The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced new emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks, buses and other large vehicles, the Associated Press reports. According to the outlet, the rules will apply to vehicles with model years between 2027 and 2032. It adds that, according to the EPA, the rules will “avoid up to 1bn tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over the next three decades and provide $13bn in net benefits in the form of fewer hospital visits, lost work days and deaths”. The New York Times notes that it will be up to manufacturers to decide how to comply with the rule. “Options could include using technologies like hybrids or hydrogen fuel cells or sharply increasing the fuel efficiency of the conventional trucks”, the paper says. It adds: “The EPA projects the new rule could mean that 25% of new long-haul trucks, the heaviest on the road, and 40% of medium-size trucks, like box trucks and landscaping vehicles, could be nonpolluting by 2032. Today, fewer than 2% of new heavy trucks sold in the US fit that bill. The regulation would apply to more than 100 types of vehicles including tractor-trailers, ambulances, RVs, garbage trucks and moving vans.” Axios notes that last week the EPA “finalised new standards for cars, SUVs and light trucks for 2027 to 2032”. The Hill quotes EPA administrator Michael Regan, who said that “an estimated 72m Americans, often people of colour or people with lower incomes, live near freight truck routes”. The Daily Mail says that “anti-regulation campaigners slammed the move, saying it would make it more difficult to do business and would harm consumers”. American Energy Alliance president and pro-Trump lobbyist Thomas Pyle called the targets “unachievable” and said that “the technology needed to electrify the trucking industry is nowhere near ready”, it adds. Fox News also covers the new rules. The Wall Street Journal has published an editorial on its climate-sceptic comment pages calling the new mandate “the most costly and fanciful to date”. This comes as the Independent reports that the US government has built only seven electric vehicle charging stations in the past two years. The paper notes that two years ago, the government earmarked $7.5bn to build 500,000 chargers by 2030. And the Associated Press reports that “China filed a World Trade Organization complaint against the US on Tuesday over what it says are discriminatory requirements for electric vehicle subsidies”.

Elsewhere, the New York Times reports that the Biden administration is “restoring a series of protections for imperilled animals and plants that had been loosened under President Donald J Trump”. The newspaper continues: “The rules, proposed last year and now finalised, give federal officials more leeway to protect species in a changing climate; bring back protections for animals that are classified as ‘threatened’ with extinction, which is one step short of ‘endangered’; and clarify that decisions about whether to list a species must be made without considering economic factors.” According to Inside Climate News, during his presidency, Trump rolled back a range of “safeguards” for wildlife and plants, which had been created in 1973. It adds: “While environmental groups have lauded the positive impacts these updates could have, some say the ruling doesn’t go far enough.” Le Monde and the Hill also cover the news. Elsewhere, the Hill reports that a federal court has “struck down” a Biden administration rule, which would require states and cities to set climate targets for the transport sector. Reuters also covers the news. 

In other US news, Axios reports that “the Biden administration hopes to provide $4bn in tax credits for over 100 projects across 35 states to boost manufacturing of ‘clean’ energy equipment and other uses”. The Hill reports that the US was the world’s largest exporter of liquified natural gas last year. Reuters covers a new study which finds that “over half of US landfills observed by aerial surveys are super-emitting sources of methane”. Politico reports that academics and researchers are urging the US government to “strengthen a toothless rule” that only requires companies or citizens to give a “heads up” before trying solar geoengineering experiments. Elsewhere, the Guardian reports that former UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa has warned that a Trump victory in this year’s presidential elections could put the world’s warming targets at risk. And Politico quotes Obama’s former health and human services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, who said that “the failure to clinch energy and environment legislation in former president Barack Obama’s first term was a ‘significant missed opportunity’”. 

Bloomberg reports that Liu Zhenmin, China’s new climate envoy, says fossil fuels “will continue to be required” and that governments globally have to be prepared to “utilise dirtier fuels in a manner that limits their pollution”. He also said at the Boao Forum for Asia that “cleaner power sources should eventually dominate the global power mix”, the news outlet adds. State news agency Xinhua also covers his comments, quoting him saying “developing countries are under great pressure to obtain the funds needed to cope with climate change”. Politburo standing committee member Zhao Leji also spoke at the forum, saying that China will “exploit green technologies” to drive around $1.4tn in annual revenue, the Associated Press says. State newspaper China Daily publishes comments by “government officials, entrepreneurs and scholars” at Boao explaining that China’s green and digital innovation is “injecting great momentum” into developing new quality productive forces and encouraging high-quality growth. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) quotes a former governor of China’s central bank and a former Chinese deputy trade minister saying at Boao that “overcapacity in the clean energy sector will be temporary as long as global demand for green transitions holds up”. 

