UK car production dropped by more than 15% in October from a year earlier, “amid industry concerns” about pressure on investment in electric vehicle-making, BBC News reports. It says production of electric and hybrid vehicles fell by a third, due to flagging European demand and the retooling of factories for the production of new models. Despite this drop, the article notes that sales of electric vehicles in the UK have been increasing – but adds that “industry sources insist this is largely down to unsustainable discounting”. BusinessGreen describes sales of battery electric, plug-in hybrid and hybrid electric cars as “one of the few bright spots during a challenging October”. Sky News reports that the impact of reduced production “could be visible in the last week from the announcement of 800 job cuts from Ford UK and Vauxhall’s Luton plant closure”. It adds that Stellantis, Vauxhall’s parent company, placed “part of the blame” for the closure on government electric car sales targets. Under the current electric vehicle mandate, financial penalties are levied against carmakers if zero-emission vehicles make up less than 22% of all sales – and this will rise to 80% of all sales by 2030 and 100% by 2035, the news outlet explains. At the same time, in an “exclusive” story, the Guardian reports that, despite Stellantis blaming the government mandate, Natalie Knight, then the company’s chief financial officer, told investors in September that the business expected to make a profit from its UK sales and to meet the electric vehicle targets. “The comments appear to undermine Stellantis’s repeated claims that the factory, which makes the Vivaro van, was threatened by the mandate,” the newspaper says. (See related comment on the Luton plant closure below.)

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail reports on new figures from breakdown service provider RAC that show the the price for public rapid charging of electric vehicles remain “stubbornly high”, despite a fall in wholesale energy prices. “The cost of using rapid chargers could also deter people from buying electric vehicles,” the article states. The Times notes that off-peak home charging of an electric vehicle can cost less than a 10th of the price of using a rapid charger, at about 7p per kWh. Meanwhile, another Times story reports that UK drivers are paying more for fuel than they should because of “stubbornly high” margins.

Elsewhere, France is set to sharply reduce subsidies for electric-car purchases, with a new scale ranging from €2,000-4,000, based on income, down from €4,000-7,000, Reuters reports. This is “part of broader efforts to rein in public spending and plug a massive hole in the state budget”, but it comes as electric car manufacturers are dealing with “sluggish demand”, the article says. In China, the New York Times reports that automakers BYD and SAIC Maxus Automotive have “pressured suppliers” to slash prices by 10% as they faced “a bruising price war. CNN also has the story. And Bloomberg reports that China’s sales of EVs have “reached a tipping point”, and the “more rapid-than-expected uptake of EVs” will cause the drop in its oil demand to be “more pronounced”.

China’s western Xinjiang province has emerged as a coal hub with its output surging faster than any other regions and “on pace to top the half billion tonne mark” by the end of this year, reports Bloomberg. The newswire describes the phenomenon as “jarring”, because “China may be at or near its carbon peak, and cementing that shift relies heavily on using less coal”. It adds that companies have been announcing new projects to “take advantage of the region’s cheap and plentiful supply”. In a separate report, Bloomberg says Chinese independent refiners have been snapping up “unsold oil” from the Middle East and Africa as “broadening US sanctions” made Iranian oil “scarcer and more expensive than usual”.

In response to US president-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods, He Yadong, a spokesperson for China’s commerce ministry, urged the US to “abide by the WTO rules and work with China to promote the stable and sustainable development” of their trade ties, according to state-supporting newspaper Global Times. And China’s response to the US tariffs this time round “could aim aggressive and targeted countermeasures at American companies”, the New York Times notes. Commenting in Chinese state-run newspaper China Daily, vice-chair of the China Expert Panel on Climate Change, Wang Yi, and the interim chair of the UK’s Climate Change Committee, Piers Forster, said the UK and China “can provide the international leadership needed to boost the fight against climate change this decade”. Financial news outlet Caixin says “warming climate [is threatening] Chinese farmers’ livelihoods”. Finally, the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner, reported “continued improvement” in the country’s “ecological protection compensation system”, with half its forests and grasslands now “included in the scope of compensation” and more than 200m farmers “benefiting from the compensation policy”, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

