At least 151 people in central Nigeria have been killed following flash floods that destroyed homes and displaced thousands of residents, reports BBC News. It adds: “The Niger State Emergency Management Agency (Nsema) confirmed to the BBC the death toll had risen sharply from 115, after floods hit the town of Mokwa. A Nsema spokesman told the BBC more than 500 households with a population in excess of 3,000 people were affected. Some families are said to have lost between two and five relatives including children. The agency warned the death toll could rise further after people were washed into the River Niger below the town.” The Associated Press says: “Communities in northern Nigeria have been experiencing prolonged dry spells worsened by climate change and excessive rainfall that leads to severe flooding during the brief wet season.” Agence France-Presse adds: “According to the Daily Trust newspaper, thousands of people have been displaced and more than 50 children in an Islamic school were reported missing.” Nigeria’s Daily Post covers the “scary flood episodes”, adding: “While both the federal and the Niger state governments have acknowledged the [Nigerian Meteorological Agency’s flood warnings from the beginning of the year] not much has been heard in the media about preventive measures to mitigate the impact of floods”. The fatal flooding is also covered by Sky News, Al Jazeera and the Guardian. 

Politico reports that the European Commission’s climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra “successfully lobbied Germany’s coalition government to endorse a controversial measure that weakens the EU’s next climate target”. The outlet adds that Hoekstra “held talks with Germany’s Christian Democrats and Social Democrats (SPD) as they negotiated the climate chapter of their coalition agreement, two people who participated and another two people who were briefed on the talks told Politico”. It continues: “During those discussions, Hoekstra – a member of the centre-right European People’s Party, the political family of the German Christian Democrats – sought to influence the future government’s position on the EU’s 2040 climate target, the sources said. In particular, he pushed both parties to support the Commission’s recommendation for a 90% reduction in planet-warming emissions and persuaded a reluctant SPD to consent to the use of international carbon credits – a controversial mechanism that would allow the EU to meet part of its 2040 target by paying for climate projects in poorer countries.”

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that “EU diplomats” have told it that the European Commission “will propose a new EU climate target in July that includes flexibilities for how countries meet it, as Brussels attempts to fend off mounting criticism of Europe’s environmental aims”. The newswire adds: “The European Union’s climate commissioner, Wopke Hoekstra, confirmed plans to present an EU climate target for 2040 on 2 July, during a meeting with EU countries’ representatives [last] Wednesday, diplomats familiar with the closed-door talks told Reuters.”

Karol Nawrocki, a right-wing historian standing for the nationalist opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, has narrowly won Poland’s presidential run-off vote “in a blow for prime minister Donald Tusk’s government”, reports the Financial Times. The newspaper adds: “Nawrocki’s win could scuttle Tusk’s reform agenda and weaken Poland’s role within the EU and as staunch backer of Ukraine in its war against Russia.” Euractiv reported ahead of the election that Nawrocki had “promised to hold a national referendum on the European Green Deal”, if he won. The outlet explained: “While the president can indeed call a referendum, the outcome cannot bring change.” [The president can call a referendum, but needs the consent of the Senate to do so, where his party currently lacks a majority.]

China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) and 14 other departments have issued a joint plan to build a “national standard system for responding to climate change”, state news agency Xinhua reports. The plan aims to “revise or formulate” a number of “key” standards covering various fields of mitigating and adapting to climate change, to strengthen “interdepartmental coordination” and to “promote international cooperation”, adds the state-run newswire. Industry news outlet International Energy Net also covers the story, saying that, according to the document, the new standards can provide “important support” for the “comprehensive control and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as carbon capture and utilisation across regions and sectors”. Xinhua also reports on the start of a new round of “central ecological and environmental protection inspections” taking place in five “coal-producing provinces”, with plans to examine several major companies in the power industry.

