China’s renewables surge | Vatican’s solar deal | Alaska’s beaver ponds

01.08.25

News

China: Renewable energy accounts for 40% of power generation nationwide

Renewable energy accounted for nearly 40% of electricity generation in China in the first half of 2025, with additional wind and solar power generation exceeding the increase in total electricity consumption, according to data released by the National Energy Administration (NEA) covered by industry news outlet BJX News. The NEA has also announced that renewable energy accounted for 92% of China’s new power capacity installations during this period, reaching 268 gigawatts (GW), state news agency Xinhua reports. Renewable energy now accounts for nearly 60% of the total installed capacity in China, BJX News says. 113GW of distributed solar capacity was added in the first six months of 2025, according to another BJX News report. Energy news outlet International Energy Net quotes the NEA saying “energy security capabilities have steadily improved” and “green and low-carbon development is accelerating”. The body also says power supply has remained “stable” during the peak summer period, reports Xinhua.

MORE ON CHINA

The death toll from “extreme rains and flooding across northern China” has risen to at least 60 people, Reuters reports.
Qiushi publishes the full text of a 2023 speech by President Xi Jinping, in which he says China’s commitment to its climate goals is “unwavering”, but “cannot be rushed”.
Solar projects that do not use arable land “effectively” will face “restrictions on grid connection” and “suspension of subsidies”, according to a new government policy covered by International Energy Net.
The NEA says it will build a “consumption warning mechanism” to allow for the “orderly development” of distributed solar projects, reports International Energy Net.
The central committee and state council has urged local governments to take responsibility for promoting “green and low-carbon development”, Xinhua says.

UK’s largest offshore wind farm receives approval

Financial Times

One of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, Berwick Bank, has received planning permission, reports the Financial Times. The “planned 4.1 gigawatt facility located about 40km off St Abbs on the east coast [of Scotland], has faced resistance from environmentalists who argue the wind farm should not be in an area renowned for its seabirds”, the article continues. While constructed, Berwick Bank could generate enough electricity to meet the demands of every household in Scotland twice-over, reports BBC News. The Scottish government’s approval of the site comes just days after US president Donald Trump “pressured Scotland’s first minister to scrap renewable projects”, reports Sky News. Berwick Bank has been granted consent and marine licences, however, Scottish ministers “would still need to approve a detailed sea bird compensation plan from the developer, SSE Renewables, before it is given the final go-ahead”, reports BusinessGreen. This story is also covered by, among others, the Daily Telegraph, Times, Press Association, Bloomberg.

MORE ON UK

The Daily Telegraph reports that “Yorkshire could become home to the world’s first data centre powered by wood under plans to prolong the life of Drax”.
BusinessGreen covers the government’s latest energy figures, which show that renewables provided half of the UK’s electricity generation in 2024. The Daily Telegraph also covers the figures, highlighting an increase in gas imports. (See Carbon Brief’s analysis published in January: “UK’s electricity was cleanest ever in 2024.”)
The Scotsman reports that UK chancellor Rachel Reeves has been told to “axe the North Sea windfall tax” ahead of visiting Scotland.
Analysis in the Guardian questions whether “Labour’s plans to offset Heathrow expansion emissions are all pie in the sky?”

Vatican strikes solar farm deal to become the world’s first carbon-neutral state

The Associated Press

Italy has approved plans for the Vatican to turn a 430-hectare (1,000-acre) field north of Rome “into a vast solar farm that the Holy See hopes will generate enough electricity to meet its needs and turn Vatican City into the world’s first carbon-neutral state”, reports the Associated Press. The solar farm will cost under €100m ($114m) to develop and once it has final sign-off from the Italian parliament, companies will be able to bid on contracts to undertake the work, the article continues. “Details weren’t released, but the Vatican will be exempt from paying Italian taxes to import the solar panels, but won’t benefit from the financial incentives that Italians enjoy when they go solar”, the article adds.

MORE ON ENERGY

The Associated Press reports that the Trump administration is “canceling plans to use large areas of federal waters for new offshore wind development, the latest step to suppress the industry in the US”.
The Guardian reports that energy giant Shell’s profits have fallen nearly a third to $4.26bn in the second quarter of 2025.
The Financial Times says that oil and gas company Chevron is preparing for “US oil supermajor battle with Exxon”.
Reuters reports that French energy company Engie has posted a 9.4% drop in profits in the first half of 2025.

Colombia deforestation surges 43% fueled by fires, land-grabbing

Reuters

Deforestation in Columbia was up 43% in 2024 on the previous year, reports Reuters. According to new figures from the country’s environment ministry, 113,608 hectares were destroyed, largely in its Amazon region, it continues. “The figure marks a sharp reversal after 2023 saw the amount of forest land destroyed fall 36% from the prior year to 79,256 hectares – its lowest level in 23 years”, the article adds. The ministry has said that “pasture expansion for cattle, illicit crops, illegal mining and unregulated infrastructure development were to blame” for the expansion of deforestation, reports the Associated Press. According to the government, there has been a drop in the “destructive practice” in the first quarter of 2025, the article adds, due to “stronger community coordination and a crackdown on environmental crime”. Separately, Ethiopia has “launched a national campaign to plant 700m trees in one day”, reports the Associated Press.

