The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved California’s “landmark plan” to end the sale of petrol-only vehicles by 2035, reports Reuters. The decision in the final weeks of president Joe Biden’s administration “sets up a fight over the future of California’s vehicle regulations”, the article notes, with incoming president Donald Trump having pledged to rescind approvals granted by the EPA to California around EVs and vehicle emissions. Under the Clean Air Act, California can adopt “more stringent vehicle emission requirements than the federal government”, but requires a waiver from the EPA, reports the Los Angeles Times. The EPA has now issued two, for the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC) rule which will see petrol car sales phased out over the next decade, and the Heavy-Duty Omnibus rule which establishes cleaner engine standards for heavy-duty vehicles, it explains. The new ACC waiver will allow California and 11 other states to enact bans on the sale of new petrol vehicles, and won’t apply to the used car market, notes the New York Times. It follows the Biden administration finalising national car pollution rules earlier this year, that require 56% of new cars sold in the US by 2032 to be all-electric and an additional 16% to be hybrid, it adds. The Guardian quotes EPA administrator Michael Regan saying in a statement: “California has longstanding authority to request waivers from EPA to protect its residents from dangerous air pollution coming from mobile sources like cars and trucks. Today’s actions follow through on EPA’s commitment to partner with states to reduce emissions and act on the threat of climate change.” This story was also covered by the MailOnline, the Washington Post, the Associated Press and others.

Montana’s Supreme Court has upheld a decision by its lower court, brought by 16 young activists who argued that state law violated their right to a clean environment, reports BBC News. The lawsuit, raised by 16 plaintiffs aged from five to 22, argued that a state law banning the consideration of climate when choosing energy policy was unconstitutional, it explains. The 6-1 decision is the first lawsuit to go to trial across the US by young environmental activists challenging state and federal policies on the grounds of exacerbating climate change, reports the Guardian. The justices in the Supreme Court rejected the state of Montana’s argument that its fossil fuel projects are minuscule on a global scale, likening it to asking: “If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?”, reports the Washington Post. The article quotes chief justice Mike McGrath, who wrote that the plaintiffs can enforce their environmental rights “without requiring everyone else to stop jumping off bridges or adding fuel to the fire. Otherwise, the right to a clean and healthful environment is meaningless.” The plaintiffs were represented by nonprofits Our Children’s Trust and Western Environmental Law Center, notes the New York Times. Responding to the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the landmark ruling, Nate Bellinger, the activists’ lead counsel, said it showed that “the future of our children cannot be sacrificed for fossil fuel interests”, the article adds. This story was also covered by Reuters, the Associated Press, PBS and others.

The death toll from Cyclone Chido has risen, with authorities confirming that 45 people in Mozambique and 13 in Malawi were killed, reports the Guardian. It adds that the death toll in the Mayotte archipelago remains unclear according to French officials, who have “expressed fears that hundreds, possibly thousands, of people were killed in slums flattened by the storm”. The Guardian notes that so far, 22 deaths and 1,500 injuries – including 200 critical injuries – have been confirmed in Mayotte. It quotes acting interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, telling the French station BFMTV on Wednesday: “I cannot give a death toll because I don’t know. I fear the toll will be too heavy.” Tens of thousands of people are still without access to water in the archipelago in the French Indian Ocean territory following the cyclone, as rescuers race to find missing people, reports BBC News. Health workers are concerned about the spread of infection disease, with residents reporting shortages of clean drinking water and shops rationing supplies, it adds. Reuters reports that half the population should have access to running water by Wednesday evening according to the Mayotte prefect’s office. Three out of four people in Mayotte live below the national poverty line, it adds. In France, opposition politicians have hit out at “what they say is the government’s neglect of Mayotte and failure to prepare for natural disasters linked to climate change”, the article adds. There has been continued coverage of Cyclone Chido in two articles from the Associated Press, as well as from Le Monde and others.

A new action plan “outlining standards for upgrades [for the raw materials industry] over the next three years” was issued by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and three other ministries, state news agency Xinhua reports. The plan says that the “industry standards in key areas” should be implemented by 2027, including more than 100 standards related to “green and low-carbon development”, adds the agency. 21st Century Business Herald, a Chinese media outlet, also covers the story, quoting an official from MIIT saying that the plan came out when China’s raw steel production reduced in the first 11 months of 2024. State-run media Global Times publishes a related comment under the title: “Green transition unlocks growth potential for China’s steel sector.” 

Meanwhile, China issued “corporate sustainability disclosure standards” on Tuesday, which require companies to disclose information “on risks, opportunities and impacts related to environmental, social and governance sustainability issues”, Economic Information Daily reports. The Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily reports that China’s “trade-in” policy has “significantly boosted consumption” this year. Global Times says that the “world’s largest compressed-air energy storage power station” has started construction in China’s Jiangsu province.

