There is widespread coverage of the latest report from the Global Carbon Project. The New York Times says that, according to the report, the world is “on track” to emit a “record high” 38.1bn tonnes of CO2 in 2025. The newspaper says this is a 1.1% increase compared to 2024 levels. It continues: “A relatively small number of countries account for most of the world’s emissions, with China responsible for 32%, the US at 13%, India at 8% and the EU at 6%. The new report did contain one surprising finding: China’s emissions seem to be flattening after decades of breakneck growth, although there is some uncertainty because of lags in collecting data.” (See separate new analysis published by Carbon Brief earlier this week showing that “China’s CO2 emissions have now been flat or falling for 18 months”.) Bloomberg quotes Pep Canadell, executive director of the Global Carbon Project, who says that, “while the uptick in emissions has slowed since the 2000s, ‘we’ve been saying this thing for way too long’”. The Associated Press says the report “calculated a remaining allowance of 170bn tonnes of CO2 to limit warming to 1.5C from pre-industrial levels”, equivalent to four years of emissions at the current rate. The Washington Post, Agence France-Presse and Time are among the many other outlets covering the report. (See Carbon Brief’s in-depth analysis.)

MORE ON NEW REPORTS

• The Guardian reports on its frontpage that the world is on track for 2.6C warming, according to the latest update from the Climate Action Tracker. The Associated Press says this is a “slight drop from last year’s projections of 2.7C”, but adds that “most of that drop was from changes in the way scientists looked at China’s numbers, not that much from new policies put in places”. 
• BBC News cites analysis from Ember, which “suggests that fossil fuel use in electricity generation has flatlined in 2025, largely thanks to the rapid growth of solar power”.
• BusinessGreen covers a new report from the ClimateWorks Foundation, which finds that “philanthropic funding for climate adaptation and resilience efforts worldwide reached an historic high of $870m last year, more than doubling over the past three years as charities increasingly shift their resources to support vulnerable communities facing escalating climate impacts”.
• Drilled covers a new report that “spotlights increased oil and gas production from the US, Australia, Norway and Canada since the Paris Agreement was signed a decade ago”. 

Nations at COP30 have “formally committed to information integrity and fighting back against climate disinformation” for the first time, by signing the “declaration on information integrity on climate change”, reports Euronews. The outlet says that 12 countries have so far signed the declaration – “Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay”. It adds that signatories have agreed to six commitments, including “ensuring climate information is accurate while protecting free speech, supporting independent media to report accurately on environmental issues, making evidence-based information accessible to everyone and building capacity to identify threats to information integrity”. The outlet continues: “The declaration also calls on the private sector to commit to integrity of information on climate change in their business practices and ensure transparent, human rights-responsible advertising practices.” India Today and Mongabay also cover the news. 

MORE ON COP30

• Agence France-Presse reports that Brazil has decided to “extend negotiations…to give nations time to bridge divides over thorny differences on climate goals and the finances required to achieve them”.
• Agence France-Presse reports that Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, “said Wednesday that it is time for formal negotiations on health at the COP climate summits, saying the climate crisis was also a health crisis”. Relatedly, Bloomberg reports that “some of the world’s biggest philanthropic funders”, including the Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, are “committing $300m over the next three years to address the effects of climate change on human health”. 
• Reuters: “Indigenous protesters on Wednesday defended charging the gates of [COP30] and clashing with security a day earlier, saying the action was aimed at demonstrating the desperation of their fight for forest protection.” Separately, the Associated Press reports that activists “took to the water” in boats yesterday, to “celebrate a community from around the world”. 
• Agence France-Presse: “A renowned Brazilian tribal chief was among Indigenous activists on the sidelines of UN climate talks when he said Wednesday he was prepared to give the president a ‘talking-to’ if he ignored concerns over oil exploration near the mouth of the Amazon River.”
• Deutsche-Welle has an article under the subheading: “As rich nations drag their feet, India’s role is pivotal in bringing together the global north and south on climate action.” Separately, the Hindustan Times quotes EU negotiator Jacob Werksman talking about “four matters that island nations, developed and developing countries pushed to be adopted in the formal COP30 agenda, but they could not be adopted and instead are being considered under Brazilian Presidency consultations”.
• Two multilateral development banks, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank “are considering investing in Brazil’s Tropical Forest Forever Facility”, according to Devex.

