The Biden administration in the US has formally announced what it called “the most ambitious auto pollution rules in history”, in a bid to shift car manufacturers to producing electric vehicles, according to Politico. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that its new standards could result in electric cars and trucks making up two-thirds of new “light-vehicle” sales by 2032, the news website continues. The New York Times says the new rules “would require nothing short of a revolution in the US auto industry”, comparing it to the moment car pioneer Henry Ford took his “horseless carriage” for a test run. The newspaper notes that while the EPA does not have the power to mandate manufacturers to sell a certain number of electric cars, it can place limits on the amount of emissions their cars can produce in total. “The agency has set that limit so tightly that the only way manufacturers can comply is to sell a certain percentage of zero-emissions vehicles,” it adds. The newspaper notes that if the rules are enacted as proposed, “they would put the world’s largest economy on track to slash its planet-warming emissions at the pace that scientists say is required of all nations in order to avert the most devastating impacts of climate change”. Bloomberg also states that the new rules would be “among the strongest in the world”. Specifically, Reuters says they would require 13% average pollution cuts each year and a 56% reduction in projected fleet average emissions over 2026 requirements. It adds that the EPA is also proposing new emissions standards for larger trucks through to 2032. The newswire also points out that the proposal is more ambitious than president Joe Biden’s 2021 goal of 50% of new vehicles being electric or hybrids by 2030 – a target that was backed by car manufacturers. According to Inside Climate News, the Biden administration is “relying on both automakers and consumers to embrace the electric vehicle revolution”. The news website says the government is optimistic following the multi-billion dollar electric vehicle investments that have come from the federal government and the auto industry in the wake of spending bills such as the Inflation Reduction Act. Another Reuters article says the administration is moving fast on the new mandates as the issue “could become a presidential campaign issue next year”. Politico also has a “nerd’s guide to Biden’s newest electric vehicle push”, which spells out the EPA’s 1,475-page rules in greater depth. The New York Times has a piece on “what car buyers need to know” about the proposed rules.

In other US news, former president Donald Trump has been mocked for casting doubt on the importance of climate change while warning of an invented threat called “nuclear warming” in an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the Independent reports. “Our big problem is nuclear warming, but nobody even talks about it,” Trump stated.

Last year alone, the world’s 60 largest banks provided fossil fuel projects with $673bn in financing, according to DeSmog. The figure comes from the latest iteration of the Banking on Climate Chaos report, which examines global fossil fuel financing from major commercial and investor banks each year, and is produced by the Rainforest Action Network and partner organisations, it adds. The article notes that US banks “dominate the funding landscape”, providing more than one-quarter of all fossil fuel financing in 2022. It says these figures come in spite of fossil fuel companies reporting record profits of $4tn in 2022. The Financial Times says the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) emerged as the biggest financier of the fossil fuel industry, with Canadian banks increasingly taking on the role as the “lenders of last resort” for the sector. It adds that 43 of the banks, including RBC and former top-spot holder JPMorgan, are part of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, whose members have pledged to take action on climate change. (The report comes as the RBC Heritage golf tournament, sponsored by the Canadian bank, gets underway in South Carolina, featuring many of the world’s top players.)

Meanwhile, deliberations continue at the World Bank and IMF spring meetings. Reuters reports that the World Bank’s steering committee and US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen have called for additional reforms this year “to expand the bank’s ability to respond to climate change, pandemics and other crises that are reversing development gains”. The World Bank has announced it will provide $200m in finance to help fix Ukraine’s energy and heating infrastructure, with partners and others to provide another $300m, another Reuters story notes.

Members of the powerful G7 group of nations have “pushed back on the viability of a central part of Japan’s climate strategy”, according to an environment ministers’ draft communiqué seen by the Financial Times. Japan is both a G7 member and host of this weekend’s G7 meeting, yet the document is described by the newspaper as “a challenge to Tokyo’s efforts to shape Asia’s transition to cleaner energy”. The east Asian nation has sought to play a central role in financing the continent’s shift towards low-carbon energy, but its own climate plans have been criticised for their focus on ammonia as a clean energy source, the article explains. Ammonia production is not yet commercially viable and relies on fossil fuels, so the UK, France and Canada “have pressured Japan to soften language around the promotion of ammonia and hydrogen as low-carbon fuels in a draft of the G7 environment ministers’ communiqué”, the newspaper says.

