There is widespread media coverage of the climate legacy of Pope Francis, who died on Monday at age 88. The New York Times says: “He framed climate change as a spiritual issue, emphasising the connections between global warming, poverty and social upheaval throughout his 12-year leadership.” It adds that in 2015, Francis wrote “Laudato Si” – the first papal encyclical focused solely on the environment. (See the Carbon Brief coverage from the time.) The newspaper calls the encyclical a “sprawling call to action” that “recognised climate change as both a social and environmental crisis, and emphasised that its greatest consequences were shouldered by the poor”. It continues that Francis published a followup in 2023 with “Laudate Deum”, which “specifically called out the US” by pointing out its disproportionately high emissions. It adds: “Francis saw cooperation among governments as key to addressing climate change, and during his time as pope, the Vatican hosted conferences with mayors, religious leaders, money managers and oil companies to find solutions.” Time says: “In 2018, for example, he convened some of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies – including ExxonMobil, BP and Shell – for closed-door discussions about the climate imperative. After the meeting, some of the executives issued a statement acknowledging the importance of addressing global warming.” The Guardian obituary of Francis notes that he was a chemist and put an “emphasis on accepting the science”. The Hindu says Francis “called out international political responses to the climate crisis and global warming, and said that they have been ‘weak’”. NPR reports: “Supporters say he brought together science, morality and faith in new ways for his church.” Euronews reports that Francis intended to go to COP28, becoming the first Pope to address the annual climate talks, but sickness prevented him from going in person. It adds that following the announcement of Francis’ death, UN climate chief Simon Stiell said: “Pope Francis has been a towering figure of human dignity, and an unflinching global champion of climate action as a vital means to deliver it.” The Guardian says that prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, called Francis a “beacon of global moral strategic leadership”, describing him as her “hero”. Reuters adds: “In the 2018 interview with Reuters, [the Pope] said Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement had pained him “because the future of humanity is at stake’.” Inside Climate News says: “Former vice president Al Gore hailed Francis as a ‘tireless champion for climate action’ who ‘sparked a moral movement that will continue to light the way forward for humanity’.” E&E News adds that “former House speaker Nancy Pelosi cited Pope Francis’ encyclical on the climate as one of his groundbreaking accomplishments”. Outlets including the Financial Times, the Times, BBC News, Bloomberg, the Hill, the Guardian, the Sun, Scientific American, Sky News, the Independent, the Times of India, MailOnline and Semafor also mention his actions on climate change in coverage about his life achievements.

In related comment, an editorial in the Washington Post says Francis “often fought the right fights…embrac[ing] the fight against climate change”. A Financial Times editorial says his encyclical “sought to redefine climate change in terms of religion and faith”. In his blog the Crucial Years, environmentalist Bill McKibben calls Francis “perhaps the world’s greatest environmental champion”. The Conversation carries a comment on the Pope’s climate legacy by Celia Deane-Drummond, a professor at the University of Oxford.

There is widespread media reaction to a comment piece written by Ed Miliband in the Observer (see comment below). According to BBC News, Miliband said the government will “double down” on its environmental agenda. The Guardian says Milband “has torn into Nigel Farage and the Tories for peddling dangerous ‘nonsense and lies’”. BBC News, the Press Association and the Daily Telegraph also report on Milband’s comment piece. Meanwhile, the Sun reports that Nigel Farage has said that net-zero could become the “new Brexit”. The Daily Mail adds that “Farage branded the government’s net-zero targets ‘lunacy’ which threaten to decimate working-class communities as ‘green’ jobs are created abroad at the expense of workers in traditional industries here”. The newspaper says that Farage and Miliband “squared off over net-zero”. Another article in the Sun quotes Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice saying: “Ed Miliband is more delusional than ever.”

