The air quality in Toronto, Canada, reached the worst level among major cities globally as wildfire smoke from northwestern Ontario “blackened skies” and spread to the US, according to Reuters. The newswire adds that the smoke triggered health warnings and calls for residents to limit outdoor activities. The Guardian reports that this comes as Toronto experiences a heatwave that has “shattered a three-decade record” after reaching 37.3C. The wildfires in Ontario have “prompted mandatory evacuations from a number of First Nations communities” and the newspaper quotes an official linking the “growing severity” of these events to climate change. The Financial Times notes that the smoke has prompted air quality warnings as far south as New York City. The Associated Press states that “research shows warming temperatures from burning coal, oil and gas are making fires more frequent and intense”.

Meanwhile, there are also extreme heat warnings in place for “large swathes” of the US this week, amid a “heat dome” weather pattern, according to the Guardian. The New York Times reports that climate change-driven extreme heat and air pollution from wildfire smoke are a “double whammy” for people’s health, with a higher risk of respiratory illness.

MORE ON NORTH AMERICA

• A group of US climate activists who “sought to hold Exxon accountable for climate deception” are “closely watching a US court case that could reveal who hired hackers to target their inboxes a decade ago”, according to the Guardian.
• Guardian analysis shows that at least 1,662 US Department of Energy webpages offering guidance on staying cool, while saving energy and keeping utility costs down, have “gone dark”, in a move that coincided with “the Trump administration’s push to weaken efficiency rules”.
• After two years of declining heat-related deaths, Arizona’s Maricopa County – one of the nation’s hottest – is facing a “brutally hot summer”, even as federal funds for heat relief programmes run out, according to the Los Angeles Times.
• Inside Climate News says a Republican-led effort to end the Delaware river basin’s ban on fracking has “fallen short”, allowing the restriction to stand “for now”.
• The New York Times Magazine has a feature titled: “The American EV has been crushed. Will it take the US auto industry with it?”

Australia will require large data centres that power artificial intelligence (AI) to generate as much power as they consume, as the government “aims to impose parameters on the growing industry”, according to the New York Times. ABC News reports on the announcement of these proposed “mandatory obligations” by prime minister Anthony Albanese, in which he says data centres would have to underwrite new electricity generation and pay the full cost of connecting to the grid. The article says data centres would have to contribute new energy to the grid, including both renewables and “firming power”. [Firming could refer to batteries and hydropower, but also gas.] The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the new rules will need to be ratified by state premiers and chief ministers next month. The newspaper adds that conservative governments in Queensland and Tasmania “may baulk at any requirements to pressure data centre firms to build renewables ahead of other forms of energy”. Reuters notes that Albanese also said data centres will need to limit their water use. In fact, the Guardian says operators “will be required to pay for new water infrastructure needed to cool the facilities”.

MORE ON AI

• E&E News reports that global electricity consumption from data centres grew by 17% last year, reaching around 2% of global electricity consumption.
• Bloomberg reports that developers are providing green bonds and loans to finance data centres that they say will be energy efficient and powered by renewable energy.
• The UN Environment Programme is using AI to quickly identify emissions of methane from satellite data and alert governments and companies, according to E&E News.
• US president Donald Trump has “slammed” New York governor Kathy Hochul’s move to “bar the construction of certain large-scale data centres”, according to CNBC.
• Bloomberg explains that Thailand is introducing a separate electricity tariff for data centres, requiring them to pay a higher rate to prevent a surge in electricity demand from raising household bills.

In an “overhaul” of its emissions trading system (ETS), the EU is set to “slow cuts to emission limits” over the next decade, giving heavy industry more time to expand clean technologies, while keeping the bloc on track for climate neutrality by 2050, according to Bloomberg. The news outlet explains that this would involve an adjustment to the decrease in the level of carbon allowances – which companies must buy for each tonne of carbon they emit – that is available over time. The Financial Times explains that, under the review, the EU would enable new allowances for emissions “well into the 2040s” – while at the moment, the scheme “does not allow for the release of any new allowances to pollute until 2039”. The newspaper says the European Commission will lay out these plans on Friday.

Separately, Reuters reports that 10 EU member states have called for the bloc to use the revision of the ETS to “also rethink a new CO2 price, known as ETS2, that the EU plans to impose on heating and transport fuels from 2028”. 

MORE ON EUROPE

• The German government is planning an energy cost relief package for businesses and consumers worth €13.3bn in 2027, drawn from the nation’s climate ​and transformation fund, according to Reuters.
• Greece is opposing a new round of EU sanctions against Russian gas to protect a Greek shipping company “that has specialised in transporting Russian cargoes from a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the Arctic region”, reports the Financial Times.
• Bloomberg reports that German industrial output is at risk as a heatwave is drying up the Rhine river, the country’s most important inland waterway.
• Le Monde reports that the French government says France is experiencing a “very worrying” drought that has driven a record number of water restrictions.
  

