The Net-Zero Banking Alliance has “folded some four years since its launch after its members encountered political pressure and failed to meet the objectives it had ambitiously set out”, reports the Financial Times. The newspaper adds that the global alliance of leading banks “lost its highest profile members from Wall Street and European financial centres, as well as Japan and Canada, over the past year as banks with exposure to the US came under pressure from threats of litigation alleging collusion”. Agence France-Presse says the alliance agreed “its immediate shutdown – at a time of faltering climate commitments in the US and Europe”. The newswire adds: “Launched in 2021 under the UN Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative, the NZBA aimed to get banks to slash the carbon footprint of their loans and investments, and help drive the transition to a net-zero economy by 2050. At its peak, the group counted nearly 150 members.”

The Times says: “Climate campaigners criticised the move. Jeanne Martin, co-director of corporate engagement at ShareAction, which advocates responsible investment, said: ‘It’s bitterly disappointing to see the biggest banks in the world vote to step away from accountability around their commitments to prevent the worst effects of global heating.’” BusinessGreen is among other outlets covering the news.

Electric vehicle (EV) sales in the UK hit a “record high” last month, reports BBC News. The outlet adds: “Sales of pure battery electric vehicles (BEV) grew by almost a third to 72,779 in September, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers (SMMT), while sales of plug-in hybrid cars grew even faster. It means sales of fully electric or hybrid vehicles made up more than half of all new car registrations in the UK last month. The SMMT said sales were driven by carmakers offering discounts, a larger choice of models, and the introduction of the government’s grant scheme…[T]he SMMT said zero-emission vehicles now accounted for more than one in five (22.1%) new cars registered so far in 2025.” The Guardian says “new taxpayer subsidies helped to attract buyers in the most important month for the market”. BusinessGreen says the “UK’s burgeoning electric vehicle (EV) market continues to go from strength to strength…following the launch of the government’s electric car grant scheme over the summer”. Separately, the Press Association carries an article under the headline: “Report finds ‘little evidence’ electric car grants are boosting sales.”

MORE ON UK

• The Daily Telegraph and the Times cover comments made by former prime minister Boris Johnson in a new book in which he “admits getting ‘carried away’ in the pursuit of net-zero”. He “cautioned against ‘junking net-zero altogether’, but believes that Labour’s target of making the UK carbon neutral should be delayed beyond 2050”.
• The Guardian reports that “No 10 insiders are said to be particularly concerned about the impact of raising fuel duty [in next month’s budget], which has been frozen since 2011-12, and which rightwing newspapers would be likely to portray as an attack on the ‘white-van man’”. The climate-sceptic Sun, which campaigns against fuel duty, carries the headline: “Rachel Reeves under huge pressure to axe 5p fuel duty cut at budget despite Labour’s manifesto vow.”
• The Daily Telegraph: “Miliband considers unionising windfarms in exchange for subsidies.”
• BBC News reports that Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has denied that scrapping the Climate Change Act would cost jobs in the north-east of England after Labour Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP, Luke Myer, said the policy would risk “thousands of jobs and billions of pounds of investment” in the region.

The Trump administration in the US is “cancelling $7.6bn in grants that supported hundreds of clean-energy projects in 16 states, all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election”, reports the Associated Press. It continues: “The energy department said in a statement on Thursday that 223 projects were terminated after a review determined they did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs or were not economically viable.” The newswire adds: “The cuts are likely to affect battery plants, hydrogen technology projects, upgrades to the electric grid and carbon-capture efforts, among many others, according to the environmental non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council.” The Los Angeles Times says the “biggest cut on the list was $1.2bn for California’s ambitious project to develop clean hydrogen”. Meanwhile, Politico analysis reveals that “Trump’s crusade to uproot the Biden administration’s big-spending climate programs has left a surprising survivor – the $5bn effort to install electric car chargers from coast to coast”.

