The COP16 UN summit on desertification being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia over the past fortnight, has ended without agreement, the Financial Times reports. The newspaper says: “UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) executive secretary Ibrahim Thiaw told the final plenary that ‘parties need more time to agree on the best way forward as to how to address the critical issue of drought’.” It adds: “[A]s talks progressed towards their scheduled Friday close, tensions emerged over Saudi refusal to include any reference to climate in the agreement, according to one person briefed on the talks. In the end, the talks concluded with the procedural decision to return to the subject of drought at the next summit.” The Associated Press says the summit had “attempted to create strong global mandates to legally bind and require nations to fund early warning systems and build resilient infrastructure in poorer countries, particularly Africa”. Agence France-Presse also has the story.

The French Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte has been hit by “the most powerful cyclone in nearly a century”, killing “several hundred people and possibly even thousands”, Reuters reports, citing a local official. Channel 4 reports: “A tropical cyclone, made stronger by climate change causing rising ocean temperatures, has killed hundreds of people in Mayotte, a French department in the Indian Ocean.” The Associated Press says the territory has “suffered widespread destruction” after Cyclone Chido hit the islands with winds of more than 220kph, making it a category 4 cyclone. It says that the cyclone went on to hit Mozambique and adds: “Studies say the cyclones are getting worse because of climate change. They can leave poor countries in Africa, which contribute a tiny amount to global warming, having to deal with large humanitarian crises, underlining their call for more help from rich nations to deal with the impact of climate change.” Axios says: “Studies show that climate change is increasing maximum wind speeds of hurricanes and causing them to intensify more rapidly.” Sky News reports: “Global warming is predicted to make cyclones much more dangerous, although it will not increase the frequency of them. The IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, warned it is ‘very likely’ cyclones will have higher rates of rainfall and reach higher top wind speeds.”

Two weeks of hearings came to a close on Friday at the international court of justice case on climate change, Deutsche Welle reports. It explains: “The court has been asked to provide an advisory opinion on the duties states have under international law to protect the climate. They’ve also been asked to address what the legal consequences are for those who ‘by their acts and omissions, have caused significant harm to the climate system’.” It continues: “The court has witnessed powerful testimonies of how rising temperatures, largely driven by greenhouse gases emitted by burning fossil fuels, are devastating lives on the frontline of the crisis…One of the most striking aspects of the case is the divide that has emerged between big polluters and the rest of the world, said Nikki Reisch, climate and energy program director at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)…CIEL said that major polluters claim the current UN climate regime, which includes the Paris Agreement, is the only relevant existing international law on states’ climate obligations and it requires them to do very little. CIEL instead urged the top court to look beyond Paris to the ‘wider universe of international law’ encompassing environmental and human rights law.” The New Yorker also reports on the ICJ case, which is expected to result in an opinion early next year.

At the meeting of the “national energy work conference”, new National Energy Administration (NEA) director Wang Hongzhi has told delegates that the “scale of China’s nuclear power in operation and under construction has risen to first place in the world”, Xinhua reports. The state news agency adds that, in 2025, China’s “installed capacity of nuclear power in operation will reach 65 gigawatts”. (The US currently has 97GW of nuclear capacity.)  International Energy Net also covers the meeting, saying that the NEA’s key tasks for 2025 include “gradually establishing non-fossil energy as the main supply of energy” based on “innovation”, “institutional reform”, “security and abundance” and “economic feasibility”. BJX News says that Wang Hongzhi has officially replaced Zhang Jianhua as NEA director. Shanghai Securities News says China will continue to “advance progress” towards its “dual-carbon” goals through efforts including “transitioning from dual-control of energy to dual-control of carbon”, according to a recent government “work conference”. 

