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Michael
Holder, BusinessGreen
New
analysis shows that the share
of electricity produced by gas
has fallen for the fifth year
in a row, reports
BusinessGreen. The outlet says
that the report from Ember, a
thinktank, finds that “while
gas-fired power generation
increased slightly in absolute
terms last year, its growth
slowed and its global market
share shrank further after
solar-power generation grew 17
times faster”. BusinessGreen
adds that the percentage of
electricity generated by gas
dropped from 23.9% in 2020 to
21.8% in 2025. The outlet
reports: “Overall, solar
generation accounted for
around 75% of new global
electricity demand growth in
2025, while fossil gas
contributed only around 5%,
Ember said.”
MORE
ON ENERGY
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The
Financial Times
reports on solar energy in
sub-Saharan Africa.
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The
European Commission has
approved a €23bn state
subsidy scheme for
renewable electricity in
Italy, reports Reuters.
-
The
climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph
reports claims that
plug-in solar panels could
pose a fire risk in the
UK. It quotes a government
spokesperson saying
independent tests showed
existing products are
safe.
Megan
Rowling, Matteo Civillini
and Tais Gadea Lara, Climate
Home News
UN
climate chief Simon Stiell
told the opening of mid-year
UN climate talks that tackling
climate change is the
“hardest, but most important,
thing humanity has ever tried
to do together”, reports
Climate Home News. The outlet
continues: “Perhaps hoping to
forestall the usual diplomatic
wrangling that routinely bogs
down the talks, he warned
governments that there is no
time to ‘re-open past debates
or renegotiate commitments
already made’.” It adds that
the opening ceremony of the
discussions in Bonn, Germany
on Monday “kicked off only an
hour late and was not marred
by agenda rows, which delayed
the start of the talks by a
day last year”.
MORE
ON CLIMATE TALKS
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The
incoming president of
COP31 climate
negotiations, Australia's
climate and energy
minister Chris Bowen,
tells Agence
France-Presse that
countries “need to get off
fossil fuels”.
-
EU
negotiation priorities
should be “shorter,
sharper and more
strategic” at COP31 in
November, according to an
internal document seen by
Reuters.
Karen
McVeigh, The Guardian
The
rate of sea-level rise has
doubled in the past decade
amid “severe and accelerating”
pressures on oceans, says a
new UN report covered by the
Guardian. The newspaper says
that pressures including
pollution and industrial
fishing are leading to
widespread biodiversity loss
and “severe strain” on ocean
systems. The World Ocean
Assessment also finds that
“16% of the increase in global
ocean heat since 1955 occurred
after 2018”, reports the
newspaper. It adds: “Ocean
currents redistribute heat at
global and local scales, but
currents are changing and
their impacts on future
climate breakdown are poorly
understood, the report
found.”
MORE
ON OCEANS
Attracta
Mooney and Kenza Bryan,
Financial Times
The
Financial Times covers a
report by climate campaigners
which finds that banks in the
US and Japan “significantly
increased their fossil-fuel
financing last year”, while
banks in Europe “reduced their
market share”. The newspaper
says that “global banks
provided $906bn in fossil-fuel
financing in 2025” – an
increase of 8% since 2024. It
says this was “led by JPMorgan
Chase”, which provided $58bn
to coal, oil and gas companies
and projects last year. The
newspaper adds: “By contrast,
European banks showed the
biggest signs of reducing
financing to coal, oil and
gas. BNP Paribas reduced
fossil deals by 28%, while the
level was down by 36% at
UBS.”
MORE
ON US
-
Reuters
reports that a US judge
has “scrap[ped]” a Trump
administration policy that
made it more difficult for
wind and solar energy
projects to claim tax
subsidies.
-
US
company Ormat Technologies
has finalised designs for
a geothermal power plant
“that would be the largest
of its kind in the
industry”, reports Reuters.
Ju-min
Park and Qiaoyi Li, Reuters
China’s
car sales fell overall in May,
with new energy vehicle (NEV)
sales down 7.5% year-on-year,
in its “fifth straight month
of declines”, reports Reuters.
It added that NEVs accounted
for 62.2% of total vehicle
sales last month. The Hong
Kong-based South China
Morning Post also covers
the new data, stating that
“Chinese [NEV] assemblers,
which dominated the domestic
market, got off to a slow
start this year as a national
policy shift deterred
thousands of consumers from
buying [NEVs]”. Zhang Yi,
associate professor at
Guangdong University of
Foreign Studies, writes in the
state-run newspaper China Daily
that “lower Chinese prices”
for solar panels, batteries
and EVs are “beneficial” for
Europe’s energy transition,
adding that the “China Shock
2.0” narrative is a “fake
story”. China’s foreign
ministry said that China-EU
economic and trade relations
are not a “zero-sum game”,
reports state news agency Xinhua.
MORE
ON CHINA
-
China
issued a “red alert” for
flood risks from heavy
rains in Hunan, Guangxi
and Guizhou, reports Bloomberg.
Flood control measures are
active in Fujian,
Guangdong and Yunnan, says
Xinhua.
-
Heavy
rainfall in southern China
this week is raising the
risk of “inundating crops
and damaging rice fields”,
reports Bloomberg.
People’s Daily
discusses how China’s
agriculture sector is
adapting amid
“increasingly evident”
climate change and more
frequent extreme weather
events.
-
A
survey conducted by China Youth
Daily finds 85.1% of
young people said
low-carbon concepts have
become “more integrated
into their daily lives”.
-
China’s
coastal sea-surface
temperatures in summer
2025 were 0.7C above
average, partly due to
climate change, reports People’s Daily.
China has increased its
mangrove forests, a “key”
carbon sink, by 44% since
2000, reports China Daily.
-
CCTV
reports that China’s
“hydrogen-coal co-firing
technology” has achieved
50% green hydrogen
blending and 100% pure
hydrogen combustion for
the first time.
-
Data
centres in China are
unwilling to pay extra for
“green electricity”,
reports Jiemian.
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