In the latest announcement about the UK’s plans for a “green recovery” from coronavirus, nearly £350m is being made available by the government to help cut emissions from heavy industry, construction and transport, the Press Association reports. Prime minister Boris Johnson says this money will include £139m to support the transition from gas to hydrogen power and scale up carbon capture and storage (CCS) in industry, as well as £149m to drive the use of “innovative materials in the sector”, according to the newswire. Reuters quotes the UK’s business and energy secretary, Alok Sharma, who says the funding will “reduce emissions, create green collar jobs and fuel a strong, clean economic recovery – all essential to achieving net zero emissions by 2050”. The Daily Telegraph focuses its coverage of the proposed “green, sustainable recovery” on the news that the prime minister is set to convene the first meeting of the “Jet Zero council”. This will work towards cutting aviation emissions by creating the first “net-zero long-haul passenger flights”, the newspaper states. Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that climate campaigners from the group Plan B have launched a formal legal challenge against the UK government’s green recovery proposals, stating they are “clearly unlawful” given the scale of the UK’s commitments to cutting emissions.

Separately, BusinessGreen reports that the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has called on the government to ban the installation of conventional gas boilers in all homes and businesses from 2025 to keep the country on track for its net-zero emissions target. The Guardian’s coverage includes approving remarks from the chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change, which mentioned a gas-boiler phaseout in its recent progress report (covered in this Carbon Brief article). Separately, the Press Association covers new research that finds UK homes will require “dramatic improvements” to meet national climate targets.

A report by the Policy Exchange thinktank covered by the Financial Times concludes the UK “should embrace a California-style zero-emission credits scheme for electric cars” in order to hit its target of phasing out sales of new petrol and diesel models by 2035. The proposal would include getting rid of subsidies for electric vehicles and using the money to build infrastructure such as charging points, the newspaper says.

Finally, in Northern Ireland, the Irish News reports that Democratic Unionist Party environment minister Edwin Poots has dismissed calls from the assembly to bring forward climate legislation that includes binding emissions targets within three months, calling the proposal “ridiculous” and rejecting the idea of a climate “emergency”.

There is further coverage of yesterday’s EU deal on a stimulus plan to help address the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Climate Home News notes that while the Polish government announced a bailout for its “ailing coal mining sector”, the nation will still have access to EU money set aside for its net-zero climate goal, which Poland has not signed up to. In Politico’s guide to the budget deal, it notes that Poland will only be able to access 50% of its “just transition fund” allocation until it commits to the 2050 target, but notes the nation “saw that as a win compared with earlier language”. There is also a detailed piece in Reuters asking how “green” the recovery deal is, running through key points including the 30% climate spending share, green taxes and spending safeguards to ensure funding goes to “climate-friendly schemes”. Carbon Brief has been tracking the “green recovery” pledges made by various global economies and will soon have an update on this week’s events.

In an “exclusive” story, the Guardian reports on comments made by climate activist Greta Thunberg to the newspaper indicating she thinks EU politicians have failed to acknowledge the scale of the climate crisis with their Covid-19 recovery plan. She says: “They are still denying the fact and ignoring the fact that we are facing a climate emergency, and the climate crisis has still not once been treated as a crisis.“ Bloomberg, on the other hand, refers to the plan as the “biggest green stimulus in history”, noting that €500bn ($454bn) will be poured into “everything from electric cars to renewable energy and agriculture”.

Elsewhere in Europe, Reuters says that Sweden’s state-owned utility company Vattenfall has reported a “deep loss in the second quarter” owing in part to Germany’s plans to exit coal. Another Reuters piece looks at a report that shows Europe’s “long goodbye to coal is speeding up”. Yet another Reuters story reports that Ukraine will cut tariffs for renewable energy, eliminating the issue of “mass non-payments” for energy producers which has been plaguing the sector.

Apple has announced its entire business and manufacturing supply chain will be carbon neutral by 2030, meaning its devices will have had “zero climate impact” at point of sale, according to BBC News. The news website notes it follows similar statements by other companies including Microsoft, which has “arguably has gone further” by including a commitment to removing its historic emissions from the atmosphere by 2050. MailOnline reports that Apple’s corporate operations, such as office and data centres, are “already carbon neutral” as they are powered by 100% renewable energy. BusinessGreen says the company’s “climate roadmap” will initially cut emissions by investing in greener design of its products, expanding energy efficiency efforts and helping its suppliers switch to renewable energy. Meanwhile, the Hill reports that Microsoft, Starbucks and Nike have joined six other companies in the “Transform to Net Zero” initiative which aims at hitting net-zero emissions by 2050.

