The government’s national adaptation plan has been “condemned as “very weak” by experts, reports the Guardian. The document fails to “adequately protect people in the UK from extreme heat” and there is a “yawning gap” in measures to restore nature within it, experts tell the newspaper. The plan sets out “responsible steps” the government is planning to take to minimise the human and economic impact of climate change, reports the Times. In the introduction to the document, Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary, says “the programme amounted to a ‘step change’ in the government’s approach to managing the risks of climate change” continues the article. The plan highlights that climate change poses a “growing risk” to energy assets, public health and food security, however “it contained few new funding commitments or policies to tackle the challenges it identified”, reports the Daily Telegraph. The article quotes Baroness Brown, who oversees adaptation for the Climate Change Committee, saying that the plan lacks ambition: “In another summer of gruelling hot temperatures, water shortages and wildfires, it’s hard to make sense of that decision. We are at the stage where promising further action is not enough.” In the Independent, Emma Howard Boyd, chair of the London Climate Resilience Review, is quoted saying the programme “should be a wake-up call and yet it seems they are taking a nap”. She continues: “It’s nearly exactly a year to the day that England hit 40C for the first time, when schools had to close, hospital operations were cancelled, and there were over 3,000 excess deaths.” The plan includes commitments to construct new public buildings designed for higher temperatures, invest £15m in researching climate change solutions and pilot a new climate risk information service, reports BBC News. The 140-page plan was set to be published today, but was released on Monday after it leaked to the Guardian, says Sky News. (In March, Carbon Brief reported the Climate Change Committee warning that the UK had not made enough progress in adapting to climate change.) Additionally, the government’s failure to support sustainable farming is undermining food security, reports a separate article in the Independent. Analysis from the Institute for Public Policy Research thinktank found that “droughts, rising temperatures and increasing numbers of pests and disease – all features of climate change – are plaguing UK food producers”, and there is an “urgent need” to transform the farming system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the paper says.

“Swathes of southern Europe” are continuing to experience extreme heat, with warnings of record high temperatures this week, reports Politico. Some 60% of Italy is likely to top 40C this week, with 20 red alerts issued across the country, as the government warns of a risk to health, in particular for the elderly and vulnerable, the article continues. Parts of Europe could hit “punishing near-record temperatures of 46C” this week, notes the Daily Mail. It shows images of a “scorched Europe”, including pictures of the wildfires in Turkey, Greece and the Canary Islands. The Cerberus heatwave is expected to peak over Tuesday and Wednesday, with the “unyielding and debilitating temperatures” prompting health alerts and fuelling wildfires, notes the Washington Post. Swiss police ordered the evacuation of several mountain villages on Monday evening, as a wildfire spread and 200 firefighters tackled the blaze, reports Reuters.  In Greece, two wildfires “raged uncontrolled” through coastal towns on Monday, forcing residents and hundreds of children from a summer camp to evacuate, reports a separate article from Reuters. Temperatures across the northern hemisphere could reach extreme levels, reports the Guardian, with the potential the European record set in the Sicilian town of Floridia in August 2021 of 48.8C could be broken as Italians brace for “the most intense heatwave of the summer and also one of the most intense of all time”.

Beyond Europe, South Korea’s president has urged climate action, as extreme floods kill more than 40, reports the Guardian. Heavy rains have “pummelled” southern and eastern parts of the country since Thursday, leading the president Yoon Suk Yeo to say “This kind of extreme weather event will become commonplace…we must accept climate change is happening, and deal with it,” the Guardian continues. Amongst those killed by the floods are more than a dozen people who were caught in a flooded underpass in South Korea, reports Le Monde. The majority of casualties have been caused by landslides, including 19 of the dead and eight of the missing from North Gyeongsang province, the article continues. South Korea’s “readiness for extreme weather driven by climate change” has been called into question by the flooding, reports Reuters. “Experts say not enough work has been done even as greater volumes of sudden and torrential rains are expected in coming decades,” continues the newswire, pointing to the failure of funds to emerge after a pledge last year to increase preparation. In the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, a cloud burst has killed one person and injured a further three, reports the Hindu. So far, 117 people have been killed and 12 have gone missing in “rain-related incidents” this monsoon, the article continues.

