G7 nations have pledged to accelerate a gradual phaseout of fossil fuels and the shift towards renewable energy, the Financial Times reports. Agreement was reached in Japan’s northern city of Sapporo yesterday following “weeks of fraught negotiations” between the world’s seven most advanced economies, the FT says. The summit’s final communiqué committed “to accelerate the phaseout of unabated fossil fuels so as to achieve net-zero in energy systems by 2050”, according to the FT. It adds: “In earlier drafts, Japan had opposed adding the phrase [phaseout], but the UK, Germany and France negotiated successfully for its inclusion.” Both Politico and Agence France-Press note that the commitment to phase out fossil fuels lacks a clear deadline. Reuters reports that Canada and other members had pushed for the inclusion of a 2030 deadline. Reuters adds that G7 countries also pledged to collectively increase offshore wind capacity by 150 gigawatts and solar capacity to more than 1 terawatt by 2030. The newswire continues: “On coal, the countries agreed to prioritise ‘concrete and timely steps’ towards accelerating the phase-out of ‘domestic, unabated coal power generation’, as a part of a commitment last year to achieve at least a ‘predominantly’ decarbonised power sector by 2035.” The summit also saw G7 members offer “cautious backing” to Japan’s climate strategy, Reuters reports. The UK is bidding for a role in developing Japan’s offshore wind sector, an official tells Reuters. On Saturday, Japan’s economy and trade minister said the G7 must do more to help developing countries cut their emissions, Reuters reports. Reuters also carries “key excerpts” from the clean energy communiqué.

US president Joe Biden’s administration has approved exports of liquefied natural gas from an Alaskan fossil fuel project, drawing accusations that he is releasing another “carbon bomb”, the Guardian reports. The US energy department on Thursday approved Alaska Gasline Development Corp’s (AGDC) project to export LNG to countries with which the US does not have a free-trade agreement, which are mainly in Asia, the Guardian says. Backers of the roughly $39bn project expect it to be operational by 2030 if it receives the required permits, it adds. “Joe Biden’s climate presidency is flying off the rails,” Lukas Ross, from Friends of the Earth, tells the Guardian, pointing out this is “the second US approval of a ‘fossil-fuel mega-project’ in as many months”. Relatedly, the Financial Times reports that “intense competition between developers and escalating costs are complicating efforts to bring new liquefied natural gas projects online in the US, even as the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine creates huge appetite for American fuel exports”.

The news comes as US climate envoy John Kerry yesterday said there can be “no rolling back” on the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, Politico reports. “A lot of countries need to step up including ours to reduce emissions faster, deploy renewables faster, bring new technologies online faster all of that has to happen,” he told the G7 meeting in Japan. Meanwhile, the FT reports that Kerry has “defended the United Arab Emirates against ‘unfair’ criticism of its role as the host of this year’s COP28 conference in Dubai, saying it was important to bring oil-producing nations into the UN environment talks”.

The UK, US, Canada, Japan and France have formed an alliance to develop shared supply chains for nuclear fuel, reports the Press Association. The announcement, made at the G7 talks in Japan, is aimed at pushing Russia out of the international nuclear energy market, the UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero told reporters. The department added that the agreement will also strengthen the UK’s nuclear energy sector, helping it on the path to “energy independency and reducing electricity bills”.

In other UK news, the Times reports that National Grid is “preparing to pay people to reduce their electricity usage at peak times again next winter as it draws up plans to keep the lights on without emergency back-up coal plants”. The i newspaper carries an “exclusive” showing that “tens of thousands of low-income households missed out on having energy-efficiency measures installed in their homes last year, just as the fuel poverty crisis hit, because of a ‘really poorly managed’ government scheme”. The Observer has analysis by energy correspondent Jillian Ambrose under the headline: “High costs and uncertainties cast a chill over Britain’s heat pump market.”

