Scientists say this year is on track to be the hottest on record after global temperatures “breached the threshold of 1.5C for each of the past 12 months and seas had reached their warmest for 15 months in a row”, the Financial Times reports. It continues: “June was the 13th consecutive month to be the hottest on the books, the Copernicus Climate Change Service said. At a surface air temperature of 16.66C, this was 0.14C above the previous June high set last year. This was despite the early signs of the naturally occurring La Niña cooling weather phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean, which takes over from the El Niño warming effect.” The newspaper adds: “The global average temperature for the past 12 months was 1.64C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average, with each of the months at least 1.5C warmer than the pre-industrial average.” It quotes Carlo Buontempo, director of the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, saying: “At this rate of warming, we will exceed the 1.5C threshold in terms of the Paris Agreement in the early 2030s.” The FT explains: “Although each of the past 12 months has been above this level, the long-term average temperature is assessed by scientists over a period of one or two decades.” The Guardian, Reuters and the Associated Press all cover the story. (See Carbon Brief’s “Analysis: What record global heat means for breaching the 1.5C warming limit.”)

The death toll from two waves of floods in the northern Indian state of Assam has reached 66 since mid-May, the Hindu reports. The Independent says floods in the region have displaced more than two million people. It adds: “In Bangladesh, downstream from India, nearly 1.8 million people have been impacted by the floods, the nation’s disaster management agency said.” Agence France-Presse says the death toll from floods in Bangladesh has reached eight people. It says: “The south Asian country of 170 million people, crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers, has experienced more frequent floods in recent decades. The climate crisis has caused rainfall to become more erratic and melted glaciers upstream in the Himalayan mountains.” Meanwhile, the Hindustan Times reports: “Climate crisis forces shift in forecasting approaches”. It explains: “On the night of 27 June, a cloud cluster formed over Delhi with the monsoon still approaching the city and multiple weather systems at play in different parts of the country. Yet, weather models could not appropriately predict the unprecedented amount of rain that would lash the city in the next few hours…With impacts of climate crisis becoming more severe and frequent, meteorologists are focusing their energies on tracking these large, convective clouds that have a possibility of causing flooding rains over a region.” In neighbouring Nepal, Reuters reports that heavy rain triggered flash floods and landslides, killing at least eight people.

In other extreme weather news, the Guardian reports: “Japan’s meteorological agency has issued a heatstroke alert for 26 of the country’s 47 prefectures, urging people not to go outside unless absolutely necessary, to use their air conditioners during the day and at night, and to drink plenty of water.” Separately, the New York Times covers the impacts of heatwave in Karachi, Pakistan. It says: “Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and its economic hub, is the latest place to suffer as South Asia roasts under a blistering heatwave this summer, a brutal reminder of the deadly toll of climate change in a part of the world especially vulnerable to its effects, and in a country where ineffective governance and large economic disparities have magnified the sufferings of its poorest citizens.” An Associated Press feature looks at the aftermath of floods in Kenya under the headline: “Kenya’s dramatic flooding sweeps away a central part of the economy: Its farms.”

The tropical storm Beryl has regained hurricane strength and is heading towards Texas, the Associated Press reports, having already “cut a deadly path through parts of Mexico and the Caribbean”. The newswire says: “As the storm neared the coast, Texas officials warned Sunday it could cause power outages and flooding but also expressed worry that not enough residents and beach vacationers in Beryl’s path had heeded warnings to leave.” It adds: “The earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, Beryl caused at least 11 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean on its way to Texas. The storm ripped off doors, windows and roofs with devastating winds and storm surge fueled by the Atlantic’s record warmth…Beryl’s explosive growth into an unprecedented early whopper of a storm indicates the hot water of the Atlantic and Caribbean and what the Atlantic hurricane belt can expect for the rest of the storm season, experts said.” The Washington Post says thousands of coastal residents have been urged to evacuate. It adds: “Meteorologists have been predicting an unusually active hurricane season. More intense storms are occurring more frequently because of climate change, experts say. Warmer ocean surfaces feed such hurricanes, which can spin off tornadoes as well as processions of smaller rainstorms.” The New York Times says more than a million people in Texas are under hurricane warnings. It notes: “Researchers have found that climate change has increased the frequency of major hurricanes, because warmer ocean temperatures provide more energy that fuels these storms. It is also making hurricanes intensify faster and produce more rain with a higher storm surge. Beryl’s quick escalation to a major hurricane is a bad sign for the rest of the season, forecasters say.” Reuters says Beryl “may shut oil ports”.

