A single day of extreme heat in India is associated with an estimated 3,400 excess deaths, while a heatwave lasting five consecutive days could lead to around 30,000 additional deaths, according to a study covered by the Hindustan Times. The newspaper explains that University of California, Berkeley researchers adapted findings from a multi-city study of heat-related deaths in 10 Indian cities and applied them to entire districts. India Today notes that these numbers are significant because official government counts are so low – “sometimes just a few hundred in a bad season, because many heat-related deaths are not labelled as such”. The researchers tell the Wire that their estimates are likely still “conservative”. The news outlet says “such evidence‑based estimates for heat can help us argue for investment in heat‑resilient infrastructure, systems and processes”. 

BBC News reports from Banda, Uttar Pradesh, a region that was the hottest place in India in May, reaching 47-48C. The outlet notes that, according to the new study, Uttar Pradesh alone could account for more than 8,000 excess deaths during a severe five-day heatwave.

MORE ON EXTREME HEAT

• A Guardian article explores how “cool roofs” with reflective paint could “help millions avoid deadly heat” in Africa.
• The Hong Kong Free Press reports on NGO calls for Hong Kong to strengthen its climate adaptation policies, “as the city is expected to endure an extremely hot summer this year”.
• The Independent reports that invasive Asian hornet populations are “expected to soar as the UK experiences unusually hot weather”.

The UK’s “net-zero economy” is worth more than £100bn a year and provides benefits across the whole country, according to analysis by CBI Economics – a consultancy arm of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) – covered by the Guardian. The newspaper says the research, which was commissioned by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit thinktank, concludes that around 308,000 people are employed directly in climate-related businesses, rising to 1.1m people when related businesses are included. The article notes that the total value “equates to nearly 4% of the UK’s economic output”. BusinessGreen says net-zero jobs also tend to be more productive and come with higher salaries. The news outlet states that the report “comes at a time when the UK’s clean energy and net-zero targets have come under increasing political scrutiny and criticism”. GB News, which frequently features climate-sceptic pundits, covers the report favourably, citing economists who say the figures show net-zero is “no longer a ‘niche’ area or a sector of the future, but a key driver of growth”.

MORE ON UK

• Provisional figures from the Met Office suggest that England and Wales just experienced their warmest spring on record, according to the Press Association.
• Drax, the owner of the UK’s largest power station, has “agreed to acquire a UK solar and wind farm operator in its largest ever acquisition, as it pushes to diversify away from controversial biomass power”, reports the Times.
• The Daily Mail reports that the Scottish National Party is “delaying [its] official position on new North Sea drilling” until after an upcoming by-election in Aberdeen South, an area with strong ties to the oil-and-gas industry.

Spending from Germany’s €500bn “special fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality” has remained behind government targets, according to a new finance ministry report covered by Clean Energy Wire. The news outlet explains that the fund is supposed to make additional investments to improve Germany’s competitiveness and put the country on track towards its “net-zero by 2045” target. Reuters reports that last year  the fund was meant to disburse €37.4bn but instead spent only €24bn. Bloomberg notes that the transport ministry is “among the agencies under pressure to pick up the pace”. According to the Financial Times, the German government now plans to penalise ministries that are “slow to tap their share” of the fund.

MORE ON EUROPE

• The European Commission is “weighing plans to grant member states additional fiscal flexibility to cope with the impact of high energy costs due to the Iran war”, according to Bloomberg.
• Danish newspaper Politiken reports that EU energy commissioner Dan Jørgensen says – ahead of a major EU tech package – that tech companies must “bear greater social responsibility” for the energy consumption of their data centres.
• ​EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra has told a Politico event in Brussels that recent UN climate summits have delivered “underwhelming” results, reports Reuters.
• Speaking at the same event, Poland’s deputy environment minister, Krzysztof Bolesta, said the speed at which the EU is pushing its industry to cut emissions under the emissions trading system (ETS) is “insane”, according to Politico.
• Euronews covers analysis that shows why “more renewables” is the answer to Germany’s “sky-high” electricity prices.
• A start-up is planning to drill for lithium directly under European battery factories that supply Volkswagen and BMW, “in an audacious pitch to reduce Europe’s reliance on China for critical minerals”, according to the Financial Times.

China has penalised at least 11 companies this year for “illegally exporting restricted rare earths and critical minerals”, including a “subsidiary of solar panel maker” JA Solar, reports financial news outlet Caixin. Beijing’s move to “tightly track the global end-users of its critical materials” raises “compliance stakes for international high-tech and green-energy supply chains”, adds the outlet. Meanwhile, on Monday, China issued new rules “tightening control of overseas deals that involve Chinese investors, technology, data and national security”, according to Reuters. Under the new rules, investors shall not transfer goods and technologies that are prohibited from export, it says. State news agency Xinhua publishes the full text of the new rules, which will take effect in July 2026.

