The Biden administration has pledged that the US will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 61% over the next decade, Bloomberg reports. This amounts to raising the country’s climate ambition “even as president-elect Donald Trump prepares to obliterate policies key to achieving the target”, it adds. The article explains that this is the latest US nationally determined contribution (NDC), a plan that nations must submit under the Paris Agreement as their contribution to cutting global emissions. Governments have a deadline in February to put forward updated pledges for 2035, and “heightened ambition” is required to bring them on track for the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C temperature threshold, the news outlet says. It adds that the US is “already not on track to meet its previous Paris Agreement pledge for a 50% to 52% emissions cut by 2030…despite Biden-era policies”. The New York Times says emissions were about 17% below 2005 levels last year, largely due to the retirement of coal plants in favor of gas, wind and solar power, but this year “emissions are expected to stay roughly flat”. Despite this, the newspaper adds that the announcement by Joe Biden “caps four years of climate policies from a president who has sought to make global warming a signature focus of his administration”. While more policies are required to meet the 61-66% reduction goal in the new NDC, the article says the target will “almost certainly be disregarded” by Trump. Moreover, as the Washington Post notes, Trump has vowed to undo clean energy policies that would help to keep cutting emissions in the years to come, such as limits on emissions from cars and power plants, and low-carbon tax credits brought in by the Biden administration. NPR points to analysis that shows how rolling back key elements of Biden’s climate agenda will mean the US falls 13-18% short of its new climate goal. The Verge explains that Biden explicitly “pass[ed] the torch” to other leaders, urging states and local governments within the US to stay on course and continue taking climate action even as the Trump administration overlooks it. On top of the overarching target, the news website says the NDC includes a specific target of cutting methane emissions from livestock, landfills and fossil fuel infrastructure by at least 35% by 2035. US emissions continued to fall during the last Trump presidency, but – as one analyst tells CNN – the pace of emissions cuts matters. The article adds that “climate modellers said there is wild uncertainty on what the next four years will bring for US climate policy” – for example, whether Trump will be able to roll back climate policies that are currently “pouring billions of dollars and thousands of jobs into [Republican] districts”.

In other US news, Republican Alaska governor Mike Dunleavy has asked Trump to issue a state-specific executive order to set in motion “critical agency actions that would restore opportunity to Alaska”, the Associated Press reports. According to the article, this refers to Dunleavy’s wishes to explore for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, as well as reversing restrictions on logging and road-building in a temperate rainforest. Bloomberg reports on 42 pages of memos to 10 government agencies that oil lobbyists at the American Petroleum Institute are presenting to Trump’s transition team, to encourage them to “make good” on promises to offer more drilling opportunities. Meanwhile, Mike Henry, chief executive of mining company BHP, has told the Financial Times that Trump’s proposed import tariffs and the rising risk of a global trade war present a “key challenge” for the global transition to clean energy.

Finally, environmental groups are suing California air regulators over their recent update to the state’s low-carbon fuel standard, which they say failed to address the pollution from biofuels, the Associated Press reports. The climate policy incentivises producers to cut emissions from transport fuels, but the campaigners argue that people living near refineries in California will still be harmed by pollution from biofuel production, the article explains. Bloomberg has a story about California handing out carbon credits for the solar power that is used to support the drilling of “some of the dirtiest oil in the US”, in the state’s San Joaquin Valley.

Brazil’s government will offer concessions to companies and organisations to reforest the Amazon in exchange for carbon credits, as reported by Folha de São Paulo. Tenders are expected to be published in early 2025, focusing on the “deforestation arc” that includes Acre, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará and Rondônia. Meanwhile, the Ecuadorian Amazon will receive funds from a new debt-for-nature swap announced by the government of Ecuador, El Espectador reports. This is Ecuador’s second such transaction in the last two years and will see $1.5bn of its foreign debt forgiven in exchange for investing $460m to conserve terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems and communities in the Amazon.

In Mexico, the federal government will allocate the lowest budget since 2006 for its 232 protected natural areas, according to a report covered by Excélsior. The North American country will allocate $0.50 per hectare for conservation, which “directly affects [protected-area] management, biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation”, according to the report.

Elsewhere, the forest fire bill introduced by Chile’s president in 2023 has not received adequate attention from the senate, despite forest fires “represents an almost certain threat to a large part of the country’s population”, Estefanía González from Greenpeace writes in a comment piece for BioBioChile. Finally, a La Nación interactive articlr explains climate change, its origins and connection to extreme weather events. The piece also highlights Argentina’s standing regarding emissions and climate policies.