BusinessGreen reports that leading business groups including the We Mean Business coalition have urged G7 leaders to set clear targets to phase out fossil fuels from power generation and road transport by 2035.

China expects a “recurrence of power shortages” in some provinces during times of peak demand this summer as electricity use rises, writes Bloomberg. According to the spokesperson of the National Energy Administration (NEA), the country’s “maximum power load” is expected to reach 1,360GW (gigawatts). This is even higher than the record, 1,290GW (gigawatts), made last year, the outlet notes. The head of the NEA, Zhang Jianhua, pledged at a government press conference yesterday that China would ensure energy security by taking five measures, state news agency Xinhua reports. Zhang said “such efforts” include “ensuring energy security, boosting clean and low-carbon transformation, enhancing self-reliance in science and technology, facilitating institutional innovation and enhancing international cooperation”. Zhang’s plan heavily relies on fossil fuels. More specifically, China will increase “exploration, storage, and production” of oil and gas, maintain a long-term domestic crude oil production of “200m tonnes”, and ensure that its natural gas self-sufficiency rate remains at a minimum of “50%”, Xinhua adds. 

Reuters reports another NEA official told the same conference that China’ plan involves “accelerating the approval of new coal mines and fast track the construction of already approved mines to support its baseload energy supply during demand spikes”. As for “clean and low-carbon transformation”, Zhang said China will “strive” to increase the proportion of non-fossil energy in China’s overall energy consumption by one percentage point every year over the next five years, Xinhua reports. The overall plan is that by 2035, China will have 80% of its electricity generated from non-fossil sources, and by 2050, non-fossil energy will become the primary source of energy for the country, adds Xinhua. Reuters says that renewable energy sources are predicted to provide 18.3% of China’s overall energy consumption this year, with wind and solar energy contributing 15.3% to the country’s power use. 

Separately, Bloomberg and Reuters report thatChina’s state-owned energy giant Sinopec has acquired a 5% share in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project located in Qatar. China is the second-largest purchaser of LNG globally, the agreement makes Sinopec the first Asian buyer to take a stake in the project. 

Elsewhere, the Diplomat carries a comment on the China-France joint statement issued after French president Emmanuel Macron visiting China. The article, written by Dingding Chen and Yingfan Chen from the Chinese thinktank the Intellisia Institute, says: “At present, China and France still maintain close relations at the nuclear power technology, supply chain, and market levels.” The South China Morning Post publishes a comment made by Dr Jeffrey Hung, CEO of environmental campaigning charity Friends of the Earth (HK). Huang says that “the effect of climate change on food security is an issue that needs immediate attention”. He adds that climate change “directly affects productivity through extreme weather such as floods, droughts and storms. These can damage crops, destroy infrastructure and cause soil erosion”.

On a visit to Somalia, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has declared “it is unconscionable that Somalis, who have done almost nothing to create the climate crisis, are suffering its terrible impact”, Reuters reports. This comes as around 8.3 million Somalis, almost half the population, require urgent humanitarian assistance as a “full-blown famine” threatens to follow a drought that killed 43,000 people last year, the newswire reports. Guterres noted that just 15% of the country’s $2.6bn aid requirement for this year has been met, it adds. The East African reports that Guterres had already appealed for “massive” international support for Somalia on what he called a “visit of solidarity” to the Horn of Africa nation. Meanwhile, Agence France-Presse reports that “severe drought in North Africa has left Tunisian farmers bracing for a catastrophically poor harvest”.

Further south, Reuters reports that the president of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera, has announced that the death toll from the recent Cyclone Freddy has risen to more than 1,000 people. The storm, which marked one of the deadliest to strike the region in the past two decades, affected over 2 million people and displaced over half a million, the newswire adds.

Finally, western Australia is preparing for Cyclone Ilsa, which will soon intensify into a category five storm, making it the most powerful cyclone to make landfall in the region in 14 years, according to ABC News.

