Last Sunday was likely the hottest day ever recorded by humans, according to the European Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the Associated Press reports. Preliminary data from C3S shows the global average absolute temperature was 17.09C on Sunday, beating the previous record of 17.08C set last year, AP says. The “historic day comes on the heels of 13 straight months of unprecedented temperatures and the hottest year scientists have ever seen”, the Washington Post says. According to the newspaper, C3S director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement: “We are in truly uncharted territory. And as the climate keeps warming, we are bound to see records being broken in future months and years.” The Guardian notes that the new record is “inflamed by the carbon pollution spewed from burning fossils and farming livestock”, adding: “The rapid baking of the planet is expected to slow later this year, at least briefly, if a powerful weather pattern shifts from its neutral state into a cooler phase known as La Niña. But the underlying trend of global heating will persist as long as people pump gases into the atmosphere that act like a greenhouse.” There is widespread coverage of the news, including in the Times of India, Ireland’s RTE and the South China Morning Post.

The record comes as much of the globe continues to face extreme weather. The Associated Press reports that “multiple wildfires in the Canadian Rockies’ largest national park sent up to 25,000 visitors and residents fleeing west over the last open mountain road [on] Tuesday, navigating through darkness and soot following a government alert during the area’s busiest tourist time of the year”. In the US, tens of millions of people in western states “endured scorching temperatures on Tuesday while wind gusts and dry conditions stoked dozens of wildfires, prompting evacuations across the parched region”, Reuters reports. CNN reports on new figures suggesting that extreme heat this year has killed nearly 400 people in one county in Arizona. The Guardian reports that a 56-year-old woman died while hiking in south-western Utah over the weekend after running out of water in the extreme heat. The Washington Post reports that Houston will face more heavy rains and flooding in the wake of Hurricane Beryl. In Africa, the Guardian reports that at least 229 people have died in mudslides after heavy rain in south-western Ethiopia, with the death toll likely to increase as bodies are recovered. Africa News reports that drought has severely affected Morocco’s cereal harvest. In the UK, the Daily Mail reports on data suggesting Britons are skipping usual holiday destinations such as Spain in order to pursue a “coolcation” in countries, such as Switzerland, Denmark and Poland.

Kamala Harris could “set a new high bar for climate ambition in America”, according to environmental groups who are endorsing the current US vice-president for the Democrats’ presidential nomination, the Guardian says. It continues: “Harris, as vice-president, cast the tie-breaking vote to pass Joe Biden’s landmark legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, which unleashes hundreds of billions of dollars into building clean energy and electric car capacity…Harris’s work on environmental issues stretches back to the early stages of her career two decades ago, when she created one of the US’s first environmental justice units as San Francisco’s district attorney. Later, as attorney general of California, Harris secured multimillion-dollar settlements from Volkswagen for rigging vehicles with emissions-cheating software and from the oil firms Phillips 66 and ConocoPhillips for environmental violations.”

Elsewhere, the Financial Times reports on a new analysis from the Rhodium Group finding that the US remains off track to meet its 2030 climate target set under the Paris Agreement despite the Biden administration’s new climate policies. According to the analysis, the US was likely to achieve emissions cuts of 32-43% below 2005 levels by 2030, and then accelerate to reach in the range of 38-55% by 2035, the FT says. Its Paris target is to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030, it adds. The Washington Post notes that the analysis also shows the US is cutting its emissions at a faster pace than at any other time in history, despite still being off target.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration announced yesterday that it will seek to curb nitrous oxide in the next phase of its national climate strategy, Reuters reports. It follows on from the US focusing on domestic and international measures to reduce methane. At a White House event, climate envoy John Podesta said: “Most of the discussion of climate change focuses on carbon dioxide, but super pollutants like methane and nitrous oxide cause half of the climate change we’re experiencing today.” Inside Climate News reports that the new focus could lead to a “potentially massive” new climate deal between the US and China. It reports: “A Biden administration official and climate scientists who track so-called super-pollutants say bilateral efforts targeting industrial N2O began after Inside Climate News reported on these emissions from factories in the US and China, showing how a powerful source of greenhouse gas emissions could be easily eliminated.” The South China Morning Post reports that Podesta is set to visit China later this year to continue talks on N2O emissions. 

