On Friday, the US Department of Transportation cancelled $679m in federal funding for a dozen offshore wind projects, in what the Associated Press describes as the “latest attack by the Trump administration on the reeling US offshore wind industry”. Funding for projects in 11 states was rescinded, the newswire explains, including $435m for a floating wind farm in northern California and $47m to boost an offshore wind project in Maryland that the interior department has pledged to cancel. The article quotes a statement from transportation secretary Sean Duffy, who said: “Wasteful wind projects are using resources that could otherwise go towards revitalising America’s maritime industry…Thanks to President Trump, we are prioritising real infrastructure improvements over fantasy wind projects that cost much and offer little.” In response, a spokesperson for California governor Gavin Newsom described the move as an example of the Trump administration “assaulting clean energy and infrastructure projects – hurting business and killing jobs in rural areas and ceding our economic future to China”, reports Reuters. CNBC has a full list of cancelled projects.

Also on Friday, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fired “at least eight employees who signed a letter criticising the agency’s leadership” under the Trump administration, the Associated Press reports. It quotes an EPA spokesperson, who said the EPA “has a zero-tolerance policy for career officials using their agency position and title to unlawfully undermine, sabotage and undercut the will of the American public that was clearly expressed at the ballot box last November”. The so-called “declaration of dissent” in June was signed by 170 employees, the newswire notes, but the exact number that have been dismissed has not been disclosed. Reuters notes that the EPA placed about 140 employees on administrative leave after they signed the letter. In further EPA news, Politico reports that a “federal judge on Friday tossed out a lawsuit brought by almost two dozen nonprofit groups and localities whose environmental justice grants were terminated by EPA”.

MORE ON US

• Bloomberg reports on how the “American dream” of Danish wind power company Ørsted is becoming a “multi-billion dollar nightmare”, while Bloomberg’s “Energy Daily” newsletter says that “offshore wind is running into trouble everywhere except China”. The Financial Times reports that Norwegian oil and gas group Equinor is to pump “almost $1bn of fresh capital into Ørsted”.
• Applicants for positions at the US National Weather Service are “being asked to explain how they would advance president Donald Trump’s agenda if hired”, reports the Associated Press.
• The Guardian reports on how the information from the US climate.gov website, which was shut down in the summer, is to be “revived by volunteers” as climate.us with an “expanded mission”.
• The US International Trade Commission voted on Friday to proceed with an investigation into whether solar panels from India, Laos and Indonesia are “stifling” domestic manufacturing, reports Reuters.
• On Friday, California energy regulators “put the brakes on plans requiring oil companies to pay a penalty if their profits climb too high”, says the Associated Press.

Kemi Badenoch, leader of the UK’s opposition Conservative party, has pledged to extract “all” the remaining oil and gas from the North Sea, reports the Financial Times, as her party “seeks to distance itself from its previous support for the country’s ‘net-zero’ emissions target”. If the Tories were to win power, Badenoch said the North Sea Transition Authority regulator would be rebranded as the North Sea Authority, with environmental regulations slashed in favour of a single mandate to “maximise the extraction of our oil and gas”, the newspaper reports. It quotes a statement, which comes ahead of a speech at a major oil and gas conference in Aberdeen tomorrow, in which Badenoch said the UK’s move away from oil and gas extraction was a “unilateral act of economic disarmament”. Badenoch added that it was “absurd” that the UK was “leaving vital resources untapped whilst neighbours like Norway extract them from the same seabed”, the article notes.

In her speech, Badenoch will also claim that net-zero measures mean households end up “paying the price through higher energy bills”, says BBC News. [A Carbon Brief factcheck earlier this year shows how the wholesale price of fossil gas is the main driver of high electricity prices in the UK.] In response to the statement, a government spokesperson said that “new licences to explore new fields…will not take a penny off bills, cannot make us energy secure and will only accelerate the worsening climate crisis”, reports the Guardian. Posting on BlueSky, Tessa Khan – executive director of the environment group Uplift – sets out the “reasons why we should treat [Badenoch’s announcement] with maximum scepticism”. There is further coverage in the Daily Telegraph, Independent, Daily Mail and Press Association, among others.

MORE ON UK

• National Gas – the UK’s national gas pipeline operator – has warned of increased risks of supply failures after the energy regulator cut its spending plans by £1.5bn, reports the Times.
• Trade body Offshore Energy UK has urged chancellor Rachel Reeves to reform the North Sea windfall tax in a move “that could boost the economy by £137bn by 2050”, reports the Press Association.
• Energy secretary Ed Miliband has delayed a decision over a new hydrogen plant on Teesside “over fears it will clash with the prime minister’s flagship proposals to create an ‘AI growth zone’ in the same area”, says the Daily Telegraph.
• BBC News reports that the “long and hot summer” has caused a “massive” spike in wildfires in Wales, while a separate article says a moorland fire that has been burning for 18 days has had a “quite devastating” impact on local wildlife.
• The climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph continues its attacks on net-zero, with reporting on the “disarray” over plans for a floating wind farm in Scotland; how a French-owned wind farm is being paid for “electricity that wasn’t used”; how the world’s first all-electric airline has “sacked almost its entire workforce”; and accusations that Labour’s “cult of carbon” has caused an oil rig parts maker to shut down 80% of its UK operations.
• In other reporting in a similar vein, the climate-sceptic Daily Mail has a double-page spread in its print edition on the “solar farm threat to Domesday villages”, while the Daily Express claims that Ed Miliband is “plotting” to switch British diets from meat to insects.

Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab is dealing with its “biggest flood in its history”, as river levels have risen to all-time highs over the past week, reports the Associated Press in continuing coverage of the region’s extreme flooding. Punjab’s senior minister Maryam Aurangzeb told a press conference yesterday that it is the “first time that the three rivers – Sutlej, Chenab and Ravi – have carried such high levels of water” and the “flood has affected 2 million people”, the newswire reports. Late last week, rescuers “raced to evacuate tens of thousands of people stranded by floods”, reports another Associated Press article, “with many left without food or medical supplies”. The floods in the eastern Punjab province began “when an abnormal amount of rain triggered sudden water releases from Indian dams on the Sutlej, Chenab and Ravi rivers”, it explains. Reuters adds that officials in Pakistan said that the flooding was made worse by India’s suspension of a river-sharing treaty earlier this year.

The flooding is the worst that Punjab has seen for “nearly four decades”, says the Times of India. A second Times of India article says that 33 people have been killed and more than 700,000 have been evacuated. It adds: “Experts say global warming has made this year’s monsoon worse in Pakistan, which is highly exposed to climate change.” Another Reuters article says the “devastation threatens Pakistan’s economy”. The Guardian and Al Jazeera also have the story, while the Hindu reports that five people died and 11 are missing after “torrential rains wreaked havoc” in India’s northern state of Uttarakhand on Friday.

COP30 president-designate Andre Correa do Lago has “urged CEOs to ignore the Trump-led green backlash and come to the Amazonian city of Belem to step up the fight against global warming”, reports Bloomberg. In an interview with the newswire, Correa do Lago says “that recent attacks on clean energy sources…show that the interests of fossil fuel producers are increasingly threatened by the transition to a greener economy”, the article explains. He tells the newswire: ““The success of this agenda is a challenge to some businesses and some interests…This is the utmost demonstration that these policies worked or these policies are working and that they are somehow threatening some significant interest.” In a letter published on Friday, Correa do Lago also calls on the private sector to take a “step forward and not back” in order to make the transition an “exponential reality”, the article notes.

MORE ON COP30

• Writing in the Jerusalem Post, Ayelet Levin Karp – the CEO of SID Israel, an umbrella organisation of the Israeli international aid and development community – says that “Israel’s official absence from COP30 this year should be seen as a wake-up call by the country’s climate and development community”.
• In a column for India’s Mint, three academics write that COP30 “offers the global south a chance to grab the climate mantle”.

China must pursue “high-quality urban development”, including the “green and low-carbon transformation of urban development”, state news agency Xinhua reports, citing opinions issued by the central committee of the Communist party of China and the state council. According to the document, China should promote “energy conservation and carbon reduction” for industrial processes in urban regions and establish “green and low-carbon lifestyles” – such as by encouraging “clean heating”, it adds. Reuters also covers the story, noting that “there will also be a focus on shared green spaces and controlling emerging pollutants…as well as urban disaster prevention and response plans”. The Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily says specific recommendations include “strengthening oversight of high-energy-consumption and high-emission projects”, “vigorously developing green buildings” and “advocating for green and low-carbon travel”.

MORE ON CHINA

• China’s “top leaders” have called for “greater efforts” to enhance natural disaster prevention, Reuters reports.
• China’s foreign minister has told his Brazilian counterpart that China is willing to “deepen practical cooperation in all fields” with Brazil, according to People’s Daily. Meanwhile, China’s vice-foreign minister says, “regardless of how the international situation evolves, China’s proactive actions to address climate change will not slow down”, reports China Metallurgical News.
• The Global Times: “China and [Shanghai Cooperation Organisation] partners drive green transition through clean energy projects, sustainable development cooperation.”
• Bloomberg says China is “running the world’s most powerful floating wind turbine”, adding “it will install nearly three out of every four” offshore turbines globally in 2025.
• Analysis for Carbon Brief finding that “clean energy industry contributed a record-high of about 10% to China’s GDP in 2024” is cited in an opinion article in the Economic Daily by Zhuang Guiyang, researcher at the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era Research Centre at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
• Yicai says nuclear power companies are seeing falling profits due to the “rapid rollout” of the power spot market and the “entry of renewables into the market”. Jiemian covers the same story.

