More than 900 people have been killed by floods and landslides that have “devastated” countries across south-east Asia including Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand, the Times reports. More than 4 million people have been affected, reports Reuters. The Financial Times says “large parts of Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Sri Lanka” were left “reeling”. The newspaper explains: “Meteorologists say the region’s most recent extreme weather appears to be driven by the interactions between Cyclone Senyar over the Malacca Strait and Typhoon Koto over the South China Sea. Cyclone Ditwah also formed over the Bay of Bengal towards the end of the week. Exacerbating these weather patterns, meteorologists said, was the coincidence of two naturally occurring phenomena – La Niña in the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean Dipole. In addition, sea surface temperatures in parts of the world have remained unusually warm this year. The rise in global average temperatures reached a record last year of more than 1.5C since the pre-industrial era, as a result of human-caused climate change.”

Agence France-Presse says militaries are being deployed to help relief efforts. It adds: “Much of Asia is in its annual monsoon season, which often brings heavy rain, triggering landslides and flash floods…Climate change has also increased the intensity of storms and produced more heavy rain events because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture.” The Guardian reports on its frontpage: “In the latest example of the impact of the climate crisis on storm patterns and extreme weather, heavy monsoon rains, exacerbated by a tropical storm, have overwhelmed parts of south-east Asia in recent days, leaving thousands of people stranded without shelter or critical supplies.” In its coverage, CNN says that south-east Asia is “one of the areas most vulnerable to climate change, scientists have warned”. BBC News reports: “While it is hard to link individual extreme weather events to climate change, scientists say it is making storms more frequent and intense, resulting in heavier rainfall, flash flooding and stronger winds.” [The impact of human-caused warming has been identified on many hundreds of individual extreme events. This includes dozens of storms, although they can be more challenging to link.] The Washington Post, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera and the Daily Telegraph all have the story.

MORE ON ASIA FLOODS

• The Guardian carries a “visual guide” to how “cyclones and monsoon rains combined to devastate parts of Asia”.
• China Daily: “South-east Asia eyes aid for climate adaptation.”
• In related news, the Associated Press reports that “thousands” have been protesting in the Philippines over “stolen funds from flood projects”. 

German chancellor Friedrich Merz is to call on the EU to “soften” the 2035 ban on the sale of internal combustion-engine (ICE) cars, reports the Guardian. The newspaper says Merz has promised to send a letter to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen “urging Brussels to keep technological options open for carmakers”. It quotes Merz saying Germany wanted to “protect the climate in ‘a technology-neutral way’”. The outlet continues: “Merz has repeatedly spoken out against the ban, but he needed to discuss the matter with his centre-left Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners before communicating a joint position to the EU…The German car sector is in crisis, faced with the costs of increasing investment in EVs and fierce Chinese competition that is biting into sales.” Politico and Bloomberg also have the story.

The Financial Times says Merz wants the EU to “allow hybrid vehicles beyond its 2035 deadline, as the conservative chancellor seeks to ease the problems in his country’s automotive industry”, in a story that is trailed on the newspaper’s frontpage. It continues: “Under pressure from right-wing parties and the car industry, the European Commission has brought forward a review of the 2035 ban, originally due next year, to 10 December. Brussels has so far steered away from loosening the rules to allow different types of combustion engine after 2035. It has argued that sales of electric vehicles are likely to continue growing next year as smaller, cheaper models reach the market. Officials have, however, said they are weighing whether hybrids, range extenders and potentially biofuels should be permitted.” Also trailed on the FT frontpage is a “big read” about “Volkswagen’s radical revamp”. It says: “Drivers in Europe have started to warm to Volkswagen’s new electric vehicles, even as a wave of cheap imported Chinese cars threatens to undercut them.”

MORE ON EU

• The Financial Times says the European Commission “plans to force the electrification of the rental and company car markets by 2030”.
• The Financial Times reports that the EU “has only paid out a fraction of the money it says it has committed for green technologies, as companies spend up to 3,000 hours and an average €85,000 to access funds from a flagship programme”.

Canadian prime minister Mark Carney has been accused of “betraying the fight against climate change”, reports Agence France-Presse, following a deal with the province of Alberta over a new oil pipeline. It says the move led to the resignation of Steven Guilbeault, a member of Carney’s cabinet and environment minister under former leader Justin Trudeau. Politico quotes energy minister Tom Hodgson saying that the pipeline deal is not a “baked cake”. It reports: “One day after a pipeline plan for Alberta sparked backlash and a cabinet defection, Canada’s energy minister emphasised the project is far from a done deal.” The outlet adds: “The Ottawa-Alberta deal marks a major reset of federal energy and climate policy, opening the door to a privately financed oil-sands pipeline while scrapping pillars of the Trudeau-era framework.” The Guardian says the pipeline “will still face stiff opposition”, including from Indigenous people of the First Nations. Bloomberg reports: “Canada’s government is willing to negotiate with more provinces beyond Alberta on lifting clean electricity regulations if they have equivalent policies, energy minister Tim Hodgson said.”

