Climate plans ‘will fall short’ | Trump wind halt reversed | Renewable investment grows

23.09.25

News

UN climate chief says new national plans will fall short on emissions cuts

There is widespread media coverage of New York climate week and the UN general assembly, which are both taking place in New York this week. Climate Home News reports that countries’ new national climate plans (NDCs) for 2035 are “expected to be too weak to meet global goals”, adding that the UN climate chief Simon Stiell “says COP30 should focus on how countries can speed up delivery of their plans”. The outlet continues: “The European Union was unable to meet the September deadline because of political differences and will only present a range described as a ‘statement of intent’ in New York this week. China, meanwhile, is not expected to deliver an NDC that would align its efforts with the 1.5C limit. India is not scheduled to participate in the UN’s climate summit in New York and so is likely to announce any plans later.” Bloomberg reports that “fewer than 40 of the 195 signatories to the Paris Agreement had submitted new pledges by mid-September”.

BusinessGreen reports that in his opening address at New York climate week, Stiell “urge[d] governments and businesses to accelerate [the] global clean-tech boom and better promote the benefits of decarbonisation”. Reuters says the premier of Antigua and Barbuda “urged wealthy counterparts to speed their efforts, with climate change having become an existential crisis for nations like his”. Forbes says the week will include more than 1,000 events. The Wall Street Journal reports that after a “bruising year for the climate and sustainability industry”, delegates at New York climate week “expect a more focused but muted mood”. Inside Climate News reports that “regenerative agriculture is all over the agenda”. The Independent quotes UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper saying that “climate change is not just a future threat to our survival, but a source of chaos and suffering across every continent today”. The Guardian reports that “hundreds of environmentalists” gathered to “rally in support of solar power and other forms of renewable energy”.

MORE ON CLIMATE POLICY

The Associated Press says that according to Climate Action Tracker, the US has had “the biggest backslide in history” in its climate pledges. The newswire adds that there has been “progress” in “much of the rest of the world”.
Politico: “World leaders to call for multibillion dollar green-energy boost for developing countries.”
In ongoing media coverage of the UN “production gap” report, EuroNews says that “top fossil fuel-producing countries are moving forward with extensive oil, gas and coal plans that undermine global climate commitments”. Politico also covers the report.

US judge rules Trump cannot block Rhode Island offshore wind project

Reuters

A federal judge has ruled that Danish offshore wind developer Ørsted can restart work on its $6.2bn “Revolution Wind” project, after the Trump administration ordered construction to stop last month, Reuters reports. The newswire calls the ruling a “legal setback for Trump” and a “palpable victory for Ørsted”. The New York Times says: “In response to Ørsted’s lawsuit, the government argued that the project failed to comply with some conditions of its permit, including coordinating with the US Navy to avoid risks to military operations. In court documents, Ørsted said it has been losing $2.3m per day during the stop-work order and argued that the project had already gone through an extensive national security review by the federal government before it received final approval in 2023.” The Financial Times says “the ruling is expected to be followed by further litigation, including potential appeals”. The Times quotes the judge, who said: “If Revolution Wind cannot meet benchmark deadlines, the entire project could collapse…There is no doubt in my mind of irreparable harm to the plaintiffs.” Bloomberg, the Associated Press, Politico, the Hill and CNBC also cover the news. Separately, the New York Times says residents of Block island, off the coast of Rhode Island, are seeing benefits from another offshore wind project, including the ability to “shut down soot-spewing, earsplitting diesel generators”.

MORE ON US

The Financial Times reports that the Trump administration “is pressuring the World Bank to fund more fossil fuel projects, including drilling for new gas”.
Politico reports on an “internal divide” within “green groups” on how to respond to the Trump administration’s “rapid-fire dismantling of their environmental victories”.
E&E News reports on the “overdue” decision over whether the US will withdraw from the UN climate convention: “The White House did not answer questions about whether the US would withdraw from the UNFCCC or whether it was up for discussion.”
Inside Climate News has published its second article in a series about rising electricity prices in Pennsylvania.

UK Lib Dems ditch flagship 2045 net-zero policy

Politico

“The Liberal Democrats have scrapped their 2045 net-zero target and aligned with the Labour government’s 2050 goal instead,” Politico reports. The outlet says that at the party’s annual conference, members passed a motion supporting the shift: “The motion also confirmed the party’s support for the rollout of small modular reactors [SMRs] and a transition plan for North Sea oil and gas workers. These were included alongside red meat proposals for green advocates, such as investing in renewables, restoring nature and ensuring community-driven clean energy projects.” BusinessGreen reports that members “voted overwhelmingly in favour” of the “wide-ranging new policy paper, which sets out how the party would accelerate climate action across the UK economy”. It adds that the paper’s “cautious endorsement” of SMRs was the “only point of contention”, as some members “remain opposed” to nuclear power.

