Global sea surface temperatures hit a record high in June, reports NBC News, “fuelling fears of more dangerous heatwaves this summer and fanning concerns over the escalating global climate crisis”. The outlet adds: “Two separate services under the European Union’s Copernicus Earth observation program – the Copernicus Climate Change Service and the Copernicus Marine Service – announced they had both independently confirmed the record temperatures. Carlo Buontempo, the Copernicus director, warned that the rising temperatures could mark the ‘beginning of a new phase…With ocean temperatures at these levels and El Niño on the horizon, we are likely to see more temperature records fall in the coming months.” EuroNews says the new June daily temperature record “beats the previous records from 2023 and 2024 by 0.1C”. It adds: “Although it might appear marginal, even tiny temperature shifts can wreak havoc on marine ecosystems, contribute to sea level rise and trigger extreme weather events.” The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Scientific American, Financial Times and CNN also cover the news. 

There is continuing media coverage of the European June heatwave. According to Reuters, Spain’s health ministry’s daily mortality monitoring system found that the country “recorded 1,029 excess deaths last month ​attributable to heat”. It adds: “At the heatwave’s peak on June 23, 35.7 million people – roughly 73% of the country’s population – were exposed ​to health risks due to the heat; 38% of ​them faced high risk.” EuroNews reports that last month was Spain’s second-hottest June since records began, according to provisional data from the state meteorological agency.

Reuters reports that lawmakers from the French Green party have announced plans to “file a no-confidence motion against the government” over its handling of the heatwave. E&E News notes that Sébastien Lecornu’s minority government has been the “subject of intense criticism over preparedness” for the heat. The Times of India reports that the deputy mayor of Paris “is blaming Americans and their enthusiastic love affair with air conditioning for helping cook France”. Deutsche-Welle reports that, in Germany, “policymakers disagree on who’s responsible to prepare Germany for extreme temperatures – the federal government or municipalities”. 

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that Europe is bracing for “repeated heatwaves through July”. The Associated Press reports that hospitals across Europe are “gearing up for the next heatwave armed with lessons from this one”. Euractiv reports that, in Brussels, European Commission officials have warned that “summers are becoming deadlier as temperatures go up and tropical diseases threaten populations that are far from ready for the new normal”. Reuters says the heatwave “has focused minds on the urgency of adapting to global warming in a continent once complacent about its relatively gentle climate and its ambitious goals on reducing emissions”. 

MORE ON EUROPE

• “The EU is set to bow to pressure from tech groups by proposing they can use cheaper offsets to counter the climate impact of gas-powered data centres”, according to draft rules seen by the Financial Times.
• Euractiv reports on a “surge” of Russian gas imports into the EU.
• The Wall Street Journal says that European citizens “are rushing to buy Chinese air conditioners while EU officials are challenging Beijing over a flood of exports”. 
• Reuters reports that renewable energy “accounted for 58% ​of electricity consumption in ‌Germany in the first half of 2026, an increase ​of nearly 3 percentage ​points on the same ⁠period last year and ​a record”. 
• Euractiv: “MEPs want to apply default CO2 values to prevent exporters gaming the new climate levy.”
• Agence France-Presse: “Small companies that form the backbone of the German economy are struggling with the shift to carbon-neutral production, which adds extra costs when they are already battling high power prices and a broader slowdown.”

Tens of millions of people across the US are under heat health warnings, with the heat “expected to push ‘real-feel’ temperatures to 100 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit [37.8-46.1C] across much of the region”, reports Reuters. The Associated Press reports that a heat dome “has been smothering parts of the US.” Meanwhile, Politico says: “Searing temperatures this week could push energy demand to record levels on the mid-Atlantic’s electric grid, which fuels the country’s data center boom in Virginia.” Bloomberg reports that “power prices from New York to Virginia are surging”. The Hill reports that record temperatures will be set at many weather stations across the US. EuroNews notes the director-general of the World Health Organization has said it has partnered with FIFA to “help protect players, staff and fans at the 2026 World Cup” from the heat. CNN, Agence France-Presse, USA Today, the New York Times, Al Jazeera and E&E News also report on the heat.

MORE ON US

• Reuters covers a new report which finds that “dozens of planned gas plants to ​directly power data centers in the US could emit as much greenhouse gas annually as ‌Australia or France”.
• The Associated Press reports that a marine heatwave has “caused seabird deaths off California” and warns that “El Niño could worsen the die-off”. 
• E&E News: “A Republican state attorney general who successfully pushed an arm of the federal court system to scrub a climate science chapter from a judicial manual has been appointed to its fundraising board.”
• E&E News reports that a federal appeals court on Tuesday “upheld a New York law banning natural gas appliances in new buildings”.
• Politico reports that three “advanced nuclear reactors built by US companies have “reached key operational milestones”. 

