UK energy secretary Ed Miliband has announced £14.2bn of funding for new nuclear plants including the Sizewell C scheme in Suffolk, according to a frontpage Guardian story. The newspaper says that the construction of Sizewell C will create 10,000 jobs and power the equivalent of 6m homes. It continues: “Miliband said the ‘golden age’ of nuclear investment was critical to the government’s net-zero goals, which will probably require a significant increase in electricity demand, and said that it would not detract from investments in renewables. ‘I’m doing this because of my belief that climate change is the biggest long-term threat facing us,’ Miliband said. ‘The truth is that we have this massive challenge to get off fossil fuels. That is the central driving ambition of the government’s clean-energy superpower mission. We know that we’re going to have to see electricity demand at least double, by 2050. All of the expert advice says nuclear has a really important role to play in the energy system. In any sensible reckoning, this is essential to get to our clean power and net-zero ambitions.’” The newspaper adds that the funding is part of the  £113bn of new capital investment that chancellor Rachel Reeves will announce in tomorrow’s spending review. The Times says: “A plant with the same design being built by EDF at Hinkley Point has run billions of pounds over budget and is not expected to open before the early 2030s, more than five years late. The company said it had learnt ­lessons from Hinkley, in Somerset, and can build Sizewell C, in Suffolk, faster and more cheaply. However, it is still likely to cost much more than the estimated £20bn in 2020 and will not produce power for at least another decade. The total cost will be set out this summer when external private investors are announced.” The Financial Times says today’s announcement from the government amounts to £11.5bn of new state funding for Sizewell C, “taking the total taxpayer investment in the site to £17.8bn”. The news is also covered by a Daily Telegraph frontpage story and by BBC News.

A second Financial Times article says that Rolls Royce has been selected as “preferred bidder” in the government competition to build the UK’s first “small modular reactors” (SMRs), which it says “are not likely to be up and running in Britain until the 2030s”. The newspaper adds: “The government said it would pledge £2.5bn for SMRs over the current spending review period.” The Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Bloomberg are among other outlets covering the news. BusinessGreen covers a new study which shows that the “nuclear sector’s economic contribution has grown by a quarter in three years, driven by high profile Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C projects”. A frontpage story in the Times calls Ed Miliband “one of the winners of the [spending] review”. 

Elsewhere, a BusinessGreen exclusive says that ahead of the spending review, “more than 35 nature experts urge [the] government to ensure nature is properly valued in all economic decisions and reaffirm UK climate leadership ahead of COP30 summit”. The Times reports that “in a poll, 88% of farmers said they would abandon nature-friendly practices and revert to harmful intensive methods if government funding ended”. The MailOnline covers a poll which finds that “curbing spend on net-zero was backed by 40%, but 30% said those budgets should be maintained and 20% said they should be higher”. The Daily Telegraph carries a warning from the chief executive of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association that the “fledgling technology” needs an additional £4bn. In other UK news, the Guardian covers a report by the Woodland Trust which finds “only 7% of Britain’s woodlands [are] in good condition, while [the] number of birds fell by 15% over last [the] five years”. The Independent says: “While woodland cover has increased from 13.2% of UK land area in 2020 to 13.5% in 2024, just 45% of the Government’s woodland creation targets have been met by the UK over those years, the report said. To hit the UK’s net-zero targets, the authors cited the Climate Change Committee’s assessment that current tree planting rates need to double by the end of this decade.” BBC News also covers the report. Separately, BusinessGreen reports that the NHS has unveiled its first “carbon neutral facility”. The Press Association reports that housing minister Matthew Pennycook has “dismissed anxiety from campaigners that [the] Planning and Infrastructure Bill could lead to a weakening of environmental law”. The Sun reports that Nigel Farage “today vowed to defy Labour’s net-zero orders and open new coal mines in Wales”.

There is widespread media coverage of the UN ocean conference which kicked off in Nice, France, yesterday. Reuters reports that French president Emmanuel Macron said an international treaty on the high seas has received sufficient support to take effect early in 2026. It continues: “Macron said 55 countries’ ratifications of the treaty have been completed, around 15 are in progress with a definite date and another 15 will be completed by the end of the year, meaning that the required 60 ratifications will be achieved…Once the 60th ratification is deposited, the treaty will enter into force after 120 days, setting the stage for the first-ever legally binding global framework to protect marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, according to the highseasalliance.org, which tracks the number of signatures.” Euronews says that the United Nations website currently only lists 32 ratifications. Bloomberg reports that US president Donald Trump is not attending the ocean summit, adding that the US is only sending observers. The outlet reports that the US administration “objects to the conference’s focus on a UN goal centered around the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and marine resources”. TIME says: “Opening the conference’s first session on Monday morning, French president Emmanuel Macron, who is cohosting the event with the president of Costa Rica, bluntly criticised Trump’s decisions. This includes an executive order from the US president in April allowing deep-sea mining in international waters, which would seemingly violate global treaties that are currently being negotiated among governments.” Euronews adds that Macron “slammed the withdrawal of climate funding by the US, saying it was time to reach an agreement for the entire planet”. Arab News says the International Seabed Authority “is meeting in July to discuss a global mining code to regulate mining in the ocean depths”.

The Guardian quotes UN chief António Guterres, who told conference attendees that nations must move from “plunder to protection” to save the oceans and that the deep sea cannot become the wild west”. It adds that the audience included “60 world leaders, including the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and his Argentine counterpart, Javier Milei, heads of small island developing states as well as ministers, policymakers, scientists and civil society activists”. Euronews reports that Guterres “urged world leaders to ratify the treaty, warning that fishing, plastic pollution and rising sea temperatures were destroying ocean ecosystems”. Separately, Euronews reports that European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen used her conference address to announce that the EU has agreed to “bring 20% of Europe’s marine ecosystems back to life by 2030”. The Times notes that “the UK has only promised to ratify the agreement “as soon as the legislative timetable allows”. BusinessGreen reports that the UK government has put forward a proposal to protect an additional 30,000 square kilometres of UK waters from bottom trawling.

