The EU has “walked back” its 2035 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles, reports Agence France-Presse. Car manufacturers will now only have to cut greenhouse gas emissions from new vehicles to 90% below 2021 levels by 2035, rather than the previously planned 100%, the outlet explains. The Guardian notes that, in practice, the new proposal from the European Commission allows for the continued production of “a portion of plug-in hybrid electric cars, or even combustion engines beyond 2035”. In what the newspaper describes as “a carrot-and-stick approach”, the remaining 10% of vehicles will need to be compensated by other “green measures”, such as the use of green steel or biofuels in non-electric vehicles.

Deutsche Welle says pressure from car manufacturers, “sluggish EV [electric vehicle] adoption” and “massive competition from China” all contributed to the decision. [European EV sales are up 33% year-on-year in 2025 to date.] Conversely, BBC News notes that opponents of the move argue “it risks undermining the transition towards electric vehicles and leaving the EU exposed in the face of foreign competition”. In a piece capturing responses to the new policy, Reuters notes that the car industry itself is “divided” on the issue, with some companies in favour and some against.

The Daily Mail describes the move as a “major climbdown” by the EU and states that it “heaps fresh pressure on the UK government to reconsider its deadline”. The UK already plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars five years earlier than the EU in 2030, explains the Times. [It does not mention that the UK will allow hybrids to be sold until 2035.] The Daily Telegraph frames the EU’s decision as part of a “pro-business push that has seen it pare back environmental laws this year, claiming they risk weighing on growth”. Bloomberg says UK consumers have “embraced electric cars more quickly than most of Europe”, including Chinese EVs.

MORE ON EVS

• Japanese government officials are looking to introduce new taxes on EVs and plug-in hybrids under proposed changes to the nation’s tax code, according to Nikkei Asia.
• Sixteen US states and the District of Columbia are suing the Trump administration for what they describe as “the unlawful withholding of over $2bn in funding for two electric vehicle charging programmes”, reports the Associated Press.
• Deutsche Welle reports that “Donald Trump is pushing gas guzzlers over EVs” in the US, meaning that “China is now set to race further ahead into an electrified automotive future”.
• A $19.5bn writedown by Ford – “tied to a reset of its electric-vehicle business” – indicates the challenges for automakers as they “navigate waning demand and a changed regulatory backdrop”, according to analysts cited by Reuters. [Global EV sales are up 21% in 2025 to date, but down 1% in North America.]
• Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest car manufacturer, is set to launch its first all-electric vehicle, with a goal of “greener vehicles” – including those powered by compressed natural gas – making up around 45% of its overall national sales by March 2027, reports Bloomberg.
• The Times of India reports that experts have called on the Indian government to focus on investing in public transport and the transition to electric vehicles, amid plans to phase out older car models.

Global demand for coal is set to reach a record high for 2025, plateauing before dropping about 3% lower in 2030 compared to 2025 levels, according to the latest International Energy Agency (IEA) figures covered by Reuters. It says that demand in China, the world’s largest consumer of coal, was “largely flat” in 2025 and is expected to fall slightly by 2030 as renewable capacity increases. The Financial Times says the data shows “the difficulties of the world quitting the dirty fuel despite a surge in clean energy sources”. It adds that new policies supporting coal in the US have boosted its output, while low wind speeds in Europe have slowed its transition to renewable electricity. The Australian Financial Review frames the increase in coal use in 2025 as being “powered by a rebound in the US under the anti-renewables policies of the second Trump administration”. Bloomberg and Agence France-Presse also cover the new IEA coal report.

MORE ON COAL

• US energy secretary Chris Wright has signed an “emergency order” to keep a unit open at Washington state’s TransAlta coal-power plant, despite a state law ending the use of coal power from next year, reports the Seattle Times.

The Trump administration plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, one of the world’s leading climate research labs, according to the Washington Post. Russell Vought, the director of the US Office of Management and Budget, wrote on X that “this facility is one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country”, reports the newspaper. USA Today notes that the administration plans a review that will eliminate what it calls “green new scam research activities”, while “vital functions” such as weather modelling and supercomputing will be moved elsewhere. The news outlet adds that the move follows major cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 

MORE ON US

• Three Democratic senators in the US have launched an investigation into whether and how the operations of data centres used for artificial intelligence (AI) are driving up residential electricity bills, according to the New York Times.
• The Verge reports on the “mad rush” to install solar panels before tax credits from the federal government run out in the US.

