Daily Briefing: Trump climate repeal | EU coal ‘in the money’ | Himalayan ‘tipping point’

15.09.26

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US: Donald Trump to scrap Joe Biden-era climate protections on power-plant pollution

Martha Muir and Stephanie Findlay, The Financial Times

The Financial Times covers news that US president Donald Trump’s administration has said it will “axe climate rules” that limit greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants, removing a “major constraint” on gas- and coal-powered electricity. BBC News adds that the head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has claimed that getting rid of the majority of the climate rules from president Joe Biden’s era would save $310bn (£223bn) and reduce energy prices. The Guardian reports that the EPA will strip itself of its ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants under the Clean Air Act, a move estimated to result in 123m tonnes of additional CO2 emissions in the next decade. The Washington Post notes that power plants are the second-largest source of CO2 emissions in the US, after transport.

The Associated Press reports that the EPA is also taking steps to “prevent” future administrations from regulating emissions from power plants. Reuters reports that the announcement was made on the sidelines of the G20 energy ministers gathering in Houston this week, where it says global officials are set to discuss “energy security, expanding baseload power and ‘regulatory efficiency’”. Politico adds that the move to rescind the EPA’s regulation of power-plant emissions could “further complicate another wing of its strategy to quash US greenhouse gas policies – its Supreme Court bid to derail lawsuits seeking to make oil producers pay for climate change”. Axios, CNBC, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, Scientific American and others all cover the news.

MORE ON US

The Guardian covers a new UCLA study, which finds that gas company Energy Transfer, whose CEO is a major Trump donor, is the single-biggest methane producer in the country, according to satellite data.
The Guardian looks at the candidates running in the 2026 US midterm elections who are “running on green policies”.
Inside Climate News looks at how Iowa, a “clean-energy state”, is increasingly “turning to polluting coal plants” to meet surging electricity demand.
On her By the Numbers substack, Hannah Ritchie announces the launch of a new platform to explore state-by-state US energy data.
The Financial Times looks at how Zach Dell, the son of the PC billionaire, is building a network of batteries in US homes.

Trump says he would be OK with China building cars in US

David Shepardson, Reuters

US president Donald Trump said last week that he would be “okay” with Chinese automakers building vehicles in the US, despite “widespread opposition” from US lawmakers and auto companies, reports Reuters. It says Trump added that he does not want Chinese automakers to build cars in Mexico and ship them to the US. US senator Steve Daines, a Trump ally, said the US may be “misjudging the sophistication of China’s technology sector” after his visit to Chinese cities Hangzhou and Guangzhou ahead of the summit between Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping later this month, reports Bloomberg. John Gong, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics, writes in the state-run newspaper China Daily that some capacity will inevitably be “in excess” when the electric vehicle (EV) industry is “undergoing an electrification revolution”. An editorial by the state-supporting newspaper Global Times says that as Europe grapples with “soaring energy costs”, China can “help downstream European industries absorb energy price pressures”.

MORE ON CHINA

Chinese premier Li Qiang called for “faster implementation of projects such as green electricity direct connections and integrated generation-grid-load-storage projects”, reports Xinhua.
NEA head Wang Hongzhi writes in People’s Daily that China will accelerate the development of a new energy system, while ensuring energy security.
A comment by Xinhua says Global South countries should work together to “improve global climate governance”.
Chinese president Xi Jinping has been paying “close attention” to disasters caused by China’s “unusually complex” climate situation this year, according to Xinhua.
Chen Zhenlin, head of the China Meteorological Administration, writes in People’s Daily that the country will continue to enhance early-warning capabilities for extreme weather disasters.
The MEE’s Lu Shize tells the 21st Century Business Herald that the ministry will introduce the first group of financial institutions into the carbon market over the next five years.

EU carbon rises to highest since January as coal use ramps up

Will Mathis, Bloomberg

Bloomberg reports that the cost of carbon emissions in the EU has jumped up to its highest point since January. It adds that this is due to “soaring natural gas prices” making “it more attractive to burn carbon-intensive coal for power generation”. The article continues that coal’s profitability has “soared” in recent months as the bloc tries to refill its depleted gas inventories ahead of winter, amid constrained supply due to the Iran war. The article quotes Ingvild Sørhus, at Oslo-based analysis firm Veyt, saying: “Coal is in the money all the way with high prices. We see at least with prices we have now that coal is favoured over gas.”

