India’s prime minister Narendra Modi has urged states and federally administered territories to prepare heat action plans, as south Asia swelters under extreme temperatures, reports Reuters. (For more on how the media has covered the region’s on-going heatwave, see Carbon Brief’s new article on the topic.) The newswire adds: “In a meeting with federal officials on Thursday, Modi told authorities to take measures to avoid deaths due to heatwaves and fire incidents, according to a statement issued by his office…With monsoon rains likely to arrive within weeks, Modi also told authorities to create ‘flood preparedness plans’ and make arrangements for monitoring the quality of drinking water.”

Separately, the Economic Times says that the Indian government has “stepped in to tackle the power crisis by invoking Section 11 of the Electricity Act mandating all imported coal-based projects to generate power at full capacity, sources said”. It continues: “Section 11 of the Electricity Act provides that the government, in extraordinary circumstances, may ask a generating company to operate and maintain any station in accordance with its directions. The order, issued late on Thursday, comes amid projections of high peak demand of 220GW [gigawatts] in the ensuing summer months. The directive will bring on stream at least 7GW power plants of Essar Power, Coastal Energen in states such as Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu…Of the 17.6GW imported coal plants in the country, only 10GW are operating due to the lack of compensation for the high imported coal prices of $140 per tonne, sources added.”

Relatedly, the Economist says that “electricity has been getting increasingly scarce in India”, adding that “Indian power plants are running out of coal”. It concludes: “Fixing the dysfunctional electricity distribution system will become more urgent as India gets richer. Climate change will make extreme temperatures more common. More Indians will install air-conditioning: currently only one in ten households has it.”

Germany has begun building its first terminal for importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US and the Middle East as the government continues to cut its dependence on fossil fuels from Russia, reports the Times. Furthermore, the German energy ministry says it hopes to achieve “total” independence from Russian oil within weeks, chiefly by importing more through Rostock in northeast Germany and the Polish port of Gdansk.

Germany’s Manager Magazin says that economics minister Robert Habeck has signed contracts to build four floating terminals – the first platform is scheduled to go into operation in Wilhelmshaven this year. However, activists from an organisation called Environmental Action Germany are taking legal action against the construction, reports WirtschaftsWoche. The outlet quotes the organisation’s chief executive Sascha Müller-Kraenner: “We are of the opinion that the supply of natural gas can be secured in the coming years without such terminals.“ Süddeutsche Zeitung quotes Habeck, who warns against legal action: “Your lawsuit will make us more dependent on Putin.”

Separately, Reuters reports that Germany has started filling the huge Rehden gas storage facility abandoned by Russia’s Gazprom, according to the site’s state-appointed manager. The newswire says that “Rehden is currently just 0.6% full, far below the 36% average for Germany’s gas storage facilities”.

Meanwhile, Die Zeit covers the “possible fuel shortage” in eastern Germany and the greater Berlin area. It explains that “the reason is that these parts of the country are supplied by a large refinery in Schwedt, Brandenburg, which only processes Russian oil”. It also quotes Habeck predicting that, “for a limited time, too little oil and therefore too little petrol will be available”. And Clean Energy Wire reports that renewables accounted for 50% of electricity consumption in Germany in the first quarter of 2022 – around nine percentage points more than in the same period last year. A comment piece by Karsten Neuhoff and Andreas Goldthau published by Focus argues that ” we continue to ignore the simplest antidote” – namely, using less gas through energy efficiency.

Meanwhile, Kurier reports that Austria could manage without Russian gas from 2027, according to a recent study by the nation’s energy agency. It adds that, according to environment minister Leonore Gewessler, Austria has not purchased Russian oil since March, but the situation for gas is “much more complex”, which is why the government is considering liquefied natural gas as an interim solution.

