JD Vance – a Republican senator from Ohio and, as of last night, Donald Trump’s pick for vice president – “is a strong supporter of the oil and gas industry, opposes solar power and electric vehicles, and has said climate change is not a threat”, the New York Times says. However, the newspaper notes that Vance was once a “fierce critic” of Trump. As recently as 2020, Vance called climate change a “problem”, praised solar energy and called natural gas an “improvement over dirtier forms of energy”, the paper says. It notes that Vance’s positions on climate change “took a sharp turn” when Vance sought Trump’s endorsement in his bid for senate, telling the American Leadership Forum in 2022 that he was “sceptical of the idea that climate change is caused purely by man”. The newspaper adds: “Mr Vance criticised the Biden administration for ‘doing everything it can to subsidise alternative energy sources and demonise our nation’s most reliable sources of power’ and accused the administration of ‘wanton harassment of fossil fuel companies, to the detriment of the American people’.” It continues: “Since he was elected, Mr Vance has also cosponsored legislation to repeal an IRA program designed to curb leaks of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas; undo an Environmental Protection Agency rule setting strict emissions standards for cars and light trucks; and to impose a $20,000 tariff on all Chinese vehicles imported into the US. None of those measures have become law. He has received $340,289 from the oil and gas industry in campaign contributions since 2019, according to Open Secrets, a campaign finance watchdog site.” Separately, E&E News reports that Vance “has been dismissive of concerns about climate change”. The outlet reports that Vance “introduced legislation to double maximum penalties for climate change protesters and others who target exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution and National Gallery of Art”. And the New York Times reports that, as the Republican Party opens its national convention in Milwaukee, “the party has no plan to address climate change”. It adds: “While some Republicans no longer deny the overwhelming scientific consensus that the planet is warming because of human activity, party leaders do not see it as a problem that needs to be addressed.”

In other US news, Reuters reports that “the Biden administration is seeking input on whether to add more areas for protection from oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve”. And Forbes highlights new figures on EV sales, which show that “the electric cars death may have been greatly exaggerated”. Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that “millions of Americans are bracing themselves for dangerous temperatures at the start of the working week as a heat dome blankets the midwest and eastern US”. The newspaper adds: “Near record-breaking daily temperatures are forecast for multiple cities, with 102F (39C) expected in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Monday afternoon and 97F (36C) in New York City on Tuesday. It will likely feel even hotter due to high humidity levels, which will make this heatwave even more dangerous, especially those without access to air conditioning or other adequate cooling.” Washington DC has reached temperatures above 100F for the second day in a row, setting a new record, the Washington Post reports. The paper says: “The ongoing heatwave – the third of the summer – is perhaps the most intense and dangerous.” It adds: “Nighttime lows dropping to only around 80F could also challenge records.” The Independent reports that 140 million people were under heat alerts on Monday. The Guardian reports that in Houston, Texas, nearly 300,000 residents still have no electricity in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, leaving them without air conditioning. The New York Times and CBS News also report on the heatwave. Elsewhere, Joseph Allen – an associate professor and director of the Healthy Buildings program at Harvard University’s T H Chan School of Public Health – writes in the Washington Post that “how we talk about hot weather is seriously flawed”. He argues that the general public should use wet-bulb temperatures to account for the humidity. Separately, the Associated Press has published a story under the headline: “Battered by Hurricane Idalia last year, Florida village ponders future as hurricane season begins.”

There are almost a million electric car chargers in the UK, the Guardian reports. The newspaper says most of the UK’s 930,000 EV chargers are in homes and private businesses, with only about 65,000 public chargers available. It adds: “The ChargeUK analysis showed that a new public charger was installed every 25 minutes in the spring quarter as companies raced to keep up with demand. Companies installed 5,100 public chargers during the second quarter of 2024, according to the data company Zapmap.” BusinessGreen reports that “the surge in the number of ultra-rapid and fast chargers means current charging infrastructure can provide enough power to enable every EV in the UK to drive 580 miles a day – 25 times the average daily car journey and further than the distance between London and Aberdeen”. The Times reports that SSE and TotalEnergies have “created a joint venture to install 3,000 rapid charging points in the UK and Ireland”. 