In addition, Reuters reports that Elon Musk has commented on the likely impact of Donald Trump removing support for electric vehicles if elected president, saying it would likely hurt other car brands more than Tesla. It comes as publications including the Times report that Tesla’s second-quarter profit fell 45% compared with a year ago. The New York Times adds: “The company’s current operating profit margin, a measure of how much money it makes on every dollar of revenue, was 6.3%, compared with 9.6% in the same period a year ago. The results will most likely heighten pressure on Tesla and Musk, to show that the company can find new ways to grow and make money.”

Finally, the Washington Post reports that Jay Inslee is spending his final few months as Washington governor trying to stop a repeal of the state’s landmark Climate Commitment Act.

The UK’s national adaptation programme is being challenged in the high court, with lawyers from Friends of the Earth arguing yesterday that the plan does not set specific targets for reducing the risks people face from climate change, Reuters says. The environmental campaigners’ argument partly hinges on a recent European court of human rights ruling that Switzerland violated its citizens’ human rights by failing to do enough to combat climate change, Reuters adds. The Guardian also reports on the case, noting that the legal challenge has been brought by three UK citizens who have been affected by climate change. This includes Kevin Jordan, a Norfolk resident who was ordered to leave his home after it was deemed extremely likely to fall into the sea, and Doug Paulley, a disabled man whose health condition has been worsened by the effects of extreme heat. BBC News also speaks to Jordan, who tells the broadcaster he has “lost everything”. BBC News says that legal challenge is being opposed by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra). The legal hearing is due to end on Wednesday, with a ruling expected at a later date, it adds.

Elsewhere, four Greenpeace activists who staged a “no new oil” protest on the roof of Rishi Sunak’s North Yorkshire manor house have been accused of damaging 15 of the former prime minister’s roof tiles at the cost of just under £3,000, the Guardian reports. The activists are facing what is expected to be a two-day trial at York magistrates court, it adds. Separately, the Guardian reports that home secretary Yvette Cooper could abandon a law brought by Conservatives that has seen hundreds of people criminalised for carrying out peaceful protests. The Guardian also reports that airlines may have to tell passengers the environmental impact of the flights they book under new proposals from the UK regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority. The Daily Telegraph says that UK airline Virgin Atlantic is to charge passengers a “green levy” on every flight as it seeks to cover the costs of using sustainable aviation fuel. The story is trailed on the newspaper’s frontpage. The Financial Times reports that ministers are “set to change environmental rules to allow housebuilders in England to start projects that could pollute rivers so long as they carry out mitigation work before the homes are sold”. The Press Association covers a new National Audit Office report finding the UK could miss its 2030 carbon capture target. The Daily Telegraph also covers the report, breathlessly saying failure risks a “net-zero nightmare”. The Press Association also covers a report by a group led by the Royal Academy of Engineering which calls for the move to decarbonise the grid by 2030 to be “treated as a national mission”.

In other UK news, a frontpage story in the Times reports on new developments at Buckingham Palace, including the replacement of two 15-year-old helicopters with new ones, something the newspaper says is “despite [a] green push” from the royal family. The Daily Telegraph also covers the story on its frontpage. The Independent says that King Charles “has pushed ahead with green measures including adding solar panels to the royal estate as well as converting his pair of Bentleys to run on biofuel”. And the Daily Express notes that the installation of heat pumps at Windsor Castle “is also on the cards”. Separately, publications including the Times, Evening Standard and Daily Telegraph report that Crown Estates profits have more than doubled to £1.1bn this year due to “lucrative wind farm leases”.