Germany is set to shut down its three remaining nuclear power plants on Saturday, after it began phasing out nuclear power more than 20 years ago in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, Sky News reports. It adds that the nation was forced to delay the closure of its three remaining plants after Russia cut off European gas supplies, sparking fears of an energy shortage. The German government dismissed calls on Wednesday for a last-minute delay in the shutdown, according to the Associated Press. It notes “critics argue that switching off the nuclear plants now deprives Germany of a source of low-emission power and requires the country to keep operating fossil fuel plants that contribute to climate change”. However, the Financial Times quotes Ottmar Edenhofer, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, who notes the political costs of extending nuclear plant lifetimes and says Germany should focus on new technologies such as hydrogen, e-fuels and carbon capture, instead of rehashing old debates.

Shell could receive nearly £1bn from selling its 27.5% stake in the Russian Sakhalin-2 gas project it exited after the invasion of Ukraine last year, the Guardian reports. There have been reports that president Vladimir Putin has given permission for the sum of 94.8bn roubles (£923m) to be paid directly to Shell so the stake can be taken by Russian energy firm Novatek, the newspaper continues. The Times notes that Shell planned to sell its stake in the company, but last summer Putin “effectively nationalised the project” and Shell declined an invitation to apply to maintain its shareholding in the new holding company, prompting the Russian government to sell the stake.

In more oil-and-gas news, US producer ConocoPhillips has announced plans to expand oil-and-gas output by up to 5% a year over the next 10 years, Reuters reports.

Finally, data seen by BBC News shows that “thousands of tonnes of oil have spilled routinely into UK waters from oil and gas production threatening marine life like porpoises and orcas”.

An editorial in the Los Angeles Times says the new vehicle pollution standards proposed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “could be one of the US’ most important steps in staving off the most devastating effects of global warming and reducing exposure to unhealthful pollution”. However, it adds that for now “they are just proposals” and need to go through a public consultation period before becoming final next year and applying to 2027 model-year vehicles. It also notes that auto industry representatives “have raised concern that the EPA’s proposal may be too much, too fast”. While the editorial notes that there are legitimate concerns, “that doesn’t mean the EPA should wait for all problems to be solved before pressing ahead with aggressive vehicle emissions standards. Regulations drive results, and the planet needs results quickly”. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial is less enamoured with the proposed regulations, stating that the “US auto industry is nominally still privately owned, but it is slowly becoming a defacto state-directed utility”. It continues by explaining that “the EPA is using its authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate tailpipe pollutants. But make no mistake this isn’t about clean air. This is about forcing auto makers to produce more EVs that consumers will have no choice but to buy since there will be few gas-powered vehicles left”. (It is worth noting that, if there are “few gas-powered vehicles left”, the air will indeed be far cleaner.)

Across the Atlantic, Times columnist Iain Martin casts doubt on the UK’s target of banning new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. He says the plan would not have been thought through as it was conceived by “detail-dodger” former prime minister Boris Johnson, while also acknowledging that the EU has agreed on a ban within a similar timeframe. Martin advocates for a greater focus on e-fuels, while noting that “some in the car industry say e-fuels are an unviable, expensive distraction from the switch to electric vehicles”.

Finally, in further transport-related comment, Financial Times international business editor Peggy Hollinger argues for policies that attempt to curb the number of flights being taken. “It is increasingly apparent that the sector’s decarbonisation road maps, which rely on the widespread use of sustainable aviation fuel, operational efficiencies and technological breakthroughs, will struggle to deliver net-zero emissions by 2050,” she writes. In conclusion, she says that rather than lobbying against demand management, the aviation industry should “engage in a constructive debate about how much growth is compatible with ambitions for pollution-free flights”.

In an article for BusinessGreen, UK Green MP Caroline Lucas calls for rooftop solar power to be made mandatory on all suitable new homes – a policy that she says the British public are “squarely behind”, according to polling. Lucas says when she and the Environmental Audit Committee put this proposal to energy secretary Grant Shapps at a recent committee hearing, he “wriggled his way out of a commitment”. In the article, Lucas responds to the arguments Shapps made, explaining that solar panels add value to houses and outlining the potential for job creation in expanding solar installations.

Ecosystem services will decline in 24-62% of central America’s forests over the coming century, resulting in costs of $51-314bn per year until 2100, according to new research. The authors “derive monetary estimates for the effect of climate change on climate regulation and habitat services for the forests of Central America”. They find that declining ecosystem services are particularly prevalent in montane and dry forests, and have strong economic implications for central America’s lower-middle income countries. “Economic losses were mostly higher for habitat services than for climate regulation,” the paper adds.