Shell, which yesterday reported its highest-ever quarterly profits of $9.1bn, has appealed for policy “stability” to support its proposed investments of up to £25bn in Britain this decade, reports the Times. And the energy giant “has admitted that a windfall tax would not necessarily halt its plans”. The Times adds: “The government has ruled out a windfall tax on the ground that it would deter investment in energy. However, Bernard Looney, BP’s chief executive, said this week that his company would press ahead with up to £18bn of planned investments in Britain this decade even if a levy were imposed. Shell intends to invest between £20bn and £25bn in the UK this decade, with about 75% of that in low-carbon or zero-carbon technologies such as offshore wind farms, electric vehicle charging, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage.” Ben van Beurden, Shell’s chief executive, says it had “a very strong commitment to investing in the UK, because we see the policies in the UK being very supportive for the sort of investments we would like to make…If there was a windfall tax on the North Sea, would that impact our plans for electric vehicle charging investments? I suppose not.” The Independent carries the views of Labour’s Ed Miliband who says the arguments against a windfall tax have been exposed as “total nonsense”. Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph notes that “Shell’s chief executive has urged the government to approve a major North Sea gas project after warning that Europe faces a ‘tough winter’ if supplies from Russia are cut off”.

Separately, the Times reports that “the Opec cartel of big oil producers offered no respite to consumers struggling with soaring energy prices yesterday when it stuck to its plan for only a modest increase in output”.

New analysis shows that the current Australian government’s climate change commitments are “consistent with more than 3C of global heating, bordering on 4C, a level that would lead to catastrophic damage across the planet”, reports the Guardian. With a general election looming, the analysis shows that the opposition Labor party’s climate plans would be “consistent with about 2C of heating above pre-industrial levels”. The newspaper adds: “The research by Climate Analytics found neither major party had emissions reduction goals that lived up to the commitment that was made in the landmark 2015 Paris agreement, and strengthened in last year’s Glasgow climate pact, to aim to limit heating to as close as possible to 1.5C. It found targets proposed by the Greens and the ‘teal independents’ vying for inner-city seats were consistent with that mark.”

In other Australian news, the Australian Associated Press reports, via the Guardian, that “wild storms have cut power and forced schools to close in southern Tasmania, as Queensland prepares for intense rainfall and thunderstorms across parts of the state next week”.

The Global Times reports that the sixth and final generator of a major nuclear power plant in China’s Liaoning province was successfully connected to the grid on Monday. The Hongyanhe nuclear plant is the first of its kind in north-east China and the news “paves way for the unit to enter commercial operation as scheduled within 2022”, the state-run newspaper says. Hongyanhe has generated “on-grid electricity of 194.4 terawatt hours (TWh) as of the end of 2021”, the newspaper notes. It adds that the power plant provides “abundant electricity to northeast China’s industrial base” and plays an “active” role in “adjusting the energy structure” in the region. China News Service – a state newswire – covers the same story.

A separate report by the Global Times says that the “cumulative clean power” generated by the Baihetan Hydropower Station – described by the outlet as the world’s “largest” hydropower project under construction – has exceeded “10TWh so far this year”. The newspaper describes the move as “another major step in China’s efforts to achieve energy self-sufficiency and green energy goals”. The piece highlights that the 10TWh of electricity generated by the station can “replace about 3.1m tonnes of standard coal and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 8.4m tonnes”.

Meanwhile, China Energy News reports that the fifth unit of Changlong Mountain pumped-storage power station in the eastern province of Zhejiang was “officially put into operation to generate electricity” after completing a “15-day assessment and trial operation”. The state-run industry newspaper highlights that the news marks the “successful application” of the world’s “first” pumped-storage unit with “rated speed of 600 revolutions per minute and rated capacity of 350 megawatts”.

Finally, Shanghai-based news website Jiemian reports that “more than 100 companies have failed to complete their carbon quota payments on schedule”, based on the latest data about the first compliance cycle of China’s national carbon market. The figure accounts for 5.4% of the total, the outlet notes.

CNN reports that the US attorney general Merrick Garland has announced that the Justice Department (DOJ) is opening a new office aimed at addressing the department’s environmental justice efforts. The news outlet adds: “The DOJ’s Office of Environmental Justice is part of the Biden administration’s strategy to prioritise environmental justice – specifically as it relates to the climate crisis – after the issue was largely ignored during the Trump administration.