Facing a 38% tariff on its electric vehicle (EV) exports to the EU, Chinese car manufacturer SAIC has said that the bloc’s anti-subsidy probe was “unfair and illegal”, reports the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP). The automaker said that the European Commission had “made errors” in its calculations of subsidies and that SAIC had the “right to take further legal measures” in response to the final ruling expected in November, the news outlet adds. Business news outlet Caixin also covers the story, saying SAIC and the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products jointly criticised the investigation as “inconsistent with [World Trade Organization] rules”. State-supporting news outlet Global Times says that Chinese EV companies “have continued to sign cooperation agreements with EU automakers” despite the recent trade tensions. European lobby group WindEurope has warned Germany that its deal with Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Mingyang “risks fostering unfair competition for local suppliers and poses a threat to the region’s energy security”, Bloomberg reports. State news agency Xinhua covers Chinese premier Li Qiang’s “congratulatory message” to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on her re-election, which emphasised the need to “enhance strategically mutual trust”.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijani news portal News.Az reports that COP29 president-designate Mukhtar Babayev and lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev have met with Chinese climate envoy Liu Zhenmin “on the sidelines of the Ministerial for Climate Action” in China, adding that Babayev expressed “appreciation to China for hosting the productive event”. Australian news outlet Mirage News carries a transcript of remarks made by executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Simon Stiell at the ministerial that the world “must redouble our commitment to a new global climate finance goal this year”. SCMP covers comments by US climate envoy John Podesta that he will travel to China later this year to hold talks on reducing non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions, quoting Podesta saying: “Cutting industrial nitrous oxide pollution is an opportunity…I think we need to seize it together.”

Elsewhere, energy news outlet BJX News says that the majority of China’s listed thermal power companies have seen a profit in the first half of 2024 due to “lower fuel prices and reduced power generation costs”. A commentary in Bloomberg by columnist David Fickling says that China’s cement production could fall by 20% by the end of 2024 and result in “a decline in global carbon pollution of nearly 1%”, adding that “cement’s decline is one burst bubble we should welcome”. And the Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily reports that China’s goal of completing “transformation” for 80% of the country’s crude steel production capacity remains “unchanged” despite the approaching 2025 deadline.

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law “a broad climate change act that will set caps for large emitters and require every town and city to publish an adaptation plan”, Reuters says. The president released a statement saying the Climate Change Bill is aimed at enabling South Africa to meet its commitments under the Paris Agreement, the newswire adds. South African publication the Citizen says the law will be “welcomed after the country has for years lacked a regulatory mechanism requiring government departments to work cooperatively to address climate change”. Elsewhere, the Financial Times reports a “cautionary tale” of how the closure of a coal plant under South Africa’s “just transition” programme left an impact the size of an “atomic bomb” on local communities.

In India’s first budget since its new government assumed power in June, finance minister Niramala Sitharaman “announced a diversified energy plan focussed on small, modular nuclear reactors, rooftop solar plants and the development of advanced ultra super critical (AUSC) thermal power plants”, Hindustan Times reports. In her budget speech, Sitharaman is quoted by the paper as saying her government is formulating a roadmap for moving “hard to abate” industries from “energy efficiency” targets to “emission targets” involving India’s carbon market, and that “nuclear energy is expected to form a significant part” of the energy mix for “developed India”. It adds that Sitharaman also announced financial assistance for states “affected by climate extremes, flash floods and cloudbursts”, but experts told Hindustan Times that the budget “lacks focus on improving climate data and information infrastructure and making it more people-centric” and “fails to make cooling appliances affordable, available and accessible”. The budget also announced “a new policy for promoting pumped storage projects”, energy audits and a customs duty exemption for 25 critical minerals, Economic Times reports. According to another Hindustan Times story, Sitharaman said that India will develop a “climate finance taxonomy” to make more capital available for adaptation and mitigation. Carbon Copy, however, points out that details in assistance to climate-vulnerable states “were missing”, along with an “acknowledgement of the glitches and errors” in signing up households to a subsidised national solar plan and a “rare disagreement” in the minister and ministry’s approach to India’s voluntary carbon market.