Provisional data from the UK Met Office shows that last month was England’s hottest June on record and the UK’s second hottest since 1884, according to the Guardian. The newspaper reports that “the record-breaking temperatures in the second half of June were notable for exceptionally warm nights, with frequent ‘tropical nights’, during which the thermometer did not drop below 20C”. Al Jazeera says that “England’s top three warmest Junes since data began in 1884 have all occurred this decade, with the third being in 2023”.  Meanwhile, the Daily Mail reports that the UK will face another heatwave from this weekend, with temperatures rising to 31C.The Independent reports that “a coalition of environmental and horticultural groups” have warned the government that “British cities face an urgent need for increased tree cover, grass, and plant life to mitigate the escalating threat of heatwaves”. 

MORE ON UK

• The Times reports that ministers have cut funding for Congo Basin Forest Action Programme, which was designed to preserve the rainforest, by 79%.
• Unearthed and the Times have published a joint investigation revealing that “Reform UK’s biggest donor owns a company contracted to supply fuel to aircraft from refineries that make extensive use of Russian oil”.
• The Financial Times says the UK’s national floor reinsurer “wants expanded powers to cap claims and raise premiums by more than inflation”. 
• The Guardian reports that “a consortium led by the billionaire industrialist Michał Sołowow has announced plans to build 14 small modular nuclear reactors on three sites across the UK”. 
• The Financial Times reports that “Britain’s high electricity prices are one of the biggest challenges facing Andy Burnham”. The Daily Telegraph reports that Burnham “could unlock a £7bn investment boom by reopening the North Sea to new drilling”. 
• The Daily Mail reports that “car makers have warned Andy Burnham that green tar­gets ‘no one’ believes will be met are hit­ting jobs and invest­ment”. [See Carbon Brief’s recent factcheck: “What the UK car industry is not saying about EV targets.]
  

China’s Ministry of Transport, the National Development and Reform Commission and eight other departments have jointly released a new policy supporting the development of “integrated transport systems” in metropolitan areas, reports industry news outlet BJX News. The document calls for building zero-carbon transport corridors and transport hubs, and deploying integrated “generation-grid-load-storage projects” at transport hubs, as well as advancing ecological protection and restoration along transport routes. It also calls for adopting new energy buses and heavy-duty trucks, adds the outlet. A new report released by China’s National Energy Administration says that, by the end of 2025, China had 783.7m electricity users, the largest number in the world, according to the Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily. The report also says that China “further optimised its grid structure and strengthened both electricity supply reliability” and the grid’s overall carrying capacity, says energy news outlet International Energy Net.

MORE ON CHINA

• The Paper says that as extreme weather shifts from an “occasional” occurrence to the “new normal”, weather has become a “key variable” for the grid.
• China will promote “high-quality” energy cooperation among BRICS countries as it takes the BRICS presidency in 2027, according to International Energy Net.
• China Daily says China will continue to deepen cooperation with Laos in areas such as “green infrastructure, clean energy and disaster prevention”. Reuters: “Myanmar set to restart contentious $3.6bn dam project backed by China.”
• Reference News publishes a translated article by the World Economic Forum saying planning for “smart grids and green energy” enables China to produce “low-cost, high-quality ‘tokens’”.
• The NEA has issued guidelines on “data classification and grading for the energy industry”, reports BJX News. Officials from the NEA said the guidelines aim to strengthen management and promote the utilisation of energy-sector data, reports International Energy Net.
• Yicai reports that Shanghai has developed an international certification system for “green marine fuels” and plans for a trading platform.

New York Times columnist David Wallace-Wells argues for faster climate adaptation to prepare for future heatwaves. He says the record-breaking heatwaves that have hit Europe and the US this summer are “essentially impossible to imagine for the entire duration of human civilization until now”. He adds that, as the climate warms, these events will happen “pretty reliably every few years”. He notes the lack of air conditioning across Europe, arguing that “the rate of change is progressing so rapidly that they have become routine faster than large-scale adaptation has managed to keep up”. He continues: “There are already signs of the tide turning for European AC, which is great. But the job of retrofitting the planet is an enormous one, even if everyone were rowing in the right direction.” He concludes: “To pretend adaptation is simple is to live in denial of the pace and scale of warming.”

MORE COMMENT

• Gavin Maguire, the Reuters global energy transition columnist, argues that “Europe’s solar boom is masking a growing strain on power markets”.  
• USA Today columnist Rex Huppke writes a satirical column calling the US heatwave “another climate change hoax” and arguing that “mother nature” is “threatening to ruin America’s 250th birthday”.
• Simon Mundy in the Financial Times: “How China’s green tech could boost its global finance ambitions.”
• An editorial in the climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph argues that, if Ed Miliband “continues to block plans to fund the military uplift by cutting net-zero initiatives, he must be moved”. 
• Times columnist Hugo Rifkind writes: “While we bicker over air conditioning, the world roasts”. Bryan Walsh, the senior editorial director at Vox, claims that “air conditioning is not a moral failure”. Daily Telegraph investment editor James Baxter-Derrington argues that “the left’s hatred of air conditioning has blinded us to the solution staring us in the face”.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Ayesha Tandon, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Anika Patel. It was edited by Leo Hickman.

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