The concentration of greenhouse gases “clogging the atmosphere” hit record levels in 2023, reports the Guardian. Citing a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), it says that carbon dioxide (CO2) is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than at any time in human history, with concentrations rising by more than 10% in the last two decades. It adds that the WMO found the increase is being driven by “stubbornly high” fossil fuel use, as well as large wildfires and a possible drop in the ability of trees to absorb carbon. The article quotes Celeste Saulo, secretary-general of the WMO, who says: “Another year, another record. This should set alarm bells ringing among decision makers.” The atmospheric concentration of CO2 reached an average of 420 parts per million in 2023, some 51% higher than before the Industrial Revolution, reports Axios. It adds that methane levels were “265% above the preindustrial era”. The WMO says the last time the Earth experienced a comparable CO2 concentration in the atmosphere was 3-5m years ago, reports BBC News. It adds that at this time, average temperatures were 2-3C warmer than they are now, and sea levels were 10-20m higher.

National pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions, known as  “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs), fall far short of what is needed to limit global warming, reports Reuters, citing an annual assessment from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). According to the newswire, the assessment said that NDCs already submitted by countries are enough to cut global emissions by 2.6% from 2019 to 2030, up from 2% last year. This marks only “marginal progress” since the same synthesis report last year, notes Sky News. It says that, according to the UNFCCC, this is “only a fraction” of what is “urgently needed”. The outlet adds that emissions should fall 43% by 2030 to “stave off the worst impacts of climate change, as per the advice from UN climate scientists”. BusinessGreen reports that if fully implemented, current NDCs would see global greenhouse gas emissions of 51.5bn of CO2 equivalent in 2030. It quotes UNFCCC executive secretary Simon Stiell saying this level of emissions would “guarantee a human and economic trainwreck for every country, without exception”. The publication quotes Stiell adding: “[T]he report’s findings are stark but not surprising. Current national climate plans fall miles short of what’s needed to stop global heating from crippling every economy, and wrecking billions of lives and livelihoods across every country.”

China’s “largest offshore wind project”, a 900 megawatt farm, has been connected to the grid and begun operations in the country’s Shandong province, the state-run newspaper China Daily reports. The newspaper adds that the project will provide around 2,550 gigawatt hours of clean energy annually, “reducing carbon emissions by roughly 2.3m metric tonnes per year”. During a tour of the provinces Ningxia and Inner Mongolia, Chinese premier Li Qiang urged local governments to “ensure the supply of energy” and emphasised the importance of “integration of traditional energy and new energy”, state news agency Xinhua reports. Economic news outlet Jiemian covers the challenges in west-to-east power transfer, writing that “the growth rate of inter-provincial and inter-regional power transmission in the west has been declining year by year”. State-owned oil company PetroChina is about to “shut its largest domestic oil refinery around mid-2025”, marking the country’s “first major closure at a state-run plant”, Reuters reports. It says: “The closure follows refiners’ struggle with overcapacity and weakened fuel demand from slowing economic growth and the electrification of the country’s car fleet.” Bloomberg carries an opinion article by columnist David Fickling about how a “warming climate threatens to disrupt” China’s hydropower.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that, according to new analysis, “Chinese companies control two-thirds of cobalt in the DRC, which accounts for an estimated 74% of global output”. The New York Times reports that a “crackdown” on illegal production of rare earths and industry “consolidation” has allowed China greater control over its “supply of minerals”. A separate New York Times report says that “a series of steps made in recent weeks [by] the Chinese government has made it considerably harder for foreign companies” to purchase rare earths and other minerals.

Elsewhere, China Daily reports that, according to a report released on the sidelines of COP16, a “globally interconnected smart grid of renewable energy sources” could provide  “transformative” solutions in tackling climate change and biodiversity loss. Xinhua carries an article studying a recent statement from a key Chinese policymaking body, saying that a “property rights system for natural resource assets” is a “fundamental framework for strengthening ecological protection, promoting the sustainable use of natural resources, and advancing ecological civilisation”. China Daily carries an opinion article by Wang Huo, deputy secretary-general of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, saying that the gap to achieve the “30×30” goal set at COP15 remains “significant”. Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports that “Russia and China have been accused of blocking every proposal at an international conference tasked with conserving Antarctic marine life”.

Finally, the rollout of wind and solar power across China may mean the country’s emissions peak in 2023, in “what would be a historic turning point in the fight against climate change” reports NewScientist in coverage of new analysis from Carbon Brief.

More than a third of species of tree worldwide are facing extinction in the wild, reports BBC News. According to the latest update to the official extinction red list, the number of “threatened trees” now outweighs all birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians in the same category put together, the article continues. The news was announced at the COP16 UN biodiversity summit, which is currently underway in Cali, Colombia, it adds. The tree assessment includes more than 80% of known tree species, with 38% found to be at risk, reports the New York Times. Le Monde also has the story. 