Meanwhile, India’s economic survey for 2023-24 describes the “current approach to dealing with climate change [as] flawed” because it does not recognise trade-offs, Hindustan Times reports, citing examples such as the UK postponing “its decision to ban the sale of vehicles that run on petrol and diesel for five years” from 2030 to 2035. “It is morally wrong to tell developing countries to abandon their aspirations for better living standards so that developed countries can maintain their ways of living in cleaner environments and cooler climates,” the survey says, according to the paper. India’s chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran called out developed countries for their “double standards” on climate action, Press Trust of India reports, highlighting the G7’s commitment to ending unabated coal power “only in the first half of the 2030s, despite their high carbon emissions”. The economic survey estimates that “total adaptation-relevant expenditure” was 5.6% of India’s gross domestic product in 2021-22, adding that a “lion’s share of India’s climate action has been domestically financed and the flow of international finance has been very limited”, according to Down to Earth.

Elsewhere, Frontline carries an interview with climate scientist Indu K Murthy, who says that “[w]hile the decision to phase down emissions is a step in the right direction, its impact on future heatwaves in India hinges on global efforts”. In a Frontline editor’s note, Vaishna Roy observes that “[a]s much as India is right to insist that developed nations pay the price for their historically unscrupulous and extractive policies, it is in India’s own interests to move to cleaner energy more quickly and more robustly than it is currently doing”. And another Frontline story looks at “a new framework…for modelling climate action that foregrounds equity”.

Peter Franklin, associate editor of the news and opinion website UnHerd, examines the reasons why several traditional Conservative seats in the English countryside surrounding London went to the Greens in the country’s recent general election. Writing for Conservative Home, he says: “The outflow of young, left-leaning professionals from London to more affordable locations beyond the capital brings a harvest of votes for Green candidates in Tory seats. The last decade or so has seen the greying of city populations (including London) while in some parts of the greater south-east the share of young adults has increased. In this regard, the eastern part of East Anglia stands out as a rejuvenating area. It was also an electoral disaster zone, featuring a string of Tory losses to Labour, Reform and (in Waveney Valley) the Greens.” Elsewhere, an editorial in the Sun defends a decision to hand Just Stop Oil protesters record prison sentences for a Zoom call where they planned to disrupt the M25, saying: “Spare us the millionaire luvvies’ facile whining about Just Stop Oil’s jail stretches.” In addition, the Daily Telegraph has a column titled: “Don’t blame climate change for killing British butterflies.” [There is lots of scientific evidence to suggest climate change is among the factors threatening British butterflies.]

An editorial in the Los Angeles Times calls out misinformation being spread by former US president Donald Trump and oil and gas companies in the US, saying: “Oil companies are worried that federal incentives and the growing popularity of electric vehicles will eat into their profits and threaten their stranglehold over energy consumption. Former President Trump and other Republican politicians want to exploit consumer and autoworker anxieties about the transition to zero-emission vehicles to help them win in November. That’s why both the fossil fuel industry and the [Republican party] are spreading the same lie that the Biden administration is banning gas cars. This self-serving effort to deceive voters is shameful, even for those whose peddling of disinformation has become sadly expected.”

Periods of drought over 2003-20 in the contiguous US led to a “considerable decline” in hydroelectricity generation, a new study says, which amounted to approximately 300m MWh and an estimated loss of $28bn to the sector. The findings also highlight an “adverse environmental effect” of drought-induced reductions in hydropower as they are “often compensated by increased reliance on natural gas usage, which led to substantial emissions of CO2”, the authors say. Finding a “robust correlation” between hydrologic drought and hydroelectricity generation, the study identifies “Washington and California as the most vulnerable states, while Nevada exhibits the least vulnerability”.

“Harnessing the power of numbers” could increase public trust and concern around climate change in social media posts, a new study suggests. Assessing more the 8m tweets by climate scientists and 17,000 posts on a climate subreddit, the researchers find that the presence of numbers “increased sharing up to 31.7% but, counter to hypothesis, decreased liking of messages 5.2%”. The authors suggest that “the decreased liking was due, not to reduced engagement, but to more negative feelings towards climate-related content described with numeric precision”. A further experiment with 212 participants finds that using numbers on the consequences of climate change “led to more sharing, wanting to find out more, and greater trust and perceptions of an expert messenger”.