Member countries of the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) have agreed to wait a year before deciding on whether to formally adopt a global carbon price for shipping, the National reports, adding that “negotiations collapsed under US pressure”. It says the IMO had been due to finalise a deal, agreed in April, that would have “made shipping the first global industry subject to a carbon pricing system”. The Financial Times describes the “eleventh-hour” delay as a “major victory” for “Donald Trump’s campaign to block a climate agreement for the global shipping industry” and “part of the wider Trump administration drive to sell more of its oil, coal and gas”. It says that before last week’s talks, the US had “warned that countries that backed the measure could face their vessels being blocked, visa restrictions and commercial penalties”. The newspaper adds: “The move [to postpone the decision for a year] was likely to spell the death of the agreement, some observers said, despite previous support for the deal from the EU, UK, India, China and Brazil.”

The Associated Press says “nations will continue to negotiate and work toward consensus” on the deal. It adds: “Ralph Regenvanu, minister for climate change for the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu, said the road to [COP30 in] Belém and beyond is now more difficult.” The New York Times says the US succeeded in securing a delay after using a “battering ram of trade and visa threats”, in an effort that was supported by Russia and Saudi Arabia. The Washington Post says the delay came after “threats” from Trump. Separate articles from Agence France-Presse report the UN calling the delay a “missed opportunity”, the European Commission saying it was “regrettable” and US secretary of state Marco Rubio describing it as a “huge win”. Reuters reports: “Danish shipping company Maersk said the IMO’s decision was a loss of momentum for the industry’s efforts to decarbonise.”

Climate Home News notes that the IMO’s “net-zero framework” had been due to set emissions reduction targets for ships starting in 2028, adding that this timeline has been “plunged into doubt”. [See the Carbon Brief Q&A on the provisional deal for details.] BBC News, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Independent, Guardian, Bloomberg, Le Monde, Daily Telegraph and Politico also have the story. In related comment, an editorial in the Wall Street Journal welcomes the decision to delay the deal. It mischaracterises what was a vote by IMO member countries as a “UN agency…[that was] about to impose the first global carbon tax…blink[ing]”.

A tropical storm in the Philippines has killed seven people and forced more than 22,000 to evacuate, the Associated Press reports. Agence France-Presse says Tropical Storm Fengshen “was expected to track northwest before eventually turning toward Vietnam”. It continues: “The Philippines is hit annually by around 20 storms and typhoons, which routinely strike areas where millions of people live in poverty…Scientists warn that tropical storms are becoming more powerful as the planet warms due to human-driven climate change.”

MORE ON EXTREME WEATHER

• Bloomberg: “UN says poor nations will get hotter faster than rich ones.”
• The death toll from recent flooding and landslides in Mexico had reached 72 on Friday, Reuters reports, adding that another 48 people were still missing. The deadly floods are “another sign of need for improved severe weather warnings”, says the Independent.
• Storm damage in Alaska is “so extreme that many of the more than 2,000 people displaced won’t be able to return to their homes for at least 18 months”, the Associated Press reports, citing comments by the state’s governor. The governor has requested federal assistance, the Guardian reports.
• Detainees held by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency “may be more vulnerable to extreme heat exposure than people housed in federal, state and county prisons”, the Washington Post says, citing its own analysis.
• An editorial in the Los Angeles Times says: “Bureaucracy holds back Los Angeles’s wildfire recovery.”

China’s top leaders have begun meeting today to discuss the country’s next 15th five-year plan, covering 2026-2030, the Associated Press reports. It says the “closed-door gathering – known as the fourth plenum – is expected to last four days and will discuss and put the final touches on” the next five-year plan. The newswire adds: “The full five-year plan for 2026-2030 and specifics will likely not be released until the annual session of the National People’s Congress in March.” Agence France-Presse reports: “The plenum is scheduled to conclude on Thursday, after which authorities are expected to release a lengthy document summarising major outcomes.” BBC News looks back to previous five-year plans and “how they have changed the world so far”.

The UK government has launched a “national plan to train people for an extra 400,000 green jobs in the next five years”, double the current number, the Guardian reports. It continues: “The energy secretary [Ed Miliband] unveiled a scheme to double the number of people working in green industries by 2030, with a particular focus on training those coming from fossil fuel jobs, school leavers, the unemployed, veterans and ex-offenders.” The newspaper adds: “Miliband said the national plan ‘answers a key question about where the good jobs of the future will come from’…Miliband said the promise of hundreds of thousands of new roles in the renewables and clean-energy sector would show that Reform UK is ‘waging war on jobs’ by challenging the switch to net-zero.”

