UK chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced that a new £7.3bn national wealth fund, aimed at cutting emissions from the UK’s heavy industry, will begin investing in areas such as green steel and gigafactories “immediately”, the FT reports. Reeves said the funds are to be spent over five years and disbursed by the state-run UK Infrastructure Bank, the newspaper says, adding: “Reeves said there would also be reforms to the British Business Bank, which is overseen by the Department for Business and Trade, to ‘ensure it can mobilise the UK’s deep pools of institutional capital’ towards low-carbon investments.” The fund is a key part of Labour’s “green prosperity plan”, along with the creation of a new state-owned company called GB Energy to invest in low-carbon electricity projects and provide money for insulating millions of homes, the FT says, adding that the fund intends to drive £20bn of private sector money into low-carbon investment. The Times says that the new fund will be “specifically targeted at nascent technologies or projects at early stages of development that ‘enable and encourage’ risk taking”. It adds that the fund will aim to bring in £3 of private sector investment for every £1 of taxpayer funding. The Guardian, Reuters, Sky News, City AM and BusinessGreen all have the story.

The Guardian is among publications reporting that former Climate Change Committee (CCC) chief executive Chris Stark has been appointed head of a new “Covid vaccine-style taskforce” aimed at delivering zero-carbon power by 2030. The newspaper says that, according to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the Stark-led “mission control centre” will work with energy companies and regulators and be the first of its kind in Whitehall, as part of Keir Starmer’s plan for mission-driven government. The outlet quotes Stark, who said: “Tackling the climate crisis and accelerating the transition to clean power is the country’s biggest challenge, and its greatest opportunity. By taking action now, we can put the UK at the forefront of the global race to net-zero.” Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said Stark would bring together the “brightest and best in the national interest” for a “laser-like focus” on cutting fossil fuels out of the grid, the Times adds. The Press Association and BusinessGreen also have the story.

In other UK news, Octopus Energy CEO Greg Jackson has said people living near wind farms should pay less for their electricity and has urged Labour to enact “real reform of markets”, BBC News reports. Renewable energy firms in England have already begun planning new onshore wind farms after Labour lifted the effective decade-long ban on such projects introduced by the Conservatives, the Guardian says. BBC News reports that a Lincolnshire councillor has called Labour’s onshore wind ban lift “an attack on the countryside”. BusinessGreen reports that the four Green MPs have launched 10 key priorities on which they will hold Labour to account. The Press Association reports that the High Court has granted Heathrow Airport an injunction against potential climate protesters. And the Times has an explainer on why the UK’s summer is so rainy.

Nearly 2m homes and businesses in Houston are suffering in extreme temperatures with no power after Beryl knocked out electricity supplies when crashing into Texas as a category 1 hurricane, the Associated Press reports. It says: “Hospitals also started to feel the pinch: Nearly 36 hours after Beryl made landfall, Texas’ lieutenant governor said a sports and event complex would be used to temporarily hold up to 250 patients who are awaiting discharge but cannot be released to homes with no power.” It comes as temperature records continue to be shattered in an “oppressive and dangerous heatwave” affecting California and the west, the Los Angeles Times reports. It says: “The length and magnitude of this heatwave has repeatedly been described as unprecedented, setting several records for high temperatures across the Golden State and the western US. It is expected to begin receding by the weekend and shift east to the High Plains, though elevated temperatures are still predicted for the west and central US through next week.” A second story in the newspaper examines studies on the impacts of extreme heat on murder, birth and suicide rates. And the Washington Post reports that parts of New Mexico ravaged by wildfires have been given a second “pounding” by extreme flooding.

Elsewhere in US news, the Associated Press reports that Republican officials in Montana will today ask the state supreme court to overturn a landmark climate ruling in favour of young people that says regulators must consider emissions when approving oil, gas and coal projects. E&E News reports that a bipartisan group of House of Representatives members is set to introduce legislation that “could one day pave the way for carbon import tariffs”. The Associated Press says that, on Tuesday, House Republicans approved two bills reversing Energy Department efficiency standards on refrigerators and dishwashers. Reuters covers an industry report finding the US will miss president Joe Biden’s 2030 goal for offshore wind power, but that it will “catch up quickly” in the following years. Reuters also covers news from the Energy Information Administration that the US is forecast to reach record-high electricity use in 2024 and 2025. A third Reuters story covers a report by Clean Energy Associates finding that US tariffs placed on imports from south-east Asia could raise domestic solar panel prices by as much as 66%.

