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Lauren
Fedor, Financial Times
US
president Donald Trump “lashed
out at Canada” on Friday over
wildfire smoke that has
blanketed large swathes of the
US, reports the Financial
Times, and threatened to levy
billions more in tariffs on
Canadian imports in
retaliation. In a social-media
post, Trump said Canada was
“not properly maintaining
their forests and brush
therein”, the newspaper
reports, claiming that the US
was being “unnecessarily
invaded by filthy, polluted
and unhealthy air”. He added
that the cost of the pollution
“is incalculable” and should
be “added to the tariffs
Canada currently pays”. At
yesterday’s World Cup final,
Trump told Canadian prime
minister Mark Carney that
Canada must “do better” at
controlling the fires, reports
Reuters.
Other Republican lawmakers
made similar criticisms and
threats, reports Politico.
The New York Times
notes that, in recent months,
the Trump administration has
“moved to shutter several
government laboratories” that
studied wildfires.
Doug
Ford, the premier of Ontario,
where there are 191 active
wildfires, expressed
frustration with Trump’s
comments, reports CNN.
According to the outlet, Ford
noted that the Trump
administration had a “very
short, short memory”, adding:
“We had the water bombers,
everyone ready, going over to
California. It was last year.”
Scientists have attributed the
proliferation of wildfires
across North America to a
range of factors, including
hot and dry conditions
worsened by climate change,
says Al Jazeera.
On his “Climate Brink”
Substack, Carbon Brief’s
climate science contributor
Zeke Hausfather notes that
“the surge in Canadian
[wildfire] burning tracks
temperature with striking
consistency”. The story is
widely covered, including in
the Independent
and Axios,
while the New York Times,
Reuters and
the Associated
Press all cover the
Canadian fires and the health
impacts of the smoke.
MORE
ON US
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Scientists
have warned that climate
change is driving
increasingly common bouts
of heavy rain in the US
that cause deadly and
damaging flash floods,
reports the Guardian.
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Homeowners
trying to rebuild after
last year’s Los Angeles
wildfires are facing
a barrier of mortgage
lenders “delaying and
denying access to their
insurance funds”, reports
the Los Angeles
Times.
-
The
Guardian:
“Majority of US voters
link extreme weather to
climate crisis, study
finds.”
-
A
Washington Post
editorial says that
“Californians have been
mitigating the danger of
worsening wildfires by
hiring goats to munch on
flammable brush, but the
state’s revised labour law
risks sending these goats
to slaughter”.
-
US
oil companies signed
roughly $60bn in
agreements and
partnerships with the
Iraqi government on
Friday, including deals
intended to create
alternative routes for
shipping oil out of the
Persian Gulf, reports the
Associated
Press.
-
CNN: “US EV
sales are down, but not
out. Here's why automakers
won't pull the plug.”
Jack
Fenwick and Alicia Curry,
BBC News
As
Andy Burnham becomes the UK’s
new prime minister later
today, there is widespread
media coverage of his
potential policies. BBC News
says that Burnham is set to
announce plans for new oil and
gas drilling in the North Sea.
While details of the plans are
“not clear”, the outlet says,
Burnham is expected to honour
the Labour party's 2024
manifesto, which pledged to
issue no new licences, but to
honour existing ones. The
article notes that “at the
heart of the debate are two
oil and gas fields in Scotland
– Rosebank and Jackdaw”, which
are currently subject to a
legal challenge. These ongoing
legal processes mean that
Burnham will “not be able to
explicitly announce their
approval, but he will likely
nod to it” in his first speech
as prime minister today.
Burnham could also “pledge to
speed up existing plans to
drill more” as “many oil and
gas licences already approved
in recent years remain largely
undeveloped”, the article
adds.
Effectively
confirming the story, Labour's
deputy leader Lucy Powell said
Burnham would stick to the
Labour manifesto, but bring a
"change of emphasis" on North
Sea oil and gas, reports a
separate BBC News
article. Speaking on the TV
programme Sunday with Laura
Kuenssberg, Powell said:
"We've been really clear that
the way to achieve…long-term
energy security and lower
bills is by ensuring that we
do have our own homegrown,
clean, much cheaper energy,”
the article says. [Read Carbon Brief’s
North Sea factcheck to see why
these statements are
misleading.] On social media,
US president Donald Trump
celebrated the move, claiming
it would prevent the UK from
becoming a “poverty stricken
disaster”, reports the Independent.
