Extreme heat fanning deadly wildfires in Europe has killed at least three people and caused thousands more to evacuate, the Guardian reports. Those killed include a Romanian man in Spain attempting to save horses from a burning stable, a four-year-old boy found unconscious in his family car in Rome and a soldier battling blazes in Montenegro, the newspaper says. It continues: “Scientists have warned that the heat currently affecting large parts of Europe is creating perfect conditions for wildfires and serving as another reminder of the climate emergency.” Le Monde reports that, on Tuesday, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and the Balkans were all under heat alerts, with daytime temperatures expected to exceed 40C and nightime temperatures likely to remain above 25C. At the same time, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey and the Balkans were all battling wildfires, Reuters says. It continues: “Global warming is giving the Mediterranean region hotter, drier summers, scientists say, with wildfires surging each year and sometimes whipping up into ‘whirls’.”

MORE ON EXTREME WEATHER

• At least eight people have been killed in floods in Cape Verde, Reuters says.
• Hundreds of flights have been cancelled following the arrival of Typhoon Podul in Taiwan, Reuters reports.
• Torrential rain is driving flooding and mudslides in Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, E&E News reports.
• Heavy downpours forced Mexico City’s central airport to stop flights for a second consecutive day Tuesday, the Associated Press reports.
• A “huge basin of rainwater and snowmelt dammed by Alaska’s Mendenhall Glacier has started to release”, forcing thousands of people downstream to evacuate, according to the Associated Press.
• Bloomberg reports that Iraq on Monday suffered a “near nationwide blackout”, triggered by soaring power demand and transmission line failures, during extreme temperatures as high as 50C.

England has entered its fourth heatwave of the summer, with a number of places seeing temperatures above 30C on Tuesday, according to BBC News. It continues that experts have warned that “England is now suffering from ‘nationally significant’ water shortfalls”. Sky News adds that five areas are now “officially in drought”, with an amber health alert for heat in force in “large parts of the country”. In a frontpage story, the Mirror notes that drought conditions could “last until the middle of October”. The Mirror’s online coverage states that six further areas are “experiencing prolonged dry weather following the driest six months to July since 1976”. The Times quotes the Grantham Research Institute’s Bob Ward as saying “hundreds of vulnerable people” are expected to die “as a result of the high temperatures”. In a story trailed on its frontpage, the Daily Telegraph reports on regulator proposals that would allow manual labourers to “down tools” when temperatures reach 27C.

MORE ON UK

• The UK chancellor has told officials to draw up plans for a “second planning bill” that would “speed up delivery” of major infrastructure projects, including the third Heathrow runway, the Financial Times reports.
• BusinessGreen reports on the reaction to reports that investors are taking the government to court over the decision to block the development of a new coal mine in Cumbia. 
• The UK’s net-zero climate target was used to justify a High Court ruling supporting the closure of an oil and gas platform in the North Sea, the Daily Telegraph reports.
• The Guardian reports that the UK is “quickly recovering” its “prime position” in the EU’s science research programme 18 months after rejoining, with UK-based scientists securing €735m (£635m) in grants in 2024.
• The Times covers Octopus Energy data which finds that households paid “£810m in higher bills” due to wind energy curtailment in Scotland.

Chinese president Xi Jinping told Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that China and Brazil should “continue to address global challenges” and “ensure the success” of COP30, Xinhua reports, in a call between the two leaders following the US raising tariffs on Brazil and other countries. Meanwhile, Dialogue Earth quotes the Energy Shift Institute’s Putra Adhiguna saying that China is “ready to lead in the push for renewables through diplomatic influence”, but is unwilling to “fully commit” to climate finance. Bloomberg assesses “key green technologies” that could be affected by an ongoing US-China trade war, such as batteries. Elsewhere, the People’s Daily publishes a commentary in its print edition by the National University of Singapore’s Kishore Mahbubani, who says “actively addressing climate change” and “working to lower the prices” of clean-tech products is “China’s gift to the world”. Boston University Global Development Policy Centre director Kevin Gallagher discusses the strategy China should take to “help alleviate debt vulnerability and enable green transitions in the global south” in the China Global South Project.

MORE ON CHINA

• In coverage of heatwaves in Europe, the print edition of the Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily says the “extreme heatwave” is “powerful evidence” of climate change.
• The NEA will continue to “phase out outdated” coal capacity and “upgrade the new generation of coal power”, BJX News reports. It will support coal power plants in developing “co-firing…low-carbon fuels” such as hydrogen, BJX News says.
• China will continue to focus on developing “peak-shaving gas-fired power plants”, BJX News reports.
• Science and Technology Daily says direct transmission of renewable power to industrial users is “important” for “promoting industrial low-carbon transformation.”
• China is “constantly” improving its ability to achieve the “dual carbon” goals, former Chinese Academy of Engineering vice president Du Xiangwan tells People’s Daily.

The contents of an “unreleased” Australian government report on the economic and environmental risks posed by climate change are “intense and scary”, according to the Guardian. Sources tell the newspaper that the report – the draft climate national risk assessment – includes scenarios that show “the climate crisis would affect all Australians, including in ways that to date have been little discussed in political debate”. The Australian Financial Review also covers the story, reporting that the government has “delayed the release” of the “highly detailed modelling”, which it says outlines the “severe economic, environmental and budgetary risks” posed by climate change to Australia. The outlet notes that the Labor government has delayed the release of the report “just weeks ahead of its decision on a new 2035 emissions reduction target”. It quotes sources that describe the assessment as “dire”, “diabolical” and “extremely confronting”.

For the Financial Times, associate editor and business columnist Pilita Clark draws comparisons between past UN climate talks and current negotiations for a new treaty to curb plastic pollution in Geneva. She writes: “Companies start selling a product that transforms daily life. Scientists warn it is dangerous. Dozens of countries try to reach a deal to rein in its use but others fight back and slow action. This sums up the decades it has taken UN negotiations to curb emissions from burning fossil fuels, which are the biggest driver of climate change. But it also describes more recent efforts to end the scourge of plastic pollution in separate UN talks due to come to a head in Geneva on Thursday.” She continues: “The defiance is not coincidental. Plastics are made from petrochemicals derived from fossil fuels. As the world shifts towards electric cars and other green technologies, petrochemicals are set to become the main driver of global oil demand growth from 2026 onwards, says the International Energy Agency. There is therefore much at stake for oil and gas-reliant economies in Geneva, where many countries understandably want a global cap on plastic production, as well as legally binding measures to phase out the most harmful plastic products and chemicals.”

MORE COMMENT

• An editorial in the Daily Mirror compares the UK’s current heatwave to the “perilously hot summer of 1976”.
• In the Observer, journalist Richard Benson writes on how climate change is worsening a host of threats facing UK farmers. 
• In the Times, broker and TV presenter Billy Nash says, as summer temperatures continue to rise, that the UK needs more air conditioning. 
• A column in the climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph takes aim at Danish offshore wind developer Ørsted.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Daisy Dunne, with contributions from Cecilia Keating, Anika Patel and Henry Zhang. It was edited by Simon Evans.

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