Australia’s main opposition Liberal party has dropped its commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, Bloomberg reports. The outlet says the party has also “also agreed a policy to scrap a legally binding target to cut emissions by 43% of 2005 levels by 2030, if returned to power”. It quotes party leader Syssan Ley, who said: “We remain committed to the Paris Agreement and to doing our fair share to reduce emissions, but we will do it in a way that protects households and budgets and keeps our economy strong.” The Guardian says: “In an at-times confusing press conference, Ley said it would still be a ‘welcome outcome’ if they managed to reach net-zero emissions anyway, despite planning to junk Labor government legislation and renewable targets which support such an outcome.” The newspaper reports that the party will not withdraw from the Paris Agreement, but adds: ”In her press conference, Ley would not clarify how a Coalition government could stay in the Paris Agreement – which does not allow backsliding on targets – while scrapping legislated emissions reduction goals. Ley said the opposition’s plan would place energy affordability above climate considerations.” Separately, the Guardian reports that former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has said his party’s decision “shows it ‘does not take climate change seriously’, accusing the opposition of ‘a Trumpian campaign against renewables’”. Agence France-Presse says “the opposition centre-right Liberal party have agonised in recent weeks over whether to drop the net-zero emissions pledge”. The Guardian says the decision comes “after an almost five-hour meeting in Parliament House”. ABC News has a piece under the headline: “Ley’s net-zero decision may bring her extra time as leader, but at what cost?”

MORE ON AUSTRALIA

• Liberal senator Andrew McLachlan writes in the Guardian: “As a conservative Liberal senator I see no coherent reason to run away from a net-zero target.”
• Tom McIlroy, the political editor for Guardian Australia, writes that “the Liberals’ new emissions policy is bursting with contradictions – and is unlikely to be what voters want”. Separately, he writes that “the Liberals’ so-called ‘founding principles’ underpinning their decision to dump net zero fail the credibility test”. 
• Rod Sims and Baethan Mullen of the Superpower Institute have a piece in the Guardian under the headline: “The Whyalla steelworks might be the best place in the world to make low-cost green iron. Will Labor seize the moment?”
• Reuters reports that “Australia risks undermining efforts to establish itself as a leader in the green energy transition and letting down its vulnerable Pacific island neighbours if its bid to host next year’s [COP31] fails, diplomats and analysts say”. 
• The Guardian reports that “a senior News Corp Australia executive has defended the company’s platforming of climate science deniers, saying its news outlets were not part of a ‘denial machine’ spreading misinformation.”

Chinese state news agency Xinhua reports that COP30 has become a platform for “stronger south-south cooperation to advance global climate governance”, with China and Brazil “advocating cooperative action over empty rhetoric” – in the absence of any high-level US government delegates. Bloomberg says that China and Brazil have “jointly championed climate action” in recent years, but they are also expanding the fossil-fuel industry. In an article for Backchannel, Kate Logan, director of the China Climate Hub and Climate Diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, and Lily Hartzell, senior policy advisor at research institute E3G, argue that China has “cautiously avoided any wording that might suggest a bid for formal climate leadership, particularly when it comes to climate finance”. State-supporting newspaper Global Times says in an unbylined “opinion” article that “some in the west apply blatant double standards toward China’s green development, trapped in a self-contradictory mind-set”, referring to an interview the New York Times published with COP30 president André Corrêa do Lago. 

MORE ON CHINA

• Xinhua reports on the side-events being held at the China pavilion at COP30. 
• The NEA has issued a notice on promoting the “integrated and coordinated development” of the “new energy” sector, BJX News reports.
• The Economist: “China’s next five-year plan will be green, fertile and high-tech.”
• The head of Beijing’s delegation at COP30 Li Gao tells Agence France-Presse that “China believes the US eventually will return to climate talks”.
• Jennifer Morgan, a former German special envoy for international climate action and co-director of Greenpeace, writes in Backchannel that, “at this moment, it is unclear which way China will go” on climate.

The UK has approved Wylfa in North Wales as the site for the country’s first small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), Bloomberg reports. The outlet says the £2.5bn project will be designed by Rolls Royce and power about 3m homes. The New York Times adds that the plant will be made up of three reactors, whose power output “will add up to a little less than half that of one of the current generation of giant power stations”. It continues: “The government said the plant would support 3,000 local jobs and power three million homes. By comparison, Sizewell C is projected to create 8,000 jobs at peak construction and light six million homes.” The Times says: “No full-scale commercial SMRs have yet been deployed anywhere in the world. However, Rolls-Royce is hoping that its first one will generate a steady supply of low-carbon electricity by the mid-2030s.” Reuters reports that US ambassador Warren Stephens “criticised” the UK’s decision in “an unusually strongly worded statement on the eve of the announcement”, adding that “the US had been pushing for a large-scale project in Wylfa, which is the site of an old nuclear power station that closed down in 2015.” The Guardian quotes Warren’s statement: “We are extremely disappointed by this decision, not least because there are cheaper, faster and already-approved options to provide clean, safe energy at this same location.”

