July is likely to be Earth’s hottest month on record, Dr Gavin Schmidt, the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, tells the Guardian and other outlets – as extreme heat continues to bake much of the globe. Schmidt made the announcement during a meeting at NASA’s Washington DC headquarters attended by federal climate experts and other leaders, including NASA administrator Bill Nelson and chief scientist and senior climate adviser Kate Calvin, the Guardian says. “We are seeing unprecedented changes all over the world,” Schmidt told the meeting. Though the changes may feel shocking, they are “not a surprise” to scientists, he added. “There has been a decade-on-decade increase in temperatures throughout the last four decades.” It comes as another leading climate scientist, Prof Sir Bob Watson, tells BBC News that he believes that the world’s ambition to keep global warming to 1.5C will be missed. In an interview aired on Thursday, he told the BBC Today Programme: “I think most people fear that if we give up on the 1.5C [limit], which I do not believe we will achieve, in fact I’m very pessimistic about achieving even 2C, that if we allow the target to become looser and looser, higher and higher, governments will do even less in the future.”

Elsewhere, the Guardian has a team of reporters located from Gaza, Palestine through to Oakland, California reporting on their experiences of extreme heat. A second story in the Guardian explores how the extreme heat is affecting food security around the planet. The Financial Times has a graphics-led article exploring how jet stream patterns and heat domes are contributing to the extreme heat globally. The Economist explores whether the current heatwaves indicate that global warming is speeding up.

In the US, extreme heat is expected to continue to spread across southern states this weekend, before moving north, the Independent reports, adding: “According to a new forecast from the National Weather Service, the southwest will face the hottest temperatures this weekend with highs in and around Phoenix, Las Vegas, and inland Southern California expected to breach 110F (43C). Temperatures are expected to push or exceed 100F (38C) in much of the rest of the region, with much of New Mexico, Texas and Colorado also facing above-average heat. But while states like Arizona have been boiling for the better part of a week, parts of the south-central and southeastern US – including areas in Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Arkansas – are also expected to face temperatures above 110F in the coming days.” 

In China, Beijing and other cities are bracing for severe flooding today “as summer storms roll across many parts of China, while inland regions bake in intense heat, threatening to shrink the country’s biggest freshwater lake”, Reuters reports.

In Europe, the “Mediterranean diet” is at risk as heatwaves contribute to “a dramatic slide in the production of grain”, as well as wine and olive oil, the Times reports. Reuters reports on an Italian farmer who has so far battled frost, floods, heat and hail this year. A study finds that one in three people in Paris are at risk from extreme heat, the Times reports. Bloomberg reports that the UK’s record heat in June unexpectedly boosted retail sales.

Elsewhere, Le Monde speaks to Omar Baddour, head of the Climate Monitoring and Policy Services division at the World Meteorological Organization, about the extreme heat currently affecting North Africa and why its impacts are less well documented than heat in Europe.

A government-selected group of climate experts have accused UK prime minister Rishi Sunak of having a “lackadaisical” approach to tackling climate change, the Times reports. According to the newspaper, the “Friends of COP” group, established by Boris Johnson’s government to support the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, said in a letter to Sunak: “We have reconvened and are writing at this time because of a shared and deep concern for your government’s lackadaisical approach to international climate, nature and environment issues.” They suggest that the UK had become “more parochial” when it came to tackling climate change, “citing concerns over reports that the UK’s £11.6bn climate aid pledge was at risk”, the Times says. It adds: “The group of 15 includes Lord Stern, author of a groundbreaking government report on the economics of climate change; Prof Emily Shuckburgh, a University of Cambridge climate scientist; and Paul Polman, the former chief executive of Unilever.” The Financial Times also reports on the letter, noting that it is the latest in a series of interventions against Sunak’s approach to climate policy. It says: “A similar letter sent by 104 British businesses this month, including Tesco, BT and Marks and Spencer, urged Sunak to refocus on the UK’s net-zero goal or risk the country being left behind. Zac Goldsmith, who quit as international climate minister last month, said the climate issue had plunged down the agenda since Johnson left Downing Street.” Meanwhile, COP26 president Sir Alok Sharma tells the i newspaper that politicians are risking “unbearable” human costs if they do not do more to tackle climate change.

Elsewhere, several outlets report that a major UK offshore wind project has been halted over spiralling costs. Bloomberg reports that the Swedish utility Vattenfall AB said in a statement that the wind farm planned in the North Sea, which would provide power to 1.5m UK homes, “is no longer viable after costs for the technology soared 40%”. It adds: “Vattenfall will take a hit of 5.5bn Swedish krona (£416m) because of the decision.” The Financial Times says the move is a “major setback” for UK government efforts to boost renewable power generation. Reuters and the Guardian also have the story. It comes as City AM reports that the former 49-day prime minister Liz Truss is supporting a Conservative backbench effort to lift the de-facto moratorium on onshore wind power in the UK, put in place by former prime minister David Cameron. 

In addition, DeSmog reports on how an energy association that represents and promotes gas boilers is “behind” a recent wave of media stories attacking heat pumps in the UK. The investigation is covered by the Guardian. 