Arctic temperatures over the past year were the hottest in 125 years of record keeping, according to the latest “Arctic report card” published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and covered by the Guardian. The article notes that the last 10 years have been the region’s 10 warmest on record, with its oldest, thickest ice declining by more than 95% since the 1980s. Scientific American says that “even the central Arctic Ocean is becoming warmer and saltier, causing more ice melt and changing how much heat is released into the atmosphere in a way that affects weather patterns around the world”. The New York Times focuses on how increasing rainfall has washed toxic minerals into more than 200 rivers across northern Alaska. NPR notes that this year’s NOAA report “comes amid sweeping changes to federal science”, with the Trump administration curtailing climate research in particular. Nevertheless, it notes that the report references climate change as the driver of the Arctic shifts.

China’s electricity consumption is set to reach a “record high” in 2025, with total power use estimated to surpass 10,000 terawatt-hours (TWh) nationwide, exceeding the combined consumption of the EU, Russia, India and Japan in 2024, reports the state news agency Xinhua, citing data released at China’s “national energy work conference” on Monday. The newswire adds that rising electricity demand has been driven largely by the “high-tech and advanced manufacturing industries”, with demand for new energy vehicle (NEV) manufacturing and wind-power equipment manufacturing projected to jump by more than 20% and 30% year-on-year, respectively. State-supporting newspaper Global Times also covers the story, saying the conference reiterates a goal of adding more than 200 gigawatts (GW) of new wind and solar power generation capacity in 2026, while proactively laying the groundwork for future energy industries such as hydrogen and nuclear power.

Industry news outlet BJX News says that the conference also outlined seven key energy-sector tasks for China for 2026, with Zheng Shanjie, head of China’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and Wang Hongzhi, head of the National Energy Administration (NEA), addressing the conference. It says the major tasks include formulating and implementing the “15th five-year plan” in the energy field, ensuring energy security, advancing the “green and low-carbon transformation”, advancing “self-reliance and self-strengthening” in energy technology, safeguarding the energy needs of both households and enterprises, deepening energy reform and strengthening the rule of law, and expanding international energy cooperation. 

MORE ON CHINA

• People’s Daily publishes an article in its print edition saying that, influenced by factors such as global warming, China has frequently experienced above-average winter temperatures – even under La Niña conditions – since the beginning of this century, according to Zhang Daquan at the National Climate Centre.
• Another article by People’s Daily on the frontpage of its print edition calls for China to lay a “solid foundation” next year for achieving carbon peaking by 2030.
• Reuters publishes a comment by energy columnist Gavin Maguire saying that global shipments of thermal coal have “posted their first annual decline” since 2020, partly due to a 12% year-on-year drop in China’s coal imports.
• Bloomberg reports that China has started granting licenses to allow European companies to “obtain critical minerals essential” for industries, including clean tech, according to Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission’s trade chief.
• An article by the Financial Times says that shares of batteries, transformers and other equipment from China have “rocketed” this year as power-hungry data centres across the world “rush to secure” connections amid the global AI build-out.

Canada has announced new rules to cut methane emissions from the country’s oil-and-gas sector to 75% below 2014 levels by 2035, reports Reuters. The regulations, which will come into effect from 2028, have a deadline five years later than the ones advanced under prime minister Mark Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, according to the newswire. It adds that Trudeau’s proposal faced pushback from the fossil-fuel industry. The Canadian Press notes that the new federal document, which also covers methane from landfills, expands on regulations from 2018 and includes strengthened leak detections, repair requirements and new standards on methane venting. The Globe and Mail explains that the measures are more stringent than those behind the previous goal, which is on track to be met this year despite rising Canadian fossil-fuel production. The newspaper says the regulations are expected to cost the industry C$14bn ($10.2bn), but allow producers more flexibility to implement “solutions that make the most sense for them”.

MORE ON CANADA

• Carney has acknowledged in an interview with Radio-Canada that his nation will not meet its targets for reducing emissions in either 2030 and 2035, according to Agence France-Presse.
• DeSmog reports that, despite Carney “playing up” the importance of protecting Canada’s energy sovereignty by expanding fossil fuel extraction, the reality is that US ownership of Canadian oil resources “is increasing”.