Meanwhile, the US west coast is facing another widespread heatwave, Reuters reports. It says: “About 36 million people – roughly 10% of the country – are under excessive heat warnings coming from the heat dome centred over California, the National Weather Service said on Sunday. Fossil fuel-driven climate change is driving extreme heat waves across the world and will continue to deliver dangerous weather for decades to come, research shows.” The Guardian says the heatwave is “potentially historic”, according to the National Weather Service. The Associated Press says around 130 million people are under threat of extreme heat this week, noting that “heat-related deaths are starting to mount” and that firefighters are “battling [a] string of smoky wildfires”. Another Associated Press article reports on a forest fire in New Jersey. The Guardian says: “Heat-related deaths in Phoenix, Arizona, have nearly doubled this year.” An Associated Press feature is titled: “Scorched by history: Discriminatory past shapes heatwaves in minority and low-income neighbourhoods.”

New UK prime minister Keir Starmer has said he will personally chair new “mission delivery boards” around the Labour party’s key manifesto pledges, the Press Association reports. It continues: “The cross-departmental panels are expected to be set up to make progress on the party’s five key pledges – to drive economic growth, reform the NHS, invest in clean energy, reform the crime and justice system, and improve opportunity through a new skills agenda. The prime minister said he would head the boards himself to emphasise his focus on pursuing the plans central to Labour’s first term in government.” BBC News says new chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to use her first speech “to announce some immediate loosening of planning red tape that has held back construction, infrastructure and the energy grid”. The broadcaster continues: “It will be done in the hope that investors will unleash tens of billions of pounds of investment in green industry and housebuilding…A moratorium on onshore wind power is expected to be lifted and there will be extra funds for hundreds of new planning officers.” BusinessGreen has an “at a glance” story on “what green policies to expect from the Labour government”. A second BusinessGreen article lists the “biggest environmental challenges facing the new government”. The Financial Times “moral money” newsletter has the headline: “What Starmer’s clean energy strategy means for investors.” It says: “A common complaint among UK voters during this year’s general election campaign was that there was little difference between the two major parties. On climate and energy policy, at least, this was unfair. Rishi Sunak’s Conservative party had made a political point of diluting green policies and emphasising the costs to households of the energy transition. Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour manifesto made low-carbon development an organising principle, with the central ambition of making the UK a ‘clean energy superpower’.” The Press Association profiles the new energy security and net-zero secretary: “As Ed Miliband finally returns to government in essentially the role he held 14 years ago, he is tasked with delivering one of Labour’s key missions – clean energy.” The Times reports comments from Lord Turner of Ecchinswell, chair of the Energy Transitions Commission: “New nuclear power stations may not be needed for Britain to hit targets for net-zero because there are cheaper, low-carbon alternatives that could back up intermittent renewable power, the head of a leading think tank has claimed.” The Daily Telegraph reports: “An Indian family dynasty nicknamed ‘the Rockefellers of Uganda’ have joined forces with General Electric (GE) to propose a series of mini-nuclear reactors in Britain.”

