Speaking in New York yesterday, UN secretary general António Guterres dubbed fossil-fuel companies the “godfathers of climate chaos” and said they should be banned in every country from advertising, the Guardian reports. Guterres called on news and tech media to stop enabling “planetary destruction” by taking advertising revenues from fossil fuel companies, while warning that the world faces “climate crunch time”, it adds. Guterres called for a “windfall” tax on profits of fossil fuel companies to help pay to fight climate change, reports the Associated Press. Guterres “spoke in a bid to revive the world’s focus on climate change at a time when elections, inflation and conflict in places like Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan have seized the spotlight”, it adds. The UN secretary general’s comments come as data from the EU’s climate service confirms that each of the past 12 months set a new global temperature record, reports BBC News. Guterres called for more rapid political action on climate change and a “clampdown” on the fossil fuel industry, saying: “We must directly confront those in the fossil fuel industry who have shown relentless zeal for obstructing progress – over decades.” His speech at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, which coincided with World Environment Day, included his “strongest rhetoric to date” around the fossil fuel industry, reports the Daily Telegraph. It included Guterres calling out the fossil fuel industry for spending billions on “distorting the truth, deceiving the public and sowing doubt” about climate change, while investing “a measly 2.5%” of its total capital in clean energy, reports Reuters. The UN secretary general said that over the next 18 months, countries must focus on cutting emissions, protecting people and nature from climate extremes, boosting climate finance and clamping down on the fossil fuel industry, the article adds. Guterres concluded: “Climate finance is not a favour. It is fundamental to a livable future for all,” it notes. This story is also covered by the Independent, Al Jazeera, the Financial Post, among others.

Elsewhere in New York, the state’s governor Kathy Hochul has announced the city will  “indefinitely pause” a congestion pricing plan, reports the Financial Times. The plan was years in the making and the pause has cast uncertainty over billions of dollars in expected funding for the city’s ailing public transit system, it adds. The politically unpopular plan would have seen passenger cars charged $15, small trucks $24 and large trucks $36 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street from later in June and would have contributed as much as $15bn for New York’s public transport system and infrastructure improvements, says the Guardian. Until this week, Hochul had been seen as one of the plan’s staunchest backers, reports the Washington Post, describing the “transformative” impact it would have on the climate and the city’s transit services. This story is also covered by Reuters, CNN, the Hill and others.  

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), whose CEO was president of the UN COP28 climate summit, sought deals worth £80bn last year, a fivefold increase on the previous year, reports the Times. The company either negotiated or closed oil deals with 12 countries, including the UK, while its CEO Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber was COP28 president, according to a report from campaign group Global Witness, the article continues. The report claims that the United Arab Emirates’ climate negotiators used their meetings with other countries at the summit to discuss fossil fuel deals, it adds. Global Witness says the deals pursued by Adnoc could lead to the sale of the equivalent of 5.54bn barrels of oil by 2050, ­releasing 1.8bn tonnes of carbon, roughly a twentieth of the amount released worldwide from fossil fuels in 2022, the article notes. Accusations have previously been levelled against Al Jaber and Adnoc for pursuing deals at COP28, with leaked briefing documents seen by the BBC and the Centre for Climate Reporting purportedly instructing Adnoc to use the talks to boost its business interests, reports BusinessGreen. Global Witness says its research appeared to “blow a hole in Al Jaber’s denials that the firm used the climate talks to further its business interests”, the article adds. A COP28 spokesperson has rejected the accusation that the UN climate summit had been used to pursue fossil fuel deals on behalf of the UAE, describing Global Witness’s claims as “baseless” and “unfounded”, it notes.

Work on the UK’s “best remaining oil field” has been delayed due to the Labour party’s proposed new levies on oil and gas and changes to key tax breaks for the industry, reports the Daily Telegraph. Jersey Oil and Gas has told investors that work on the Buchan field in the North Sea will be postponed for at least a year due to political uncertainties, the article continues. London-listed Jersey Oil and Gas is redeveloping the £900m oilfield alongside Serica Energy and Neo Energy, with the goal to produce its first oil in 2026 and produce about 35,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day at its peak, reports the Times. The move to push pack the final investment decision until later this year will also see first produce delayed until late 2027, it adds. Elsewhere, the Scottish National Party’s deputy minister Kate Forbes has argued the party is not against new oil and gas in the North Sea, reports the Press Association. However, developments would need to meet “climate compatibility tests” to be supported by the Scottish government, it adds. On the campaign trail, Forbes said the SNP was “not against new licences per se” and had “never said no” to exploring new fields, reports the Daily Telegraph. The article says the SNP has been accused of attempting to “rewrite history” with the claim, noting “Scottish Tories say voters will recall the anti-drilling positions taken by both [former leaders] Sturgeon and Yousaf”. 