Meanwhile, economic outlet Caixin reports that China’s utilisation rate of wind and solar power may decline this year for the first time in six years, according to an expert at a state-affiliated think tank. SCMP reports that, in a “historic breakthrough”, the installation price of wind turbines in China has dropped nearly 45% to 2 yuan ($0.28) per watt. Xinhua reports that China “established [its] largest green hydrogen production and refuelling station” in Changsha, as well as “initiat[ing] refuelling tests for hydrogen-powered heavy trucks [there]”. Caixin publishes an explainer on hydrogen, written by representatives of China National Petroleum Corp, which says “the current push for hydrogen carries more promise than earlier waves” and that “the technology is readily available; it’s a matter of choosing to act”. Energy news outlet IN-EN.com covers the announcement by the China National Coal Association (CNCA) that total coal supply is expected to grow in 2024, owing to “rapid growth of new energy power generation…raising requirements for peak supply capacity of coal power”. An column by David Fickling in Bloomberg says that while “electric vehicles will displace more than 20m metric tons of crude [oil] demand [in China] this year”, oil consumption in the country may be driven by the country “aggressively moving its petrochemicals sector onshore” to serve companies such as Shein and Temu. 

China’s premier Li Qiang says that China and the Netherlands will strengthen cooperation in areas such as offshore wind power, solar power and hydrogen, Xinhua reports. China Daily notes that the two countries addressed their “shared commitment to opposing the severing of industrial and supply chains”. The Communist party-backed newspaper People’s Daily publishes a comment piece arguing that China’s decision to open its nuclear facilities to international partners will help developing countries develop their nuclear energy capabilities. And SCMP reports that ​​​​South China’s Guangzhou “megacity” has reported its earliest summer since 1961. The outlet attributes this to a “double whammy” of global warming and El Niño.

Shell will this week fight to repeal a “landmark” court ruling made in 2021, which ruled that the company must cut its emissions by 45% by 2030, relative to 2019, reports the Times. The newspaper calls the 2021 ruling, which was made in the district court of The Hague, “historic”. However, it says that lawyers will argue that it “had no legal basis and overstepped the remit of the judiciary”. The newspaper continues: “Shell recently weakened some of its climate targets to accommodate plans to keep growing its giant gas business, scrapping a 2035 emissions reduction target even as it maintained a net-zero goal by 2050. The company is now targeting a 15-20% drop in carbon intensity by 2030.” It adds that both sides will make their arguments between 2-12 April and a judgement is expected in the second half of this year. Reuters and Bloomberg also cover the news. Separately, the Guardian reports that more than 100,000 members of the public have signed a letter to Shell “criticising its ‘callous and vindictive’ lawsuit against Greenpeace after activists occupied a moving oil platform last year”. The newspaper says that more than 30 “public figures” – including Greta Thunberg and Emma Thompson – signed the letter. It adds that Shell is suing Greenpeace for £790,000 in damages following a protest in January last year in which four Greenpeace activists boarded a platform north of the Canary Islands that was being transported to the Shetland Islands.

Elsewhere, the Guardian reports that oil and gas company ExxonMobil has been accused of “greenwashing”. According to the newspaper, the company ran an advertising campaign that featured a “proposal to trap carbon dioxide at a vast oil refinery and petrochemical complex on the south coast and store it under the seabed of the English Channel”. However, the paper continues: “The oil giant faces allegations of greenwashing as an investigation by openDemocracy reveals that the project may never get off the drawing board. It hasn’t received a licence or government support, and the company has not committed any of its own money to build it.” Separately, the Guardian reports that the airlines Qantas and Virgin Australia “could be found to have misled consumers in the way they present their net-zero goals and market offset options during flight bookings”, following a Dutch court ruling last month which found that airline KLM “misled customers with vague environmental claims”. 

