The Guardian reports that this year is “virtually certain” to be the second- or third-hottest on record, according to data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. The newspaper says that global temperatures from January-November 2025 were “on average 1.48C hotter than preindustrial levels”. The Financial Times reports that, as a result, temperatures are on track to exceed 1.5C of warming for the “longest period yet” after the past three years were found to be the hottest on record. The newspaper notes that although the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of keeping warming well-below 2C and ideally 1.5C “refers to a long-term average over two decades”, even a temporary “overshoot” of 1.5C “would lead to more severe and widespread effects, scientists say, some of which would be irreversible”. Scientific American, Euronews, Business Green, Reuters and New Scientist also cover the story.

US president Donald Trump’s executive order banning new wind energy projects has been ruled as illegal by a federal judge, says Bloomberg. The judge called the order “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law”, the outlet reports. The New York Times notes that the judge says the country’s interior department “had not provided a ‘reasoned explanation’ of its decision to stop approving wind projects, as required by the Administrative Procedure Act”. This is a “big victory in our fight to keep tackling the climate crisis”, Reuters quotes New York attorney general Letitia James as saying. James is a “Democrat whose state led the legal challenge” against Trump’s order, the outlet notes. 

MORE ON US 

• The Guardian and Inside Climate News report that more than 200 environmental groups are calling for a halt on new data centres in the US. 
• More than 11 gigawatts of new solar capacity was installed in the US in the third quarter of this year – a “jump of 49% sequentially”, reports Reuters. 
• Republican lawmakers want to pass bills that would “loosen more environmental rules…that they say are overly burdensome”, reports the Wall Street Journal. 
• Fusion energy industry groups have asked for billions of dollars of government support, reports Reuters.
• French oil and gas company TotalEnergies has started trading on the New York Stock Exchange, “further cementing its American profile”, says Le Monde.

EU countries and the European parliament have struck a deal to “cut corporate sustainability laws, after months of pressure from companies and governments”, reports Reuters. It says the changes include the reporting of businesses’ environmental and social impact under the corporate sustainability reporting directive now only covering “companies with more than 1,000 employees and annual net turnover exceeding €450m ($524m), down from about 50,000 companies with more than 250 employees”. It adds that the changes also limit the EU’s corporate sustainability due diligence directive to “only the largest EU corporations, which have more than 5,000 employees and annual turnover exceeding €1.5bn”. The outlet says the push from the US, Qatar, ExxonMobil and others to weaken these laws “dismayed environmental campaigners” and some investors and countries. 

MORE ON EU 

• The Economist reports that the EU “continues to buy Russian fertiliser that is made from natural gas” despite committing to end Russian gas imports.

In a meeting that typically precedes December’s central economic work conference, President Xi Jinping said China should prioritise adhering to the “dual-carbon” goals and promoting a “comprehensive green transition” in its economic policy next year, according to state news agency Xinhua. State-run newspaper China Daily quotes Wang Shancheng, a director at the National Development and Reform Commission, saying that China will focus on “advancing carbon emission control, accelerating energy transformation, fostering industrial upgrades and promoting sustainable production and consumption practices” in the next five years. 

Meanwhile, the print edition of the Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily publishes an article by commerce minister Wang Wentao saying China will “broaden the opening-up” of its trade environment and grasp opportunities that come from “digital and green development”. Wang also calls for expanding “green trade”, it adds. Commerce vice-minister Ling Ji told reporters that German and other European automotive industry associations should encourage Europe to resolve “anti-subsidy cases” on Chinese electric vehicle (EV) imports, reports Xinhua.

MORE ON CHINA

• “New energy vehicle” sales in China rose 4% in November, reports Bloomberg, while gasoline vehicle sales slumped 22%.
• The NEA has approved its first batch of hydrogen energy pilot projects and regions, says International Energy Net.
• China’s long-term benchmark coal power prices are expected to “stay flat” in 2026, Bloomberg reports, adding that early December coal prices saw a “rare” dip, signalling weak demand even as “China heads into winter”.
• The World Steel Association’s Rizwan Janjua tells Bloomberg that overcapacity in China’s steel sector is making decarbonising the industry globally “harder”.
• China’s rare-earth exports jumped for a second consecutive month in November, increasing by 27% from October, according to Reuters.
• German foreign minister Johann Wadephul is expected to raise rare earths during his trip to China, says Reuters. A Global Times editorial argues there is “tremendous” potential for cooperation between China and Germany in areas such as EVs, new energy and hydrogen.

The island of Great Britain has hit a new peak of electricity from wind, enough to power more than 23m homes, reports BusinessGreen. The outlet says figures from the National Energy System Operator show that wind generated almost 24,000 megawatts of electricity on the evening of 5 December, beating a previous record reached less than a month ago. Reuters adds that, on 5 December, wind supplied 47% of Britain’s electricity demand. 

MORE ON ENERGY 

• A prominent “activist investor” has built a stake in Siemens Energy and is “pushing the company to spin off its wind business”, reports the Financial Times. 
• Industry experts and analysts tell Reuters that “record-low bids” to build battery energy storage in India are sparking economic viability and safety fears. 
• Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has called for a national energy transition roadmap away from fossil fuels “after leading efforts for such an international plan” at the COP30 climate talks, reports Argus.

An editorial in the Guardian focuses on sideline discussions at this week’s UN environment talks in Nairobi, where African countries are “arguing that it’s time to stop promoting solar geoengineering technology as a solution to global heating”. The editorial says: “It’s hard to disagree.” The newspaper adds that countries are speaking up because “they don’t want their continent to become a test bed for unproven schemes to spray particles into the high atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from Earth for a small, uncertain cooling gain”. African countries are calling for a global “non-use” agreement that would “rule out public funding, outdoor experiments, patenting and official promotion of these technologies”, the editorial says. It discusses the “obvious” reasons for a moratorium and concludes that “Africa’s call should be taken seriously”, adding: “The precautionary principle is used with other novel technologies. Why not here?” 

MORE COMMENT 

• Canadian environmental activist Tzeporah Berman writes in the Guardian: “At a time when the UK and other countries are finally taking bold steps for climate, Canada is preparing a new oil pipeline.” 
• The Financial Times Lex column looks at oil and gas companies “rushing to team up” in the North Sea in an attempt to “huddle together for warmth in an inhospitable environment”. 
• In Climate Home News, members of the Resource Justice Network, Beverly Besmano and Nsama Chikwanka, call for “binding global rules for mineral extraction”. 
• BBC News Scotland environment correspondent, Kevin Keane, asks: “Is there a future for carbon capture and storage in Scotland?”

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Orla Dwyer, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Anika Patel. It was edited by Simon Evans.

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