Elsewhere, following an IEA report yesterday, Sky News has published an analysis under the title: “Why coal is being burned more than ever as demand in China and India soars despite carbon emissions warnings.” Bloomberg reports that US graphite producers are looking to “trigger punitive tariffs of as much as 920% on Chinese graphite”, arguing that China’s “massive state subsidies” have made it “impossible” for them to compete with Chinese companies. The news outlet adds that graphite is a “crucial material” used in electric vehicle (EV) batteries. An article by Reuters says that critical minerals will be China’s “weapon of choice in its escalating trade war” with the US. British news outlet UnHerd publishes an article discussing how China’s energy and manufacturing capacity – along with geopolitics – “burned German industry”.

In comment, an opinion piece on the frontpage of the People’s Daily print edition says that in recent years, China’s “new three” industries – EVs, solar panels and batteries – have achieved “remarkable performance”, but “repetitive layouts” and intense competition have reduced “resource utilisation efficiency”, hindering “healthy industry development”. The Financial Times publishes an opinion article by Lizzi Lee, a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, under the title: “Europe’s demand for Chinese tech transfers beats tariffs.”

The Nigerian oil regulator has announced that it will auction undeveloped oil and gas blocks in 2025, prioritising gas development to “support the country’s commitment to UN Sustainable Development Goals”, reports Reuters. This would mark the third auction since the country passed “an expansive oil overhaul law in 2021”, and would form part of efforts to increase oil production to fund government spending, the article continues. It quotes  Gbenga Komolafe, head of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, who said during a bid conference in Lagos: “The licensing round is more than a commercial exercise, it is a bold declaration that Nigeria is ready for business.” In other Nigerian energy news, the Associated Press covers a push for solar power jobs and electricity in the country, and the “little success” achieved to date. It notes that while small-scale solar has been very successful in Nigeria, large-scale developers of the technology “haven’t been able to overcome Nigeria’s reputation as a risky place to do business”. 

Associate editor and business columnist Pilita Clark has a comment in the Financial Times saying that “elections around the world may produce a new crop of net-zero critics in 2025”. She recounts how a climate thinktank head from the US told her at the COP29 talks in Azerbaijan that their team would be adopting the same communication guidelines under the incoming Trump presidency as they use in China. Clark explains: “His US staff had to ensure all public comments were politically neutral, and avoid any moves that could be construed as overt attacks on the administration. His words were a reminder of how fast climate politics have shifted in the US, where Trump is expected to gut a string of Biden era environmental achievements.” She continues: “[But] the US may not be alone. Elections are due or possible in at least four other sizeable economies where relatively green governing parties face rivals that want to rein in, water down or reverse climate action.” These are Canada, Australia, Germany and France, Clark says, adding that the “situation is not all gloom”. Global surveys show that voters want more climate action, and around the world wind, solar, EVs and battery storage continued to soar in 2024, she notes, concluding: “But 2025 will still test the pace of a green transition race in which, as US climate campaigner Bill McKibben once put it, winning slowly is the same as losing.”

In other comment, an editorial in the Daily Telegraph runs under the headline: “Net-zero fanatics must be realistic.” It says: “If renewable energy is cheaper, why are countries like China continuing to use fossil fuels?” [China has also been making record-breaking additions of solar and wind capacity, as Carbon Brief reported in October.] And in a comment for Climate Home News, Brice Böhmer, climate and environment lead at Transparency International explores “how COPs can be cleaned up”. 

The proposed merger with fellow Japanese carmaker Honda may offer a “credible plan for crisis-hit carmaker” Nissan, argues Nils Pratley, financial editor at the Guardian. He writes: “The need for radicalism can be explained in a word: China.” Pratley continues: “A Honda-Nissan combo would be a vivid demonstration of how the…auto industry has been outmuscled by Chinese state subsidies in the era of EVs.” While cost-cutting is “a poor substitute for innovation”, it could buy some time for Nissan and Honda to get back in the EV race, he says, concluding: “Everyone is scratching for answers to the Chinese auto threat.”

A Lex comment piece in the Financial Times also looks at Nissan and Honda, arguing that they need “off-road thinking to solve [the] EV challenge”. 

Major declines in Antarctic sea ice in 2023 increased ocean heat loss and storm frequency in previously ice-covered regions, a new study finds. The researchers look at satellite observations and other data to assess the impacts of ice loss on air-sea interactions in winter 2023. They find that the record-low sea-ice that year “substantially modified [the] air-sea interaction in the Southern Ocean”. The study concludes: “Repeated low ice-cover conditions in subsequent winters will strengthen these impacts and are also likely to lead to profound changes further afield, including the tropics and the Northern Hemisphere.”