In other UK election news, eco-entrepreneur Dale Vince has donated £5m to the Labour’s election campaign and urged people not to back the Green party, reports the Financial Times. Vince tells the publication that he donated £1m to the party when the election was announced on 23 May and had given £500,000 and £1m earlier in the spring, it adds. Elsewhere, the Conservative Environment Network (CEN) has warned prime minister Rishi Sunak not to scrap net-zero targets “in a panic over Reform and Nigel Farage” as polls suggest keeping climate pledges could help win back more lost 2019 voters, reports the Daily Mail. The polling shows that rightwing voters who have switched to Reform have done so overwhelmingly because immigration is  their main concern while changes to green policies will make little difference to how they vote, it adds. 

Investment in low-carbon electricity will rise to 10 times as much as fossil fuel power this year, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), reports the Guardian. Global investment in clean energy including renewables and nuclear power, as well as electric vehicles, power grids, energy storage, low-emissions fuels, efficiency improvements and heat pumps is expected to reach $2tn this year, it continues. Global clean-energy investment topped fossil fuels for the first time in 2023 and is likely to be double the $1tn forecast for coal, gas and oil in 2024, the article continues.“For every dollar going to fossil fuels today, almost $2 are invested in clean energy,” said the IEA’s executive director, Fatih Birol, the Guardian adds.

West African nations have weighed in on the debate over whether companies should be able to use carbon offsets to cut emissions, arguing they are critical to attracting financing for climate and conservation efforts, reports Reuters. Some scientists and technical advisers have criticised offsets for undermining efforts to tackle climate change, but others see them as a necessary tool to boost crucial finance, it continues. (See Carbon Brief’s in-depth explainer on whether carbon offsets can be used to tackle climate change.) In a letter to the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), 10 West African countries have called on its trustees to ensure offsetting is included within net-zero guidance to companies, it continues. The letter was signed by Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Senegal and Togo, the article says, adding that the letter says recent reports questioning the validity of offsetting emissions were the work of “misguided activists”.

China has announced plans for setting up a new “carbon footprint management system”, which will go into effect in 2027, to “better measure the carbon content of its products”, Reuters reports. The newswire adds that the new measurement sets standards for “measuring carbon emissions for about 100 key products throughout the Chinese economy” and it will be expanded to 200 products by 2030. In addition, the new measures “will apply to high-emitting products, such as coal and natural gas as well as export products like steel, aluminium, lithium batteries and electric vehicles”, adds Reuters. State news agency Xinhua has published the full text of the new measurement. 

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that, from 4 July, the EU will “levy provisional duties” on “new energy” vehicles (NEVs) made in China, with the level of expected import duty due to be revealed next week. The newspaper adds that, “after 4 July, the [EU] commission has four months to turn the provisional duties permanent, in consultation with member states”. Bloomberg says that China’s “excessive” industrial capacity goes “far beyond” the low-energy goods. Dirk Messne, president of Germany’s Environment Agency, says that “climate neutrality would not be achieved without overcoming the current state of geopolitical challenges”, another SCMP article reports.

Separately, Xinhua says that new energy and traditional energy have together “turbocharged the sustainable development of high-tech enterprises and boosted the economic growth of local industries” in China. Another Xinhua report says that the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP), China’s top procuratorial organisation, will “oversee three major criminal cases involving damage to the natural environment and ecosystem”. 

Finally, Bloomberg cites a report from Chinese publication Arfcg.com, saying that Chinese solar firms are “winding down” production at their factories in Southeast Asia as the US pushes to protect its domestic market, creating “uncertainty” for solar product exports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. SCMP reports that, according to a report by Rystad Energy, China “is projected to install around 2.5 gigawatts of hydrogen electrolyser capacity” by the end of 2024, generating 220,000 tonnes of “green” hydrogen annually, more than “the rest of the world combined”. 

