In a frontpage “exclusive”, the Guardian reports that UK prime minister Rishi Sunak is set to announce a new “plan for motorists” at the Conservative Party conference on Monday, which will include “moves to limit English councils’ powers to place 20mph speed limits on main roads, and to restrict the number of hours a day that car traffic is banned from bus lanes”. It adds: “It is also understood to include curbs on local authorities’ ability to impose fines – and thus raise revenue – from traffic infractions caught by automatic number plate recognition cameras, and on the use of such cameras in-box junctions.” The Guardian adds that Sunak has reportedly also “raised the prospect” of scaling back the HS2 railway project, but “refused to provide clarity on his plans on Thursday”.

Elsewhere, the Guardian reports that the government has confirmed that 80% of new cars sold in the UK will have to be fully electric by 2030 despite Sunak’s decision last week to delay the ban on new petrol and diesel car sales by five years. Politico reports that electric vehicles will have to make up a rising quota of UK automaker sales from next year, under the government’s newly released zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate. Sky News reports on a new poll from right-leaning think tank Onward, which confirms that far more Conservative voters support net-zero than don’t. According to Sky News, the survey found that 49% of those polled who voted Conservative in 2019 backed net-zero, compared to the 20% who opposed it. City AM says the results “may give Sunak pause for thought after his net-zero U-turn”. Speaking to the i newspaper reacting to the poll, Simon Clarke, the former levelling up secretary who was a close ally of former Conservative prime minister Liz Truss, said: “The public overwhelmingly supports net-zero, and we Conservatives must lead efforts to tackle climate change.” Taking a different tact reporting on the same poll, the Daily Express has a story headlined: “Recent poll uncovers a wave of support for Sunak’s net-zero policy.” The Daily Telegraph reports on a letter from a group of investors “blasting” Sunak’s climate rollbacks, saying the move “risks hitting investment in the UK”. Environment ministers in Wales and Scotland have called for an emergency climate summit in light of Sunak’s decisions, the Press Association reports. The Press Association also reports on a letter to Claire Coutinho, the newly-appointed energy security and net-zero secretary from Angus MacNeil, chair of the commons energy security and net-zero committee, accusing Sunak of using climate as “party political football”.

Elsewhere, DeSmog reports on how “a report from the Tufton Street group Civitas on the supposed cost of net-zero was featured in several major newspapers today despite serious data errors”.   

The Biden administration is drawing up plans to sell more offshore oil-drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico over the next five years, but is hoping to limit the round to be the smallest in history, Bloomberg reports. It reports: “The oil leasing plan being released by the Interior Department on Friday will contain only a low number of sales, according to people familiar with the deliberations who declined to be named because the blueprint isn’t yet public. That’s far from the 11 sales the agency proposed last year…Still, even a single auction is a blow to environmentalists who argued new leasing isn’t compatible with the urgent need to decarbonise by mid-century and would lock in oil development for decades – even as domestic demand shrinks.” A source tells Reuters that the five-year plan will not include any sales in 2024 and just three sales in the final four years. The New York Times reports on why Biden has not stopped oil and gas drilling on public lands and in federal waters, as he pledged as a candidate in 2020. It says: “Biden’s promise of ‘no new drilling, period,’ began to dissolve just months after he took office as he confronted a hard reality: The executive may oversee millions of acres of federal property but Congress and the courts can have the final say…Look no further than the tortured history of Lease 261, a 73m acre tract of water in the Gulf of Mexico that is slated to be leased to oil companies next month. The area was initially offered to the oil industry by the Obama administration, and then again by president Donald Trump, who encouraged fossil fuel companies to drill in nearly every inch of federal waters but who never actually finalised that lease sale before his term ended. Soon after he took office, Biden called climate change an existential threat and paused all federal oil and gas lease sales, including Lease 261, saying he wanted to first consider their impact on global warming…Thirteen states and the oil industry challenged Biden’s decision to pause leasing, and a federal judge in Louisiana agreed, saying only Congress could stop lease sales.” 

Switzerland’s glaciers have lost 10% of their volume in the last two years, after suffering consecutive years of record melt, Reuters reports. According to the scientific group Glacier Monitoring Switzerland (GLAMOS), Switzerland’s glaciers lost as much ice in two years as in the three decades before 1990, Reuters says. Dr Matthais Huss, who leads GLAMOS, tells Reuters: “This year was very problematic for glaciers because there was really little snow in winter, and the summer was very warm. The combination of these two factors is the worst that can happen to glaciers.” The news is covered by the Daily Mail and the Guardian.

China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) has urged the “orderly growth” of gas usage in recently released draft legislation, Reuters reports, adding that the NEA reinforced the importance of boosting “the usage of natural gas as a key bridge fuel to reach [China’s] 2060 carbon-neutral goal” while also “optimis[ing] the consumption mix for the fuel to ensure energy security”. Additionally, the Communist Party-affiliated Economic Daily carries a comment piece pointing to restrictions on large-scale development of coal-fired power and the weather dependence of renewables as reasons to use gas as “a bridging source” in the energy transition. Another Reuters article reports that, according to analysts, China’s plans to create a unified national power market should “boost consumption of renewable power”, although this could be diluted by “flexibility given to provinces in adopting the system [as well as] greater support for coal”.

