National Grid, the company that runs Britain’s electricity system, should be broken, say MPs on the Energy and Climate Change Committee in a widely covered report. The grid needs to change to unlock “innovative solutions like storage and demand side response”, says committee chair Angus MacNeil, quoted in the Guardian. The National Infrastructure Commission also considered a National Grid break-up but said this would risk “delaying action” on higher-priority work to improve network efficiency, notes the Telegraph. Critics of National Grid say an independent system operator “would pave the way for greater innovation and faster investment in renewables”, according to the Times. Most of the UK’s solar power is connected to local grids and is not measured at national level. The MPs say distribution network operators could better manage power flows on these local grids, reports Reuters.

The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere over the Antarctic has passed 400 parts per million (ppm), reports Inside Climate News. This is a first in at least 800,000, and possibly four million years, it says. The findings come from British and US research stations, with British Antarctic Survey scientist David Vaughn quoted saying CO2 is rising faster than when Antarctic measurements began in the 1980s. Climate Central also has the story.

Japan is burning record amounts of coal for electricity generation and has plans to use even more, reports Reuters. Prime minister Shinzo Abe is pushing coal at home and through technology exports abroad, it adds. While some Japanese trading houses are reducing their exposure to coal assets due to environmental concerns, Japanese energy firms contacted by Reuters questioned the idea that coal assets could become stranded by climate action.

German carmaker Volkswagen plans to launch 30 all-electric models over the next 10 years as it attempts to detoxify its brand after the dieselgate scandal, reports the BBC. Chief executive Matthias Mueller hopes 20-25% of sales will be all-electric by 2025.

Auctions for contracts to build solar farms are successfully driving down costs, with record-low rates secured this year, reports Bloomberg. Next year Germany and Japan will join the roughly 40 countries to have adopted this model, it adds. Yet some doubt projects can be delivered at the rock-bottom prices offered to win auctions.

Uncertainty after a vote to leave the EU would delay energy investment even as the UK faces a looming supply crunch, reports Reuters. Oil and gas majors BP and Shell are among various energy firms to say leaving the EU would affect the sector negatively, it says. The article was published before referendum campaigning was suspended following yesterday’s shocking killing of Labour MP Jo Cox.

Climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe discusses speaking publicly about climate change, her evangelical church and what she would like to ask the presidential candidates in an interview with Ensia. She says a majority of Republican voters now “accept the science” but “people don’t think it’s affecting us now in ways that matter. It’s still about the polar bear. It’s not about us”.

How would 1.5C differ to 2C, asks Fred Pearce for Environment 360, It would have a large impact on the probability of “extreme and destructive weather events”, says Pearce. “Until recently [1.5C] sounded like a political and technological impossibility”, he writes, yet scientists are now considering if, and how it might be possible. BECCS, or bio-energy with carbon capture and storage is one option “that puts a glint in the eye of some technologists and climate scientists”.Carbon Brief ran a series of article on negative emissions and BECCS earlier this year.

Black spruce trees may fare better in northeastern North America than in the rest of the continent, a new study suggests. The eastern side of the North America tends to receive around twice the rainfall of central and western regions, which could help the spruce trees withstand increases in temperature and evaporation. Researchers gathered tree ring samples from 16,450 trees throughout the forests of Québec, Canada. The results suggest that northeastern areas could see an increase in tree growth in future, the researchers say, whereas forests in western and central regions are likely to be increasingly strained by climate change.

A new study evaluates China’s first ever National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA), which is designed to quantify and help manage change in ecosystem services, such as food production, carbon sequestration, soil retention, flood mitigation and habitat protection. The data reveals that nearly all ecosystem services improved over the period 2000-2010, including a 23% increase in carbon sequestration and a 39% rise in food production. However, habitat for biodiversity saw a decline, the researchers note, and the NEA doesn’t account for air and water quality, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and an expanding global footprint from importing raw materials.