The prospects of a green recovery from the Covid pandemic are “in danger”, the Guardian reports, citing a report published by the UN Environment Programme and the University of Oxford. According to the Independent, the research looked at $14.6tn of Covid-related commitments announced by the world’s 50 largest economies in 2020, of which only 2.5% was classed as “green”. Of the smaller $1.9tn total being put towards long-term Covid recovery measures, the report found that just 18% was green, the Independent says. Bloomberg reports the findings under the headline: “The world isn’t building back better after the pandemic.” The website says: “Much of the initial spending, about $11tn, was directed toward rescuing ailing firms, providing loans to small businesses and cash to individuals. Economists mostly agree that was necessary to avoid an even worse outcome. But much of the rest of the stimulus money could have been better spent.” According to Climate Home News, the UNEP report points to six countries as “leaders” in terms of greening their recoveries, namely “Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, France and Poland”. It also points to what it calls the “hall of shame”, the nine countries – including the UK, China, Australia and Japan – that are, in the words of the report, “missing opportunities” to build back better. BusinessGreen and the i newspaper also have the story.

In its coverage of the new research, Associated Press points to the just-approved $1.9tn pandemic rescue plan in the US, which was not included in the report’s findings as it has a short-term focus and is too recent. In his weekly column for the Atlantic, Robinson Meyer writes that the US rescue package is “(sort of) a climate bill”. He writes: “In little-noticed ways, the rescue bill is going to reshape several areas of American climate policy.” Meyer points to support including $30.5bn for public transport agencies and $350bn for state and local governments, some of which he says is “de facto climate funding”. Reuters covers the approval of the rescue package and adds: “With the Covid-19 aid bill now completed, attention turns to the next round of major legislation [president Joe] Biden aims to push, including massive infrastructure investments, immigration reforms and climate change initiatives.” In his column for Rolling Stone magazine, Jeff Goodell asks if “Covid-19 will be a tipping point for climate action”. He concludes: “[A]t this point, if the pandemic is going to be a transition in the climate fight, president Biden is going to have to make it one. The US is the only nation with the money and the political power to accelerate this transition and spin the economic wind turbine of the world in a new direction.” (See Carbon Brief’s tracker of “green recovery” measures being taken around the world.)

In related news, Reuters reports that the world is not doing enough to limit global warming, according to US climate envoy John Kerry. The Washington Post quotes Kerry saying of his recent tour of European capitals: “What we’re trying to do is raise the ambition of many countries, of all countries. Because we’ve been absent for four years and there’s been an absence of any dialogue on climate…President Biden thought it was important for us to be able to conduct this essential personal diplomacy at this point in time.” The paper says of the envoy’s tour: “Kerry’s packed visit – since Monday, he has met with foreign secretaries, business and industry leaders, the head of Nato, European Union climate chief Frans Timmermans, British prime minister Boris Johnson and French president Emmanuel Macron, among others – carried an unmistakable sense of urgency.”

China built more windfarm capacity in 2020 than the whole world had added the year before, the Guardian reports, picking up new analysis from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The paper says China “led the world’s biggest ever increase in wind power capacity as developers built almost 100GW [gigawatts] worth of windfarms last year”. Reuters via Nasdaq says the capacity of windfarms that started operating last year was up by a record 59% on 2019, according to the research. It notes that the surge in growth in China came ahead of the expiration of a subsidy scheme, due to end this year. Bloomberg reports that turbine maker General Electric became the top supplier to the market last year.

In other wind energy news, the Daily Telegraph, i newspaper and Bloomberg report that General Electric is to build a new factory making offshore wind turbines in northeast England. The Financial Times says the factory is due to open in 2023 and will supply the Dogger Bank windfarm off the Yorkshire coast, which the paper says is due to become the world’s largest offshore scheme when it opens in 2026. The turbine factory is linked to £95m of government funding for new offshore wind ports on the Humber and Teesside, report BusinessGreen and Reuters. The Times says the turbine factory is to be built on the site of a former steelworks. It carries a quote from prime minister Boris Johnson saying: “During the Industrial Revolution over 200 years ago, wind powered the sails of ships from the Humber and Teesside trading goods around the world. Now the Humber and Teesside will put the wind in the sails of our new green industrial revolution.” Picking out the phrase “green industrial revolution”, the paper notes this “played a large role in [former opposition Labour leader] Jeremy Corbyn’s 2019 election campaign”. Daily Telegraph columnist Liam Halligan has an interview with Ben Houchen, mayor of the Tees Valley region, describing him as “an evangelist for, and a leading player in, the government’s ‘net-zero’ agenda – the pledge to reduce carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions”. The piece mentions the potential of the new offshore wind turbine factory in the region, as well as plans for “the creation of the world’s largest carbon capture plant on Teesside”. It quotes Houchen saying: “If young people want to fight climate change, helping the UK meet its 2050 target, then look at our huge ‘net zero’ project and a career on Teesside – which, by the way, is a fantastic place to live.”

