The UK Labour party leader Keir Starmer will pledge to end new North Sea oil and gas exploration and help communities profit from clean-power projects in a widely anticipated speech later today, BBC News reports. It says: “Speaking in Edinburgh later the Labour leader will vow to ‘cut bills, create jobs and provide energy security’. He will also announce a publicly owned green energy company based in Scotland.” In England, Conservative rules effectively banning new onshore wind farm developments will be scrapped if Labour wins the next election, BBC News adds. It continues: “Labour has confirmed it would ‘not grant licences to explore new fields’ in the North Sea, a momentous shift for a sector which supports 200,000 UK jobs, including 90,000 in Scotland, according to trade body Offshore Energies UK. But the party insists it will honour any licences in existence at the time of the next election, which must be held by January 2025. That is likely to include the controversial new Rosebank development west of Shetland.” It comes after a frontpage story in the Sunday Times claimed Starmer was retreating from his pledge to end North Sea licences by failing to commit to blocking Rosebank, prompting many commentators on Twitter to point out that Rosebank already has a licence. The Daily Telegraph also covers the news, focusing its headline on Labour’s plan to allow new onshore wind development. The Guardian’s coverage of the plans cites new Carbon Brief analysis finding that the UK would need to import less gas under Labour’s plans, despite the ban on new North Sea drilling. The Observer reports that, under Labour’s plans, households could receive “cost-of-living discounts”, including council tax deductions, if their area signs up to new green projects. Politico and the Press Association also cover the news. The Times reports that former Labour prime minister Tony Blair’s thinktank has urged Starmer to stick to his proposal to reform the planning system to allow new green projects to be built faster. 

Elsewhere, the Sun has a story saying that Labour shadow net-zero secretary Ed Miliband in 2019 called the campaign group Extinction Rebellion “exciting”. And the FT speaks to Sir Dieter Helm, professor of economic policy at the University of Oxford and former government adviser, who says he believes neither Labour nor Conservative plans to decarbonise the power grid are realistic.

Female delegates at UN climate talks “allege they were bullied, abused and sexually harassed by male negotiators, casting a deeper shadow over this year’s COP28 summit”, the FT reports. It continues: “Delegates at the UN talks in Bonn this month told the Financial Times of several instances where female delegates faced intimidation or harassment from male counterparts, prompting a letter of protest from two dozen countries worried about abusive behaviour. Camila Zepeda, Mexico’s head of delegation, also told the FT that she suffered sexual harassment at COP27 in Egypt last year, which included receiving inappropriate messages from a male delegate.” The FT reports that, speaking at the end of the Bonn climate talks on Thursday, UN climate chief Simon Stiell confirmed he had been “made aware that inappropriate behaviour has taken place during this session”, saying: “Let me make a clear statement – harassment, be it in the form of sexism, bullying or sexual harassment, is not acceptable in the UNFCCC process.” The FT adds: “The UNFCCC is understood to be considering whether its code of conduct requires updating and whether new measures should be introduced before the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.”

It comes as BBC News reports that the UNFCCC has a new plan to make coal, oil and gas representatives disclose themselves at future climate meetings.

The Guardian reports that talks on a new global finance deal aimed at giving developing countries access to funds to help them tackle climate change and develop their economies will begin this week in Paris. It says: “Emmanuel Macron, the French president, will be joined on Thursday by dozens of world leaders to discuss climate finance, green growth, the debt crisis and how to tap private sector sources of investment. EU leaders, including the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, will be there, but the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has not confirmed whether he will attend.” The latest issue of Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed newsletter explores how Macron has struggled to garner support for some proposals to raise climate finance ahead of the talks.

Elsewhere, the Financial Times publishes an editorial on one proposed method for raising new climate finance: a carbon tax on polluting shipping.

Many publications report that voters in Switzerland have backed a new climate bill designed to cut fossil-fuel use and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. In a referendum on Sunday, 59.1% of voters backed the green-energy proposals, according to BBC News. The FT says the vote has “underlined the peculiarly Swiss obstacles faced by Bern as it seeks to enact new measures aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050”. It continues: “Switzerland has one of the cleanest energy records in Europe and high levels of public concern and awareness around climate change. Yet faced with an environmental emergency, the celebrated strengths of the country’s political system – its highly devolved nature, consensus-based approach and hostility to legislative change without months, if not years, of deliberation – have made it a potential hostage to populist nimbyism and filibustering…For weeks, the well-funded ‘No’ campaign depicted mountain vistas blighted by wind turbines.” Yet the climate scepticism was countered by a “campaign by scientists and environmental groups argu[ing] the country’s melting glaciers would soon vanish completely if greenhouse gas emissions were not reduced”, Sky News says.

