Shareholders at the beleaguered energy giant EDF have approved plans for a €4bn equity fund to help pay for the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant in Somerset. The UK and French governments remain committed to the scheme despite ballooning costs and opposition from within EDF, reports the BBC, as the French firm is expected to make its long-delayed final investment decision on Thursday. This comes in the same week that the energy firm’s offices were raided by the French stock market regulator AMF, requesting to see financial paperwork regarding both Hinkley Point and plans to refit France’s existing nuclear power plants. Separately, Energydesk notes that with an agreed strike price of £92.5/MWh, the cost of power to be generated by Hinkley Point is higher than from offshore wind turbines in the UK.

Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) and Labour MP Mary Creagh has written to Brexit secretary David Davis urging him to reassure businesses that the environmental standards set under EU law will be protected in light of Britain’s decision to leave the bloc. Citing figures which show the low-carbon economy was worth £46.2bn in 2014, the open letter calls for clarity on how transnational co-operation on climate change will be maintained post-Brexit: “It is crucial that the government demonstrates its commitment to environmental protection at an early stage in the exit negotiations.” Responding to the letter, a spokesperson said the government is working on its manifesto commitment of a 25-year plan, calling it a “historic opportunity to consider a long-term vision for the environment outside of the EU”. Energy Live News has more. Elsewhere, a Nature News piece on how Brexit “looms large” over EU climate policies quotes policy experts who say that wrangling over the terms of exit seems likely to delay the EU’s ratification of the Paris climate agreement.

Jet engine exhaust endangers public health by contributing to climate change, concluded a report from the US Environmental Protection Agency on Monday, marking a key step in the Obama administration’s goal of reducing emissions by up to 28% below 2005 levels by 2025. Large commercial jets account for 11% of all emissions from the transport sector and are expected to grow by 50% by 2050 as demand for air travel increases. Targeting aviation emissions signals Obama’s “final piece of climate legacy”, says Climate Home while BusinessGreen says the EPA ruling paves the way for federal limits on pollution. The Washington Post has more on the story.

Britain’s biggest power plant said it is optimistic that tight UK power supplies this winter will raise electricity prices, after low prices in the first six months of the year saw profits plunge by 59%. A contingency plan by National Grid aims to bolster supplies by paying 10 power plants to stay open, after announcing earlier this month that the spare capacity margin between power plants operating under normal market conditions and peak demand would fall to just 0.1% this winter, the lowest on record.

A new study suggests that rising levels of CO2 in the ocean interferes with the ability of fish to reproduce by making dominant males less decisive. The researchers observed “subtle but ecologically important” changes in ocellated wrasse, a common Mediterranean fish, in areas near underwater volcanic vents which seep CO2 into the water. Spawning with females was reduced by almost two thirds in areas of high CO2, explains Prof Mario Milazzo from the University of Palermo who led the study: “They are not more stupid but they are slower in taking their decisions.” Dominants males increased their chance of fathering offspring in the higher CO2 areas, however, suggesting acidification may be also impacting the sperm quality of competing male wrasse.

With the earth on track for its hottest year on record, temperatures in the first six months of the year have taken scientists by surprise, reports Reuters. Temperatures together with early and fast Arctic sea ice melt and “new highs” in atmospheric carbon dioxide point to quickening climate change, said the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation. Director of the WMO’s climate research program, David Carlson, told Reuters: “We predicted moderate warmth for 2016, but nothing like the temperature rises we’ve seen.” The WMO is looking into whether a reported temperature of 54C in Kuwait last Thursday is a new high for the eastern hemisphere and Asia, adding that the increased frequency of extreme weather events drawing greater attention from the international community for the risk they place on people, animals and water systems.

A Nature Climate Change editorial examines the unique science-policy interactions coming out of the Paris Agreement. Science played only a partial (yet significant) role in informing the politically ambitious target to limit temperature rise to well below 2C, and to strive for 1.5C, but those policy objectives are now feeding back into scientific research agendas. The editorial looks ahead to the special report on 1.5C by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change due in 2018, about which it says the details remain to be established and the most appropriate focus for this work is somewhat controversial”. Teaming up with sister publication, Nature Geoscience, the journal has launched an online repository for important new research that addresses the “merits and uncertainties” associated with the 1.5C ambition.

The Paris Agreement stipulated an aspiration to limit the level of global temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will publish a special report on 1.5C in 2018 – for which researchers must decide which efforts to prioritise, and begin work almost immediately. This collection draws together content from Nature Climate Change, Nature Geosciences and Nature to provide perspectives on how 1.5C research might best move forward. It will be updated as new research findings are published.

Science-based role play exercises have considerable potential for helping to educate and engage people on climate change adaptation, a new study says. The researchers describe results from two projects on how face-to-face decision-making simulations enhance adaptation knowledge and the capacity to collaborate with other stakeholders. These exercises “should be more widely embraced as part of adaptation professionals’ education and engagement toolkits”, the paper concludes.