Typhoon Bebinca, which made landfall on Monday, has brought Shanghai – China’s financial hub – to a “virtual standstill”, reports the New York Times. The newspaper says that the storm could “disrupt consumer spending”, which China “desperately needs as its economy slows”. Shanghai’s meteorological authorities have “warned that another typhoon appeared to be forming where Bebinca had originated, and could hit Shanghai and surrounding areas later this week”, it adds. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) also covers the story, saying Bebinca has caused power cuts in 153 locations and more than 800 acres of farmland to be flooded. However, the newspaper quotes the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau warning that the “strongest effects of the typhoon may be yet to come”, the outlet adds. China Science and Technology Network says it is likely that China will see “almost one typhoon per week” before October this year.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the government of Italy “backs tariffs” proposed by the European Commission on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs). State-run newspaper China Daily publishes an article, saying that the latest decision by the US to impose tariffs on some Chinese goods will threaten “the stability of global supply chains” and “ultimately pass the burden onto its consumers”.

Elsewhere, the China Certified Emission Reduction (CCER) scheme has released “the first batch of certified voluntary emission reduction projects”, including grid-connected offshore wind power and solar thermal power generation, the Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily reports. These projects have a “planned emission reduction exceeding 70 million tons”, the newspaper says. SCMP covers China’s rare earth controls, saying that Beijing will “further safeguard its reserves of rare earth elements by about 5m tonnes amid increasing international competition”.

The mayor of the south-western Polish city of Nysa has asked its 44,000 residents to evacuate, as widespread flooding continues across Europe, reports BBC News. The death toll from the floods that hit over the weekend rose to at least 16 on Monday, with seven confirmed fatalities in Romania, it adds. Additionally, casualties have been recorded in Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland, the article says. Border areas between the Czech Republic and Poland were hit by heavy rain and surging water levels, which led bridges to collapse, forced evacuations and damaged cars and houses, reports Reuters. The Czech town of Litovel was 70% submerged by water, which rose up to a metre deep on Monday, it adds. The flooding caused by Storm Boris is the worst seen in central Europe for at least two decades, reports Al Jazeera. It adds that on Monday, Poland’s government announced a state of natural disaster in affected areas, and said it will set aside one billion zlotys ($260m) to help victims. Most parts of the Czech Republic have been affected by the floods, but the situation was worst in the two north-eastern regions where authorities declared a state of emergency, reports the Independent. An analysis piece in the Guardian notes that climate scientists are “troubled by damage from floods ravaging central Europe”. It explains that climate scientists are unsurprised by the intensity of the storm, but “troubled” by the damage caused, which shows how unprepared the world is. It quotes Joyce Kimutai, of Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute, who says: “The catastrophic rainfall hitting central Europe is exactly what scientists expect with climate change.” 

Elsewhere in Europe, more than 5,000 firefighters are tackling wildfires in Portugal, reports BBC News. It quotes Portugal’s prime minister Louis Montenegro saying that the fires are “raging across the country” and adds that local media reported that at least two people have died. The article notes that the fires follow temperatures exceeding 30C (86F) over the weekend, with the heat expected to continue for days.

UK foreign secretary David Lammy is expected to say that climate action will be central to “all” foreign policy in his first major speech today, reports Sky News, adding that the speech comes as the government seeks to rebrand the UK’s international image. It says that Lammy will use his speech to address the “climate and nature crises” and how they intersect with geopolitics, conflict and insecurity. The broadcaster adds that Lammy is expected to say that while the threat of climate change may not feel as “urgent” as terrorism or autocratic regimes, it is more “systemic, pervasive, and accelerating towards us”. As part of the speech, Lammy will announce the launch of the Global Clean Power Alliance, reports the Daily Telegraph. Other countries will be invited to join the body, which is being likened to “the Opec grouping of oil-producing nations but focused on tackling global warming”, it adds. The article notes that the Global Clean Power Alliance has previously been championed by energy security secretary Ed Miliband and is an attempt to group like-minded countries on issues such as speeding up the adoption of new technologies. It says that Lammy is expected to say: “I am committing to you that, while I am foreign secretary, action on the climate and nature crisis will be central to all the Foreign Office does. This is critical given the scale of the threat, but also the scale of the opportunity.” The Daily Mail coverage of the speech says: “Lammy’s comments risk opening Labour up to accusations that the party is in the pockets of eco-zealots. It will also raise eyebrows that Lammy is choosing to use his first major policy speech to focus on climate change rather than crises such as the war in Ukraine and unrest in the Middle East.”

More than 200 inmates have escaped from a prison in Nigeria following the worst flooding in two decades, reports the Guardian. The flooding killed 37 people and displaced 200,000 others in Borno state, after its capital Maiduguri was “overrun by water” on 9 September when a dam collapsed, it continues. It says a spokesperson for the Nigerian Correctional Service Abubakar Umar said on Sunday that 281 inmates had escaped while being transferred to “a safe and secure facility” after their prison was flooded, seven have subsequently been captured. The newspaper adds that earlier this year, the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency warned of flooding across the country’s 36 states, but “the rains surpassed the annual average as the impact of climate change ramps up around the globe”. In addition to the prisoners, local authorities have warned people to beware of snakes and crocodiles in the flood waters, after the zoo in Maiduguri was also flooded, reports the Times. The article quotes Nigeria’s vice-president, Kashim Shettima, who says the disaster “serves as a sobering reminder of the increasing threats posed by climate change, not just globally but particularly to regions like ours”.