Canada has deployed the military to help “overwhelmed local authorities and emergency workers” as wildfires – which have burnt nearly 25 million acres [10m hectares, 100,000km2] this year – intensify, reports the Washington Post. Smoke from the blazes has caused a number of US states to issue air quality warnings, with Washington ranking among the most polluted cities on Earth on Monday as smoke swept over the Appalachians towards the East Coast, the article continues. There are 881 forest fires burning, with the majority of the fires categorised as “out of control” by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, reports the Independent. The climate crisis “caused by emissions from fossil fuels, is driving larger, more frequent and erratic wildfires around the world”, the newspaper continues. The area of land that has burnt is now about 15 times greater than last year’s area, reports the Chicago Tribune, and is expected to “vastly surpass” the 10-year average of 2.9m acres. About 70 million people could fall under air quality alerts as the wildfire smoke spreads from Canada to parts of the northern US and as far south as Alabama, reports the Guardian. Any reading within the  Air Quality Index (AQI) above 150 is considered unhealthy, the article notes, with levels registered at 159 AQI in Cleveland; 166 AQI in Louisville; and 151 AQI in Pittsburgh. States including Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin have advised residents to check the AQI before taking part in outdoor activities, in particular those considered vulnerable, reports the Independent. So far the AQI readings have not reached the levels seen in early June, when they reached above 400 on the East Coast, reports the New York Times. The current spate of warnings mark the “the second time in less than a month that the borderless impact of climate change could be felt with a breath,” the article adds. 

Elsewhere in the US, a new record high temperature for midnight may have been set in Death Valley in California, reports the New Scientist. A temperature of 48.9C (120F) was recorded at a weather station in the area between 12am and 1am on 17 July, it continues. The potential record high comes as more than 100 million people are under heat alerts in the US, with a severe heatwave throughout the Southwest expected to last until at least this weekend, reports the Independent. This has caused record high temperatures to be broken across the US over the last month, including in the San Joaquin Valley, Mojave Desert and Great Basin regions, it continues. The National Weather Service has warned that the “extremely dangerous heatwave” is expected to continue over the Southwest and move eastwards, where there is expected to be widespread, “dangerous heat” surpassing 43C, says the Hill. In Phoenix, Arizona, a streak of heat is set to “smash” previous records, showing that “Earth’s ongoing summer swelter is as persistent as it is hot”, reports the Independent. This includes the highest overnight low temperature at 35C and an eight day streak of temperatures not falling below 32.2C, the article continues. The heat is expected to push power demand in Texas to new record highs this week, reports Reuters. Switching to fossil fuels when droughts have impacted hydropower has cost $20bn over the past two decades, reports the Hill. In Pennsylvania, Five people have been killed and two children are missing following flash floods, as the state becomes the latest area in the US “to be hit by intense rain and flooding as worldwide climate emergency worsens”, reports the Guardian.

US climate envoy John Kerry finished a meeting with Xie Zhenhua, China’s special envoy on climate change on Monday morning, reports China.org. citing a report by state broadcaster CCTV. Online media Chao News says that Kerry’s visit “may not only be for climate”. Tao Xinhua, associate researcher at Tsinghua University, is quoted saying that “the main goal of Kerry’s visit is still focused on resuming the previously interrupted dialogue between China and the US in the field of climate. Whether substantial achievements can be reached remains to be observed.” The state-run newspaper Global Times writes that Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning says that China will “implement the spirit of the 2022 G20 Bali Summit between the two heads of state and engage in in-depth exchanges of views with the US on climate change-related issues, working together to address them”. Chinese financial outlet Yicai reports that Kerry said on Monday that before COP28, China and the US must make “real progress within the next four months”. 

The Guardian writes that Kerry arrived in Beijing “as the temperature hits 52.2C in Xinjiang”, an autonomous territory in northwest China. Kerry’s discussions with Xie are expected to primarily focus on addressing “methane emissions and China’s coal consumption”, the article adds. Several other media outlets, including France24, Reuters, also cover Kerry’s visit. Another article by Reuters says that the visit could “boost” the US and China’s cooperation on the “key issue of methane emissions”. 

Separately, a CNN report focuses on the US national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s views. According to the report, Sullivan says that China should “step up to their responsibility to reduce emissions under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and should not be able to hide behind any kind of claim that they are a developing nation”.

Meanwhile, Sanbao township in Xinjiang’s Turpan Depression reached a temperature of 52.2C on 16 July, “surpassing the historical record for the same period”, reports the China News Service, a state newswire. Reuters says “record heat [is] expected to persist at least another five days”.

