The results of the US midterm elections are still coming in, but it is already clear that the Democrats have won back control of the US House of Representatives but failed in their attempt to do the same in the Senate. Reuters says this gives Democrats “the opportunity to block Trump’s agenda and open his administration to intense scrutiny”. However, eyes were also on a number of key votes that could influence energy and climate policymaking throughout the US, both at state and federal level. Axios notes that Carlos Curbelo, a Republican leader on climate, has lost a tight race in Florida: “The outcome represents a loss for the Climate Solutions Caucus, a bipartisan House caucus Curbelo founded in 2016.” MotherJones also says the caucus is now “in doubt”. The Hill reports that voters in Colorado have rejected a ballot measure that “would have imposed aggressive new restrictions on where oil and natural gas companies could drill and frack”, whereas Vox says that Florida has voted to ban oil and gas drilling in state waters. The Hill also reports that voters in Washington state have rejected a proposed carbon tax that would have been the first such levy in the nation: “The policy would have been an effort to fight climate change by mandating that companies using or selling fossil fuels pay taxes equal to $15 per metric ton of carbon, an amount that would rise in future years. The money would have paid for clean air and water projects, as well as community health initiatives…The battle over Washington’s carbon tax got international attention and national funding during the campaign season. Supporters spent at least $12m, and opponents spent more than $25m.” Meanwhile, Joe Romm writing on the ThinkProgress website says that “strong advocates for clean energy have defeat Republican opponents across the country”. He adds: “With midterm election results still coming in late Tuesday night, several decisive victories pointed to a clear trend: candidates who embraced policies to fight climate change and expand clean energy won the favour of voters…Hopefully, the results of the 2018 election will send a powerful signal to politicians of all parties that the voters want to see progress on climate action and clean energy.” CNN says that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s win in New York means she will become the youngest woman ever in Congress at the age of 30. The Democrat has been a strong advocate for action on climate change during her campaign.

New analysis by Imperial College London on behalf of Drax shows that capacity of renewable energy has overtaken that of fossil fuels in the UK for the first time. The Guardian says it is “a milestone that experts said would have been unthinkable a few years ago”. The newspaper adds: “In the past five years, the amount of renewable capacity has tripled while fossil fuels’ has fallen by one-third, as power stations reached the end of their life or became uneconomic. The result is that between July and September, the capacity of wind, solar, biomass and hydropower reached 41.9 gigawatts, exceeding the 41.2GW capacity of coal, gas and oil-fired power plants.” MailOnline says this year renewable capacity has “been boosted by the addition of several offshore wind projects including the Walney Extension which at 660 megawatts is the world’s largest offshore wind farm”. BusinessGreen stresses that “the milestone refers to capacity rather than generation”. But it adds that the “increase in capacity has led to a series of clean energy generation records in recent months and years, most notably with renewables and nuclear combined topping 50 per cent of the UK’s power mix for the first time”. This particular landmark was first revealed by Carbon Brief back in January.

Drilling work has began at what may become the first deep geothermal power plant in the UK, says BBC News, adding: “Two wells will be drilled 2.8 miles (4.5km) and 1.5 miles (2.5km) into granite near Redruth, Cornwall, where the temperature is up to 200C (390F). Cold water will be pumped down to the hot rocks and then brought as heated water to the surface. Steam from the heated water will drive turbines producing electricity, perhaps enough for 3,000 homes.” The Financial Times says that experts believe 5% of UK electricity supply” could come from the clean energy source. “It’s a make or break moment for geothermal power in the UK,” Ryan Law, managing director of GEL, tells the Financial Times. “If this one doesn’t produce I don’t think we’ll see any others for some time.” The story is also carried by the Guardian, Times, MailOnline and the Press Association.

The Guardian reports that hundreds of students around Australia are “preparing to strike from school because of what they say is a failure by politicians to recognise climate change as an emergency”. It adds: “They’ve been inspired by 15-year-old Greta Thunberg, a Swedish student who has been sitting outside the parliament in central Stockholm to draw attention to the fears younger generations hold about the global climate crisis and the failure of countries to take urgent action. Fourteen-year-old Milou Albrecht, a year 8 student at Castlemaine Steiner school in Victoria, her classmate Harriet O’Shea Carre, and 11-year-old Callum Bridgefoot from Castlemaine North primary school, started by protesting last week outside of the offices of their local representative…They’ve been joined by 50 students from local schools and are planning weekly events. And what began as a small local protest is growing into a nationwide movement.”

In his latest Guardian column, Monbiot attacks Sir David Attenborough for “downplaying our environmental crisis” in his natural history documentaries: “His new series, Dynasties, will mention the pressures affecting wildlife, but Attenborough makes it clear that it will play them down. To do otherwise, he suggests, would be ‘proselytising’ and ‘alarmist’…It is not proselytising or alarmist to tell us the raw truth about what is happening to the world, however much it might discomfit us.” He continues: “If you ask me whether the BBC or ExxonMobil has done more to frustrate environmental action in this country, I would say the BBC…[In 2006] he made another environmental series, The Truth About Climate Change. And this, in my view, was a total disaster. It told us nothing about the driving forces behind climate breakdown. The only mention of fossil fuel companies was as part of the solution.” Carbon Brief recently unearthed the “2004 lecture that finally convinced David Attenborough about global warming”.

Sandys, a former Conservative MP, writes in ConservativeHome that “we as Conservatives can rightfully be proud of [our record on climate change]”. She continues: “However we must not kid ourselves that while we have been successful in addressing the decarbonisation of electricity, we now face some even tougher decisions…As the Heineken of decarbonisation, CCUS [carbon capture usage and storage technologies] can help decarbonise heavy industry, produce low carbon hydrogen to decarbonise heating and transport, as well as support negative emission technologies when integrated with bio-energy generation. Other low carbon technologies cannot do this. CCUS now needs a clear policy signal from Government, but one that recognises the unique economic and environmental value that the technology brings to the whole economy, not just the power sector.”

The amount of snow that accumulates across Europe each year is “already dramatically decreasing“, a new study finds. Analysing observed records of snow depth across Europe, the researchers find that average and maximum snow depth have decreased by around 12% and 11% per decade since 1951, respectively. These trends – which have accelerated since the 1980s – have “strong implications for the availability of freshwater in spring”, the authors warn.

The average wave height around Europe could decrease slightly as the climate warms, a new study suggests, while the largest waves of the year could get much bigger. The researchers project future changes in wave height on Europe’s Atlantic coast out to 2100 under intermediate and high emissions scenarios. They estimate a decrease in average wave height of around 0.2m, while annual maximum heights could increase by as much as 0.5-1m. An increase in waves to the north of Scotland is also projected, the authors note, mainly caused by a reduction in sea ice.