There is ongoing media coverage of the wildfires burning across Spain and Portugal. Bloomberg says: “The Iberian peninsula this weekend became the hardest hit by wildfires that have broken out across Europe following four major heatwaves this summer, with blazes breaking out from the UK and France through Greece, Italy and Turkey. Climate change has made high summer temperatures more frequent and intense in Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent.” The Guardian says that according to preliminary data from EU agency Copernicus, fires have burned a record 348,000 hectares in Spain this year. The Independent reports that four people have been killed in Spain. It adds: “Authorities in Madrid have deployed nearly 3,000 troops to help firefighters tackle blazes that have devastated swathes of the country, as temperatures hit highs of 45C.” Euractiv also covers the fires.

MORE ON EXTREME WEATHER

• More than 150 people are missing after “devastating” flooding in northern Pakistan, the Associated Press reports. The newswire adds: “A changing climate has made residents of northern Pakistan’s river-carved mountainous areas more vulnerable to sudden, heavy rains.”
• A feature in the New York Times reports that Paris is preparing for the day when temperatures could reach 50C.
• Le Monde reports that French media coverage of heatwaves “has room for improvement”. It says: “Although broadcasting media have made clear progress in addressing climate issues since the dramatic summer of 2022, coverage remains insufficient, particularly due to a parallel increase in misinformation.”

China’s Ministry of Water Resources says that the “critical period for flood control” in July and August has ended, reports state broadcaster CCTV, adding that this year’s rainstorms and floods” were “sporadic and concurrent, highly extreme and highly disastrous“. A total of 330 rivers have seen “floods exceeding the warning level” and 22 rivers recorded the “largest floods since observational records began”, the broadcaster adds. Meanwhile, the Shanghai-based outlet the Paper interviews Wang Lichao, deputy director of the China Institute of Geo-Environment Monitoring, saying that extreme heavy rainfall is becoming “more frequent” with the impact of climate change, posing challenges for the “prevention and control of geological disasters”.

MORE ON CHINA

• At an event on the “two mountains” theory in Beijing yesterday, premier Li Qiang  called for efforts to tackle climate change, International Energy Net reports. 
• The People’s Daily’s print edition features MEE minister Huang Runqiu’s interpretation of the “two mountains” theory.
• Dialogue Earth: “What is next for China’s personal carbon accounts?” 
• CGTN reports that cities in China are encouraging new NEV owners to charge their cars with “green electricity” generated from renewable sources.

UK environment secretary Steve Reed will set up a new board to “track” more than 50 “critical infrastructure projects in the pipeline, covering roads, railways, airports and power stations”, the Times reports. According to the newspaper, Reed ordered “direct oversight of transport, energy and housing schemes” in order to “resolve issues earlier and avoid spiralling costs”. The newspaper says the Hinkley Point C new nuclear plant in Somerset is one of the projects “earmarked for quicker progress”. BusinessGreen says that in addition to the new board, the government plans to appoint a “lead environmental regulator for each major infrastructure project in its pipeline”. It adds: “The measures confirmed today build on a £500m funding package to help deliver the government’s environmental planning reforms over the next three years, which was first announced as part of the government’s 10-year infrastructure strategy back in June.”

MORE ON UK

• The Press Association reports that the UK “is on track for one of its hottest summers on record”. Bloomberg has a story with the headline “rich Londoners balk at hearing ‘no’ in efforts to install AC”. 
• The Times reports on its frontpage that in the UK, “rail services have been cut and speed restrictions have been imposed on trains due to the persistently dry weather”. The Daily Telegraph adds that “farmers have warned that this year could be their worst ever harvest after a summer of drought”. 
• BusinessGreen covers a new report, which finds that “UK retailers could be losing as much as £146m every year due as a result of failing to upgrade their buildings to make them more energy efficient”. BusinessGreen covers a separate report which finds that “extreme weather caused by climate change” is resulting in £320m of damage per year to sports facilities, clubs and competitions.
• The Times reports on the unsuccessful efforts of a bioethanol plant owner to secure government support for the industry.
• The Daily Mail says that Chancellor Rachel Reeves “is facing a backlash among green groups following claims she is ready to strip back environmental protections in a bid to speed up infrastructure projects”. 

