The UN’s highest court has told “wealthy” countries “they must comply with their international commitments to curb pollution or risk having to pay compensation to nations hard hit by climate change”, reports Reuters. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled yesterday that countries must address the “urgent and existential threat” of climate change, in an advisory opinion that is being hailed by small island states and environmental groups as a “legal stepping stone to make big polluters accountable”, the newswire adds. Climate Home News says: “In a landmark case brought by the sinking Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, the ICJ’s 15 judges decided unanimously that governments have a legal duty to protect the climate. Breaching that duty, they said in a keenly awaited advisory opinion, could result in the affected countries claiming compensation.” The Washington Post reports that the ICJ found that any breach represents an “internationally wrongful act” and could lead to reparations being paid to countries experiencing the consequences, if a “causal” link can be shown. The Associated Press adds that during a two-hour hearing to present the unanimous opinion, Japanese judge Yuji Iwasawa told the court that “the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is, therefore, inherent in the enjoyment of other human rights”. The Times notes that the ICJ found countries are legally obliged to fight climate change. It adds that “the view is non-binding on governments, including Britain, and the US does not recognise the court’s jurisdiction. However, the ICJ’s advisory opinions carry great legal weight and are seen to contribute to the clarification of international law.” Bloomberg reports that the opinion is being seen as “a big win for climate activists who have increasingly sought legal avenues to put pressure on countries to halt activities that cause climate change as international negotiations fail to deliver results quick enough”. BBC Earth carries a feature on how the case was started by a group of Pacific island students in 2019, and its path to the biggest UN court. 

Lots of coverage focused on the possibility that nations could have to pay reparations for breaching their climate obligations. The Guardian notes that those who “fail to prevent climate harm could be liable for compensation and restitution”. The Daily Telegraph reports that the UN “has opened the door to Britain being sued over its historic contribution to climate change”. (See Carbon Brief’s 2021 article: “Analysis: Which countries are historically responsible for climate change?”) BBC News states that “countries can sue each other over climate change” following the ICJ opinion. Bloomberg notes that “entire countries have become the target of climate change lawsuits”. This story is also covered by the Hill, Axios, Sky News, Al Jazeera, Politico, CNN, Daily Mail, New York Times and many more.  

The US Environmental Protection Agency is planning to “reverse its scientific determination that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health, removing the legal foundation that underpins all major climate regulations”, sources tell Reuters. Reversing the “endangerment finding” would “gut one of the most consequential federal standards”, which underpins US action to tackle climate change, it continues. Sources tell the newswire that the EPA could more easily undo major regulations designed to limit greenhouse gas emissions without the finding, it adds. The Independent adds that the 2009 scientific “endangerment finding” confirmed that greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel industries and other sources endanger people’s health, allowing the 1970 Clean Air Act to regulate them. Politico reports that “instead of challenging the science, which would require EPA to assemble a body of evidence rejecting the overwhelming consensus that humans are driving climate change primarily through the burning of fossil fuels, the Trump administration would lean into an argument that a key 2007 Supreme Court ruling allowed, but did not require the agency to regulate greenhouse gases”. CNN notes that a proposal to “update” the “endangerment finding” was first touted by the climate-sceptic Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 blueprint. 

MORE ON US

• Bloomberg reports that the Trump administration has “pulled” $4.9bn in federal financing for an electricity transmission project that has faced backlash from Republican lawmakers due to ties to wind energy. 
• According to the Financial Times, “soaring demand” from AI data centres and delays building new power plants could mean the cost of electricity in the US’s largest market will hit a record high. 
• The Guardian reports that climate advocates are “outraged” at plans announced by the Trump administration to “fast-track” the AI sector. 
• Reuters reports that the Energy Information Administration has announced that US coal-fired power plants are expected to “remain well stocked through the end of 2026”.
• According to the Guardian, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) acting director David Richardson has defended how it reacted to recent disasters such as the Texas floods, saying it was a “model” for “how disasters should be handled”.
• Reuters reports that energy giant Equinor has “booked…an $955m impairment on an offshore wind project” in the US, citing tariffs and the “uncertainty of the US regulatory environment under President Donald Trump”.

