As the UK heatwave continues, BBC News reports that temperatures in the UK could reach record highs of 42C today. The outlet says: “Peterborough, Caernarfon and Swindon are among the areas projected to reach 32C by 10:00 BST, according to the Met Office forecast. By 16:00, Lincoln, Cambridge and Huntingdon could see 40C – areas in the A1/M1 corridor may surpass this.” The Guardian adds that 40C temperatures are expected to be breached for the first time in the UK today and experts are “blaming climate change and predicting more frequent extreme weather to come”. The Times reports that Scotland is predicted to break its record temperature of 32.9C by more than two degrees today.

Meanwhile, the Independent reports that over the past 48 hours, England and Wales have recorded twice as many wildfires as were seen in all of July last year. Separately, the paper reports that Wales’ hottest temperature on record was broken twice yesterday, reaching a high of 37.1C. Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that record-breaking temperatures across parts of the UK yesterday “caused disruption to travel, schools, hospitals and the electricity grid”. The Daily Telegraph covers issues with Network Rail caused by the heat yesterday and the Guardian adds that today, “most routes across England and Wales will be affected by the hot weather”. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that “the few commuters who braved the heat of London’s Underground transport system on Monday had to endure temperatures deemed too hot to safely transport cattle”. And MailOnline reports that Luton airport was forced to shut due to the heat when the runway began to “melt”. Meanwhile, the Independent reports that last night, the UK experienced its warmest night on record. The paper notes that, according to the Met Office, “temperatures didn’t fall below 25C in some places, exceeding the previous daily minimum record of 23.9C in Brighton on 3 August 1990”.

The New York Times notes that only 5% of homes in the UK have air conditioning, adding that “British homes were not designed with sweltering summers in mind”. Similarly, the Guardian asks: “Why is the UK so unprepared for extreme heat and what can be done?” It notes that the five-yearly assessment from the climate change committee concluded that “the government was failing to protect people from a fast-rising risk”. Separately, the paper carries another story entitled, “UK is no longer a cold country and must adapt to heat, say climate scientists”. Similarly, the Independent says the UK must “heat-proof” itself. And another Guardian piece quotes the chief meteorologist at the Met Office, who says that “this sort of unprecedented heat could become a regular occurrence by the end of the century”. The Independent asks why heatwaves feel hotter in the UK than abroad, pointing to higher humidity and less air conditioning in the UK. Meanwhile, the Independent reports that the GMB union has called on the government to introduce a limit on how high the temperature can be in workplaces. And the i newspaper reports the rise in suicide rates and assaults caused by higher temperatures.

Separately, the Guardian shows how different newspapers are covering the heat – which dominates UK front pages today. With many people comparing this summer to that of 1976, BBC News compares the two, reporting that the peak that year was 35.6C. Similarly, the i newspaper says: “People who look back on 1976 as a ‘nice hot summer’ are deluding themselves with ‘rose-tinted spectacles,’ scientists say.” MailOnline reports that the high weather is due to winds blowing hot air up from north Africa, climate change and the Azores High pressure system. And BBC News outlines how climate change is causing more extreme heat. Outlets including the Wall Street Journal, the Daily Telegraph, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Bloomberg, and Reuters also cover the ongoing UK heatwave.

There is continuing media coverage of the heatwaves sweeping across Europe and the US. The Financial Times says: “In France, Brest – on the normally cool Atlantic coast – saw the temperature reach a record 39.3C in the afternoon, 18C above normal and breaking the 1949 record of 35.2C, while Nantes, also in Brittany, recorded 42C. Elsewhere in the west of the country the heat exceeded or approached the record levels of the 2019 heatwave.” The paper adds that in Portugal, more than 1,000 firefighters continued to battle 30 forest blazes on Monday, while. in Spain, thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes due to wildfires, which have burned more than 70,000 hectares of forest across the country so far – almost double the annual average. Two people were killed in fires in Spain, according to Associated Press. The Guardian covers warnings from meteorologists of a “heat apocalypse” in western France, as nearly 25,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in west Bordeaux to escape a fire sparked by the heatwave. Reuters reports that the EU will buy more firefighting planes. Meanwhile, farmers in Italy’s Lombardy region “are desperately trying to save their crops”, according to the Independent. The Times also covers the fires in France and Spain.