In other China news, industry news outlet BJX News reports that, from January to October 2024, production in China’s solar industry increased more than 20%, with “solar cell exports surging by 40% and solar module exports accounting for around 46% of total production”. Business news outlet Jiemian reports that, despite recent pledges in the solar industry to push prices higher, prices have yet to see an “uplift”, with “more than one-third of the enterprises” bidding for a recent procurement contract offering prices below the agreed minimum floor. “Over 30% of listed solar companies [are] reporting losses” this year, according to Dialogue Earth. The China Electricity Council has issued a proposal to “strengthen self-discipline” in the power equipment industry and resist “malicious competition”, China Electric Power News reports. Meanwhile, China’s battery giant CATL has told its suppliers it is “willing to provide them with financial support to speed up technology innovation” in battery materials and equipment, says Reuters.

Finally, Politico reports that UK energy and climate secretary Ed Miliband will visit China in early 2025, with the visit likely to focus on “climate change and trade in green goods”. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that EU-China negotiations to “end a long-running row” over the bloc’s EV tariffs have paused. At the China-France strategic dialogue, the two countries agreed to “closely coordinate at the multilateral level and strengthen cooperation on climate change, biodiversity [and] sustainable development”, the People’s Daily says. French president Emmanuel Macron is planning to visit China in 2025, SCMP reports.

Companies operating and investing in the UK’s electric vehicle (EV) charging network have “warned that changes to government targets for getting battery-run cars on the road would be ‘disastrous’ for the industry”, the Financial Times reports. It says the government is planning to consult on changes to its zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which requires a rising share of carmakers’ sales to be ZEVs. The newspaper says changes “could include extending or expanding existing flexibilities that allow carmakers to buy credits from rivals to avoid fines. Carmakers are also calling for flexibility on fines.” A separate Financial Times article says business secretary Jonathan Reynolds is “set to water down the existing rules”. It begins with the inaccurate statement that EV sales are “stalling in the UK”. [EV sales are up 18% in the year to date and rose 58% year-on-year in November.] The Times reports: “Drivers need a hand to switch to electric, AA boss tells Labour.”

The UK government has agreed to compensate developers of what would be the UK’s first carbon capture and storage (CCS) project if it is blocked by campaigners via the courts, the Financial Times reports. It says the Net Zero Teesside Power scheme is “part of Labour’s plans to decarbonise the UK’s electricity system by 2030”. Separately, the Times reports that prime minister Keir Starmer is to “lay the ground for an agreement to increase cooperation on carbon capture and storage” with Norway. The Press Association says the leaders of the UK and Norway aim to sign the CCS deal in spring 2025. The Daily Telegraph says the deal “is to promote what critics have said is unproven” technology.

Meanwhile, there was continued coverage over the weekend of the government’s action plan, published on Friday, for reaching clean power by 2030. (See Carbon Brief’s coverage for more details.) The Guardian reports energy secretary Ed Miliband “denied there was a risk of blackouts in a clean-power system if the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine”. BBC News focuses its coverage on the government aligning planning rules for onshore windfarms with all other major infrastructure, reporting that “large-scale developments would now be decided by the government, rather than local councils”. The Press Association reports: “Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Miliband confirmed that ministers will be able to have the final say on approving onshore wind turbines across the UK. These decisions have previously been left to councils, but strict planning rules introduced by the Conservative government in 2015 meant local opposition has often stalled or blocked projects from moving ahead.” The Daily Mail says the government’s plans “mean carpeting the UK with thousands more pylons, wind turbines and solar farms”. The Times reports that Miliband “refused to commit the government to a target for cutting consumer energy bills” as part of the plan. The Daily Telegraph reports on “where…Miliband is plotting to build one billion solar panels”. Another Daily Telegraph article says Miliband is to decide whether to allow the Botley West solar farm to be built on the Blenheim estate near Oxford.

In other UK news, the Financial Times carries an interview with chancellor Rachel Reeves in which she touts the benefits of her government’s investment plans: “Whether it is batteries, or ports, or offshore wind, or carbon capture or green hydrogen, those are jobs and industries that will be located outside of London, actually often in the north of England.” The Times says digger manufacturer JCB will be the first customer for “green steel” from the electric arc furnace being planned at Port Talbot in south Wales. The Daily Telegraph reports that only 0.75m households have signed up to participate in the NESO “demand flexibility service”, which pays people to reduce demand when supplies are tight, compared with 2m at this time last year. Another Daily Telegraph article runs under a headline saying heat pumps and solar panels “may be forced on listed buildings”. The article fails to offer any evidence of this and says only that plans would mean “heritage buildings have to get an energy efficiency certificate”. A third Daily Telegraph article says the UK risks “dependence on Chinese technology for net-zero”.

