The promise by rich countries to provide $100bn (£80bn) a year in climate finance has finally been met, two years after the deadline, reports the Guardian. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), about $89.6bn was provided to developing countries in 2021, and the sum likely exceeded $100bn in 2022, based on preliminary data, the article continues. The 2021 figure was an 8% increase on the $83bn provided in 2020, and sat at the upper end of OECD estimates, increasing the organisation’s confidence that the 2022 figure surpassed the $100bn target, it says. Developed countries promised that from 2020 they would transfer $100bn a year to poorer nations back in 2009, reports Reuters. The goal is politically significant, the article notes, and the failure to meet it has “stoked mistrust in past talks, hampering deals to tackle climate change as developing countries argue the world’s economic powers are abandoning them”.

A separate article in Reuters reports that the poorest and most vulnerable countries do not benefit enough from pre-arranged financing (PAF) to cope with disasters, as well as being the most exposed to the losses and damage caused by climate change, according to a new report from the London-based Centre for Disaster Protection. Between 2017 and 2021, only $200.8m of international development financing for PAF, or 3.7%, reached low-income countries, it continues. The report warns that “many of the countries and communities bearing the brunt of impacts from climate change have done the least to cause it, and typically lack the technical and financial capacity to address loss and damage”, the article adds.

The world is “badly off track” to meet carbon emission targets, a UK minister has warned, stating that the country will make it a priority at COP28 to maintain the target of limiting global warming to 1.5C, reports the Independent. Energy minister Graham Stuart was addressing a debate in the UK parliament about the upcoming UN climate summit, and told MPs that “we must not lose hope and fall into a council of doom”, insisting efforts to date have succeeded in “bending the emissions curve away from apocalyptic levels”, the article adds. 

Meanwhile, summit host the United Arab Emirates has been flaring gas “virtually daily” despite committing 20 years ago to a policy of zero-routine flaring, the Guardian reports in an “exclusive”. One field owned by state oil company Adnoc – the CEO of which, Sultan Al Jaber, is also president-designate of COP28 – has flared gas on more than 99% of days monitored by satellite from 2018 to 2022, according to data from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, obtained by the Guardian. The analysis assessed flaring in 32 oil and gas fields in the UAE, 20 of which were run by Adnoc, it notes. The Guardian quotes Hubert Thieriot, of Crea, who produced the flaring data, who says: “As the host of the upcoming COP28, it is critical that UAE further strengthens and respects its commitments if it wants to play a leader’s role in reducing flaring.” 

In other COP28 news, France and Kenya are set to launch an international taxation taskforce at the summit to push for new levies to raise further money for climate action, reports Climate Home News. The taskforce is planning to consider a broad range of options, including levies on international shipping, aviation, financial transactions and fossil fuels, the outlet notes. In an article in African Arguments, a panel of African climate experts identify the continent’s key priorities at the upcoming climate talks. These range from fossil fuel phase out, adaptation financing and concerns the global south is not being heard, amongst others, the article notes. Meanwhile an article in Axios details what oil and gas giant ExxonMobil wants to get out of the COP28 summit, with its CEO hoping for a “vibe shift”. 

Hotter temperatures and extreme weather are coming to every corner of the US, according to the country’s latest climate assessment, reports Inside Climate News. Many regions are experiencing more frequent, heavier rains, while others are seeing worsening drought, and some are getting both, it continues. These changes are translating into greater stresses on public health through worsening heatwaves, wildfires, hurricanes, floods and the psychological toll of mounting disaster, it adds. “There is not a part of the US that gets a pass on climate impacts,” one Biden administration official said during a briefing for reporters on the fifth national climate assessment, the article notes. The report comes as more than 100,000 Floridians were without power yesterday as the state continues to be battered by high winds and torrential rain, reports the Independent. The storm has dumped more than a foot (30.5cm) of rain on parts of south Florida, with ​​wind gusts topping out at 86mph (136kph), reports Reuters. The climate assessment includes a tipping points graphic adapted from one produced by Carbon Brief.

Elsewhere, the European Commission yesterday launched a legal action against Greece for failing to update its flood risk and flood hazard maps, as required under EU law, reports Politico. Greece failed to update the maps by March 2020, as stipulated in the bloc’s 2007 floods directive, making it the only member country to fail to comply, the article notes. Reuters carries a story detailing residents of the Greek village of Metamorfosi that was devastated by floods earlier this year, where 16 people were killed, including a man and his mother who drowned in their home. Residents who left during the storm now want to relocate their entire community, the article notes, as they are “terrified it cannot survive another bout of extreme weather driven by climate change”. In other extreme weather coverage, the Guardian has an interactive map that shows the extreme of bushfires in Australia’s north this year.

