UK chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed the government’s support for a third runway at Heathrow airport “in an upbeat speech setting out her plans for kickstarting the stalling UK economy”, reports the Guardian. Reeves said the expansion was “badly needed” to “unlock further growth, boost investment, increase exports and make the UK more open and more connected”, reports Sky News. The chancellor said the government hoped to grant planning permission to Heathrow’s expansion by the end of the current parliament in 2029, reports the Financial Times. A separate article in the Guardian covers calls from environmentalists to rethink plans for airports and roads. The article quotes Dale Vince, the founder of Ecotricity and a major donor to the Labour party, who said: “New runways are a mistake; we don’t need them. This is the old economy, it grew 0.1% last year while the green one grew 9%. This is where the biggest opportunity for growth is and it’s sustainable in all senses of the word. That’s the right kind of growth.” The Daily Telegraph reports on statements made by Michael O’Leary, the boss of Ryanair, who “warned that the project would face decades of delays linked to the planning process, legal filings, climate protests and the engineering challenge of building it across the M25 motorway”. He argued that Heathrow won’t get a new runway before 2050, the article notes. 

Alongside the support for the Heathrow expansion, Reeves announced a “raft of supply-side reforms, investments and infrastructure projects aimed at turbocharging economic growth”, reports BusinessGreen. The article notes that these include support for sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), offshore wind projects and electric vehicle charging. In 2017, the Airports Commission estimated that a third runway at Heathrow would lead to an additional 4.4m tonnes of CO2 a year, notes an analysis piece in the Guardian. The only “significant development” since this estimate has been the development of SAFs, it continues, although government plans only involve 10% of jet fuel to be sustainable by 2030. (Analysis by Carbon Brief has found that a forest twice the size of London would need to be planted to offset the additional CO2 emissions from the planned expansion of Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton airports). Along with the development of SAFs, the aviation sector is “developing aircraft powered by electricity and hydrogen, although the large-scale commercial use of these technologies remains a long way off”, adds the Press Association. A separate piece in the Guardian reports that there is “scepticism in Whitehall that the Heathrow plan can be reconciled with climate targets”.

Finally, the Daily Telegraph reports that energy security secretary Ed Miliband “skipped” Reeves’ speech. A frontpage article in the Daily Mail states that Reeves’ insistence that the runway can be “delivered in line with our legal, environmental and climate objectives”, will “most likely mean” that net-zero secretary Miliband will “still have plenty of chances to kill it off”. 

China could “eliminate” 20,000 petrol stations by 2030 based on the projected decline in refined oil consumption, according to a new report released by the CNPC Economics & Technology Research Institute (ETRI), economic newspaper Caijing reports. The outlet adds that the two “key contributing factors” are the growth of adoption of electric vehicles (EV) and heavy-duty trucks powered by liquid “natural” gas (LNG). The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that China has launched an “ambitious initiative” to develop China’s first 15,000-metre (49,200-foot) “ultra-deep intelligent drilling rig”, aiming to “secure its energy future”. The Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily reports that China’s “first ultra-deepwater gas field” has produced more than 10bn cubic meters of gas. The Associated Press quotes Daniel Jasper, senior policy advisor at Project Drawdown, saying that, “given the recent administration change in Washington, China is now well poised to lead the world in the energy transition”. The Financial Times cites a new study released by AidData saying that, from 2000 to 2021, China “built up control of critical minerals across the developing world…through a network of at least 26 state-backed financial institutions”. Nikkei Asia says that heavy mineral sand deposits in Australia could “kickstart a new mining boom” for rare earths, adding that the discovery has drawn the attention of one of China’s largest rare-earth companies. SCMP reports that the EU will “give its own companies preferential treatment when bidding for hi-tech contracts” in areas such as hydrogen and EVs. Business news outlet Caixin publishes an article titled: “Why China’s housing market could rise from the ashes in 2025.”

Meanwhile, InsideEVs editor-in-chief Patrick George says that “copious government investments…an intensely competitive internal market and a laser focus on advanced software features” mean China’s EVs are “now largely considered well ahead of the ones Americans have access to”. SCMP carries a comment article by Richard Black, Ember’s director of policy and strategy, questioning why governments are not “seizing on the glut of cheap, easily available solar panels” from China, comparing it to choosing not to use “abundant supplies of a proven vaccine”.

UK vehicle manufacturing fell by almost 12% in 2024, the worst annual drop since the Covid-19 pandemic, reports the Financial Times. According to new figures from trade body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), UK car production fell below a million vehicles last year. “The decline came on the back of weaker exports to Europe as carmakers wrestled with slowing sales of electric vehicles in key markets such as Germany and France,” the FT notes. Production was at its lowest level since 1954, with the next 12 months expected to be even worse, reports the Daily Telegraph. The trade body expects 2025 to be its “nadir” before the near £25bn of investment promised by manufacturers over the past two years kicks in, reports the Times. It quotes SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes, who says: “The industry is going through the transition from the internal combustion engine to electric vehicles and it will take the investments that have been committed by the industry a number of years to flow through.” A separate piece in the Times reports that Chinese EVs are set to take a quarter of the UK market by 2030, according to Auto Trader. 