The UK’s new Labour government is seeking a “seeking a sweeping joint declaration with the EU to usher in a wide-ranging security pact covering defence, energy, the climate crisis, pandemics and even illegal migration, the foreign secretary, David Lammy, has said”. The Associated Press says Lammy is visiting Poland as part of a trip around the EU. It reports: “Lammy said he was visiting Britain’s ‘key partners’ in Europe – Poland, Germany and Sweden, all NATO members – for cooperation and security talks. He said that Britain’s military, economic, political and diplomatic support for Ukraine will remain unwavering, while it wants a ‘reset’ with Europe in the areas of climate protection, energy and migration.” The Mail on Sunday says the Labour government is planning talks with the EU over a new relationship with the bloc. It reports: “They are considering a move towards alignment on climate and energy policy and a new security deal, as well as membership of institutions such as Europol and the European Medicines Agency.” The Observer reports: “Britain must reconnect with the rest of the world with major resets in climate change policy, and in the country’s relationships with Europe and with the global south, foreign secretary David Lammy has said in an interview…Lammy has taken up his position, one of the four great offices of state, at a time of immense foreign policy challenges, from two major wars to global inertia about tackling a warming planet.” It says Lammy is looking for closer cooperation with the EU in areas such as climate change and security. The newspaper also reports that Lammy rang a range of Caribbean leaders shortly after his appointment on Friday “to discuss the devastating impact of Hurricane Beryl”. It quotes him saying: “They were delighted that I was calling, reaching out to them in a time of immense crisis, one that’s existential for them.” The Observer also looks at “five key concerns” for Lammy, including global efforts to tackle climate change, noting: “[A]s the impact of a warming world becomes increasingly evident, Labour may open itself up to charges of hypocrisy if domestic policies don’t measure up.”

The new business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said he believes there is a “better deal available” for the Port Talbot steelworks in Wales, the Press Association reports. It says: “The UK government will press for ‘job guarantees’ in return for taxpayer-funded investment during talks with steel giant Tata over the future of Port Talbot.” It adds: “The Labour manifesto has committed to provide £2.5bn to ‘rebuild our steel industry’, with Reynolds noting this was “on top of” the £500m committed by the previous government.” The story is based on an interview Reynolds gave to BBC News, which quotes him saying: “There is more money available for the steel industry under our plans for government, but that’s about making sure we make this transition with the private sector together and recognise how we have to make sure that decarbonisation is not de-industrialisation and we’ve got to do that together. But there is a better deal available for Port Talbot and the steel industry as a whole – I’m sure of that.” Another BBC News article also covers the story. Another article from the Press Association reports: “Bosses across the retail, energy and hospitality sectors have urged the incoming Labour government to fulfil its pledge of prioritising economic growth after Keir Starmer’s election victory.”

In related news, the Daily Telegraph says prime minister Keir Starmer has “pledge[d] to save hundreds of jobs at Scotland’s last oil refinery”. The newspaper says: “[Starmer] revealed his new government had already begun discussions about Grangemouth’s future, saying the refinery’s threatened closure was ‘of great concern’. He described saving jobs as a ‘real priority for me’ and pledged to ensure the plant had a prosperous future.” It explains: “Anas Sarwar, the leader of Scottish Labour, said he had already held discussions with Ed Miliband, the new energy secretary, about Grangemouth. Under current plans, Petroineos intends to turn the site into a fuels import terminal. The refinery supplies much of Scotland and northern England’s petrol and diesel. However, Ineos has previously said Labour’s plans to ban new oil and gas projects in the North Sea pose a further threat to Grangemouth’s future. There is an adjacent petrochemical and plastics plant at the site, which relies on oil and gas from the North Sea for energy and raw materials. It is fed by a direct pipeline linking it to 80 of the UK’s offshore oil and gas fields.” Reuters reports: “North Sea oil and gas producers urged Britain’s incoming Prime Minister Keir Starmer to provide clarity on his election promise to increase tax on the sector, warning it could lead to a rapid decline in output and revenue…The party’s manifesto promised to rapidly build up Britain’s renewable power, partly by increasing taxes on its oil and gas sector. It also vowed to end issuing new licences in the North Sea basin.”