China’s power load hit another “all-time high” of 1,550 gigawatts (GW) on Tuesday, after reaching a record 1,518GW last week, reports China Electric Power News (CEPN). The newspaper adds that, according to National Energy Administration (NEA) estimates, China’s maximum power load could exceed 1,600GW if “widespread extreme heat occurs”. Cross-grid mutual support and interprovincial power trading helped meet additional demand, allowing power supply to remain “generally stable”, the NEA and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said, according to industry news outlet BJX News. 

China’s power consumption in June reached 898,100 gigawatt-hours, up 3.7% year on year, according to BJX News. Thermal power generation rose 0.5%, while wind power generation fell 5.6% and solar increased 14.2%, reports CEPN. Coal production fell 9.7%, the biggest year-on-year decline since 2016, due to mine closures over safety concerns, reports Bloomberg. The China Electricity Council published its annual power industry report, saying that carbon intensity for the power sector “stood at 514 grams per kilowatt-hour, “down 2.6% year-on-year and 40.1% lower than in 2005”, according to the carbon-focused news outlet IdeaCarbon.

MORE ON CHINA

• Chinese oil refiners’ output fell 18% in June, the lowest level in six years, amid “worsening demand” and oil supply disruptions, reports Bloomberg. Reuters says the electrification of taxis and rideshare boom show transportation in China is becoming “less dependent on oil”.
• The NDRC has released draft measures for public comment on managing medium- and long-term contracts for energy supply, reports BJX News.
• Xinhua: “China calls for the establishment of a governance system for critical minerals for energy transition.”
• China has allocated 430m yuan ($63.6m) to support regions hit by floods and typhoons, according to People’s Daily.
  

UK home secretary Shabana Mahmood is set to become the UK’s next chancellor, according to three people “briefed on the thinking” of incoming prime minister Andy Burnham, reports the Financial Times. The newspaper explains that Ed Miliband, the energy security and net-zero secretary, was considered the “frontrunner”, but is now “likely to become” foreign secretary. The article says: “Some trade unions and many Labour MPs argue Miliband’s determined pursuit of net-zero is harming the economy, while corporate leaders and the City of London feared he might preside over more borrowing or pursue anti-business policies.” The Daily Telegraph says there were concerns from “City bosses” and Labour MPs that Miliband “would accelerate the country’s move to net-zero”. The Times notes that Miliband is also seen by some as a “divisive” figure with significant “baggage” after his five years as party leader. The newspaper says “the pound has risen to a two-month high against the dollar” since the news about Mahmood emerged. The story is on the frontpages of the Financial Times and the Guardian.

MORE ON UK

• The Press Association reports on polling – commissioned by fossil-fuel industry group Offshore Energies UK – that finds “almost half of people want the UK government to back new oil and gas developments” in the North Sea.
• Politico has commissioned polling that finds this summer’s extreme heat has made 33% of people “more supportive of government efforts to build more clean energy projects”.
• The Daily Telegraph say housebuilding companies are claiming that the government’s new future homes standard is “forcing them to install solar panels on houses even when they do not receive any sun”.
• The Guardian reports that Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has backed calls for a maximum workplace temperature amid concerns about worker safety during heatwaves.
• The Press Association reports that more than 140,000 people have “benefited from a government scheme designed to reduce the cost of electric vehicles in its first year”.

Former senior civil servant and a senior fellow at the Institute for Government, Jill Rutter, writes in the Financial Times about the importance of focusing on climate adaptation as well as cutting emissions. She says: “No one is out on the street stopping traffic for it – indeed, some climate activists are hostile because they fear it will cloud the goal of reducing emissions. It has no dedicated budget. It is not amenable to a simple target or slogan.” Rutter says that “this summer is a reminder of the cost of failing to adapt” and says that incoming prime minister Andy Burnham should “treat adaptation as a value-for-money issue”. She adds that adaptation is a “natural fit” as a Treasury issue, proposing that the Treasury “should lead on adaptation planning as an economic and social risk”.

This comes amid on-going speculation about who will lead the Treasury in Burnham’s government. John Rentoul, chief political commentator at the Independent, says he is pleased that Miliband is now unlikely to get the chancellor job, claiming he is “unpopular” with the public and with “two of the large unions that represent North Sea workers”. Daily Mail columnist Dan Hodges also points to “opposition from the unions” and Miliband’s “net-zero obsession” as potential reasons for him not to get the job. A Sun editorial cites polling from a fossil-fuel industry group suggesting some people want more oil and gas extraction, stating that Miliband should “drop his opposition to North Sea drilling”. [See Carbon Brief’s factcheck on myths about the North Sea.]

MORE COMMENT

• Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, has a piece in the Guardian titled: “Surviving extreme heat increasingly boils down to this: access to air conditioning.”
• Daily Telegraph columnist Ella Whelan uses an article to accuse the Green party of being “hypocrites” because of their alleged opposition to air conditioning. [Whelan cites one example in the article, in which the Greens actually support the use of air conditioning in schools.]
• Net-zero sceptic columnist Juliet Samuel has a piece in the Times stating that the “rush to net-zero is a huge risk for the national grid”.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Josh Gabbatiss, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Anika Patel. It was edited by Daisy Dunne.

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