Scott Pruitt, the head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, has suggested that global warming could benefit mankind. Pruitt, who has previously voiced scepticism on the role that CO2 plays in driving climate change, said during a network TV interview that he acknowledges that humans are contributing to climate “to a certain degree”, but added: “We know humans have most flourished during times of warming trends. There are assumptions made that because the climate is warming that necessarily is a bad thing.” In response to his claims, climate scientist Michael Mann told the Guardian: “As the evidence becomes ever more compelling that climate change is real and human-caused, the forces of denial turn to other specious arguments, like ‘it will be good for us’. There is no consistency at all to their various arguments other than that we should continue to burn fossil fuels.” Pruitt’s comments were subject to a detailed factcheck by Associated Press. “The Associated Press shared a transcript of Pruitt’s remarks with top U.S. scientists, and a dozen of them faulted his understanding of science,” the article reads. The story was also covered by The Hill and The Washington Post.

Tourism is the industry least prepared for climate change in Australia, a new report finds. The report, by advocacy group the Climate Council, says that climate change threatens Australia’s “five biggest attractions”, which include: beaches, wildlife, the Great Barrier Reef, unspoilt natural wilderness, and national parks. Ecologist and report co-author Prof Lesley Hughes said: “Most government and industry plans on tourism are focused on growth but they don’t also look at the other side of the coin, which is the risks. When people come here they might do other things – cultural things such as visiting the Sydney Opera House – but really the overwhelming attractions are natural icons and it’s very clear they are all already being affected.” Xinhuanet also has the story.

If all planned coal plants were built, the world would have little chance of meeting its climate change goals, a new report finds. The new study, by the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change in Berlin, finds that countries including Turkey, Vietnam and Indonesia would dramatically increase their emissions from coal between now and 2030 if they follow through on current plans. The combination of planned coal plants and existing stations could make limiting global warming to 2C above pre-industrial levels, which is a goal of the Paris Agreement, close to impossible, the researchers say. Ottmar Edenhofer, lead author of the study published in Environmental Research Letters, said: “The main message is that when we continue with the existing coal fired power plants, and build the new ones, we are closing the door to the 2 degree target.”

UK insurer Aviva is the second-biggest investor in the Polish coal industry, paying the industry a total of £370m, according to a new report. Poland’s coal industry is the second biggest in Europe after Germany. Aviva is among a number of major European insurers that are backing Polish coal expansion, which could “undermine” efforts to tackle climate change, according to research from Unfriend Coal, a global network of organisations including Greenpeace Switzerland, 350.org and the UK Tar Sands Network. DeSmogUK also have the story.

Five million of the poorest households in the UK face a £57 annual energy bill increase after the regulator allowed suppliers to put prices up, according to The Times. Regulator Ofgem blamed rising wholesale gas and electricity prices and the cost of government green energy schemes for the 5.5% rise in its price cap. In 2017, Carbon Brief reported on an analysis finding that energy bills have fallen since 2008.

A rare seahorse colony living off the coast of the UK could be put under threat by a new oil drill bid, campaigners say. Oil company Corallian Energy has submitted a bid to drill an exploratory well six kilometres out from Studland Bay in Dorset. Studland Bay is the only breeding site for both spiny and short snouted seahorses in the UK, according to Dorset Wildlife Trust. Neil Garrick-Maidment, executive director of the Seahorse Trust, told The Telegraph: “This is the most important site for seahorses in the British Isles. It will disturb their environment, they are fragile creatures.” The proposal is currently being considered by the Government.

“Viscount Ridley, a self-proclaimed ‘lukewarmer’, has again suffered the embarrassment of promoting a study that concludes global warming is having an overall positive economic impact, only to discover that it is fundamentally misleading and contains several apparent mistakes,” writes Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute. Ward’s post analyses a study that was cited by Conservative peer Matt Ridley in the House of Lords on 30 January. At this time, Ridley said: “The consensus among climate economists and, indeed, in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is that the economic impacts will be positive for the next 40 or 50 years.” However, the study cited by Ridley, which appeared in the journal Review of Environmental Economics and Policy on 12 January of this year, contains “numerous mistakes”, Ward writes.

“The world has agreed to a set of shared targets on climate change. Those targets require deep (80 to 100 percent) decarbonisation, relatively quickly,” writes David Roberts in Vox. In his post, Roberts explores three recent papers that evaluate the role that nuclear and fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage (CCS) could play in decarbonisation. He writes: “That is the core of the dispute over 100 percent renewable energy: whether it is possible (or advisable) to decarbonise the grid without nuclear and CCS.”

Meeting China’s growing milk demand could increase global dairy-related emissions by 35% by 2050, a new study reports. China has an ever-increasing thirst for milk, with a predicted 3.2-fold increase in demand by 2050 compared to the production level in 2010. However, meeting this demand will put considerable pressure on land use and animal feed, as well as drive up agricultural emissions, the study finds.