Efforts to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels are on the verge of “collapsing”, according to UN secretary general Antonio Guterres, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). Speaking to AFP ahead of world leaders gathering in New York City for the UN General Assembly this week, Guterres said that countries “absolutely need” to submit updated climate pledges that are “fully aligned with 1.5C, that cover the whole of their economies and the whole of their greenhouse gas emissions”. The UN hopes that a climate summit on Wednesday, co-chaired by Guterres and Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, will be an “opportunity to breathe life into climate action ahead of COP30”, the newswire explains. According to Guterres, “it’s not a matter to panic. It’s a matter to be determined, to put all pressure for countries,” the article notes.

Meanwhile, in an interview with the Guardian, UN climate chief Simon Stiell says that “we’re moving in the right direction”, but “not fast enough, not deep enough”. Stiell, who will join Guterres at Wednesday’s summit, tells the newspaper that national climate pledges are “going to be softer than what science dictates is needed”. However, he adds: “It’s about how the real economy picks up those signals. Inadequate as some may think they are, those signals have a significant impact on what’s happening in the real economy.” Rather than just focusing on the effects of warming on lives and livelihoods, Stiell is keen to talk up the “economic benefits of taking climate action and what this means in terms of jobs, food security, water security”, he tells the outlet: “We’ve only been telling a partial story.”

MORE ON CLIMATE ACTION

• Reuters previews New York Climate Week, noting that it will be the “biggest” year yet, despite the “Trump chill factor”.
• With COP30 looming, “many would-be participants fear they can’t afford to attend”, reports the Associated Press.
• Governments around the world are “ramping up coal, gas and oil extraction which will put climate goals beyond reach”, says the Guardian in its coverage of this year’s “production gap” report.
• In an interview with Al Jazeera, Pakistan’s climate change minister Musadik Malik says his country is facing a “crisis of justice” following devastating flooding across the country. 

A global agreement designed to protect the world’s oceans and reverse damage to marine life is set to become international law, reports BBC News. First agreed back in 2023, the High Seas Treaty received its 60th ratification by Morocco on Friday, meaning that it will now take effect from January, the outlet explains. The treaty is the first legal framework aimed at protecting biodiversity in international waters, those that lie beyond the jurisdiction of any single country”, notes the Associated Press. It adds: “International waters account for nearly two-thirds of the ocean and nearly half of Earth’s surface and are vulnerable to threats including overfishing, climate change and deep-sea mining”. Le Monde says that ratification means the “high seas will soon have their own conference of the parties (COP)”. There is further coverage in the New York Times, Financial Times, Climate Home News and Al Jazeera, while Carbon Brief published a Q&A on the treaty back in 2023.

MORE ON OCEANS

• An increase in sightings of the venomous Portuguese man o’ war on UK beaches is because of the warming oceans, reports the Daily Telegraph.
• The Wall Street Journal asks two experts to “square off” on the debate over whether deep-sea mining should be permitted.

Plans for a second runway at the UK’s Gatwick airport have been given the go-ahead by the transport secretary, the Guardian reports. The £2.2bn privately financed project aims to increase the airport’s capacity by 100,000 flights a year, the newspaper explains, noting that it involves moving Gatwick’s emergency runway 12 metres north to allow departures of narrow-bodied planes. It adds that officials “believe the plans will be sufficiently legally robust to withstand challenges from environmental groups”. The article quotes a government source, who says that “airport expansion must be delivered in line with our legally binding climate change commitments and meet strict environmental requirements”. The story is also covered by the Independent, Press Association, BBC News, Sun, Sky News, Reuters and Daily Express. It makes the frontpages of the Times, Financial Times and Daily Telegraph. BBC News also reports that the government has not yet asked the Climate Change Committee to assess the emissions impact of a potential third runway at Heathrow, while the Mail on Sunday says that energy secretary Ed Miliband’s team has taken “24 domestic flights in less than a year”. 