Elsewhere, industry news outlet BJX News reports that China has issued a notice on the “orderly promotion of developing the direct supply of green electricity” that governs supplies of “wind, solar, biomass and other new energy sources which…supply green electricity to a single power user through dedicated lines”. International Energy Net says that, according to a government official, the new rules aim to to help “meet the need for local consumption of new energy” and ensure efficient use of low-carbon energy sources. Meanwhile, the Inner Mongolian local government has introduced China’s first provincial implementation plan for the central government’s renewable price reforms, reports BJX News. (Shandong and Guangdong provinces previously issued draft versions of their plans.)

State-run newspaper China Daily says the Trump administration’s high tariffs on “clean energy products” are “negatively affecting both US and global green energy sector and consumers”, threatening the global low-carbon transition economy. The Communist Party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily publishes a commentary under the byline “Huan Yuping” noting that the EU and China are “continuing to collaborate on addressing climate change”. The Financial Times says that China’s solar manufacturing industry is a case “not of ‘overcapacity’ but of ‘underdeployment’”, stating the unused solar panels manufactured by China could “enable the world to meet the goal…of tripling renewable generation capacity by 2030”. Another Financial Times article is headlined: “Chinese battery glut plugs into solar boom to power Pakistan.” Finally, Bloomberg reports that Chinese automakers have now regained the ground they lost in Europe after the bloc imposed tariffs last year, capturing 9% of the region’s electric vehicle market in April.

There is continuing media coverage of Canada’s extensive wildfires. CBC News reports from the Canadian state of Saskatchewan, where it says authorities are “battling the worst wildfire [the state has] seen in decades – including the 300,000-hectare Shoe Fire in northern Saskatchewan – and experts say it’s largely caused by climate change”. The outlet interviews Prof Colin Laroque, head of soil science and professor at the University of Saskatchewan: “This is classic climate change…If you’re that 20, to 25, to 30 year [age], you’re experiencing something that we’ve never really experienced before.” CBS News reports: “More than 25,000 residents in three provinces have been evacuated as dozens of wildfires remained active Sunday and diminished air quality in parts of Canada and the US, according to officials. Roughly 17,000 residents in the Canadian province of Manitoba have been evacuated because of nearly two dozen active wildfires, officials said. More than 5,000 of those are from Flin Flon, where there is no rain in the immediate forecast.” The Guardian carries an analysis by Eric Holthaus in which he says: “A prolonged period of unusually warm and dry conditions helped to intensify [these] fires, continuing a trend worsened by climate change.”

Relatedly, Bloomberg carries a feature highlighting extreme weather across the Northern Hemisphere: “In northern China, road surfaces have soared to 158F (70C). In California’s Central Valley, temperatures are reaching into the triple digits Fahrenheit. Across much of Spain, the mercury has risen so high that it’s prompting warnings for tourists. Weeks before the official start of the Northern Hemisphere’s summer, signs are emerging that the coming months will be blistering in North America, Europe and Asia. There’s even a chance that the season could shatter global high-temperature records, said Daniel Swain, a climatologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.”

The Guardian reports that the owner of the Drax wood-burning power station “should be forced to disclose full details of its tree consumption, campaigners have argued, as MPs review the billions in renewables subsidies the North Yorkshire plant receives”. The newspaper adds: “A delegated legislation committee will decide on Monday whether to pass the government’s plans to extend billpayer-funded subsidies to the country’s biomass power generators, of which Drax is by far the biggest. Green campaigners said a condition of any extension should be that Drax published a key report by KPMG into its operations and sourcing. Reports by the auditor have been provided to the government and the energy regulator Ofgem but not the public.” In a statement quoted by the newspaper, the government responded: “We are halving the amount of support for Drax, saving money on people’s energy bills and contributing to our energy security. Drax will operate for less of the time under a clean power system and will need to use 100% sustainably sourced biomass, with not a penny of subsidy paid for anything less.” The Guardian says that it “understands there would be substantial penalties for any breach of the sustainability criteria”. [Carbon Brief’s Simon Evans covered the details of the new contract in a recent post.]

