US president Donald Trump has announced plans to “significantly weaken” fuel efficiency requirements for cars, which were implemented under the Biden administration to encourage a shift to electric vehicles, the New York Times reports. The newspaper says Trump is “gutting one of the country’s most significant efforts to address climate change and thrusting the automobile industry into greater uncertainty”. It continues: “Trump said the [standards] ‘forced automakers to build cars using expensive technologies that drove up costs, drove up prices, and made the car much worse. This is a green new scam, and people were paying too much for a car that didn’t work as well.’ For the past half-century, the efficiency standards have compelled automakers to increase the distance their vehicles can travel on a gallon of gas, reducing fuel consumption and leading to innovations like electric and hybrid cars.” The Financial Times says that Trump claimed that the proposal “would save American families $1,000 on the average cost of a new vehicle”. The Washington Post reports that, under Biden’s fuel efficiency requirements, “new cars sold in the US would need to get more than 50 miles per gallon on average in 2031, effectively requiring automakers to sell more electric vehicles to meet the standard”. It adds that Trump’s proposal “would lower that figure to 34.5 miles per gallon”. The Associated Press says that “automakers applauded the planned changes” while “environmentalists decried the rollback”. The Guardian adds: “Wednesday’s announcement marks the latest action by the Trump administration to reverse Biden-era policies that encouraged cleaner energy vehicles, including relaxing auto tailpipe emissions rules, repealing fines for automakers that don’t meet federal mileage standards and terminating consumer credits of up to $7,500 for electric vehicle purchases.” BBC News reports that transportation is the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the US, accounting for more than 28% of the total in 2022. Reuters and Agence France-Presse also cover the news.

MORE ON EVS

• Reuters reports that “Spain will provide nearly €1.3bn ($1.52bn) to support its EV market and industry next year as part of a plan to lift the share of EVs produced in the country to 95% by 2035”. The newswire says that Spain’s plan includes €400m in direct subsidies in 2026 for consumers to buy EVs, €580m supporting industrial investment and €300m to install charging points.
• Agence France-Presse reports that “electric car sales in Germany remained weak in November…putting the embattled country’s auto industry under further pressure”. Separately, Reuters reports that “Tesla’s German car sales fall by a fifth in November”. 
• The Guardian covers a report from the Australian Automobile Association, which finds that “no EV in Australia that lives up to its claimed range on a single charge”.
• Reuters says the European Commission “may delay the announcement of its support package for the EU car industry, which carmakers are hoping could include a revision of a 2035 ban on the sale of combustion engines”. 

Floods across south and south-east Asia have caused “at least $20bn in losses since late last month”, Bloomberg reports. The outlet reports that “a sequence of three tropical cyclones coincided with the regular northeast monsoon to deliver rainfall totals unseen in decades in some locations, and triggered a wave of destruction from Sri Lanka to Indonesia”. The damages are “underscoring the increasing risks from climate change and extreme weather for the region’s fast-growing populations and economies”, it says. The outlet continues: “Scientists and analysts have pointed to the likely aggravating impact of climate change on the flooding, along with exacerbating factors including deforestation, failures in flood defenses and a lack of funding for disaster resilience…The risk in south-east Asia is that ‘compound disasters’ – when multiple extreme events strike in close succession – will occur more frequently and inflict greater damage in the coming years.” The outlet adds that “progress toward building climate resiliency in many countries lags other parts of the world partly because some authorities in south-east Asia prioritised growth over planning and adaptation efforts”. It says the “intersection of politics and failed efforts on climate adaptation is most acute in the Philippines, where populist anger is rising over a multibillion corruption scandal involving government funds for flood mitigation projects”. The Associated Press reports that more than 1,400 people have died, while 1,000 are still missing due to the floods. The outlet explains that “warmer ocean temperatures provide more energy for storms, making them stronger and wetter, while rising sea levels amplify storm surges”. The New York Times says: “Since the start of this year, there have been at least 16 cyclones and dozens of depressions in the Pacific and Indian oceans. Even moderate cyclones now produce extreme rainfall and can cause widespread flooding, said Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.”