Separately, the Guardian reports the views of Chris Stark, the chief executive of the Climate Change Committee, who warns that the prolonged lack of devolved government in Northern Ireland threatens to seriously hamper the country’s ability to hit the ambitious emissions reduction targets enshrined by law in its climate act. BBC News says that an environmental campaign group has stalled a planning application for an extension to Kilroot power station in Northern Ireland. And another BBC News article reports that, according to the trade group known as Sustainable Aviation, the cost of decarbonising air travel is likely to “push up ticket prices and put some off flying”. Sustainable Aviation is an alliance of companies including airlines such as British Airways, airports such as Heathrow and manufacturers like Airbus.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of heatwaves in five states, Livemint reports, with heatwave conditions recorded in parts of Gangetic West Bengal, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. In the satellite suburb of Navi Mumbai, at least 11 people died and 600 suffered from dehydration and heat stroke at a government-sponsored award ceremony yesterday, where hundreds of thousands of people “sat under a scorching sun for over five hours”, the Times of India reports. The timing of the ceremony – attended by India’s home minister Amit Shah and the deputy chief minister – goes “against the heat action plan for each district in summer”, an official tells the outlet, while activists attributed the deaths to government mismanagement. No heatwave warnings were issued by the IMD for Sunday, the Indian Express reports. West Bengal’s chief minister announced that “all educational institutions in the state will remain closed next week in view of the severe heatwave conditions”, Moneycontrol reports. “India is at the bullseye of climate change’s heat impacting outdoors workers”, says Duke University researcher Luke Parsons speaking to the Times of India. Meanwhile, the Indian Express carries a comment piece by Ajmal Khan AT on caste and climate change, who asks: “Can the government of India acknowledge that caste-oppressed communities have [suffered] disproportionate losses and damages?”

Germany switched off its last three nuclear reactors on Saturday, reports EurActiv, “ending the era” of atomic energy in the country as it tries to “wean” itself from fossil fuels. The outlet quotes German economy minister Robert Habeck saying that “sooner or later” the reactors will start being dismantled. It adds that Germany has been looking to leave behind nuclear power since 2002, but the phaseout was accelerated by former chancellor Angela Merkel in 2011 after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan and is supported by a “powerful” anti-nuclear movement. Greenpeace organised a “celebratory party” at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, notes the outlet. However, the German government has acknowledged that, in the short term, the country will have to rely “more heavily” on coal and gas to meet its energy needs, Sky News reports. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reports that Bavarian state premier Markus Söder wants to continue operating nuclear power plants such as the closed Isar 2 reactor under “federal land responsibility”, asking the federal government to change the Atomic Energy Act. He told the Sunday edition of Bild that “as long as the crisis [in the energy supply due to the war in Ukraine] does not end and the transition to renewables does not succeed, we must use every form of energy by the end of the decade”. Söder’s proposal is supported by German Union parties (CDU/CSU), says FAZ.

Meanwhile, Der Spiegel reports that the German chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SDP) wrote “succinctly” on Twitter: “Nuclear power? And goodbye.” The message came with an image of a collapsing nuclear power plant cooling tower. However, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) wrote that they “wish” for a limited continued operation of nuclear power plants for one year before their final closure. “The future is renewable energy, but, in the meantime, we have to secure our supply until we have sufficient capacity,” tweeted FDP leader Christian Lindner.

Finally, Der Spiegel reports that Olaf Scholz renewed his “ambitious commitment” to the energy transition at the opening of the world’s leading trade show for industrial technology, Hanover Fair, saying that Germany has “to build four to five wind turbines every day, more than 40 soccer fields of photovoltaic systems, 1,600 heat pumps and four kilometres of transmission network” to become climate neutral by 2045, adding that “it’s going to be a tour de force”.

China and Brazil released a joint-statement last Friday on combating climate change. The statement says the two countries will work on “eliminate deforestation and control illegal trade causing forest loss” and “agree to boost investments and cooperation on technology and sustainable development,” according to Climate Home News and Reuters. On the same day, China’s National Energy Administration (NEA), the country’s top energy regulator, issued a policy document called “Guideline On Energy Work In 2023” that also emphasises renewable energy investment and international cooperation, the state-affiliated newspaper China Energy News reports.

Meanwhile, a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts the global demand for oil this year will reach a new high of 101.9m barrels per day as China “leads an economic surge” among developing countries, reports the Guardian. The hopes of climate campaigners, who believe that the Covid-19 pandemic had “hastened the end of the world’s rising oil demand”, have been “dashed” by the anticipated surge in global oil demand, the outlet adds. Reuters also covers the forecasts. The newswire says that oil prices were “up” on Friday and on track for a fourth consecutive week of increases after the IEA released the report.

Separately, China’s state news agency Xinhua carries an interview with Vitor Gaspar, director of the fiscal affairs department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who praises China’s climate policy in recent years. Gaspar says that the country in 2021 launched an emissions trading scheme that “rapidly became the largest carbon market in the world”. Citing a recent report, Chinese website Sina writes that China needs at least 14tn Chinese yuan ($7tn) “cumulative green investment” from 2021 onwards in order to achieve its “dual carbon” targets. Yicai, a Chinese financial outlet, says that Chinese central enterprises continue to accelerate investment on renewable energies.

