Major wildfires are burning across Greece and Turkey amid extreme heat, BBC News reports, adding that the south-eastern Turkish city of Silopi had just posted a national record temperature of 50.5C. Sky News says neighbouring Albania and Kosovo are also battling wildfires. The Associated Press says fires are threatening Turkey’s fourth city, Bursa, adding that Bulgaria and Montenegro are also tackling blazes. Separate Reuters articles cover wildfires in Sardinia, Bulgaria, Albania and Turkey. The Guardian, Time, Sun, MailOnline, Independent and Daily Telegraph are among the many outlets covering the events, often with a focus on the impact on holiday destinations and British tourists. Another BBC News piece begins: “Parts of southern Europe have been in the grip of extreme heat with wildfires threatening tourist locations.” The Daily Telegraph runs the headline: “As Med temperatures soar, prepare for underground hotels and air-conditioned beaches.”

Various outlets report links between the wildfires and climate change. The New York Times says Greece “faces a challenge as it tries to preserve its image as an idyllic tourist destination while also facing the growing threat of wildfires”. It adds: “Authorities say there has been an uptick in both the number and the intensity of blazes in recent years, which many experts attribute to climate change.” The Times reports: “The government in Athens has repeatedly attributed rising rates of wildfires to climate change.” Reuters coverage of the Greek fires says: “Greece and other Mediterranean countries are in an area dubbed ‘a wildfire hotspot’ by scientists, with blazes common during hot and dry summers. These have become more destructive in recent years due to a fast-changing climate, prompting calls for a new approach.” Le Monde says: “Greece, like many countries, is experiencing hotter summers stoked by human-induced climate change, which increases the length, frequency and intensity of heatwaves, which favors wildfires.” Axios quotes the World Meteorological Organization saying that extreme heat is becoming “more frequent and intense” as a result of global warming, leading to a “big risk of wildfires”. Pointing to a report from the EU’s Copernicus climate service, it says that “Turkey and the Balkans are experiencing intensifying extreme dry conditions”. 

Heavy rains hit a number of northern provinces in China throughout the weekend, “intensif[ying] around Beijing and nearby provinces on Monday”, Reuters reports, with at least “four people killed in a landslide in northern Hebei and eight people missing”. Heavy rains on the outskirts of Beijing saw several thousand people evacuated as “colossal rain” caused flash floods and landslides and led to widespread power cuts. The northern provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi were also heavily impacted by extreme rainfall, the report adds. The state newspaper China Daily covers an initial report of the flooding in Hebei. A minibus carrying 12 people went missing in Shanxi province as “heavy rainfall…caused flooding in multiple rivers”, with flood control measures activated across several cities, says another China Daily report. State news agency Xinhua reports that Premier Li Qiang held a State Council meeting to assess the “current progress of flood and drought prevention and control efforts”.

MORE ON CHINA

• China released a draft amendment to its pricing law to address “rat-race competition” in sectors including solar, electric vehicles and coal, says Securities Daily. Reuters, China Daily, International Energy Net, BJX News, the South China Morning Post and Caixin also cover the story.
• An NEA official has said at a seminar on the solar industry that manufacturers must “irrational competition” and accelerate innovation, BJX News reports.
• Li Qiang told business leaders at the EU-China summit that China’s “strong” manufacturing was due to “working hard”, not subsidies, reports Bloomberg.
• Foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun argues China’s clean-tech production can fill a global “green gap” and should not be seen as “overcapacity”, Global Times says. 
• Dialogue Earth: “China’s overuse of coal is causing negative power prices.”
• The Times: “How China may save us all – Xi’s power play to end emissions.”

More than 100 million people in central and eastern parts of the US are “facing blistering temperatures to start the week”, Bloomberg reports, adding that the demand for cooling is “putting a strain on the energy grid”. The Guardian says: “While heat domes cause heatwaves – which are becoming more frequent thanks to the climate crisis – there can be heatwaves without heat domes. Climate scientists have found that heat domes are getting hotter due to global heating caused by humans burning fossil fuels.” Scientific American, CBS News and the Independent all cover the story.

MORE ON US

• Two employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have been placed on administrative leave, NBC News reports. The pair were involved in the “Sharpiegate” investigation during Trump’s first term, CNN says, while the Guardian explains that this was related to incorrect hurricane projections.
• An Environmental Protection Agency plan to end greenhouse gas regulations will “harm human health”, Inside Climate News says, citing experts.
• Trump’s policies put 17,000 offshore wind jobs at risk, says Windpower Monthly. Bloomberg says his “clean-energy fight is creating more pain for producers”.
• The House of Representatives will return from summer recess in the autumn set for “showdowns with the Senate and White House on deeper cuts to climate and environment spending”, reports Politico.
• Trump wants the US Development Finance Corporation to have more leeway to finance projects in high-income countries, while quadrupling its spending power and enhancing its national security focus”, Reuters reports. 

