Plans to set fire to coal under the seabed at up to 19 sites around the UK would cause significant climate pollution, groundwater contamination and toxic waste, according to a report by Friends of the Earth. The UK government’s Coal Authority has granted licences for underground coal gasification (UCG) covering more than 1,500 sq km of seabed off north-east and north-west England, Wales and east central Scotland. UCG involves drilling boreholes up to 1km deep, setting fire to underground coal seams, and extracting the resulting gas to heat homes. But according to the new report by Friends of the Earth, it has “left a trail of destruction in its wake across the world”. Flick Monk, the report’s author from Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “On climate change grounds alone there is no way these plans can possibly make sense.” But Andrew Nunn, CEO of Cluff Natural Resources, a company looking to pursue the mining technique in northern England, accused Friends of the Earth of having a predetermined position on fossil fuels.

This weekend in Vienna, says the New York Times, negotiators from nearly 200 countries neared a deal that many environmentalists have called the most significant action this year to reduce global warming, pushing ahead on a deal to ban the use of hydrofluorocarbons, chemicals used in air-conditioners and refrigerators. It says: “Negotiations to ban HFCs have dragged on for seven years. But the draft language emerging from the Vienna talks could lead to a final deal ready to be signed during an October conference in Kigali, Rwanda.” Reuters also reports that a deal is “within grasp”.

Russian, Chinese and South Korean nuclear companies should be offered subsidy contracts to build reactors in the UK if they are cheaper than other projects already under development, a prominent nuclear lobbyist has said. Tim Yeo, the former chairman of the House of Commons energy select committee, said EDF’s proposed £18bn plant at Hinkley Point, which is expected to get the go-ahead this week, should be allowed to proceed, but he urged the Government to rethink its approach to future projects. The Sunday Telegraph adds: “Mr Yeo suggested UK investors could be brought on board to operate any such plants to help counter political concerns about the technologies. He also advocated a new funding approach under which “most of the construction costs are funded by government borrowing throughout the construction period” to help cut financing costs.” Meanwhile, the Times looks at the “daunting challenge that lies ahead” for the new business and energy secretary Greg Clark: “Mr Clark says that he supports the scheme, but other senior figures within Mrs May’s administration are less convinced…Steering Hinkley Point on to the UK grid is likely to take up a lot of Mr Clark’s time.” Separately, the Telegraph reports that the EDF office in Paris was raided by French authorities last week ahead of Hinkley greenlight.

The zero-fuel aeroplane, Solar Impulse, left the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on the last leg of its global tour yesterday. The aircraft should take about 48 hours to reach Abu Dhabi, UAE – the place it began the circumnavigation in March 2015. Solar Impulse has covered some 30,000km in its quest to become the first plane to circle the world using no fuel, just the energy from the Sun.

The FT looks at Barack Obama’s $7bn plan to double access to electricity across sub-Saharan Africa. When it was launched three years ago it was hailed as game-changing step that could transform millions of lives. However, the paper notes, “progress on the ground is proving painfully slow”. It adds: “The Power Africa programme, which the president launched in 2013, is supposed to add 30,000 megawatts of electricity by 2030, equal to nearly a third of sub-Saharan Africa’s existing generating capacity. But only 374MW from six sizeable power projects is up and running so far, according to data provided to the Financial Times by the US Agency for International Development, co-ordinator of the multiple government agencies and companies involved in Power Africa.” Analysts blame a lack of government experience, corruption and betting on the wrong technologies.

The Lords’ Economic Affairs Committee has launched an investigation into the UK’s energy policy. It is inviting views on its inquiry titled, ‘The Economics of UK Energy Policy’ as the committee believes the present mix of policy interventions and subsidies have led to failures in the energy market.

The global oil market has a huge overhang of crude that could take up to two years to clear, according to one of the world’s top traders. Ian Taylor, chief executive of Vitol, warned that “it could take a year or two” to clear the build-up of surplus crude in onshore storage facilities or, increasingly, in floating storage aboard tankers around the world. He said: “There’s probably 500m to 600m barrels in the system. We are no longer sure that’s going to disappear this year.”

The MailOnline has published a gallery of images illustrating how a “massive release of gas is creating giant holes and ‘trembling tundras'” in Siberia. It says: “Strange bubbles have been discovered in the Arctic permafrost – adding to mysterious behaviour seen in the region, including the sudden appearance of giant holes in northern Siberia. The extent of the harmful greenhouse gases buried in this new phenomenon of jelly-like bubbles poses ‘very serious alarm’ concerning the impact of global warming, expert Alexander Sokolov warned.” The “swelling pockets in the permafrost” were first revealed last week by the Siberian Times.

Energy companies should make a profit margin of just 1.25% on household bills, a fifth of the level made by the two biggest suppliers last year, the Competition and Markets Authority says. Roger Witcomb, who led the watchdog’s two-year investigation into the sector, said it was “appropriate” for suppliers to make only £12.50 pre-tax profit on a £1,000 gas and electricity bill, since “they don’t make the stuff”. Major energy companies have long argued that a profit margin of about 5pc is fair. Separately, the paper carries an interview with Witcomb.

The removal of subsidies has damaged confidence and threatens the prospects of the renewable energy industry in Scotland, claim MPs on the Scottish affairs committee. Several areas of funding support for a range of technologies including onshore wind and solar panels have been withdrawn or have changed in recent months. Scottish Renewables, the industry body, has already suggested that the changes to onshore wind support has put 5,400 jobs at risk and could result in £3bn of investment taken off the table. Meanwhile, the Times also reports that up to 12,500 jobs have been lost in the UK’s solar power industry over the past year as a result of cuts to the subsidies available for rooftop panels, according to research by PwC.

Davey, the former secretary of state from energy and climate change, is scathing about the axing of his old ministry and the focus of the new government: “Signals matter in politics. And for investors. That’s why Theresa May’s decision to abolish DECC has put her government on the back foot when it comes to the environment and green investment…My fear is that May has constructed a Cabinet that is more sceptical of climate change than any other cabinet since it became a lead policy problem. From Chris Grayling to Sajid Javid, Cabinet Ministers in key departments for the low carbon agenda have a track record of opposing climate action. Coupled with the delay and distraction that inevitably follows the creation of a new department—made exponentially worse by Brexit—and it’s hard to be convinced that the downgrading of Climate Change in Whitehall is an attempt by May to seize the environmental high ground.”

Court, who is the head of policy and external affairs at the renewables trade group REA, considers how the UK’s political upheaval will affect the clean energy sector: “We now have new ministers and a new department. In regards to the latter, we have to see the potential upsides in this. Many of the last years’ problems have their root in DECC losing the Whitehall game against the Treasury…But the new Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy department (BEIS) will have more clout than DECC.”

Slowdowns in the pace of surface warming, such as at the start of the 21st century, will become increasingly uncommon as temperatures rise, all but vanishing by 2100, according to new research. The study, which analyses the output from 20 climate models, suggests periods of faster than expected warming, known as “surges”, will strongly intensity by 2100 under a business as usual scenario. The authors classify the recent slowdown as a “rogue” event, but not entirely unexpected given known decadal variability in the climate.