Reuters adds: “The government said that recent public and private investment in clean energy, such as renewables and nuclear, was driving a surge in demand for industrial workers, with plumbers, electricians, and welders especially sought after. Under the new plans, five new colleges will train young people for clean-energy careers, while a national programme will help connect workers with jobs in solar installation, wind turbine manufacturing, and nuclear power.” The Daily Mirror reports: “Miliband says Tory and Reform net-zero critics are ‘anti-worker’ as he unveils green jobs bonanza.” The Press Association, BusinessGreen, BBC News and Daily Express all cover the story. The Sun buries its coverage under a headline about migration, while the Daily Telegraph leads with the line that Miliband has been “ridiculed [by Reform] over plans to rebrand plumbers, electricians and welders as ‘clean energy’ workers”. In related news, the Times reports on warnings that the government is losing support to the Greens.

MORE ON UK

• The Times reports new figures from consultancy Oxera showing that only 5% of UK emissions reductions in recent decades have resulted from “offshoring”. The Daily Telegraph reports separate analysis, commissioned by shadow minister Nick Timothy, which it says shows “up to 15%” of cuts were due to offshoring.
• BBC News reports that Scottish first minister John Swinney “has said that Scotland and its government has a ‘moral obligation’ to support countries facing severe effects of climate change”. Another BBC News piece asks if the Scottish government is “softening” in its opposition to oil and gas.
• ReNews says the government has confirmed a “single timetable” for the AR7 renewable auction, with results due to be published on 14 January 2026.
• BBC News reports on plans from Chinese firm Ming Yang to invest £1.5bn in a wind turbine factory in Scotland under the headline: “Friend or foe? The China challenge on the Moray Firth.” The Daily Mail says “ministers [have been] warned of security risk” over the plans, also covered by the Scotsman and the Daily Telegraph.
• The Times says the government competition to select successful developers of small modular reactors has cost £22m.
• The Daily Telegraph has a feature on UK plans for “colossal investment” in carbon capture and storage, which it presents under a headline claiming: “Miliband’s £22bn CO2 vision risks crashing into reality.”

A group of EU countries is calling on the European Commission to delay the start of the bloc’s new “ETS2” carbon market for buildings and transport, Bloomberg reports. It says: “Cyprus and a group of predominantly central and eastern EU member states will request a three-year delay to the so-called ETS2 market to 2030, according to a draft letter seen by Bloomberg.” The outlet adds that EU leaders are meeting this week to discuss the bloc’s climate goals. Separately, Euractiv reports that the commission is planning to allow rebates to industry to cover the cost of CO2 pricing in the electricity sector, following “pressure from Berlin, Paris and Rome”.

MORE ON EU

• The EU should issue joint debt to pay for public goods, including investment in energy, according to the International Monetary Fund, according to Reuters.
• Financial Times: “Some of the world’s biggest food and consumer goods companies have accused the European Commission of jeopardising its own green agenda by proposing to delay a landmark anti-deforestation law for a second time.”
• Investors are eyeing projects in Germany in the “climate protection, renewable energy, defence and artificial intelligence” sectors, Reuters reports, citing comments by the head of the Association of German Banks.

A new Chinese policy aims to build 28m “charging facilities” that can provide more than “300m kilowatts of public charging capacity” to meet the needs of more than 80m electric vehicles (EV), reports Xinhua. Ren Yong, chief engineer of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, says that the “added value” of China’s “green industries” have increased by 5tn yuan ($701bn) over the past five years, mainly driven by sectors such as “new energy”, as well as “green transportation” and “green finance”, reports 21st Century Business Herald. At a meeting last week, Chinese vice premier Ding Xuexiang “said that China stands ready to work with all parties to advance global green development and promote the development of a clean [and] beautiful world”, according to another Xinhua report.

MORE ON CHINA

• Ahead of COP30, China Daily collects statements made by various climate policy makers and researchers, including Liu Zhenmin, China’s climate envoy. 
• Xinhua reports that China will “continuously optimi[s]e licensing procedures…of its latest rare earth export controls…a Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said”.
• China Daily: “China, EU team up on green development.”
• Reuters reports that China has approved “another three biofuel refiners to export sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)… a move that could see exports to Europe increase”.
• China Energy Net publishes an article by Zhou Zhifang, as well as Li Yangyang and Cheng Jixin, from China’s Central South University, saying that as China further strengthens its UN climate pledge, the control of “non-CO2 greenhouse gases” remains a “critical gap” that must be filled in the country’s “current emissions reduction framework”.
• NDRC official He Jianwu says that China has “successfully” explored a way that “integrates economic growth with green development, making tremendous contributions to the global response to climate change and the global green transition”, reports Xinhua.