UK Labour leader Keir Starmer has challenged the oil industry to speed up its transition to low-carbon energy, offering up to £2.5bn to subsidise new jobs in renewables for North Sea workers, the Guardian reports. Hosting a roundtable together with shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband, Starmer told 20 energy firms including Shell and BP, that the UK is in a global race to move away from oil and gas, with countries such as the US investing billions in climate-friendly technologies, it continues. The roundtable forms part of a two-day visit to Aberdeen, during which the party is promoting its plans to decarbonise UK energy supplies by 2030 – a target date that the oil industry is “vigorously resisting”, notes the Guardian. Starmer will confirm that North Sea industries will be eligible for the “British Jobs Bonus”, the Associated Press reports, which will create an estimated 29,000 UK jobs by 2050 by rewarding low-carbon energy developers. Labour’s plans to make Britain a “clean energy superpower” will support 50,000 jobs in Scotland by 2030, the article notes. Speaking ahead of the trip, Starmer said: “The road to making Britain a clean energy superpower, slashing energy bills and creating tens of thousands of quality jobs runs through Scotland and the North Sea,” the article notes.

Elsewhere, a report by the all-party parliamentary group on nuclear energy has urged the government to require developers to use domestic supply chains when building small modular reactors, the Daily Telegraph reports. This would mean that even foreign SMR designs are “effectively made by British industry”, helping to “revitalise the country’s sovereign capabilities and creating jobs”, the article notes. 

The UK energy secretary could be granted new powers to fast-track connecting electricity-hungry projects to the grid, under new plans being discussed between government and regulators, reports the Guardian. Delays of up to 15 years in connecting projects have lead to increasing concern in the industry, and the Guardian “understands such a move would allow Claire Coutinho to request that energy network companies accelerate upgrades to substations and power lines to connect specific new developments”, such as Jaguar Land Rover’s owner Tata’s planned electric battery factory. The government and regulator Ofgem has told National Grid Electricity System Operator that they are “minded” to adopt its proposal to change the model for connections, which currently moves at a pace set by each network operator, the article adds. Bloomberg reports that the UK is planning to overhaul how it prioritises connections to the grid, according to people familiar with the matter. Part of the strategy will be to break the backlog that’s holding up crucial new infrastructure, under a plan dubbed the “Great Grid Upgrade”, it continues. This could include offering households compensation for grid infrastructure projects in their neighbourhoods as an incentive to reduce local objections and speed up construction, the article adds. The strategy is set to be published alongside chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn fiscal statement next Wednesday, and comes alongside the government’s response to the Electricity Networks Commissioner Nick Winser’s report from earlier this year, Bloomberg notes. The chancellor is also expected to announce hundreds of millions of pounds more in funding for companies wanting to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles, reports BBC News. Hunt is expected to pledge more subsidies and grants following the success of the existing Automotive Transformation Fund in luring Nissan and Tata to the UK, it adds.

In other UK news, energy bills are expected to rise by 5% or almost £100 a year from January, after the Israel-Hamas war and industrial action in Australia pushed up gas prices, reports the Times. According to the latest forecasts from consultancy Cornwall Insight, a household with typical consumption will pay an average of £1,931 a year under the energy price cap from January 1, up from £1,834 at present, it adds. This story is also covered by the Guardian, Bloomberg, the Daily Express, and others. 

On Thursday, the German parliament, Bundestag, passed the federal climate adaptation law with the votes of the “traffic light” coalition – consisting of the Social Democrats, Greens, and Free Democrats – to better protect the country against “extreme weather events”, reports Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). The outlet says the law obliges the federal government, states and municipalities to develop concepts and strategies “to better protect the population, buildings, and infrastructure against extreme weather and ensure adaptation to climate change, including in urban planning and agriculture”. However, the sources of the billions for the planned measures are “largely undecided” due to the recent decision of Germany’s constitutional court not to allow reallocating the money from the Covid fund to the climate and transformation fund (CTF), which has become “the most important instrument for financing the energy transition and other green projects” in recent years. Meanwhile, Manager Magazin reports that the constitutional court’s ruling made German ministers “warn of devastating consequences for the industry” as managers and lobbyists openly threatened to withdraw from the country, and dissatisfaction and uncertainty are high. However, the budget for 2024 is expected to be finalised before the Budget Committee of the Bundestag is to vote on it conclusively next week, notes the outlet.

Elsewhere in German media, Handelsblatt carries an article stating that Germany plans to significantly expand its liquefied “natural” gas (LNG) import capacities in the coming years, comparable to only a few other countries, which was revealed by the Global Oil and Gas Exit List, a database compiled by the environmental organisation Urgewald. According to the news, Germany aims for long-term capacities of 69bn cubic metres (bcm), ranking among the top four countries in terms of adding LNG terminals, along with China, Vietnam and India. 