German economy minister Robert Habeck has “raised further doubts over the country’s plans for an early phase-out of coal-fired power generation”, Bloomberg reports. It says that Habeck, in an answer to a question about the target for a 2030 phaseout, told a conference in Berlin last week: “For me, energy security always has absolute priority.” It continues: “Habeck’s ministry earlier [last] week dropped a plan for new gas-fired power plants, which are key to replacing the country’s coal-fired sites, as the measure couldn’t be voted on after the country’s three-party coalition collapsed last month…Habeck on Friday stressed that coal plants could only be taken offline if there’s sufficient back-up capacity.” The outlet adds: “The ministry today said that the government is still working toward reaching a coal exit in 2030, but stressed that there ‘is no way around flexible new capacities’.”

Concerns over “censorship”, “funding cuts” and “layoffs” were “loom[ing] over the world’s largest conference of climate scientists” in Washington DC last week, Politico reports. It says: “Dozens of scientists who spoke with Politico at the [American Geophysical Union] conference expressed worry that the second Trump administration could be more antagonistic toward research underpinning federal rules on climate and environmental health…Much of the concern here stems from Project 2025, the conservative policy blueprint spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation that calls for deep budget cuts and dramatic reorganizations of certain agencies.” The Guardian also reports from the conference under the headline: “Anxious scientists brace for Trump’s climate denialism: ‘We have a target on our backs’.” The newspaper adds: “The prospect of an even more ideologically driven Trump administration slashing budgets and mass-firing federal staff has given America’s scientific community a sort of collective anxiety attack.”

In an interview with Politico, EU climate chief Teresa Ribera says of Donald Trump’s impending return to the White House: “It is not good news that a big player such as the US decides to go in a different direction…It is not good news for anyone. But…whenever there is a big player that decides to abandon a room, there will be other players entering.” The outlet says Ribera “warned that Europe should not go down the same route, pointing to lessons from the recent past where delaying the auto sector’s green transition allowed Chinese carmakers to swoop in and dominate the electric vehicle market”. It quotes her saying: “[For] a very long time, we heard the Western car industry thinking that they were so good in the internal combustion engine that they were always to be at the front row…There were others that understood things differently. So we missed the train. And I think that this is what we need to avoid.” On what it describes as the “social upheaval linked to the EU’s climate strategy”, Politico quotes Ribera saying: “How we can provide the means that they can come along with this change is going to be very, very important…And I think that is one of the aspects that was not sufficiently taken into consideration in the past and that we need to reinforce.”

Meanwhile, a Sunday Times feature on the “oil barons betting on a Trump boom” concludes by saying: “Even as Trump stands to usher in a boom, companies are already signalling they will pull back on drilling next year, as crude oil prices begin to soften.”

This week is a “crucial moment” for the UK’s Labour government and for efforts to decarbonise the transport sector, says an editorial in today’s Guardian. The article says: “The government has restored a 2030 cutoff point – kicked back to 2035 by [former Conservative prime minister] Rishi Sunak – after which the sale of pure internal combustion engines will be banned. But car manufacturers are lobbying for a watering down of the terms of the zero‑emissions vehicles mandate (ZEV), which requires manufacturers to sell a rising proportion of EVs between now and then.” It concludes: “A proactive, front-foot approach from the government, sticking to the plan, is in the best interests of car manufacturers as well as consumers…Labour’s side of the bargain…should be to provide a financial framework that truly incentivises private buyers, and a state-of-the art infrastructure that instils confidence. With the right kind of leadership, Britain’s green transition can also deliver a powerful industrial legacy.”