In other news, online news outlet Steer Orbis reports that, in the first quarter of 2023, China’s coal imports amounted to 102m mt, up 96% year-on-year, according to China Customs. Separately, the Afghanistan ministry of mines and petroleum announced that a Chinese company, Gochin, has “expressed its interest” to invest $10bn into the country’s lithium deposit, reports the Khaama Press, an online news service for Afghanistan.

Finally, China Dialogue publishes an analysis by Pakistani journalist Zofeen T Ebrahim, who writes that the advancement in constructing a coal power plant in Gwadar, Pakistan, has led to “concerns about the climate pledges made by both China and Pakistan”. China Daily publishes a comment by ​​Lin Boqiang, head of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy at Xiamen University. He writes that Chinese companies will play a “greater” role in the renewable energy layout in Brazil as the latter has been “vigorously” developing wind and solar energy in recent years.

The Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales is changing its name as a direct response to the climate and ecological crisis, the park’s CEO has said, reports the Press Association. The newswire adds: “From Monday, it will adopt the Welsh name of Bannau Brycheiniog National Park – pronounced Ban-eye Bruck-ein-iog – or the Bannau for short. Bannau is the Welsh plural for peaks and Brycheiniog refers to the old kingdom of King Brychan, who lived in the fifth century. The park’s managers said the present name referencing wood-burning, carbon-emitting beacons no longer fits the ethos of the park. They want it to be celebrated for its natural and cultural heritage by becoming net-zero by 2035, have nature recovering with clean water environments by the end of the decade, as well as meeting the health, economic, recreational and residential needs of people in the park by 2028.” The Times explains that “managers decided that the image of wood-burning braziers, from which its name is taken, is no longer appropriate as they try to make the area net zero by 2035”. Meanwhile, the Daily Mail quotes three climate sceptics attacking the move for “virtue-signalling”.

The Times carries an editorial welcoming an “imaginative scheme”, which will see conservationists aim to create the biggest woodland in England by planting 100,000 trees in the Yorkshire Dales. “It will do much to restore the balance of nature and protect endangered species,” says the newspaper, adding: “The chosen location is Snaizeholme, near the market town of Hawes in North Yorkshire. The valley was once extensively wooded, but is now barren. Replenished with trees, it can provide sustenance and habitat for species such as woodland birds and black grouse. The trees themselves are also native to these islands, comprising mainly broadleaved species. It is not mere sentiment to regret the decline of ancient woodlands or note its extent. The depletion has been dramatic…Replanting forests, by government help and private endeavour, is the work of generations.”

Meanwhile, the Sunday Telegraph uses its frontpage to promote a column by the climate-sceptic commentator Janet Dalet which attacks the “great net-zero rip-off”. The Daily Telegraph also provides a platform to a climate-sceptic commentator, with the omnipresent Ross Clark declaring that “green agenda has become an embarrassing failure – from heat pumps to new bins, the government keeps trying to force unworkable technologies and environmental wheezes on an unimpressed public”.

Marco Silva, the BBC’s “climate disinformation specialist” has researched and written a news feature about how “secretive internet vigilantes have made it their mission to fight climate change denial on Twitter”. The article explains: “The ‘ninjas’ began keeping tabs on prominent Twitter accounts which disputed the basic science of climate change. Whenever those users tweeted something which broke the platform’s rules, they would report them.

Climate change denial is not forbidden on Twitter, but some other types of content are – like threats, harassment, or hate speech. Until November last year [when Elon Musk took over the company], posting misleading claims about Covid-19 could also lead to tweets being removed or accounts being suspended. ‘At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether they get suspended because of Covid-19 misinformation or Nazi symbols,’ Maria [one of the anonymous ‘ninjas’] tells me. ‘When they’re gone, they’re gone.’ Thousands of hours of slow, painstaking work paid off – or so the ‘ninjas’ like to believe. They claim that, as a result of their actions, about 600 Twitter accounts promoting climate change denial were suspended.”

Rising temperatures promote plant growth, soil microbial respiration and soil fauna feeding, but could cause a “mismatch” in their phenology – the timing of key life events – a new study finds. The authors warmed part of an alpine meadow of the Tibetan Plateau by 2-4C using heating rods. They found a 8%, 57% and 20% increase in plant growth, soil microbial respiration and soil fauna feeding, respectively. The paper adds that warming advances soil faunal feeding activity in spring and delays it in autumn, but causes “only minor shifts” in phenology for plant growth and soil microbial respiration. This “phenological asynchrony” may “alter ecosystem functioning and stability,” the authors conclude.