Relatedly, ministers are considering offering state-back loans for electric vehicles (EVs) to “boost flagging sales”, reports the Daily Telegraph. (SMMT’s most recent figures for battery EV sales show a 57% year-on-year increase in car registrations, compared to an 18% fall in petrol and a 10% fall in diesel.) The government has reportedly held talks with car-finance chiefs over potential options to boost EV sales, including low-interest and interest-free loans, the article adds. The move “would be welcomed by the car industry – which has struggled to sell EVs in volumes required by government targets – and would be tantamount to an admission that the consumer subsidies scrapped in 2022 were phased out too early”, reports the Financial Times. The previous subsidy scheme for EVs came to an end in 2022, “when the Conservative government pulled the plug on the final grant scheme”, notes the Guardian. 

In other EV news, Elon Musk’s EV maker Tesla has seen its share fall “amid missed forecasts and flagging demand”, reports the Times. “Analysts have suggested Elon Musk’s support for Donald Trump could hit sales,” notes the Daily Telegraph. Swedish EV maker Northvolt has sold its stake in joint battery venture Novo Energy to Volvo to “explore potential collaborations in North America”, reports Reuters. Scotland is “unlikely” to meet its 2030 targets to reduce “kilometres driven” by 20%, reports BBC News. The EU is looking to support carmakers over emissions fines, as the industry faces billions of euros in fines for failing to sufficiently cut emissions, reports Bloomberg. 

The UK’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) will confirm a target of cutting emissions by 81% by 2035, reports the Times. Farmers, carmakers, energy firms and companies in other sectors will not be set individual targets for reducing emissions, however, it continues. Prime minister Keir Starmer announced that the UK would cut its carbon emissions by 81% by 2035 at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan last year, the article adds. The full details of this target, “known in UN jargon” as NDCs, will be published this week, the Times understands. The article quotes Camilla More, climate diplomacy researcher at the thinktank IIED, who says not having sector-by-sector targets is “like setting off in your car with no clear plan for how you’ll get to your destination”. Separately, BBC News reports that Scotland is “unlikely” to meet its 2030 climate change target to reduce car use, according to public spending watchdogs.

Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum has approved a set of “secondary-law reforms” to make the oil and electricity companies – Pemex and CFE, respectively – state-owned public companies, El Economista reports. The reforms seek to place the energy sector under the control of the country’s energy secretary. The outlet cites Sheinbaum saying these measures attempt to reverse the 2013 reform that opened up the energy sector to private companies. 

Meanwhile, La Nación reports that Argentina’s president Javier Milei could emulate Donald Trump as he is “mulling over” removing his country the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization, as well as limiting migration and gender rights. However, the newspaper notes, Argentina is subject to agreements, such as the Mercosur and its deal with the EU, that mandates it to meet environmental clauses. 

An editorial in Brazil’s most-read newspaper, O Globo, writes that the government “needs to run to avoid a fiasco at COP30”. It adds: “Internal and external obstacles await Ambassador Corrêa do Lago in the presidency of COP30. He was an obvious name to lead COP30, but the Lula government’s choice took too long. Now, you will need to run. First, to prepare the host city, where there are serious infrastructure deficiencies to host an event of this magnitude, especially with regard to accommodation. Second, an even more complex challenge is to deal with the US’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and Trump’s anti-environmental policies, which represent a setback for the direction of the conference.”

In other news from Latin America, 378 municipalities in Colombia are under alert for fire risk, El Espectador reports. It adds that more than 6,000 “heat points” were registered in the Colombian Amazon last week, with wildfires breaking out in at least two municipalities. Finally, BioBioChile covers the high temperatures scorching vast areas of Chile. This month, the central part of the country has been the hardest hit by heatwave temperatures of up to 38C, the outlet notes.

Oil and gas giant Shell has reported lower-than-expected profits for the final quarter of 2024, reports the Financial Times. The company has blamed “write-offs in its oil exploration business, thinner margins and lower oil prices”, it adds. Shell has reported a profit of $3.66bn for the fourth quarter and has announced it will buy back shares worth $3.5bn, says Reuters. The company has also announced a 4% increase in its dividend, the newswire notes. “Since taking office two years ago, CEO Wael Sawan has focused on cutting costs and realigning the company with its most profitable sectors – oil, gas and biofuels – while shifting away from renewable power generation,” the article adds. Shell’s adjusted earnings for 2024 is $23.72bn, compared to a profit of $28.25bn the previous year, reports CNBC. Analysts expected the oil major’s full-year project to come in at $24.71bn in 2024, it notes.