Having regular meat-eaters in the UK cut down on some of their consumption “would be like taking 8m cars off the road”, according to new research covered by BBC News. It says: “That’s just one of the findings of new research that scientists say gives the most reliable calculation yet of how what we eat impacts our planet. The Oxford University study is the first to pinpoint the difference high- and low-meat diets have on greenhouse gas emissions, researchers say.” Study lead author Prof Peter Scarborough, from the University of Oxford, tells BBC News: ”Our results show that if everyone in the UK who is a big meat-eater reduced the amount of meat they ate, it would make a really big difference. You don’t need to completely eradicate meat from your diet.” The article includes charts illustrating how much greenhouse gas emissions could be saved by adopting different diets. The research is also covered by the Guardian and the Independent.

European climate commissioner Frans Timmermans has said “he plans to return to Dutch politics after nearly a decade in Brussels, announcing a campaign to be the country’s next prime minister”, the FT reports. It says: “The socialist politician said on Thursday he would bid to lead a joint campaign by the Labour and Green parties in November’s general election. If he wins the coalition’s leadership race he will face a tough election contest, with more than 20 parties vying for power. The governing coalition of centrists and liberals collapsed this month after a dispute over curbs on immigration, with Mark Rutte remaining as caretaker prime minister amid rising tensions over the climate and the economy.” The Guardian and Climate Home News also have the story.

The South China Morning Post reports that, following his four-day trip to China, US climate envoy John Kerry has told the media: “There are a lot of things that we [the US and China] very clearly agreed on after all this time. But there are also some issues that are going to have to be resolved that are going to take a little more time…We [the US and China] both agreed that we want to work together to guarantee a positive outcome from COP28…So we also agreed to work intensively in the weeks ahead.” The Hong Kong-based outlet adds that Kerry said the two sides have agreed to an additional meeting “in the next weeks” to discuss issues such as renewable energy and “non-carbon dioxide emissions” (such as methane). US outlet Axios reports that Kerry, when asked about Xi Jinping’s recent remarks, “did not say he interpreted them as contrary to the spirit of the talks, noting that neither the US nor China was dictating climate plans to the other”. (See July 20 Daily Briefing for Xi’s remarks).

The state-run newspaper Shanghai Observer reports that the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning has commented on Kerry’s trip, saying “climate change is a global challenge that requires countries to join hands and respond together”. The state-supporting Global Times says “China has always been playing an active role in fulfilling its commitment on climate change…but the US had been flip-flop[ing] on its policy”. The outlet quotes Diao Daming, an associate professor at the Renmin University, saying: “Both countries have yielded some positive results in climate change cooperation before…Such cooperation could help increase mutual trust and dispel some doubts to some extent.” The outlet adds that “Diao said…it’s up to the US on whether those climate change commitments can be met”. It also quotes Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, who says: “Separating the climate change issue from the overall bilateral relations is unrealistic…A major result of Kerry’s visit is to re-launch the communication channel on the matter, helping him understand China’s principles and bottom-line on the climate topic.”

Reuters says that the US-China talks were “buoyed by goodwill”, but the two countries have “achieved more on righting their diplomatic relationship than battling climate change”. Bloomberg has an article, titled: “US-China climate deal making hinges on two diplomats’ deep ties.” The New York Times also carries an article under the headline: “US and China on climate: how the world’s two largest polluters stack up”. 

Meanwhile, official data from the National Energy Administration shows that, as of the end of June, China’s total installed capacity of renewable energy power generation has surpassed 1.3 terawatts, reports the China News Service. The state news agency Xinhua reports that, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in the first half of 2023, exports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaics increased by nearly 62% year-on-year. The Chinese outlet Caixin reports that China has “powered up” the world’s “first 16-megawatt offshore wind turbine”.

In other China news, an analysis published by Caixin says that Germany’s China strategy has a “limited impact on bilateral trade and investment”. The Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu Agency reports that China’s “first overseas climate and environment observatory” has “begun operations” in Central Asia. And, finally, the China Project, a New York-based website, carries an article by Anzetse Were, a development economist, titled: “Africa’s debt isn’t mostly to China and many Beijing-financed projects are for clean energy.” 

EU competition watchdogs have allowed Germany to support companies transition to a “climate-neutral economy” with a total of €3bn, reports Die Zeit. The outlet explains that companies that manufacture batteries, solar systems, wind turbines, heat pumps, electrolysers or systems for storing CO2 can receive state support. According to the EU Commission, the subsidies must be granted by 31 December 2025 and are intended “to provide an impetus for private investments in climate-friendly technologies”. EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager is quoted saying: “This is an important contribution to Europe’s ambitious climate targets.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reports that subsidies of up to €550m are planned to support the construction of a “large-scale plant for the production of more climate-friendly steel” by Germany’s largest steel manufacturer Thyssenkrupp Steel. FAZ adds that “natural” gas will initially be used, but it will be fully replaced by “renewable hydrogen” by 2037. The outlet continues that the release of more than 58m tonnes of CO2 can be avoided during the project’s lifetime.