MORE ON EXTREMES

• The Guardian reports that temperatures are expected to reach the low 40Cs in parts of Australia by Saturday. 
• Inside Climate News reports on “a hurricane season that surprised with record storms and notable lulls”.  
• Le Monde has published a piece under the headline: “’I am as afraid of the rain as I was of the war’: How severe weather compounds the suffering of displaced Gazans”.
• Axios reports that “winter is getting warmer” across the US.

“A widely-referenced study that calculated the impacts of climate change on the global economy has been retracted after criticism from peers”, Bloomberg reports. According to the outlet, the study was first published in the journal Nature in 2024. It continues: “The authors initially reviewed and amended the study in August this year after an article published in the same journal said its findings were exaggerated. But the amendments, which indicated a smaller economic impact than first suggested, were ultimately judged to be too fundamental to be addressed through a simple correction. What’s more, the corrected paper showed that the conclusions were prone to greater uncertainty than first indicated.” The New York Times reports that the study is used by the Network for Greening the Financial System in a guide for “stress testing whether banks would remain sound as climate damage mounted”. It adds: “The paper was also cited by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and was in the top 5% of journal articles tracked by Altmetric, a measurement tool for research impact. Carbon Brief, a climate-focused news outlet, found it was the second most referenced climate paper in 2024.” The newspaper adds: “The decision came after a team of economists noticed problems with the data for one country, Uzbekistan, that significantly skewed the results.” Study author Max Kotz told the Associated Press that “the heart of the study is unchanged: Climate change will be enormously damaging to the world economy if unchecked, and that the impact will hit hardest in the lowest-income areas that contribute the fewest emissions driving the planet’s warming”. The Wall Street Journal also covers the news.

Energy regulator Ofegm has approved a rise in household energy bills to help fund a £28bn investment in the UK’s energy network, BBC News reports. The broadcaster says that “most of the money will go towards maintaining gas networks, but £10.3bn will be used to strengthen the electricity transmission network”. It adds: “Households will see an additional £108 added to energy bills by 2031 under the plan. But Ofgem said that what people would end up paying for energy will only rise by £30 a year, as the investment will help lower the reliance on imported gas and make wholesale energy cheaper.” The Guardian says: “The plans will fund more than 80 projects, including new high-voltage power cables, and upgrades to the existing overhead wires, ahead of the government’s plan to become a green energy superpower by the end of the decade.” The climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph claims that “a record £90bn is to be loaded onto household energy bills to help pay for grid upgrades linked to Ed Miliband’s net-zero blitz.” The Financial Times, Sky News, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal also cover the story. 

Separately, Reuters reports that state-owned Great British Energy has unveiled a five-year strategic plan to accelerate the UK’s transition to renewable energy The newswire says: “Under the strategic plan, GBE said it would deliver some 15 gigawatts of clean energy generation and storage capacity by 2030, enough to power around 10m homes, by using its own investments and partnerships to help mobilise £15bn of private finance. The company will focus on three priority areas: local community energy, onshore energy development, and offshore wind expansion, and will operate as both developer and equity investor, with returns from the publicly owned assets reinvested into new capacity.” BusinessGreen reports that according to the new strategy, projects backed by GB energy “will directly support more than 10,000 jobs, including in areas historically dependent on oil and gas”. It adds that the strategy also “pledges to enable support for more than 1,000 local and community energy projects, expanding public participation in the energy system”. The Press Association says the company “is aiming for its portfolio to be generating income by 2030, helping pave the way for the company to start making a profit”. Bloomberg and BBC News also cover the new strategy. 

MORE ON UK

• The Guardian covers new figures from the biomass plant Drax, which “revealed that power generated from burning biomass wood pellets provided 9% of the UK’s electricity in July, its largest ever monthly share”. BusinessGreen says that, according to Drax, “biomass generation has set a series of records in recent months, peaking at 17% of the grid mix”.
• The Times reports that a “major investor in renewable energy infrastructure has warned that government proposals to change the way large-scale green projects are funded will damage investor confidence and drive up customer bills”. 
• The Times says: “Drought, Brexit and climate change have driven up the price of meat by £3.31 per kg in five years – which could have a silver lining for the nation’s health.” Separately, the Guardian reports that “record heat and drought cost Britain’s arable farmers more than £800m in lost production in 2025 in one of the worst harvests recorded”. 
• “Industry experts” have warned ministers that a “pay-per-mile tax on plug-in hybrids risks pushing motorists towards more polluting cars”, according to the Times. 
• The net-zero Daily Telegraph says: “The Office for Budget Responsibility revealed in its latest economic assessment that £1bn a year will be added to household energy bills to fund Miliband’s next auction for renewables projects, known as ‘allocation round 7’.”
• The Independent reports that “King Charles has expressed frustration at humanity’s handling of the climate crisis, warning that he does not want future generations to inherit a ‘ghastly legacy of horror’”. 