Energy secretary Ed Miliband has “given the strongest hint yet” that the government might cut VAT from household energy bills at the budget in late November, the Financial Times reports. It says that Miliband, when asked directly about VAT on bills in an interview with the BBC, responded that the “whole of the government…understands that we face an affordability crisis in this country”. The newspaper adds: “Scrapping it would save a household with average usage about £86 a year, according to the charity Nesta, and cost the government about £2.5bn a year. Last month Nesta’s Marcus Shepheard questioned whether a VAT cut was the best way to lower energy bills.” BBC News also describes Miliband’s response as a “hint…at a cut to VAT”. It says that Miliband “told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme he stood by that promise [to lower bills by £300 by 2030], but [said] the reason bills were so high was ‘because of our dependence on fossil fuels’.” The broadcaster also reports Miliband saying the government was “look[ing] at” the levies on bills that fund climate and social policy, which could be funded through taxes instead.

The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, another Daily Telegraph article and the i newspaper all cover the Miliband interview and possible changes to bills. Separately, the Sun speculates on other changes that could be in the upcoming budget, including a “pay-per-mile road charge for electric vehicles”, a rise in fuel duty rates and a cut in VAT on public EV charging. Another Sun article says the chancellor is “looking at electric vehicle drivers paying their fair share of tax in a budget revenue-raiser” and points to ideas including “levies on the weight of the car or a pay-per-mile system”.

MORE ON MILIBAND

• The Sun says opposition Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has claimed that Miliband is “binding Britain to Beijing” and is attempting to tie the government’s climate plans to a collapsed and unrelated spying case.
• The Independent reports that Conservative shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho “would not be drawn on when a Conservative government might aim to reach net-zero after her party pledged to scrap the 2050 target”. It quotes her telling the BBC that “decarbonisation is not a bad thing”, but that “we don’t have a target”.
• The Daily Express says Miliband has “refused to rule out development of the Rosebank oil field”. The Daily Telegraph reports claims that an extra 1.1bn barrels of oil has been “found in the North Sea”.
• The Daily Express personal finance editor Harvey Jones claims, in an article that is not labelled as comment, that Miliband is “out of control”.

At its party congress, the leadership of the German Green party has said it plans to revamp the party’s energy policy and propose a decentralised energy network, reports Handelsblatt. Titled “Energy transition 2.0: benefit, not stifle”, the motion from the federal executive board is set for discussion at the Hanover conference at the end of November, notes the outlet. The goal is a complete shift to “100% renewable energy”. In the 10-page document, Handelsblatt adds, the Greens put forward proposals that “challenge” the current federal government. Tagesspiegel also reports on the plan, describing it as transforming Germany into an “electrostate” powered by sun and wind, in contrast to “petrostates” rich in fossil fuels.

MORE ON GERMANY

• Euractiv reports that Germany’s former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has criticised a state parliamentary inquiry, which is looking into political influence around the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, as “ridiculous” and said he did not regret his role in its “controversial” construction.
• Der Spiegel reports that the German government will extend the tax exemption for electric cars by five years, preventing it from expiring in January 2026, with finance minister Lars Klingbeil saying it supports drivers switching to EVs and the automotive industry overall.

For the Financial Times, global business columnist and associate editor Rana Foroohar says the US-China dispute over rare-earth elements is “hard to see…as anything other than shadow boxing”. She continues: “China’s export controls on the sector and ringfencing of critical minerals – which are needed for everything from semiconductors and electric vehicles to smartphones and fighter jets – is a big hit to the US.” Foroohar explains that China has “never made any secret of its desire” to dominate the industry, pointing out that “Deng Xiaoping announced the country’s desire to turn rare earths into the ‘oil’ of China” in 1992. She concludes: “[T]he Trump White House is doubling down on…pouring hundreds of millions of dollars in investments and loans into jump-starting critical mineral mining and production in the US. The only surprise in all of this is that it took so long. I predict both the shadow boxing – and the race to rebuild strategic sectors – will continue.”