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph reports that Jaguar will have just one combustion engine car in production by the end of this year, as almost its entire lineup moves to EVs. The Financial Times carries a warning from EDF Energy and Octopus Energy that “green taxes on household electricity bills are holding back families from buying electric cars or switching to heat pumps”. The Press Association reports that “interest in electric vehicles built by a Chinese manufacturer advertising at Euro 2024 matches has surged, figures show”. And, separately, the Press Association reports that “the percentage of electric vehicle (EV) breakdowns caused by running out of power reached a record low last month, figures suggest”. 

In other UK news, the Guardian reports that “green energy businessman” Dale Vince’s £100,000 libel case against the Daily Mail has been thrown out after a high court judge ruled it did not have a realistic chance of success. The Daily Telegraph calls Vince a “green energy tycoon” who has “made major donations to Just Stop Oil and the Labour Party”. And a frontpage story in the Daily Mail claims that doctors have been “told to lecture us on climate change”, by looking out for “eco-distress”, reducing emissions by considering working from home, and “cutting back on prescriptions and tests”. The article is centred around a quote from the director of a climate-sceptic lobby group, which refuses to reveal its funders.

The Daily Telegraph uses a survey by Lumify Energy, a leading wind power consultancy, to show where local authorities are “most willing to welcome the development of new turbines”. The newspaper then claims that this means these locations are “in Ed Miliband’s sights”, adding that the new energy secretary has announced that “wind developers will no longer have to win the clear support of local people to be allowed to build even the largest of wind farms”. The survey finds 44 authorities that “positively favour wind farm developments”. The newspaper adds: “On Friday, Mr Miliband set out his stall by approving three massive and highly controversial solar farms in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire spanning thousands of acres. All three – Mallard Pass, Sunnica and Burton Gate – were vociferously opposed by local communities, but Mr Miliband overrode them within days of taking office.” The paper adds that some experts “believe that public perception is changing”, but also notes that “critics argue they are also highly intrusive, damage tranquil landscapes and create a nuisance for surrounding neighbourhoods owing to light flicker and noise pollution”. Separately, Politico has published an article under the headline: “Starmer’s ‘quiet’ climate radicalism sets up battle with Farage.” 

Meanwhile, BBC News reports that “a new battery storage power station is set to be built in Slimbridge despite fire-safety and traffic concerns”. Separately, the outlet says: “A fire risk assessment (FRA) of a block of flats in east London whose roof was gutted after a blaze, damaging 36 homes, failed to declare solar panels had been installed at least eight years before.” The Daily Mail highlights “new allegations” that some panels used in the proposed new solar farms are “linked to Chinese slave workers”. The Daily Telegraph says that, according to the National Grid, “Britain will be forced to rely on natural gas for years to come”. The newspaper continues: “Demand for gas is now expected to be at least a fifth higher than previously expected in 2030, according to the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO). Under three potential ‘pathways’ to net-zero by 2050, the ESO also predicted Britain will keep burning ‘unabated’ gas for power – that is, without any form of mitigation such as carbon capture – until at least 2036.” BBC News reports that the Welsh government has said that “heat pumps will need to be installed in the vast majority of Welsh homes to meet climate targets”. It adds: “Heating accounts for 50% of energy use in Wales, 75% of which is generated by burning oil and gas.”

There is also widespread reaction in the right-leaning newspapers to Miliband’s decision to approve new solar plants. The Daily Mail has published an editorial under the headline: “Miliband’s mad rush to net-zero begins.” On Labour’s proposed solar power rollout, the editorial claims that “the legitimate objections of communities, councils, MPs and various experts were summarily dismissed”. It adds: “If this is the template for his ‘green revolution’, local communities should be very afraid. Any say they have over planning decisions is clearly about to be swept away. And for what? Britain contributes less than 1% to global emissions and already leads the world in carbon reduction.” In the Daily Telegraph, Neil Record – who has close links to a climate-sceptic lobby group (which is not declared in the article) – calls Ed Miliband “the new face of Britain’s net-zero folly”. The climate-sceptic columnist Ross Clark writes in the Daily Mail that “carpeting Britain in solar panels is destruction in the name of ideology”. Bloomberg opinion columnist Lara Williams says: “A mere 72 hours into the new Labour government, the nine-year de-facto ban on onshore wind in England was lifted with the swift deletion of two footnotes. It’s heartening to see new ministers taking immediate steps to accelerate the rollout of renewables. But if they’re going to reach their targets, offshore wind also needs more support.”