The EU has agreed to ban the import of Russian gas from autumn 2027, the Financial Times reports. The outlet continues: “The 2027 phaseout date represents a compromise between member states and the European parliament, which had pushed for a more ambitious timeline. Hungary and Slovakia had long opposed the ban, arguing that they are at risk of supply shortages and price rises. In a concession to those two countries, the commission said the ban could be slightly delayed to November 2027 should member states struggle to fill gas storage in the next two years.” Euractiv says that, under the deal, Russian “LNG cargoes” will be banned from 1 January 2027, with a pipeline import ban following on 30 September 2027. Al Jazeera says: “The effort to halt purchases has struggled over the last four years because of the deep dependence of many member states on Russian energy. The bloc’s overall reliance was close to 50% before Moscow unleashed its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.” The Wall Street Journal notes that “Russian gas and oil imports account for 13% and 2% of EU imports, respectively”. Le Monde, CNN, Bloomberg and EuroNews also cover the news.

Separately, EuroNews reports that Peter Szijjart, Hungary’s foreign minister, plans to challenge the agreement at the European Court of Justice, arguing that decoupling from Russian gas “endangers Hungary’s energy security and could lead to a drastic price hike”. The outlet adds: “Hungary is one of the few EU members to import a large quantity of Russian pipeline oil and gas.” Reuters adds that Szijjarto said “the move violated the EU’s founding document and that it was a sanctions measure disguised as trade policy”. Separately, Reuters says that “Slovakia is also weighing its legal options against the EU order”. 

MORE ON OIL AND GAS

• Agence France-Presse reports: “Norway said Wednesday it will set up a commission to study potential scenarios for the country’s post-oil economy, a commitment the Greens Party secured in exchange for backing the government’s 2026 budget bill.”
• The Associated Press reports that “Turkey’s energy minister issued a call for the supply of oil and gas in the Black Sea to be protected after three Russian tankers were targeted off the Turkish coast”.
• Bloomberg says: “Turkey is exploring investments in US oil and gas fields as it accelerates a sweeping overhaul of its energy portfolio that’s so far been built around American LNG.”

China’s total carbon emissions from human activities increased by about 0.6% year-on-year in 2024, according to the China Meteorological Administration’s (CMA) 2024 Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, state news agency Xinhua reports. This represents a significant narrowing from the previous year’s growth rate, and is lower than the global growth rate of 0.8%, it adds, indicating that China’s emissions reduction efforts have “produced concrete results”. CMA official Zeng Qin said the country recorded an annual average carbon dioxide (CO2) level of 425 parts per million (ppm) in 2024, up 3.5 ppm from 2023, it adds. Three of China’s seven atmospheric baseline stations recorded below-average CO2 concentrations, reports state-run China News. Business news outlet 21st Century Business Herald and state-run newspaper China Daily also cover the story. Meanwhile, China’s building materials sector has already “achieved peak carbon emissions”, state broadcaster CCTV reports, with emissions falling for four consecutive years.

MORE ON CHINA

• Chinese oil demand is expected to remain sluggish until at least mid-2026, according to oil company Hengli, Bloomberg reports. Overcapacity in China’s petrochemicals industry is “raising fears of a deluge of exports”, says another Bloomberg article. 
• An article in the print edition of the People’s Daily explores a recommendation by the Chinese leadership that China becomes an “energy powerhouse” in the 15th five-year plan period (2026-2030).
• An article by Global Times under the byline “GT Voice” says that while the EU’s carbon border tax “represents a pioneering step”, climate action needs “inclusive dialogue and cooperation toward a multilateral coordination framework based on common but differentiated responsibilities”.
• China’s first desert area clean-energy base, which will send power from northwestern Xinjiang to southwestern Chongqing, is nearing “full-capacity grid connection”, People’s Daily reports.
• The MEE has released two new methodologies on restoration of salt marsh and seagrass beds, for its voluntary carbon market, Ideacarbon reports.
• Zheng Lei, chief economist of Samoyed Cloud Technology Group, tells Securities Daily that the expansion of China’s battery sector has shifted from solely selling products to exporting “production capacity, technology and capital”.