The Mexican Coral Reef Society says that “millions of corals” across Mexico have died due to intense heat, Excélsior reports. The newspaper adds that bleaching has spread from the Mexican Caribbean and Pacific coast to the Gulf of California. 

In other Latin America news, Folha de São Paulo reports that Brazil’s lower chamber has approved guidelines to “adapt Brazilian public policies to the effects of climate change”. According to the outlet, the bill focuses on infrastructure and will now go to the president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for approval. 

Elsewhere, according to a study covered by La Tercera, 74% of Chileans surveyed “feel exposed to a risk associated with climate change or pollution”. The study also finds that 76% “consider themselves vulnerable to a deterioration in their quality of life” due to these factors. Colombia’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management says the nation experienced 350 rainy season-related events in May, killing 13 and injuring 31 people, El Espectador reports. The outlet adds that “floods, mass movements or flash floods [occurred] in 27 out of the country’s 32 departments”.

Finally, Andrés Nápoli, executive director of the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN), has written a comment piece for La Nación arguing that “Argentina’s government intends to move in the opposite direction” from the climate and environmental actions that other countries are “slowly but steadily” taking. Nápoli adds that “climate denialism…has become institutional decisions”. And in a comment piece for El Comercio, Betina Woll, a representative of UNDP Peru, writes about the need to devise a plan “in the face of the advancing climate crisis”. Given the damage caused by illegal mining and logging in Peru, Woll suggests promoting sustainable resource use and sustainable agricultural practices.

While some view limiting global warming to 1.5C as “deader than a doornail,” the devastating effects of climate change beyond this mean even if we overshoot, we must return to 1.5C as quickly as possible, writes Prof Joeri Rogelj, a professor of climate science and policy and the director of research at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London, in Project Syndicate. The world is in a “dire state”, with the world having warmed by 1.3C, according to the latest Indicators of Global Climate Change report, and, even if governments meet all their existing climate pledges, the odds against global warming staying below 1.5C are seven to one, notes Rogelj. “But just as risks do not vanish when safety limits are exceeded, the Paris Agreement’s climate commitments do not disappear once we cross 1.5C,” he continues. Over the past 20 years we’ve experienced what a planet warmed by 1C, with no region spared and an increasing number of countries “facing fires, floods, and storms”, writes Rogelj. Limiting warming is a matter of social justice, human rights, and long-term development, he argues, and, even if we cannot avoid overshooting 1.5C, it remains a relevant target. “To maintain a safe, livable, and just planet, we must keep our eyes on the 1.5C limit and ensure that pursuing it remains our top priority”, he concludes.

Elsewhere, an editorial in the Los Angeles Times says: “California is facing another record-breaking hot summer. We aren’t ready.” A comment piece by Karen Florini and Alice C Hill in Foreign Affairs explores how climate change threatens democracy, with extreme weather now affecting elections around the world. And in the Times, columnist James Marriott looks at fossil fuel sponsorship of literary festivals, arguing “some things are more important than politics”. 

Meeting the goal of the Paris Agreement to keep global temperature increase “well below” 2C “will be harder than previously anticipated” due to unaccounted-for natural variability in the Pacific Ocean, according to new research. Researchers use climate models and remove background Pacific variability to find “higher and narrower twenty-first century warming ranges” than are produced by other methods. They find that warming is “likely to exceed” the 2C temperature threshold, even under a low-emissions scenario. However, they add that “the substantial narrowing of uncertainties in projections that we demonstrate will have substantial benefits for adaptation planning”.

A new study finds that less than 4% of the Earth’s drylands will turn to desert by mid-century, despite increasing dryness in those areas. Using observational data and climate models, researchers calculate the aridity index and project changes in vegetation. They find that despite increasing aridity, “most of the global drylands are projected to see an increase in vegetation productivity due to climate change through 2050”, which they attribute to the CO2 fertilisation effect. The regions for which they project desertification “include parts of north-east Brazil, Namibia, western Sahel, Horn of Africa and central Asia”.