MORE ON UK

• Reuters: “European Union countries have agreed to start talks with the UK to link the two sides’ carbon markets, a spokesperson for Denmark’s EU presidency said on Wednesday, in a move billed as part of a reset in relations following Britain’s exit from the bloc.”
• The Times reports that Energy company SSE “is to tap investors for £2bn and sell £2bn of assets to help fund a ‘once-in-a-generation’ expansion of its electricity networks through a £33bn investment plan”. The climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph adds that SSE, which controls part of Scotland’s transmission network and multiple wind farms, has “admitted” that nearly a quarter of the wind power it generates is “being wasted because of grid congestion”.
• Bloomberg reports that “Britain boosted natural gas exports to the European Union this week”.
• Guardian columnist Frances Ryan focuses on the recent rise of the Green party: “There is a bias against leftwing ideas – and those who promote them – which means they are more likely to be dismissed as naive, incompetent or too costly.”
• The Daily Telegraph: “Farmers have claimed that a net-zero feed championed by Tesco and Morrisons is poisoning their cattle.” 
• The Daily Express clears space to platform the views of Richard Tice, the deputy leader of hard-right, climate-sceptic Reform UK, who claims that “Ed Miliband’s plans for 9.3m heat pumps in homes by 2035 could lead to taxpayers forking out billions of pounds”.

In an interview with the Guardian at COP30, former US vice president Al Gore speculates that “fear of being bullied by Donald Trump may have prompted Bill Gates to row back on the climate crisis”. The newspaper adds that Gore “slammed the billionaire’s new position as ‘silly’”. It adds that Gore calls Trump “the most corrupt president in American history” and warns he is “‘badly damaging the US economy’ by pulling away from renewable energy and promoting fossil fuels”. Gore also tells the newspaper: “When Trump was elected the second time, Bill fired most of his climate staffers and went to the White House and lavished praise on Trump and then put out this series of statements last week that puzzled anybody who was really concerned about the climate crisis.” Gore also comments on the COP process, saying: “[It] accomplishes far more than it is given credit for accomplishing, partly because it serves as a nucleus for all of the industry and NGO and trade groups and civil society groups that assemble at COP every year, and many of them come up with their own agreements that move things forward.” The article adds: “His main focus at the summit has been to promote his Climate Trace project, which is mapping planet-heating emissions and air pollutants causing health problems around the world.”

MORE ON US

• The New York Times says: “Top US government officials are skipping [COP] for the first time in 30 years. And many American corporate executives appear to be following their lead.”
• Politico calls governor Gavin Newsom “a climate president in waiting”, noting that he “can’t sign treaties with other countries”. Instead, the outlet says the Newsom is “returning to a time-tested technique to exercise soft power” at COP30. There is ongoing reporting of Newsom’s critical comments about Trump in outlets including the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. 
• CNBC reports that “two European pioneers of the modern wind power industry are sounding the alarm on the Trump administration’s clean energy cutbacks, warning Washington’s anti-climate agenda is part of a broader energy transition challenge”. 
• Bloomberg says that Democratic Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro has signed into law a bill to exit a regional market meant to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
• Bloomberg: “Global crude oil markets are oversupplied and it’s most obvious in the Americas, especially the US.”

Kate Cell and Kathy Mulvey, senior climate campaign manager and corporate accountability campaign director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, argue in Climate Home News that “fossil fuel companies should be barred from COP climate talks, where they attempt to derail discussions, and their disinformation must be tackled”. They say that, for years, “fossil-fuel lobbyists” have been “drowning out the voices of climate-vulnerable nations”. They add that climate policy “must be guided by science, evidence and justice – not fossil-fuel industry influence”. The article continues: “2023 marked the first COP where delegates were required to disclose affiliations with fossil-fuel companies. These disclosures exposed the thousands of lobbyists granted access to negotiations…World leaders must advance to disqualification, barring fossil fuel companies from shaping COP negotiations. Future COP hosts must also refuse to retain PR firms tied to fossil fuel companies.”

MORE COP30 COMMENT

• The Guardian’s environment editor, Fiona Harvry, writes in the “Down to Earth” newsletter that “COPs will not solve the climate crisis by themselves, but it looks unlikely that the problem can be solved without COPs”.  
• Bloomberg columnist Mark Gongloff has a comment piece with the headline: “The US is making a $3tn-a-year mistake”. Gongloff outlines new research, which he says adds to “a growing stack of evidence that climate policy is inseparable from economic policy”.
• Bloomberg opinion columnist Javier Blas, who often seeks to dismiss or downplay the transition away from fossil fuels, writes: “Fossil-fuel demand remains entrenched. Now that we know where we’re going, we can have a sensible debate about the benefits – and costs – of changing course.” 
• Le Monde columnist Giles Paris writes that “what is at stake in Belem is also, in geopolitical terms, the assertion of a global south”. 
• Andreas Sieber, a university lecturer and associate director of policy and campaigns at 350[dot]org, writes in Climate Home News that “Brazilian president Lula’s call to move away from fossil fuels may boost biofuels and cause forests to be chopped down and hunger to worsen”. 
• The Financial Times has a piece on progress at COP in its “moral money” newsletter, under the headline: “Reality bites at COP30 climate summit”.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Ayesha Tandon, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Wanyuan Song. It was edited by Leo Hickman.

Subscribe for free.