There is widespread coverage of a new scientific paper that suggests the next men’s World Cup, set for 2026 and taking place in Canada, the US and Mexico, faces a high risk of excessive heat, as El Pais reports. It says that in three of the venues, “extreme heat stress could persist well into the afternoon”, potentially reaching temperatures of up to 50C. The article adds that the following World Cup is set to be held in Morocco, Portugal and Spain in 2030, and notes that these countries are also known for their high summer temperatures. [In addition, the 2034 World Cup is set to be hosted by Saudi Arabia as it was the only country to submit a bid.] The Guardian says the paper concludes that players in 2026 will be most at risk of “unacceptable ­thermal stress” in the stadiums in Arlington and Houston, in the US, and in Monterrey, in Mexico. The Press Association explains that the report makes use of the “universal thermal climate index” – a measure of how the human body responds to the environment – to simulate what players would experience on the pitch.

Spain’s left-wing government has approved a policy of “paid climate leave” – of up to four days – for people who need to avoid travelling during weather emergencies, Euronews reports. The policy was trialled in areas affected by the flooding that killed more than 200 people in the Valencia region and it will now be rolled out nationwide, the article explains. The leave, which is based on similar legislation in Canada, will be based on alerts about climate or meteorological disasters from authorities, it adds. Agence France-Presse notes that “several companies came under fire after the 29 October [flooding] catastrophe for ordering employees to keep working despite a red alert issued by the national weather agency”. The government said the new law would therefore avoid such situations where workers are forced to take risks.

The Guardian reports that towns in south-west France reached “completely extreme” levels of heat in the early hours of Tuesday, with overnight temperatures hitting 26.9C. It says climate scientists described the night-time heat as “staggering” and “phenomenal” for the time of year.

Daily Telegraph world economy editor Ambrose Evans-Pritchard pushes back against the prevailing narrative in UK media about the closure of a Vauxhall plant in Luton. He says it has “little or nothing to do with” the government’s electric vehicle mandate, which compels companies to sell a certain share of electric models. “The company’s attempt to link the two in the public mind is a diversionary pressure tactic,” Evans-Pritchard writes. He explains that the parent company Stellantis wants a “taxpayer bung” because its global operations are “in trouble”. Evans-Pritchard says it could be argued that the car industry is facing additional pressure from the switch to electric vehicles in Europe, following years of pressure from Covid, supply-chain disruption and high energy costs – but, he says, “clinging to the old order is not a viable option”. He also points to even more pressure facing the industry from Chinese electric-car manufacturers. Finally, Evans-Pritchard says: “Let us clear up one misreported fact. The industry is not calling for an end to the zero-emission vehicle scheme. They already have huge sunk costs in the switch to electric vehicles and announced a further £20bn of electric vehicle investments last year.”

Climate-sceptic Daily Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn blames the closure of the Vauxhall plant on energy secretary Ed Miliband’s “lunatic net-zero obsession”. He writes: “Labour is prepared to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of jobs in home-grown energy production on the altar of the false god of being ‘world leader’ in cutting carbon emissions.” [The electric vehicle mandate was introduced under the previous Conservative government.] An editorial in the Sun considers the high prices for both petrol and diesel, as well as public chargers for electric cars. “Even if you could find somewhere to plug it in – rip-off fast-charging is now 10 times more expensive than doing it at home,” it says.

Finally, a Wall Street Journal editorial takes aim at the Biden administration’s “stunning” $6bn loan to “struggling Rivian Automotive to make electric vehicles”. It says Donald Trump’s pick for energy secretary, Chris Wright, “has a big job ahead”, adding that this will include “cleaning up a Biden portfolio of corporate-welfare loans handed out for political reasons, not based on market principles or prospects”.

Nearly two-thirds of the cities set to host matches for the 2026 men’s FIFA world cup “are at very high risk of experiencing extreme heat stress conditions”, a new study finds. Researchers calculate climate indices for the 16 host cities, then adjust these to reflect the extra thermal stress placed on athletes by their exertion. They identify 10 of the 16 sites as potentially dangerous, with the highest risk occurring during afternoons in Houston and Monterrey. They write: “The results of this study will enable optimisation of match schedules at individual venues, taking into account the health risks associated with extreme heat stress.”