Six young people from Portugal “are preparing to appear at the European court of human rights to try to compel 32 nations to rapidly escalate their emissions reductions in the world’s largest climate legal action to date”, the Guardian reports. It continues: “Aged from 11 to 24, the six claimants say they were driven to act by their experiences in the wildfires that ripped through the Leiria region in 2017, killing 66 people and destroying 20,000 hectares of forest.” In a court in Strasbourg, they will argue that the 32 European nations’ policies for tackling climate change are “inadequate and in breach of their human rights obligations”, the Guardian says. The case will begin in 13 days and has been crowdfunded, it adds.

Elsewhere, Reuters reports that climate protesters are set to take to the streets in more than 50 countries from Friday to Sunday, “in a weekend of demonstrations to demand that governments phase out the burning of fossil fuels heating the planet”. The newswire adds: “In a year of mounting deaths and economic destruction from record-breaking floods, wildfires and drought, protesters have planned more than 500 gatherings in 54 countries, from Pakistan and Nigeria to the US.” It comes as the Independent reports that more than 3,000 people have been arrested in the Netherlands after the fifth day of climate protests. In London, hundreds of “business professionals” are expected to join a “queue for climate” on the city’s Millenium bridge today, the Press Association reports. The Independent also reports that climate protesters clashed with Citibank employees in New York during demonstrations on Thursday.

The US on Thursday announced a $1bn federal programme for 385 community tree-planting projects “that is intended to reduce extreme heat, benefit health and improve access to nature”, the Associated Press reports. It says: “The tree-planting efforts will be focused on marginalised areas in all 50 states as well as Washington DC, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and some tribal nations.” The money will come from the US Inflation Reduction Act, the Associated Press adds. It comes as Science reports that the US has cancelled or curtailed half of its Antarctic research projects. In other US news, Reuters reports that, at a panel on Thursday, US appeal court judges appeared sceptical of a Republican-challenge to the Biden administration’s clean-cars rule.

Plans to mine 95,000 tonnes of coal from an opencast site in the Welsh town of Ammanford have been rejected by the local council, BBC News reports. It explains: “County councillors turned down the plan at a meeting on Thursday, citing environmental concerns and local opposition. It follows the rejection of plans to extend Ffos-y-Fran, the UK’s biggest opencast coal mine near Merthyr Tydfil. About 40 protestors gathered outside the county hall in Carmarthen to show their objection to the plans, some shouting ‘no more coal’.” The project would have created 11 jobs, BBC News adds. Haf Elgar, the director of Friends of the Earth Cymru, called the council’s decision “historic” by putting “nature and climate first”. She adds: “Coal is a part of our heritage, not our future. We must focus instead on cleaner greener energy and creating sustainable green jobs in Carmarthenshire and across Wales.”

Elsewhere, the Daily Mirror reports in an “exclusive” that around 2,000 jobs are expected to be lost at the UK’s biggest steelworks in the Welsh town of Port Talbot. [The Financial Times and Sky News first reported earlier this week that government funding to help decarbonise Tata Steel UK’s operations was imminent.] The Daily Mirror says: “Multiple sources told the Mirror an announcement is due on the future of Tata’s Port Talbot plant. The government is expected to pump £500m of taxpayers’ cash into the site to help the company switch from blast furnaces to less polluting electric arc furnaces. Indian-owned Tata is poised to pump in another £700m, under an agreement that has taken months of negotiations…The Mirror understands at least 2,000 jobs are set to go at Port Talbot, in a devastating blow to the local economy. A government source said tonight: ‘The blast furnaces are ready to run down and if we didn’t step in it would be 8,000 job losses. Rhat shows what the alternative is to what we are doing.’” The Independent reports on the news, as does BBC News. The Daily Mirror runs an editorial arguing the job losses could have been prevented if the government worked on a “sustainable plan with the unions”.

Elsewhere, the Daily Telegraph covers an announcement from the CEO of Octopus Energy, who is launching a new range of “cosy” heat pumps with a “radical new design” that will end the era of “ugly” green heating. It adds: “The gas and electricity supplier has said it will roll out the new devices by December, with claims some households will receive them for free once government grants are taken into account.”

China’s total electricity consumption reached 886 terawatt hours (TWh) in August, an increase of 3.9% compared to the same period in 2022, reports the National Energy Administration (NEA) in an announcement covered by state-run industry newspaper China Energy News. It adds that total electricity consumed by the “primary sector” reached 14.2TWh, up 8.6% year-on-year, while “secondary industry” consumed 545.8TWh, up 7.6% year-on-year. In its analysis of the data, Chinese business outlet Jiemian highlights that this growth was lower than expected and that the China Electricity Council previously estimated that total electricity consumption for 2023 would reach 9,150TWh, an increase of about 6% year-on-year. Meanwhile, energy industry news outlet IN-EN.com quotes NEA director Zhang Jianhua saying the government body will focus on improving energy utilisation, growing investment in energy, strengthening innovation, expanding global cooperation on “clean” energy and enhancing “global energy security” in the years ahead.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post covers a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Yale Center for Ecosystems and Architecture, which finds that “China, as the largest global emitter in the real estate development sector, has a huge opportunity to demonstrate ethical decarbonisation” in the sector. The Chinese finance newspaper Economic Daily reports that Shenzhen has launched the “first national carbon emissions monitoring and management system” to monitor the level of carbon emitted during the management and daily operations of buildings in the city. 