The UK government has set a target for 51-66GW of flexible power capacity by 2030 to support its 2030 clean-power goal, reports BusinessGreen. It “has set out its vision for a more flexible electricity system, promising that clean technologies such as renewables, batteries and electric vehicles (EVs) could unlock savings for households and businesses while giving them more control over their energy use”, the article continues. The “clean flexibility roadmap” includess a target to increase flexibility capacity two-to-three-fold by the end of the decade, it adds. The Press Association reports that the changes within the roadmap could save up to £70bn in system costs by 2050, by allowing households and businesses “more freedom and choice over how and when they use energy”. The Daily Express adds that encouraging households to use flexible tariffs that offer cheaper electricity at off-peak times could “lead to big savings”. 

MORE ON UK

• The Financial Times reports that the UK government has raised the guaranteed price available for wind developers in its upcoming subsidy auction. 
• BusinessGreen covers a letter from more than 50 businesses, trade unions, and civil society groups calling on the prime minister Keir Starmer to deliver a “bold and fair” climate action plan. 
• The Guardian reports that unions have warned that “Labour must create green jobs or lose voters to parties who oppose net-zero”. (See Comment below.)
• BBC News notes that UK car and van production has fallen to its lowest level since 1953, adding that the incoming EV grants still “lack…clarity”. The Times similarly reports on the figures, arguing that confusion over the EV mandate “means carmakers could miss targets”. 

China added 14 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity in June, a year-on-year decrease of 39%, according to data released by the National Energy Administration (NEA), reports industry news outlet BJX News. The outlet adds that during the first six months of this year, China’s total installed power generation capacity increased by 19%, year-on-year, with solar and wind capacity rising 54% and 23%, respectively, during the same period. June’s newly added solar power capacity was down 85% compared to May’s record 93 GW, as new renewable pricing rules took effect, Bloomberg reports. It adds that the drop was “widely expected by the market” and that 5GW of new wind capacity and 8GW of new thermal capacity were installed in June.

MORE ON CHINA

• Chinese officials have warned about the “risk of power supply disruptions as people struggled to keep cool in record heat”, Reuters reports.
• China has seen the largest number of “high-temperature” days “on record” in 2025, China News says.
• Selwin Hart, special adviser to the UN secretary general on climate action, speaks to the Paper about the “unique role” China can play in accelerating climate action.
• The People’s Daily carries an article in its print edition saying that China has issued more than 5tn yuan ($750bn) worth of “green loans” in the first half of 2025.
• Caixin: “Why did China’s $167bn mega-dam project make such a splash with investors?”

The European Commission has opened a consultation to gain feedback “as it steers its deregulation drive towards green legislation”, reports Euractiv. The EU executive published an outline of plans for changes, “hinting” that some areas of environmental legislation that “may” be up for amendment, it adds. It could target the EU’s nature directives pre-dating the Green Deal, which have been judged to be “fit-for-purpose, but badly implemented”, the article notes. Reuters reports that “the move is part of the EU’s ’simplification’ agenda to slash red tape for industries who say that complex bloc-wide legislation means they struggle to compete with rivals in China and the US, where President Donald Trump is slashing regulation”. A separate piece in Euractiv covers concerns from NGOs that Brussels is taking a “chainsaw” to EU environmental protections through the consultation. It “raises ‘red flags’ and is ‘worrying’ for green campaigners, while the EU’s business lobby looks forward to providing feedback”, the article notes.

MORE ON EUROPE

• Reuters reports that “two people were killed and hundreds evacuated as a massive wildfire tore through southern Cyprus, destroying homes and threatening communities amid an intense heatwave”.
• BBC News reports that at least 10 people have been killed while fighting wildfires in Turkey’s central Eskisehir province.
• A study by New AutoMotive has found there are now 30 gigafactories across Europe, bringing annual battery production capacity to more than 300GWh, reports BusinessGreen. 
• The Associated Press covers calls from outdoor workers in southern Europe for increased protection from “cruel heat”. 
• Bloomberg reports that European car sales have dropped to the lowest level in 10 months as EV growth slows. 