“In many European countries, buildings are not designed to withstand temperatures even 5 degrees above 20C”, Politico reports. “Heatwaves show us climate adaptation must be a policy priority in Europe,” Energy Monitor says. The New York Times reports that heatwaves in Europe “are increasing in frequency and intensity at a faster rate than almost any other part of the planet”.

Meanwhile, the Independent says that “dangerous and record-breaking heat” will hit millions in the US this week – with Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas expected to be particularly hard hit. Some Texans are being asked to conserve water, the paper adds separately. In another piece, the paper explains the heat dome driving the high temperatures. Meanwhile, the Guardian says Alaska has seen more than 500 forest fires since the beginning of April. It adds that “across the state, 264 individual fires are burning and it is on track to break its 2004 record of 6.5m acres destroyed”. And the Washington Post carries maps showing the heatwaves across Europe and the US.

Der Spiegel reports how researchers have costed the consequences of climate change in Germany, considering direct damage to buildings and infrastructure, plus the loss of earnings in forestry and agriculture, as well as reduced labour productivity. The researchers presented a summary yesterday saying that “since the year 2000, climate change has caused damage averaging €6.6bn in Germany annually”. The publication adds that forecasts reveal that “the heat, drought and floods caused by climate change would have cost at least €145bn by 2021, according to the ministry of economic affairs and environment. Reuters also carries the story with a quote from German environment minister Steffi Lemke saying that “we must, and we will now invest more in climate protection and climate adaptation to protect our population better”. However, Climate Home News reports that Germany is working on a “global shield” to support vulnerable communities in developing countries to recover faster from climate events. German chancellor Olaf Scholz is quoted in the article saying that “we want to establish a global shield against climate risk”. He was speaking at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin. The German government wants to work with 5-10 vulnerable “pathfinder” countries to identify climate risks and needs and link those to existing funding instruments such as the Insuresilience Solutions Fund and the Global Risk Financing Facility, a source with knowledge of discussions told the Climate Home News.

Meanwhile, Stern reports that Olaf Scholz has warned of a “global renaissance of fossil fuels”. However, it adds, Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine and increasing energy prices have only strengthened his goal of getting out of coal, oil and gas “at full speed”, Scholz at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue. The outlet also explains that representatives from 40 countries are participating in the Berlin event, preparing for the next UN climate conference at the end of the year in Egypt. Associated Press covers climate talks, too, noting that Germany’s climate envoy, Jennifer Morgan, acknowledged that “the Russian war of aggression is forcing us to take short-term decisions we don’t like, including the increased use of coal for a very limited time period”.

Elsewhere, Politico reports that a repaired Siemens turbine used in Russia’s Nord Stream 1 pipeline was shipped from Canada to Germany on Sunday, according to Russian media outlet Kommersant. It says the unit was loaded onto a plane rather than sent via sea freight to speed up its return to Europe. After it arrives in Germany, Kommersant said the turbine will be shipped by land to Finland and is scheduled to arrive at Russia’s Portovaya station, where it will be collected by Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom on July 24. Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy had “emphasised that Ukrainians will never accept Canada’s decision regarding the Nord Stream turbine”, notes Politico.

In other energy news, Reuters reports about the possible life extension of three remaining nuclear power plants in Germany. Former chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to phase out nuclear power by the year-end, says the outlet. However, it adds that “falling Russian gas supplies to Germany through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline have emboldened pro-nuclear voices in Germany and Europe ahead of a feared electricity crunch this winter”. Politico explains that the Greens, who are governing with chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), have pushed for ending the use of nuclear power by the end of this year and, until Monday, this had been the official position of the government. The FDP, however, has strongly advocated for extending the use of nuclear energy amid the current crisis, says Politico.