An editorial in the Wall Street Journal says US treasury secretary Scott Bessent is “right” to “coordinate with allies to counter China’s weaponisation of rare-earth minerals”, but adds that this might have been easier if Trump was not “also hitting our allies with unprovoked unilateral tariffs”. For the Daily Telegraph, industry editor Matt Oliver writes that China “has a stranglehold over the key technologies other countries need to hit net-zero”.

MORE COMMENT

• In a comment for the Daily Express, the Grantham Institute’s Bob Ward writes under the headline: “Climate change could make it dangerous for humans to go outside – we must act.”
• An editorial in the Guardian says plug-in hybrid electric vehicles “pollute more than their manufacturers claim – and delay the real shift to electric and shared mobility”.
• A comment for Bloomberg by BNEF analyst Colin McKerracher says European carmakers “ought to be careful what they wish for” on vehicle CO2 standards.
• For Climate Home News, Sergio Diaz, legal director of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, calls for countries to “confront fossil fuels head on” in their new climate pledges under the Paris Agreement.
• The Wall Street Journal carries a comment calling for more focus on adapting to climate change, by Kalee Kreider, principal of consultancy the Kreider Group and Alex Flint, of the Alliance for Market Solutions.

In a comment for the Daily Express, UK energy secretary Ed Miliband writes that he is “determined that the clean-energy revolution being delivered by this government must deliver for the workers and communities that power it”. He continues: “That means providing new opportunities for decent jobs at fair wages to communities up and down our country. From building new nuclear in Somerset and Suffolk to carbon capture in the Humber.” Miliband says there “could be more than 800,000” clean-energy jobs by 2030 – double the current number – and that “veterans should be first on the list for these new opportunities”.

An editorial in the Sunday Mirror responds to the jobs plan and says: “Climate change sceptics are not just ignoring the damage it does but also failing to recognise the economic benefits net-zero will bring.” It adds: “Focusing on renewables and nuclear power is undeniably the future. If we do not lead the field in technology now we will suffer the cost of importing it later.” A contrasting editorial in the climate-sceptic Sun claims – without evidence – that the 400,000 planned new clean-energy jobs is “far fewer than the number of jobs [Miliband’s] policies are costing in other sectors”. The Daily Mirror carries a comment by Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC union welcomes the government’s “serious plan”, writing: “[T]his plan is about giving working people a future. It’s about making sure no community is left behind as we move to cleaner, greener energy.” 

MORE UK COMMENT

• In the Guardian, senior economics writer Philip Inman writes under the headline: “Ed Miliband needs a plan for industry – without it, the move to net-zero could ruin UK manufacturing.”
• A new treatise on the UK called “prosperity through growth” is touted by its authors in the comment pages of the Times and the Daily Express. The authors – including long-standing opponents of climate action Matthew Elliott and Michael Hintze – call for “smart net-zero”, without explanation as to what this might mean.
• The Sun gives space to climate-sceptic celebrity Jeremy Clarkson to criticise “Labour eco-loons”. The Daily Express deems his thoughts worthy of news coverage.
• Daily Telegraph columnist Janet Daley rails against the “malignancy” of those protesting on “Vietnam, climate change, Gaza”.

For the Sunday Times, Martin Pibworth, chief executive of energy firm SSE writes: “Investing for a net-zero future isn’t responsible for rising prices. Instead, upgrades to home-grown electricity will improve energy security and cut costs.” Pushing back on recent arguments, he adds that expected reductions in wholesale energy costs “will help fund essential upgrades to our grid”. Pibworth continues: “I simply don’t buy the argument that the cost of the investments needed by the country are pushing up bills. We’re already seeing the benefit of these investments coming through. One of the reasons our bills have been so high is that the cost of electricity is linked to the price of gas, which is one of the most expensive fuels in the system. But renewables are setting the wholesale price more and more of the time, bringing down the influence of gas on the power price.” He says there is “no credible alternative” to continuing to invest in clean energy and adds: “Will future energy bills depend less on global price swings and more on fixed costs? Well, yes – that’s sort of the point. We’ve all seen what happens when you’re too dependent on imported fossil fuels.”

In contrast, an editorial in the climate-sceptic comment pages of the Daily Telegraph runs under the headline: “The headlong rush to net-zero must stop before we are all ruined.” An editorial in the climate-sceptic Daily Mail criticises Miliband as “pompous and patronising”, falsely blaming high energy bills on “Miliband’s green taxes”. [See the Carbon Brief factcheck on why expensive gas – not net-zero – has been keeping bills high.] 

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Simon Evans, with contributions from Henry Wang and Wanyuan Song. It was edited by Leo Hickman.

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