Germany: SPD accuses Reiche of breaking the coalition agreement

Allgemeine Zeitung

German economy minister and CDU politician Katherina Reiche is planning a report that could “realign Germany’s energy transition” with a focus on “affordability, cost-efficiency and supply security”, which climate advocates warn may “stall the expansion of renewables”, reports Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). SPD energy spokesperson Nina Scheer has criticised the move, saying it questions “all existing energy policy regulations” and creates “planning and investment uncertainty”, notes the newspaper. The draft report, expected to be submitted this week, centres on projected electricity demand through 2045, which has declined in recent years. However, a “slowdown in electricity demand does not eliminate the need for strong efforts in expanding renewable energy in the coming years”, warns an unpublished report by thinktanks Aurora Energy Research and Epico, seen by FAZ. Meanwhile, Deutsche Welle reports that the German government has approved the 2026 draft budget, which includes planned investments totalling €126.7bn and borrowing of €174.3bn. Klimareporter notes that the budget introduces a new “special fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality” (SVIK), but critics argue its funding for LNG terminals and the Schwedt refinery contradicts climate-neutrality goals.

MORE ON GERMANY

Although Germany’s transport ministry budget will drop by €10bn, the rail and road investments will shift to the new SVIK, keeping total transport investment stable at a “record” €33.7bn, reports Deutschlandfunk.
Tagesspiegel Background reports that Germany’s 2025 Climate Action Report, due in August, shows progress in energy, but highlights major implementation gaps in the transport and buildings sectors.
World Politics Review: “Merz’s growth agenda could set back Germany’s energy transition.”

Comment

The climate needs a politics of the possible

Editorial, The Economist

An editorial in the Economist, which is part of a series of articles in the current edition focused on what it characterises as “greenlash”, argues that “to win voters’ consent, policymakers must offer pragmatism and hope”. While tackling climate change “was never going to be easy,” it notes, “today the problem looks particularly hard”. The editorial notes challenges in the US and Europe, but highlights that it is not a lack of “technical ability” that is holding back decarbonisation, but instead politics. The article continues to discuss the value of net-zero targets, noting that the “scientific rationale for net-zero is strong”, but that decarbonising in the short term requires “quick, deep – and painful” cuts. It concludes: “The ‘art of the possible’ may sound flat. But a politics of new possibilities could put climate policy on a more sustainable footing, as well as offering hope. That is what those fighting climate change need to offer.” Separately, the Economist carries pieces on the “humbling of green Europe”, “Donald Trump’s war on renewables” and the US’s “slashing its climate research”. Additionally, the Economist has a piece questioning whether the UK’s net-zero policies are the reason for high energy prices. (Carbon Brief has previously factchecked this claim, highlighting the role of gas in energy bills in the UK.)

Where does the climate movement go from here?

Emily Atkin and Bill McKibben, Heated

For the Heated substack, Emily Atkin interviews veteran environmentalist and journalist Bill McKibben, where they discuss “Trump’s climate assault” and the climate movement’s next steps. The fall in the price of renewables has changed the climate conversation, McKibben argues, adding that “the economic winds are at our backs and the fossil fuel industry’s job is to figure out how to slow those winds down”. The interview continues to cover climate and public health, lithium mining and solar power among other topics. It concludes with McKibben saying: “The status quo doesn’t work. The status quo is destroying the climate. The status is giving kids asthma. The status quo is producing this grotesque and insane inequality that’s wrecking our political life in every way.”

MORE IN COMMENT

In the Wall Street Journal, climate-sceptic columnist Kimberley A Strassel defends a controversial new “critical science” report commissioned by the US Department of Energy and written by a small cluster of notorious contrarians as “the rise of the climate right”.
The climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph carries a piece by Alan Cochrane arguing against offshore wind in Scotland, plus a comment piece from former energy secretary Claire Coutinho arguing that “Ed Miliband’s net-zero promises now lie in tatters”.
An editorial in the net-zero-sceptic Sun dubs the UK’s push towards renewables as “eco-madness” following the news earlier this week that New Zealand will allow oil and gas exploration again.
In Bloomberg, columnist Liam Denning writes that “coal-powered AI robots are a dirty fantasy”.

Research

Populations in small island developing states broadly accept the existence of climate change, but with “wide variation” in how they perceive the risks from climate change and who should bear responsibility for addressing it

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

By 2090, Alaska’s entire North Slope region will be suitable for beaver ponds – a change “rivalling the consolidation and settlement of Alaska Native people” in its visible effect on the state’s landscape

Environmental Research Letters

Human-driven land-use change increases carbon loss from nearby lakes, due mainly to an influx of nutrients stimulating microbial respiration

Communications Earth & Environment

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

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