China’s central government, the State Council, has changed its annual economic “task” from “promoting” the green transition in 2022 to “intensifying the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development” in 2025, financial media outlet 21st Business Herald reports. The outlet adds that there was “no specific statement” on green transition in 2023, but that the wording to “deeply promote the construction of ecological civilisation and green and low-carbon development” and “create a green and low-carbon development highland” was proposed. 

Meanwhile, China has urged the EU to “take concrete actions as early as possible to jointly advance consultations” with it over the price of Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) sold to the EU, state-supporting newspaper Global Times quotes He Yongqian, a commerce ministry spokesperson saying. The newspaper adds that both sides have “made progress” in negotiations on “a price commitment plan”, but talks are still ongoing. Chinese Minister of Ecology and Environment, Huang Runqiu had “in-depth exchanges” with a delegation of French lawmakers on the topics of “climate change, plastic pollution control, clean energy development, and nuclear safety supervision” in Beijing, reports financial newspaper Securities Times. Dong Yifan, an associate fellow at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, argues in an opinion article in China Daily that “making the pie bigger and helping each other” is one way to end the EU-China EV dispute”. 

Meanwhile, South Korea’s trade ministry has “hinted at the possibility of… imposing countervailing duties” on Chinese EVs, reports Business magazine BusinessKorea, quoting a senior ministry official. Japanese media outlet Nikkei Asia reports that China’s GDP growth “could plunge below 2% by 2035 if US president-elect Donald Trump… [adheres] to his pledge of slapping 60% additional tariffs on imported Chinese goods”. Financial news outlet Caixin says foreign parts-markers face “being marginalised” by the shift to EVs “the greater role software now plays” and their hardware “evolving away from using the parts they are world leaders in making”. 

Elsewhere, Bloomberg says that the Chinese government “faces pressure” to protect its citizens from “more extreme weather”, but its “top-down economic management style is colliding with an insurance industry upended by global warming”, and authorities could not afford policies to “cover entire cities and provinces”. China’s total electricity consumption from January to November was 8,968 terawatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 7%, according to the National Energy Administration, Sina Finance reports. Finally, China’s biggest oil refiner Sinopec said in an annual report that the country’s petrol demand “had peaked last year”, adding that it will “dip around 1% this year before dropping further from 2025” as the shift to EVs gains momentum, reports Bloomberg.

On a visit to the cyclone-hit island of Mayotte, French president Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will observe a day of national mourning next week, according to Le Monde. Local officials say “hundreds or even thousands” of people are likely to have been killed on the Indian Ocean archipelago, with residents now facing shortages of food and water, the article says. It notes that Cyclone Chido, which struck the island, was “the latest in a string of storms worldwide fuelled by climate change, according to meteorologists”. France’s Les Echos says a state of “exceptional natural disaster” has been activated for the first time since the system was created in 2022. Macron also announced a “special law” allowing “derogation from the rules, because we cannot do it with the current instruments”, according to the newspaper. It quotes the president saying: “We were able to do it to organize the Olympic Games…to rebuild Notre-Dame de Paris, and so we will do it to rebuild Mayotte”. The article mentions that a figure of €5bn has been floated for the reconstruction of Mayotte. French environmental outlet Reporterre notes that while the state of “exceptional natural disaster” will allow residents to obtain rapid compensation on their homes, only 10% of properties in Mayotte are covered by insurance. The Associated Press notes that Mayotte, home to 320,000 residents and an estimated 100,000 migrants, is France’s poorest territory.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reports that the death toll from Cyclone Chido in Mozambique has risen to 73, according to the country’s National Institute of Risk and Disaster Management.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz has promised support to “the struggling” auto industry in the face of stricter EU CO2 emissions regulations that will apply to petrol and diesel cars starting next year, reports Der Spiegel. It quotes Scholz saying that the European Commission should find a way to ensure that fines “do not affect the financial liquidity of companies that now have to invest in electromobility, modern products, and vehicles”. However, Scholz did not clarify what this path might look like. The newspaper adds that electric cars sell “worse than hoped” in many countries, such as Germany. 

Meanwhile, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reports that after “record” prices of €936 per megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity in Germany amid a “lull in wind and solar power”, the wind has returned to Germany, easing electricity prices. However, Berlin-based energy economist Lion Hirth cautions in an interview with FAZ that such price spikes could happen more frequently this winter: “It’s entirely conceivable that we’ll face similar situations every few weeks.” FAZ notes that the German Federal Network Agency also does not rule out similarly sharp price fluctuations in the coming weeks. 