A total of 15 coal-fired power plants were permanently shut down yesterday in Germany, reports Die Welt. According to the German vice-chancellor Robert Habeck, “Germany’s energy supply is secure and more independent than before the war in Ukraine”. The operation of these power plants is “neither necessary nor economical”, the Green Party politician told the German Press Agency yesterday. Habeck added that electricity and gas prices have fallen significantly and electricity now comes “mostly from clean, climate-friendly sources” due to the expansion of renewables, notes the newspaper. It details that in the Rhineland region and Brandenburg, seven lignite-fired power plants with a total capacity of 3.1GW were shut down, as confirmed by the energy companies RWE and LEAG. Additionally, Die Zeit reports that eight medium- and small-scale coal-fired plants with a combined capacity of 1.3GW were also permanently taken offline. According to ZDF, the German economy and climate action ministry is now legally obliged to assess how much additional greenhouse gas emissions were emitted due to the continued operation of the coal-fired power plants and, by the end of June, propose measures to offset these additional emissions. Deutsche Welle quotes Green party’s lawmaker Kathrin Henneberger saying that the closures were “a great success for climate justice and are happening in the knowledge of the historical and global responsibility for achieving our climate goals”.

The UK may face water shortages and hosepipe bans this summer, despite recording record-breaking rainfall over the past 18 months, the Times reports. The newspaper continues: “Nearly 30 new reservoirs are needed to safeguard the country’s water supply but no major reservoirs have been built in the past three decades, creating a situation in which water is not being stored properly during periods of heavy rainfall…The last new large reservoir for public water supply in the UK was opened at Carsington in Derbyshire in 1992, and although several other reservoirs have been proposed since the 1960s very few have made it to completion…The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), which advises the government on infrastructure, has said the UK would need between 2.5bn and 4bn litres of additional water capacity in England per day by 2050 to maintain current levels of service.” The i newspaper notes that the UK population has increased by 10 million over the past three decades, while “climate change has put pressure on existing reserves”. The Guardian reports that the Environment Agency released a report last week, which “predicts a growing shortfall of water in coming years, leading to a deficit of almost 5bn litres of water a day by 2050”. The paper quotes Prof Hannah Cloke, who specialises in water at the University of Reading: “It is always good for water supply levels to be high as we go into the spring and summer, after a record-breaking wet past 18 months, but it is still possible for regions of the UK to dwindle if we experienced another lengthy dry spell. Unfortunately, these ‘all or nothing’ periods of rainfall we are experiencing in the UK are likely to increase as heat continues to build up in the atmosphere and oceans. We need to realise that our water infrastructure is creaking and required billions of pounds of investment.” In a separate explainer, the Guardian says that “before the impacts of climate breakdown became painfully apparent, the UK was a country that could rely on rainfall year-round”. However, it adds that in recent decades floods are increasingly being followed by water shortages. The MailOnline also covers the news. 

In other UK news, Reuters covers new figures from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), which show that the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 5.4% in 2023. The newswire continues: “​​Total greenhouse gas emissions were estimated at 384.2m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2023. The electricity sector, which makes up around 11% of Britain’s GHG emissions, recorded the biggest drop at 41.1 MtCO2e compared with 51.9 MtCO2e in 2022…Gas power generation in Britain fell by 21.1% in 2023, the data showed…Emissions from the industrial sector fell by 8% mainly due to reduced fuel consumption in the iron and steel industries.” (Carbon Brief’s own analysis first revealed these trends last month.) The Daily Mail notes that the UK “imported more electricity from France last year, where around 70% of electricity comes from nuclear”. Sky News adds that “the UK’s emissions overall have fallen 53% since 1990 – greater than any other G20 economy”. Elsewhere, the Guardian and Financial Times report that the Office for Nuclear Regulation will prosecute the Sellafield nuclear waste site for alleged IT breaches.

Energy secretary Claire Coutinho has told the Sunday Telegraph that Labour’s plans to reach net-zero power by 2030 – five years earlier than the Conservatives target – are “mad, bad and dangerous”. According to the newspaper, which puts the story on its frontpage, Coutinho said that Labour’s plans would leave the UK “over-reliant” on Chinese-made metals, cables and batteries, could also mean higher household bills and would threaten the UK’s ability to “keep the lights on”. The newspaper continues: “She added of Labour: ‘Their 2030 decarbonisation plans are mad, bad and dangerous. I speak to hundreds of people in industry, and investors. Not a single one of those people has asked us for a 2030 date. When I speak to consumers, when I speak to households, not a single person is asking for that date, not even the climate change lobby is asking for that date. They plucked it out of thin air, it’s a complete fantasy.’” The Times and Press Association also cover the interview. In an accompanying editorial, the climate-sceptic Sunday Telegraph says that “voters would be forgiven for questioning the logic of meeting net-zero targets by compromising our self-sufficiency in order to consolidate Beijing’s supremacy”. The editorial repeats the frequently made line beloved of climate sceptics that the scale of China’s emissions should preclude UK action on climate change, saying: “Despite its dominance in green technologies, however, Beijing remains the world’s largest polluter. While the UK is responsible for less than 1% of emissions, China is belching out more carbon than the US and EU combined.” [It does not mention the historical contribution to global emissions from industralised western nations.] Climate-sceptic columnist Ross Clark asks in the Daily Telegraph whether Coutinho thinks Labour’s 2030 goal “will be much different to the government’s own policy of decarbonising the grid by 2035”?