There is continuing coverage of the UK election result, with the Observer reporting polling showing: “Tory seats collapsed because of green issues, say Greenpeace.” Citing polling for the charity by pollsters Survation, the newspaper says: “Less than a third of voters thought the Conservatives were right to weaken their commitments on the climate crisis and the environment…More than half of voters overall (about 55%) said policies relating to climate change and the environment were important in swaying their voting intention.” The Observer profiles Green co-leader Carla Denyer, who says her party will “push the government to be bolder” in areas including climate change. The Guardian also profiles Denyer. BBC News speaks with Ellie Chowns, the new Green MP for North Herefordshire, who says she “can’t wait to get to work”. It says: “Chowns previously said her top priorities as MP was to renew the economy, repair the NHS and restore the region’s rivers.” Forbes reports that the “most virulent Conservative party net-zero sceptics have been voted out” in the election. It says: “Greenpeace applauded the fact that 18 out of the Conservative party’s 23 most climate-sceptical parliamentary candidates failed to win their seats.” Bloomberg says the UK election is “a rare win against anti-climate campaigns”. The Financial Times says the four Green MPs is the party’s best-ever result. The New York Times reports under the headline: “The Greens take a bite out of Labour’s vote share.” The Daily Telegraph says Green co-leader Adrian Ramsay “is planning to oppose net-zero plans backed by the Labour government to build pylons in Suffolk to transport offshore wind power”. It continues: “Adrian Ramsay, one of the party’s four newly elected MPs, has said that he will seek a pause to the plans to build a 100-mile corridor of pylons stretching through his constituency of Waveney Valley…A spokesman for the Green Party said that the government had ‘tried to force through one option’ and Ramsay was ‘focused on securing a proper options assessment to ensure that the alternatives are properly considered, including an offshore grid’.”

The leftwing Nouveau Front Populaire bloc won the most seats in the French parliamentary elections that concluded yesterday, the Financial Times reports, adding that the “unexpected leftwing victory thwarted Marine Le Pen’s efforts to bring the far right to power”. It continues: “The outcome represents a resounding success for the co-ordinated anti-RN strategy, under which the leftwing and centrist parties tactically withdrew their candidates from run-off ballots. But the result will leave the Eurozone’s second-largest economy in limbo over its next government, with no single bloc near an outright majority in the 577-seat National Assembly.” The newspaper explains that the country is now heading for a period of uncertainty until a government can be formed: “In the French system, the president [Emmanuel Macron] chooses the prime minister, who typically comes from the party with the biggest delegation in the National Assembly even if it does not have an outright majority…Macron and his allies have ruled out forming a government with either LFI or RN [the leftwing France Unbowed and far-right National Rally]. Ensemble officials will instead reach out to moderates within the NFP, such as the Socialists and Greens, and to the conservative Les Republicains, to gauge interest in working together, an Elysée official said. However, forging this kind of deal might prove difficult given the parties’ differences.” (See Carbon Brief’s summary of the party positions on climate and energy.)

The German government wants to change the way renewable energy is subsidised so that power producers will receive one-off support for their investment costs instead of a long-term guaranteed purchase price for their electricity, reports Reuters. Referring to a document revealed by the German finance ministry on Friday, the outlet explains that “a shift to investment subsidies would significantly change Germany’s renewables market and make the industry less dependent on government support”. Handelsblatt also highlights the story, noting that the plans immediately “drew criticism” from the industry and “sceptical comments” from the Social Democratic party. In contrast, Free Democrats welcomed the move, calling it “a real revolution in energy policy” and emphasising that, “instead of guaranteeing state-secured prices for 20 years, only the construction of new plants will be subsidised in the future, while the remuneration for electricity will be entirely market-based”. Handelsblatt explains that, since the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) was introduced in 2000, Germany has supported solar, wind and biogas plants with a guaranteed purchase price for electricity fed into the grid, typically over 20 years, which helped to secure favourable bank loans for the projects. Reuters reports: “Germany said on Friday it will launch the first tender for the construction and modernisation of 12.5 gigawatts (GW) of gas power plants that can switch to hydrogen by the end of 2024 or early next year, following industry pressure.”