MORE ON US

• CNN: “At least 170 US hospitals face major flood risk. Experts say Trump is making it worse.”
• The Sunrise Movement, the youth-led climate justice organisation that popularised calls for a Green New Deal, is “widening its mission to fight authoritarianism”, reports the Guardian.
• Shell says the Trump administration’s attacks on wind projects “harm investment” in energy more broadly, reports the Financial Times.
• BBC News: “How the US got left behind in the global electric car race.”
• A “handful” of congressional Republicans are “breaking with President Donald Trump and party leadership over their renewed push to boost coal-fired power generation”, reports E&E News.
• The Guardian: “Trump’s hatred for renewables means the US is falling behind the rest of the world.”

A power surge that caused a widespread blackout in Spain and Portugal in April was the “most severe” in Europe in the last 20 years – and the first of its kind – a report by the association of electricity grid operators Entso-e has found, reports BBC News. The outlet adds: “The Spanish government believes the Entso-e report supports its own findings. Sara Aagesen, minister for ecological transition, said it was ‘completely in line’ with the results of an investigation it commissioned which concluded in June that both the national grid provider Red Eléctrica and private electricity companies were at fault. Both Red Eléctrica and the private firms have insisted that they were not to blame. Redeia, owner of Red Eléctrica, has blamed the blackout on some coal, gas and nuclear power plants’ failure to help maintain appropriate voltage. Spanish utilities said it was caused by poor planning from grid operators. The Entso-e report also said some important data was missing and that ‘collecting complete, high-quality data proved very challenging for this investigation’. A final report, to be published in the first quarter of next year, will investigate the root causes of the overvoltage and the actions employed to control voltage in the system.” [See Carbon Brief’s “Q&A: What we do – and do not – know about the blackout in Spain and Portugal”.]

MORE ON EU

• Politico reports that “right-wing populist Andrej Babiš and his ANO movement [has] gained a decisive win in a pivotal Czech parliamentary election” pledging to “confront the European Commission over the Green Deal”. BBC News says Babiš has “begun talks” with the “anti-Green Deal Motorists for Themselves” party.

China has earmarked 200m yuan ($28m) in “recovery aid” for Guangdong and Hainan provinces in anticipation of damages from “severe” Typhoon Matmo, which made landfall on Sunday afternoon, reports the Hong Kong-based news outlet South China Morning Post (SCMP). Local officials in Guangdong “relocated more than 150,000 residents”, while Hainan “suspended rail services across the island during peak holiday travel season”, it adds. The typhoon is the 21st to make landfall in China this year, the news outlet says, adding it “came barely a week after southern China withstood the force of super-typhoon Ragasa”. Another SCMP article covers research finding climate change made super-typhoon Ragasa “36% more destructive” when it reached southern China. Earth.org also reports on the Ragasa study, while Reuters, the New York Times, state-run newspaper China Daily and state news agency Xinhua cover the initial impact of Matmo.

MORE ON CHINA

• Economic Daily carries a commentary by reporter Wang Yichen examining how “new energy ships” may become the next “major growth area” in China’s clean-tech sector.
• Xinhua: “China’s NEV industry powers ahead via innovation, robust supply chain.”
• “China ranks first worldwide in committed hydrogen investment by 2030 and accounts for the majority of hydrogen production,” says Xinhua.
• A comment in the Conversation by Will de Freitas, the outlet’s UK environment and energy editor, asks: “Is China a climate goodie or baddie – or both?”
• The State Council is launching a nationwide campaign to “inspect, seal and rectify abandoned mines, while cracking down on illegal mining activities”, Xinhua reports.

On the 35th anniversary of Germany’s reunification, chancellor Friedrich Merz has urged its citizens to “embrace uncomfortable reforms” or “watch their economy fade” due to “high energy costs, cheap Chinese EVs and rising defence spending”, reports Bloomberg. According to Tagesspiegel, Merz has called for “stronger defence, restoring economic strength through cutting-edge technology, less bureaucracy and welfare reforms to better target those in need”, though he offered few specifics. Handelsblatt notes that his address was meant as a “wake-up call”, echoing former president Roman Herzog’s 1997 speech urging Germans to overcome “bureaucratism” and find their courage to “embrace change”.