South Africa’s new energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says the country will miss its 2030 emissions goals, but is committed to reaching net-zero by mid-century, Reuters reports. The newswire continues: “Under the Paris [Agreement], South Africa was committed to cutting emissions to between 350m and 420m tonnes by 2030, from 442m tonnes in 2020, on the way to net-zero…Owing to its heavy reliance on coal for electricity, South Africa is the world’s most carbon-intensive major economy and its 15th biggest greenhouse gas emitter – higher than France, Italy or Turkey.” The newswire adds that nations including the US and several European countries are offering $12bn in funding, mostly loans, towards South Africa’s energy transition. Separately, Reuters reports that after “lengthy deliberations”, South Africa’s nuclear regulator has ruled that the country’s Koeberg nuclear power plant will be allowed to run one of its two units for another 20 years. Reuters reports that South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, warned that the EU’s carbon tax will hurt developing countries. The newswire continues: “Ramaphosa warned other developing nations on Monday that future carbon taxes proposed by rich countries would damage their economies unless they act swiftly to ditch fossil fuels in favour of green energy.” AllAfrica reports that, in his weekly newsletter, Ramaphosa said that the effects of climate change are worsening and the government is seeking more ways to make both the economy and country more climate resilient. Agence France-Presse adds that Ramaphosa “reaffirmed Monday the coal-dependent nation’s commitment to moving towards renewable energy but insisted that communities and workers must not lose out”. And the Associated Press reports that six firefighters have died in South Africa “battling a bushfire”. 

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planner, and its National Energy Administration (NEA) have announced plans “to increase financial support for projects to reduce emissions at coal power plants through methods including burning biomass and green ammonia”, Bloomberg reports. The newspaper adds that “[coal] projects starting construction next year will target a 20% reduction in emissions per unit of electricity generated”, with an ultimate goal to reduce emissions intensity by 50% by 2027 compared to 2023 levels. ​​Energy newspaper BJX News also covers the story, saying that if the 2027 target is achieved, coal power plants’ emissions intensity will be “close to that of natural gas power generating units”, strengthening the “leading role in the cleaner and low-carbon transformation of coal power”. Reuters reports that China’s coal production shifted from a decline to growth in June, growing 3.6% to reach 405.4m metric tonnes, which is said was due to “increasing demand for air conditioning” and “an improvement” in mine safety “allowing some mines to restart operations”. The Guardian covers a study finding that, by 2020, China “represented 64-66% of global emissions for tetrafluoromethane and hexafluoroethane”, two potent greenhouse gases – although it notes that these two gases have a small share in the overall makeup of greenhouse gases.

In other Chinas news, BJX News publishes data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showing that the country’s “large-scale industrial power generation” reached 768.5 terawatt-hours (TWh) in June, with thermal power falling by 7.4% and wind and solar power increasing by 12.7% and 18.1%, respectively. China “may have already peaked its output of greenhouse gases…well ahead” of President Xi Jinping’s 2030 target, Bloomberg reports. China Energy Net reports that the Guangzhou municipal government has published its city-level carbon peaking action plan, which includes goals to “promote the innovative development of the carbon market”. 

Elsewhere, energy news outlet International Energy Net quotes Cai Yiqing, director of the Power Demand Side Management Promotion Center, saying that the increase in the electrification level of end-use energy in China, such as “the widespread adoption of new energy vehicles (NEVs)”, has supported “the development of green energy”, but also “presents new challenges for power supply”. Business newspaper Caixin reports that Xin Guobin, a vice minister at China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), warns that the “disorderly competition” in the country’s auto sector, facing “weakening domestic demand”, is “squeezing” Chinese vehicle manufacturers and “destabilising the industrial and supply chains”. Caixin also says that the third plenum of China’s Communist Party will address “key topics”, including energy security, technology development and economic reform.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Italy and Spain are backing tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicle imports ahead of “a Monday midnight deadline for all 27 EU members to take their stand”. China has urged the World Trade Organisation on Monday to “set up an expert panel to help settle a dispute” over EV subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act of the US, another Reuters report says. Bloomberg says Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Envision is “close to a deal” to develop a new manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia to “support its goal of boosting renewable power production”. State news agency Xinhua quotes the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Yang Baorong saying that China is a “reliable partner for Africa in pursuing high-quality green energy”.

