The EU plans to introduce policies and funding to shift more of its economy to run on electricity, instead of fossil fuels, according to a draft European Commission document seen by Bloomberg. The news outlet says the EU will also set out an electrification goal, which will be expressed as a percentage share of energy consumption by 2040. It adds that the commission will unveil the target in a policy plan scheduled for 17 July, then aim to embed it into a law as part of its post-2030 energy framework proposal towards the end of the year. Reuters says the EU is “preparing measures to incentivise this shift”, which could include “mandating the installation of heat pumps in public buildings” and “stronger public ​procurement targets for electric ⁠vehicles”. The newswire says the bloc is also considering measures to “phase out fossil fuel subsidies” to make electricity more cost competitive with oil and gas. EUobserver says the EU estimates that faster electrification “could replace around two-thirds of EU gas demand and halve oil consumption by 2040”.

MORE ON EU

• Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, has urged the EU to reconsider its opposition to Arctic oil and gas exploration so it can access “every drop of oil from Norway”, according to the Financial Times.
• Projects linked to the EU’s net-zero targets will be “exempt” from the green spending requirements guiding the EU’s next seven-year budget, meaning they are considered “green by default”, reports Euractiv.
• Sweden has vowed to block efforts to dilute the EU emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) ahead of a “policy showdown next week”, as 10 member states push “for the policy to be gutted”, according to Politico.
• Companies and investors have warned that a ban on EU funding for Chinese-made inverters “could slow or even halt the rollout of solar and wind projects in poorer European countries that rely on public money”, according to Reuters.

The Trump administration has chosen Matthew Wielicki – a former University of Alabama geochemist and self-described “professor in exile” – to lead the nation’s climate change office, known as the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), according to the Independent. The article includes quotes from Wielicki, who has written that “the science is not settled on climate change” and argued that those who believe in a “climate emergency” are “being sold snake oil”. This picks up from reporting by Politico, which says the Trump administration has “gutted” the USGCRP as part of its “purge of programmes that didn’t line up with its worldview”. The news outlet says Wielicki, who it describes as a “climate critic”, will be in charge of the congressionally mandated national climate assessment, which is released every four years. Common Dreams quotes another researcher, who describes the choice of Wielicki as “like putting a Flat Earther in charge of NASA”.

MORE ON US

• The cost of balancing power supplies on the largest US grid has “spiked this year to astronomical ​levels during extreme weather, exposing strains from overloaded transmission lines and booming datacentre demand”, reports Reuters.
• The New York Times Climate Forward newsletter reports on how “recent technological advances” have helped to bring US plans to expand nuclear power closer to reality.

The Trump administration has moved to loosen truck pollution regulations put in place by former president Joe Biden and allowing the sale of some engines “that do not meet the tougher tailpipe ‌rules”, according to Reuters.  Agence France-Presse describes the move as the administration’s “latest environmental rollback that benefits makers of fossil-fuel burning vehicles”. The New York Times says the move would “repeal some, but not all, provisions in a clean-air rule that the Biden administration finalised in 2023”. The newspaper adds that the rule was designed to significantly reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide pollution from truck tailpipes. It explains that, while the rules did not mandate the sale of electric trucks, manufacturers could comply with the Biden-era rules by making more electric or hybrid models, using more hydrogen fuel cells or increasing fuel efficiency.

China has issued an action plan for carbon peaking during the 15th “five-year plan” period, according to state news agency Xinhua. The plan outlines key tasks across areas, including accelerating the development of non-fossil energy and promoting “green and low-carbon” industrial development, adds the newswire. The plan also calls for enhancing the power system’s ability to integrate and utilise renewable energy, says energy news outlet International Energy Net. It also sets out targets for 2030, including 300GW of new energy storage capacity and more than 50GW of maximum regulation capacity of virtual power plants, according to industry news outlet BJX News. The plan also calls for fully phasing out coal-fired power units that fail to meet environmental protection, energy efficiency, coal-use, safety or age requirements, says another BJX News article. The action plan signals that China is moving towards a “greater focus” on ensuring renewable energy is used, reports Bloomberg. China also aims to have new energy vehicles (NEVs) account for 30% of all vehicles by 2030, reports Reuters.

MORE ON CHINA

• China Daily reports that flash floods in south-western China’s Guangxi have killed 39 people, local authorities said yesterday. China is expecting more torrential rain and flooding this weekend from the massive Typhoon Bavi, says Bloomberg.
• Chinese outlet Net Zero Age carries a translation of an article by COP31 president Murat Kurum for Project Syndicate, saying that electrification is the way forward for the world amid the global energy crisis.
• China pushed back against the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s claim that an “overcapacity of goods” is entering the EU, reports Yicai. A Xinhua comment says that the hype around “China overcapacity” is partly fuelled by its “growing pains” in the EU’s energy transition.
• A Global Times editorial says automakers from Europe and China can find a “win-win path” through cooperation, which “aligns with Europe’s green ambitions”.
• Financial Times: “Chinese companies use rare-earths ban to squeeze out foreign rivals.”