In other UK news, BBC News reports that a “ground-breaking project to suck carbon out of the sea has started operating on England’s south coast”. The Times of India says the “small-scale pilot project” is funded by the UK government. The Guardian has published an explainer on “why the UK’s electricity costs are so high – and what can be done about it”. The newspaper says high energy costs are “down to Britain’s reliance on gas – the price of which was sent soaring by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – in power plants and home heating”. The i newspaper says “gas bills are set to rise from next year to pay for upgrades to the gas network that experts argue are unnecessary as the UK transitions away from fossil fuels”. The Press Association covers analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, which finds that “the UK’s rollout of wind and solar power over the last decade has made its electricity supply ‘more British’, with significantly less reliance on imported gas”. LBC also covers the analysis. The Guardian reports that Jonathan Brearley, the head of energy regulator Ofgem, has “called for an industry truce in the deepening row over plans to overhaul the electricity market”. According to the newspaper, Brearley “wants polarisation to be replaced with an ‘honest conversation’ about zonal pricing”. In contrast, the Daily Telegraph has a story with the headline: “What happened when Italy tried Ed Miliband’s ‘nightmare’ plan for energy bills.” A frontpage story in the i newspaper says: “Government plans to build a network of ‘mini; nuclear power stations across the country have failed to adequately assess major security threats to the public, top policing experts have warned.” The Times says: “Britain needs to set out plans to build 20 mini nuclear reactors if it wants to secure factories that will make components for the nascent technology, one of the leading developers has said.” The i newspaper says that sales of solar panels in the UK rose 37% this year to their highest level in a decade. The Scotsman reports that SNP ministers are “failing to make progress on cutting emissions”, according to Emma Pinchbeck, the chief executive of the Climate Change Committee. The Daily Telegraph also covers the story, adding that “the overall goal of net-zero by 2045 remains in place, but experts have warned urgent progress is needed now if that is to be achieved”. BusinessGreen says: “The number of public EV chargers more than doubled between 2022 and 2023, but over half of councils are in the dark over reliability.”

The Times reports that the Scunthorpe steelworks could switch to cleaner electric arc furnaces “for £2bn”. The Mail on Sunday says that “ministers may scrap the controversial climate change levy to help revive British steelmaking”. The Daily Telegraph says: “British Steel executives have admitted that UK coal could fuel its blast furnaces, adding to pressure on Ed Miliband over the blocking of a new Cumbrian mine.” The Daily Mail says: “Top Labour advisers are putting pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to ditch the party’s ban on new North Sea oil and gas drilling.” The Daily Telegraph says that “the owner of British Gas has stopped filling a crucial fuel storage facility in the North Sea, raising the risk of winter shortages and potentially higher energy prices”. The Sun says: “Britain is preparing to hand over a ‘blank cheque’ to Brussels by tying in with a controversial EU Net Zero scheme, Tories warn.” A Daily Telegraph story trailed on the newspaper’s frontpage says that Nigel Topping, a member of the government’s Climate Change Committee, “racked up 40,000 air miles in a year by jetting to environmental conferences”. A Daily Telegraph feature claims that electricity pylons “have knocked up to £100,000 off the value of nearby homes across England and Wales, according to new research”. The Daily Telegraph also says that according to UK nuclear plant operator EDF, “the government’s carbon border tax will favour Chinese green technology over home-grown energy projects”. 

White House officials “are preparing executive orders on environmental issues”, Inside Climate News reports, citing “sources in Washington, including within the Department of Justice and on Capitol Hill”. It says the sources say one order “would target the tax exempt status of environmental nonprofits, particularly those that do legal work”. The outlet adds that “Trump himself tipped his hand at this possibility in Oval Office comments made [on] Thursday”. Reuters adds: “Groups that work on climate change have been circulating memos over the last few days outlining rumored executive actions they expect from President Donald Trump, including a change to IRS [Internal Revenue Service] rules to remove climate change from qualifying charitable topics and blocking the use of US grants to fund overseas work.” Bloomberg reports: “Any attempt to revoke tax-exempt status for prominent green groups would likely draw legal challenges and it is unclear the effort would survive a court battle.” Separately, Inside Climate News says that “leading climate action advocates spoke out” yesterday against the anticipated action.