Mongabay has published a series of features analysing the performance of Latin American countries in environment and climate change policies. Mexico’s government prioritised fossil fuel extraction and production over climate action, despite the expectations raised by president Claudia Sheinbaum’s scientific background and career, according to Mongabay. Her administration cut budgets for environmental and climate change programmes, while raising investments in the state-owned oil and gas company Pemex, according to the outlet.

MORE ON LATIN AMERICA

• Colombia faced deforestation and threats to nature areas and Indigenous territories over this year, Mongabay reports. In a separate piece, El Espectador covers a new decree by the country’s government to install energy storage systems, which are “crucial for the energy transition”.
• In Argentina, although 150,000 hectares of forests were cleared by wildfires this year, the country did not update its climate commitment and made cuts to the environmental sector, according to Mongabay.
• Ecuador legalised 19,000 Indigenous lands to help reduce deforestation in the Amazon, EFE Verde reports. Those areas are located in the Shuar territory, one of the largest Indigenous communities in Ecuador.
• A new China-backed port in northern Lima is expected to boost global trade at the expense of ecosystem destruction, Inside Climate News reports. It added that the port will allow shipments across the Pacific ocean, from Peru to Asian coasts.
• Climate Home News reports that “Brazil’s Congress has pushed through legislation to weaken environmental safeguards for mining, infrastructure and agricultural projects, overriding a partial presidential veto just days after the end of COP30 and setting the stage for a possible showdown in the Supreme Court.”
• The Guardian has an interview with Brazil’s environment minister, Marina Silva, on “what needs to follow COP30”.

The Financial Times has an editorial under the subheading: “Governments have to offset falling fuel duties without slowing electric car sales.” The editorial says “Britain is the first big economy to announce that it will tax electric vehicles by mileage to help offset a fall in fuel duty from petrol cars”. It says “the broad principle of starting this shift is right”, but adds that there “are many questions about how it is implemented”. The editorial argues that “since EVs also use roads, causing wear and tear and congestion, it is fair that they help to fund [the costs of repairs] as petrol cars do”. However, it says the move risks “disincentivising EV purchases”. The editorial also questions how the tax should be administered, noting that “no country has yet used mileage-tracking technology for taxing EVs”. It concludes: “Governments’ need to encourage the green transition and balance their books means a lot is riding on getting it right. Britain will now be a test case.”

MORE COMMENT

• Dave Lewis, the incoming chief executive of Diageo and former CEO of Tesco, writes in the Financial Times that “the food industry must face up to nature-related risk”. He writes that “climate change and the biodiversity crisis” mean that supermarkets can no longer take their “dependency on nature for granted”. 
• David Bookbinder, an environmental attorney and climate policy expert, has a piece in the Hill under the headline: “Why Big Oil is panicking over accountability”.
• John Ralfe, an independent pensions consultant, writes in the Times that “Rachel Reeves’s £3.8bn coal industry pension giveaway is pure madness”. 
• The climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph has an editorial on last week’s budget announcement. In the final paragraph, it claims: “Households face paying billions more in energy bills to fund Ed Miliband’s green subsidies, costs that were not outlined in the Budget but only in a footnote.”
• Climate-sceptic commentator Matt Ridley writes in the Spectator that “finally, thankfully, the global warming craze is dying out”. 
• Another prominent climate-sceptic commentator, Bjorn Lomborg, writes in the Wall Street Journal that “climate change might have spared America from hurricanes”. The piece has the subheading: “Scientific and media bias promote the illusion that global warming produces nothing but bad results.”

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Ayesha Tandon, with contributions from Anika Patel, Henry Zhang and Yanine Quiroz. It was edited by Daisy Dunne.

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