Folha de São Paulo covers a study published by the University of Oxford and the Met Office which estimates bouts of heavy rainfall in Brazil will be three times more likely, despite being 30% less frequent, by the end of the century. It quotes a study author saying: “Cloud bands will become less common in the future, but, when they do occur, they will be much more intense.” In other news, a long-read in Folha’s Piauí magazine examines the logistics, geopolitics and domestic challenges ahead of COP30 in Brazil in what it calls “the most unfavourable context for international cooperation since the Rio conference” in the early 1990s. The outlet describes an “identity crisis” over the purpose of the future COPs now that the Paris Agreement rules have been agreed, the need to mobilise the $1.3bn goal for climate finance, the Trump administration’s impacts on multilateral negotiations, and current global conflicts. A separate article in Folha de Sao Paulo adds that tariff war imposed by the US and the strengthening of the right-wing parties in EU elections are additional challenges to international climate action. 

MORE ON LATIN AMERICA

• Honduras has reported four fatalities and more than 7,581 cases of dengue transmission this year, Inter Press Service reports. Although the figures are lower than last year, climate change and health service conditions “exacerbate the problem”, the outlet says. 
• Following the wildfires that swept through 12m hectares in Bolivia last year, the Inter American Court of Justice has highlighted their “devastating impacts” and called on the government to create a fire management plan, Mongabay reports. 
• El Espectador reports that Colombia’s environment ministry has submitted a bill to ban the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas deposits across the country.

In the Guardian, Harj Narulla, a barrister and leading global expert on climate litigation at Doughty Street Chambers and the University of Oxford, argues that the ICJ ruling has made a “clear statement that the status quo is not sufficient”. The landmark ruling is the “most significant climate decision ever issued by a court” and will “reshape the global fight for climate justice”, he notes. “This is a watershed moment in the global environmental movement”, adds Narulla – who represented Solomon Islands before the ICJ, although writes in a personal capacity. He also highlights that the court specifically targeted the fossil-fuel industry. He explores what the ICJ opinion could mean for Australia, specifically, before concluding: “It is a victory for everyone…We must act now to confront the climate crisis. And in a moment when hope feels hard to come by, that’s very good news indeed.”

MORE IN COMMENT

• In the Wall Street Journal, California governor Gavin Newsom explains that “clean energy powers California’s economic growth”.
• Political correspondent Tom McIlroy discusses the clash between the Nationals and the Liberals in Australia over net-zero in the Guardian.  
• In the Washington Post, Sarah Labowitz, who is a senior fellow in the sustainability, climate and geopolitics programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, argues that “Trump has turned FEMA itself into a disaster”.
• In the Daily Mirror, Mike Clancy from the Prospect Union and Gary Smith from the GMB Union write that “if energy communities [in the UK] are left behind, then more will be attracted by climate denial”.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua has published an unbylined “Xinhua commentary” saying that this week’s China-EU summit “should rise above differences…to open up a new chapter of bilateral relations”, highlighting “increased cooperation in the areas of digital and green transition” as an example of “fruitful China-EU cooperation”. China Net publishes a comment article by Huang Zheng, assistant researcher at the Centre for the Study of Holistic National Security, saying that the EU should “acknowledge China’s resolve and contributions to global climate” and work together with China on climate change. Feng Zhongping, director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of European Studies, says in an article for state broadcaster CGTN that the “green transformation” is where Europe is “most eager” to cooperate with China. Business Times publishes a comment article by London School of Economics IDEAS associate Andrew Hammond arguing that the EU and China still have “much to gain from a deep partnership on the clean-energy transition”. Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports: “EU and China to commit themselves to showing joint leadership on climate.”

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Molly Lempriere, with contributions by Henry Zhang, Anika Patel and Yanine Quiroz, and edited by Leo Hickman.

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