The UK and Europe have experienced “mind-boggling” new temperature records for May amid a deadly heatwave, reports the Financial Times. The extreme heat has been linked to “about a dozen” deaths across the region, the newspaper says, adding: “Temperatures hit 35.1C in London on Tuesday, breaching the record of 34.8C set the previous day, according to provisional readings from the UK’s Met Office. This was 2C higher than the previous May record set in 1944. A new record was also set in Ireland on Tuesday, and agencies said France could reach new highs under a so-called heat dome where warm air from northern Africa is trapped by a high-pressure system over western Europe.” The FT quotes Prof Peter Thorne, director ICARUS Climate Research Centre at Maynooth University, who calls the temperatures “mind-boggling crazy”.

The Associated Press reports that the UK “smashed a century-old temperature record for the second time in 24 hours on Tuesday”. It adds that London experienced a “rare ‘tropical night’, defined as one in which the temperature does not fall below 20C”. It adds: “Records also fell in France, where temperatures reached 36C on Monday in the country’s southwest and widely remained above 20C at night.” France’s national weather service, Météo-France, said that its “heat dome” was “producing temperatures more than 10C above what is usual for this time of year”, according to the newswire. ABC News says the heatwave has been linked to 11 deaths in the UK and France. This includes seven people in France, five of whom died by drowning and two who suffered heat-related deaths while competing in sporting events, says the Guardian. The Independent reports that four teenagers also drowned in the UK amid the record heat. France24 reports that “restrictions on outdoor work were imposed in parts of Italy”. CNN adds that, in the UK, “a wildfire broke out near Arthur’s Seat, a hill in Edinburgh, Scotland, and hundreds of properties in south-east England were left without water as demand spiked”.

Several publications look into why Europe is experiencing a record heatwave and the links to climate change. BBC News says: “The immediate cause of the heatwave is a ‘heat dome’ – where an area of high pressure gets ‘stuck’ over Europe, trapping warm air underneath. But scientists have little doubt that human-caused climate change – largely the result of the burning of coal, oil and gas – has supercharged the heat.” Richard Betts, head of climate impacts research at the Met Office and a professor at the University of Exeter, tells BBC News: “When we have a heatwave it’s happening more severely, because it’s on top of a warming climate. I’ve been a climate scientist for 33 years and we’re seeing exactly the kinds of things that we were warning back then… [although] these records are perhaps more extreme and coming sooner than we had expected.” The Independent reports that the heatwave “has the fingerprints of climate change all over it”. The Guardian examines why heat can be a “silent killer”. Sky News has a video on whether the UK can expect more record-smashing heat. Inside Climate News and Scientific American also cover the climate links.

Khaleej Times reports that more than 100 people have died “following the intense heatwave” in the southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It adds that “[m]ore than a dozen districts saw temperatures above 45C” in Andhra Pradesh, with temperatures “soar[ing]” over 48C in its East and West Godavari regions. According to ETV Bharat, Telangana’s Warangal registered 23 heat deaths, the highest in the region. While national crime record data says Telangana recorded 116 heat deaths in 2024, the state’s 2026 heatwave action plan “places the deaths at just 10 for the same period”, according to the New Indian Express, sparking concern that “the true human cost of extreme heat may remain invisible in official records”. In the neighbouring eastern state of Odisha, the state government confirmed that three people died of sunstroke, reports the New Indian Express. 

Meanwhile, doctors tell the Independent that health impacts are “getting worse” because of record night-time temperatures, with Delhi recording “its warmest May night in almost 14 years” this week. As temperatures approach 46C in the capital today, authorities warn that heatwave conditions will continue over large parts of central and north-western India, says the Indian Express. According to Down to Earth, the current heatwave is pushing India’s power grid into “uncharted territory”, with “residential cooling demand now overtaking industrial demand growth in several regions”. An opinion piece in the Hindustan Times by health researchers argues that heat mortality is not caused by “temperature alone”, but “infrastructure design failure” and “severely limited access to cooling”.

MORE ON INDIA

• The Economic Times reports that Pakistan’s climate minister “urged India to respect” the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), saying that “unilateral actions” on shared water resources could impact food production, water security and “climate resilience”.
• In a Mint opinion piece, Soumya Sarkar argues that “workplace adaptation may soon become just as important as energy transition targets”.

Flooding in south-western China’s Chongqing province caused by torrential rain in the area has killed at least nine people, with 11 missing, reports Reuters. State news agency Xinhua reports that China has allocated 160m yuan ($24m) to support relief efforts for severe flooding and geological disasters caused by persistent heavy rainfall across southern China, adding to a previous allocation of 120m yuan. State-run newspaper Guangming Daily reports that daily rainfall at 492 meteorological stations across China has exceeded historical extremes since the start of the flood season. It cites experts saying that “rapid global warming” combined with the developing El Niño creates conditions conducive to extreme rainfall during the country’s flood season. China is “snatching food from the rain” amid the strongest rainfall this year in major grain-producing regions, reports the Communist Party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily. Continuous rainfall has caused waterlogging and lodging in some wheat fields in Hubei province, with local authorities conducting 24-hour emergency harvesting operations, according to Xinhua.