Separately, Xinhua reports that China’s international trade-promotion body voiced its “firm opposition” to the EU’s Cybersecurity Act, saying that Chinese companies are “important partners” for Europe in “green transition” and “industrial upgrading”. China’s manufacturers are “rapidly” expanding in Morocco, building auto parts and battery components to help “power Europe’s electric-vehicle revolution”, reports the Financial Times. However, it adds, concerns are growing in Brussels that Morocco could become a “launch pad for heavily subsidised goods that threaten to swamp European industry”. State-run newspaper China Daily reports that sales of Chinese new energy vehicles (NEVs) accounted for 22.8% of “overseas markets” during the first four months of 2026, up 8 percentage points. Reuters reports that Italian state lender CDP and State Grid, China’s major grid operator, will “renew” an agreement to cooperate on handling Italy’s “key energy networks”.

MORE ON CHINA

• China has issued accounting guidelines for “non-fossil fuel electricity consumption” to improve carbon-emission accounting, reports the 21st Century Business Herald.
• Qiushi carries an article bylined by Chinese president Xi Jinping, calling for advancing “future industries”, including hydrogen energy and nuclear fusion. Industry minister Li Lecheng writes on the same topic in People’s Daily.
• China has begun operations of the “world’s first undersea data centre directly powered by offshore wind”, reports China Daily.
• Economic Daily says China’s “green and low-carbon industries” still face many challenges that need to be addressed through technological innovation.
• Guangming Daily says Chinese scientists developed a new method for evaluating the “offsetting capacity of non-permanent carbon removals”.
• Bloomberg reports that Chinese solar manufacturers and research institutes have launched an alliance to promote solar energy in space, while providing “few details”.

A US judge has “temporarily blocked” the Trump administration’s National Science Foundation from dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), a “globally significant weather and climate research centre” in Boulder, Colorado, reports Bloomberg. The Colorado Sun says the injunction blocks the transfer of  supercomputing facilities to the University of Wyoming and accuses the Trump administration of breaking up the centre as an act of revenge against Colorado. Democratic Colorado governor Jared Polis had drawn criticism from president Donald Trump due to the imprisonment of a former county clerk in the state for her role in “tampering” with voting equipment during the 2020 presidential election, explains Colorado Public Radio. The news outlet notes that, shortly after, the Trump administration described NCAR as one of the “largest sources of climate alarmism” and pledged to dismantle it.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that the Trump administration is dismantling a $368m deep-ocean observation system for monitoring “coastal environments, marine ecosystems and powerful currents that affect the global climate”.

MORE ON US

• US Environmental Protection Agency analysis concludes its “latest climate rollback” – delaying the phaseout of HFC greenhouse gases used in refrigeration – will result in millions of dollars in savings, but ignores significant costs, according to Bloomberg.
• Inside Climate News reports that federal energy-efficiency rebate programmes in the US “will no longer cover a switch from fossil fuels to electricity for heating”.
• Bloomberg reports that Princeton University’s endowment is “backtracking on its pledge to divest from publicly traded oil and gas companies”.

New analysis shows that “even though the total area burned was relatively small, 2025 was the most economically damaging wildfire year on record”, according to the New York Times. The newspaper explains that the Los Angeles fires in the US and a handful of severe blazes in other nations, such as South Korea and Spain, drove up losses worldwide to at least $54bn. The Guardian says the smaller area burned was “largely owing to the expansion of African farms that have fragmented landscapes and hampered the spread of large savannah fires”. The newspaper cites a climate researcher who notes that, “while total burned area may fluctuate from year to year, climate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme fire-weather conditions”. The Independent points to attribution studies, including one that found fire-prone conditions driving the worst European fires were five to 40 times more likely due to climate change.

Orhan Solak, deputy director of Turkey’s directorate of climate change, proposes repurposing “more than $700bn in agricultural subsidies to support a just rural transition” in an article for Climate Home News. He says scaling up finance will be “a vital pillar of this year’s COP31 climate talks in Antalya” and points to the recent launch of a High-Level Panel for a Just Rural Transition in the Turkish capital, Ankara. He writes: “A just rural transition that achieves climate goals and zero waste without undermining agricultural communities and economies is not possible without countries providing the necessary financial support. Redirecting agricultural subsidies offers a promising path toward both objectives.” Solak says UN climate talks in Bonn this month will provide an opportunity to consult on a “just transition mechanism” and consider the importance of food systems in these negotiations. He notes: “Under Turkey’s COP31 presidency priorities, this agenda is expected to feature prominently.”

MORE COMMENT

• Financial Times European economics commentator Martin Sandbu says that, faced with rising Chinese imports, EU leaders should introduce “climate footprint requirements and carbon-border fees” for cars and “strict timelines for the shift to green tech”.
• Down to Earth has drawn together all the submissions that countries have filed for the creation of roadmaps to move away from fossil fuels and end deforestation – processes that were launched at the COP30 climate summit last year.
• Bloomberg columnist David Fickling says the EU’s “world-leading” electric truck sector would benefit from EU leaders forcing them towards a common battery-swapping standard.
• Clyde Russell, Asia commodities and energy columnist at Reuters, says a record surge of US oil arriving in Asia is “nowhere near enough to offset the loss of cargoes from the effective closure of the strait of Hormuz”.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Josh Gabbatiss, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Anika Patel. It was edited by Simon Evans.

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