There is continuing pushback from scientists against a report released by the US Department of Energy earlier this week that aims to undermine climate science. The report, which has been authored by five contrarians each with a long history of criticising climate science, a bid to support the Trump administration’s attempts to overturn the “endangerment finding” on greenhouse gases. Science quotes a variety of climate scientists who say the report – which is titled: “A critical review of impacts of greenhouse gas emissions on the US climate” – has “cherry-picked evidence and highlighted uncertainties” in order to downplay the threat of greenhouse gases. The article notes that the report is “far from comprehensive”. Many of its arguments are “common among critics of climate action, previously made online and in obscure journals”. It adds that climate scientists are “mulling what sort of response to make to the report”, with options including a “full scientific breakdown, which could then be cited in eventual legal cases”. It explains that, given the US government’s backing of the new report, the scientists also “need to make clear” that the assessments conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – and its more than 700 authors – are much more comprehensive. Wired also has a story drawing together criticism of the new report from across the climate-science community. It explains that in its draft reconsideration of the endangerment finding – which provides the basis for regulating greenhouse gases – the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claims that the document is the “most recently available science”. The report is now open to a 30-day public comment period and Inside Climate News says “several top climate scientists” are weighing up how to mount a response.

MORE ON US

• Trump administration tax breaks and other incentives “add up to tens of billions of dollars of benefits to the fossil-fuel industry”, according to the New York Times.
• US interior secretary Doug Burgum has taken aim at “preferential treatment” for wind and solar, ordering his department to “weed out” policies that favour renewables, Politico reports.
• A new study suggests that US liberals “have become so disgusted with Tesla since Elon Musk’s rightward turn” that they are now less willing to buy any type of electric car, according to the Guardian.
• California governor Gavin Newsom is “circulating a legislative proposal” to channel an additional $18bn to a wildfire fund for utilities, according to Bloomberg.
• With electricity costs rising despite pledges by the Trump administration, “congressional Democrats and left-leaning groups see an opening to go on the offense ahead of the 2026 midterm elections”, CNN reports.

Most governments around the world have failed to act on a 2023 UN pledge to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity by the end of the decade, according to new analysis by the thinktank Ember, covered by Bloomberg. The goal was agreed at COP28 in Dubai “as part of a hard-fought deal to commit to a transition away from fossil fuel”, the article explains. As it stands, Ember estimates that the world will hit just 7.4 terawatts (TW) of renewable energy capacity by 2030, roughly double the 3.4TW installed in 2022, based on national targets, the article notes. The Guardian says the global sum of national renewables targets is just 2% higher than it was at COP28. Beyond the EU, just seven countries have updated their renewable energy goals since 2023, “including Mexico and Indonesia, which have watered down their targets”, the newspaper adds.

MORE ON ENERGY

• UN secretary-general António Guterres has called on the tech industry to ensure that data centres are fully powered with renewable energy by 2030, according to the Los Angeles Times.
• The Washington Post reports that tech companies in the US are racing to “lock down more contracts” at ageing nuclear reactors to power AI projects, “alarming some regulators and consumer advocates”.
• New Zealand’s right-wing coalition government has voted to resume oil and gas exploration for the first time since a 2018 ban on new oil and gas exploration licences, according to the Guardian.

Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain, has launched a review into how the costs of upgrading energy networks could be “recovered through home energy bills in a way that is fairer”, according to the Guardian. The review could cover plans to cut standing charges for lower-income households, while wealthier households pay a higher cost for upgrading the nationwide energy system, it notes. The newspaper explains that, as the nation relies more on cheaper renewable energy, “the cost of electricity may fall, but the fixed costs levied onto bills will continue to rise to cover the costs of a changing energy system”. (See Carbon Brief’s explainer article on the cost of UK electricity for more information.) The Financial Times says Ofgem is considering this idea of a more “progressive approach” to standing charges, something that its chief executive Jonathan Brearley first raised as an idea in April. The newspaper explains that the “investments required in new pylons and cables to move electricity from wind and solar farms is now adding to the impetus for reform”. Ofgem points out that the investment in this new infrastructure would eventually slash unit costs by reducing the nation’s reliance on imported gas, the Times reports. Reuters clarifies that the regulator has “stressed that it is only seeking views at this point and is not recommending any specific option”. Meanwhile, the net-zero-sceptic Daily Telegraph coverage of the story is headlined: “Middle classes face threat of higher bills to pay for net-zero.” It notes that basing energy bills to some extent on wealth “would be highly controversial and technically complex because energy companies have no data on household income”. (For more on Ofgem, see the full transcript of Carbon Brief’s interview with Brearley from June.) 