Elsewhere, Tokyo-based Nikkei Asia has published a comment piece by Luke Patey, senior researcher with the Danish Institute for International Studies in Copenhagen, who writes that “developing alternative green manufacturing networks outside of China is not an insurmountable task”. Meanwhile, Reuters reports that German chancellor Olaf Scholz says he is “not convinced about the need to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles [EVs]”, citing a report by German business news magazine Wirtschaftswoche. Taipei-based newspaper Digitimes Asia reports that with the ongoing tensions between China and the US, the Chinese government is strengthening its EV supply chain to “avoid battery technology outflow and learn critical techniques from foreign companies”. Chinese financial outlet Yicai reports that more Shanghai technology firms specialising in hydrogen, batteries and unmanned electric trucks are “expanding” globally by linking up with projects in countries of China’s belt and road initiative. Finally, the Financial Times reports US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm saying that shifting away from fossil fuels will make energy security “infinitely more complex” because of what the paper describes as China’s “stranglehold on the processing of the critical minerals essential for renewable power”.

Renewable energy from wind and solar power covered more than half of Germany’s electricity consumption during the first three quarters of this year, delivering 5% more electricity than the previous year, reports Die Zeit. The outlet adds that the expansion of renewables is playing “a central role for the federal government in achieving climate goals and becoming less dependent on fossil resources”. To help ease the country’s transition to renewable energy, Germany is “nearing a deal” to buy its largest power grid from a Dutch state-owned operator “within weeks”, reports Bloomberg. The purchase could cost Germany €20-30bn, notes the outlet, adding that the country will need to spend around €15bn more to upgrade the grid. 

Meanwhile, Der Spiegel reports that, according to German finance minister Christian Lindner, the first “climate relief” payments for citizens in response to rising CO2 prices could start in 2025. The newspaper quotes Lindner saying: “In 2025, we expect to generate €13bn in revenue from the national CO2 price.” The article adds that, according to the government’s plans, the CO2 price for fuel and heating with fossil fuels is set to increase to €40 per tonne on 1 January 2024. Germany’s ruling coalition had committed in its coalition agreement “to offset” this increase through a social mechanism, explains the outlet. Clean Energy Wire also covers the story, noting that it remains unclear how the money could be distributed.

Finally, the Financial Times reports that Germany has decided to postpone stricter energy efficiency regulations for new buildings due to concerns from the construction industry and the need to stimulate its weakening economy.

An editorial in the Irish Times is critical of British prime minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to roll back key climate measures in recent weeks. It says: “[His] new policy has been deplored by some within his own party, who decry the breaking of cross-party consensus on climate in favour of US-style wedge politics. The gambit does appear to indicate a further drift in the party’s centre of gravity towards the populist right, which has been at the forefront of opposition to decarbonisation both in Europe and the US. That resistance often shades into outright denialism.”

Elsewhere, the Spectator interviews new net-zero and energy security secretary Claire Coutinho, a little-known politician who is a close ally of Sunak. The Spectator says: “She was made energy secretary with a particular purpose: to change the course of Tory environment policy. Last week, two net-zero commitments were dropped: delaying the 2030 petrol and diesel car ban to 2035 and slowing down the phasing-out of gas boilers.” Coutinho tells the Spectator: “I’ve worked with Rishi for a long time and I’ve talked to him about the environment and climate change. We are actually safeguarding the future of climate change policy. What you see in Europe is that lots of people are losing faith, they see it as something that politicians are doing to them. Clobbering them in their personal finances for a cause that they don’t completely understand because they see their emissions as much lower than other countries.” She adds: “The biggest threat to the cause isn’t the climate change deniers, it’s the zealots who are turning people off.” In the Daily Mail, climate-sceptic columnist Richard Littlejohn has a comment piece titled: “England’s green and pleasant land won’t be safe from the net-zero nutjobs for much longer.”

In the Financial Times, EU commissioner for the economy, Paolo Gentiloni, says non-European companies “need not fear” the EU’s new carbon border tax, which enters into force under a transitional period from 1 October. He writes: “The new carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) has two goals: to encourage industry worldwide to embrace greener technologies; and to prevent so-called carbon leakage, or the relocation of production outside our borders to countries with lower environmental standards. Fully compatible with World Trade Organisation rules, CBAM is not about trade protection, but about protecting the EU’s climate ambition.” Gentiloni adds: “The EU is introducing CBAM in a gradual and predictable manner. For a transitional phase running until the end of 2025, EU importers of CBAM goods – steel and iron, aluminium, cement, hydrogen, fertilisers and electricity – from non-EU countries will only need to provide data on the carbon intensity of their products. Then, starting in 2026, companies will begin buying and surrendering CBAM certificates based on the carbon footprint of their imports. Payments under CBAM will be phased in over a decade until 2035. For the sectors concerned, this will occur in parallel with the planned phasing out of the free allowances currently available under the ETS, ensuring equal treatment between non-EU and EU producers.”

A new study finds that climate change is likely magnifying the risk of harmful interactions between humans and wildlife. Researchers analyse more than 300 media reports on human-wildlife interactions that mention climate change as a factor in this conflict, then verify the potential for these types of interactions with scientific literature. They find four ways in which climate change may increase human-wildlife conflict in the future: increased competition for resources due to drought, dangerous animals expanding their ranges due to higher temperatures, displacement of wildlife in the aftermath of extreme weather events and changes in animal behaviour patterns due to increased temperatures.