Separately, Reuters reports that China has urged the EU to ensure its carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), which could “impose 20% to 35% tariffs on imports of high-carbon goods”, complies with World Trade Organisation rules and does not “overstep agreed global green trade policies”. A separate article by energy outlet China Energy News shares a plan issued by the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs, which highlights that China “firmly opposes the politicisation, instrumentalisation and weaponisation of energy issues”. China Electric Power News also covers the plan, adding that it says that “to promote a just transition in the energy sector, due respect should be given to differing national circumstances and capabilities”.

The Guardian publishes an editorial off the back of a new scientific paper finding that six out of the nine “planetary boundaries” for living within Earth’s environmental limits have been broken. It argues: “Prof Simon Lewis describes the boundaries framework as a ‘heroic attempt to simplify the world’. As such, it has something in common with Kate Raworth’s doughnut economics. But, however valuable such concepts are, ultimately they will be judged on whether they can help prompt the imposition of actual limits on fossil fuel production, and other damaging activity, that can only be imposed by governments.”

Elsewhere, the Financial Times publishes an editorial on the EU’s “clash” with China on electric vehicles. It says: “The bloc is determined not to let car production go the way of its solar industry, which was overwhelmed by fierce competition from cheap Chinese imports a decade ago. On Wednesday, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced an anti-subsidy probe into China’s electric vehicle industry, marking an escalation of tensions with Beijing as the bloc aims to reduce its dependence on China. It should come as no surprise that the Chinese state has heavily subsidised its electric vehicle industry. From raw materials through to production, it has been cornering the supply chain for decades. It has acted in an anti-competitive manner and it is fair for the EU to investigate Chinese practices. But, ultimately, retaliatory measures would not be in its interests.” Elsewhere in the FT, journalist Alice Ross argues that “share divestment isn’t the answer to greener investment”.

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph publishes an editorial arguing that UK oil company BP “needs to focus on its principal task”, which, according to the newspaper, is pumping oil and gas, after the exit of CEO Bernard Looney. It says: “Looney was trying to create a net-zero company by 2050, though how that was to be achieved was never clear and he alienated many shareholders as a consequence. The corporate world is increasingly in thrall to woke pressure groups, choosing their top executives on the basis of which particular cause they espouse rather than whether they can make a profit. BP’s next chief executive needs to focus on the company’s principal task, which is extracting oil and gas. They will be needed for many decades to come, whatever the green lobby says.” Separately, the Daily Telegraph reports on “why the end of BP’s Looney era has left a takeover target on its back”. Taking a different approach, the Guardian reports on calls from environmental groups for BP not to backtrack on climate commitments following Looney’s exit.

In a “news exclusive”, the Wall Street Journal reports on internal documents that allegedly show that executives from the US oil and gas giant ExxonMobil “strategised over how to diminish concerns about warming temperatures, and they sought to muddle scientific findings that might hurt its oil-and-gas business”. It continues: “Exxon’s public acceptance in 2006 of the risks posed by climate change was an early act of Rex Tillerson, an Exxon lifer who became CEO that year. Some viewed him as a moderating force who brought Exxon in line with the scientific consensus. The documents reviewed by the Journal, which haven’t been previously reported, cast Tillerson’s decade-long tenure in a different light. They show that Tillerson, as well as some of Exxon’s board directors and other top executives, sought to cast doubt on the severity of climate change’s impacts. Exxon scientists supported research that questioned the findings of mainstream climate science, even after the company said it would stop funding thinktanks and others that promoted climate-change denial.” Responding to the Wall Street Journal’s investigation, Exxon CEO Darren Woods said: “I know how this information looks. When taken out of context, it seems bad. But having worked with some of these colleagues earlier in my career, I have the benefit of knowing they are people of good intent. None of these old emails and notes matter though. All that does is that we’re building an entire business dedicated to reducing emissions, both our own and others, and spending billions of dollars on solutions that have a real, sustainable impact.” The Guardian reports on the investigation.

Elsewhere in the US, the New York Times profiles COP28 president-designate Sultan Al Jaber. Heatmap scrutinises Biden’s “big bet” on sucking CO2 straight from air with “direct air capture”. In addition, the Washington Post publishes an essay by scientist Dr Peter Gleick on how water can be as “apocalyptic” as fire.

Nearly three-quarters of rivers in the US and central Europe are experiencing deoxygenation related to persistent warming, according to a new study. Using machine learning on weather and water-quality data from nearly 800 rivers, researchers construct daily dissolved oxygen levels and water temperatures covering 1981-2019. They find deoxygenation is occurring in these rivers faster than it is in oceans, but slower than in temperate lakes, with variations depending on a river’s location. Looking to the future, the researchers project that deoxygenation rates will be 1.6-2.5 times higher than historical ones, “indicating significant ramifications for water quality and aquatic ecosystems”.