MORE ON UK

• Richard Tice, the deputy leader of the populist hard-right Reform UK party, has announced a new campaign group called UK Opposes Renewable Eyesores, opposing new electricity pylons and solar farms, according to the Press Association.
• The Environment Agency has warned that plans to decarbonise England’s “industrial heartlands” could face growing water scarcity and climate-driven shocks unless changes are made to the permitting and planning regime, BusinessGreen explains.
• During his trip to Aberdeen, the centre of UK oil production, US president Donald Trump posted on social media earlier this week that North Sea oil was a “treasure chest for the UK” and criticised levies on fossil fuels as “so high”, reports the Daily Express.
• The BBC and the UK’s national weather service – the Met Office – are to work together for the first time in eight years, in part to counter “weather disinformation”, the Daily Telegraph reports.
• Nuclear company Newcleo has announced a suspension of its plans to develop lead-cooled fast reactors (LFR) in the UK because – while other nuclear technologies are being supported – the government is not providing financial support for LFR, notes Reuters. 
• Adrian Ramsay, one of the challengers for England and Wales Green Party leader, has criticised his rival Zack Polanski’s promised brand of “eco-populism” as divisive, according to the Guardian.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planning body, has “take[n] aim at how government-backed investment funds are being spent” by releasing new draft guidelines aimed at “tightening oversight” and “avoid[ing] homogeneous competition” in “crowded industries”, reports the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP). It adds: “In recent years, local governments have been overconcentrating their funds into similar industrial projects – from electric vehicles and batteries to solar panels.” On the same day, a meeting of China’s Politburo, a key decision-making body in the Chinese Communist party, emphasised its “determination to reduce excess competition in the economy” and regulate “local government practices in attracting investment”, according to a readout published on Wednesday by the state news agency Xinhua. Reuters reports that there are “growing expectations that Beijing may be about to start a new round of factory capacity cuts”.

MORE ON CHINA

• The US will “partially end trade duties” on imports of some small solar devices from China, PV magazine reports, adding that some other “solar products that [did not] threaten US manufacturers were already excluded from the tariffs”.
• In the first half of 2025, sales of new-energy vehicles (NEVs) in China grew 40% year-on-year, says People’s Daily. SCMP says NEV demand could “weaken this quarter” in China as automakers cut down on “discounts and interest-free loans”.
• China accounted for more than half of the world’s new hydropower capacity additions in 2024, according to China Daily.
• Around 280,000 people have been evacuated from Shanghai as storm Co-may brings “strong winds and heavy rainfall”, Bloomberg reports.
• People’s Daily says China and the EU continue to cooperate on “port decarbonisation”.
• Bloomberg: “Xi ties his legacy and China’s economy to $167bn dam.”

The Associated Press reports that Brazil’s decision to host the upcoming COP30 in Belém, “one of the poorest cities” of the South American country, is not an “accident”. The newswire interviews André Correa do Lago, Brazilian diplomat and COP30 president-elect, and quotes him saying the decision aims to “demonstrate” the current world’s problems and inequalities. He adds: “What better way to tackle a problem than facing it head on, however uncomfortable.” The outlet notes that Brazil “is way behind in having enough hotel rooms and other accommodations” and adds that do Lago has conceded high accommodation costs “are a problem”. Meanwhile, Climate Home News reports that PR firm Edelman, linked to Shell, has won a $835,000 contract to help Brazil craft a media strategy for COP30. Elsewhere, a comment piece by Daniel Werner for Argentina’s La Nación notes that, although COP30 “provides an opportunity”, geopolitical conflicts and lack of financing could “hinder meaningful progress”. He also highlights the COP’s challenge to “boost sustainable agriculture”.