Finally, German TV organisation ZDF reports Scholz’s agreement with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi “to work closely together, especially in the field of hydrogen” after meeting in Berlin.

The UK government has been ordered to publish an updated net-zero strategy by the end of March 2023, after a judge ruled that its existing plan provides “insufficient detail”, the Financial Times reports. The paper continues: “Kwasi Kwarteng, secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, launched the so-called net-zero strategy last year. But neither he, nor the minister who approved the strategy on his behalf, knew how each individual policy would contribute to achieving the legally binding target, and therefore could not properly assess the credibility of the plan, Justice David Holgate said. That was a breach of the government’s obligations under the Climate Change Act, the judge said.” The Guardian reports that the legal challenge was brought to the high court by environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth, ClientEarth and the Good Law Project. The Independent says that, alongside producing an improved report within eight months, Kwarteng has been ordered “to pay the activists’ costs”. It adds that the court “said the net-zero strategy did not make clear that official predictions were for 95% of emissions to be eliminated, rather than 100%, or explain how the 5% shortfall could be made up.

In other UK news, the Financial Times outlines the “Review of Electricity Market Arrangements” – a proposal published by the UK government yesterday, which aims to address problems in the electricity market. The proposal could mean that households and businesses in the north of England and Scotland could pay less for their electricity in future than those in southern Britain, according to the paper. The Daily Telegraph says that the new plans will reward customers who use more power when wind turbines are at full capacity, in an aim to more effectively balance the grid. “Ministers are also considering a move to charge bill payers less if they live close to a wind or solar farm,” it adds. Separately, the paper covers a warning from the National Grid that millions more pounds are needed to meet UK heat pump targets. The paper says that the UK is currently installing just 60,000 pumps per year, but 10 times more need to be installed annually by 2028.

Meanwhile, the Independent reports via the Press Association that “all five of the remaining Conservative leadership contenders have committed to meeting net-zero by 2050”. (Last night, the candidates were reduced to four.) The commitments were made at “a well-attended hustings organised by the Conservative Environment Network and chaired by COP26 President Alok Sharma”, the paper says. The Guardian calls Kemi Badenoch’s pledge to back net-zero a “U-turn” – as she had previously likened the target to “unilateral economic disarmament”. However, the New York Times reports on the hustings in a story entitled: “In the race to succeed Boris Johnson, climate change does not appear to be a priority”. The paper says that the five politicians “are talking less about global warming and more about how to blunt the impact of spiking energy bills on hard-pressed consumers”. And the Daily Telegraph says that, according to Chris Skidmore, a former junior minister and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Environment, “Conservative Party members are unwilling to prioritise the Government’s 2050 net-zero targets ‘because 90% of them will be dead’”. Meanwhile, the i newspaper reports that “seven in 10 Britons believe expansion of UK’s renewable energy can solve cost of living crisis”.

“Searing” summer heatwaves are “expected to return this week across large parts of China”, lasting through to late August, reports Reuters, citing the state weather forecaster, “despite brief interludes of seasonal rain”. According to the China Meteorological Administration on Sunday, temperatures “from 39C to 42C are expected in the southern region” after 20 July, including the provinces of Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian, the newswire writes. Meanwhile, pacific island nations, “courted by China and the US”, put the “superpowers on notice”, telling the world’s two “biggest” carbon emitters to “take more action on climate change while pledging unity in the face of a growing geopolitical contest”, Al Jazeera writes. A communique, “yet to be released” and “seen” by Reuters, shows the pacific islands nations will “push for a doubling of climate finance to flow from big emitters to developing nations within two years”, the article writes, adding that “money they say is needed to adapt to rising sea levels and worsening storms”.

Separately, Xinhua carries a feature on China’s “nascent carbon trading market”. The state news agency quotes Li Gao, director-general of the climate change adaptation department under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, saying that “overall, the basic framework of the national carbon market has been initially established, and the role of promoting enterprises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate green and low-carbon transformation has initially emerged”. Analysts are quoted saying “for the system to play a larger role in the country’s green goals, more efforts are needed to improve mechanism designs and boost market vitality, according to analysts”. Over a year since its debut on 16 July 2021, China’s national carbon market has seen “encouraging results”, the article says, adding that the market in the first year included 2,162 power-generating enterprises, covering about 4.5bn tonnes of CO2 emissions”.