MORE ON CHINA

• Bloomberg says the recent mining disaster raises “uncomfortable questions” about China’s energy security push. Bloomberg columnist David Fickling says a “safety crackdown” may help “clean up” steel and coal, “boost” renewables and “reduce dependence on imported gas”.
• China says its peak electricity demand this summer will reach a record high of 1,600 gigawatts (GW), up 90GW from a year earlier, according to Yicai.
• The Associated Press of Pakistan reports that China and Pakistan have signed 15 agreements in areas including the environment and climate change.
• China Daily quotes an expert with the state oil company CNPC saying that wind and solar development in Russia costs roughly five times as much as in China.
• Xinhua reports that China has achieved a “historic breakthrough” in exploration for certain types of shale oil.
• China’s new green electricity direct connection policy gives computing centres, “green hydrogen” projects and zero-carbon parks “clearer access” to green power, reports Jiemian.

There is widespread frontpage coverage in the UK of an essay by former Labour prime minister Tony Blair, which is critical of many of the government’s policies, including on energy and climate change. BBC News reports that Blair “singled out” the government’s plan to end new oil and gas licences and calls for ministers to “remove parts of the net-zero agenda ‘which prioritise clean energy over cheaper energy’”. The Guardian leads with the inaccurate headline: “Tony Blair tells Starmer and rivals: abandon net-zero and move closer to Trump.” [Carbon Brief’s editor Leo Hickman notes on BlueSky that Blair does not call for net-zero to be “abandon[ed]”.] The Times says that “Blair accused ministers of lacking a coherent economic plan and argued that manifesto commitments on workers’ rights, net-zero and taxation should have been abandoned after the election”. 

Elsewhere, the Times reports that the Conservatives have pledged to install air conditioners in all new homes in the UK if elected to power. It continues: “The party has pledged to reverse the ‘air con ban’ – referring to the regulations that discourage developers from installing air conditioning in new homes – introduced by the Tory government in 2021. Building regulations require developers to seek out ‘passive cooling’ methods, such as windows, shutters and ventilation, for new homes before they are allowed to consider fitting air conditioning.” The climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph runs the story on its frontpage, calling the current regulations “effectively a net-zero ban”.

MORE ON UK

• Household energy prices could rise by 13% from current levels in July as “soaring wholesale costs caused by the US-Israel war with Iran hit bills for the first time”, says BBC News.
• Financial Times: “UK consumers under pressure as rising energy costs squeeze household budgets.”
• BBC News: “Green jobs contributing £10.2bn to Scotland’s economy, says CBI.”
• The Daily Mail claims that chancellor Rachel Reeves is planning a “smoke-and-mirrors” fuel-duty price increase.
• The Daily Telegraph covers a claim from Conservative shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho that the UK government has “wasted” £800m on heat-pump subsidies.

Oil company BP has removed its chair Albert Manifold over “serious” governance and conduct allegations, says the Guardian. It continues: “Manifold’s conduct was considered too aggressive by other directors, and he was also seen as trying to exert control in the manner of an executive rather than of a chair, according to reports.” The Financial Times reports that sources inside BP said “Manifold at times spoke down to senior members of staff, both in one-to-one encounters as well as in larger meetings”, with one person describing him as “shouty”. BBC News reports: “Manifold’s departure comes after last month’s annual general meeting (AGM) in which nearly a fifth of BP shareholders voted against his election because of concerns over governance. The criticism was linked in part to BP’s refusal to include a resolution filed by climate activists at its annual general meeting, with Manifold saying the resolution had not been filed correctly.”

Guardian columnist George Monbiot accuses the government of “climate authoritarianism”, including by “tearing up planning and using protest laws to criminalise local people”. He continues: “Just as we need broad public consent for the green transition, Starmer’s team treats it as a holy war against the landscape-loving infidel. Far from accelerating climate action, it generates anger, resistance and resentment, a gift to the fossil-fuel industry.”

Elsewhere, several newspapers react to Blair’s latest intervention (above). The Guardian says it “gets full marks for being unhelpful”. An editorial in the climate-sceptic Sun says “Blair nailed the chief mistakes”, including “allowing Ed Miliband free rein on net-zero – especially the banning of North Sea drilling”. An editorial in the sceptic Daily Telegraph says Blair makes “sensible points” on “net-zero”. An editorial in the sceptic Daily Mail likewise uses Blair to criticise what it calls a  “demented rush to net-zero”.

MORE COMMENT

• Jean Paul Prates, a former Brazilian senator and CEO of Brazilian oil company Petrobas, says in the Financial Times that “today’s windfall is a warning for state oil companies”.
• A Lex opinion in the Financial Times says: “BP is deeply dysfunctional, but it could be worse.”
• The Economist: “China’s world-beating solar industry is in turmoil.”

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Daisy Dunne, with contributions from Aruna Chandrasekhar, Henry Zhang and Anika Patel. It was edited by Simon Evans.

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