The frontpage of today’s Daily Telegraph leads with a report which “reveals” that UK prime minister Rishi Sunak is “set to overturn the ban on building new onshore wind farms to stave off a rebellion from Tory MPs”. The newspaper adds: “Ministers are poised to unveil changes to planning rules that will free up councils to give the green light to proposed turbines where there is broad public support. The move comes as MPs prepare to vote on the government’s contentious Energy Bill on Tuesday after returning from their summer break. A group of Tories is backing an amendment tabled by Sir Alok Sharma, the former COP26 president, that would scrap the ban on new onshore wind. It has attracted signatories from all wings of the party including Liz Truss, the former prime minister. Rebels are ‘confident’ it is destined to pass. Labour supports the proposal, which means only six more Tory backbenchers would need to vote in favour to overturn the government’s majority. The Telegraph understands ministers have been locked in talks with MPs for almost a week over a compromise deal to avoid a bruising Commons defeat. Negotiations are set to continue on Monday as the final details are thrashed out, especially on how quickly the government will be able to legally scrap the ban. But plans are being drawn up for a minister to submit a written statement to the Commons this week committing to change the current planning rules…Government sources said the changes would allow councils to ‘more flexibly address the planning impacts of onshore wind projects as identified by local communities’. One Tory MP who is supporting the amendment said No 10 had little choice but to act, given it was supported by ‘senior people from all wings of the party’. Another added: ‘It’s great to see ministers listening to concerns and, providing local communities are happy, it will make net-zero easier and cheaper too.’” The move comes as the Daily Telegraph also reports that Claire Coutinho, the new energy and net-zero secretary, will “give ground in a row over the ban on oil boilers” in one of her first moves in the role. It adds: “The government is facing calls to scrap the proposed 2026 ban on new oil boilers in rural homes and instead encourage the uptake of renewable fuels to help meet net-zero goals. Opposition to the ban has been led by George Eustice, the former environment secretary, who likened it to a rural Ulez [London’s newly expanded pollution-reduction scheme for vehicles]. He proposed an amendment to the Energy Bill to introduce effective subsidies on biofuels for domestic heating and subsequently called for the ban to be dropped. A similar amendment allowing environmentally friendly oils to be sold to households at lower prices has now been tabled by Coutinho, who was appointed to replace Grant Shapps [last] week.”

Meanwhile, in other UK news, the Sunday Telegraph leads on its frontpage with the news that “Rishi Sunak will face down the government’s climate advisers over demands for ministers to halt the expansion of airports”. The article adds: “In one of the most significant moves yet of the prime minister’s shift to approaching net-zero in a ‘proportionate and pragmatic’ way, the government will reject the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) formal advice that all airport expansions must be halted…Ministers believe airport growth will have a ‘key role’ in boosting the UK’s global links and helping to grow the economy. Bristol and Southampton airports are among those preparing to significantly expand their capacity after legal challenges against their expansions failed, while London’s Gatwick, City and Heathrow airports are also hoping to embark on major expansion projects.” An accompanying editorial in the climate-sceptic Sunday Telegraph calls for the Climate Change Act to be “reformed”: “Transport secretary Mark Harper and Claire Coutinho…should be applauded for standing up to the green Blob. They should prepare themselves for the legal challenges that this decision will inevitably face. Just as with the Human Rights Act and plans to tackle illegal immigration, the Climate Change Act creates endless opportunities for the government’s opponents to wage lawfare against it. Countinho should consider reforming the legislation. This would allow the UK to pursue its green ambitions without strangling its economy and imposing ever-rising costs on consumers.” The Daily Telegraph has a news article under the headline: “Gatwick second runway won’t clash with net-zero, says airport chief. Stewart Wingate insists expansion will boost economy, as Rishi Sunak prepares to reject climate advice.” (See Carbon Brief’s analysis from 2022: “UK’s ‘jet-zero’ plan would allow demand for flying to soar 70%.”)

Separately, the Times covers remarks made yesterday by UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt in which he pledged that “green policies will not increase bills for ordinary families”. The Daily Telegraph reports that “more than half of British people are too concerned about the cost of living to worry about climate change, a new poll suggests”. The Daily Mail reports that “oil production has slumped to a record low as the UK industry’s future hangs in the balance”, adding: “In the first six months of this year, 17.4m tons of crude was extracted from the North Sea and the mainland, according to Department for Energy and Net-Zero estimates. This compares with 20m tons in the same period last year and nearly 50m tons in 2003.” The Times says that “motorists faced one of the biggest monthly fuel price rises in more than two decades in August, figures show. The average cost of a litre of petrol rose by 7p last month, the fifth largest monthly increase in 23 years, according to the RAC. The price of a litre of diesel rose by 8p, the sixth largest monthly increase.”

