The final investment decision for the Hinkley Point new nuclear power station has been delayed again. French firm EDF has taken the item off the agenda for a board meeting today following last-minute concerns from some of the company’s most important backers, the Financial Times reports. EDF is reportedly struggling to find cash to fund its two-thirds stake in the £18bn Hinkley scheme, says the Telegraph. Unions have a long list of concerns, listed by Greenpeace EnergyDesk. The Guardian also has the story. Meanwhile EDF has signed a preliminary deal to build six similar reactors in India, reports Reuters. Separately, Reuters reports that China is on course to meet its 2020 nuclear power targets, with 24 units under construction.

The symbolic “Doomsday Clock” has been fixed at three minutes to midnight for humanity’s end for the second year in a row, because of the threat of climate change and nuclear war, reports the Guardian. The Iran nuclear deal and Paris climate agreement prompted the clock’s keepers to leave it unchanged rather than pushing it closer to midnight, says Reuters. The clock is the closest it has been to catastrophe since the Cold War, says Dailymail.com. The Hill and Grist also have the story.

The World Bank has “dramatically” revised down its forecast for oil prices to an average of $37 this year, says the Financial Times, having last year predicted $52 for 2016. The bank thinks oil will stay below $40 this year, reports the Hill. Reuters also has the story. The Scottish government will lobby George Osborne in the hope of tax cuts to protect the North Sea oil industry from low prices, report Reuters and the Telegraph. The New York Times says the “draw of cheap oil” is the first big hurdle for the Paris climate agreement, with Americans eschewing electric cars in favour of SUVs. Politico says EU industry will be less likely to cut emissions as carbon prices have slumped.

Environmental reviews of new oil pipelines and gas export terminals will have to consider climate impacts says Canadian premier Justin Trudeau, according to Reuters. Several large schemes including Energy East, Trans Mountain and Pacific NorthWest could be affected by the move. Last year’s US decision to block the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada cited climate change as part of its refusal. The Hill also has the story.

Three major US shale oil firms have “slashed” their spending plans for the year ahead, reports Reuters, with one saying prices would have to rise more than 20% for it to return to profit. One of the firms plans to cut spending by two thirds, after a 46% cut last year, reports the Financial Times. Another will cut investment by 40%, it says.

Payments to reduce emissions from deforestation are not going to those that need it most, according to new research reported by the BBC. The study says that the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) schemes can have significant negative impact on the livelihoods of indigenous communities, with social safeguards proving ineffective on the ground.

The rate at which people consume resources matters too when it comes to humanity’s impact on the planet, argues Madeleine Somerville in the Guardian. She reflects on whether over-population is really the problem, pointing out that the average American’s environmental impact equals that of 20 Indians or 350 Ethiopians.

This year’s exceptional snowstorm on the US east coast broke a string of records, writes Andrew Freedman for Mashable. Many scientists suspect global warming tilter the scales in favour of heavier blizzards, he says, with milder than average sea surface temperatures off the coast adding moisture to the storm.

Oil silently seeping out of the sea floor along continental margins looks to be fuelling plant growth in the overlying water, according to new research. Using shipboard measurements and satellite images of ocean colour, scientists detected elevated chlorophyll – the green pigment in plants – in water influenced by natural hydrocarbon seeps. Nutrients are thought to upwell from the seeps, supporting higher growth in the surface water. Natural hydrocarbon seeps account for 47% of the oil released into the oceans, the paper notes.

Episodes of extremely heavy rain in Northern China have been found to be closely linked to a natural climate fluctuation known as the Pacific decadal Oscillation. From 1951-2012, a Beijing weather station experienced five extreme events with at least 160mm of rainfall each day – all of which took place during the negative phase of the PDO. Cases that extreme are to be expected once every decade in the negative phase compared to once every four decades in the positive phase.