Ministers have backed a third runway at Heathrow Airport in a move that still requires the backing of parliament and is sure to face legal challenge, reports BBC News. The opposition Labour Party has made its support conditional on tests including compatibility with climate goals, says Sky News. Environmentalists oppose the move, reports i news. Green MP Caroline Lucas noted transport secretary Chris Grayling’s statement on the decision failed to mention climate change, reports the Guardian. Carbon Brief looked at aviation’s place within UK carbon budgets last year. Meanwhile Reuters reports that EU nations are pushing back on moves to weaken the rules of the landmark 2016 global deal to cap aviation emissions at 2020 levels, particularly in relation to the sustainability of biofuels.

Government shake-ups in Spain and Italy “may bring some good news for the climate”, reports Climate Home News. In Spain, incoming centre-left prime minister Pedro Sánchez has named “climate hawk” Teresa Ribera to lead a new “super-ministry spanning energy and environment”, Climate Home News explains. In Italy, incoming leader Giuseppe Conte promised in his inaugural speech to speed up the decarbonisation of the economy.

In the week of the G7 meeting, there are doubts about Canada’s ability to deliver the two biggest environmental commitments of its own, reports the Canadian Press. These doubts include the Canadian government’s recent decision to buy an oil pipeline, it explains, which is seen as evidence that Europe will “have to carry the ball on climate”, according to the lead Italian climate negotiator from last year’s gathering. Separately, Reuters reports that European G7 members will present a united front on issues including climate change, but it remains unclear if the meeting will be able to agree the usual joint communique, according to a “senior Germany official”.

Wales’ first minister has offered to invest £200m to get the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon built, BBC News reports, noting reports the UK government is on the point of ditching the idea. It goes on to quote a “Whitehall source” saying the money “doesn’t really touch the sides”.

Germany’s coal phaseout strategy will be designed by a 31-member commission with four co-chairs and due to be launched this week, reports Climate Home News. The final makeup of the body is close to 100% agreed it says, quoting a government spokesperson. Two of the four co-chairs are former premiers of mining states. The other two are climate economist Barbara Praetorius and a former top finance official. The commission is to be tasked with agreeing a roadmap and end date for Germany’s coal phaseout, explains a factsheet from Clean Energy Wire. It will also have to identify measures towards Germany’s 2020 and 2030 climate targets and plan for economic transition in mining regions.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must produce the evidence its administrator Scott Pruitt has relied on to claim that humans are not the primary drivers of global warming, a federal judge has ruled. E&E News reports how Pruitt has so far resisted attempts to show his workings, with critics saying such evidence does not exist. “If the case proceeds, it could mean that Pruitt would have to produce such research in the coming months or next year,” E&E News explains. Ars Technica also has the story.

“A third runway at Heathrow airport is ultimately indefensible on environmental grounds,” says an editorial in the Guardian. If a final vote in parliament is won, in three weeks time, construction could start around 2021, it says, some 31 years after first being mooted. It continues: “The serious objections to the plan remain, as they have been for most of this century, the environmental ones. The simple fact is that it is impossible to combine a commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050 with the strategic encouragement of air travel…It is true that aircraft have got lighter and more fuel efficient, but this is of no benefit to the environment if there are more of them, flying more often.”

The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) has an unused provision allowing for carbon border adjustments on imported goods notes Paul Sammon, a senior economist at Vivid Economics, in the Telegraph. This could be a “secret weapon” in the new trade war opened up by President Trump, Sammon argues. He concludes: “Europe has so far used the muted tones of climate diplomacy to entice countries to reduce emissions. However, it is now arming itself with a big stick too: tying market access to climate action. And the first hit looks set to be on Trump.”

Global agriculture in 2050 would be be more negatively impacted by mitigation efforts than by climate change alone, a new study claims. This negative impact would be “most pronounced for meat ruminant production,” the researchers say. “However, this is partially due to the limited impact of the climate change scenarios by 2050.”

A lack of regional climate information has left Africa in the dark over how it will be affected by 1.5C and 2C of global warming, a new study argues. A review of the available literature finds that just one study of climate impacts in Africa under 1.5C and 2C has made use of regional climate information, while the rest have relied on the downscaling of global model results. “However global models poorly resolve local scale forcing (e.g. topography) nor the internal climate variability of a region,” the researchers say.