Trump also said that the North
Sea was being “open[ed] up all
the way”, which is not the
case, notes the Times. The
story is also covered by the Financial Times,
Sunday
Telegraph, Daily Mail
and on the frontpage
of the Sun.
MORE
ON BURNHAM
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Labour
“insiders” have warned
that Burnham risks his
first confrontation with
his MPs if he announces
new oil and gas drilling
licences, reports the Guardian.
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In
a letter to Burnham, a
group of charities has
warned that new drilling
licences in the North Sea
would damage UK's security
and hurt families
struggling with the cost
of living, reports the Sunday Mirror.
-
Industry
documents show that “only
27 direct full-time jobs
would be created by
Jackdaw”, reports the Guardian.
-
Burnham
is “considering radical
plans” that could cut
household energy bills by
£130 a year and make
running a heat pump
cheaper than a gas boiler,
says the Guardian.
-
The
Times looks
at who could be in
Burnham’s cabinet, noting
that Shabana Mahmood, the
home secretary, is the
“frontrunner after a
vituperative campaign from
senior allies of Burnham”
to stop energy secretary
Ed Miliband from getting
the role.
Ian
Johnston, Financial Times
The
EU is set to recommend a
three-year delay on penalties
for energy importers that do
not comply with the bloc’s new
methane emissions rules,
reports the Financial Times,
with the decision coming
“after fierce lobbying from
the US and member states that
raised fears about gas supply
risks”. It continues: “Under
the present regulation, energy
companies that fail to show
they are properly monitoring,
reporting and verifying leaks
and flares of the highly
potent greenhouse gas could
face penalties by member
states of up to 20% of their
annual revenue from next year.
But the measure has come under
intense pressure from major
gas importers.” According to
“several officials and
diplomats”, the European
Commission is planning this
week to “recommend to member
states that they do not
penalise infringements of the
rules over the first three
years”, the article says,
noting that the
“recommendation will not be
legally binding”. E&E News
also covers the story.
Meanwhile,
there is continuing
coverage of the European
Commission’s plan to overhaul
the EU Emissions Trading
System (EUETS), which – the Guardian
says – proposes “giving
companies a less demanding and
cheaper pathway to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions”. The
newspaper notes that “some
heavy industries will benefit
from free pollution permits
for longer, while the number
of permits in circulation will
be reduced more slowly, also
giving companies more leeway”.
The move would see EU industry
“continue emitting
planet-warming gases well into
the 2040s”, says Politico.
This “represents a significant
watering down of ambition”, it
says, and is “likely to spark
a fight in parliament and
among member countries between
those who want more
concessions for industry and
those who want to accelerate
the path to climate
neutrality”. There is further
reporting in the New York Times,
Wall Street
Journal, BBC News
and Reuters,
while Euractiv
says that, rather than the
EUETS being extended to all
long-haul flights, it will now
include “only flights
departing from Europe and
landing within a 5,000km
radius of Frankfurt airport”.
MORE
ON EUROPE
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The
European Commission has
also unveiled its electrification
action plan, which
aims to double the current
levels of electrification,
but “back[s] away from
setting a legally-binding
target”, says Politico.
-
Reuters:
“Greece says EU sanctions
against Russia risk ceding
LNG market share to
rival.”
-
Reuters:
“Electric cars became
cheaper in Germany despite
rising average prices.”
Ben
Ellery and Juliet Samuel,
The Times
Internal
reports show that five safety
limits on the UK’s electricity
grid were breached during last
month’s heatwave and “system
security was compromised”,
reports the Times. The
National Energy System
Operator (Neso) “insisted at
the time that the electricity
system ‘operated securely’
during the incident” on 23
June, the newspaper says,
adding: “Neso confirmed that
the reports were genuine, but
said they were preliminary
documents produced quickly
after the event and did not
represent its final
assessment.” On Friday, energy
regulator Ofgem announced that
it would oversee an
investigation into
whether the grid was operated
safely and what the Times
describes as “allegations that
Neso covered up the
seriousness of the incident”.
A spokesperson for Neso said
its analysis showed that the
grid operated securely during
“an unprecedented period of
extreme heat”, adding: “No
customer demand was
disconnected, frequency and
voltage remained within
statutory limits, and no lines
or cables were overloaded.”
