Several outlets cover the latest annual report published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) detailing world energy investment. The Financial Times speaks to IEA executive director Fatih Birol, who says the latest findings show that solar power investment is set to outstrip spending on oil production this year for the first time globally. “If these clean energy investments continue to grow in line with what we have seen in the past few years…we will soon start to see a very different energy system emerging and we can keep the 1.5C goal alive,” says Birol. The newspaper adds: “This year $1.7tn is forecast to be spent on clean technologies compared with $1tn on fossil fuels. Five years ago, the $2tn in annual energy investment was split evenly between fossil fuels and clean technology, such as renewables, electric vehicles and low-emissions fuels.” Bloomberg says the IEA’s findings show the “scale and speed of the transition to low-carbon sources of energy…however, the mix of investment is still far from one that would put the world on course to meet its commitments to limit the increase of global temperatures”. Reuters notes that the IEA says “annual investment in renewable energy was up by nearly a quarter since 2021 compared to a 15% rise for fossil fuels”.

The Guardian opts for a different angle, running its story about the report under the headline: “Invasion of Ukraine ‘has fuelled funding boom for clean energy’.” It continues: “The Paris-based agency found that clean energy investments have been boosted by many factors including periods of strong economic growth and volatile fossil fuel prices as well as heightened concerns about energy security after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine…However, the IEA report warned that Russia’s war in Ukraine has also prompted increased investment in upstream oil and gas, which is expected to rise by 7% in 2023 in a return to 2019 levels…At the same time global coal demand reached an all-time high in 2022, in part owing to record high gas prices, which has spurred estimated coal investment for this year to nearly six times the levels that are aligned with global 2030 climate targets. Birol said the single most important barrier facing the expansion of renewable energy remains problems with projects being able to connect to electricity grids.” Carbon Brief’s Dr Simon Evans has published a detailed Twitter thread picking out some of the IEA report’s key findings.

BBC News reports that it “understands” that the UK is “set to win a battle with Spain to host a multi-billion-pound electric car battery plant in Somerset”. It adds: “The boss of Jaguar Land Rover-owner Tata is expected to fly to London next week to finalise the deal. Some in the car industry have described the plant as the most significant investment in UK automotive since Nissan came to Britain in the 1980s. Tata’s chairman is scheduled to meet the prime minister mid-next week. Sources familiar with the matter say that although the deal has yet to be signed, engagement has moved from negotiations to drafting and choreography of how the landmark agreement will be presented. Up to 9,000 jobs would be created at the Bridgwater site, close to the M5. The UK government has acknowledged the urgent need for electric vehicle battery manufacturing in the UK to secure the future of the car industry. The country’s automotive sector employs up to 800,000 people directly and in the supply chain.” The Financial Times says that one “government insider” says the “mood is very positive”. It continues: “The choice, months in the making, has been swung by promises from ministers of a support package worth hundreds of millions of pounds that will include taxpayers subsidising the plant’s energy costs for years to come…The decision would be give a big lift to the beleaguered UK auto sector, which has struggled to attract battery investments and seen car production almost halve over just three years. The Bridgwater plant would be only the second large battery factory in Britain after the gigafactory that supplies Nissan’s plant in Sunderland. The selection of Somerset would also represent a boost for Sunak’s government, which has made the development of green industries a priority. But it would also signal how Sunak has been drawn reluctantly into a global green subsidies race triggered by the US’s $369bn Inflation Reduction Act.” An editorial in the Daily Express claims the deal would put “”Brexit Britain on course for a huge win”.

Meanwhile, in other UK news, the Guardian reports that SSE has “set out plans to invest £40bn in clean energy over the next 10 years as it reported a near-doubling of its annual profits compared with the year before thanks in part to its fossil fuel power stations”. It adds: “The Perth-based FTSE 100 company said it would carry out its record-breaking green energy plan by investing ‘far in excess of its earnings’ after making an adjusted pre-tax profit of £2.18bn for the 12 months to the end of March, up from almost £1.16bn the year before.” The Times says that “solar farm developers have been told that they will have to wait until as late as the 2040s to connect to local electricity grids, delaying £20bn of energy projects”. The Press Association covers new data from Rystad Energy, analysed by Global Witness, which reveals that “five companies – Shell, BP, Equinor, Chevron and the Israeli conglomerate Delek Group – are set to increase their scope three emissions [indirect emissions from the products a company sells], by the end of the decade”. The newswire adds: “Emissions from oil and gas produced in the UK are projected to increase by 2030 for some companies, new analysis has found.”