In other news, Shell dominated the $1.4bn global market for carbon credits in 2024, reports the Financial Times. Oil-and-gas companies scaled back their spending on clean energy and relied more heavily on offsets to reach climate targets last year than any other sector, it adds.

Sixteen jailed climate activists have appeared in court to appeal to England’s most senior judge for their “unduly hard” sentences to be reduced, reports the Guardian. The Court of Appeal will review the jail sentences given in four separate cases against Just Stop Oil activists between July and September 2024, reports the Financial Times. The activists have claimed the terms were “excessive and breach international human rights”, the article notes. The activists were jailed for between 15 months and five years, following a “crackdown on protest movements in Britain under the previous Conservative government and across Europe”, reports Reuters.

In other UK news, EDF has warned that the construction of the country’s first new nuclear plant in a generation could be further delayed due to its impact on local fish, reports the Guardian. The French energy giant warned that the “lengthy process” to agree on a solution with local communities to protect fish in the River Severn at risk of being sucked into the nuclear reactor’s cooling system had “the potential to delay the operation of the power station”, it adds.

An editorial in the Independent argues that UK chancellor Rachel Reeces “set the right direction” in her growth-plan speech in which she announced the government’s support for a third runway at Heathrow, but “the question is whether Labour can carry it through”. The editorial continues: “The Independent has long been sceptical about Heathrow expansion: we have tended to agree with Ed Miliband, the energy secretary when he is out of government emphasising our climate obligations, rather than when he is in government emphasising the green safeguards”, the article notes. In Reeves’s speech she said there was “no trade-off between growth and net-zero”, but the reality is “quite the opposite”, the article continues, arguing the cost of decarbonisation set to make energy more expensive. (It does not cite evidence for this assertion.) “If she means – by the tenor of the rest of her speech – that she will resist Mr Miliband’s idealistic proclamations about net-zero automatically leading to higher growth and good jobs, so much the better,” it concludes.

Other editorials discussing the Heathrow expansion include the Guardian, which argues that the carbon impact of the project must be taken “seriously” as “wanting to avert climate catastrophe is not selfish nimbyism”. The climate-sceptic Sun praises the ambition shown by the announcement, arguing that to “grow [the] stagnant economy Labour must sideline paralysing net-zero policies”. The climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph claims that the expansion and wider announcements “exposed a complete misunderstanding of how economies function effectively”. The Evening Standard states that Reeves made “the right call”, adding: “London is the world’s greatest city – it deserves an airport to match that status.” 

A separate comment piece in the Guardian by columnist George Monbiot dubs the move “environmental vandalism”. “Our rivers, our wildlife, the air we breathe: the government is sacrificing all to the insatiable god of GDP – and mocking our objections”, he writes. In the Sun, climate-sceptic commentator Ross Clark writes: “Labour’s bold growth plan will come to nothing unless they sacrifice sacred cows – starting with mad net-zero plan.” In the Daily Telegraph, the climate-sceptic editor of its Sunday edition, Allister Heath, argues that Reeves’ claim she is pro-growth “will remain a lie so long as the energy secretary [Ed Miliband] is in post”. (Carbon Brief analysis found Miliband was relentlessly attacked in editorials in right-leaning newspapers in 2024, with roughly two a week targeting the minister in the second half of the year.)

If the “draconian sentences” being appealed by climate activists in the UK this week stand, “we are no better than an authoritarian state”, writes environmental activist and former Green MP Caroline Lucas in the Guardian. Discussing the trial in the Court of Appeals, she argues that, “regardless of your politics and what you are standing for, the right of peaceful protest is a vital sign of a healthy democracy and an essential guardrail against authoritarian politicians and reckless companies”. Lucas points to her own arrest for peaceful protest at a fracking site, the role of protest within democracy and the increasing challenge of ensuring the voices of citizens are heard in UK society. She points to prime minister Keir Starmer’s defence of climate activists in previous years, concluding: “And yet this government seems perfectly content to continue sleepwalking into many of the practices used by authoritarian states.” 

In other UK-focused comment, Bloomberg columnist Lara Williams speaks to the new leader of the Climate Change Committee Emma Pinchbeck, quipping that she doesn not “envy the UK climate change chief’s job”.

The survival rates of certain Amazon birds dropped during “increasingly severe” dry seasons in the rainforest over the past three decades, according to a new study. The findings “directly link climate change to declining bird survival in the Amazon”, the researchers write. The study analyses more than 4,000 bird captures from 1985-2012 to assess the impact of climate variability on rainforest birds. Harsher Amazon dry seasons “significantly reduced” the survival rates for 24 of 29 species studied, the researchers find, noting that older species are more strongly affected.