The
Sunday Times
notes that “scientists have
repeatedly warned that Britain
will experience an increasing
frequency of hot summers and
needs to adapt its
infrastructure – including the
power grid – to cope with the
heat”. It adds that “on three
days during the heatwaves of
June and July the operator’s
energy reserves fell
perilously low as a surge in
air conditioner and fan use
coincided with a lull in wind
power”. The Financial Times
reports on how Neso “faces
scrutiny”, while the Times
reports on concerns that Neso
staff “could not hand over
information anonymously” for
the investigation. The Financial Times
also reports that Neso has
“paid households and
businesses to cut their
electricity use at certain
times on multiple occasions
since mid-April to help manage
the system”.
MORE
UK NEWS
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The
Guardian:
“Bank of England to stop
accepting bonds linked to
coal for key loans.”
-
There
is widespread coverage of
continuing wildfires in
the UK, including BBC News
on blazes in Derbyshire
and Greater
Manchester and an
uncontained fire in the Cairngorms.
The Times
covers how a “firewave”
has “gripped Britain”.
-
Central
and south-east England
have experienced their
most prolonged period
without recorded rainfall
this century, reports the
Press
Association.
-
A
frontpage
story in the
climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph
claims that “by the end of
next year, electricity
suppliers will be able to
remotely turn down heat
pump central heating to
help Britain’s energy
system cope with high
demand”.
-
Bloomberg:
“UK backs $400m AFDB loan
for South Africa climate
push.”
-
The
hot spring season means
that the UK is “set for
[a] bumper year” for
butterflies, reports BBC News.
Jesús
Maturana, Euronews
Around
70,000 hectares have burned
across Spain so far this year,
reports Euronews, with
authorities “recording 18
major wildfires, almost three
times the area affected during
the same period in 2025”. The
outlet continues: “The La
Mierla wildfire has scorched
nearly 13,000 hectares and
forced the evacuation of 16
villages in central Spain.
Another 15,400 hectares have
burned near Orés in
north-eastern Spain.” For the
latter fire, the Independent
says that “around 450 ground
personnel, 11 fire engines, 16
ground crews, six helicopters
and two bulldozers were
deployed to battle the blaze”.
It adds that more than 1,100
have been evacuated. On Twitter,
Spanish prime minister Pedro
Sánchez warned that “denying
the climate emergency does not
make it disappear. It only
makes us more vulnerable,”
reports Euractiv.
The Sunday Times
reports on a British couple
who managed to escape the
fires this week. The Guardian
reports on how the scale of
fires in Europe have forced
firefighters to “ration
resources and decide which to
fight”. Reuters
says that “wildfires, drought
and storms hound Europe even
as [the] heatwave recedes”.
MORE
ON EUROPE
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A
frontpage
story in the Daily Telegraph
warns that France is
facing a shortage of
onions and other
vegetables after heatwaves
decimated crops across the
country.
-
Le Monde:
“Paris region deaths
doubled during June
heatwave, say health
authorities.”
Yukun
Zhang and Ryan Woo, Reuters
China
will impose a “consumption tax
on some previously
tax-exempted battery
products”, including
lithium-ion batteries and
solar cells, according to the
country’s finance ministry,
reports Reuters. A 2%
consumption tax on lithium-ion
batteries, used in EVs and
energy storage systems, will
be imposed from this September
and on solar batteries from
April 1, 2027, reports Bloomberg.
The new policy came as Beijing
“seeks to rein in intense
competition in the industries
central to the clean-energy
transition”, adds the outlet.
Beijing National Accounting
Institute’s Li Xuhong has told
state news agency Xinhua that
the new tax policy will
promote the “healthy
development” of the battery
industry. Business news outlet
Jiemian
carries the full text of the
statement. Chinese tax experts
have “proposed extending
consumption tax to all new
energy vehicles” to create a
“more level playing field
between fuel-powered vehicles
and NEVs”, says
Yicai.
MORE
ON CHINA
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Offshore
wind is seeing its
profitability “rapidly
eroded” following the
introduction of the
renewables pricing reform,
says Jiemian.
-
China
has issued an action plan
calling for optimising the
layout of water-intensive
industries in coastal
areas, including thermal
power and nuclear power,
reports BJX News.
The plan also encourages
greater use of clean
energy sources, such as
wind and solar, in
seawater desalination,
says another BJX News
report.
-
China
has become a “leader in
global ecological and
environmental governance”,
says Huang Runqiu, head of
the MEE,
reports China Daily.
-
Caixin
reports that China’s
industrial capacity
utilisation dropped to 73%
in the second quarter amid
weakness in the coal and
petrochemical sectors.
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The
Global Mayors Dialogue,
held in China’s Yunnan, is
“addressing global
challenges such as extreme
heat, climate change, and
ecological conservation”,
reports CGTN.
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