Separately, the Daily Telegraph reports that Coutinho “is considering removing £4bn of green levies from household electricity bills, amid warnings they are making heat pumps and electric cars more costly”. The paper says that levies “fund payments for renewable energy schemes, insulation programmes and bill support for low-income pensioners” and add around £142 to the typical electricity bill. This comes as the Daily Telegraph carries a warning from Alicia Kearns, chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, that “with the US and EU both passing laws to ban solar products made by Uyghur slave labour, many will end up in the UK”. Elsewhere, the Daily Telegraph reports that the Welsh countryside has become “Britain’s new energy battleground”, after changes in Welsh planning laws have “encouraged a surge in planning applications for giant wind turbines up to 800 feet tall – two to three times larger than any yet built in the principality”. According to the paper, protest groups have “sprung up” to fight “what they see as the onslaught of the turbines”. Elsewhere, the Daily Mail reports that “the UK is set to waste more than £16bn this decade after regulatory and planning failures have left Scotland producing more wind power than can be transmitted down South”. 

In other UK news, the Daily Telegraph covers a new report from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, which finds that “Britain’s failure to deal with its millions of draughty homes means many householders face up to £600 extra in annual gas and electricity bills”. This comes as the i newspaper notes that fewer than 5,000 homes have been insulated under the government’s “flagship” insulation scheme. Under the £1bn project, 300,000 households are scheduled to be insulated by 2026, the newspaper says. However, it adds that, according to data from DESNZ, fewer than 2% of target households have been insulated so far. Elsewhere, BBC News reports that energy prices in the UK have fallen to their lowest level for two years. It adds: “The annual bill for a household using a typical amount of gas and electricity has dropped by £238, to £1,690, under regulator Ofgem’s latest price cap.” However, the Daily Telegraph reports that “charges added on to household energy bills for running the gas network infrastructure have increased 38% from £118 a year in 2021, to £163.69 from 1 April”. The newspaper says that this rise is “significantly above” inflation and says that an extra £45 per year charged to British households is “lining the pockets of ‘vampire’ energy funds in Qatar and China”. 

Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that Labour has lost more than 23,000 members in the last two months due to “its policy on Gaza and its U-turn on green investment”. The Daily Mail also covers the story. Elsewhere, the Daily Telegraph reports that Reform UK has pledged to hold a referendum on net-zero. (It does not offer details on what terms such a hypothetical vote would be held.) Separately, the Times has published the first two parts of a four-part series about electric vehicles. The first part focuses on “how the drive to reduce greenhouse gases is reshaping carmakers, the obstacles in their way and the progress so far””, and the second on and charging infrastructure. And the Guardian says a “climate charity” are urging ministers to “consider a social leasing scheme for care workers in rural areas across the UK to use electric cars”. 

A “boom” in Chinese solar panel production has made them “so cheap” that in the Netherlands and Germany, solar panels are being used to build garden fences, a frontpage story in the Financial Times says. The newspaper notes that the panels “capture less sunlight” when they are used as fencing, but they are easier and cheaper to install. It continues: “Solar panel supply globally will reach 1,100 gigawatts by the end of this year, or three times the present forecast for demand, the International Energy Agency estimates. A glut of manufacturing in China is driving this trend, it said. At the same time, installations have become more expensive, mainly owing to rising labour costs, and the wait for panels to be connected to electricity grids is testing industry and householder patience. Grid capacity issues affect most countries and cannot be easily and speedily resolved.”

