“The once-rigid link between economic growth and carbon emissions is breaking across the vast majority of the world,” according to a new report covered by the Guardian. The newspaper says the “decoupling” trend “has accelerated since 2015 and is becoming particularly pronounced among major emitters in the global south”. It adds that the analysis was carried out by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit to mark the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement. The article continues: “Countries representing 92% of the global economy have now decoupled consumption-based carbon emissions and GDP expansion…Decoupling is now the norm across advanced economies, with 46% of global GDP in countries that have expanded their economies while cutting emissions, including Brazil, Colombia and Egypt. The most pronounced decouplings occurred in the UK, Norway and Switzerland. More important is the spectacular shift in China.” BusinessGreen says that, according to the analysis, “92% of global GDP and 89% of global emissions are in economies that have decoupled, either relatively or absolutely”. It adds: “The performance marks a sharp improvement on the decade prior to the Paris Agreement being reached in late 2015, when emissions and economic growth were decoupled for around 77% of global GDP.”

“The European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has agreed to roll back an imminent ban on the sale of new internal combustion-engined cars and vans after late-night negotiations with the leader of the conservative European People’s Party (EPP),” according to Euractiv. The outlet says von der Leyen “agreed the mandated 100% emissions cut by 2035 would be changed to 90%”. It adds: “As manufacturers use the average figure for all vehicles they sell, this means they could continue producing models with an internal combustion engine alongside all-electric cars, with the number dependent on their fuel efficiency.” Bloomberg says: “The commission’s strategy is to allow an extension of the use of the combustion engine until 2040 in plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles that include a fuel-powered range extender. This will be conditional on compensating potential extra emissions by using advanced biofuels and so-called e-fuels — made using captured CO2 and renewable electricity — as well as using green steel in vehicle manufacturing, according to people familiar with the matter.” The Daily Telegraph says: “[UK energy secretary] Ed Miliband has been left isolated over his net-zero policies after the EU dropped a flagship pledge to ban sales of new petrol cars.” The Daily Mail also covers the news. 

MORE ON EU:

• Reuters reports that the EU “will make it easier for companies to comply with its methane emissions law on oil and gas imports, a move that could benefit US gas exports to the EU after the Trump administration pressured Brussels to amend the policy”. 
• BusinessGreen covers new analysis which finds that “Germany has committed the highest level of state aid to support low-carbon steel development, as ‘the rest of the world lags’ behind”. 
• Bloomberg covers a report by a grid operator warning that “Germany’s power security will deteriorate over the coming years, with potential shortfalls from 2031”. According to the outlet, the study warns that Germany “shouldn’t take any more coal-fired plants offline until there’s clarity about new generating capacity”. 

China’s oil demand is expected to “plateau” between 2025 and 2030, as the rapid growth of electric vehicles (EVs) cuts demand for petrol and diesel, reports Reuters, citing a research group linked to state oil company China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). Haibo Wang, a director at the research group, is quoted saying that “apparent consumption” of oil will reach 760m tonnes in 2025, an increase of 0.9% year-on-year, but “demand is set to stabilise next year and stay above 700m tonnes until 2030”, according to the newswire. Bloomberg reports that China’s stockpiling of crude oil will expand further in 2026, continuing at a rate of about 900,000 barrels a day, partly due to energy security needs, according to a Citigroup forecast.

MORE ON CHINA

• At the “central economic work conference”, held in Beijing on 10-11 December, President Xi Jinping said China would adhere to the “dual-carbon” goals and promote a “comprehensive green transition”, reports Xinhua.
• China’s commerce ministry said yesterday that it had restarted negotiations with the EU over a “minimum price plan” in place of the bloc’s tariff on China-made EV imports, reports Reuters.
• Mexico’s senate has approved tariff hikes of up to 50% next year on imports from China including cars and steel, reports Reuters. Bloomberg says that China has “sharply” criticised the tariffs as “unwarranted and harmful”.
• Citing “experts”, China Daily says that China’s goal for carbon neutrality by 2060 would be “effectively unreachable” without carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS), given its energy security demands and reliance on coal and heavy industries.
• China will start commercial operation of its first “homegrown” small modular reactor (SMR) located in China’s island province of Hainan during the first half of 2026, according to China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), reports Reuters.
• China Daily reports that China has achieved a “major technological breakthrough” in ensuring the safety of high-pressure hydrogen pipelines.

A federal judge in the US has ruled that the Trump administration “could not unilaterally cancel a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant program that states used for disaster preparation”, reports the New York Times. The newspaper continues: “A group of 22 states sued FEMA in July, three months after the administration canceled the grant program and called it ‘yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program.’…In their lawsuit, the states argued that the roughly $4.5bn the program had invested in extreme weather resiliency projects along with similar programs had prevented $150bn in disaster damage over two decades. In the months since the program ended, emergency managers have expressed concern that state governments and philanthropic organisations cannot fill the void created by the federal pullback, especially as disasters become more frequent and destructive.” According to the Associated Press, the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) programme “helped communities with pre-disaster projects to harden infrastructure and improve resilience against the increasing threats of climate change”. Reuters also covers the news. 