In other US news, Reuters says: “The US Interior Department on Friday said it would begin taking public input for a new five-year offshore oil and gas leasing program that could include new zones in the Arctic and elsewhere to maximise energy development.” The Hill adds: “It’s not entirely clear where exactly all new drilling will take place under the Trump plan, as the initial step being taken is called a ‘request for information,’ which seeks to ask the public for input on where and when it should auction off offshore drilling rights.” The outlet adds that “the oil lobby praised the administration’s move”. Elsewhere, Politico reports that “NATO staff are watering down language around climate, gender and diversity as a precaution to avoid retaliation by the Trump administration, according to three people familiar with the matter”. It continues: “‘Green technologies’ have allegedly been replaced with ‘innovative technologies,’ while ‘climate’ has been labelled an ‘operational environment.’” The New York Times reports that the National Institutes of Health “has indicated that it will stop funding research on the health effects of climate change”. Inside Climate News reports that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, Lee Zeldin, held a press conference where he “defended his agency’s abrupt cancellation of billions of dollars in federal clean energy and environmental justice grants”. The Hill reports that Zeldin told CBS News that he can “absolutely” assure the public that the EPA’s deregulation actions will not harm the environment. The Washington Post says Trump has “issued a proclamation saying he is easing federal restrictions on commercial fishing in a vast protected area of the central Pacific”. The Guardian covers a new government proposal which would “narrow protections for endangered species, in a move that environmentalists say would accelerate extinction by opening up critical habitats for development, logging, mining and other uses”. 

There is ongoing media coverage of the news that the Trump administration has halted construction of a windfarm off the coast of New York. BBC News says the project would provide enough electricity to power 500,000 homes. It adds: “The halt is a major blow to the US wind industry, which was championed by former president Joe Biden – but has been targeted heavily by president Trump.” Politico, Inside Climate News, Reuters, the Times, the Hill, Bloomberg and Axios also cover the news. Elsewhere, the Guardian says: “The Trump administration’s efforts to expand coal mining while simultaneously imposing deep cuts to agencies tasked with ensuring miner health and safety has left some advocates ‘dumbfounded’.” The Washington Post adds: “A federal program that screens coal miners for black lung disease has been shuttered because of layoffs and budget cuts.”

Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that an environmental non-profit “sued the Trump administration over its attempts to boost the oil industry by rolling back green policies”. Another Reuters article says that environmental groups are “hiring lawyers and preparing for a major legal showdown” on energy deregulation. The Washington Post explains that Texas is seeing some of the highest home insurance costs in the country, due to “worsening storms fueled by climate change, coupled with inflation”. Floodlight News says that “moves to decarbonise the cement industry picked up speed during the administration of president Joe Biden,” but adds that “the Trump administration has reversed course”. Reuters says: “Republican lawmakers working to extend US president Donald Trump’s tax cuts legislation are facing a clean-energy conundrum back home, as major clean energy investments in their districts are at odds with Trump’s scepticism of the industry.” The Wall Street Journal says: “The Energy Department is preparing dramatic cuts that could halt nearly $10bn in federal funding for clean-energy projects.” DeSmog has a piece with the headline “Climate crisis deniers explain why they like US energy secretary Chris Wright”. The Times reports on the risk to US real estate from climate change. E&E News covers the impacts of Trump’s funding cuts at NOAA. The New York Times explains how Maryland reached its “30×30 goal” on land protection. And E&E News explains “how a trade war could move American EVs out of reach”. 

Euractiv features an article on the rising right wing of the German environmental movement, noting that it is “ready for the moment with a moral reframing that downplays progressive themes of social justice and global responsibility in favour of more nationalist tones that may appeal to voters who have traditionally questioned the need for major climate action”. The article says their main argument is that transitioning to renewables will reduce Germany’s dependence on unreliable imports, generate prosperity in rural areas and benefit citizens rather than corporations. It adds that among the incoming Christian Democrats, a relatively new group known as the KlimaUnion (Climate Union) is also pushing back against any rollback of climate policies. Separately, T-online reports a declining “willingness to act on climate change” in Germany, with only 53% of people now feeling personally responsible, down from 69% four years ago, according to the latest annual survey by the polling institute Ipsos.

Meanwhile, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) carries a commentary by business correspondent Christian Geinitz, which discusses the German government’s final decision not to return to nuclear power. He argues that “it was undoubtedly wrong to end nuclear fission” as it could help achieve climate targets and ensure energy security. In addition, Der Spiegel reports that Germany “struggles to make the most of its renewable boom”, citing a lack of storage capacity, inadequate transmission lines from the wind-rich north to the power-hungry south and limited consumer incentives to use electricity when it is most abundant.

Finally, Deutsche Welle quotes Germany’s “chancellor-in-waiting” Friedrich Merz saying on Saturday that new investments and tax cuts under his incoming coalition would make the country “economically stronger”, highlighting plans to support industry and secure a reliable energy supply. 