The Met Office has confirmed that 2025 has been the sunniest year on record for the UK, Sky News reports. It adds: “All that sunshine, combined with the build out of more solar farms and panels on roofs, meant solar power soared to record levels in 2025.” The Guardian reports that more than 6% of Britain’s “annual energy requirements” were met by solar this year, an increase of more than 50% from recent years [the 6% figure refers to electricity, rather than all energy]. While the UK has been getting sunnier since the 1980s, the Met Office says climate projections do not show definitive evidence of a future trend in sunshine, specifically, due to climate change, the article notes.

MORE ON UK

• The Times reports that the UK government has “watered down” its “biodiversity net gain rules” – a legal requirement for housebuilders to create more woodlands, wetlands and other habitats than they destroy. A Times editorial welcomes the move.
• DeSmog has an article about how PR firm Brunswick Group has “aimed to neutralise growing calls for theatres, museums and galleries to distance themselves from climate polluters” in the UK.
• British Gas-owner Centrica has sold its remaining North Sea oil and gas assets to Serica Energy in a £57m deal, according to Energy Voice.

India’s government plans to “open its nuclear sector to private companies”, Bloomberg reports. It says the bill has been cleared by cabinet and is “seeking lawmakers’ approval”. It adds that the bill aims to “help build” 100 gigawatts (GW) of new nuclear capacity by 2047. India’s state-owned nuclear corporation “currently operates 25 reactors” with a total capacity of 8.8GW and is “counting on private capital to help overcome a funding crunch”, it continues. It notes that India has “long been cautious about liberalising its nuclear sector” after the 1984 Bhopal gas leak, “which ushered in tougher industrial and environmental rules and made India the only country to impose liability on both equipment suppliers and operators”.

The reforms “come as India seeks to meet its climate commitments” while “ensuring grid stability and energy security” even as renewable capacity “has expanded rapidly”, Down to Earth reports. However, energy analysts quoted in the story caution that effectiveness depends on whether “private players are willing to invest in projects with high upfront costs and long construction timelines”, while “tariff design, waste management and public acceptance are likely to remain contentious”. The Press Trust of India, Times of India and Economic Times also report on the story. 

MORE ON INDIA:

• India’s climate ministry tells parliament that it “won’t use international rankings to shape its climate or pollution policy” and that “isolating the climate component” of economic loss and damage “remains a challenge”, Carbon Copy reports.
• The Washington Post covers the decades-old dispute over the Mullaperiyar dam in south India and how the “increasing likelihood” of storms “supercharged” by climate change” could “push the dam past its breaking point.”
• A Mongabay documentary looks at how extreme heat “magnifies” disability in Odisha, India’s “most vulnerable state to climate change”.
• As Ahmedabad officially gears up to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, an Indian Express comment observes that “[a]thlete safety, fan experience, financial viability and India’s long-term sporting ambitions all depend on” integrating climate and sports policies. 

Azerbaijani COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev has penned an article for Climate Home News laying out the future of the “Baku to Belém roadmap” for scaling climate finance up to $1.3tn by 2035. Babayev says that he – and others behind the roadmap – were pleased to see it referenced in the central text that emerged from COP30. He writes: “[Countries] told us that while they don’t necessarily agree with every line, they still see the value of the exercise and want to build on it. This is a radical change from the normal process.” Babayev says the roadmap asked developed countries to work together on a delivery plan, explaining how they will meet the $300bn-per-year climate finance goal for which they are largely responsible. More broadly, he stresses that countries need to “think outside the box on how we deliver the aims and objectives that we have set ourselves”. The Baku to Belém roadmap “could be a template for one such evolution of the COP process”, he says.

MORE COMMENT

• The Financial Times US national editor Edward Luce writes that US president Donald Trump has “unilaterally disarm[ed} on the global energy race” against China, by phasing out support for low-carbon energy.
• The Guardian publishes letters voicing concerns over a recent editorial that argued against solar geoengineering from Bryony Worthington, lead author of the UK’s Climate Change Act, as well as from climate researcher Dr Portia Adade Williams with Angela Churie Kallhauge of the Environmental Defense Fund.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Josh Gabbatiss, with contributions from Aruna Chandrasekhar and Henry Zhang. It was edited by Simon Evans.