Finally, the Press Association reports: “UK households could collectively lose up to £5bn a year if a law blocking large-scale solar farms on productive agricultural land is passed, energy analysts have said. Tabled as an amendment to the Energy Bill, the proposed legislation would stop projects over 500 acres in size from being built when at least 20% is classified as ‘best and most versatile agricultural land’. If approved, it would leave each UK household up to £180 a year worse off because the equivalent electricity would be produced by using more expensive gas instead, analysts from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said.” The Guardian and Politico cover comments by UK climate minister Graham Stuart in which he said late last week that the UK could pull out of the international energy charter treaty if attempts to reform it fail. And the Daily Mirror carries an “exclusive” interview with Labour leader Keir Starmer in which he “reveals a plan to make Britain a world leader in clean steel to provide jobs for the future”. It comes as BBC News says “reports that the UK government is in advanced funding talks with Tata Steel to help safeguard the future of its Port Talbot plant have been welcomed by the area’s MP…The company would reportedly commit to building electric arc furnaces, which offer greener, less labour-intensive ways of producing steel than traditional blast furnaces.”

European Union countries are preparing to push for a global deal on “phasing out” fossil fuels at the UN’s COP28 climate summit in December, according to a draft of the EU’s negotiating stance seen by Reuters. The newswire adds: “Diplomats from the bloc’s 27 member states are drafting their position for the summit in Dubai, where nearly 200 countries will try to strengthen efforts to rein in climate change. ‘The shift towards a climate neutral economy will require the global phase-out of [unabated] fossil fuels and a peak in their consumption already in the near term,’ [says the draft]…EU diplomats hope a deal could be clinched at COP28 – but expect to meet resistance from economies reliant on income from selling oil and gas. The EU document, which is still being negotiated and could change before it is due to be finalised in October, said the energy sector should be largely free of fossil fuels ‘well ahead of 2050’ because cost-effective, CO2-free energy sources are already available. A proposal to phase out CO2-emitting fossil fuels won backing from more than 80 countries at last year’s UN climate summit, but Saudi Arabia and other oil and gas-rich nations opposed it.”

Meanwhile, Reuters also reports that “Dutch foreign minister Wopke Hoekstra, the country’s nominee to run the European Union’s climate change portfolio after Frans Timmermans stepped down last week, said on Friday he had tendered his resignation to the King of the Netherlands…Hoekstra is likely to face a tough hearing in the European Parliament, where he needs to win a positive assessment and pass a potentially close vote in the assembly with majority support.”

According to Greenpeace, the German government is “hindering its efforts in the fight against climate change” by subsidising energy-intensive industries, reports Der Spiegel. It quotes Bastian Neuwirth, a climate and energy analyst at Greenpeace: “Billions of euros in gifts to the industry for cheaper fossil energy are blocking the climate-friendly transformation of the economy and making it more expensive.” The outlet notes that industries with high energy consumption, such as iron and steel, chemicals, and paper, benefit the most from these subsidies. Tagesschau adds that, according to the study commissioned by Greenpeace, Germany provides annual “climate-damaging subsidies” worth €‎16bn to heavy industry, €‎10bn of which goes to relief measures within national and European emissions trading schemes, while around €‎3.8bn per year subsidises fossil fuels used for electricity generation, with an additional €‎2.2bn in direct energy tax reductions for fossil fuel use.

Meanwhile, ABC News reports that German chancellor Olaf Scholz has dismissed a suggestion from his coalition partner, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), that the country should retain the option of using its closed nuclear power plants. Scholz is quoted saying that “the issue of nuclear energy in Germany is a dead horse…anyone who wants to build new nuclear power plants would need 15 years and would have to spend €15-20bn each”. Politico also covers the story. Der Spiegel notes that, in August, Germany covered almost 16% of its electricity demand via foreign imports due to the “cost-effectiveness of renewables and nuclear power from some neighbouring countries”. In August, the country’s coal-fired power plants were “unutilised”, with the escalating costs of CO2 emission allowances in Europe driving up the expense of coal-fired power generation, adds the outlet. 

Finally, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reports that German finance minister Christian Lindner, of the FDP, plans tax incentives for “environmentally friendly synthetic fuels”, known as “e-fuels”. According to FAZ, his policy idea involves exempting them from motoring taxes and value-added tax as soon as EU law allows it. 

Leaders of African countries are gathering in Kenya this week for a three-day-long summit to “discuss ways to deal with the climate emergency” ahead of COP28 later this year, reports the Independent. It adds: “The Africa Climate Summit…will aim to find common ground among the continent’s representatives and to outline the position of the world’s most climate-vulnerable continent ahead of the COP28 UN summit in Dubai. Climate finance, adaptation and building resilience in the face of constant extreme weather events will be the focus at the summit, although experts say the summit should also aim to shed light on the lack of reliable daily forecasting.” The Associated Press headlines its preview feature: “As Africa opens a climate summit, poor weather forecasting keeps the continent underprepared.” AFP covers a new UN report which concludes that “African children [are] exceptionally vulnerable to climate change”. AllAfrica carries a comment piece by Kennedy Mugochi, director of development organisation Hivos East Africa, who argues that the summit is a “critical opportunity for collective action on climate change”.