MORE ON EUROPE

Reuters reports that Europe’s truckmakers have called on the EU to delay 2030 CO2 reduction targets by three years, citing insufficient charging networks for electric vehicles and high energy costs.
Bloomberg reports that Germany’s proposed renewable-energy reform “risks delaying projects and deterring investment by making them harder to finance”, the country’s biggest bank has warned.
Reuters reports that a French labour strike took 6.5 gigawatts of mainly nuclear capacity offline overnight on Monday night.
The Times: “EU must keep buying Russian energy, says Metlen boss.”
China has released a guide to help Chinese enterprises better understand the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism, according to Xinhua.
Bloomberg says the European Investment Bank has invested €40m in a Finnish small modular reactor start-up, “breaking a four-decade nuclear hiatus”.

Oil prices rise as Saudi pipeline outage, fresh attacks raise supply concerns

Reuters

Reuters reports that oil prices rose on Tuesday, after attacks on Saudi Arabian energy infrastructure left the kingdom’s East-West pipeline offline and “cast doubt on efforts to ease shipping risks in the Gulf”. The Times adds that Brent crude rose by as much as 4.5% to more than $109 a barrel at one stage on Monday – the highest since May – following the Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia and Iranian strikes on ships in the Gulf. The Guardian adds that US government borrowing costs have risen above 5% for the first time since 2023, due to “soaring oil prices fuelled by the war in the Middle East”.

MORE ON OIL AND GAS

BBC News: “The UK could supply half of its oil and gas needs without imports if the government showed more support for the sector, an industry report claims.…Environmental group Uplift branded the report a ‘fantasy’.”

Himalayas approaching tipping point, millions of livelihoods at stake-report

Reuters

Reuters covers a new study that it says finds the Himalayas are approaching a “tipping point”, as glaciers melt faster than a decade ago. It adds that this threatens water security as the region approaches “peak water” by mid-century. The article continues: “As glaciers retreat, they are leaving behind unstable glacial lakes held back by little more than loose rock and ice, above valleys where millions of people live, the study found.” The study follows the collapse of a Himalayan glacier along the Nepal-Tibet border last month, which caused landslides and flash floods in the valley below.

Comment

The incoming ‘super’ El Niño will create chaos around the world. And we are far from ready for it

Bill McGuire, The Guardian

In the Guardian, Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at UCL, writes that “one of the biggest upheavals in a millennium is on its way, strengthened by the climate crisis”. He continues that the growing “super” El Niño will “spawn a string of weather catastrophes around our world in what remains of this year and in 2027”. He explains that El Niño is “nothing new”, but says it is now “supercharged” by global warming. He concludes: “As this year’s super-El Niño looms large, the UK government advises us to stock up on food while it prepares to greenlight the extraction of more fossil fuels from the North Sea. Cognitive dissonance doesn’t even begin to describe the idiocy of such thinking.” [See the recent Carbon Brief explainer on El Niño.]

MORE COMMENT

In the Independent, journalist Helen Coffey writes that “we should be more scared of climate change destroying humanity than AI”.
In the Guardian, Nick Rowley, chair of the NSW Net Zero Commission, argues that it is time heat was treated in the same way as bushfires in Australia.
On his Climate Brink substack, climate scientist Andrew Dessler says atmospheric water-vapour levels have hit a new record.
In the Daily Mail, climate-sceptic farmer Jamie Blackett blames fires on the “rewilding agenda” and bemoans this year’s poor harvest, without mentioning climate change.

The case for a Dutch fossil fuel transition roadmap

Yvo de Boer, Backchannel

On the Backchannel substack, Yvo de Boer, former executive secretary of the UNFCCC, argues that a “credible fossil-fuel exit strategy” must be part of the Netherlands’ updated national energy plan. He says this year’s extreme European heatwaves were responsible for at least 35,000 excess casualties and €15-19bn in direct damages from fires. De Boer continues that earlier this year in Santa Marta, Colombia, the Netherlands co-hosted the first global forum on transitioning away from fossil fuels. He concludes: “To stay credible, the Netherlands must now deliver on one of Santa Marta’s primary takeaways: publishing a clear, predictable domestic roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels. For a nation built on a delta, this is not a gesture of diplomatic goodwill – it is a matter of economic survival, competitiveness, and national security.”

MORE OIL AND GAS COMMENT

Editorials in the Daily Telegraph and the Times look at rising oil prices – and the wider global ripple effects – after the attacks on a Saudi oil pipeline.
In the Financial Times’ Trade Secrets newsletter, Alan Beattie writes under the headline: “The Saudi relief valve is being closed.”
Another editorial in the climate-sceptic Sun criticises the UK government’s position on North Sea drilling.

Research

Corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) assessments “fail to capture” firms’ actual deforestation exposure | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Heavy rainfall drives cocoa-yield losses across tropical producing regions | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Glaciers in Austria lost 31% of their total area within a period of about 15 years | The Cryosphere