French president Emmanuel Macron hoped to galvanise international climate efforts yesterday, with a summit in Paris that was attended by more than 60 heads of state. Macron reminded delegates that the world is on course for more than 3C of warming, exceeding the goal of limiting temperature rise to “well below 2C”, which was agreed in Paris two years ago. UN chief Antonio Guterres emphasised the need to divert money to climate-friendly infrastructure: “Finance is the difference between winning and losing the war.” Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, speaking at a press conference at the event, said that “the fact that President Trump has a different view has been a rallying cry for the pro-environmentalists groups. And that has been very helpful…So I just want to thank him for all of his assistance”, Time Magazine reports. The event included a number of announcements, most notably the statement by the World Bank that it will end its financial support for oil and gas exploration within the next two years. The bank ceased lending for coal-fired power stations in 2010 but has been under pressure from lobby groups also to halt the $1bn (£750m) a year it has been loaning for oil and gas in developing countries, the Guardian writes. The World Bank said it saw that it needed to change its approach in a “rapidly changing world”, adding that it was on course to have 28% of its lending going to climate action by 2020. However, it said it would still consider lending for oil and gas to the very poorest countries in “exceptional circumstances”. The summit also saw the launch of Climate Action 100+, a campaign by 225 private investors to bring the world’s 100 biggest corporate climate polluters in line with the Paris goals. BusinessGreen, the Hill, Reuters, Associated Press, Politico and the Telegraph also have the story.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Arctic Report Card has found that a warming, rapidly changing Arctic is the “new normal” and shows no signs of returning to the reliably frozen region of the past, the BBC writes. “We’ve now left that refrigerator door open”, said Dr Jeremy Mathis, director of the administration’s Arctic Researcher Program, speaking at the annual American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans. “What’s really alarming for me is that we’re seeing the Arctic is changing faster than at any rate in recorded history…Villages are being washed away, particularly in the North American Arctic – creating some of the first climate refugees”, Mathis added. The report found that sea ice is melting at the fastest pace in 1,500 years, the Guardian highlights. This is the 12th such report that the organisation has produced. The Independent, and the Washington Post also have the story.

An explosion at a major gas processing facility in Austria, which is the main point of entry for Russian gas into 
Europe, as well as the shutdown of the North Sea’s most important oil and gas pipeline system, has created a “perfect storm” of supply problems that will lead to a rise in gas bills, the Telegraph reports. Following the incidents wholesale prices hit their highest level for six years, raising fears that the increase will be passed on to customers. Britain has met just under half of its winter gas needs in recent years from North Sea production and domestic storage sites, with the remainder being imported. The Times and the Financial Times also carry the story.

French President Emmanuel Macron discussed Donald Trump and his stance on the Paris Agreement during an extended interview on CBS Evening News, on the eve of a summit on climate he has arranged on Tuesday in Paris. When asked about Trump’s willingness to renegotiate the Paris Agreement, Macron said: “The US did sign the Paris Agreement. It’s extremely aggressive to decide on its own just to leave, and no way to push the others to renegotiate because one decided to leave the floor. I’m sorry to say that. It doesn’t fly.” Macron also observed that: “the withdrawal – to be totally fair with you – created a huge momentum to me to create a counter-momentum”. CBS Evening news has published a portion of the interview transcript on its website. The BBC also covered the interview.

Over 100 MPs have called on the UK government to retain close ties with Euratom, which regulates the European nuclear industry, because of fears that Brexit could damage the British nuclear sector. “We now face the prospect of setting up our own . . . regime in its place, which falls short of Euratom standards. This requires us to set up our own bureaucracy, which comes at a cost of millions, with very real doubts that it will actually be ready in time”, said Rachel Reeves, chairwoman of the Commons business select committee, noting that leaving without transitional procedures would be a “highly risky option”. Euratom is legally distinct from the European Union but has the same membership, the Times reports. Nuclear energy generates more than a fifth of Britain’s electricity. Energy Live News also has the story.

The Conservative Party is undertaking a concentrated effort “to establish a new green agenda”, writes Katy Balls in a piece that was featured on the frontpage of iNews. She looks at the Conservative’s “rare display of social media awareness”, in response to the finale of Blue Planet II, which she says is part of a “mission to rebrand themselves as the party of the environment”. To beat Labour at the next election, the Tories need to win “liberal metropolitan voters” back, she argues. However, “there is still work to do if they are going to convince voters that they are the party that should be trusted to protect our planet – actions speak louder than words”, she concludes. The paper also ran a news story looking at a series of animal welfare measures and climate change policies just announced by the party.

“Harrowing footage” of an emaciated polar bear searching for food, has been widely publicised over the past few days “as a warning about the dangers of climate change”. But a factcheck by the BBC asks: “Is there more to it?” For example, this particular animal could “simply have been sick”. Biologist Jeff Higdon, writing on Twitter, argued that “The east Baffin coast is ice free in summer. It’s far more likely that it is starving due to health issues”, although he added that he couldn’t be sure. Leo Ikakhik, who has spent years monitoring polar bears in Canada’s Nunavut region, speculated that the bear was either ill or suffering from an injury that prevented it from hunting.

Bill Gates, the philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft, has written and optimistic piece about progress made on combating climate change, summarising the work of various organisations that have been collaborating to make it happen. Gates discusses the the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, whose members “have committed billions of dollars to creating new energy companies and commercialising new energy products”. This group is working together with Missions Innovation, an effort by 20 countries to double their spending on energy research and development by 2020. “Our goal is to bring ideas out of the lab and into the market much faster”, Gates says. Breakthrough Energy Ventures, “our $1 billion clean-energy investment fund is up and running”, Gates writes. Finally the Gates Foundation is helping small farmers to get more help, as the increasingly unpredictable weather will make their crops “dramatically less productive”. Gates is in Paris for a big meeting on climate change hosted by French president Emmanuel Macron.

Climate change could be shifting the timing of key life cycle events of many insect species, a new study finds. The research finds that rising temperatures could be linked to an earlier peak abundance date for many species, with insects living in low altitudes being more affected than those living in high altitudes. “Our findings both confirm and confound expectations for ectotherm [cold-blooded] species affected by climate warming,” the researchers say.