Separately, the Financial Times has a “big read” headlined: “A German coal giant’s unlikely conversion to clean energy.” The feature begins: “Leag [the coal giant headquartered in the Lausitz city of Cottbus], which has four active opencast lignite mines and four coal-fired power stations, has made an unlikely pledge to reinvent itself as a powerhouse of renewable energy. At stake is not just the future of Germany’s second-biggest electricity producer behind RWE and its roughly 7,000 workers, but also the success of the energy transition in Europe’s largest economy, and the political and social prospects of this corner of the country’s former communist east.”

Meanwhile, Merkur reports that German vice-chancellor Robert Habeck is aiming for closer cooperation between Germany and India, noting that “close cooperation, especially in the field of renewables and green hydrogen, has great potential for both sides and can increase our resilience and economic security”. Finally, Die Zeit reports that German gas storage facilities in Germany are already “well filled” at 84.25% ahead of the winter.

Amid much worrying climate news around the world, FT columnist Simon Kuper writes on reasons to maintain “planetary optimism”. He says: “Big-picture pessimism is blinding us to cheering shifts now under way. There’s a plausible scenario in which energy generation, health and working life all transform for the better this decade…Most importantly, renewable energy is advancing unexpectedly fast. The International Energy Agency predicted last December that “global renewable-power capacity” would grow by 2,400 gigawatts from 2022 to 2027, “an amount equal to the entire power capacity of China today”. He adds: “This massive expected increase was 30% above the agency’s previous year’s forecast. The IEA now expects renewables to account for almost the entire global expansion in electricity.” Also in the FT, data journalist John Burn-Murdoch explores “what we get wrong when we talk about global warming”. He says that “most discussions about climate change continue to emphasise the risk of much worse things coming down the tracks”, adding: “This is understandable, but a permanent focus on the future can blind us to what is already happening. We instead insist that life simply goes on, that we’re adapting. The thing is, for a growing number of people, life does not go on at all. It’s all very well saying that Arizona has always been very hot, but there are degrees of very hot. Between 1970 and 1990, an average of 16 people per year died from ‘exposure to excessive natural heat’. Between 1990 and 2015, the average rose to 38. In 2020 it was 210, and 2022 came in at 257.” It comes as the climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph publishes a column by Spectator editor Fraser Nelson with the headline: “Texas is boiling – and booming. Where is the climate catastrophe?”

Elsewhere, an editorial in the Economist explores how cities can respond to extreme heat. A column by FT climate editor Emily Mychasuk explores how climate change is “turning up the heat” on supply chains. In the Daily Telegraph, world economy editor Ambrose Evans-Pritchard argues that Tata’s new gigafactory for battery cells is the UK’s “entry into the global league of the EV revolution”. The FT also has a “big read” on the £4bn gigafactory.

Writing for the Guardian, Abigail Disney, an Emmy-winning documentary film-maker and activist and the great-niece of Walt Disney, explains how she went from a childhood riding private jets to being arrested for blocking the entrance to East Hampton airport in New York last Friday. She says: “The truth is I am terrified of the future of our climate and I believe that non-violent civil disobedience is the best way to create transformative change. I have covered disruptive protest and social issues in my films, and supported movements through philanthropy. So, at 63, I decided it was time for me to stand in protest with other activists, to put my body on the line.”

Elsewhere in the Guardian, climate scientist Prof Bill McGuire laments the lack of new policies in the UK’s third National Adaptation Programme, released earlier this week. He says: “The initiatives that make up the programme are big on consultation, research, monitoring, building frameworks and gathering information, and there is a failure to recognise that these are luxuries whose time has come and gone. Instead of more discussion, debate and evaluation, we need action, now, on all fronts. It will cost, but it will cost a great deal more if we do little or nothing. If we wish to have anything like a functioning society and economy in mid-century and beyond, then large-scale adaptation is critical, and it has to start today.” Also in the Guardian, columnist Gaby Hinsliff writes on the importance of government funding a just transition in the UK with a piece titled: “An inconvenient truth: you can’t sell the green revolution to people who can’t afford it.”

Elsewhere, the Scotsman runs a column by SNP MP Tommy Sheppard, who argues that approving the Rosebank oil field would “blow through” Scotland’s climate budget. On the other end of the spectrum, the Daily Mail publishes a column by Jan Moir who mocks the campaign group Just Stop Oil. She says: “If all our tomorrows have been cancelled because of climate change, why bother throwing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle on a tennis court or a can of soup at a painting? If you stop to think about it, Just Stop Oil just doesn’t make sense because if their predicted genocidal scenario is true, then we are all doomed anyway.” The newspaper also publishes an editorial complaining that Just Stop Oil “plainly get a perverse thrill from disrupting our lives”.  

A new study finds that extreme weather events put around $80bn of global trade at risk each year by shutting down ports or rendering them inoperable. Researchers use “downtime” data from 1,320 ports around the world and a maritime transport model to determine the economic impact of interruptions at each port. They find that at least $122bn of global economic activity is at risk annually, with countries such as small island developing states particularly vulnerable. The authors conclude: “This information is essential to identify cross-border vulnerabilities, as well as preparing ports, firms and countries for port-related shocks, which are not adequately quantified using best practice tools for risk assessment.”