Last week saw “record-breaking” heat in several northern Chinese cities, putting pressure  on the nation’s electricity supplies and prompting authorities to “perform mock emergency drills”, reports Reuters. The Central Meteorological Administration issued a number of “heightened heat warnings” last Friday, saying the temperature in Beijing, for example, could reach 39C over the weekend, the article adds. Shanghai Securities News and Wion cover the same story. 

Meanwhile, Lin Weibin from research institute China Energy Research Society says that “intelligence and digitalisation of the power system will be the necessary path to constructing a new type of power system”, reports energy media outlet bjx.com, citing a report by China Energy News. He adds that the construction of a new power system with renewable energy as “the main component” benefits the power industry transformation. Neo Energy has published a review of China’s electricity usage. It writes that from January to May,  the electricity demand and the installation progress of renewable energy were “lower than expected”, with 3.9% more electricity being generated and the hydropower generation dropped by 19.2%. It adds that during the same period, coal prices “exceeded expectations” and thermal power generation increased by 6.2%.

Separately, Meng Wei, an official from the central government’s planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said on Friday that China’s coal reserve has reached a “historic high” of 187m tonnes, ensuring an “adequate power supply” during the summer peak, reports China Energy News. The country’s “first independently developed megawatt-scale floating wave energy generation device ‘Nankun’” has started “trial operations” in Guangdong province, writes China Daily, adding that this is a “leap forward” for China’s offshore renewable energy. Additionally, PV Magazine focuses on two Chinese solar manufacturers. It reports that JinkoSolar has planned the construction of a “56GW vertically integrated PV factory” in Shanxi province, while Longi has started constructing a “100GW wafer and 50 GW production facility”.

Elsewhere, German development minister Jochen Flasbarth said that China should provide financial support in dealing with climate change-induced “loss and damage”, Argus reports. Finally, Chinese academic Jia Xiaoxia, program officer at the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), says that China has “scientifically” promoted desertification control and has worked with other parties to promote green development along the “Belt and Road” in the past decades, reports Xinhua.

Campaigners have won the right to challenge the government over its failure to adequately consider climate change in its food strategy for England, the Guardian reports. It says: “Ministers broke the law by failing to make plans to cut consumption of meat and dairy in England, activists will argue in a legal challenge after they were granted permission for a full judicial review of the government’s food strategy. Overturning two previous decisions, the court of appeal ruled that the food systems campaigners Feedback could challenge the national food strategy on the basis that it failed to take into account ministers’ duties to cut carbon emissions. The government had argued that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which drafted the strategy, was not bound by the obligations set out in the Climate Change Act 2008.”

In other UK news, the Sunday Times reports that a Supreme Court case over whether more oil drilling should be allowed at Horse Hill in Surrey is set to begin on Wednesday. The case could have major implications for the prospects of future fossil fuel projects in the UK, it says. Elsewhere, Danish power group Ørsted has said the government must do more to bring down the costs of offshore wind development, the FT reports. The Daily Telegraph reports that National Grid will this winter ask factories and businesses to voluntarily cut their energy usage after the success of its “demand flexibility service” with households last winter. And BBC News reports that a hose pipe ban has been imposed on Kent and Sussex amid record pressure on drinking water supplies.

After the shutdown of the last German nuclear power plants in April, the country’s Federal Network Agency “had to defend itself” against accusations that Germany would now have to buy nuclear and coal-fired power from abroad, reports Der Spiegel. However, the article quotes the president of authority saying that Germany currently imports mainly electricity from renewables and that “it can be cheaper to import electricity than to produce it here [in Germany]”. The outlet notes that, according to the thinktank Agora Energiewende, the electricity imported by Germany in May was 52% renewables, 23% nuclear power and 7% coal-fired power, with the electricity mainly coming from France, Denmark and Switzerland.

Meanwhile, Die Zeit reports that Germany’s economy and climate minister Robert Habeck sees progress in expanding “climate-friendly” heating networks in Germany and warns against too much focus on hydrogen for heating. In the ongoing debate about the heating law, which envisages a ban on oil and gas boilers from 2024, Habeck tells the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that he is “proud of every change” that “improved” the building energy law (following a deal struck between the governing coalition last week), but there is “a tricky point and that is the hydrogen”. The outlet adds that Habeck “would be happy if gas heaters could run on hydrogen,” but the existing hydrogen will initially be needed for areas such as the steel industry.

Separately, RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland reports that Germany and Colombia want to work closely together on the production of green hydrogen. Euronews reports that climate activists in Berlin marched to the German Chancellery on Friday, calling on the federal government “to quit arguing” and agree on a heating bill. In addition, they protested against “watering down” the German Climate Change Act.