In other US news, the Guardian says that “firefighters in New Mexico have slowed the advance of the largest wildfire currently burning in the US, as Joe Biden declared the situation a disaster, bringing new resources to remote stretches of New Mexico that have been devastated by fire since early April”.

Mark Carney, the former Bank of England governor, says the climate crisis will “dwarf current hardships” triggered by spiralling inflation, reports the Daily Telegraph. Carney, who is now the UN special envoy on climate action and finance, says governments must seize the moment and move away from fossil fuels: “It’s risky and it’ll be disruptive, but it can no longer be delayed.” The Telegraph says the comments “are likely to raise eyebrows as they come as British households face the worst cost of living crisis in a generation”.

The New York Times has published a “scrolly” visual feature as part of its “Headway” series, which “explor[es] the world’s challenges through the lens of progress”. The article begins: “Repairing [Scotland’s] extensive peatlands could help the world mitigate climate change. It could also make a fast-fashion billionaire even richer.” It focus on a “Danish multibillionaire named Anders Holch Povlsen, who bought a property – called Glenfeshie – in 2005, at the start of a buying spree that has since made him the largest private landowner in Scotland, with some 210,000 acres on 12 different estates…Through a company called Wildland Ltd, [he is] trying to prove that vast tracts of land can be revived in ways that are both green and profitable”. It adds: “They operate a collection of high-end lodges, catering to guests with an interest in ‘the restorative power of nature,’ as it says on Wildland’s website – and around $520 to spend per night at a renovated farmhouse with a ‘Scandi-Scot’ décor. If all goes as planned, hospitality income will eventually be matched by revenue earned from growing trees and restoring peatland. That effort will produce carbon credits, sold through a still-nascent market that corporations looking to offset environmentally damaging emissions will purchase.”

An editorial in the Times focuses on new “crude” research showing that flying insects are declining by 34% a decade in the UK. It says: “Without insects, the world would soon run short of food. Not enough crops could be grown to feed the world. The earth would become barren. The extinction of bird species would accelerate. The reasons are clear: light pollution, the destruction of habitat, climate change and the widespread use of pesticides. The latter is especially destructive.” On the same topic, the Daily Telegraph publishes the views of Clive Aslet under the headline: “We face an insect apocalypse, and the eco-Left doesn’t care.” (This ignores the fact that newspapers such as the Guardian have been closely reporting insect decline for many years.) He writes: “Yes, climate change is taking its toll…But the reality is that there’s a cocktail of causes for insect decline. No single one may be responsible by itself but, like trees, insects are weakened by the number of threats coming at them together. Admittedly, agriculture – the biggest land use in the countryside – is one of the key culprits.”

Meanwhile, an editorial in the Guardian says: “Weaning EU countries off Russia’s oil and gas will accelerate the necessary transition to clean energy. If a united front is to be maintained, it will also require the kind of economic solidarity between member states that was pioneered during the pandemic.”

A new study finds that 27% of land-use emissions and 22% of agricultural land are related to agricultural products that are consumed in a different region from where they were produced. The study evaluates the land-use emissions embodied in global trade over 2004–17 using new emissions estimates and a “multiregional input-output model”. The authors find that roughly three quarters of embodied land use emissions are from land-use change. They add that the largest transfers of embodied emissions are from lower-income countries, such as Brazil, Indonesia, and Argentina to more industrialised regions such as Europe, the US and China.

New research finds that 71 Mha of tropical dry woodland has been lost to deforestation since the year 2000. The paper adds that one third of wooded areas were located in “deforestation frontiers”. The authors detect and map patterns of deforestation frontiers – the expansion of woodland loss across continents – in “unprecedented” spatiotemporal detail. They find that more than 24.3 Mha of deforestation frontiers are “rampant frontiers” – characterised by “drastic woodland loss and conditions favourable for capital-intensive agriculture.” The study adds that most “active and emerging” frontiers are located in the understudied dry woodlands of Africa and Asia.

“Global action on climate change could generate upward of $340bn in legal claims from oil and gas investors”, according to a new policy forum piece. The authors illustrate the legal and financial risks associated with limiting oil and gas production, and argue that governments should take steps to prevent fossil fuel investors from accessing investor-state dispute settlements.