Meanwhile, the Times reports that Miliband is “poised to soften the government’s position on North Sea oil and gas exploration”. While Labour’s manifesto promised the government would not issue new licences to explore new fields in the North Sea, “several sources familiar with the discussions” tell the newspaper that they expect Miliband to approve “tie-backs”, allowing new fields to be explored via adjacent existing sites. The move would not mean “billions and billions more barrels” extracted, the sources tell the newspaper, but it “would give the sector a few more years”. The Daily Telegraph and Daily Express also have the story, while the Daily Telegraph also reports on estimates indicating the North Sea “could yield up to three times more oil and gas than the government has suggested”.

MORE ON UK

• The Times reports on plans for a £830m project that would increase UK gas storage capacity by 50%.
• The Observer reports on how UK data centres pose a “challenge” for the power grid.
• An i newspaper “exclusive” reports that the Treasury is looking at ways to reduce standing charges on gas and electricity bills, which “disproportionately hit people on lower incomes”. 
• The Liberal Democrats have called for a windfall tax on big banks to fund home loans to install renewable energy systems, reports BBC News.
• The UK and the US are “exploring the use of floating nuclear power stations”, says the Daily Telegraph.
• In an “exclusive”, the Sun claims that energy secretary Ed Miliband is “plotting against Sir Keir Starmer and wants to make a comeback as Labour leader”.

The Trump administration has moved to block a Massachusetts offshore windfarm, in what the Associated Press describes as its latest effort to “hobble” the industry. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management filed a motion in federal court last week seeking to take back its approval of the “construction and operations plan” for the SouthCoast Wind project – the final federal permit needed before work can begin, the newswire explains. The project would see up to 141 turbines installed to power 840,000 homes, it notes. The article quotes one expert, who warns that offshore wind developers will now see the US as too risky: “They have plenty of options. They can invest in Europe and Asia. There are good markets to invest in offshore wind. It’s just the US is not a good market to invest in.” Analysis by Bloomberg shows the Trump administration’s obstruction of offshore wind projects in New England puts more than 15,000 prospective and current jobs under threat.

Elsewhere, California governor Gavin Newsom has signed a “sweeping package” of climate and environment bills aimed at “reducing the cost of electricity, stabilising gasoline prices and propping up California’s struggling oil industry”, reports the Los Angeles Times. The bills include an extension of the state’s cap-and-trade programme – rebranded as “cap-and-invest” – through to 2045, the newspaper notes: “[This] should funnel up to $60bn…into lowering utility bill costs for California households and small businesses during months when prices spike, officials said. Another $20bn will go toward the state’s trudging high-speed rail project and $12bn to public transit.” The bills also “boost oil drilling [and] rescue wildfire-threatened utilities”, says Politico, which describes the package as a “compromise between increasing fossil fuel extraction…and continuing to ratchet down greenhouse gas emissions”. There is further coverage in the Hill and Associated Press, while a Wall Street Journal editorial describes the move as “California’s great climate backfire”.

MORE ON US

• The US’s largest public utility is “taking a gamble” on nuclear fusion, planning to build a plant at a retired coal-fired power station in Tennessee, reports the Financial Times.
• Democrats on the House science committee are requesting a formal interview with Judith Curry, one of the authors of the Department of Energy’s misleading climate science report, says E&E News.
• E&E News looks into the members of staff at the US Environmental Protection Agency who are briefing administrator Lee Zeldin on the endangerment finding.

The EU intends to ban imports of Russian liquified natural gas (LNG) a year earlier than initially planned, following pressure from US president Donald Trump, reports Reuters. Announcing the move to phase out Russian LNG by 1 January 2027, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said: “The revenues from fossil fuels sustain Russia’s war economy…So we are banning imports of Russian LNG into European markets. It is time to turn off the tap,” the newswire reports. It explains that Trump has “repeatedly urged the bloc to end Russian energy purchases faster before he does anything further to pressure Moscow”. One analyst tells the outlet that “US supplies are of course at the top of the list” to replace Russian LNG. With the EU only able to adopt the new sanctions by unanimity, the Financial Times notes that the commission “plans to unfreeze about €550m in EU funds to Hungary…to overcome prime minister Viktor Orbán’s veto”. The story is covered widely, including by Bloomberg, Euronews, CBS News, South China Morning Post and the Daily Telegraph.

