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Tim
Ferry and Rebecca Conan,
Recharge News
New
UK prime minister Andy Burnham
has appointed Miatta
Fahnbulleh as energy security
and net-zero secretary,
reports Recharge News. It says
that the incumbent, Ed
Miliband, is now foreign
secretary. BusinessGreen
says Fahnbulleh’s appointment
“will be widely interpreted as
strong backing from Number 10
for the government's clean
energy and decarbonisation
strategy”. It says she is a
former junior energy minister
and was the chief executive of
a thinktank “where she was a
strong advocate for bolder
action on climate change”. She
has a “crucial task in
Burnham’s mission of cutting
bills while sticking to
commitments in net-zero”,
reports the Guardian.
Former defense secretary John
Healey is the new chancellor,
reports Bloomberg,
following speculation that
Miliband or home secretary
Shabana Mahmood would take up
the post. The Independent
notes that as foreign
secretary, Miliband could be
given “permission to
prioritise climate goals” and
develop a “roadmap” to return
UK international aid spending
to 0.7% of gross national
income.
In
his first move aiming at
reducing the cost of living,
Burnham announced a “fresh tax
cut to remove VAT from
domestic electricity bills
from 1 October”, reports the Press
Association. It says:
“As well as bringing down
bills, the move will help
encourage consumers to replace
gas boilers with electric heat
pumps, given the gap between
gas and electricity prices
will now be reduced.” The
measure could save households
an average of £45 per year,
reports BBC News. BusinessGreen
notes that Burnham is reported
to be “preparing to approve
controversial new North Sea
oil and gas drilling
projects”. Bloomberg
adds that Burnham was a “big
supporter of green causes” in
his role as Greater Manchester
mayor, but he has “said little
about climate” more recently.
[Read Carbon Brief’s
selection of key quotes from
Burnham on climate change and
net-zero.]
MORE
ON UK
-
The
Guardian
says the Water UK trade
body believes the UK “will
not have enough water for
future datacentres”.
-
The
Times
reports that firefighters
continue tackling a large
fire at Arthur’s Seat in
Edinburgh. The National
covers fires in Scotland
on its frontpage.
-
“A
woman whose successful
campaign against oil
drilling in Surrey led to
a landmark judgement on
fossil-fuel emissions is
fighting plans for a new
project”, reports BBC News.
-
King
Charles visited “Europe’s
first eco-mosque” in
Cambridge, reports the Press
Association.
-
BBC Weather
examines whether the UK
faces a drought for the
second summer in a row.
Abdul
Qahar Afghan, The Associated
Press
Flash
floods have killed 20 people,
injured 80 and left more than
100 missing in eastern
Afghanistan, reports the
Associated Press. It says that
floods in Parun city and other
areas also caused “extensive
damage to people’s homes,
agricultural land and public
facilities”. The newswire
continues that the country is
“highly vulnerable to extreme
weather events”. It adds that
these vulnerabilities are
amplified by “decades of
conflict…poor infrastructure,
a struggling economy,
deforestation and the
intensifying effects of
climate change”. The Guardian
notes: “Extreme rainfall has
become more common and more
intense across most of the
world because of the
human-caused climate crisis.”
Reuters and
BBC News
also cover the floods.
MORE
EXTREME WEATHER
-
Wildfires
continue in Ontario,
Canada, with 190 active
blazes burning around
735,000 hectares,
according to Reuters.
More than 900 fires are
active across the country,
notes BBC News.
-
An
ongoing wildfire in
central Spain has grown to
the country’s largest so
far this year, while
“forecasters warned an
approaching heatwave
would raise fire risks”
further, reports Reuters.
-
“Compounding
disasters” in the US this
summer “prov[e] we don’t
have to wait until the
future for climate change
to smack us in the face”,
reports CNN Climate.
-
Climate Home
News: “Flood deaths
in west African cities
raise fraught issue of
slum evictions.”
-
Bloomberg:
“Storm in US Gulf to
unleash heavy rains from
Texas to Florida.”
Karen
Zraick, The New York Times
US
president Donald Trump has
weighed in on a “hotly
contested chapter on climate
science in a reference manual
for judges”, reports the New
York Times. The newspaper
notes that the chapter
“provides an overview of
climate science, including how
carbon dioxide and other gases
trap heat in the atmosphere,
and how human activity has
disturbed that natural cycle”.
It quotes Trump saying on
Truth Social: “Our Taxpayers
should not be funding Climate
Fraud, and Judges should never
have relied upon it.” The
newspaper explains that the
wider manual “covers many
different topics and was
designed to provide
mini-tutorials to federal
judges about scientific issues
that might come up in cases
over which they preside”.
Trump has called for a review
related to the manual, but the
details are unclear and the
White House did not respond to
a request for comment, says Reuters.
Colleen
Howe, Reuters
China’s
solar exports to south-east
Asia, south Asia, and Africa
rose 33%, 12% and 26%,
respectively, in June, despite
overall solar exports falling
9% for a second month after
China removed an export tax
rebate, reports Reuters,
citing customs data.
Meanwhile, Mexican sales of
Chinese-brand vehicles jumped
30% in the first six months of
2026 despite “steep tariffs”,
says a separate Reuters
report. China’s exports to
Brazil rose 8%, driven by a
surge in Chinese electric
vehicle (EV) exports,
according to financial news
outlet Caixin. Bloomberg
says that China’s US-bound
shipments of rare-earth
magnets, which are essential
for EVs, were about 20% below
the average level seen between
2022 and 2024, despite last
year’s truce. China shipped no
heavy rare earths to Japan
last month, according to Reuters. Bloomberg
says Hungary’s strict
crackdown on its EV industry
will put Chinese companies
that have already set up EV
and battery factories there
“in particular on notice”.
MORE
ON CHINA
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China
will establish local
microgrid pilot projects
in rural areas by 2028
that will enhance supplies
of clean energy, says International
Energy Net.
-
China’s
commerce ministry will
organise “green
consumption pilot
programmes” to increase
China’s uptake of “green”
power, says Xinhua.
-
Industry
association the CPIA is
soliciting experts to
conduct “dedicated
research” on China’s
space-based solar power
sector, according to China Energy
Net.
-
China News
Service reports that
China has established a
“national blue carbon
trading alliance”.
-
China’s
“new three” sectors –
solar cells, batteries and
electric vehicles – have
“passed the baton” to the
“new new three” sectors –
AI, robotics and
pharmaceuticals, says Science and
Technology Daily.
-
China Daily
says China’s emissions
reduction efforts are not
coming at the expense of
“slowing” economic growth.
Chris
Ewokor, BBC News
BBC
News reports that one of
Africa’s “most ambitious”
energy projects – a pipeline
carrying gas from Nigeria to
Morocco to Europe’s gas
network – has been endorsed by
west African leaders. The
broadcaster says: “The vast
6,000km (3,700 miles) pipeline
will run along the Atlantic
coast of 14 African
nations…Construction is
expected to begin in 2028 with
a total estimated cost of
$25bn (£19bn).” If built, it
would be one of the world’s
longest offshore gas
pipelines, says BBC News. Bloomberg
reports that the heads of the
“Economic Community of West
African States” have signed an
agreement formally supporting
the plan which was “first
mooted by Morocco in 2016”.
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ON FOSSIL FUELS
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