Meanwhile, Clean Energy Wire reports that Germany’s ruling coalition “agrees” on the 2025 budget with “record” climate and energy investments, such as support mechanisms for electric mobility, tax write-offs for decarbonisation investments for companies, support for public transport, heating and buildings, plus reduced bureaucracy. Der Spiegel says that the program for “affordable and climate-friendly housing” aims to create incentives for building apartments in the lower- and middle-priced segments, characterised by “reduced greenhouse gas emissions” and a “space-optimised construction method”. Finally, Bloomberg reports that Germany will soon seek investors for its planned expansion of hydrogen-ready gas-fired power plants, with the first five gigawatts being auctioned by 2025. 

China has “announced the next step in its anti-dumping investigation into European brandy imports” after the European Commission’s provisional tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) came into effect, reports Reuters. China has “repeatedly” called on the EU to cancel its tariffs, expressing a willingness to negotiate and stating that it would “take all steps to protect its firms”, the newswire adds. State-run industry newspaper China Energy News quotes foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning saying China believes that economic and trade issues should be resolved “through dialogue and consultation”. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) quotes Chinese EV manufacturer Neta Auto’s vice-president saying the tariffs will incentivise Chinese companies to explore opportunities to sell in Africa, adding he believes that US and EU tariffs will be “a temporary setback”. Reuters says that leading Chinese companies in the EV battery market such as CATL and BYD are exploring the “emerging” stationary energy storage industry. The Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily announced that several technological innovation projects related to new energy vehicles (NEVs) won the 2023 national science and technology progress award.

Meanwhile, Reuters says that, despite China’s push for energy storage, “some industry insiders and experts say pricing reforms and technology improvements are needed…[to solve] low utilisation and losses for operators”. Energy newspaper International Energy Net reports that the National Energy Administration (NEA), China’s top energy regulator, calls for strengthening the prevention and control of adverse impacts from “significant fluctuations in new energy output” and “extreme weather events” to “ensure the safe operation of the power grid” during the summer. SCMP reports that an “emergency evacuation” was ordered after “floodwaters brought by torrential rain…widened a dyke breach in China’s second-biggest freshwater lake”, Dongting Lake in central Hunan province, “as the country continues to grapple with extreme weather”. The article does not mention climate change. 

Separately, PV Magazine says that if China were to follow a net-zero by 2050 trajectory, it “could result in cumulative emissions of 113 gigatonnes of CO2 less than in our main forecast”, according to consultancy DNV. Finally, China Energy Net carries a commentary by Lin Boqiang, professor at Xiamen University and director of the China Energy Policy Research Institute, and Huang Hui of the Natural Resources Conservation Association, who argue that “to coordinate the layout of distributed solar in China, construction of a small-scale ‘source network and storage’ system must be accelerated, and distributed solar power generation’s participation in market-based trading must be promoted”.