The head of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s office of research and development during the Biden administration, Chris Frey, is “formally requesting that the Department of Energy…correct a contrarian climate science report that is part of EPA’s case for ending greenhouse gas regulation”, according to Politico. The outlet says Frey “filed a ‘request for correction’ with DoE on Friday, citing ‘legal and procedural irregularities’ in how the report’s authors were chosen and in the way they went about compiling and disseminating the assessment”. It adds that Frey “argued in his request for correction that the process violated four federal laws designed to ensure the integrity of federal science”. [A Carbon Brief factcheck found more than 100 false or misleading statements in the report.]

MORE ON US

• The Los Angeles Times says: “A year after being lauded for its plan to replace thousands of ageing, gas-powered mail trucks with a mostly electric fleet, the US Postal Service is facing congressional attempts to strip billions in federal EV funding.”
• The New York Times says the Trump administration is “lashing out” at the International Energy Agency for “saying oil and gas use could start declining as the world pivots to cleaner alternatives”. 
• The Wall Street Journal has a story under the headline: “Is CO2 truly a pollutant? We break down the debate.”
• Inside Climate News reports on the “make billionaires pay” march planned on 20 September, which will “unite climate activists, migrant rights defenders and women’s rights advocates in their demands for climate and social justice”. 

The German federal government is considering issuing credit guarantees worth €893m for gas power plants that German companies want to build abroad, reports Berliner Morgenpost. It says that letters of interest have reportedly been issued for five projects abroad, including in Iraq and Mexico. While not legally binding, such commitments “can increase the chances” of projects moving forward, notes the outlet. A Der Spiegel column argues that German economy minister Katherina Reiche has so far taken steps that “benefit” fossil fuel business models while “undermining” electrification and renewables, including plans for North Sea gas extraction and the scrapping of green hydrogen priorities. 

MORE ON GERMANY 

• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reports that the EU imported Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) worth €4.5bn in the first half of 2025 – 29% higher than during the same period in 2024. However, the European Commission has signaled its intention to change that in the coming years, notes the outlet. 
• A new study by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) estimates that Germany will require 157,000 additional workers by 2030 to meet its renewable energy expansion goals, reports Süddeutsche Zeitung. 

Investigative reporter Peter Stone writes in the Guardian that Donald Trump is “waging a war on truth”. He says: “Trump loyalists at the EPA moved this month to rescind its key 2009 endangerment finding, which has underpinned regulatory efforts to fight climate change since the Barack Obama administration as the agency increasingly rejects widely accepted scientific facts.” He continues: “Leaders at key agencies have followed Trump’s playbook of attacking facts and widely accepted science with regulatory moves to undermine climate change science and alternative fuels. The EPA, as well as the interior and energy departments, has stepped up efforts to throttle spending and regulations to expand wind and solar energy; Trump has attacked green energy as part of his conspiratorial view that climate change is a ‘hoax’, while aggressively promoting his fossil fuel agenda of ‘drill, baby, drill’.”

MORE COMMENT

• The Guardian has published an editorial with the subheading: “Last year’s floods have been followed by heatwaves. Ministers must throw their weight behind resilient, adaptable agriculture.”
• A Daily Telegraph editorial says “a national water grid would save us from drought”. The editorial notes that “the vagaries of the British weather have long been the curse of the farmer but meteorologists maintain that a changing climate will make these events more pronounced and potentially damaging”. 
• The Times has an editorial with the headline “cutting back bioethanol industry is price worth paying for low tariffs”.
• Dr Steve Coulter, head of economy at Green Alliance, writes in BusinessGreen that “the chancellor needs growth – the green economy is where she’ll find it”. 
• Harry Krejsa, director of studies at the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology and Sarah Hipel, former chief technology officer for the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, write in the Washington Post that “the hurdles to marrying clean tech and the defense industrial base are cultural more than technical”. 

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

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