Australia has not set a renewable energy target to match its 2035 climate goal, reports ABC News, with minister Chris Bowen “distancing himself from the suggestion a near-complete renewables rollout would be needed”. The outlet continues: “Last week the federal government announced it would target an emissions reduction of 62 to 70% on 2005 levels by 2035…The [Climate Change Authority] and treasury projected Australia would need to exceed 90% renewable coverage to achieve that reduction, while also quadrupling wind power and doubling rooftop solar rates. But Mr Bowen said that was ‘commentary on the sorts of things that might happen’ and did not constitute a formal target.” Australia does have a renewables target of 82% by 2030, notes the article, which “would require a major quickening of pace to achieve”. Bloomberg also has the story.

MORE ON AUSTRALIA

• Analysis by the treasury suggests the value of Australia’s coal and gas exports could drop by 50% over the next five years as global demand for fossil fuel falls, reports the Guardian.
• The climate-sceptic opposition Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, has indicated the Coalition will not set a 2030 or 2035 climate target unless they return to government, reports the Guardian. This comes as Ley “had to clean up her own error, claiming she ‘misspoke’ after initially saying her party ‘don’t believe in setting targets at all from opposition or from government’”, the newspaper says. The Daily Mail describes the scene as an “embarrassing blunder”.
• Tom McIlroy, chief political correspondent for Guardian Australia, writes that “Labor has good reason to sweat over its 2035 climate target”.
• Zoe Daniel, former ABC foreign correspondent, writes in the Guardian that neither Labor or the Coalition is “ambitious enough” on climate change.

Huang Runqiu, head of China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), has told reporters that the past five years have been a “milestone” for China’s “ecological civilisation” efforts, reports the Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily. Huang, speaking at a press conference, said progress in building a “Beautiful China” can be seen in achievements made in five areas: the “battle against pollution”; “green and low-carbon development”; “ecological protection”; “environmental governance”; and “global environmental governance”. Huang also said that China has “established the world’s largest carbon emissions trading market”, adding it is “operating stably”, says state news agency Xinhua. MEE vice-minister Li Gao, also speaking at the press conference, said that increasing extreme weather events “further heighten the urgency of tackling climate change”, reports finance news outlet DaHe Fortune Cube. Xinhua publishes the full transcript of the conference. Finance news outlets Securities Times, Yicai and Jiemian also cover the story.

Meanwhile, Chinese premier Li Qiang has presided over a State Council executive meeting in which leading policymakers “heard a report on implementing the spirit of the national conference on ecological and environmental protection and comprehensively advancing the construction of a Beautiful China”, Xinhua reports. The meeting resolved that China’s environmental policy was a “long-term, systematic endeavor requiring sustained effort”, adding that China must enhance the “momentum of green development”.

MORE ON CHINA

• Adair Turner, the former chair of the UK’s Climate Change Committee, writes for Project Syndicate that “Europe must work with China to realise [the] potential” of the opportunity affordable Chinese cleantech creates.
• China has called on the EU to “abandon” tariffs and provide a “truly level playing field” for Chinese electric vehicles (EV), says China Daily. A “GT Voice” Global Times commentary says foreign carmakers should find the “continuity and stability” of China’s support policies for EV manufacturers attractive.
• Agence France-Presse: “What to look for in China and Europe’s climate plans.”
• The Economist writes that, even if “expectations are low” for China’s 2035 climate pledge, its clean-energy economy might help it “overdeliver” on its climate goals.
• MIIT says it will “strengthen innovation” in the lithium battery sector while accelerating “forward-looking technologies” such as solid-state batteries, People’s Daily reports.
• Bloomberg columnist David Fickling argues that China is keeping its “most polluting” steel mills running to provide steel for the EV boom. August sales of “new-energy” trucks surged 182% year-over-year, International Energy Net says.