China issued draft rules yesterday that tighten investment regulations for solar manufacturing projects, Reuters reports. The rules, if enacted, will increase the minimum capital ratio of such projects from 20% to 30%, as the country seeks to reduce overcapacity in the sector, the newswire adds. BJX News also covers the story, saying that the new rule will guide solar manufacturers in China to “reduce projects that solely expand capacity, and instead focus on strengthening technological innovation, improving product quality and lowering production costs”. The Financial Times reports that China’s “creaking” grid may receive “more than $800bn [in investment] in the next six years to overcome strains on the energy system”. The article quotes Ken Liu, head of China renewables, utilities and energy research at investment bank UBS, saying “the grid has to be more advanced…From a demand perspective, electrification has happened faster than a lot of people expected…and AI development is much faster than people expected”. Economic newspaper Jiemian reports that China’s State Grid is focused on “establishing a fair and open electricity market”. Energy newswire International Energy Net says that China’s national green certificate issuance and trading system is now operational. Economic newspaper Yicai reports that “China has established a new trading platform for hydrogen[-based] products”, such as methanol and ammonia in Shanghai, to “support…companies in the green shipping industry”.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times carries an article arguing that the EU’s anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles concluded “that battery suppliers such as CATL function, in practice, as a public body managed and controlled by the Chinese state”, suggesting that “batteries (and lithium) will be [targeted for tariffs] next”. Bloomberg says that battery prices in China are “plummeting” due to “raw material costs, overcapacity and margin compression”. EV manufacturer BYD will “build a $1bn production plant in Turkey with an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles”, Reuters reports. Another Reuters article says that India is planning to “expedite the construction of 12 hydropower stations” in a border region contested by China, which could “raise tensions”. A column in the FT says that Tesla may need to expand its EV range into lower-priced brackets to compete with BYD.

Elsewhere, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that “central China’s grain-producing Henan province and Shandong province in the east are facing heavy rainfall and floods, after suffering from the effects of an extreme drought in June”. State news agency Xinhua reports that provinces in southern China will experience high temperatures ranging from 35C to 40C. State broadcaster CCTV reports that regions including Sichuan, Hubei, Henan and Jiangsu provinces, are expected to experience heavy rainfall from 9 July. None of the articles mention climate change. The Washington Post says a year of heat and floods is “spurring China’s climate-change awakening”. Finally, the Times reports that China and Russia are planning an “Ice Silk Road” for the Arctic.

Floodwaters have “eased a bit” in India’s north-eastern state of Assam, but have left seven dead in the last 24 hours, with the official death toll touching 79, the Hindu reports. While rivers are still “flowing above the danger level”, 48,000 people “are currently taking shelter” in 240 relief camps, and nearly 40,000 hectares of cropland remain submerged, state disaster authorities told the paper. More than 130 wild animals, “including at least six rare rhinos”, have died in the flooding as Assam’s Kaziranga National Park “is experiencing its worst deluge in recent years”, BBC News reports. Flooding in the state in “peak harvesting season” has contributed to “soaring” tea prices, Reuters reports, with India’s tea production in May “plung[ing] more than 30% from a year earlier…lowest for that month in more than a decade, hurt by excessive heat and scant rainfall”. 

At a conference in the flooded state’s capital, India’s power minister Manoharlal Khattar “underlined the significant hydropower potential of north-eastern states which are central to achieving India’s ambitious target of 500 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2030”, announcing an “aim to add 11.9GW [of hydropower] in the next five years”, according to the Economic Times. India “plans to spend $1bn to expedite the construction of 12 hydropower stations in the [neighbouring] north-eastern Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh…a move that could raise tensions with China that lays claims to the region”, Reuters reports, citing two unnamed government sources. Civil society groups in Arunachal Pradesh, meanwhile, “urged” Khattar’s power ministry “to reconsider its stance on pushing for more dams on rivers and boosting hydropower capacity” in the state, Hindustan Times reports.

In other energy news, India and Russia “are discussing the construction of six more high-power nuclear power plant units as well as low-power nuclear plants”, Moneycontrol reports, following prime minister Modi’s two-day trip to Moscow. According to Reuters, Russia’s Rosatom state atomic energy company said that both countries are “also discussing developing the transit potential of the Northern Sea Route (NSR), which runs from Murmansk to the Bering Strait near Alaska” concerning Russian oil, coal and gas supplies. While “Putin personally dr[ove] Modi around in a mini electric car at his residence”, CNN observes that “a cruise around in an electric vehicle and a deal to boost nuclear power as clean energy, however, aren’t signs that Russia or India plan to give up on fossil fuels any time soon, or that either are climate leaders”. 

Finally, a comment in the Hindu suggests that new climate law following a landmark supreme court ruling could lay the ground for a “climate cabinet tasked with driving [climate] strategy through government”.

