Since 2014, there has been a “precipitous” fall in the area covered by sea ice in Antarctica, report the Guardian and others, picking up new Nasa analysis of satellite data. The paper says: “The plunge in the average annual extent means Antarctica lost as much sea ice in four years as the Arctic lost in 34 years. The cause of the sharp Antarctic losses is as yet unknown and only time will tell whether the ice recovers or continues to decline.” The drop means sea ice in Antarctica has gone from “record highs to record lows”, reports Associated Press. It also reports that scientists are unsure if the decline is a blip or a sign of longer-term change in the face of global warming. The Guardian carries an AP video on the news. The Independent also has the story.

Separately, the Independent reports that ice in Alaska is “melting far earlier than normal this year, alarming scientists and hunters”. Reuters reports that a heatwave in the state is “driving wildfires and melting glaciers”. The Guardianmeanwhile carries a feature by global environment editor Jonathan Watts on the “fastest-heating place on earth” – Longyearbyen, the world’s northernmost town, on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. In the New York Times, climate reporter Henry Fountain has a feature on the changing landscape of Greenland as its ice sheets melt, sending a stream of sediment downriver. Finally Reutersreports on the first battery-powered cruise ship to set sail for the Arctic.

The UK government is to explore mandatory climate risk reporting requirements for listed companies and pension funds from 2022, the Financial Times reports. The move is part of a new government “green finance strategy”, published today, which the paper says also includes funding for a green finance institute and a plan to add an explicit reference to climate change in the statutory objectives of financial regulators. The UK city minister is to say that the financial services industry must play a “vital role” in tackling climate change, reports the Times. BusinessGreen reports on a £5m fund created as part of the strategy, which aims to spur “green mortgages” that encourage home owners to improve the energy efficiency of their properties. The Guardian also covers the new strategy.

Satellite data shows the rate of forest loss in Brazil has accelerated, reports BBC News, “as Brazil’s new right-wing president favours development over conservation”. The report continues: “A senior Brazilian official, speaking anonymously, told us his government was encouraging deforestation…the impact is so ‘huge’ that he took the risk of giving us an unauthorised interview to bring it to the attention of the world. We had to meet in secret and disguise his face and voice because [President] Bolsonaro has banned his environment staff from talking to the media.” According to BBC News, the official also says the Brazilian government is attempting to “show the data is wrong” on deforestation.

Existing fossil fuel infrastructure is already sufficient to push the world past the 1.5C warming limit aspired to by the Paris Agreement, according to new research picked up by Reuters and several others. The newswire quotes the study saying: “Our estimates suggest that little or no additional CO2-emitting infrastructure can be commissioned and that infrastructure retirements that are earlier than historical ones (or retrofits with carbon capture and storage technology) may be necessary, in order to meet the Paris Agreement climate goals.” The study suggests there are already enough power stations, industrial plants, buildings and cars to exceed the carbon budget compatible with 1.5C, says the Washington Post. The Conversation and InsideClimate News also cover the research. MailOnline picks up a separate study suggesting that current pledges to phase out coal-fired power stations fall short of what would be needed to stay in line with a 1.5C limit.

Chubb is to become the first US insurer to stop investing in or insuring the global coal industry, reports the Guardian. The firm has ruled out selling new insurance policies to companies that build or operate coal plants, or those which get more than 30% of revenue from coal mining or supplying coal-fired electricity, the paper adds. Chubb joins other insurance giants such as Allianz, Hannover and Lloyds Banking Group in scaling back coal insurance, reports BBC News. Reuters and the Financial Times also have the story.

Finland is aiming to broker a net-zero 2050 emissions target among EU leaders during its six-month stint in charge of the European Council, reports Climate Home News. Taking up the position on 1 July, Finnish prime minister Antti Rinne told journalists that climate action would be “a key priority of Finland’s presidency”, Climate Home News adds. Leaders of the bloc failed to reach agreement on a net-zero goal at their last council meeting, it adds.

An editorial in the latest print edition of the Economist argues that US states are at least partially counteracting the climate change inaction of Donald Trump’s federal government. It points to the split between White House efforts to prop up coal and the work of many states to pass their own ambitious legislation on climate change, citing New York state’s target to cut emissions to net zero by 2050. The piece says: “Waiting for Washington to take the climate seriously is a counsel of despair. It also ignores the magnitude of states’ plans. Pledges by states help set America on the path to a 17% cut in emissions by 2025, using 2005 as a baseline. Add a few more and the total would increase to nearly 25%, putting America within striking distance of the (albeit modest) commitment the previous White House made in Paris in 2016.” In the Guardian, a comment from energy analyst Tristan Edis makes a similar argument about progress in Australia, under the headline: “While the government is in denial, the states are making staggering progress on renewable energy”.

“Environmental policy has become a battleground in the culture wars”, argues Financial Times columnist Gideon Rachman. He says the recent election victory of Australia’s Liberal government “offers important and potentially discouraging lessons for climate campaigners in Europe and North America”. Rachman continues: “It suggests that politicians who present radical programmes for action on climate change are at serious risk of electoral defeat by the likes of [Australian prime minister] Mr Morrison – unless they can convince voters that reducing CO2 emissions will not also mean reducing living standards.”

Greenhouse gas emissions from existing and proposed energy infrastructure are larger than the amount that can be emitted if global warming is to be limited to 1.5C, a new study finds. The research also finds that “committed” emissions from energy infrastructure would use up two thirds of the remaining carbon budget for 2C. “Our emission estimates suggest that little or no additional CO2-emitting infrastructure can be commissioned, and that infrastructure retirements that are earlier than historical ones (or retrofits with carbon capture and storage technology) may be necessary, in order to meet the Paris Agreement climate goals,” the authors say.

The length of the dry season in the Congo rainforest – the world’s second largest after the Amazon – has increased by up to 10 days since the 1980s, research shows. The researchers used a combination of rainfall data and images of forest taken from satellites to come to their conclusion. The authors say: “If such changes continue, the enhanced water stress in a warming climate may affect the carbon cycle and alter the composition and structure of evergreen rainforest.”

A permafrost site in Alaska is losing soil carbon at a “surprising” rate, according to a new study. The authors directly measured soil carbon changes over five years in experimentally-armed and ambient tundra ecosystems at a site in Alaska “where permafrost is degrading due to climate change”. They found a loss of soil carbon of 5.4% per year across the site. “This research highlights the potential to make repeat soil carbon pool measurements at sentinel sites across the permafrost region, as this feedback to climate change may be occurring faster than previously thought,” the researchers say.