Columnist Ian Dunt writes in a comment for the i newspaper that the UK government’s plan to reach clean power by 2030 is “one of the most far-reaching governance projects we’ve seen in our lifetime”. Dunt writes: “On Friday, it unveiled its ‘Plan for Change’ on clean electricity, which aims to double onshore wind and triple offshore wind and solar power. The ambition here is pretty much off the scale.” He adds: “What are the benefits of accomplishing it? Cheaper electricity in the long run, with a more secure and predictable energy market that no longer relies on countries like Russia…And then, of course, the small matter of preventing climate change.” An editorial in the Independent is headlined: “With its energy policy, the government cannot afford to say one thing and do another.”

In the UK’s right-leaning newspapers, meanwhile, a series of editorials take personal aim at energy secretary Ed Miliband. In Saturday’s edition of the Times, an editorial says Miliband is “one of the most messianic ­members of [prime minister] Keir Starmer’s government”. The newspaper goes on to list the “panoply of reforms and incentives” in the government’s action plan on meeting its target for clean power by 2030. The editorial says: “Miliband has failed to answer an obvious question: what is the cheapest route to sustainable power? Could his net-zero mission be delayed a ­little to ease consumer costs? There is a risk that his headstrong zeal is focused on a political target over the interests of consumers.” It concludes: “Renewables are important, but so is building the next generation of nuclear power ­stations…It must be both, not either or.” An editorial in the Daily Telegraph, under a headline that says Miliband should be “held to account for “Syria’s suffering”, ends by saying: “Miliband is now leaving his mark on the British economy with a rushed, ideologically driven decarbonisation of power generation. The energy secretary who spent the election campaign promising his plans would lower bills is now instead promising that his reckless pursuit of his target won’t mean blackouts. History suggests that households may wish to stock up on candles rather than trust in the competence and guarantees of Miliband.” An editorial in the Sun, which blames Miliband for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, also says: “These days Miliband’s unbending ignorance is driving us off a net-zero cliff.” A comment in the Sunday Times by climate-sceptic columnist Dominc Lawson, also focusing on Miliband, carries the subtitle: “Syria, net-zero, Jeremy Corbyn – his record as Labour leader and now energy secretary ill fits his sense of manifest destiny.” Lawson says Miliband is “the author of a scheme to make the country’s electricity grid 95% free of fossil fuels by 2030” and argues this is “unfeasible”. The Daily Telegraph gives a comment slot to climate-sceptic Reform MP Richard Tice, who calls Miliband “the most dangerous man to the British economy” and says net-zero – which scientists say must be reached to stop global warming – is a “religious pursuit” and the “new Bible” for the Labour and Conservative parties.

Several articles for the Guardian reflect on the Australian opposition Coalition’s proposals for an electricity system dominated by nuclear power, including analysis from Guardian Australia climate and environment editor Adam Morton that says: “Experts and agencies have overwhelmingly deemed the plan not to be credible.” He writes: “They have found, repeatedly, that a nuclear industry could not be developed by the time it would be needed, and choosing to slow the rollout of large-scale renewable energy and batteries while waiting for nuclear to develop would be a significant risk to supply, risking blackouts as old coal plants become increasingly unreliable. And they have found, obviously enough, that burning more coal and gas in the medium term would increase Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, push national climate commitments out of reach and accelerate global heating.” Also for the Guardian, Nicki Hutley, an independent economist and member of the Climate Council, says the Coalition proposals “take us back to being a climate pariah”. A third comment for the Guardian by senior advisor to the Climate and Energy College at Melbourne University Simon Holmes à Court says the Coalition proposal “takes a sharp turn away from a cheaper, cleaner future”. Separately, the Guardian reports that electric vehicle sales reached “new highs in Australia, making up nearly 10% of car market”. And the Guardian also reports that a heatwave has seen the state of Victoria “record…highest December temperature in five years”.

More than half of Alaska’s population of common murres died during an “extreme” marine heatwave event over 2014-16, with an estimated four million of the seabirds lost, a new study finds. The authors used a combination of models and data to assess how the population of the common murre changed between 2008-14 and 2016-22. The authors say that numbers “plummeted” during the heatwave, adding that “no evidence of recovery has yet been observed, suggesting that these ecosystems may no longer support historic numbers of seabird top predators”.