The UK is “sweltering through the peak of its third heatwave of the year”, with “significant impacts…across health and social care services”, reports the Guardian. The newspaper says that “many countries across Europe are still reckoning with the fallout from the last heatwave”. It quotes a researcher, who states that climate change is “making every heatwave hotter”. BBC News reports that UK “heat health” alerts have been extended. The Independent reports that, for the first-time ever, an average of 80,000 people visited A&E every day in June, “as record temperatures hit the UK”. BBC News reports from “inside A&E as UK swelters”. The Daily Telegraph has an article – with an accompanying opinion piece by the president of the Royal College of Surgeons – about surgeries being “stopped halfway through as heatwave hits hospitals”. BBC News quotes a doctor who says Southampton General Hospital was brought “very close to collapse” by the heatwave in June.

The Press Association says extreme heat in the UK “is causing early harvests and forcing local authorities to introduce hosepipe bans”. The Press Association also reports that total UK retail footfall dropped by 3.4% last month compared to the previous year, amid the extreme heat. Another Press Association story says one-in-five school sessions in England “were missed during the peak of last month’s heatwave”. The Guardian has an article with a warning from vets about UK pets suffering from heatstroke. In a frontpage story, the Financial Times reports that Eurostar has ordered trains that can operate at 55C “as it prepares for the prospect of Saudi-style summers in the UK and parts of Europe”. This story is also picked up by the Daily Telegraph and the Times. BBC News reports on “extremely high” fire risk conditions in south-west England.

Great Britain’s energy system operator warned that “extreme temperatures” could hit power supplies, according to the Guardian. This warning – the third to have been issued this summer – highlights the “increased pressure on the grid as households turn on fans and air conditioners”, says the Daily Telegraph. The Times says a UK government-commissioned report shows that air-to-air heat pumps, which also function as air conditioners, “can often be more efficient than air-to-water heat pumps and gas boilers at keeping properties warm”. The Daily Telegraph has an article about Europe’s reliance on China for air conditioning units.

MORE ON UK

• Andrew Bowie, the Conservative shadow Scotland secretary, has said the UK should aim for “maximum economic recovery” of oil and gas from the North Sea, according to the Press Association.
• The Daily Telegraph has an article titled “why water shortages are coming to Britain”, which says “as the UK’s climate warms, action by individuals is key to averting rationing and economic disaster”.
• Sky News reports on mountain-breeding dotterels, which could be the “first UK bird lost to climate change”, although the global population is not at risk of extinction. The Press Association, Daily Telegraph and Daily Express all have the story.

Microsoft’s emissions increased 27% in its latest fiscal year, reaching 21.1m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to Agence France-Presse. The newswire says this adds to a “wave of worsening environmental reports from an industry racing to build AI infrastructure”. The article notes that the disclosure follows similar reports of 18% and 16% emissions increases from Google andAmazon, respectively. Bloomberg says Microsoft’s emissions surge was driven by new construction of datacentres, as well as a “previously announced pause in the purchase of some renewable energy credits”. The Verge notes that Microsoft set itself a goal to be “carbon negative” by 2030, adding that this marks the second year in a row that its emissions have increased. The Seattle Times says the company’s emissions are now “substantially higher” than when it made that pledge in 2020.

MORE ON TECH

• Floodlight reports that “planned Texas datacentres could emit more greenhouse gases than many countries”, as regulators allow new sites “with no public notice or environmental reviews”.
• A datacentre operator in Italy has purchased three hydropower dams to power its operations, according to Reuters.
• Bloomberg has a piece about “how Trump and AI datacentres are boosting nuclear power”.

Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition Conservative party in the UK, has written a comment article for the Daily Telegraph in which she lays out the kind of people she wants to recruit as Conservative MPs. The article, which is referenced on the frontpage of the newspaper, begins by Badenoch stating that she will “keep on about how Ed Miliband’s net-zero agenda is making bills more expensive for every family”. She says that, in searching for “serious people” to be MPs, she will consider their views on the UK’s net-zero strategy. [Badenoch herself has rejected the net-zero target, as laid out by Carbon Brief.] Badenoch writes: “If someone still believes in net-zero targets that make energy more expensive and are destroying industry, they are not coming back.” 

In an accompanying news piece, the Daily Telegraph says it “understands that several former Conservative MPs have been rejected as candidates for the next election for refusing to align with her views on net-zero and the European Convention on Human Rights”. The Times has also covered Badenoch’s article, stating that Badenoch “has said she will reject candidates to be Conservative MPs if they back net-zero emissions”. [In fact, as Carbon Brief’s Leo Hickman notes, Badenoch’s ultimatum may not apply to everyone who backs any net-zero goal.]

MORE COMMENT

• Historian Jean-Baptiste Fressoz writes in Le Monde that, after long being “accused of alarmism by the far right”, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “has, in fact, been too cautious, underestimating the speed of change and its impacts”.
• Carbon Brief’s climate science contributor Zeke Hausfather writes in the Climate Brink about causes of global warming in the early 20th century, when human-caused carbon dioxide emissions were relatively low.
• Wamuyu Manyara, country director for Trócaire Malawi, and climate resilience officer Tarcizio Kalaundi write in Climate Home News about the need for loss and damage finance, as the UN Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage discusses its mobilisation strategy.

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