The COP29 presidency has launched an “action agenda” as it seeks support on “certain non-negotiated partnerships and initiatives to accelerate climate action”, reports the Hindustan Times. The agenda is supplemental to the negotiated programme for the 2024 UN climate change conference, which will take place in Baku in November, it adds. The article explains that COP29 president-designate Mukhtar Babayev used a letter to parties and non-party stakeholders to set out the details of the package and how it will contribute to the presidency’s “vision to enhance ambition and enable action”. It says that the agenda will cover a range of priorities such as energy, finance, agriculture, cities, human development, and the climate-peace connection. The article states that the presidency will share draft texts relating to these non-negotiated deals with all parties and constituencies, and will then finalise the texts and republish them on the COP29 website “in due course”.

In other COP29 news, Azerbaijan is being accused of “hypocrisy” after calling for a COP29 global truce, reports the Guardian. For the duration of the conference as well as a week either side, Azerbaijan is calling on all countries to put down arms, it explains. It says a leaked draft of the truce appeal, seen by the Guardian, reads “[COP29] is a unique chance to bridge divides and find paths towards lasting peace. Conflicts increase greenhouse gas emissions and ravage the environment, polluting soil, water and air. The devastation of ecosystems and pollution caused by conflicts worsen climate change and undermine our efforts to safeguard the planet.” However, the article says that activists have pointed to Azerbaijan’s record on human rights and its recently concluded war with Armenia, which saw more than 100,000 people displaced in the Nagorno-Karabakh region after the country launched an offensive. The article quotes Paul Polman, a former chief of Unilever and now a climate activist and peace campaigner, who says: “The idea of a ‘COP truce’ is a deeply cynical PR stunt by Azerbaijan designed to distract the world’s attention away from its ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh last year.”

Oil major BP will quit the US onshore wind market, announcing plans to sell ten windfarms, reports the Times. It says the company will divest its existing US onshore wind farms, which span seven states and have a combined capacity of 1.7 gigawatts as part of plans to simplify the business and boost returns. The article says the sale could fetch about $2bn, according to analysts at RBC Capital. It adds that remaining onshore wind operations will be consolidated into the company’s solar business, Lightsource BP. The Daily Telegraph quotes William Lin, BP’s natural gas and low carbon chief, who says: “We believe the business is likely to be of greater value for another owner.” It quotes him adding that despite the sale of the onshore wind assets, “renewables are an important part of our strategy as BP transitions to an integrated energy company”. The newspaper adds that BP has been “steadily curbing its green energy businesses” since Murray Auchincloss was appointed as chief executive at the start of the year.

An opinion article in the New York Times by columnist David Wallace-Wells says that the current energy transition, “to a large degree, [is] a Chinese project”, adding that the gap “between China and everybody else is much larger and more intimidating than is widely acknowledged”. He begins by noting that – as reported in Carbon Brief analysis – there are signs that China’s emissions may have peaked: “In climate world, something that once seemed almost unthinkable may now be happening. Preliminary data shows that while global carbon emissions are continuing to rise, China’s emissions may already be peaking – the longtime climate villain turning the corner on carbon before the planet as a whole does.” He concludes by asking what would happen if China “might back off, reducing its support for green industry in much the way that it purposefully deflated its own real-estate bubble”. This, Wallace-Wells says, would mean “somewhat idling the engine of the global green transition and leaving the rest of us in the lurch”.

Meanwhile, a comment for Bloomberg by columnist Liam Denning says that if the US auto industry wants to “remain relevant”, it should “ditch the siege mentality” and think about working with China on electric vehicles. The Financial Times carries an opinion article by chief foreign affairs commentator Gideon Rachman, that says: “[Chinese president Xi Jinping’s] efforts to revive China’s domestic economy through a renewed export drive is unsettling many developing countries, which fear their domestic industries are being undermined.” He concludes: “[T]he rivalry between China and the US also makes it much less likely that the two countries will work together on the global challenges that threaten everybody – such as unregulated artificial intelligence and unconstrained global warming.”

Traditional power brokers will see their global leverage wane as fossil fuels are replaced by renewable energy technologies, writes entrepreneur and author of ‘Exponential’ Azeem Azhar in a comment for the Financial Times. A “radically different mindset” is required for energy stalwarts to deal with what is “fast becoming a very different world”, writes Azhar. He continues: “As the techno-energy system increases efficiency, electricity will become the common currency.” Azhar adds that in the future, analysts will care less about dollars per barrel of oil and more about cents per kilowatt-hour generated. Imbalances will be redistributed, says Azhar, with nearly every country in the world having renewable resources capable of meeting their current energy demands 10 times over. However, he says that in order to realise this shift, changes will be needed, such as “locational pricing” in electricity markets, finance to support the higher upfront cost of renewables and policy support to enable the balance supply and demand. He concludes: “Our current political economy has been built around natural resources. This transition will have a profound impact on that structure.”

A survey of more than 200 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientists finds that most “are sceptical that warming will be limited to the Paris targets of well below 2C, but are more optimistic that net-zero CO2 emissions will be reached during the second half of this century”. The survey asks 211 IPCC authors about the likelihood of “four key climate outcomes”, noting that their opinions are “valuable to understand because authors possess both expert insight and considerable influence”. The study continues: “When asked about the beliefs of their peers, author responses showed strong correlations between personal and peer beliefs, suggesting that participants with extreme beliefs perceive their own estimates as closer to the community average than they actually are.”