The price of EU greenhouse gas emissions permits “surged to a record [of €41 per tonne] as speculators bet on stricter policies to meet emission-reduction goals”, Bloomberg reports. It says the price of futures contracts for emissions permits has climbed 26% this year. A separate Bloomberg article reports the comments of Danish climate minister Dan Jorgensen saying the EU should look at carbon market speculation when considering future reforms of the programme. A Fitch Ratings commentary says rising emissions prices “increase pressure on EU coal-fired [electricity] generation”. Meanwhile, EurActiv reports on a vote in the European Parliament, which rejected proposals to phase out free emissions permits for domestic industry alongside plans to impose a carbon border levy on imports. The website explains: “Although the vote does not introduce new legal obligations for companies – a formal proposal on the EU’s border levy is expected in June – it reflected deep divisions within the EU assembly. Another EurActiv piece reports that Asian countries see the proposed EU carbon border levy as a protectionist measure, according to a survey published by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. EurActiv quotes the survey report saying: “China will likely oppose the EU CBAM [carbon border adjustment measure] and there is a potential for the mechanism to spark a trade conflict.” ABC News reports on the border levy plan: “Australian exporters could face millions of dollars in European tariffs as EU seeks to punish polluters.” It adds: “Canberra’s diplomatic and trade representatives are in the midst of negotiating a multibillion-dollar free trade deal with the European Union. But MEPs in Brussels are warning they will not ratify any such deal with Australia until it does more to reduce its emissions.” Bloomberg picks up the ABC News coverage under the headline: “EU threatens to scrap trade deal if Australia doesn’t ditch coal.” [Bloomberg’s article clarifies this headline by explaining, as reported by ABC News, that it is MEPs in the European Parliament that have threatened not to ratify a trade deal, not “the EU”. Trade talks between Australia and the EU continue.]

China’s state broadcaster CCTV reports that the government’s 14th five-year plan (2021-2025), which has today been formally approved, is “critical” if the country wants to peak emissions by 2030. In an article (in Chinese) published through its website, the official channel uses a series of illustrations to explain China’s 2030 climate pledge and its progress so far. The report also features a video of the nation’s first “carbon-neutral public bin”, which can tell residents the amount of carbon emission they have offset by recycling daily waste. Separately, state news agency Xinhua reports that “China will take more measures to restructure its industry and energy mix in a greener way” to reach carbon neutrality by 2060. Hao Zhenshan, deputy general manager of the Zhanjiang Branch of China Oilfield Services, is quoted by another state media outlet China News (in Chinese) saying that natural gas will become an essential form of “transitional energy” in China’s decarbonisation process. In the same article, Li Changjin, deputy chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, is quoted calling hydrogen “an important energy carrier” in propelling the nation’s “energy revolution”.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is calling for “fundamental change” in the UK tax regime to help meet the country’s net-zero climate goal, reports CityAM. The call comes ahead of 23 March, when the government is due to launch a series of consultation on tax reform, the paper says. It adds that the CBI has set out “nine principles which it says should guide the development of a new tax system” including a “polluter pays” principle. BusinessGreen also has the story. Meanwhile, BusinessGreen also reports on a new set of five overarching principles that will “guide future policymaking to protect the environment and ensure ministers deliver on their promise to ‘build back greener and leave the environment in a better state for future generations’”. It says the environment department is consulting on the principles, which include “polluter pays” and the “precautionary principle”. BBC News reports of the plans: “Environmental campaigners have accused the government of hypocrisy by setting out environmental protection principles while simultaneously flouting them.” It continues: [T]he document exempts the Treasury and the Ministry of Defence from being bound by the principles. And environmentalists complain that the principles are meaningless anyway, because the government presses on with activities that will harm the planet – such as the planned Cumbria coalmine and the £27bn road-building programme.”

In other UK news, the frontpage of the Daily Telegraph business section reports that a tax break announced in last week’s budget could “accelerate investment in [the] electric car revolution”, according to comments from the head of investment and pensions firm Legal & General. It adds: “Nigel Wilson, chief executive of the FTSE 100 investment and pensions firm, said he plans to use the tax break to accelerate investment in areas such as renewable energy and housing.” Separately, BBC News and BusinessGreen report on plans for a new “right to repair” law that is set to come into force this summer and was first reported yesterday. BBC News says the rule will be part of the UK’s post-Brexit product standards, adding: “The new rules will be estimated to reduce the 1.5 million tonnes of electrical waste said by the government to be generated in the UK each year and to contribute to reducing carbon emissions overall.” An editorial in the Times welcomes the move and says the government “should be congratulated”. It adds of the plans for simplified energy efficiency labelling, with ratings running on a scale from A to G instead of up to A+++: “The fact that the new regulations will also reduce domestic fuel bills and national carbon emissions is further cause for satisfaction. So is the proposed simplification of labelling information regarding energy efficiency, a classification that has fallen victim to confusing grade inflation.”