Reuters has analysed documents suggesting that the next European Commission “will no longer be able to rely on a broad consensus among lawmakers in support of ambitious climate change policies, with lawmakers split over whether to scrap or strengthen green measures”. It reports: “Following European Union elections last month, incoming lawmakers are discussing their policy priorities for the EU Parliament’s next five-year term. Drafts of those priorities, reviewed by Reuters, show some of the biggest lawmaker groups intend to block new climate policies or roll back some existing ones.” Both the centre-right European People’s Party, the biggest lawmaker group, and the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists Group, the fourth-largest, aim to weaken the EU’s 2035 ban on sales of new petrol cars, according to the Reuters investigation. “The ECR will also challenge an expected European Commission proposal to commit the EU to cut greenhouse gas emissions 90% by 2040 from 1990 levels,” it adds. It comes as Reuters separately reports that Spain has approved €800m in subsidies for green hydrogen projects and set rules for installing floating solar power projects.

Flooding in Bangladesh has left 40,000 people homeless and thousands more needing medical assistance, the country’s disaster and relief ministry said on Tuesday, according to Reuters. It says: “Television footage showed inundated roads, broken bridges and dams, as well as villagers wading through knee-deep water. Farmers also had to rescue cattle from the gushing waters.” More rainfall is forecast in Bangladesh for the coming days, while the country also continues to be impacted by extreme flooding in upstream India, meteorological authorities said, according to the newswire.

Fossil-fuel company BP is gearing up to take a hit of almost $3bn (£2.3bn) in its results for April to June as “lower demand for fuels leads to woes within the company’s oil refining business”, the Guardian says. It adds: “The oil supermajor warned investors that ‘significantly lower realised refining margins’ could wipe between $500m and $700m from its earnings for the quarter. It also expects to take a $2bn writedown resulting from a plan to scale back its refining operations at its Gelsenkirchen refinery in Germany by a third from next year in response to weaker demand.” The FT and Times also cover the story. Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph publishes a column on why oil majors are “beating a hasty green retreat”.

Financial Times columnist Pilita Clark examines key tests facing Labour’s climate plans. This includes an upcoming legal hearing on a government decision to allow a new coalmine in Cumbria later this month, which has left Labour in the awkward position of having to defend a Conservative decision to allow the project. She adds: “But its central goal of building enough green power to guarantee zero-carbon electricity by 2030 raises a series of questions…Building loads of new wind and solar generally means building more poles and wires to get green power from where it’s generated to where it’s needed. The resulting pylon politics are already intense. Actor Ralph Fiennes and even Green party co-leader, Adrian Ramsay, one of a record four Green MPs elected last week, are among critics warning of the impact on natural landscapes. How will the government resolve this? Then there is migration. The UK isn’t the only country switching to net-zero and it’s unclear whether it will have enough home-grown skilled workers for the task. Will it let more people into the country to build wind farms?” 

Elsewhere, in the Conversation, Prof Ran Boydell from Heriot-Watt University, says Labour needs to increase investment in its plan to insulate UK homes. For BusinessGreen, former BBC environmental analyst Roger Harrabin says that “Labour’s sweeping planning reforms on their own will not be enough to get Britain building [net-zero homes]”. BBC News examines what Labour’s planning reforms mean for Scotland. The FT has an editorial on how Labour can boost UK investment, saying: “A £7.3bn national wealth fund, which will provide cornerstone funding to support private sector investment, is encouraging. The fund’s task force on Tuesday suggested extending investments into “wider sectors”, beyond the initial focus on decarbonisation, and to entrench operational independence from the government. Provided this does not result in small-scale scattergun investments, this sounds sensible.” [See Carbon Brief’s analysis on all the climate and energy challenges in Labour’s in-tray.]

An editorial in the Los Angeles Times urges the federal government to do more to tackle extreme heat as record-breaking temperatures sweep much of the country. It says: “All the attention on the numbers can overshadow the larger, frightening context: We are living in a dangerous new era of more frequent, more destructive and deadlier disasters fueled by humanity’s continued spewing of greenhouse gas pollution…But even as Americans die from preventable heat-related illness, officials aren’t using all the tools available to them to respond. We need an urgent change in trajectory, not only by ending the burning of fossil fuels but also by doing much more to keep people safe.”

As the world reduces emissions and approaches net-zero, it will be “difficult” to identify specifically when warming has stopped, a new study says, potentially creating confusion amongst policymakers and the general public. Using CMIP6 climate model simulations, the researchers estimate that it will take “40 to 60 years after a simulated slowdown in warming rate, to robustly detect the signal in the global average temperature record”. Detecting when warming has stopped “will also be difficult”, the authors say, and it “takes until the mid 22nd century to have enough data to conclude warming has stopped”.

Methane emissions from livestock in China are projected to rise 13% by 2030, but there is the “technical potential” to cut them by 36%, a new study suggests. Using four large-scale national livestock greenhouse gas inventory surveys, the researchers create a high-resolution dataset of the country’s livestock methane emissions over 1990-2020. The most effective methane mitigation measures would be “increasing animal productivity and coverage of lagoon storage” used for manure, the authors say. At carbon prices below $100 per tonnes of CO2 equivalent, this would be “more cost-effective than livestock nitrous oxide mitigation in China”, the study adds.