The European Commission has “rejected” a demand from the US regarding its environmental regulations, according to Euronews. The news outlet says the US considers EU legislation on corporate due diligence – known as the CSDDD – to be “too restrictive for its companies”. The “landmark” legislation, which was adopted last year, requires companies to “check their supply chains for dodgy environmental and labour practices”, it explains. After a letter from the US requesting an exemption, a commission spokesperson said “our European regulatory authority is not up for discussion”, the article notes. Nevertheless, Reuters says that lawmaker groups holding a majority in the European parliament have agreed on a deal to make “deeper cuts” to CSDDD. It notes that the legislation has been one of the most “politically contested parts of Europe’s green agenda”, with pushback from France and Germany, as well as the US and Qatar. Reuters also reports on Total Energies and Siemens calling for the European governments to “abolish” the law.

MORE ON US

• The US and several other countries have declined to sign a World Bank directors’ joint statement affirming their support for the bank’s continued work on climate change, Reuters reports.
• Shifts in US energy policy will “impede the country’s ability” to compete with China and other international rivals in developing green hydrogen projects, Bloomberg reports.
• The New York Times reports on how the US federal government shutdown is affecting the federal flood insurance programme and “forcing some buyers into the costly private market”.
• Politico has an article factchecking the US energy secretary Chris Wright on various energy talking points he has raised recently.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has unveiled “sweeping export controls on rare earths and related technologies, as it boosts its leverage over critical minerals ahead of an expected meeting this month between president Donald Trump and Xi Jinping”, the Financial Times reports. Rare earth minerals and magnets are “critical” to technologies, including electric vehicles (EVs), the newspaper says, adding that foreign companies will need approvals to export magnets that contain “even trace amounts of Chinese-sourced rare earth materials, or that were produced using the country’s extraction methods, refining or magnet-making technology”. The outlet adds that a “White House official said the US government was ‘closely assessing any impact from the new rules’”. 

Bloomberg also covers the story, quoting Dylan Loh, associate professor at Nanyang Technological University, who says that the move by China is “to raise the stakes and demonstrate China has leverage and cards to play”. China also says it will add “several new rare earth elements to its export control list”, Reuters reports. State news agency Xinhua reports that the aim of the new rule is to “safeguard national security and interests more effectively, and to fulfil international obligations”, adding that the country is prepared to “enhance communication and cooperation with all parties”. State-run newspaper China Daily and the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) cover the same story.

MORE ON CHINA

• China’s booming EV industry is “providing major opportunities” for battery recycling, China Daily reports.
• China is now organising “recommendation work for green factories and green industrial parks” for 2025, BJX News reports.
• North-western China’s Qinghai province has released its official “document 136” implementation plan for the central government’s renewables pricing reform, BJX News reports.
• China has “switched on a world-first solar thermal power station” in the Gobi Desert, saying the technology has “potential to be scaled up”, according to SCMP.
• In a comment for China Daily, Romina Khurshid Alam, coordinator on climate change for Pakistan’s prime minister, writes that China is shaping the “climate destiny of the developing world” and has “demonstrated leadership in renewable technology”.
• A Reuters comment by columnist Gavin Maguire tracks China’s clean energy export dominance in seven charts, from solar components to EVs.

The wind energy company Ørsted plans to cut around 2,000 jobs – amounting to roughly a quarter of the workforce – as it “narrows its focus to Europe after completing a massive share sale to shore up funds”, Bloomberg reports. The firm intends to focus on Europe, after rising costs, supply-chain issues and policy reversals under the Trump administration made the US a less desirable wind market, according to the news outlet. CNBC says the company’s stock has come under pressure “amid concerted efforts from the White House to reduce renewable energy generation”, including halting construction of the Revolution Wind project off the north-east US coast. The Financial Times notes that the company has also paused a major offshore wind project in the UK and sold off its entire European onshore wind business. The Daily Telegraph reports that some of Ørsted’s job losses will be in its UK operations.

MORE ON BUSINESS

• Spain’s grid operator has warned of “voltage swings” that could affect the country’s power supply, Reuters reports. Since the blackout that struck in April – which was blamed on “bad planning” and errors at power plants – the operator has relied more on its gas and nuclear plants, the Financial Times notes. Bloomberg also has the story, while the Daily Telegraph takes the opportunity to blame net-zero in its frontpage coverage.
• The luxury carmaker Ferrari has halved its target for electric vehicle production, now aiming to make 20% of its cars fully electric by 2030, according to the Financial Times.