MORE ON UK

Green party leader Zack Polanski has “dubbed the decision to approve a second runway at Gatwick Airport ‘deeply irresponsible’, telling the Independent that Labour is ‘pretending to care about reducing emissions’”. BBC News says: “If such large [airport] expansions are to take place while meeting the target of becoming net-zero by 2050, big reductions in aircraft emissions will be needed.”
The Press Association reports on plans for “an £830m project off the UK coast that claims to be able to boost the UK’s depleted gas storage capacity by up to 50%”.
“Greenpeace protesters have climbed two 75-metre high chimney stacks at England’s largest gas-fired power station in Nottinghamshire,” the Press Association reports.
The Press Association reports that SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has written to Ed Miliband, calling for “changes to Westminster’s oil and gas regime”.
The Reform UK mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire has said he is “all for” “cleaner air and green energy”, BBC News reports.

China’s steel work plan vows to ban new capacity, promote demand

Bloomberg

China has released a work plan for 2025-26 to “ban new steel capacity and reduce production”, in the latest move to curb overcapacity in the industry, Bloomberg reports. The plan, jointly issued by five departments, including the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), calls for “significantly enhancing green, low-carbon and digital development levels” of the country’s steel sector, according to the industry news outlet BJX News. The outlet adds that the plan has five measures, including “accelerating green and low-carbon transformation” and “promoting the application of advanced green and low-carbon processes” to drive industrial upgrading.

MORE ON CHINA

Ma Aimin, former deputy director of the National Centre for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation, tells Jiemian that China’s carbon market (ETS) needs to enhance its “trading activity” and that the next two years will be a “critical period” for voluntary carbon trading (CCERs).
SCMP: “China is killing the race for critical minerals with the largest antenna on Earth.”
The Wall Street Journal: “The US is forfeiting the clean-energy race to China.”
Typhoon Ragasa is expected to “bring strong winds and heavy rainfall” to southern China’s Guangdong province this week, with local authorities warning of “disastrous calamities” ahead, SCMP reports.
Financial Times: “CATL willing to help European EV battery start-ups despite China controls.”
Jiemian reviews what it calls the “major progress” that China has made since launching its “dual carbon” climate goals in 2020.

Comment

It’s time for majority voting at UN climate summits

Mads Christensen, Climate Home News

Mads Christensen, the executive director of Greenpeace International, argues in a comment for Climate Home News that the UN climate convention (UNFCCC) should adopt majority voting. Christensen says: “The global multilateral system tasked with preventing disaster remains incapable of delivering the speed and scale of change we need…At the heart of this paralysis lies the broken consensus model of the UNFCCC. Every decision must be agreed to by all 198 Parties. In practice, this means even one country can block the rest of the world from acting – and a number often do…The result is a ‘race to the bottom’ that rewards inaction, dilutes ambition, and sidelines the world’s most vulnerable.” He says that use of majority voting is “not unprecedented”, noting that other international bodies use majority voting “when needed”. He concludes: “A system where one or two countries …can block the entire planet from acting is not just undemocratic, it’s deadly.”

MORE COMMENT

Evan Lieberman, a professor of political science and director of the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, writes in the Financial Times that despite an “obstructive” federal government, the US response to climate change “is being led by its states, cities, corporations and civil society”.
The Financial Times has a “big read” under the headline: “Can the UN save itself from irrelevance?”
Patrick Jenkins, the deputy editor of the Financial Times, writes about the “warped economics of insuring climate destruction”. Separately, Vox correspondent Umair Irfan writes that “America’s flood insurance system is doomed to fail”.
Bloomberg columnist Lara Williams writes that a “shortage of workers with the right skills risks undermining the installation of greener power sources”.
The Daily Telegraph has a series of comment pieces about UK energy secretary Ed Miliband, including Scottish editor Alan Cochrane supporting a reported “change of heart on North Sea oil” and associate editor Ben Marlow saying “Miliband’s North Sea climbdown would be Labour’s most embarrassing U-turn yet”. It also gives space to Isabel Oakeshott, controversial columnist and partner of the Reform UK deputy leader, to criticise Miliband.
I newspaper columnist Mark Wallace writes: “Gatwick’s new runway proves Labour has abandoned its principles. Thank goodness.”

Research

The drying of the Ganga river, of great economic and cultural importance to millions of people in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, is “unprecedented in the last 1,300 years”

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

River heatwaves, which are deadly to aquatic ecosystems, are increasing in severity faster than air heatwaves in the US