A spokesperson from China’s ministry of commerce (MOFCOM) says that China has noticed that the EU did not use the “largest representative standard of exports” [i.e. Tesla and European-backed automotive joint ventures in China] in their anti-subsidy investigation on Chinese electric vehicles, and instead chose to focus on three Chinese enterprises, reports Xinhua. The spokesperson adds that the EU’s “sampling standard is non-compliant, the sampling process is non-transparent and the sampling results are unfair”. Chinese online media outlet Sixth Tone reports that in a “major push” to reduce carbon emissions, China has “designated 15 cities as pilot zones to promote the use of new energy vehicles in public transport” in these cities. It also plans to “[add] more charging stations, [speed] up electrification, and [explore] new technologies”. China Economic Network says that Shenzhen is designated as a pilot city because it has a “favourable environment” for the development of new EVs. 

Meanwhile, Chinese energy outlet BJX News reports that the National Climate Strategy Centre has released the “voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction registration rules” and the “guidelines for the design and implementation of voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction projects”, meaning carbon reduction projects can now participate in carbon trading based on these rules. The state-run newspaper China Daily says that the trade of green power in China grew steadily and reached 87.8 terawatt-hours by the end of October, with 148m green certificates issued, showing positive signs of China’s energy transition. 

China Energy Net reports that, according to an official from the ministry of industry and information technology (MIIT), there is a “certain level of cyclical and structural overcapacity risk in the Chinese solar industry, but overall, it falls within the normal range of industry development”. Chinese business outlet Jiemian says that solar panel manufacturer Maxeon Solar Technologies has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in a German court against Chinese solar company JinkoSolar and its subsidiaries. Bloomberg reports that China’s top province for solar power, Shandong, is trying to encourage greater development of battery technology by increasing payments for battery storage plants”, with hopes that they will “provide clean electricity around the clock”. 

Finally, Reuters says that China is objecting to a US proposal for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) members to integrate sustainability and inclusivity into their trade and investment policies, according to a source. Another Reuters article reports that countries in the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) announced their “agreement” on two more pillars of the initiative, including cooperation on clean energy, “even as IPEF trade talks languish”.

If the UK government had implemented a “proper windfall tax on oil and gas giants”, it could have funded the support with energy bills “people so clearly require”, says the Daily Mirror in its lead editorial, and “it’s not too late to act”. The article comes ahead of the chancellor’s autumn statement next week where he has a choice, the article says, “he can cut taxes for the richest or stand by those in genuine need”. The article notes that, last winter, “more than 4,000 people died because of the cold and millions more struggled to pay for their heating”. [A windfall tax was introduced during the autumn statement in 2022, as reported by Carbon Brief at the time. However, it included an investment allowance many viewed as a ‘loophole’ allowing companies to avoid paying.]

Elsewhere, Guardian financial editor Nils Pratley explores the increase to the strike price for offshore wind in the UK’s next subsidy round, arguing that “even with bigger subsidies, the technology looks attractive price-wise compared with gas”. The Financial Times also explores offshore wind in the UK, with correspondents Lukanyo Mnyanda and Rachel Millard questioning whether investment in renewables creates jobs. 

With COP28 just weeks away, if we hope to limit warming to 1.5C, we “must see the oil and gas sector start to move the needle”, writes Tatiana Boldyreva, associate director of climate change at the NGO CDP (formerly the “Carbon Disclosure Project”), for Reuters. Despite reports from the International Energy Agency that suggest the peak of oil and gas production is “around the corner”, companies “are not slowing their extraction” and are “seemingly ignoring their responsibility” to transition to low-carbon energy, she writes. In order to tackle climate change, oil and gas companies should tackle methane emissions, assess “scope 3” emissions and invest in low-carbon research and development, the article suggests. “A commitment from governments to phase out fossil fuels at COP28 will send clear signals that the age of fossil fuels is over and begin to usher in a new era of renewable energy. I hope that COP28 finally marks the start of these crucial commitments,” Boldyreva concludes. 

Elsewhere, an editorial in the Financial Times explores the tentative reset between Washington and Beijing following the meeting between counterparts Xi Jinping and Joe Biden this week. It says: “There are opportunities to build on this week’s progress with further efforts to cooperate on climate at the coming COP28 conference.”

A new study finds that there is a “plausible and significant” chance that the world will continue to warm after reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. A team of researchers uses a suite of Earth system models to project how different parts of the climate system will change over time after net-zero is achieved. They find that, because not all parts of the Earth system will stabilise at the same rate, it is likely that warming will continue – and could potentially contribute in excess of 15% of total warming. They write that “current climate models do not adequately represent the full scope of complex and interdependent Earth system processes that determine” that future warming.