Last month was the third-hottest September on record globally and the fifth hottest in Europe, according to new data from the European climate monitoring agency Copernicus, reports the Belga News Agency. Euronews reports that temperatures were “only marginally below” the hottest ever recorded, with “Scandinavia reporting particularly notable increases”. According to the Financial Times: “While temperatures this year have been slightly below the records set in 2024 and 2023, the past two months are starting to trend back up towards the threshold of a rise of 1.5C since the industrial era set down in the 2015 Paris Agreement.” The Hindustan Times says September was also “wetter than average in most parts globally”.

Meanwhile, the Press Association reports that England has seen its second-worst harvest on record following a period of extreme weather including the driest spring in more than 100 years, according to an analysis of government figures by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU). Tom Lancaster, land, food and farming analyst at ECIU, is quoted in BusinessGreen saying “this is what farming with climate change looks like”.

MORE ON EXTREME WEATHER

• The Guardian has an article about deaths from extreme heat, noting that official reports are likely to overlook its role in deaths and highlighting the importance of trying to record its true toll.
• E&E News reports on how “critics of mainstream climate science and allies of the fossil fuel industry” are “attacking” climate scientist Dr Friederike Otto, a pioneer in extreme-weather attribution, due to her inclusion in an upcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. The article notes that Otto has previously been an author on multiple IPCC reports.

The UK’s King Charles and his heir Prince William have made “a rare joint appearance” to show their support for the upcoming COP30 climate summit, Reuters reports. It says the two royals attended a “countdown to COP30” event at London’s Natural History Museum, where they met the Brazilian ambassador to the UK. The Daily Mail reports on the announcement that William will attend the COP30 leaders summit on behalf of the monarchy. The Guardian and Press Association also have the story. Meanwhile, BBC News reports that Charles is also launching an Amazon Prime documentary in which he will explain his philosophy of “harmony” and the need “to work with rather than against nature”. The news outlet says the king will use the documentary to “reflect on his own decades of campaigning for sustainability”.

MORE ON UK

• Staffordshire County Council, which has been run by councillors from the hard-right Reform UK party since May’s local elections, have voted to overturn the local authority’s declaration of a “climate emergency”, BBC News reports.
• The Daily Telegraph reports on emails obtained by the right-wing political news website Guido Fawkes between the UK’s National Energy System Operator (Neso) and the government concerning the UK’s “clean power by 2030” target. The newspaper characterises the emails, concerning an independent assessment of the government’s target, as “meddling” by the government.
• Speaking at the Women in Green Business awards 2025, Climate Change Committee chief executive Emma Pinchbeck has called for women and marginalised groups to play a bigger role in building the net-zero economy, BusinessGreen reports.

A New York Times editorial lays out the role that the Trump administration’s anti-renewables policies are having on US energy bills. It explains that solar and wind are now often cheaper than fossil fuels and help prevent the US having to import as much oil from ”hostile” nations. “These advantages help explain why the right energy policy for the US is an all-of-the-above strategy,” with continued fossil-fuel use while the nation moves to cleaner sources, according to the newspaper. Nevertheless, US president Donald Trump has rejected this notion and instead waged a “war on solar and wind power”, the editorial states. It says US electricity prices have surged under Trump, primarily due to demand from data centres and “supply constraints from the war in Ukraine”. However, the editorial adds: “The Trump energy policies are not helping – and will soon make matters worse.” Moreover, it says the same policies also give a “competitive edge to the country’s chief geopolitical rival, China”. The editorial concludes that Republicans “have become the party that stands in the way of lower energy prices for American households”.

MORE IN COMMENT

• In its “lost science” series about scientists who have lost jobs or funding after cuts by the Trump administration, the New York Times features an interview with Kevin Gurney, who “studied how emissions are heating up US cities”. The Climate Forward newsletter introduces the series, reflecting on a “crushing year” for US science.
• An editorial in the Wall Street Journal examines the apparent “rollback” of EU legislation on corporate due diligence, which would include companies publishing reports on their climate impact. The newspaper sees this as a sign that “mainstream European politicians” are feeling the “political pressure to pare the climate agenda”.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Josh Gabbatiss, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Wanyuan Song. It was edited by Robert McSweeney.

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