On Friday, “thousands of people” across Germany joined Fridays for Future demonstrations demanding stronger climate action, a “gas phase out” and an “energy transition”, reports ZDF Heute. Similar protests took place worldwide, notes the outlet. Some of the banners read, “Black-red must go back to the future” and “Save the heating transition – renewable and social”. The article quotes Carla Reemtsma of Fridays for Future: “This [German] government is completely gas-intoxicated.” The governing coalition of the Union and Social Democrats is pursuing plans to build gas power plants with a total capacity of up to 20GW by 2030, the outlet adds. Rheinische Post quotes the activist Luisa Neubauer: “By now we must assume that there is no interest among the Union leadership in meeting climate targets.” Deutsche Welle has a video report on the protests.

MORE ON GERMANY

• The German parliament, Bundestag, has passed the first budget of the black-red government for the current year, providing for expenditures of around €500bn, with more than €140bn in loans planned, reports Der Spiegel. 
• The governing coalition hopes the extra spending can “shake Germany out of a prolonged economic slump”, notes Euractiv. 
• Stern adds that, of the €500bn financed through debt, €100bn will go into the climate and transformation fund for “climate protection projects”.

In an interactive feature for the New York Times magazine, climate reporter David Gelles interviews six world leaders from different parts of the world on navigating climate change amid the “difficulties posed by the Trump administration’s retreat”. Gelles speaks to the leaders of the Marshall Islands, Australia, Kenya, Bangladesh, Guyana and Finland. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, the president of Guyana, tells Gelles that climate change is a “sacrificial lamb that is always postponed”, adding: “If you look at the last five years, we have not accelerated momentum. We have really stagnated. We are not implementing what we commit ourselves to do globally.” On the US rowing back on climate action, William Ruto, the president of Kenya, tells Gelles that “I am very confident that the position of the US, of China, of Europe, of Africa must come together at some point”. He says: “We may disagree for a moment, we may disagree for a while, but reality is going to beat us into an agreement, because we have no option.”

Also in the New York Times, climate scientists Dr Zeke Hausfather and Prof David Keith write that the idea of solar geoengineering is “at least worth discussing”, if “sunlight reflection could save lives and protect the environment”. However, they caution, it would be “ no panacea”, adding: “It is effectively a Band-Aid that treats the symptoms of climate change, but not the underlying disease of greenhouse gases…The only durable way to return to cooler temperatures is to remove the excess carbon we have already added.” Hausfather has more in his newsletter, the Climate Brink.

Times science writer Tom Whipple considers the prospects for a “new nuclear age” in the UK, noting that a key problem is that “British nuclear construction is the priciest in the world”. He suggests looking to South Korea: “There are many things they do differently. Some, such as guaranteed government financing – offloading risk to taxpayers – are political choices that act as subsidies. Others are technical. In just the sort of underhand trickery you’d expect from foreigners, South Koreans build on time and to cost. To achieve this impossible infrastructure dream, they have another trick: they build one reactor, then another, then another.” There is “no mystery here”, says Whipple: “[W]hen Britain builds reactors so rarely, everyone – regulators, contractors – has to learn afresh. When we started Hinkley Point C we didn’t just have to build a new reactor. We had to build a welding school.”

MORE ON UK COMMENT

• An editorial in the Daily Telegraph claims that one of the “consequences” of rewilding is a “greater incidence of wildfires”.
• An editorial in the climate-sceptic Sun on Sunday on Labour’s forthcoming party conference says: “So for a start how about putting some money back in the pockets of voters instead of pouring it into the £803bn bottomless pit of net-zero?”
• The net-zero sceptic Daily Telegraph publishes comment articles on the UK’s “underfunded and creaking” gas network, how the Green party are the “real threat” to Labour and how a “picturesque Yorkshire village” is “battling” a planned battery storage system.
• Climate-sceptic columnist Andrew Neil writes in the Daily Mail that if prime minister Keir Starmer “really wants Britain to succeed”, he needs to “fire Ed Miliband”.

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

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