Elsewhere, an analysis by academic Asma Khan published by the South China Morning Post, focuses on how climate change will exacerbate China-India tensions. She writes:“ Climate change as a threat multiplier is evolving as a key dynamic in the rivalry between China and India”. She adds: “The shared river systems between the two nations, the Yarlung Tsangpo (known as the Brahmaputra in India) in the east and the River Indus in the west have become sources of tension, as the effects of climate change, such as retreating glaciers, increased precipitation and glacial lake outburst floods”. It continues: “Substantial warming has been projected in the climate-stressed Himalayan region by 2040”, adding that this would lead to “further militarisation of areas close to where the contested borders of China, India and Pakistan meet”.

Finally, China Energy News reports that the construction of phase II unit 3 of the nuclear island at the Changjiang Nuclear Power Plant by China Huaneng Group – a state-owned electricity generation enterprise – “started officially” on Friday in the southernmost province Hainan. The state-run industry newspaper says that when the phase II project completes, it can deliver “18,000GWh (gigawatt hours) of clean electricity” to Hainan each year, which is equivalent to “reducing standard coal consumption by 5.5m tonnes and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 13m tonnes”.

The European Commission is preparing emergency powers to “force EU countries to reduce gas consumption” in the event of an emergency, such as a Russian gas shutoff, Politico reports. A draft paper seen by the Financial Times shows that next week, the European Commission will “provide members with voluntary gas reduction targets”, which could be “made mandatory in the event of severe disruption to supplies”.

“Since its invasion of Ukraine, the amount of revenue that Russia has collected from exporting oil and gas to Europe has doubled compared with the average of recent years – to $95bn”, writes Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) in a blog post. After soaring prices, there are fears that Moscow could “cut off the gas altogether this winter in response to western sanctions” reports the Times. A halt of Russian gas supplies could reduce GDP for the EU by 1.5% “if the next winter is cold and the region fails to take preventive measures to save energy”, reports Bloomberg. The Financial Times reports on French efforts to prepare for a “winter Russian energy shock”, including a voluntary energy-saving protocol signed by several significant retailers that would involve “turning off the illuminated signs after stores close” and “limiting winter heating to 17C at times of peak power demand”.

Meanwhile, Politico writes: “While Europe burns, leaders go shopping for gas”. While Tuesday is expected to see the hottest temperatures in UK history, it continues, “politicians who left the COP26 in Glasgow last November promising to tackle climate change are now struggling to stay focused on a problem they all said was existential”, the outlet writes. The outlet goes on to quote UN secretary-general António Guterres, who said on Monday that international cooperation on climate change had “weakened” since the start of the Ukraine war. “We have a choice,“ Guterres said. “Collective action or collective suicide.”

“The danger posed by heatwaves in Europe should be taken more seriously,” says an editorial in the Guardian. The paper notes that deaths caused by the 2003 European heatwave, adding that “global heating will make lethal summer temperatures more common and more extreme”. However, it says that “Tory party members seem unconcerned”, calling COP26 president Alok Sharma “a rare voice of reason”. The editorial continues: “It is a worry that at least one of the contenders in the Tory party leadership race thinks that the choice for Conservatives is either to be a party of net-zero or a party of low taxes. Any leading politician who thinks this trade-off is right – especially during what could be record-breaking heat in Britain – is not fit to be prime minister.”