The world’s largest meat company “looks set to break its Amazon rainforest protection promises again”, the Guardian reports. The newspaper says that JBS – the “Brazil-headquartered multinational that dominates the Brazilian cattle market” – promised to “clean up its beef supply chain” in the Amazon by the end of 2025. It continues: “In a project to understand the barriers to progress on Amazon deforestation, a team of journalists from the Guardian, Unearthed and Repórter Brasil interviewed more than 35 people, including ranchers and ranching union leaders who represent thousands of farms in the states of Pará and Rondônia. The investigation found widespread disbelief that JBS would be able to complete the groundwork and hit its deforestation targets.” The Guardian has published a related interactive with the headline: “Bibles, bullets and beef: Amazon cowboy culture at odds with Brazil’s climate goals”. It also has a piece with the headline: “The life and death of a ‘laundered’ cow in the Amazon rainforest”.

BBC News reports that “the US Commerce Department has announced plans to impose tariffs of up to 3,521% on imports of solar panels from four south-east Asian countries”. According to the outlet, the proposed levies will target companies in Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. The South China Morning Post adds: “In order for the tariffs to be finalised, the International Trade Commission must vote in June on whether the industry was materially harmed by the dumped and subsidised imports.” Reuters and the Wall Street Journal also cover the news. Bloomberg reports that “China’s solar cell output soared to a record in March”.

A Reuters article reports: “Climate and human rights campaigners filed a complaint against the European Commission on Friday, accusing the EU executive of weakening sustainability laws without first consulting the public about the changes or assessing their impact.” According to the newswire, the proposed legal changes “would exempt thousands of smaller European businesses from EU sustainability reporting rules, and curb obligations for bigger firms to check their supply chains for human rights and environmental problems”. Euractiv also covers the story. Separately, Reuters reports that the EU is “explor[ing] tweaking methane rules for US gas to help trade talks”. 

In other EU news, Politico reports that European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen “will meet Keir Starmer in London [this] week” ahead of a two-day summit hosted by UK energy secretary Ed Miliband and International Energy Agency (IEA) executive director Fatih Birol. It adds: “UK ministers view next week’s two-day summit as an opportunity to showcase the Labour government’s commitment to its net-zero climate goal, and its belief that phasing out fossil fuels and investing in renewables like wind and solar can forge a path to energy security.” The Financial Times carries a warning from the IEA that “the lessons of the energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have not been fully learned”. It adds that in this week’s summit, “ministers from the US, Japan, France, Germany and India, and the heads of dozens of energy companies” will discuss “how to ensure resilient supplies of energy in a volatile global market”. Meanwhile, the Guardian reports on “unseasonable warmth” across eastern Europe. Euractiv reports that power sector association Eurelectric have said the UK’s plan for “zombie” energy projects is not a good fit for the European grid.

The opposition Liberal-National coalition is “refusing to say if it will introduce any policies to cut Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions in the next decade as it pledges to unwind most climate measures introduced under Labor”, the Guardian reports. It continues: “Peter Dutton’s position on the climate crisis came under scrutiny last week after he gave contradictory answers on whether he accepted mainstream climate science. Asked during a leaders’ debate on the ABC whether extreme weather events were worsening, the opposition leader said: ‘I don’t know because I’m not a scientist’. Dutton later said he ‘believes in climate change’ and the Coalition was committed to Australia having net-zero emissions by 2050.”

In other Australian news, the Guardian reports that “Australia’s biggest industrial climate polluter – Chevron’s Gorgon gas export plant in Western Australia – received the equivalent of millions of dollars in carbon credits from the federal government last year, despite increasing its emissions”. The newspaper pulls out the highlights of an interview with Anthony Albanese, in which he said the “US’s ‘retreat’ from its role on the global stage on issues such as climate change and foreign aid is reshaping the world’s political order”. The Guardian reports that Greens leader, Adam Band “is determined to build on the minor party’s historic 2022 result but its supporter base has not expanded – and its Brisbane seats are vulnerable”. And the newspaper follows up with “Australia’s student strikers for climate”. 