Global gas flaring – the burning of natural gas at oil production sites – increased to 150bn cubic meters (bcm) last year, the highest level in more than a decade, according to figures from the World Bank reported by Reuters. The increase was largely due to rising levels of flaring in the US, where flaring was up 23%, as well as Venezuela and Russia. However, the World Bank notes that flaring fell by 10% in the first quarter of this year, adding that the current Covid-19 pandemic brings “additional challenges”. Axios says that flaring the gas rather than capturing it “emits lots of greenhouse gas emissions, even though the oil sector has made progress on a per-barrel basis”.

The New York Times reports that “not long after President Trump’s inauguration”, the head of fossil fuels industry group the Western Energy Alliance wrote to the Environmental Protection Agency suggesting the Obama-era requirement that oil-and-gas companies begin collecting data on their releases of methane should be rescinded – a request that “appeared to quickly yield the desired results”.

Meanwhile, on the bottom of the ocean in Antarctica, scientists have discovered the first active leak of methane, the Guardian reports. According to the newspaper, the gas was escaping because microbes that normally consume it before it reaches the atmosphere had only arrived in small numbers even after five years.

Finally, a “big read” in the Financial Times is titled, “The last frontier: oil industry scales back exploration”, and examines how “the most adventurous aspect of the business” is now among the most controversial.

In a “world-first” case, a student has filed a lawsuit against the Australian government alleging it failed to disclose climate-related risks to investors in the country’s sovereign bonds, ABC News reports. According to the news website, Katta O’Donnell has claimed investors who buy Australian government bonds should be made aware of these risks, which might make it difficult for Australia to pay back its debt. ABC News reports that O’Donnell said she is motivated by the recent Australian bushfires and Reuters notes that global financial authorities are pushing banks to improve transparency on climate-change risks, “arguing that disclosures on climate exposure are a prerequisite for market participants”.

In the US, the Financial Times reports that investors managing nearly $1tn of assets have written to the Federal Reserve and other regulators urging them to “treat climate change as a systemic financial risk”.

In more climate activism news, the New York Times has a feature titled “the teenagers at the end of the world” looking at the activity of young climate campaigners, such as Jamie Margolin.

In the US, the FBI has arrested Ohio house speaker Larry Householder and a number of Republicans on charges of bribery tied to the state’s nuclear and coal bailout bill last year, Earther reports. The bill, which the website says “focused on subsidising dirty energy and killing energy efficiency initiatives” proved contentious at the time, but was “shepherded” through by Householder. According to Cleveland.com, the campaign to pass the bill “included a wave of campaign donations from [owner of bailed out power plants] FirstEnergy Corp, as well as a multi-million-dollar ad campaign paid for with dark money”.

In more US news, the Los Angeles Times reports on a new scientific paper that analysed 93m housing units across the nation to find “how much greenhouse gas is being spewed in different locations and by income”. The research found that rich Americans’ homes produce nearly 25% more of the gases than poorer peoples’.

An opinion piece by Emma Pinchbeck, the chief executive of trade body Energy UK, states that while the government’s commitments on energy efficiency so far have been welcome, “we must go further and move faster” with the UK’s green recovery plans if the nation is also to reach net-zero. “As Energy UK stressed in our recent report, it is green choices that deliver the widest benefits for our economy, environment and population – bringing lasting investment, growth and job opportunities right across the country,” she writes, emphasising the “massive green infrastructure opportunity” of improving the UK’s buildings. “The transformation of the energy industry gives me continued hope that this is possible. Our sector already invests £14bn a year in the UK and we stand ready to help further.”

An opinion piece by George Monbiot in the Guardian is pessimistic about the UK’s “return to normality”, announced by the prime minister, following the pandemic. He concludes this “will only mean more consumerism at the expense of the planet”.

Spencer Bokat-Lindell in the New York Times considers Democratic president hopeful Joe Biden’s plan for climate change, which he says bills itself as a “revolution” that “goes well beyond anything the Obama administration attempted”. The piece runs through Biden’s key ideas and some of the media response to it – looking at the welcome it has received among some proponents of a “green new deal” as well as some critiques. He notes that it does not include plans to divest from fossil fuels, or to reduce the use of cars, as well as pointing out coverage which has stated “more broadly, Mr. Biden’s nationalist solutions don’t quite jibe with the global nature of the problem”.

Interactions between heat in the atmosphere and in the ocean could help explain changes to sea ice extent, a study says. The research finds that increasing ocean heat transport is negatively affecting sea ice, causing the edge of the ice pack to retreat. However, the sensitivity of sea ice to ocean heat is partially offset by atmospheric changes, the study adds.