At a council of ministers meeting in Toulon on Friday, Germany and France “largely resolved” their “long-standing dispute” over nuclear power, with Germany recognising it as a low-emission source, reports Die Zeit. While France is not seeking EU funding for nuclear facilities, it is interested in research on small modular reactors, notes the outlet. Germany, in return, secured France’s backing for establishing hydrogen connections to southwestern Europe. Politico notes that both countries also agreed to better integrate energy markets and align on EU green laws. Meanwhile, Der Spiegel reports that climate scientist Dr Brigitte Knopf has warned against Germany misusing the climate and transformation fund (KTF). The finance ministry’s draft 2026 budget plans to use KTF funds to purchase emissions certificates, if Germany fails to meet its climate targets. Knopf called it “an absurd vicious circle”, saying funds intended for domestic climate action would instead pay for foreign certificates. Germany faces a projected 224m tonnes of CO2 “gap” by 2030, which could cost around €22bn at €100 per tonne of CO2, notes the newspaper.

MORE ON GERMANY

• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports that the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce has calculated that, if the country continues its current energy policy, Germany’s energy grid costs could reach up to €1.2tn by 2050.
• Reuters: “Second German LNG terminal starts commercial operations at Wilhelmshaven.” 

There is continuing reflection in the media on the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which brought catastrophic flooding to New Orleans. In the Washington Post, reporter Brady Dennis writes: “The ordeal that followed produced images that remain seared into collective memories of a major American city drowning.” He adds: “In an era of climate change, the nation is facing more frequent and more intense weather-related disasters, and many places remain vulnerable to the sort of cataclysmal event that Katrina made clear was possible.”

New Orleans marked the anniversary with “memorials, performances and a parade to honour those who were affected”, says the Associated Press. While Time looks at the “important lessons” from Katrina, multiple outlets note that preparedness is still lacking in New Orleans and the US more widely. Vox says that the “walls built to protect New Orleans after Katrina are failing”; Al Jazeera notes that “experts warn disaster readiness lags in the US”; Euronews asks whether cuts to disaster preparedness could “leave the US vulnerable again”; and Politico reports on how a $3bn wetlands rebuilding project to offer storm protection in Louisiana has just been cancelled. There is more scrutiny of Katrina and its legacy in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Hill and Bloomberg. Netflix has a three-part documentary.

MORE ON KATRINA

• BBC News looks into how hurricane forecasting has developed since Katrina, while Scientific American says “budget cuts may set us back”.
• The Los Angeles Times reports on the “lasting effects” of hurricanes on US minorities.
• In an “exclusive”, Reuters reports that the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) has extended a hiring freeze through to at least the end of this year, as the peak of hurricane season approaches.
• A Financial Times “big read” looks at how the Trump administration has “gutted” Fema, noting: “More than 180 Fema employees signed a letter to Congress last week saying that all the progress made in reforming the agency since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast 20 years ago was now at risk.”
• In the Hill, opinion contributors Justin Ángel Knighten and Will McDow write, respectively, that “disaster communication is in crisis” 20 years after Katrina, and “Katrina’s lessons show we shouldn’t abandon FEMA”.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph (see the second half of the article), former Tory cabinet minister and current editor of the Spectator Michael Gove says that environmentalists and Conservatives are “not just natural allies, but the strongest champions”. He continues: “There can, therefore, be no true conservatism which does not respect the natural world and recognise our duty to creation. For Conservatives, real environmentalism means honouring home, recognising the importance of prudence, restraint and respect for limits, and celebrating beauty.” Gove notes that there are “those on the right, many of whom might call themselves Conservatives, who do not recognise the importance of nature”. He argues that this perspective, which takes economic liberalism and “allows it to trump all other instincts”, is an “impoverished vision of Toryism”.

Elsewhere in the climate-sceptic newspaper, an editorial applauds Kemi Badenoch’s call to extract “all” remaining oil and gas from the North Sea. It describes the move as “common sense”, adding: “In a country where industrial users are facing the highest electricity prices in the developed world, and growth has been moribund for almost two decades, it is unaffordable. We must make use of every advantage available to us.” In the Daily Mirror, associate editor Kevin Maguire writes: “[Gas] output is sold on international markets and does virtually zilch to keep down energy bills, but she won’t tell you that, or that investing in North Sea wind electricity is the best financial, security and environmental strategy.” An editorial in the climate-sceptic Sun says it is “madness to put our energy security at risk for decades by ignoring huge reserves of fossil fuels in the North Sea”. It also calls for fracking to be “back on the agenda”.

MORE ON UK COMMENT

• Nils Pratley, the Guardian‘s financial editor, says that the next subsidy deal for Drax energy firm should wait for the findings of a Financial Conduct Authority investigation into Drax’s sourcing of wood pellets.
• In the Sunday Express, climate-sceptic columnist Nick Ferrari argues that energy secretary Ed Miliband and deputy prime minister Angela Rayner are “Labour’s biggest losers”.
• In Daily Telegraph commentary attacking net-zero, climate-sceptic columnist Matthew Lynn claims that “electric cars are killing Britain’s car industry”, while climate-sceptic “independent” energy consultant Kathryn Porter has articles on why “Norway’s electricity crisis is about to hit Britain” and how “Ed Miliband’s gaslighting over energy bills has just been exposed”.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Robert McSweeney, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Anika Patel. It was edited by Leo Hickman.

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