Finally, comments made at the Innovation Zero Congress held in London yesterday make the news. The Press Association reports that “professors Johan Rockstrom and David King said our current [emissions] path will lead us to certain disaster, destroying rainforests and marine life while making vast areas around the tropics uninhabitable for humans”. In contrast, the Press Association also reports that Dr Liam Fox, a Conservative MP who was chairing the conference, said the public will not accept changes needed to stop climate change if they cause “undue disturbance” to their expected standard of living.

In an “exclusive”, the Guardian covers new research by Corporate Accountability, a corporate watchdog, which concludes that “93% of the offsets Chevron bought and counted towards its climate targets from voluntary carbon markets between 2020 and 2022 were too environmentally problematic to be classified as anything other than worthless or junk”. The newspaper continues: “Many of Chevron’s offset purchases focus on forests, plantations or large dams. According to the report shared exclusively with the Guardian, almost half of Chevron’s ‘worthless’ offsets are also linked to alleged social and environmental harms – mostly in communities in the global south, which are also often the most affected by the climate crisis…The report, Destruction Is at the Heart of Everything We Do, comes amid a week of global protests by communities affected by Chevron’s oil and gas businesses, as the California-headquartered company prepares for its annual shareholders meeting on 31 May…In a statement sent after the publication of this article, Chevron rejected the findings of the report, saying it was biased against its industry and painted an incomplete picture of its efforts to advance a low carbon future.”

Increased political resistance to new EU laws to protect the environment has left the European Commission “fighting to keep intact its vision for Europe’s green transition”, reports Reuters. The newswire adds: “Ahead of elections in the European Parliament in June next year, the European Union is racing to finish legislation that includes two landmark nature bills – binding targets for countries to restore damaged natural habitats and a goal to halve chemical pesticide use by 2030. Much EU environment legislation has been passed over the last two years, but the appetite on the part of some lawmakers and member states for more is waning and farming groups say further change must be conditional on more financial support…Meanwhile, EU countries are pushing to weaken proposed pollution curbs for farms and methane emission limits for energy producers. Some capitals want to scrap new car pollution limits, and the EU’s renewable energy targets are deadlocked by an argument over whether nuclear energy can be included…In closed-door negotiations, countries are seeking a long list of changes to the nature restoration law, diplomats said.

Denmark and the Netherlands are among those that want amendments to ensure countries can still quickly build infrastructure such as wind farms in areas where nature is being restored.”

John Neal, the chief executive of Lloyd’s of London, has told Reuters that a global climate alliance for insurers needs to make its membership rules “less prescriptive or risk falling apart”. The newswire explains that his comments are a reaction to “political pressure from some US states” which has prompted some companies to leave the UN-convened Net Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA) in recent months. Neal is quoted saying: “There are five objectives and you have 12 months to meet one of them and 36 months to meet three of them. NZIA need to have another look at what their objectives are or the alliance will fall apart.” He adds that Lloyd’s complies with NZIA’s requirements and has no plans to exit. Reuters continues: “Republican federal and state lawmakers, governors, and attorneys general have been pushing back on growing efforts by investors and executives to include environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in their business decision making. Signatories to NZIA, part of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero set up by UN climate envoy Mark Carney, will hold a call on Thursday to discuss the situation in the US and NZIA’s options including whether ‘to carry on or wind it up’, a source familiar with the matter said.”

Meanwhile, in other insurance news, the Guardian reports that “hundreds of students and recent graduates of top UK universities are pledging a ‘career boycott’ of major insurers, saying they will not work for firms including Lloyd’s of London if they support controversial fossil fuel projects”.