Separately, NGO WWF is urging “highly divided” countries to work together to agree on an ambitious agreement in Cali that unlocks funds for nature conservation, reports BusinessGreen, under the headline: “Concerns grow over ‘limited progress’ in nature finance talks”. It says that as the second week of the conference gets underway, “campaigners have voiced growing concerns about the state of climate finance negotiations, with longstanding divisions between nations hampering progress on key issues, such as how to mobilise hundreds of billions of dollars for conservation and how to fairly share benefits derived from nature’s genetic resources”.

In related news, the area of land and water with formal protections for biodiversity has grown by less than 0.5% since 2020, reports New Scientist. This leaves the world far short of its goal to protect 30% of the planet by 2030 agreed, at COP15 in 2022, the article adds.

Car giant Volkswagen is planning to shut three German plants, “axe tens of thousands of jobs and slash pay by 10%”, reports the Financial Times, in a story trailed on its front page. The restructuring was announced by a senior representative on Monday, and marks the first closure of domestic plants in the company’s 87-year history, the newspaper says. It adds: “VW’s management has warned that radical measures are needed as Europe’s largest carmaker faces intense competition in China, slowing sales across other major markets and the need to navigate the costly transition to electric vehicles.” Car companies across Europe are “complaining of falling demand in many key markets after interest rates rose in recent years after the historic lows of more than a decade that followed the global financial crisis”, reports the Guardian. Germany’s traditional manufacturers, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, have all reported falling profits, it adds. The Daily Telegraph quotes Daniela Cavallo, head of the Volkswagen group, who told staff at a meeting at the company’s Wolfsburg plant that “Management is absolutely serious about all this. This is not sabre-rattling in the collective bargaining round. This is the plan of Germany’s largest industrial group to start the sell-off in its home country of Germany.” 

A Financial Times “big read” looks at why Europe’s “car crisis is mostly made in China”. The article states that “the once-lucrative market is now highly competitive and more Chinese EVs are being exported, compounding slower sales at home”. 

University academics have “urged” the UK’s energy secretary Ed Miliband to dispose of the country’s nuclear waste by drilling boreholes up to 5km deep into the Earth’s crust, reports the Daily Telegraph. Currently, the government favours a plan to  “lock away this waste permanently by creating a mine-like facility on the coast where tunnels would run to a waste storage bunker buried under the sea”, the article explains. This geological disposal facility would open in the 2050s, with its design, construction and operation expected to cost between £20bn and £53bn, it continues. However, University of Sheffield academics Fergus Gibb and Karl Travis and civil engineer John Beswick are arguing that drilling boreholes to store waste would be “superior in almost every respect” and could technically be delivered “within a few years”, the article adds. 

In other UK news, the Daily Express devotes its frontpage to the headline: “Chancellor [Rachel Reeves] told ‘it’s not too late’ for U-turn on winter fuel.” Elsewhere, the Sun reports on polling that it says shows Labour “target voters” are in favour of “scrapping expensive green policies such as boiler bans”. [Labour has already pledged to scrap the ban on sales of new gas boilers from 2035, which had been targeted by the previous government.] The Sun also carries an editorial on the poll findings.

In a comment for the Financial Times, associate editor and business columnist Pilita Clark reflects on the implications of the upcoming US election for global decarbonisation efforts. She says that it is “true, up to a point”, that “global events and other dynamics can shape energy markets more than any White House occupant”. However, she adds: “Still, it is impossible to downplay the importance of next Tuesday’s US presidential election. The outcome will reverberate well beyond the shores of the US, not least when it comes to climate change. One candidate, Kamala Harris, wants to hasten the energy transition away from fossil fuels while the other, Donald Trump, wants to slow or stop it.” Clark writes that Trump could “gut” the Inflation Reduction Act, which has spurred other countries to launch their own programmes, hampering the “global green race”. She concludes: “The prospect of another four years of a Trump White House is unnerving climate policy advocates across the world, who fear it will embolden other leaders to take their feet off the energy transition pedal. Those fears will be on display just days after Tuesday’s election in Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku, where this year’s annual UN climate COP conference begins on 11 November……The threat of the world’s biggest historic emitter and richest nation standing on the sidelines for years to come would cast a pall over Baku. But the effect of a Trump victory on the global energy transition could be felt for decades.”

In a related piece, New York Times reporter Lisa Friedman explores the “pivotal choice: Trump versus Harris on climate change”, citing analysis from Carbon Brief and others. Similarly, the Guardian reports under the headline: “Five ways a Trump presidency would be disastrous for the climate.”