MORE ON GERMANY

• Der Spiegel carries an article assessing German economy minister Katherina Reiche’s approval ratings, noting that “many in her own ministry distrust her”, while “public opinion is turning against her”, adding that her “favourite” project – the construction of new gas-fired power plants – “is stuck”.
• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung carries an article written by energy company RWE CEO Markus Krebber and chemical industry union leader Michael Vassiliadis, criticising the “rising climate protection costs” in Germany that “threaten” industry with “potential relocation”.

Writing in the Independent, UK energy secretary Ed Miliband responds to the Conservative’s new pledge to scrap the Climate Change Act, if it is ever elected into power again. He writes: “In the face of her desperate pledge to scrap the Climate Change Act, a policy that would be an economic disaster and a total betrayal of future generations, businesses, unions, faith leaders, and even her own Conservative colleagues are lining up to condemn it…I do not believe that the British people want a war waged on the clean energy that can bring not just jobs but also bring down bills by getting us off the rollercoaster of fossil fuel markets. This is not just about economics. It is about our identity and our values as a country.”

Elsewhere, former Conservative deputy prime minister Michael Hesletine argues in the Observer that the “threat from global warming must not be ignored in the hope that it may not happen”. Jill Rutter has a post on the Institute for Government website in which she argues that “Badenoch’s climate intervention makes the UK less attractive for energy investors”. Ed Shackle, head of qualitative research at Public First, writes in the Spectator: “For the Conservatives to now drop their climate commitments because they are playing catch up to Reform, having spent 14 years in government pushing this agenda, confirms voters’ worst prejudices about politicians. The race to the bottom on climate commitments is not a race that the Conservatives can win. If the Tories want to bring themselves back from political exile, they’d do well to announce ideas that voters actually care about, not chase Reform down a dead-end road.”

MORE UK COMMENT

• An editorial in the Guardian laments Badenoch’s “terrible” policy choices: “That is a retreat from climate leadership – abandoning Britain’s responsibility and handing the green industrial future, and its economic upside, to other countries. It also signals alignment with a fanatical rightwing agenda associated with Reform UK, and heavily influenced by Donald Trump’s Maga movement, where denial of climate science is rife.”
• An editorial in the climate-sceptic Daily Mail falsely claims that “pledging to scrap net-zero targets is…a vote-winner”. [Polling regularly shows that action on climate change has popular support in the UK.]
• The Daily Telegraph gives space to three climate-sceptic commentators to claim that “Miliband’s green-energy paradise is turning into an expensive inferno”, “Badenoch must be ruthless in dismantling Britain’s net-zero rules” and the “US has exposed the central folly of Europe’s net-zero evangelism”. Similarly, the Spectator sees omnipresent climate-sceptic commentator Ross Clark claim that “Kemi is right”.
• James Murray for BusinessGreen: “The strange death of Tory environmentalism.”

Writing on his Substack, veteran climate campaigner and author Bill McKibben argues: “The best reason for nations to switch to power from the sun and wind is that it will reduce, by some degree, the severity of the climate crisis (and save millions of lives lost each year to pollution). The second best reason is that it’s cheaper than fossil fuel and any nation who doesn’t shift will be stuck with an economy running on expensive energy. But it seems to me – not a military analyst, but a fairly good tea-leaves reader – that the war in Ukraine may be adding a third to the list: its comparative invulnerability to attack…The general lesson to be drawn from this, it seems to me, is that centralised and complex energy facilities are now sitting ducks for drone attack, and that that will certainly alter military calculations going forward.”

MORE COMMENT

• WWF’s Manuel Pulgar-Vidal writing for Climate Home News: “Why ethics must be at the heart of global climate action.” Also in Climate Home News: “The ICJ climate ruling has major implications for the loss and damage fund.”
• Matthew Bishop in the Observer: “Climate cost debate rages on.”

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Leo Hickman, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Anika Patel. It was edited by Simon Evans.

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