This comes as Politico reports that “Chinese mass manufacturing has brought Europe’s solar makers to their knees and had prompted them to turn to Brussels for help”. According to the outlet, the European Commission “is set to back increased EU funding for the solar sector and consider relaxing some state aid rules”, but “won’t commit to the urgent support measures industry leaders want”. Elsewhere, Politico says that Belgium’s prime minister has called the EU’s “flagship” nature law “bad” and said it needs to be revised after the June European election. The outlet continues: “The bloc’s Nature Restoration Law, which aims to rehabilitate 20% of the EU’s degraded land by 2030, is in limbo after a ministerial vote had to be postponed. Belgium steers the talks on the legislation as the country currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU. This means the Belgian government is expected to act as an “honest broker”. But, in an interview with De Zondag, Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo says the bill ‘may sound good, but it is a bad law.’” And Reuters says: “The United Arab Emirates has approached European nations including Britain to gauge their interest in the Middle Eastern state investing in their nuclear power infrastructure, according to three sources familiar with the talks.”

The UK needs “ambitious policies to help on cost and convenience” of electric vehicles (EVs) “to speed up the switch and put Britain in pole position for clean, green transport”, writes Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, in the Times. Despite “impressive growth”, the EV market “remains at the early adopter stage”, says Hawes, adding: “We need to move to mass market, and fast.” He continues: “Key to that is cost, ensuring an affordable transition for all. Zero-emission vehicles are inherently more expensive, with batteries roughly treble the cost of an engine. Industry is driving down those costs, but more is needed. Compelling incentives are already spurring businesses and fleets to go electric. Private retail buyers, however, have no similar support and are holding off.” On convenience, Hawes says that EV charging “should be as easy as refuelling”, adding: “The situation is improving, but not quickly enough. We must build ahead of need so there should be binding charge-point targets aligned to EV targets.”

Elsewhere, an editorial in the Financial Times on the “painful rise” in home insurance costs around the world notes the role of climate change. It says that the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather “has led to more claims covering everything from fallen roof tiles to rebuilding entire sections of homes”. In addition, “a repricing of climate risks has led to a sharp rise in the cost of property catastrophe reinsurance — or insurance for insurance companies”. The editorial concludes: “Without swifter and deeper action on the effects of climate change at a national and global level, governments will have to underwrite more of the risks themselves, or citizens will have to pay higher premiums. Neither outcome is sustainable.” Also in the FT, business columnist Pilita Clark has a feature on the UK climate tech industry being a “quiet green business success story”, and acting international economy news editor Alice Ross writes that it is “time for investors to turn up the heat on climate governance”.

The decision by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to cancel this year’s regional “climate weeks” is “hugely disappointing news”, writes Dulce Marrumbe – head of partnerships and advocacy in the southern Africa office of the NGO WaterAid – in Climate Home News. The climate weeks are “a vital opportunity to bring a stronger regional voice – those who are footing the bill in developing countries for a crisis they have done the least to cause – to the international table in the lead-up to the UN COP climate summits”, Marrumbe says. The four climate weeks last year “attracted 26,000 participants in 900 sessions and brought together policymakers, scientists and other experts from the multiple regions, with fundamental contributions feeding into the COP28 agenda”, she notes, adding: “At Africa climate summit alone, over 20 commitments were made by African heads of state – commitments and announcements that equated to a combined investment of nearly $26bn from public, private sector and multilateral development banks, philanthropic foundations and other financing partners.” With the climate weeks suspended until further notice because of a UNFCCC funding shortfall, it means “a vital platform to express the concerns of people and communities most affected by climate change has been taken away”, Marrumbe says.

Spillovers of violent conflict in Africa could “amplify” the effect of climate variability on malaria risk across sub-Saharan Africa, new research finds. The study aims to “quantify the associations between violent conflict, climate variability and malaria risk” in sub-Saharan Africa using health surveys from 128,326 individuals, historical climate data and 17,429 recorded violent conflicts from 2006-2017. The results “demonstrate that nearby conflicts can worsen malaria risk in communities up to 100km distance”, with effects being “areas where the climate is most suitable for malaria transmission”, the authors say.

The optimal location for North American birds has shifted northward by an average rate of 1.5km each year in response to climate change, a new study finds, representing a total distance moved of 82.5km over the past 55 years. The research uses modelling to estimate the “latitudinal optima” of 209 American bird species, drawing on bird population abundance data over the past half-century. The results “directly implicate climate-induced increases in temperature as the primary driver” of bird abundance shifts, the researchers say.