Banking giant HSBC has, reports the Times, “yielded to pressure from environmental campaigners and agreed to set itself firm deadlines to phase out future funding for the vast bulk of the coal industry”. It adds: “The bank was due today to issue a promise to abandon financing of all mining for thermal coal and of coal-fired power stations by 2030 in the EU and other OECD countries and by 2040 in the rest of the world.” The Financial Times says the bank “fended off a shareholder revolt ahead of its annual general meeting after a $2.4tn coalition of big investors agreed to back the bank’s climate change plans”. It explains: “Under the HSBC board-backed resolution, the bank will commit to setting short and medium-term science-based targets to align its financing of companies with the Paris Agreement, which seeks to limit global warming. This will start with oil, gas, power and utilities companies in 2021, before being expanded to other sectors in 2022. HSBC said it would also phase out the financing of companies involved in coal-fired power and thermal coal mining by 2030 in the EU and OECD, and by 2040 elsewhere.” The Guardian also has the story.

In a piece for the Daily Telegraph, columnist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard argues that despite multiple false starts in the past, the “switch to hydrogen is a fact on the ground”. He adds: “[I]t is accelerating fast; it is heading for much lower costs than sceptics suppose; and future scale is vast.” He quotes the head of chemical industry giant Air Products saying: “The way we see the future, in 20 to 40 years from now, all the energy that mankind uses will come from wind, solar, and hydro. 40% of this will be used directly to power electric vehicles, heating, light, air conditioning, and cooking. The rest will be used to break down water and produce hydrogen. That will be the source of energy to drive trucks, ships, trains, and industries like steel.” Evans-Pritchard also waxes lyrical about a research project that recently developed “hydrogen paste” that can store the gas in chemical form at room temperature and pressure, adding: “If it lives up to promise, Europe, China and America may start to have second thoughts about their vast bet on electric vehicles, and the Japanese may run away with the hydrogen prize.” In the Financial Times, an article on hydrogen vehicles that is part of a series on the potential for the fuel reports that: “[Car] [i]ndustry bosses pour cold water on [the] idea [that it] can contend with battery power to replace petrol and diesel.” The paper adds: “Annual deliveries of hydrogen vehicles in Europe languish in the hundreds.” For more on the promise and potential of hydrogen see Carbon Brief’s detailed Q&A published in November.

The Sun begins an “exclusive” interview with UK business and energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng by raising concerns over the cost of the green transition. It says: “We are all being urged to change our lives to save the planet – but for many of us it seems like a tall order. One of the biggest worries is cost.” The paper says that Kwarteng, responding to such concerns: “promised green initiatives will quickly become cheaper”. He also tells the paper: “The offshore wind sector is a major British industrial success story, providing cheap, green electricity while supporting thousands of good-quality jobs.”

An analysis piece by Independent journalist Harry Cockburn argues that “any leadership on climate Britain may have claimed is increasingly enfeebled by emissions-boosting policy”. He writes that government plans to cut duty paid by passengers on domestic flights are “a move critics say is the latest demonstration [the government] is not taking the climate crisis seriously”. The i newspaper carries a similar analysis piece by environment reporter Madeleine Cuff. She writes: “Coming in a week where the government has announced a rise in rail fares and a freeze in fuel duty, any goodwill felt by green groups for the government’s laudable climate goals is quickly slipping away. ” Sky News climate correspondent Lisa Holland also has an analysis piece arguing that the reduction in air passenger duty “would help the aviation industry recover from the pandemic but do little to tackle climate change”. An editorial in the Times says there are “legitimate questions to be asked of Mr Johnson’s attachment to cutting aviation duty on domestic flights”. It adds: “Regional airports have lost much of their business over the course of the pandemic, but whether it is politically wise to incentivise expansion of the sector in the year of COP26 is debatable.”

The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) has a “distinct” regional impact on rainfall extremes around the world, a new study says. Using climate model experiments, the researchers find, for example, that “in eastern China, the well-known ‘southern flood (drought) and northern drought (flood)’ pattern in summer corresponds well to the positive (negative) phase of the PDO”. Similarly, “precipitation extremes in northwestern Europe and western Russia roughly hold positive correlation with the PDO”, the study notes.

New research assesses “trajectories of adaptation readiness” when compared to the continued emergence of “hot days” as a proxy for climate change hazards over this century. The findings indicate that “only an inclusive and sustainable stringent mitigation pathway allows for effective climate resilient development”, the researchers say. They add: “Less inclusive or fossil-fuel driven development will not allow for improvements in resilience building beyond the recent past.”