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that “White House officials called off a meeting Thursday where a panel appointed by [Trump] was slated to outline how to reform FEMA, according to three people with knowledge of the situation”. The outlet continues: “After nearly a year of research and listening sessions with communities across the US, a review council was set to unveil a report assessing FEMA’s strengths and weaknesses, and how to overhaul the ways the government responds to disasters. The report, which was still being finalised as of last night, said FEMA should be streamlined to refocus on its core mission – ‘to reduce the loss of life and property and protect the Nation from all hazards’ – and to give more responsibility to states, tribes and territories.” The New York Times reports that less than an hour before the meeting’s scheduled start, members of the FEMA Review Council “did not appear to be aware of the postponement”. Inside Climate News also covers the story.

MORE ON US

• Environmental law group Earthjustice has filed a federal lawsuit, challenging a permit that was granted to oil company ConocoPhillips last month to look for oil in a remote region of the Arctic in Alaska, the New York Times reports. According to the Associated Press, the lawsuit “says the process around the company’s application and its subsequent approval lacked transparency and was rushed”.
• Bloomberg says: “The House voted Thursday to curb states’ authority to block pipelines, part of a renewed Republican push to overhaul the federal permitting process for energy and other major projects.”
• CNN reports that the “Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has altered and removed information from its website that connected climate change to the burning of fossil fuels”. Separately, Reuters says: “The US EPA is planning to delay enforcement of a Biden-era regulation requiring significant cuts in air pollution from vehicles”.
• Reporting on Monday’s Global Environment Outlook 7 report, the New York Times says: “The Trump administration sided with officials from Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran in a successful effort to block part of a UN report about the dire state of the planet because it called for phasing out fossil fuels, switching to clean energy and reducing plastics, according to two participants.”
• NPR: “Los Angeles shows being coal-free is not a pipe dream.”
• There is widespread coverage of heavy rainfall and flooding across the Pacific northwest. The New York Times says: “A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture and moisture is the fuel for atmospheric rivers like the ones affecting the Pacific Northwest this week.”

Energy company Drax has announced plans to expand its power station near Selby with a new 100MW data centre, as part of its plan to “​​allocate up to £2bn towards investment in flexible and renewable energy”, reports BBC News. The broadcaster adds that the centre could be operational by 2027. The Guardian says: “The centre is expected to use the land, cooling systems and transformers that were once dedicated to the power plant’s coal generation before Drax converted its generators to burn imported wood pellets. The first datacentre to be built on its site will draw electricity from the UK’s national electricity grid, but in future there could be potential to use electricity from the Drax plant.” Reuters adds: “Europe’s ageing coal and gas-fired power plants are looking for a renewed life as tech giants such as Microsoft and Amazon seek to repurpose them into data centres, using existing access to power and water, to meet the surge in AI-driven energy demand.” Bloomberg and the Times also cover the news.

MORE ON UK

• The Guardian reports that eight more UK universities have “signed up to end recruitment ties with the fossil-fuel industry”.
• The Times says: “More than 7,000 companies and business leaders have signed a letter publicly urging the government to fast-track its planned new North Sea fiscal regime in order to avoid further job losses.” Separately, the Times reports on projects to bring hundreds of new jobs into Grangemouth, to help the area “recover from the closure of the oil refinery earlier this year”. 
• BBC News reports that “politicians have rejected a bid to hold a referendum on the future of the Isle of Man’s net-zero policy”.
• The i newspaper has an investigation on “all the climate-wrecking projects funded by British taxpayers”. The piece has the subheading: “The UK government has been accused of ‘carbon colonialism’ over its bankrolling of at least 18 oil and gas projects in Africa and Asia”.
• The Guardian has published an explainer under the headline “Will net-zero really cost UK households £500 a year?”, in a piece drawing on numbers from the recent National Energy System Operator (Neso) report, which was covered by Carbon Brief yesterday.
• The Daily Express covers a report from a climate-sceptic lobby group called the Prosperity Institute, which argues misleadingly that “Britain stands on ‘the precipice of industrial collapse’ because of surging energy costs that have been pushed higher by net-zero policies”. (See Carbon Brief’s factcheck on “why expensive gas – not net-zero – is keeping UK electricity prices so high”.)

Trixy Elle is a survivor of Typhoon Odette, which hit the Philippines in 2021. She explains in Climate Home News why a group of survivors are suing oil and gas company Shell. Elle writes: “Fossil fuel companies in the global north, which bear huge responsibility for the climate crisis, are largely protected from the impacts of their polluting activities. But those of us living on small islands, at the sharp edge of climate change, don’t have that luxury…We’ve done nothing to cause the climate crisis, but because fossil fuel companies have chosen profit over people, our lives have been destroyed.”

MORE COMMENT

• The Wall Street Journal has published an editorial in its climate-sceptic comment pages saying that Donald Trump is “put[ting] the oil squeeze” on Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro: “Let’s hope there’s more.”
• Michael Haigh from the Société Générale writes in the Financial Times that “shifts in energy systems take time and prices can be volatile”. He compares the shift from whale oil to crude oil in the 1850s to the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
• Entrepreneur Dale Vince writes in the Financial Times that the UK “should break the link between green power and gas prices” to bring down energy costs.
• Alistair Osborne, chief business commentator at the Times, argues that taxing north sea oil and gas is “counterproductive”, noting that “tax receipts from North Sea oil and gas production are projected to fall from £9bn in 2022-23 to £300m by 2030-31”.