Finally, an editorial in the Financial Times looks at how the country can “update” its economic model: “Germany has quickly cut its reliance on Russian gas. The rapid building of LNG terminals has helped to boost energy security. But the decision to phase out its last nuclear reactors in April and the slow rollout of renewables mean Germany is still reliant on imports and fossil fuels for its energy needs and remains exposed to volatile global prices…Scholz has called for a new ‘German speed’ to achieve its transformation. But he will need to remove a number of speed bumps that have long held back the German economy first. Renewable infrastructure projects, such as wind farms, have been delayed by lengthy planning procedures.”

There continues to be much reaction to Labour’s anticipated climate plans, due to be announced by Keir Starmer in a speech later today. In the New Statesman, environment correspondent India Bourke says that Labour’s “current climate messaging amounts to something of a tight-rope walk”. She continues: “On the one hand the party is positioning itself as the champion of serious climate commitment and Joe Biden-style industrial investment. On the other hand, it also appears to be playing down any sense of radical departure from the economic status quo. Will this balancing act help Labour to gain power at a time of economic strain? Or is it a compromise that could lose them decisive votes?” FT columnist Martin Sandbu says Labour faces a choice: “Go big or go where”, arguing: “Big, deliberate economic transformations have usually only been possible in deep crisis – wars, as with the new economic settlement post-1945, or protracted economic failures, as with the 1980s shift away from that settlement. Have we arrived at such a moment today? In terms of economic necessity the answer is undoubtedly yes. Politically, it is less clear.” In a Bloomberg column, former Sunday Times editor Martin Ivens says Starmer’s “head and heart are divided”, writing: “His head tells him that his shadow chancellor is right to enforce ferocious discipline on her colleagues…Starmer’s heart is with his shadow climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, his predecessor but one as party leader and the keeper of his soft-left socialist conscience.”

Elsewhere, right-wing newspapers continue to publish editorials and commentary criticising Labour’s plans to tackle climate change. The Daily Mail publishes an op-ed by current net-zero secretary Grant Shapps, who continues to push the narrative that Labour “has become the political wing of Just Stop Oil”. [See Carbon Brief’s detailed factcheck of Shapps’ numerous misleading claims.] In an accompanying editorial, the Daily Mail says Labour “would veto new North Sea oil drilling, to the delight of major donor and Just Stop Oil backer Dale Vince”, adding: “This is a recipe for disaster. There is no way renewables can replace fossil fuels in the foreseeable future, so the only way to keep the lights on would be buying in ever more expensive energy from tyrants such as Vladimir Putin.” [See Carbon Brief’s new analysis finding the UK government would import less gas under a Labour government.] The Sun on Sunday runs an editorial based around the fact that Ed Miliband once described Extinction Rebellion as “exciting” in 2019. The Sun publishes an op-ed by Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith, who claims Labour is “backing a new Luddite coalition of chaos made up of the eco mob and trade unions”. An editorial in the Daily Telegraph claims “voters are unlikely to be fooled” by Starmer’s plans to boost green energy.

In other UK comment, an editorial in the Times says prime minister Rishi Sunak should focus on making the UK a growth hub for “low-carbon industries”. In the Independent, campaigner Femi Oluwole says the departure of Green MP Caroline Lucas should “wake everybody else up” on climate change. And in the Daily Telegraph, writer Simon Heffer claims “smart meters are a trial run for an even greater heat pump disaster to come”. Elsewhere, the Times explores in a feature whether “citizen mutiny across Europe raises doubts about net-zero”. 

The Financial Times publishes a letter from CEO of BP Bernard Looney that urges people to “get behind” COP28 host, the United Arab Emirates. He writes: “The UAE sits on prolific oil and gas resources – and is committed to net-zero. In Dr Sultan al-Jaber [the COP28 president-elect and CEO of UAE’s state-owned oil company Adnoc] it has a COP28 president who is on record calling for course correction and who challenges the oil and gas sector to ‘decarbonise quicker, future-proof sooner, and create the energy system of the future sooner’…It understands that the energy system of the future has to be more secure and more affordable as well as lower carbon. That requires investing much more in the energy transition and (not or) continued investment in today’s mainly hydrocarbon energy system. In this, the UAE is an exemplar — maybe uniquely so…If people want a truly transformative COP28, let’s get behind a country of action on climate change and support the UAE and Dr Al-Jaber’s leadership of this vital process.”

Population growth drove a 30% rise in emissions from global food supply chains over 2000-19, according to new research. The authors use “a physical trade flow approach and structural decomposition analysis” to assess changes in “global consumption-based food emissions” over 2000-19. They find that rising per-capita demand increased emissions by 19% over this time. Meanwhile, a drop in emissions intensity from land-use activities reduced emissions by 39%. The authors find that “emissions outsourced through international food trade dominated by beef and oil crops increased by ~1 Gt CO2 equivalent, mainly driven by increased imports by developing countries”. The paper adds that, in 2019, food emissions made up 31% of human-produced greenhouse gas emissions.