In other China news, Chinese outlet Jiemian writes that according to a report by climate consultancy ICF, by 2030, the carbon price in China’s national carbon market is expected to rise to 130 yuan ($18) per tonne of carbon dioxide, doubling from the current level. An energy website Bjx.com, citing a report by China Energy News, carries an interview with Du Xiangwan, an academic of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He stresses that advancing “energy reform” in rural areas needs coordination among different stakeholders. Finally, Bloomberg columnist David Fickling writes that “spending on clean and dirty energy go hand in hand due to an antiquated market structure” in China.

America must play its own “game of economic catch-up” in the clean energy boom, writes executive editor of Heatmap Robinson Meyer in the New York Times. With the Inflation Reduction Act, the country has the opportunity to become more competitive in this area, but “the United States cannot build a competitive renewable or electric vehicle industry from scratch”, he writes. “The history of innovation – and of the modern world, frankly – shows that American engineers will progress in these industries only when they can work with their Chinese counterparts.” Meyer uses Ford as an example, saying that as other car manufacturers visited the Ford factories a century ago to learn from their method, so has the company now licensed technology from a Chinese battery maker to work at its $3.5bn ‘LFP’ battery factory in Michigan as it works to expand in the EV space. “It seemed like a win-win: The Chinese company, CATL, would get cash and prestige; Ford would learn how to make these batteries; and America would get 2,500 new manufacturing jobs. This was, apparently, exactly the kind of situation that Biden’s climate law was meant to set up,” continues Meyer. Despite pushback on this deal from Senator Joe Manchin and Senator Marco Rubio, there are numerous examples of such collaboration benefitting the US throughout history, he continues. “Rejecting Chinese know-how would make us, ironically, more dependent on China in any future security-related rupture – because we will simply have to import from China what we never learned to make ourselves,” Meyer concludes.

Meanwhile in the Financial Times, European economics commentator Martin Sandbu argues that the EU should learn from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which used geopolitics and infrastructure to “reshape trade patterns to its advantage”. He writes: “The EU is, to be fair, catching up. Its pandemic recovery fund, new energy policy and drive to promote technological and industrial investment have righted the balance that made some member states look kindlier on Beijing than on their neighbours.” But a “committed strategy for deep relationships” is still missing, he continues, urging the EU to pursue a “Belt and Road with liberal democratic characteristics”.

Almost 70 years after opening the world’s first nuclear power plant, the UK is again “at the forefront of global nuclear innovation”, writes secretary of state for energy security and net zero Grant Shapps, in the Daily Express. He highlights the energy crisis including the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine over the past year, arguing that to increase energy security the UK must move away from fossil fuels. The country is “embarking on a Great British revival of nuclear power” he continues, with a target of nuclear meeting [up to] a quarter of the country’s power. “Today, as we [launch] Great British Nuclear, the organisation that will oversee this renaissance, we are also kickstarting the next phase of competition to find the best new designs that industry has to offer, which could result in billions of pounds of public and private investment in projects for small modular reactors – the latest nuclear power innovation – delivering on our priorities by spearheading the future of nuclear technologies”, writes Shapps. “I’m proud of Britain’s rich history as a pioneer of nuclear power and today I’m even prouder to be launching the Great British nuclear revival,” he concludes. Great British Nuclear will offer grants of £157m, with a particular focus on boosting small modular reactors and advanced modular reactors, reports the Guardian. The launch of Great British Nuclear was also reported in BusinessGreen, the Times, Reuters and others.

Capping the energy use of the top 20% of consumers across 27 European countries could cut emissions from home energy use by 11%, those from transport by 17% and those from total energy consumption by 10%, a new study finds. By contrast, increasing consumption from low energy users in poverty reduces these savings by only 1.2, 0.9 and 1.4 percentage points, respectively, according to the results. The authors say that cutting energy demand across Europe in an “equitable” way could “make an important contribution to increasing public acceptance of such transformative action”.

Mediterranean green turtles have been nested in the same North African seagrass meadows for at least 3,000 years, according to research analysing the animal’s bones. Seagrass meadows are among ecosystems that are “especially vulnerable to global warming”, the researchers say. They add: “Here, millennia-long foraging habitat fidelity has been directly demonstrated, highlighting the significance (and long-term dividends) of protecting these critical coastal habitats.”