In the Observer, UK energy secretary Ed Miliband lays out the argument for net-zero and criticises those who have attacked him about it. Miliband says: “The argument for a green power transition is not just one of climate breakdown but social justice and national security.” He continues: “We are doubling down on our agenda. Yes, there are siren voices that want to knock us off course. They would keep Britain locked in dependence on global markets we don’t control. They will also make up any old nonsense and lies to pursue their ideological agenda, the latest example being their attempt to use the crisis facing the steel industry for their deeply damaging agenda…With their insistence on the same failed approach that led directly to the cost of living crisis, and which failed the Tories at the last election, the Conservatives and Reform would leave the country exposed and risk further untold damage to businesses and families. They would forfeit the clean energy jobs of the future and sell future generations down the river by simply shrugging their shoulders at the prospect of climate breakdown.” 

In a related comment, Guardian columnist Andy Beckett writes: “Why is Ed Miliband a target for all sides? Because he’s a lefty politician who gets things done.” Beckett says Miliband “provokes rightwing journalists and voters like no other minister” and is “also undermined by his own side”. Beckett says that “neither his divisiveness nor his survival should come as a surprise”, noting that “unlike most Labour ministers, Miliband appears to enjoy upsetting the established order”. Meanwhile, Patrick Maguire, chief political commentator for the Times, says: “Miliband has the support of the prime minister and has weathered countless attempts to emasculate him with superhuman resilience…But that is not dissuading a coalition of the unwilling from banging on the back doors of No 10 and the Treasury in the hope that others might decide the opposite, and conclude that the time has come to reverse the government’s opposition to new oil and gas licences.” Observer columnist Martha Gill says: “If green policy is going to survive the culture wars, it needs a new pitch – cleaner air, cheaper bills and healthier cities.”

Elsewhere, a Daily Mail editorial says: “Keir Starmer is said to be under pressure from senior advisers to reconsider the ban on new North Sea oil and gas drilling. With the alternative being to buy even more fossil fuels from abroad at huge expense and frequently from oppressive regimes, he should have no hesitation. To everyone except Ed Miliband and his band of eco-maniacs, it is the common-sense solution to our energy problems.” Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philip writes in a comment for the Daily Mail: “Red Ed’s net-zero mania is decimating British industry by increasing energy prices and doing nothing to address climate change. It’s madness and will leave us highly dependent on Chinese imports. As Kemi Badenoch has said, this can’t go on. But instead, Britain is rushing headfirst into the jaws of the dragon, with Labour’s net-zero zealots cheering it on.” Johanna Noble, money editor at the Times, says: “Energy bills based on income? Don’t be ridiculous”. Daily Telegraph columnist and assistant editor Michael Deacon says: “Nigel Farage is right: net-zero is the new Brexit”. The Daily Telegraph finds space for a column by climate-sceptic Bjorn Lomborg. Daily Telegraph writer William Sitwell says: “The catastrophe of Ed Miliband’s net-zero plans are plain for all to see – but don’t expect Sir Keir to give him the boot any time soon.” Climate-sceptic commentator Ross Clark writes, inaccurately, in the Sun: “Almost everyone can see that the government’s energy policies are condemning Britain to the highest electricity prices in the world, and that this is contributing to the severe crisis in the steel and other heavy industries.” 

The Guardian has published a feature to announce that it is “joining forces with dozens of newsrooms around the world to launch the 89 Percent Project – and highlight the fact that the vast majority of the world’s population wants climate action”. The newspaper highlights the results of a survey involving 130,000 people in 125 countries, which found that 89% of people across the world wanted their national governments to do more to fight climate change. Separately, climate scientist Friederike Otto writes about her new book in two separate pieces in the the Guardian. In the latter, she says: “Researching weather – and thus, the role of climate change – in the way I do is always political, and this makes it an uncomfortable topic for many scientists. I believe it is important to show that both obstacles – the technical and the political – can be overcome; our climate models have become better and better, and we are coming to realise that research cannot take place at a remove from the real world.”

New research finds that the urban heat island (UHI) effect, whereby the presence of buildings and roads causes local warming in cities – amplifying the deadly impact of heatwaves, can also reduce deaths during cold spells. Based on data from 3,000 cities, the research finds that, at present the, “UHI effect reduces global cold-related mortality, surpassing the increase in heat-related mortality more than fourfold”. The increase in heat-related mortality associated with the UHI is expected to increase sharply with further climate change.