. Private forecaster AccuWeather estimated damages and economic loss at $3bn to $5bn, preliminarily, based on its own method of evaluation.”

Meanwhile, the Guardian says: “US atmospheric scientists warned that although the destruction in American states might seem distant and unconnected from massive flooding disasters in India, Japan, China and Turkey this year, they have this in common: storms are forming in a warmer atmosphere, making extreme rainfall a reality right now. And the additional warming that scientists predict is coming will only make it worse…A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which results in storms dumping more precipitation that can have deadly outcomes…While climate change is not the cause of storms unleashing the rainfall, these storms are forming in an atmosphere that is becoming warmer and wetter.” 

The China Meteorological Administration has released a “blue book” (policy guidance) on climate change, “warning of ever more frequent extreme heat events across the country and rising climate risks”, during what is thought to be the “hottest week on Earth in at least 100,000 years”, reports China’s state-backed newspaper Global Times. The blue book says 2015 to 2022 was “the warmest eight-year span on record” in China and that, from 1961 to 2022, there has been “average annual precipitation in China increased by 0.8% every 10 years, with great regional differences in precipitation changes”. Financial media Caixin and wallstreetcn.com also cover the blue book. Separately, the China Internet Information Center cites a report by China Discipline Inspection and Supervision News. It quotes Zhou Bin from China’s National Climate Centre saying that El Niño has a “significant impact” on the climate in China. During the development of El Niño in summer, “some regions are prone to higher temperatures”. A financial website JRJ.com says that, with the prolonged extreme heat, China relies on coal-fired power and “new energy” to ensure the large operation of air conditionings. 

Meanwhile, the state-run industry newspaper China Energy News carries an interview with Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), who visited China last week. He says that “China is undoubtedly the world champion in clean energy”. The Conversation carries an article by scientists at Australian National University, which says that, according to their analysis, carbon emissions in China are increasing faster in 2023 than the period before the Covid-19 pandemic, “dashing hopes the pandemic may have put the world’s most polluting nation on a new emissions trajectory”. China Daily reports that the Eco Forum Global, China’s “only national-level global forum themed on ecological civilisation”, has kicked off in Guizhou and is focused on climate change. Global Times carries an interview with the Colombian ambassador to China, Sergio Cabrera, who said that “China has become a model for the world in climate change governance and Chinese companies operating in Colombia have done a great job in environmental protection”. 

In other news, an editorial in the Global Times says: “The US needs to lift its sanctions on Chinese solar products. This is not a mercy to Chinese companies, but to take the responsibility for what the West has caused to global warming.” It continues: “The West has been sharing a view that climate change is mainly a “China problem,” concluding that they must use some political and economic means to exert pressure on China when it comes to delivering on its promises. But this is obviously a manifestation of shirking their own responsibility and arrogance.”

Separately, the Arab News carries a comment piece by Andrew Hammond, an associate at LSE IDEAS in London, titled: “Climate change cooperation could curb the chill in China-EU ties.” Finally, Reuters’ Breakingviews has published an article by journalist Hugo Dixon, who writes: “The US, China and Europe are engaged in a green subsidy race that is driving down the cost of clean technology. But it risks being too little too late.” 

New oil and gas fields under consideration in the North Sea would only produce enough gas to satisfy the UK’s needs for three weeks a year from 2040 to 2050 – even if none of the gas is exported – according to new analysis covered in the Guardian. However, the newspaper says that, in reality, it is likely that much of the gas would be exported overseas to the highest bidder, as is the case with about 60% of the UK’s gas production. The newspaper continues: “The government has said the new fields are needed for energy security, at a time of rising gas prices, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, even former ministers have said the new fields would not reduce energy prices in the UK, as they will take years to come onstream and the fuel produced will be sold to the highest bidder globally, with little impact on UK prices. Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift, said the analysis of the fields showed that the government’s energy security claims were unfounded.”

Separately, the Guardian reports that the UK’s Climate Change Committee has advised the country to withdraw from the energy charter treaty. It says: “The energy charter treaty (ECT) is a system of secret courts that enables companies to sue governments over policies that would cut their future profits. Companies have sued over phasing out coal-fired power stations, ending offshore oil drilling and banning fracking. The UK’s Climate Change Committee said Britain should withdraw from the ECT because recently proposed reforms did not go far enough. The UK and Japan are the only major economies not to have committed to exiting the ECT. France, Germany, Spain and others have already said they will leave and the EU is set to pull out en masse after saying that staying would ‘clearly undermine’ climate targets.” Elsewhere, the Guardian reports that “the Labour party has said the UK should back the call for a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining, ahead of a crucial meeting of nations in Jamaica to decide the future of the industry”. And the Daily Telegraph reports that the boss of National Grid “has complained that it takes a decade to build a new power line in an attack on planning red tape”.