A “large swath of south Asia” suffered from extreme flooding last week, with “devastating” monsoon rains killing more than 250 people in Pakistan, the Financial Times reports. The newspaper says that another 120 people have been killed by floods in India since June. It adds: “Global warming exacerbates extreme weather events, as warmer air holds more moisture. The atmosphere holds about 7% more water for each degree of warming.” The Associated Press says more heavy rain was forecast for Pakistan this week.

UN climate chief Simon Stiell has urged the Australian government to commit to an ambitious target for 2035, ABC News reports. It reports Stiell saying clean energy offers “colossal” economic benefits. The outlet says that Australia’s Climate Change Authority is preparing to advise the government on the level of the 2035 goal, while the opposition coalition “continues to be consumed by a furious internal debate on whether it should maintain its commitment to net-zero by 2050”. It adds that Stiell’s visit to Australia came as the country continues to bid to host the COP31 summit next year. Reuters says Stiell urged Australia and Turkey to resolve their “long-running tussle’ over the hosting. The Guardian also hosts Stiell’s speech in Sydney.

MORE ON AUSTRALIA

• CNN says toxic algae are “turning South Australia’s coral reefs into underwater graveyards”, adding that this is “a stark warning of what happens when climate change goes unchecked”.
• ABC News quotes an expert saying of the toxic bloom that recent government reports “say quite clearly the primary cause is climate change”.
• In a comment for the Guardian, former independent politician Zoe Daniel criticises Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack, former leaders of the opposition National party, over their “reckless and gutless” attacks on net-zero.
• For the Sydney Morning Herald, environment and climate editor Nick O’Malley writes under the headline: “Why Barnaby’s war on net-zero’s already sunk.”

US president Donald Trump has visited his two Scottish golf resorts, the Financial Times reports, drawing protests. The newspaper says Trump is due to meet UK prime minister Keir Starmer and Scottish first minister John Swinney, with both expected to face “questions over UK energy policy, a favourite topic of the president”. The Guardian says he used a meeting with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen yesterday to say the bloc should “stop the windmills”. [Wind power is the EU’s second-largest source of electricity.] The Los Angeles Times notes in its coverage that Trump’s company unsuccessfully tried to prevent a windfarm being built near one of his golf courses. The Times and the Daily Telegraph cover Trump’s claims at a press conference with von der Leyen, where he said wind power was a “con job”. Both newspapers fail to correct a series of his false assertions, including that wind power is the “most expensive form of energy” [the average onshore windfarm built in 2024 was 53% cheaper than the cheapest new fossil-fueled power plant] and that “almost all” turbines are made in China [four of the world’s top 10 manufacturers are from Europe or the US, whereas Chinese firms mostly supply their domestic market].

MORE ON UK

• Greenpeace protestors have suspended themselves off the Forth Bridge aiming to stop a tanker from reaching the Grangemouth oil refinery as part of a protest against plastic pollution, STV News reports. BBC News says the tanker contained “fracked gas”.
• A Times profile of Conservative politician James Cleverly says he supports his party’s leader Kemi Badenoch in pledging to scrap the UK’s net-zero target.
• Bloomberg reports on the three-way fight for leadership of the Green Party, while the i newspaper, Guardian, Daily Express and Independent focus on one of the candidates, Zack Polanski.
• GB Energy is to invest in battery storage to “cut windfarm costs”, says the Daily Telegraph, while another Daily Telegraph article reports on the “bill for switching off turbines on windy days”.
• The Times carries a feature on the Sizewell C new nuclear plant in Suffolk that was recently given the green light. The climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph reports on the project under the headline: “The English countryside is paying the price for net-zero.”

For the Scotsman, David Whitehouse, the head of North Sea industry lobby group Offshore Energies UK, criticises “binary thinking” in energy debates, such as fossil fuels vs renewables. He writes: “This kind of framing does nothing to address the real, urgent questions facing our energy future.” Whitehouse continues: “Public polling shows that most people understand the continuing need for oil and gas and that, while this need exists, it’s nothing more than common sense to use our domestic supplies. Tackling climate change is balanced against support for homegrown energy, jobs and UK plc.”

MORE COMMENT

• An editorial for Le Monde says of last week’s EU-China summit: “Even on climate change, a topic on which China and Europe are supposed to stand out while the US has abandoned any ambition on the issue, it took considerable effort to reach a joint statement.”
• An editorial in the climate-sceptic Sunday Telegraph supports Trump’s comments on his visit to Scotland and says: “The costs of net-zero continue to mount, with politicians seemingly eager to dismantle Europe’s industrial base in a fit of moral fervour.” A comment for the Times by Iain Macwhirter says UK leaders are “hugely vulnerable on net-zero”.
• The Daily Telegraph also carries comments on the “brutal truth” about net-zero and what it calls an “outrageous new climate change scam”.
• A comment for the Observer by Martha Gill supports new nuclear power in the UK, while a piece for the Wall Street Journal reviews books on “fission’s big comeback”.
• The Ezra Klein show for the New York Times discusses the impact of recent Trump policies on climate action in the US, while, for Bloomberg, columnist Mark Gongloff asks “how much damage” EPA rollbacks can do.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Simon Evans, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Anika Patel. It was edited by Leo Hickman.

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