The China Water Risk thinktank says that the Hindu Kush-Himalayan water system is facing climate change impacts, such as “glacial melt and extreme weather”, which are already posing “grave threats”, endangering economic progress and energy stability in 16 Asian nations, reports Reuters. It quotes the researchers saying that 10 rivers, including China’s Yangtze and Yellow rivers, would experience “escalating and compounding water risks…if we are unable to rein in emissions”. The increase of coal-fired power generation in China last year following a drought could worsen water shortages, the newswire highlights. Additionally, Sin Chew Daily, a Chinese-language newspaper in Malaysia, reports that “unusual snowfall” in May occurred in multiple regions in north China, including Shaanxi, Ningxia and Xinjiang. Experts say that more extreme weather due to global warming is expected in China this year, the newspaper notes. Caixin carries an analysis, which says that, under “extreme temperatures”, companies located in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and some inland provinces, such as Sichuan and Hebei, “face higher potential losses”.

Meanwhile, the Chinese president Xi Jinping says that China has embarked on a “unique path of biodiversity conservation with Chinese characteristics” and has provided a “Chinese solution” and “Chinese experience” for building a global community of shared future and promoting sustainable human development, state media China National Radio reports. Xinhua News reports that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has announced worsening air quality in the country, with the number of days seeing “severe and above average air pollution” more than doubling to 3.6% from 1.6% a year earlier. (Carbon Brief has recently published an analysis on China’s CO2 emissions hitting a Q1 record high. High emissions and lack of air quality action plans have caused concerns over air quality in the country). 

Elsewhere, Xinhua reports that “the third belt and road energy partnership forum” held by the National Energy Administration (NEA) opened on Wednesday in Xiamen, themed “stepping towards high-quality energy development”. The People’s Daily, a newspaper affiliated with the Chinese communist party, highlights that China has “favourable policies” for promoting “new energy [electric] vehicles” in rural areas. Finally, China Electricity and Energy, a magazine supervised by the NEA, has an “exclusive interview” with Lin Weibin, director of the energy policy research office at the China Energy Research Society. He says that under the “dual carbon” targets, China should build a “new power system capable of carrying a high level of electrification and achieving a high level of decarbonisation”.

In an interview with Channel 4 News, the high-profile sports presenter Gary Lineker says that disruptive climate protesters should be considered “heroes” if their actions lead the world to take action on climate change. He says “it’s very worrying” that people are being arrested for protesting, adding that “we’ve got to find a way out of…our over-reliance on fossil fuels” because “we’re going to destroy the future for our children and grandchildren”. He also praises the “brilliant scientists” working on climate change.

Meanwhile, other parts of the UK media continue to give platforms to climate sceptics. The new Times columnist Juliet Samuel – who used to write comment pieces attacking net-zero policies for the Daily Telegraph – directs her anger at the “Treasury idiocy” which is “killing North Sea energy”. She attempts to argue that allowing more gas and oil to be pumped from the North Sea would be good for lowering emissions: “Our government is knowingly engaged in an act of economic vandalism purely for the sake of short-term political gain. It is sacrificing both Britain’s energy security and the climate because ‘standing up to Big Oil’ sounds good in focus groups.” (The government recently announced the UK’s first new North Sea licensing round in four years.) And in the Daily Telegraph, the climate-sceptic commentator Ross Clark has written yet another screed about the “electric car con”.

New research shows that mesoscale eddies in the ocean – energetic, weather-like features that can stir and mix waters – are a “dominant driver” of marine heatwaves. Using a high-resolution climate model, researchers examine historical ocean properties to determine how, where and when mesoscale eddies affect marine heatwaves. They find that the features “make an important contribution” to the heatwaves’ growth and decay, with the eddies’ effects becoming more pronounced in certain regions of the ocean.  The authors write that their work “highlights that using eddy-resolving ocean models is essential” for better forecasting marine heatwave events.

Prolonged electrical-grid failures during heatwaves can significantly increase heat-related health risks to the population, according to a new study. Researchers use simulated heat-exposure data from heatwaves in three US cities to determine “personal-level heat exposure changes”, taking into account both indoor and outdoor exposures. They find that multi-day blackouts “more than double the estimated rate of heat-related mortality”. They conclude: “Our results highlight the need for enhanced electrical grid resilience and support a more spatially expansive use of tree canopy and high-albedo roofing materials to lessen heat exposures during compound climate and infrastructure failure events.”