In other UK news, the i newspaper trails on its frontpage that “industry experts” have warned that the “rollout of heat pumps will slow down and could cost the government more if funding is cut at the spending review next week”. The outlet explains: “Grants of £7,500 are currently available for households that want to replace a gas boiler with a heat pump, which is considered more environmentally friendly because it runs on electricity. But funding for the boiler upgrade scheme expires next year, with future budgets dependent on the Treasury committing more money at the spending review on 11 June.” The Guardian says that the government is being pressed by “industry groups” to “wipe billions from the energy costs facing households and heavy industry by reforming the high taxes levied on electricity bills”. The newspaper continues: “These policy levies mean the UK pays some of the highest energy bills in the world, and are simultaneously disadvantaging British industry and stifling the efforts of households to transition to lower-carbon heating systems, according to industry trade groups.” Other newspapers such as the Daily Telegraph and Financial Times carry the same story on their frontpages. The climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph claims that energy secretary Ed Miliband is “plotting” to overhaul green levies and “is looking at removing the taxes that are applied to electricity as part of his plans to encourage more people to buy heat pumps”. The article also quotes a spokesman for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero saying: “This is speculation – no decisions have been made.” The Daily Telegraph also carries an article under the headline: “Ministry of Defence plots £1.5bn radar upgrade as windfarms threaten to conceal attacks.”

There is a continuing range of media articles relating to efforts by the Trump administration to undermine and attack action on climate change. The Financial Times reports that “US efforts to remove carbon pollutants from the air have plunged this year, as uncertainty over the fate of renewable energy incentives and a labyrinthine permitting process chilled a sector crucial to remedying the effects of fossil fuels”. The article continues: “Applications for permission to store carbon scrubbed from the air fell by 50% in the first quarter of 2025 from the same prior-year period – the fewest submitted since 2022 – according to data from Enverus Intelligence Research, an energy data and analytics group. And no permits were approved, down from three in the final quarter of 2024. The process, called carbon capture, is a relatively new technology that the International Energy Agency has deemed ‘critical’ to tackling global warming.”

In other US news, the Associated Press reports that the Trump administration is “sending three cabinet members to Alaska this week as it pursues oil drilling in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and reinvigorating a natural gas project that’s languished for years”. The Washington Post focuses on how the Trump administration is “forcing” a “dirty, costly coal plant” in Michigan to stay open, “claiming the Midwest is overly dependent on intermittent wind and solar power”. Inside Climate News reports that a “group of 22 young people from across the country accuse the Trump administration in a new federal lawsuit of violating their constitutional rights with a coordinated set of executive orders that prioritise the expansion of fossil fuels and threaten to further destabilize the climate”. Finally, as Carbon Brief did in its DeBriefed newsletter last Friday, the New York Times highlights how meteorologists and climate researchers ran a “livestream for 100 hours in protest of the Trump administration’s cuts to weather and climate research”.

Union Investment, one of Germany’s largest asset managers, has divested all of its holdings in US oil major ExxonMobil, accusing the company of “insufficient commitment” to climate targets, reports the Financial Times. The newspaper adds: “Henrik Pontzen, Union Investment’s head of sustainability, said the €500bn asset manager had sold its holdings in ExxonMobil and smaller US peer EOG Resources following a review of the most carbon-intensive investments in its portfolio. Union’s move highlights a divergence between fund managers in Europe and US asset managers, as a number of the latter reassess or pull back from climate-related initiatives in response to US political pressure.”

In other German news, Bloomberg reports that after prolonged periods of “unusually calm conditions” during the winter, Germany has seen an increase in wind generation over the past month, which has “dragged” electricity prices “below zero”, in turn “wiping out returns for investors but also forcing costlier, fossil-fueled generators offline”,. The increased renewables output sent gas-fired generation in May to the lowest for the month since 2019, the outlet explains. Additionally, Bloomberg modelling indicates that, this week, winds in Germany are expected to reach their “strongest levels since February”. The article claims that Europe’s renewables output is increasingly “swamping” the region’s grids, which it says do not yet have sufficient battery capacity to store surplus power. Der Spiegel reports that energy has become “significantly cheaper”, costing 4.6% less than a year ago due to falling global market prices for crude oil and a trade war initiated by US president Donald Trump. Deutsche Welle notes that “his spring was one of the driest on record in Germany”, adding: “Agriculture, groundwater, and even retail prices are suffering. Plants and ecosystems are already in drought stress. What can be done?”

