The largest public bank in the world, the European Investment Bank (EIB), has failed to halt new investments in fossil fuels after “last-minute lobbying…forced a postponement,” the Guardian reports. In the original version of its policy update, the EIB proposed cutting off all fossil fuel projects by the end of 2020 in a plan hailed as “bold and necessary” by green groups, EurActiv says. Reuters reports that Germany, the bank’s biggest shareholder, wants it to continue financing projects linked to natural gas. The Guardian’s coverage notes that executives from the EU member state-owned bank said the plan was still on track and would probably be approved next month. Over in the UK, the Guardian reports on comments made by the Bank of England governor Mark Carney, to the House of Commons treasury select committee of MPs, stating that the global financial system is backing projects that could raise the temperature of the planet by over 4C.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times has a story reporting that the incoming European Commission is exploring plans to “compel other countries to meet its climate standards or have taxes added to their products at the EU’s borders”. There are concerns the proposed carbon border adjustment risks raising tensions with major trading partners and within the bloc itself, as it could create new barriers to free trade, the paper reports.

Politico has a piece that says incoming European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s plans for a European Green New Deal are “doomed” and inevitably face being “watered down” by the EU’s institutional structure and political process. In Germany, Reuters reports plans to nearly double taxes on short-haul flights under an emissions-cutting programme intended to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The same news outlet has a piece noting that France has called on the EU to create a tax on aviation and shipping fuels in a bid to cut regional emissions. [These fuels are currently exempt of duties.]

The Guardian reports on a new campaign funded by European Livestock Voice, a group backed by organisations representing farmers and fur producers, arguing that meat and farmed animals are being wrongly blamed for climate change.

The government has pledged to ramp up its efforts to cut greenhouse gases after a progress report from the Committee on Climate Change warned current policies will not meet targets to cut emissions in the coming decades, the Independent reports. BusinessGreen also has the story, noting that the government had proposed “fresh plans” to cut emissions in transport and buildings, including “dramatically” improving the energy efficiency of commercial buildings in the private rented sector. [The Committee itself has responded to the government announcement with a statement from chief executive Chris Stark saying: “The government has indicated it has a plan for a plan to reduce emissions. Delivering the UK’s net-zero economy demands bold and brave policy commitments – and there is still a lot to do.”] Another BusinessGreen article reports on business secretary Andrea Leadsom’s appearance before a select committee in which she promised a new “pathway” to meet the UK’s net-zero emission target for 2050 during the year ahead, including a white paper on energy in the first quarter of 2020. The Guardian reports the government “also hopes to unleash a large-scale battery boom” by streamlining the planning system for energy storage projects larger than 50 megawatts. Reuters also has the story.

Separately, the Financial Times reports on the government’s long-awaited environment bill, which campaigners and politicians have called “toothless” and lacking in ambition. The Independent says that unlike the existing arrangements overseen by the European Court of Justice, the new Office for Environmental Protection will be unable to fine the government for breaches of environmental law. [However, the draft bill does not cover climate change rules, unlike a previous draft published in 2018.] In comments reported by the Evening Standard ahead of the bill’s launch, environment secretary Theresa Villiers said switching to electric vehicles and other choices “can’t fix” global warming on its own. An editorial in the same paper says the new bill “mostly just makes up for the loss of EU rules on environmental protection because of the threat of Brexit”, concluding that while the measures were welcome the bill “doesn’t go far enough”.

Meanwhile, research undertaken by Sky News has concluded that UK airports are planning to expand by 67% in the next 10-20 years, “almost three times faster than the government’s climate change advisers say is sustainable”. [Carbon Brief published a detailed run-down of airport expansion plans in relation to the UK’s net-zero goal over the summer.]

Extinction Rebellion is considering a legal challenge after police suddenly placed a ban on the group’s climate protest that covered the whole of London, Climate Home News reports. Under Section 14 of the Public Order Act, in a move the website says “may have been ordered by the Home Office”, the group’s eight day occupation of Trafalgar Square was rendered illegal, leading to nearly 100 arrests. The Times also reports on the ban, which it says has been criticised by Amnesty International and other civil liberties groups.

Many news sources report that protests in London have continued in spite of the ban. Protesters including Extinction Rebellion’s co-founder Gail Bradbrook targeted the Department for Transport and MI5 on Tuesday morning, according to BBC News. The Evening Standard notes that Scotland Yard had defended its activities, saying the decision to impose further measures on the protesters was “lawful”. A statement from London mayor Sadiq Khan said he was “not informed” about the decision and asked police to “find a way for those who want to protest the climate emergency to be able to do so legally and peacefully,” Sky News reports. MailOnline says the group had announced plans to shut down the London underground in new demonstrations “that will hit thousands of commuters on Thursday”. BBC News reports that members of the group have been invited to a Welsh government climate change conference in Cardiff on Wednesday. The Guardian has a piece on how older people have become “heroes” of the Extinction Rebellion movement.

Commentary continues to roll in on the ongoing Extinction Rebellion protests in London. The Daily Telegraph’s editorial weighs in on the crackdown by the police and the subsequent reaction from London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, who said the protests should be allowed to continue in some form. “The Extinction Rebellion organisers think their cause is so important that it trumps all other considerations. They are wrong; and the police should be supported in making it clear that they are not above the law.” Meanwhile, Guardian columnist George Monbiot announced his intention to get arrested in a “potent form of democratic protest”. “Far from deterring me, the draconian ban this week and the police demand for even greater powers has strengthened my determination. Now I feel I am standing not only for the habitability of the planet but also for the continued right to protest. This is my duty, and I intend to fulfil it,” he writes.

Other comment pieces include an article in the Independent decrying Extinction Rebellion’s “hapless stance on class and race”, while another in the Guardian states the “climate revolution must be accessible” for people with disabilities. Meanwhile, a piece by David Wallace-Wells in New York Magazine’s Intelligencer considers Extinction Rebellion and “the birth of a new climate politics”. “For a generation, the world responded to hints that the task of addressing climate change was incompatible with existing politics by deferring to the guardrails and boundaries of that politics. Whatever happens with Extinction Rebellion, the guardrails do seem to be falling away,” he writes.

An editorial in the FT responds to an independent report by Imperial College London for the Committee on Climate Change calling for a ban on air miles and an “air miles levy” instead to discourage people from flying too much. “It is an eye-catching proposal. Frequent flyer schemes have become both a lucrative business and a draw for travellers since the launch of the first in 1979. There is evidence of people abusing the system: taking more flights simply to maintain their status as ‘privileged travellers’,” the editorial says. However, it goes on to state that other policies, particularly those addressing domestic heating and energy efficiency, “would make more inroads than an attack on frequent flyer schemes”.

A new study assesses the relative impacts of climate and human management on wildfires in California’s Sierra Nevada. The researchers analysed charcoal preserved in lake sediments from Yosemite National Park to reconstruct records of local and regional area burned spanning the last 1,400 years. The findings indicate that “climate acts as a top-down, broader scale control of fire, but human management serves a bottom-up, local control”, the study says. The researchers conclude: “In light of projected anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and predicted climate changes in California, our data indicate that although active management can mitigate local fire activity, broader regional burning may become more spatially extensive than has been observed in the last century.”