There is widespread coverage of bushfires burning across two Australian states, well ahead of the usual summer fire season. The New York Times reports: “Officials warned that climate change and drought threatened to bring Australia its worst fire season on record.” The paper quotes Queensland’s head of fire prediction calling it an “omen” and noting: “Fire weather has never been as severe this early in spring.” The New York Times continues: “Experts and some state officials, agreeing with that dire assessment, have been quick to identify climate change as a major cause – a controversial argument for some people here in a country that is heavily reliant on the coal industry, with a conservative government that has resisted making climate policy a priority.” The Guardiancarries an “obituary” for the historic Binna Burra Lodge, destroyed in fires in Lamington national park. A Guardian feature asks if Australia is “facing the summer from hell” given “low water storage levels and extreme temperatures forecast” while another article from the paper says the fires are “unprecedented”. Reuters notes that heavy winds have fanned bushfires with smoke disrupting flights. It quotes the deputy commissioner of the Queensland fire and emergency service saying: “This early in the season is unprecedented.” A second Reuters article says more than 100 bushfires are burning in two states. Separately, the Guardian reports that Australia “cleared 7.7m hectares of threatened species habitat since [the] introduction of [the] environment act”. Finally the Sydney Morning Herald reports that the state of New South Wales is to set interim carbon reduction targets towards an election commitment goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

Rapid deforestation and the loss of biodiversity in individual countries should not be treated as local issues since they threaten the future of the planet, Pope Francis said on Saturday according to Reuters. He was speaking during a visit to Madagascar, the newswire reports, explaining that his comments follow fires in the Amazon. A Financial Times editorial says “saving the Amazon must be a joint endeavour”, pointing to roles for diplomacy, business and consumers. However, it warns: “Well-intentioned but clumsy efforts to exert pressure on Brazil from afar risk backfiring, shoring up support for [President] Bolsonaro.” The New York Times also has a feature article on the Pope’s visit to Madagascar, noting that he used his time to “hammer…home” the theme of “endangerment by rampant deforestation and climate change”. A second Reuters article notes that the rate of deforestation in Brazil rose for the fourth straight month in August “adding to Amazon fire worries”. A third Reuters piece reports that Amazon countries have signed a pact on coordinating their response to fires and to monitoring the rainforest by satellite. A fourth Reuters article reports under the headline: “As Bolivian forests burn, Evo’s bet on Big Farming comes under fire.” In a 30 minute BBC News feature “Amazon under threat”, science editor David Shukman reports on “the battle for the future of the world’s largest rainforest”.

The record heatwaves in June and July caused the death of 1,435 people in France, the country’s health minister has said, reports BBC News and others. The broadcaster adds that, according to the minister, preventative measures helped cut the rate of deaths tenfold compared to a heatwave in 2003. The 2003 event lasted 20 days, compared to 18 days over two heatwaves this year, notes the Independent. No other country has yet released official mortality figures, BBC News adds. CNN also has the story and explains: “Experts worry heat waves such like these, driven by rising temperatures caused by greenhouse gas emissions, could become the new normal for Europe.” Associated Press and Reuters also have the story.

Former top officials of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have “assail[ed]” the agency for “undermining its weather forecasters as it defends president Donald Trump”, the Associated Press reports. It continues: “They say NOAA’s action risks the credibility of the nation’s weather and science agency and may even risk lives.” The furore centres on a Trump warning that Alabama was “most likely” to be hit by Hurricane Dorian, the newswire explains, with the US National Weather Service – part of NOAA – having subsequently reassured those living in the state. The Hill also has the story. Separately, InsideClimate News reports that Dorian was “one of [the] strongest, longest-lasting hurricanes on record in the Atlantic” even as the US coast was “largely spared” the destruction that hit the Bahamas. Politico reports that Democratic politicians are using the hurricane “as an opening to hammer their message on the urgency of climate change – an issue where they hope to seize the advantage over president Donald Trump and his scoffing at mainstream science”.

An international group of 400 “climate change deniers” is launching a campaign to try to stop further countries committing to net-zero emissions, the Independent reports, by writing a letter – obtained by the website DeSmog – that is being sent to EU leaders and UN institutions. The letter is titled the “European declaration”, the paper says, adding that: “[It] claims current changes in the climate are ‘expected from the cyclic behaviour of the climate system’. It also says there is ‘no proof’ that CO2 is a major driver of climate change.” The Independent adds: “The signatories are part of a network pushing for environmental deregulation after Brexit – and some have links with [British prime minister] Boris Johnson’s cabinet.” DeSmog UK has the story.

The head of Russia’s Yakutia region has expressed concern about the effects of rising temperatures, the Financial Times reports. In an interview with the paper, the head of the country’s largest Arctic territory has warned of “very dramatic” climate impacts – but also points to economic benefits as warming opens the Northern sea route from Europe to Asia. The FT adds that Moscow is coming under “increasing pressure to tackle rapidly rising temperatures across the country”.

Premiums for property catastrophe cover jumped by two-thirds in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks but the “supposed benefit” of this for insurance firms was more than offset by claims, says Patrick Jenkins in the Financial Times. Writing in the wake of the deadly Hurricane Dorian, he says: “According to Munich Re, 2017 and 2018 were the worst two-year period for natural catastrophes on record, with insured losses of $225bn. Climate change seems to be making hurricanes more severe and sparking more wildfires. The insurance industry looks like it has ample capacity to cope…But there are signs that worsening climate change risks may be scaring off the new money.” Jenkins explains: “[A] lot depends on the severity of the climate crisis. Regulators are starting to worry about this. The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority is leading the way on stress-testing insurers against the risk that the world misses its carbon reduction targets. In such a scenario, insurers, especially in the US where price increases are restricted by regulators, may find it increasingly unattractive to offer coverage.”

“California has been a leader in the fight to clean our air since one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan, was our governor,” writes Arnold Schwartzeneggar, another former California governor, in an article for the Washington Post. He rails against the Trump administration plans to revoke the state’s ability to set its own standards for vehicle fuel efficiency, arguing: “We’ve outpaced the nation’s economic growth even as we’ve protected our people. Our success is built on our consistency. Ever since Reagan, each governor has continued the legacy of moving toward a clean energy future. We don’t play the games Washington does, with each administration changing the trajectory of the United States and forcing businesses to guess about where we are headed.” The New York Timesand Axios, among others, report on the Trump administration’s moves to challenge California’s ability to regulate fuel standards and a deal made with some carmarkers to continue following those standards.

A new study projects changes in temperatures and rainfall in spring for the northern hemisphere mid-latitudes in a 1.5C and 2C warmer world. Spring average temperatures over Eurasia are expected to warm more quickly than the global annual mean, the researchers say, and the difference between the 1.5C and 2C worlds would like be more than an extra 0.5C. “Significant increases in the mean and extreme precipitation are only seen over parts of Eurasia, the authors note, and “an additional 0.5C global warming does not lead to obvious changes in the mean and extreme spring precipitation”.

Survey data from the US suggests that knowledge and attitudes to climate change do not affect how prepared coastal homeowners are for flooding. The new study uses data from a survey of 662 respondents in one of the most frequently exposed US coastal communities – in New Hanover County, North Carolina. The findings show “that climate change knowledge and attitudes have no significant effect on the existing level of a home’s structural vulnerability nor on homeowner actions or stated intentions to reduce structural vulnerability in the future”.