Meanwhile, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reports that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has noted a more open attitude from Germany’s new federal government toward nuclear energy. The coalition agreement between the CDU/CSU and SPD states that the “first fusion reactor in the world should be located in Germany”. However, beyond that, the terms “nuclear” or “nuclear power” are not mentioned in the agreement, notes FAZ. 

The Sunday Times’s environment editor Ben Spencer says the UK “used to lead the world [in nuclear power], but lost its way over decades of false starts”. Now, he argues, the “planet’s first small reactors could win us energy independence – at a price”.  He adds: “Next week Great British Nuclear will announce the winner of a competition to build the UK’s first SMRs [small modular reactors], which will also be the world’s first if they get a move on. Four companies are in the running: GE Hitachi, Rolls-Royce, Holtec and a restructured Westinghouse…Initially, the plan is to build SMRs on existing or decommissioned nuclear sites…The key advantage is the financing. SMRs are expected to cost about £3bn each, less than a tenth of the cost of a full nuclear station…If a fleet of miniature nuclear stations does spring up across Britain, a key challenge remains: what to do with the spent fuel and other radioactive waste.” Jillian Ambrose in the Guardian looks more widely in a feature headlined: “Tide is turning in Europe and beyond in favour of nuclear power.” Meanwhile, an editorial in the climate-sceptic Daily Mail begins: “Ed Miliband’s headlong rush to net-zero may be dire news for the British economy, but it’s doing wonders for Chinese firms with links to slavery.” It relates to an “exclusive” in the newspaper under the headline: “One in five NHS trusts using Chinese-made solar panels ‘linked to slaves’.”

An editorial in Bloomberg argues that, “as the world consumes ever more electricity, infrastructure needs strengthening against a growing range of risks”. It continues: “Today’s grids are messy and must handle millions of decentralised assets – think rooftop solar panels, EV chargers and internet-connected appliances that can both draw from and contribute energy to the network. Operators need greater visibility into the overall system so they can better coordinate supply and demand in real time. So, what should governments do? First, they must find ways to upgrade equipment and expand grids to meet growing demand…Second, they ought to do more to manage the transition away from fossil fuels…Third, suppliers should be incentivised to prioritise security and to cooperate in crises…And fourth, operators must develop tools to manage all the new sources feeding into and drawing from their increasingly complex systems.”

A feature by the Associated Press walks through India’s current energy mix: “One of the most carbon-polluting countries, India is also making huge efforts to harness the power of the sun, wind and other clean energy sources. Most of the electricity in India, the world’s most populous nation, still comes from coal, one of the dirtiest forms of energy. But coal’s dominance is dropping, going from 60% of installed power capacity 11 years ago to less than 50% today, according to India’s power ministry. At the same time, India had its largest ever addition of clean power in the fiscal year between April 2024 and April of this year, adding 30 gigawatts – enough to power nearly 18m Indian homes. With a growing middle class and skyrocketing energy needs, how fast India can move away from coal and other fossil fuels, such as gasoline and oil, could have a large impact on global efforts to confront climate change.” Meanwhile, the Times of India reports: “Rising sea surface temperatures are spurring severe to super cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea over the last two decades, finds a study, which also flagged increased adverse weather events in the latter part of North Indian Ocean because of climate change.”

A new study warns that the world has “likely” already reached a tipping point in the West Antarctic ice sheet. The authors model the response of the Antarctic Ice Sheets to “glacial-interglacial warming and cooling cycles” over the last 800,000 years. They find that a collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet would result in 4 metres of sea level rise, with “little (0.25C) or even no ocean warming above present”. This finding supports recent studies which warn of “substantial irreversible ice loss with little or no further climate warming”, the authors say.