MORE ON LATIN AMERICA

• In Argentina, hybrid and electric cars have accounted for 0.14% of total vehicles sales so far this year, La Nación reports. A study has found a lack of charging stations in the country.
• Brazil’s president says renewable energy is “unbeatable”, but the country will continue to produce oil “as long as demand exists”, reports EFE via Climática. 
• Bolivia will hold general elections on 17 August, but the nine presidential candidates have “sidelined” the Amazon and are supportive of extractive activities, notes Mongabay. 
• Mexico has registered almost 4,000 dengue cases this year and climate change is one of the main drivers, along with unplanned urbanisation and hygiene practices, according to Excélsior. 

Japan has recorded the highest ever temperature of 41.2C in the city of Tanba, Hyogo prefecture, beating the previous high of 41.1C reached in 2018 and 2020, according to the Japan Times. Amid an on-going heatwave, the article says that “as human-induced climate change drives extreme heat across Japan, the number of people taken to hospitals over heat-related illnesses had surged to 10,804 in the week through Sunday”. Bloomberg notes that this could be Japan’s hottest year ever, noting that the government has “issued multiple heat alerts this year and has enforced tougher rules on employers to protect workers from extreme temperatures”.

MORE ON HEAT

• Parts of the south-east US are facing “sweltering hot weather”, with a new record of 100F (37.8C) set at Tampa International Airport in Florida, according to the Associated Press.

As the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Trump administration looks to reverse the so-called endangerment finding – which provides a legal basis for regulating greenhouse gas emissions in the US – two scientists write in the New York Times about the danger these emissions pose. Solomon Hsiang and Marshall Burke, both professors at Stanford University, begin the article with the statement: “We study the effects of climate change on people. We know, from the best available science, that climate change will endanger the health and livelihood of most Americans alive today.” They emphasise that “humans are highly adaptable and Americans are particularly so, but the data and evidence indicate that climate change will cause many Americans to die earlier than they otherwise would”. They stress that while this may seem overwhelming, “we have data and scientific tools that empower us to understand the results of the different choices in front of us”. They say that there are “opportunities to push back” against the federal government’s plans, including a period of public comment and potential legal action. Separately, Bloomberg columnist Mark Gongloff writes that, everything else aside, the EPA move to reverse the endangerment finding “makes no economic sense”. To support this, he points to recent findings that suggest the economic damage of US companies’ emissions alone “will amount to a blistering $87tn through 2050”.

MORE US COMMENT

• Prof Ralph Keeling, the son of the researcher behind the famous “Keeling curve” chart showing rising CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, writes in the Economist about “Donald Trump’s war on climate science”.
• Diana Furchtgott-Roth, climate director at a climate-sceptic US lobby group called the Heritage Foundation, claims in the Daily Telegraph that Europe will be at a “competitive disadvantage” when the US “repeals greenhouse-gas standards for cars”.

Guardian columnist Rebecca Solnit writes about the “energy revolution” that is “underway in this century”. She adds: “I know progressives are supposed to be technophobes, but there is one technology we probably love more than anyone else…renewable energy.” Solnit says that, while there is “nothing wrong with being modest in your consumption”, ultimately, there is a need for collective change to eliminate fossil fuels from the energy system. She continues: “We know exactly how to transition away from that and the transition is underway – not nearly fast enough, not nearly supported enough by most governments around the world, actively undermined by the Trump administration and many fossil fuel corporations and states. But still, it is underway.” Solnit concludes that “making [the energy revolution] more visible would make more people more enthused about it as a solution”.

MORE COMMENT

• Businessman and climate campaigner Jeremy Leggett writes for Reuters that last week’s opinion issued by the International Court of Justice “has fired the starting gun on climate accountability”.
• Climate-sceptic commentator Ross Slark writes in the Sun that Trump was “absolutely right” to criticise UK energy policy during his trip to the country.
• Jeremy Warner, assistant editor of the Daily Telegraph and critic of net-zero policies, asserts that UK prime minister Keir Starmer should “take the advice” of Trump on the importance of North Sea oil and gas.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Josh Gabbatiss, with contributions from Henry Zhang, Yanine Quiroz and Anika Patel. It was edited by Leo Hickman.

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