New analysis by Reuters shows that India has “stepped up the use of coal to generate electricity in a bid to stop outages caused by lower hydroelectricity output, and as an increase in renewables is struggling to keep pace with record power demand”. The newswire adds: “It is unusual for India’s electricity use to spike in August, when temperatures are lower due to the annual monsoon that runs between June and September. Demand typically peaks in May, when Indians crank up air-conditioners to beat the heat, and industries operate without rain-related disruptions. However, the driest August in more than a century has resulted in power generation surging to a record 162.7 terawatt hours (units), a Reuters analysis of data from the federal grid operator Grid India showed.” The Hindu carries a news feature under the headline: “It should be a well-planned and pragmatic goodbye to coal [in India].” It concludes: “This is an opportune time for India to push for a stronger outcome vis-a-vis the global coal to clean energy transition at the G20 leaders’ summit in Delhi next week. An orderly move towards clean energy will ensure that the investments in both coal and renewables will ensure a smoother energy transition.” The Associated Press also looks ahead to the G20 meeting, with a news feature headlined: “As G20 leaders prepare to meet in recently flooded New Delhi, climate policy issues are unresolved.”

Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that “avalanches in the Himalayas are causing an increasing number of deaths and threatening the safety of climbers, research suggests”. It adds: “While high-altitude mountaineering comes with an inherent avalanche risk, global heating is exacerbating the danger during the climbing season in the Himalayan mountain range, experts warn.”

More than 50 people were injured and hundreds were evacuated after Typhoon Saola made landfall in south China over the weekend, United Press International reports. The outlet adds that the typhoon has left flooding and major damage in the large port city of Shenzhen as well as nearby Hong Kong and Macao. French state-owned international news outlet France24 also covers the typhoon.

Meanwhile, China’s state news agency Xinhua reports that the total installed capacity of solar power in China’s largest coal-producing province, Shanxi, increased to more than 20 gigawatts (GW) by the end of July, a new high. Reuters reports that China has ordered the country’s third-largest coal-mining region Shaanxi province to suspend two more coal mines. The province has temporarily closed more than a dozen mines in recent weeks after a deadly accident, adds the newswire. Chinese outlet Jiemian quotes Prof Xing Lei from the Central University of Finance and Economics saying that small coal enterprises will “eventually exit the stage of history”. 

Separately, Jiemian writes that “green electricity” and “green certificates” trading in the first half of 2023 “ushered in a high rate of growth”, with a total of 38.9 terawatts hours (TWh) of electricity being traded, nearly 2.6 times the total of 2022. Xinhua reports that the “exploitable capacity” of China’s hydropower has reached 687GW. Another Xinhua article says that a conference hosted in Shandong province last week shows technological innovation is “driving low-carbon development” in China. China Energy News reports that, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the nationwide consumption of gas in July reached nearly “32.5bn cubic metres, a year-on-year growth of 9.6%”. The newspaper also carries an “exclusive interview” with Yang Changli, chairman of the China General Nuclear Power Group. He says that the state-owned energy corporation has enhanced nuclear energy cooperation with countries in the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI). The Financial Times has an article headlined: “China’s battery plant rush raises fears of global squeeze.” And Nikkei Asia reports that “BYD leads charge as China’s share of [global electric vehicle] exports grows eightfold [over the past five years]”.

Finally, the South China Morning Post reports that Chinese scientists have outlined a “preliminary road map” to establish a “space resources system spanning the solar system by 2100”, including “steps to use mine and mineral resources beyond Earth”. State-run media outlet China Daily carries a comment piece by Michael Edesess, adjunct associate professor from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, who writes that “political resolve alone won’t fix climate crisis”, adding that “much technological development and scientific research” is needed. And Singapore’s Straits Times has a comment piece by its climate editor David Fogarty under the headline: “Despite green energy boom, dash for coal clouds China’s climate goals.”

The impacts of extreme weather continue to make headlines around the world. BBC News reports that “several weather warnings have been issued across Spain as heavy rain causes major flooding across parts of the country”. It continues: “Maximum red weather alerts are in place in the Madrid, Toledo and Cádiz regions. Sunday’s football match between Atletico Madrid and Sevilla was suspended due to the torrential rain. Residents in Madrid have been asked to stay at home due to ‘the exceptional and abnormal’ rainfall, the mayor said. In the Spanish capital alone, firefighters have been called to alleviate the situation in flooded roads 190 times.”