The Associated Press reports that “dozens of research and exploration vessels from around the world set sail just off the French coastal city of Nice” on Sunday to kick off the conference.  Outlets including France24 and the Associated Press explain what the high seas treaty entails. Inside Climate News and the Hill cover new research which finds that ocean acidification crossed a “planetary boundary” five years ago. Separately, the New York Times maps how marine heatwaves are spreading across the globe. Inside Climate News says that “marine experts say governments must protect fragile ecosystems from destructive practices such as bottom trawling and deep sea mining to combat the climate crisis”. 

China has issued nine “national standards for product carbon footprints”, covering industries such as livestock products, electrolytic aluminium, chemical fibres and plastic, the Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily reports. It adds that the standard for the electrolytic aluminium industry is the first of its kind in China’s heavy industry and comes as the sector is added to China’s national carbon market. 

Meanwhile, Reuters also reports China’s coal imports dropped by 18% year-on-year in May, partly driven by “renewables cut[ting] into coal-fired power generation”. Separately, China has unveiled its first “deep-sea testing site” in Hainan province to “boost the research and development” for deep-sea technologies and access the region’s “abundant mineral, biological and energy resources”, according to state-run newspaper China Daily. Reuters reports that, despite export controls, China’s rare-earth exports jumped 23% month-on-month in May – although it adds the reported data included rare earths not covered by the controls. Reuters reports that “fierce competition among China’s leading EV makers has intensified”. The newswire outlines a “long-running dispute between BYD and Great Wall Motor over emissions compliance”. A piece in BBC News about China’s EV market says that “with rivalry between Beijing and western powers showing no sign of subsiding, some experts are concerned Chinese vehicles could represent a security risk from hackers and third parties”. Bloomberg reports that “China’s despondent solar manufacturers face a new threat – an imminent drop-off in demand for their products that’s likely to heap pressure on an already oversupplied market”.

Elsewhere, the Communist Party-affiliated newspaper Jiefang Daily reports that China’s special envoy for climate change, Liu Zhenmin, said at the opening ceremony of the International Carbon Neutrality Expo in Shanghai that China will “unswervingly implement its national strategy of actively responding to climate change”. Financial news outlet Shanghai Securities Journal quotes Wang Yi, deputy director of China’s National Expert Committee on Climate Change saying that this year’s government work report has sent a “clear signal of green development” and that China will provide “certainty for global green transition efforts” amid geopolitical tensions. Agnès Pannier-Runacher, France’s minister for ecological transition, says China reaffirmed it would “continue to uphold the objectives outlined in the Paris Agreement” and collaborate with others to “achieve positive outcomes” at COP30, French Chamber of Commerce and Industry executive vice-president Fabien Pacory said in a China Daily commentary. 

Miliband writes in the Daily Telegraph that the government is “embarking on the biggest expansion of new nuclear power in over half a century”. He says: “This challenge of energy security and the demands of the climate crisis mean that it is in our interests to shift as fast as possible to clean, homegrown power. The demand for that power is expected to at least double by 2050. That’s why we need all the clean, homegrown sources that we can get to meet the demands we face. New nuclear is a crucial source of firm, baseload power.” Miliband says the government is “ramping up spending on nuclear fusion research – with over £2.5bn of funding this parliament”. He concludes: “Our countryside and way of life face a grave threat from the climate crisis. Clean power is about investing in future generations, with jobs and opportunities. It also gives us the chance to leave a safer, more prosperous legacy for future generations.”

In other UK comment, Nick Ferris, the Independent’s climate correspondent, writes that recent aid cuts from countries including the US, UK, Germany and France are putting “vital work to protect millions in Ethiopia from climate crisis at risk”. Ben Marlow, the associate editor at the Daily Telegraph, writes that “clueless ministers obsessed with net-zero are driving our industrial heartlands into the ground”.

Helen Clark, a former prime minister of New Zealand, and Kayla Kingdon-Bebb, chief executive of the World Wide Fund for Nature New Zealand, have a comment piece in the Guardian. They say that New Zealand has “managed to stake a claim to one of the largest ocean territories in the world” and argue that “these rights carry responsibilities”. They note that world leaders are gathering in Nice for the UN ocean conference this week, adding: “We stand at a critical juncture and New Zealand must step up. Less than 1% of our country’s oceans are highly protected and the damaging practice of bottom-trawling needs to be restricted.” They note that “plans to establish a vast Kermadec Rangitāhua Ocean sanctuary off the coast of New Zealand’s most northerly islands have been abandoned”, calling this decision “the final nail in the coffin for New Zealand’s ocean conservation reputation”. They add that “our marine environment is in a sustained state of decline, with pollution, rampant overfishing, and the impacts of climate change pushing fragile habitats and species to the brink”. The piece concludes: “It’s time for New Zealand to act, rejoin the global conversation, and start looking after our blue backyard for future generations.”

The weakening of a major ocean current system known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) has partially offset the drying of the southern Amazon rainforest, new research finds, demonstrating that climate tipping elements have the potential to moderate each other. “Climate tipping points” are thresholds in nature where a tiny change could push a system into a completely new state, with large impacts for people and wildlife. The research analyses observational data and modelling to show that the weakening of the AMOC has offset 17% of dry season rainfall decrease in the southern Amazon from 1982-2022.