In addition, Der Spiegel carries an article stating that Germany’s alleged reliance on electricity imports due to its energy transition and nuclear phase out is “a myth”. The outlet explains that Germany can produce sufficient power, with safety nets in place, but the European market ensures cost-effective supply, favouring cheap renewables and subsidised French nuclear power over expensive coal. 

Finally, Montel reports the European Commission has approved €3bn of funding to Germany and the Netherlands to build at least 1.88 gigawatts (GW) of electrolysis capacity outside the EU to supply “green” hydrogen imports to the two countries, it said on Thursday.

The Australian government has approved the expansion of four coal mines, in a move that has “angered climate and environment groups”, the Guardian reports. Campaigners estimate that the mines will release more than 850m tonnes of CO2 over their lifetime, equivalent to two years of emissions from the entire Australian economy, the newspaper says. It notes that the Labor government has defended its decision, partly on the basis that most of the coal will be used for steel production, for which there are currently “no feasible renewable alternatives”. The article explains that the projects will be assessed under the government’s revised “safeguard mechanism”, which accounts for emissions generated in Australia. However, it notes that “the bulk of the emissions caused by the projects come when the coal is burned overseas”. The decision has been “slammed” by island nations, with Tuvalu’s prime minister Feleti Teo calling it a “death sentence”, the Independent reports. ABC News reports that just “minutes” after approving these extensions, environment minister Tanya Plibersek “boldly declared” on social media that no new coal mines have been approved in Australia this year. The government told the outlet that all the new coal mine developments were counted as “expansions”, rather than new projects. However, ABC News points out that one of the projects was being counted by its developer as a new initiative. The Guardian has an article about campaigners’ outraged reactions to the minister’s claims.

Meanwhile, ABC News reports that a “video has emerged” of Nationals senator Matt Canavan describing his own party’s nuclear power policy as a “political fix” and conceding that it is not the cheapest form of power. The Nationals are one half of the right-wing Coalition that forms the opposition party in Australia, and which recently revealed a vision for decarbonising Australia that leans heavily on nuclear power, at the expense of renewables. The Guardian notes that Canavan has been strongly critical of Australia’s 2050 net-zero emissions pledge, which both the Labor government and opposition leader, Peter Dutton, have committed to.

The Economist assesses the new analysis from the US Department of Energy (DoE) on the implications of increased exports of US liquefied natural gas (LNG). The article explains how the research was commissioned when outgoing president Joe Biden “bowed to election-year pressure” and brought in a “temporary pause” on pending LNG-export projects. Energy secretary Jennifer Granholm has released a letter to accompany the analysis, in which she states that “unfettered” expansion of LNG exports would “raise consumer prices, support an adversarial China and contribute to global warming”, the article says. It adds that “this was a sharp-elbowed effort to place an obstacle in the way of the incoming Trump administration”, which is planning to lift the temporary ban. “So will the last-minute gas gambit keep Mr Trump from his promise to lift the LNG pause? Not a chance, especially given that Chris Wright, his designated replacement for Ms Granholm at the top of the DoE, is himself a shale boss,” the article says. However, it says the new analysis will likely slow down this decision, by providing “enough fodder for LNG opponents to slow things down for a while by bringing lawsuits”. Elsewhere, an editorial in the Wall Street Journal says the LNG pause was a “political ruse”, as evidenced by Granholm “mak[ing] clear” that she thinks the new analysis justifies a permanent ban. However, it argues that “the study’s facts are at war with her conclusions”.

An editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald weighs in on the ongoing conversation in Australia about whether or not to build nuclear power stations, arguing that one major issue is where to store nuclear waste. The right-wing Coalition, which is currently in opposition in Australia, says it intends to build seven nuclear power stations across the country, which the newspaper estimates would produce 140,000 litres of waste annually. “A major hurdle facing politicians looking to store nuclear waste in Australian backyards is voters don’t want it there,” the editorial says. It points to the federal court last year ruling against plans by the former Coalition government to build a nuclear waste site at Kimba in South Australia, after a court challenge by the traditional Indigenous owners, the Barngarla people. The editorial concludes: “Given the problems we have endured in dealing with low-level nuclear waste over decades, voters are right to be concerned how the country would fare in arranging and negotiating proper arrangements for significant amounts of the stuff”.

A new study shows that nearly 30% of the Earth’s land surface became “significantly more arid” from 1960 to 2023, while only about 20% became less arid. Researchers use climate reanalysis data to understand the changes in aridity over nearly 75 years. They find an increase in arid land area of nearly 10m km2, with “accelerated aridification” already occurring in some regions, including north Africa and the Middle East, with central Africa emerging as a “new hotspot” of drying. They write: “While global warming is the main driver of this widespread increase in aridification, some local factors linked to human activities have also played a significant role.”