A survey by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and the International Society for Energy Transition Studies finds that “more than 70%” of experts predict that China can peak its carbon emissions before 2030”, Jiemian reports in an article titled “New research on ‘dual carbon’ targets: over 70% of experts believe China can achieve peak carbon goals”. However, the majority also believe that when emissions peak, they will be at least 15% higher than 2020 emissions levels, the Chinese business outlet adds. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) covers the same report, quoting one CREA analyst as saying that despite this optimism, “the challenges of reducing peaks and attaining long-term carbon-neutrality goals demand recognition”. The state-run newspaper China Daily says that the survey suggests post-Covid economic challenges have hastened China’s shift towards cleaner energy. Elsewhere, state-supporting newspaper the Global Times publishes an editorial arguing that “the reason why Western public opinion appears suspicious about China’s carbon emissions efforts is mainly because of the belief that decarbonisation cannot coexist with economic development. But China has gradually prove[n] that it can do both.”

The Communist Party-affiliated People’s Daily reports that the “environmental health” literacy of Chinese residents has increased from 13% in 2018 to 19% in 2022. Environmental health literacy includes “recogni[sing] the value of the ecological environment and its impact on health” and “practi[sing] a green and healthy lifestyle”, it adds. China Daily interviews Toily Kurbanov, the executive coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, who says that “China is encouraging young people to become volunteers and global advocates for sustainable development”.

The Brussels-headquartered newspaper EurActiv reports that the EU’s net-zero industry act could “exclude Chinese bidders and products from public procurement rules and renewable energy auctions”, if changes proposed by the European Parliament’s industry committee are adopted. Bloomberg reports that French foreign affairs minister Catherine Colonna will visit China this week to “smooth relations” following tensions over electric vehicles. The state-run industry newspaper China Electric Power News quotes a Chinese official at a China-EU forum as saying that China and Europe can “learn from each other and jointly improve” in developing offshoAdd Briefre new energy. China Daily also covers the event, saying that Chinese and European officials urged “intensified” cooperation to “promote technological innovation, advance industrial development and address climate change”. Chinese energy outlet BJX News carries a commentary by China Energy’s Wei Xudong, who argues that China should challenge the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), which will impact China-EU trade, especially in the steel and aluminium industries. Finally, state news agency Xinhua carries an interview with Wang Li, head of the US-China Green Energy Council, who says that the US, with its “higher costs in clean energy equipment”, can benefit from purchasing low-cost Chinese low-carbon energy technologies.

Fossil fuel representatives have attended UN climate talks at least 7,200 times in the past 20 years, according to research released by a coalition of advocacy groups, reports the Washington Post. The analysis “underscores how the fossil fuel industry has increased its presence at summits focused on a climate crisis it helped create”, the article continues. The analysis has been released less than two weeks before the summit kicks off in the United Arab Emirates, a major oil producer, the paper notes. The Kick Big Polluters Out coalition looked into the number of times delegates from the world’s top-producing oil and gas companies, and trade bodies, attended climate talks since COP9 in 2003, reports the Press Association. Representatives from trade associations for the world’s largest polluting companies have attended COPs at least 6,581 times, it noted. The campaigners who undertook the analysis claimed delegates do not always declare their affiliation to the organisation they work for, so the figures are likely higher, the article adds. It quotes Brenna TwoBears, from Keep It In The Ground, saying: “Why did fossil fuel lobbyists outnumber indigenous peoples by 200% at COP26”. The Kick Big Polluters Out coalition’s analysis found that of the thousands of accreditations affiliated with fossil fuel industries, 945 were directly linked to employees of oil and gas companies, reports Agence France-Presse. Major oil giants such as ExxonMobil, Chevron and Shell, were granted “a minimum of 267 accreditations”, the newswire notes.