Australian police have arrested 141 climate protestors at the port of Newcastle, the “world’s largest coal port”, reports the Guardian. It says the protest, organised by a group called Rising Tide, involved “kayakers, a small boat and swimmers [who] entered the shipping channel leading into Newcastle harbour” and prevented three coal ships from entering. Reuters says operations at the port were due to have resumed today. The Guardian profiles protest group Rising Tide. Separately, the Guardian reports that Australia “could miss clean energy target as solar and wind investment slumps”. In comment from Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald carries the view of senior business reporter Colin Kruger, who notes that coal-mining magnate Gina Rinehart [who has long promoted climate-sceptic views and is close to Donald Trump] “hates renewables, but her green metals bets are booming”.

A study commissioned by a water firm “has found water scarcity could hamper the UK’s ability to reach its net-zero targets”, the Guardian reports. It says there are growing “tensions” between competing demands for water, including from planned carbon-capture and hydrogen projects. It explains: “Development of these kinds of projects, which use significant amounts of water, could push some UK regions into water shortages, according to the analysis undertaken by Durham University and funded by the water retailer Wave – a joint venture between Anglian Venture Holdings, the investment and management vehicle responsible for Anglian Water Group’s commercial businesses, and the Northumbrian Water Group.” Separately, the Guardian reports under the headline: “Europe’s water reserves drying up due to climate breakdown.”

MORE ON UK

• Reuters reports: “Britain’s decision to issue more than two dozen oil and gas exploration licences [in May 2024 under the previous government] was lawful, London’s High Court ruled on Friday, dismissing a challenge by campaigners who said the government failed to consider the impact on climate change.”
• The Guardian: “Cuts to insulation scheme will leave homes cold over winter, experts say.”
• DeSmog: “Labour group slams Lord Glasman over climate-denial lecture.”
• The Guardian says the Hinkley C and Sizewell C new nuclear plants will add £2bn a year to energy bills.
• A Daily Express “exclusive” quotes Richard Tice, the deputy leader of the hard-right populist Reform UK, as well as Andrew Montford of climate-sceptic lobby group Net Zero Watch, in an article that says the government is set to “splash over £11bn” on district heat networks.
• The Daily Telegraph carries articles claiming that “foreign steel” is being used to build clean-energy infrastructure and that both a trade deal with the EU and rare birds are a threat to UK nuclear development, with the latter trailed on its frontpage.

Writing for the Scotsman, Sarah McIntosh, managing director of renewable energy firm Muirhall Energy, says that renewables can be a “tremendous engine for economic and social good in rural Scotland, but only if we treat local people as true partners”. She says: “[A]s we push ahead with much-needed low-carbon infrastructure, I worry that too many communities are at risk of being left behind.” McIntosh continues: “Part of the change we need is shifting the tone of our public discourse at all levels. Too often the debate is dominated by the loudest, rather than the broad and diverse voices that really make up communities.” She concludes: “The energy transition will transform our economy and landscape, but it must also recast our approach to community partnership. If Scotland and the UK is to achieve its climate ambitions while supporting the fabric of its rural communities, those communities must not just be consulted – they need to be engaged in decision-making, empowered, and brought forward as the industry’s essential partners.”

MORE COMMENT

• For the Times, Kayte O’Neill of the National Energy System Operator and Minal Patel of Schroders Capital write about reforms to the “queue” for connection to the electricity grid: “Speculative developments have denied power to vital clean-energy ventures and data centres. That’s why we’re reforming the system to unlock growth.”
• An editorial in the Times claims the UK Green party is “surging by ignoring reality”.
• For the Observer, rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg writes under the headline: “We need more faith in our power to confront the climate crisis.”
• BusinessGreen carries the views of Frank Gordon of the Renewable Energy Association, saying: “Everyone can benefit from smart, flexible energy.”
• The climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph continues its campaigning against climate action through its comment pages, with articles saying the UK chancellor has “fallen short with her tax grab on EVs” and a piece claiming that net-zero, the only way to dangerous warming, is the “most costly vanity project in modern history”.
• An editorial in the Wall Street Journal says there has been a 30% year-on-year “crash” in EV sales in the US in October, after the expiration of subsidies.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Simon Evans. It was edited by Leo Hickman.

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