Hannah Bond – co-CEO at ActionAid UK – writes in Climate Home News that, in the wake of Hurricane Beryl, the UK government should “raise its ambition” on climate finance. Bond says that Beryl should be a “wake-up call” for the government to “act on its historic responsibilities as a major global greenhouse gas polluter”, adding that climate finance must be “at the heart of its climate agenda as COP29 rapidly approaches”. She says that Caribbean countries are caught in a “negative debt spiral”, because they “have no choice but to turn to international financial institutions and take on eye-watering levels of debt to help communities regain their footing”. She adds: “In its manifesto, Britain’s Labour party spoke about ‘tackling unsustainable debt’ as a ‘priority area’ in its global commitments – indeed a positive step forward. But in power we need it to act and end the colonial debt system and support countries in the Caribbean and beyond move towards a just and climate resilient future.” Elsewhere, veteran climate activist and author Bill McKibben writes on his substack under the headline: “The GOP climate plan is…way worse than the Taliban’s?” McKibben notes that Republicans are gathering in Milwaukee for their convention this week and says that “if climate change is mentioned in Milwaukee at all this week, it will be only to scorn the whole idea”. In contrast, he says, the Democratic party platform is “responsibly and normally boring, in the tradition of party platforms”. He goes on to compare GOP policy with the rest of the world, highlighting the efforts of the Taliban on climate change. He says: “I am no fan of the Taliban…But on climate change they’re striving to be part of the normal world.”

Meanwhile, in UK comment, Sam Hall – the director of the Conservative Environment Network – writes in Conservative Home that “the environment in particular offers a unique opportunity [for the Tories] to win back Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green voters without costing us Reform switchers”. He says: “CT Group polling prior to the election showed that over 60% of Conservative-to-Reform switchers named immigration as the top issue deciding their vote, compared to only 2% who named climate policies and net-zero…The truth is that net-zero is not a salient issue for Reform voters and rowing back further on green policies would not have won them back.” He concludes: “Copying Reform’s agenda wholesale won’t win a majority. That’s why we must also put forward a positive, conservative plan for the environment.” Andrew Gilmour, the executive director of the Berghof Foundation, writes in the Financial Times that “risks of violent conflict will rise as the green transition picks up speed”. He says that climate change has become a “‘wedge issue’ in culture wars by conservative and far-right parties opposed to greener policies”, adding that “radicalism on both sides may deepen and even turn violent.” He says that the countries who currently rely on oil revenue will be hit hardest by the energy transition, arguing this will “probably result in rebellion, intercommunal conflict and accelerated recruitment into extremist armed groups such as Boko Haram, al-Qaeda and Islamic State – as well as violent repression by governments in response”. He continues: “The transition from fossil fuels is expected to cause conflict in other ways. There is growing evidence that regions mining and exporting minerals that are essential for renewable technologies will face the same ‘resource curse’ that many oil producers are used to.” For example, he notes the armed groups fighting for control of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s cobalt and copper mines. He argues that we need “a more rigorous assessment of conflict risks when investing in renewable and rechargeable energy”. And Michael Mosbacher – the associate comment editor at the climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph – has penned a comment piece under the headline “the Science Museum will pay a high price for surrendering to the mob”, referring to a recent decision by the Science Museum to stop taking funding from oil company Equinor.

Considering how climate change will affect soil moisture, as well as global temperatures, significantly increases the projected impact of heatwaves on people, new research suggests. The study uses climate models to understand the impact of climate change on soil moisture and to examine how soil moisture effects could contribute to future increases in heatwaves. The researchers say: “With soil moisture effects combined with global warming, the longest yearly heatwaves are found to increase by up to 20 days, intensify by up to 2C in mean temperature, with an increasing of frequency by 15% (the percentage relative to the total number of days for a year) over most mid-latitude land regions by 2040-2070 under the SSP585 high emissions scenario.”