In other UK news, the Guardian says that the US president Joe Biden and King Charles have “held a meeting on how to tackle the climate emergency”. The paper continues: “Along with his climate envoy, John Kerry, and the UK energy secretary, Grant Shapps, Biden met executives and philanthropists for a private discussion on climate finance for the world’s poorest countries.” The i newspaper has published a piece under the headline “King Charles is keeping UK leadership on climate change alive as Rishi Sunak criticised over green record”. The outlet says that when Sunak and Biden met yesterday they “did discuss strengthening clean energy supply chains, but in the context of boosting energy security amid Russian aggression rather than the battle against climate change”. It continues: “So it is good for the UK that after leaving No 10, Mr Biden then went to meet Charles, where the King is almost certain to have spent a large chunk of the conversation lobbying for action after the hottest June on record. Unlike Mr Sunak, the King is the real deal when it comes to environmental issues, having championed the green agenda for years and long before it was fashionable.”

Dr Hannah Ritchie, head of research at Our World in Data, writes for the Guardian that “climate tribalism only helps the deniers”. In order to make progress in the green transition, she explains, we need to become “less fixated on the ideal pathway” and take a route that “reduces emissions…using a combination of solutions”. She writes: “One of the most effective ways to be a climate sceptic is to say nothing at all. Why expend the effort slapping down climate solutions when you can rely on feuding climate activists to tear each other’s ideas apart?”

Meanwhile, the Financial Times runs an unbylined comment piece on “the latest wrangle in the world of net-zero finance”. The article continues: “So-called ‘Scope 3’ emissions – those associated with the activities of a company’s suppliers and clients – are a crucial issue for banks. They emit little carbon themselves, but provide billions in financings for companies that do.” The article concludes: “Banks need to set Scope 3 targets…The main purpose of measuring Scope 3 emissions, for banks, is to provide a baseline for reduction targets. If that is from a high level so be it. Consistency, over time and across the sector, is most important. Banks should account for all the emissions associated with their underwriting activities.”

“The Labour leader is treading a dangerous eco path with his ‘love trees, hate tree huggers’ mantra,” writes Independent columnist Katie Edwards. According to an onlooker, Starmer “exploded” following a presentation by Labour’s climate and net-zero spokesperson Ed Miliband, the Independent writes. [An unnamed] source told the Sunday Times: “He said he was not interested in tree huggers, before adding to everyone’s surprise, ‘In fact, I hate tree huggers’.”  

In the Times, columnist Hugo Rifkind defies the “commentors on our [Times] website” and suggests that the “[i]rritating tactics of Just Stop Oil [are giving] Sunak and Starmer, and us, an excuse to go slow on change we know must happen”. The article continues: “Boggling as it is to think of the US as a climate leader, they have hit upon the golden truth that reducing CO2, boosting growth and safeguarding energy security all go together. By comparison, Sunak’s collapsing commitment to the environment looks short-termist and weak, because that’s exactly what it is.” The King “of course” is a “literal tree-hugger”, writes Rifkind. But “hatred for tree-huggers really stems from guilt”. 

In the Sun, climate-sceptic columnist Ross Clark writes: “Keir Starmer’s claims he ‘hates’ tree huggers just don’t stack up – Labour is in thrall to anti-voter green crap.” Meanwhile, Sun columnist Clemmie Moodie focuses on Biden’s chosen transport on his visit to the UK, writing that: “Leaders flying in to talk green issues is from Harry & Meghan school of hypocrisy.”

A new research paper presents a framework for how increased wildfire risk from climate change can be managed in a way that is just and equitable. The authors explain: “We develop a framework for identifying and categorising along the wildfire risk management cycle (prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery and adaptation) crucial and generally applicable aspects of distributional, procedural and restorative justice. We argue that policymakers and decision-makers should proactively consider all three justice aspects within collaborative governance policy processes to successfully innovate integrated WFRM strategies that respond to equity concerns.”