Meanwhile, Australia’s climate minister Chris Bowen has said Pacific nations and other countries “vulnerable to climate catastrophe” should be the major beneficiaries of loss and damage funding, reports the Guardian. A broader range of countries should bankroll the international effort along with the private sector, Bowen added, it says. The European Parliament has called for a global deal at COP28 to phase out fossil fuels, aiming to add pressure to push countries to tackle “CO2-emitting oil and gas”, reports Reuters. The UK, Canada, Germany and 21 other countries are “stepping up a push” to halt new coal-fired power stations and “clamp down” on existing plants after a failure to make progress in the two years since the Glasgow climate pact pledged to phase down unabated coal power, reports the Financial Times. Ministers from the 15 nations have signed a letter that urges the upcoming COP28 UN climate summit to deliver an agreement that will end public and private finance for new coal power projects, the article adds. Meanwhile, US climate envoy John Kerry revealed earlier this week that his country will unveil a global strategy for advancing nuclear fusion at COP28, reports Axios.

The Guardian’s “the great carbon divide” series continues with an article highlighting how private jets have contributed the equivalent emissions to almost 40,000 Britons since the beginning of 2022. Private jets belonging to 200 celebrities, CEOs, oligarchs and billionaires spent a combined total of 11 years in the air since the start of last year, undertaking a “jaw-dropping” 44,739 journeys, the article states. The paper used public data to track flights by private aircrafts over 21 months, finding the almost 300 jets belonging to the likes of Elon Musk, the Rolling Stones, the Murdoch family and Kylie Jenner emitted an estimated 415,518 tonnes of CO2. Another article in the Guardian’s series explores how the ad industry is “grappl[ing] with [its] role selling consumption in the climate crisis”. Another piece in the Guardian looks at how Monaco yacht buyers are “shrug[ging] off” the disproportionate carbon footprint of the vessels.

Contrary to the “lazy stereotype”, working-class people care deeply about the “climate crisis”, writes founding director of Round our Way Roger Harding in the Guardian. The working-class are often the first to spot the changes occurring because of even slight fluctuations, as they can make or break family finances, writes Harding. He highlights that food bills are already £400 higher thanks to climate impacts and fossil-fuel costs, as well as working-class communities being “significantly more likely to be flooded”, and having less money and insurance to “weather the storms”. As such, he says it is “unsurprising” that polling last month found “loyal nationals” had the climate crisis and the environment fourth of their list of priorities. He concludes: “Politicians have got it wrong if they think attacking climate action presents an easy path to popularity.”

Elsewhere, the Financial Times’ international business editor Peggy Hollinger explores how Dutch plans to reduce growth at Schiphol airport are a proxy for the debate over the future of the airline industry.

In a comment for the Daily Telegraph, world economy editor Ambrose Evans-Pritchard covers recent analysis published by Carbon Brief on China’s carbon dioxide emissions being expected to fall next year and potentially enter structural decline. Evans-Pritchard writes that “the country’s target of net-zero by 2060 is likely to be achieved a decade earlier than previously assumed”, in a “remarkable turn of events”. The article quotes CREA co-founder Lauri Myllyvirta and author of the analysis as saying a 2024 decrease in power sector carbon emissions “is essentially locked in”. It further quotes Myllyvirta saying: “We’re likely to see a fall in total CO2 emitted in the first half of next year.” This is in part driven by the “staggering” growth of clean energy bases, Evans-Pritchard writes, which is going “hand in hand” with higher rates of approvals for new coal plants that will likely remain idle as renewable energy capacity grows. He goes on to quote Chinese coal expert Li Ting saying: “The more renewable energy used, the more the need for [backup] coal peaking capacity.” Rapid renewable capacity growth is “undoubtedly getting over its skis”, Evans-Pritchard continues, but China will ensure that “the grid will catch up”, galvanised by president Xi Jinping’s long-standing commitment to “green” development. He adds that Xi’s earliest efforts to promote sustainable development “[were] defeated by vested interests, one reason why he has been careful not to force a showdown too soon with China’s powerful coal lobby”.

New research finds a positive feedback in the expansion of tall deciduous shrubs across the Arctic. The authors use fine-scale remote sensing to model how the shrubs have expanded across the central Seward Peninsula of Alaska, as it has warmed over the past 68 years. The tall-shrub expansion patterns are “predictable” and have an “upper limit” characterised by permafrost, climate and soil properties, the authors find. They add that “increased nitrogen inputs from nitrogen-fixing alders contributed to a positive feedback that advanced overall tall-shrub expansion”. The findings “will be useful for constraining and projecting vegetation-climate feedbacks in the Arctic”, the authors conclude.