Oil major Shell has taken a “$2bn hit” after selling a refinery in Singapore and pausing construction of a biofuel plant in Rotterdam, the Times reports. It continues: “Shell said it ‘remained committed’ to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, with low-carbon fuels being ‘a key part’ of the strategy.” The newspaper says the Rotterdam biofuel plant was to have been “one of Europe’s largest”, adding that Shell put the pause down to a “weakened” market. It adds: “The plant had been set to process about 820,000 tonnes of sustainable jet fuel and renewable diesel from waste a year.” The Financial Times says: “Shell will take a hit of up to $1bn on one of its biggest energy transition projects, a stalled plant in Rotterdam that was intended to convert waste into jet fuel and biodiesel. This week, the oil major paused work on the project amid a difficult market for biofuels.” It adds: “The Rotterdam plant, which was given the green light in 2021, was already behind schedule because of technical difficulties. Originally slated to start production in April, Shell said earlier this year it would be operational ‘in the latter part of the decade’. After pausing construction, Shell is now reviewing the economics of the project, as prices for biofuels in Europe come under pressure from oversupply, cheap imports from China and lower than expected growth in demand. The European Commission launched an anti-dumping investigation of biodiesel from China last December, and is likely to announce provisional tariffs on Chinese imports this month.” The Straits Times says: “When completed, the Dutch facility will produce sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel in anticipation of rising demand for low-carbon energy. Yet the pace of the developed world’s shift towards net-zero emissions has come into question lately with right-wing populists who challenge the cost of the transition in the political ascendancy. BP recently scaled back plans for biofuels production at its Cherry Point refinery in the United States and its Lingen plant in Germany.” The Daily Telegraph says the Rotterdam decision “casts doubt on low-carbon flights”. The Press Association, the Guardian and Reuters also have the story.

An editorial in the Observer welcomes the election of Keir Starmer as UK prime minister, saying that he “has reminded the country that politics can be a force for good and change people’s lives”. It continues: “Labour has been elected on a platform to pursue five missions: to boost economic growth to the fastest in the G7, to transition the UK to clean energy by 2030, to transform the NHS, to halve serious and violent crime, and to remove barriers to opportunity for children and young people. Starmer yesterday emphasised that he would personally chair the delivery boards responsible for each of them. They would be ambitious at the best of times. After more than a decade of Tory neglect of infrastructure and public services, worsened by the external shocks of a pandemic and an energy price spike, they will be very difficult to deliver.” An editorial in the Guardian comments on the election of four Green MPs, including party co-leader Carla Denyer at the expense of Labour’s Thangam Debbonair: “The rise of the Greens, who toppled a key Starmerite, Thangam Debbonaire, presents perhaps a longer-term threat. The party gained four seats, attracting progressive voters both in urban and rural settings, and is now the main challenger in 40 constituencies. This is no bad thing. Parliament will not be able to duck an existential crisis. The Greens will hold Labour’s feet to the fire over achieving its much-needed and ambitious climate targets.” An editorial in Monday’s Daily Telegraph comments on the negotiations over the Port Talbot steelworks in Wales and says “Labour must now face up to the costs of its ambitions [on net-zero].” It continues: “The owner, Tata Steel, is proposing to close its blast furnaces with the loss of 2,800 jobs. It says the current method of production is financially unsustainable. The company proposes to switch to electric arc furnaces which are greener but employ far fewer people…The new business secretary Jonathan Reynolds insisted this was not about ‘picking winners’ and said that ‘decarbonisation does not mean deindustrialisation’. But that is precisely what it means and it is disingenuous to pretend otherwise.” It concludes: “During the campaign Labour avoided getting into the detail of its policies because it was unwilling to be upfront about their consequences. A special case can be made for underwriting steel production in the national interest. But this will be an early test for how Labour responds to the implications of decarbonisation.”