Meanwhile, Guardian columnist George Monbiot writes that “this heatwave has eviscerated the idea that small changes can tackle extreme weather”. He calls the “active silence” around climate change a “fierce commitment to distraction and irrelevance in the face of an existential crisis”, asking “can we talk about it now?” Monbiot says that “the billionaire press” and politicians “deploy every imaginable wile and ruse to prevent decisive action from being taken”. He continues: “Over the past few years, I’ve begun to see that mainstream environmental movements have made a terrible mistake… But while they have been playing patience, power has been playing poker.” He concludes: “There was never time for incrementalism… System change, as the right has proved, is, and has always been, the only fast and effective means of transformation… So let’s break our own silence. Let’s stop lying to ourselves and others by pretending that small measures deliver major change.” Guardian columnist Zoe Williams has also written about the heatwave, in a piece entitled: “Climate-crisis anxiety denial is everywhere. But this week it’s impossible to ignore our worries.”

Elsewhere, the Daily Mirror says the “scorching” heat underlines why the UK “cannot afford not to invest in a greener future when the cost of doing nothing would be far higher”. In its editorial, the paper says: “The climate emergency fuelled by pollution will only worsen unless we take drastic steps. Many older people remember the hot summer of 1976 with its drought and hose pipe ban. Well, that heatwave doesn’t even make Britain’s top 10 hottest days.” An Evening Standard editorial says that the UK public “deserves better than heavily caveated endorsements of net-zero from Conservative leadership candidates”. It continues: “Whoever wins the contest must not only re-commit to our vital and legally binding climate targets, but redouble their efforts through policy and political will to make it happen. This is no longer just about our duty to future generations. Those living today need a habitable planet too.” A Wall Street Journal editorial notes that, while Europe “endur[es] another miserable bout of summer weather this week”, its “politicians boast about ‘net-zero’ climate goals for 2050 but do little or nothing for severe weather mitigation today”. HSBC’s senior economic adviser, Stephen King, writes in the Evening Standard that “there are reasons to be hopeful about climate change despite this heat”, noting that we are “lowly weaning ourselves off” gas and coal. And Hugo Rifkind – a columnist for the Times – says “Tories will suffer if they go cold on net-zero”.

The Daily Telegraph is less concerned about the extreme heat, arguing in its editorial that it is “no grounds for hysteria”. The paper says that although the UK’s railways “are not designed for the sort of temperatures we are seeing”, investing in more heat-resistant tracks “would be an unreasonable expense given how rare these conditions are, unless there are signs that they will return every year”. Also in the Daily Telegraph, climate-sceptic columnist Ross Clark takes aim at the Met Office, complaining that “it now sees its role not just as telling us what the weather will be like but micromanaging our lives and society’s response to it”. He also repeats a misleading claim – circulating on social media in recent days – that the “Met Office’s maps also seem designed to frighten us”, adding: “Where once forecasts used symbols of sunshine, now they employ heat maps showing apparently furnace-like temperatures.” Stephen Robinson – freelancer journalist and a speech writer and consultant for companies operating in the energy sector – makes the same claim in a column for the Daily Mail. He writes: “When it comes to communicating hot summer weather, gone are the jolly yellow magnets of my childhood to be replaced by a blood-red stain, like the sort of graphic used in a fear-mongering documentary about the prospect of nuclear war which plots the spread of the fallout.” [A Met Office scientist that co-created the Met Office’s maps debunked the claims on Twitter, pointing out that colour changes were to “make the maps easier for people who are colourblind”.] An editorial in the Daily Mail moans: “Whatever happened to keep calm and carry on?” Finally, freelance commentator Mark Day writes in the Sun that heatwaves in his native Australia are much worse, noting that “down here in summer, it can get so hot you can fry an egg on the road. I know, I’ve done it”.

A new study sets out a pathway for the “battery electrification of containerships” within this decade that “electrifies over 40% of global containership traffic, reduces CO2 emissions by 14% for US-based vessels, and mitigates the health impacts of air pollution on coastal communities”. The study notes that past studies on electrification of international maritime shipping is based on “outdated assumptions on battery cost, energy density values and available on-board space”. The authors show that, at battery prices of US$100 kWh−1, the “electrification of intraregional trade routes of less than 1,500 km is economical, with minimal impact to ship carrying capacity”. They add that the economical range “nearly doubles” if batteries achieve a US$50 kWh−1 price point.