Meanwhile, in the US BBC News reports that “US president Joe Biden has vowed to give Florida any support it needs to rebuild in the wake of Tropical Storm Idalia’s destruction”. It adds: “Biden was speaking during a visit to the state, where at least two people are known to have died after the storm made landfall on Wednesday. He added that no ‘intelligent’ person could doubt the impact of climate change in the wake of the storm. Meanwhile, governor Ron DeSantis [who is a climate sceptic] chose not to meet the president on his trip. DeSantis, who is standing to become his Republican party’s candidate for president, had earlier suggested Biden’s presence could hinder disaster response efforts.”

Writing in the Financial Times, the celebrated legal academic Philippe Sands says that a “lawsuit brought by six young Portuguese has drawn attention to the shortcomings of the Paris Agreement”. He continues: “This case goes to the heart of the problem of climate action. The Paris Agreement leaves it up to governments to determine their individual contributions towards the global effort to achieve its temperature goal. That is a major weakness…Put simply, the aim of this case is to get countries to do more, much more. It does so as the IPCC has warned that there is ‘a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all’. Law is not a panacea. In the face of political failure, what are judges to do? Their role is to interpret and apply the law, not to legislate or make it. Yet this case does not ask them to do so. Just as the judges of the Strasbourg Court filled a gap in ruling many years ago that the European Convention covers environmental harms, so they can interpret what the drafters of the convention put in place in 1950 to protect the rights of every person in practice.” The FT also carries a comment piece by Aoife O’Leary, chief executive of Opportunity Green, under the headline: “Why are we wasting our limited supply of green hydrogen? The fuel is being directed towards the industries that don’t need it, rather than the shipping and aviation sectors which do.”

Meanwhile, in other comment, the New York Times gives space to writer Henry Wismayer who muses about the “slow death of the sun-seeking summer vacation” in light of extreme weather. Similarly, CNN has a comment piece co-authored by various academics headlined: “[Florida’s] Sunbelt was the retirement destination of choice. That was before climate change.” And BBC News has an in-depth news feature about the “extreme summer weather that scorched and soaked the world”. Finally, in the climate-sceptic comment pages of the Wall Street Journal, columnist Andy Kessler mocks the idea that the “climate-change ‘emergency’ is coming for you”. 

Writing in the Sunday Times, author Ben Judah argues that the “race for critical minerals will decide the course of the 21st century”. He adds: “The world is moving from a fossil fuel-based economy to a metals-based economy. Forget the jargon. This is what the green transition means in practice: a global mining and refining revolution for batteries and other technology needing vast quantities of lithium, cobalt, rare earth materials and more. Everybody needs the same things to fuel an industrial revolution in energy, heating and transport. In other words: the core of modernity itself…In this century-defining industrial race for metals and clean energy, the West is badly behind. China is adding as many renewables – forests of solar panels and wind turbines – to the grid as the rest of the world combined. It refines most of the world’s critical minerals – including two thirds of its lithium and 80% of its cobalt. China’s economy may be faltering, but in mining it has a serious head start.”

Meanwhile, the UK’s right-leaning newspapers continue their relentless attack on net-zero policies via their comment pages. An editorial in the Sun on Sunday says that Rishi Sunak should “reset unattainable net-zero targets which hammer businesses, motorists and those struggling the most”. An editorial in the Sun argues: “Voters detest Ulez. Like they loathe being strong-armed into paying five figures for a heat pump less effective than a gas boiler. Or ditching reliable, long-distance petrol and diesel vehicles for hopeless battery ones at twice the price. Most are not against net-zero in principle. They just cannot afford it – and resent politicians assuming they can.” Tony Parsons in the Sun on Sunday claims that “Rishi Sunak can still win the general election if he has courage to take on eco mob”. Today’s Daily Mail gives space to Andrew Pierce to moan about London mayor Sadiq Khan’s “flights of fancy about climate change”. (In contrast, the Guardian has Hugh Muir arguing that “in times that cry out for leadership, we get followship. Sadiq Khan is bucking that trend with Ulez.”)

Finally, the Daily Telegraph has three further comment pieces: “Britain’s energy crisis needs a national war effort not this sticking plaster solution” (Ben Marlow); “The clamour for oil and gas will drown out cries for green policies” (Liam Halligan); and “The Gen Z rebels planning a Greenpeace counter-attack” (Matt Oliver).

A new study has quantified a direct link between greenhouse gas emissions and polar bear survival for the first time. Polar bears were listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 2008, but the absence of a quantitative link between greenhouse gas emissions, sea ice loss and declining polar bear vital rates “has foiled full ESA implementation for polar bears”, the paper says. The study connects the dots between greenhouse gas emissions, the number of ice-free days caused by specific amounts of emissions and polar bear survival rates, allowing the Endangered Species Act to directly consider the impact of climate change on polar bear populations for the first time, the authors say.