Former Labour prime minister Tony Blair writes for the Sunday Times with his “advice to Keir Starmer”. Blair says: “The five missions he has set out, covering economic growth, the NHS, crime, education and clean energy, are absolutely the right ambitions and they cover areas of concern that stretch across most of the country. Now he will work on the plan to deliver them…after the US and China, Britain occupies third position in AI globally, and therefore focusing on it and associated areas, such as life sciences and clean energy, is also the right industrial strategy.” Similarly, former Labour home secretary David Blunkett writes for the Mail on Sunday: “The road ahead is rocky and the obstacles enormous. Nothing, for example, is more important than tackling climate change while ensuring a supply of ‘clean’, affordable energy through wind, nuclear, hydroelectric and solar power. Labour is committed to achieving a national electricity generation system that emits zero carbon within six years. But that is a big stretch…The fact is that our reliance on electricity will only grow. You can’t operate heat pumps, charge electric vehicles or run phones and computers without it. Get this wrong, and everything will be at risk.” The Daily Telegraph has an interview with Prof Mariana Mazzucato under the headline: “The star economist who inspired Sir Keir Starmer’s ‘missions’.” It says: “Mazzucato, who speaks in rapid-fire, effervescent bursts, is yet to be satisfied. She believes that Starmer has not fully grasped how to put her ideas into practice, even if he has been an enthusiastic adopter of her language…According to Mazzucato, the state should set clear, ambitious goals but stay agnostic on how to get there.” The piece continues: “However, she is also passionate about the role capitalism plays in spreading prosperity and has rubbished claims by environmental campaigners that ‘degrowth’ is the answer to climate change.” For the Financial Times, Andy Haldane, FT contributing editor, chief executive of the Royal Society of Arts and former chief economist at the Bank of England, also offers his advice for Starmer: “[T]he new government needs to give industrial strategy the full-throated, deep-pocketed support Joe Biden has provided in the US. This means acting as a strategic venture capital investor in the UK’s genuinely frontier sectors and technologies, of which there are several. This requires a radical change to Treasury practice, shifting its fiscal-first culture and shredding its flawed Green Book [used for policy appraisal].”

In the Sunday Times, Ben Houchen, Conservative mayor of Tees Valley, warns his party colleagues: “Competence will redeem the Tories. Tacking right will not.” He continues: “Populist promises would undermine core Conservative values of responsible governance. Sustainable economic growth, robust public services and pragmatic solutions for complex issues such as climate change cannot be achieved through populism’s oversimplified proposals.” For the Daily Mail, former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson also has thoughts on how his party can regain power [the next election may not happen until 2029]: “Net-zero: It’s the right idea – provided we use it to promote UK green technology and millions of private-sector jobs. Starmer just seems interested in state control and regulation. Our approach is better.” Another comment for the Daily Mail, by climate-sceptic columnist Andrew Neil, is subtitled in the print edition: “They all think the same way – anti-Brexit, pro-immigration, anti-fossil fuels and pro-diversity. They run everything from the civil service to the courts…Now with a Leftie lawyer in Downing Street, they’ve seized the last piece of the jigsaw.” The Daily Telegraph continues to devote column inches to climate-sceptic commentary, with Matthew Lynn decrying Labour for “doubling down on net-zero targets, and [having] an obsession with the UK’s ‘global leadership’ in the fight against climate change even though we only account for 1% of worldwide emissions, will mean huge extra costs for industry”. Another Daily Telegraph comment, by Roger Bootle, is titled: “Get ready to pay per mile under Labour.” [There is no such Labour policy.] He adds: “An overhaul of road tax might be initially unpopular but would improve efficiency.” Finally, the Spectator gives space to climate-sceptic columnist Ross Clark to write under the headline: “Ed Miliband will be a liability as energy secretary.”

In a comment for the Financial Times, Huw van Steenis, vice-chair at management consultants Oliver Wyman, asks: “How will Europe fund the huge sums needed to invest in energy transition, digital infrastructure and defence?” He continues: “Despite a vast €33tn pool of savings, Europe has a plumbing problem. Its capital markets are under-developed, while its banking sector is insufficiently sized to handle the growing demands for capital expenditure. To address the investment conundrums, deeper capital markets are needed.”

The “unprecedented marine heatwave” recorded in the northwest Pacific Ocean over July-August 2022 was “extremely unlikely to happen without anthropogenic warming”, a new attribution study finds. The authors use models from the sixth coupled model intercomparison project to explore the role of climate change, atmospheric circulation, and the “triple-dip La Niña” on the heatwave. They estimate that events of this magnitude will become 7.5 and 11.4 times more likely under a moderate emissions scenario (SSP3-7.0) by the middle and end of the 21st century, respectively.