The Trump administration is planning to repeal the 2009 “endangerment finding”, according to an “exclusive” in the Wall Street Journal. According to the newspaper, the finding “concluded that six greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare” and provides “the legal underpinning for the Environmental Protection Agency’s climate rules, which limited emissions from power plants and tightened fuel-economy standards for vehicles under the Clean Air Act”. Citing “administration officials”, the outlet says the final repeal document is set to be made public later this week and would remove vehicle-related greenhouse-gas rules, as well as emissions reporting and compliance requirements for industry, but would not apply to power plants or oil-and-gas facilities pending further rollbacks. The newspaper quotes EPA administrator Lee Zeldin saying that “this amounts to the largest act of deregulation in the history of the US”. 

The New York Times coverage is headlined: “Trump allies near ‘total victory’ in wiping out US climate regulation”. It says that “unlike the swings in federal policy that have become routine when administrations change hands, getting rid of the endangerment finding could hamstring any future administration’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions”. According to Bloomberg, the move marks Trump’s “most consequential retreat from the fight against climate change”. It adds: “Environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, have pledged to challenge any decision to scrap the endangerment finding in court.” Reuters also covers the news. 

MORE ON US

• The US federal judicial centre has “withdrawn a chapter from the newest edition of its reference manual on scientific evidence that addressed climate change after Republican state attorneys general argued it was biased against fossil fuel companies”, reports Reuters. According to E&E News, the decision to remove the chapter “marks a significant victory for Republican efforts to thwart a range of climate lawsuits that the fossil-fuel industry has warned could cost it billions of dollars”. 
• Politico: “The Trump administration wants some of the world’s largest technology companies to publicly commit to a new compact governing the rapid expansion of AI data centres.” According to the outlet the document lays out commitments to “ensure energy-hungry data centres do not raise household electricity prices, strain water supplies or undermine grid reliability”.  
• DeSmog reports that the EPA has used the Clean Air Act to “discourage coal plant closures in Colorado”. 
• Vice president JD Vance has signed an agreement with Armenia, which “opens the door for American firms to compete for a deal to replace the Soviet-era Metsamor nuclear power plant, which currently supplies about 40% of the country’s electricity, with small modular reactors”, according to Bloomberg.
• Reuters reports that “growing power demand for oil and gas operations and technology manufacturing are creating openings for US power-plant developers alongside the data centre boom”.
• The Associated Press reports on a “record snow drought” in western US that “raises concern for a spring of water shortages and wildfires”.

There is widespread coverage of a new report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). [See Carbon Brief’s four key takeaways from the report.] BBC News says the report is “based on contributions from leading scientists and approved by 150 governments”. It adds: “IPBES found that all businesses, even those seemingly far-removed from it, rely on the services nature provides for free, from clean water to fertile soils.” Bloomberg says: “Nature is in decline worldwide, and levels of so-called natural capital – ecosystems and natural resources – have fallen by nearly 40%, the report says. But because markets don’t adequately price or value biodiversity, businesses don’t experience the cost of the damage and often can’t make money from protecting it, meaning there is little incentive to do so, the authors argue.”

According to Politico, the report finds that “one eighth of the world’s estimated 8m species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction” and “some 75% of the Earth’s land surface has already been significantly altered by human actions”. Reuters says the report urges companies to “act now or potentially face extinction themselves”. It adds: “Despite the need for ‘transformative change’, $7.3tn in public and private funds was going to nature-harming activities, the authors said, citing 2023 data…The report said companies can act now by setting ambitious targets and embedding them in corporate strategy; strengthening auditing, monitoring and performance assessments; and innovating in products, processes and services. Fewer than 1% of public companies disclose biodiversity impacts, it added.” BusinessGreen and Deutsche Welle also cover the report. 

There is widespread coverage of the results of the UK’s latest “contracts for difference” auction, with Bloomberg reporting that contracts were awarded for a “record 4.9GW [gigawatts] of solar capacity at £65 a megawatt-hour [MWh], a lower price than in the previous round”. The outlet says that 1.3GW of onshore wind was awarded contracts at £72 per MWh. It quotes a government statement saying the latest auction “puts the UK on track for its 2030 clean power target”. The Financial Times reports that a total 189 contracts were awarded at the auction, including two tidal projects. Reuters quotes a statement from energy secretary Ed Miliband saying the results will help “driv[e] bills down for good”. BBC News says: “The results have been welcomed by climate and clean energy groups, who see solar as a relatively cheap way to reduce the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels during the summer months. But some local communities oppose such large developments on their doorstep.” Renews.biz also covers the news.

Separately, the Guardian reports that “the UK government is pledging to spend up to £1bn on community-owned green energy schemes in an effort to combat growing scepticism and resistance to renewables and grid upgrade projects”. According to the newspaper, energy secretary Ed Miliband said the new funding is intended to “democratise the energy system”. It continues: “The funding for local community-owned solar, wind, hydro and biomass projects will be overseen by GB Energy, the state-owned company that Labour hopes will help deliver much cheaper electricity bills and greater energy security for the UK…GB Energy said it initially hopes to support 1,000 clean energy projects, which will receive grants or loans. It could also allow communities and local councils to buy shares in large privately owned schemes.” Reuters, BusinessGreen and the Financial Times all have the story.

MORE ON UK

• BusinessGreen reports that “’supercharged’ levels of investment in the UK’s electricity grid through to 2040 could unlock nearly £200bn of economic growth and socioeconomic benefits, delivering a 4:1 return on investment”.
• The Guardian asks: “Why is the UK so rainy this year and how is the climate crisis making matters worse?” The Independent also links the rainfall to climate change.
• The Guardian has a story about the “UK’s first climate evacuees”, who were forced to leave their homes when Storm Dennis hit the UK in 2020.
• The Daily Telegraph says energy regulator Ofgem “has warned that 210 of the 340 green energy projects scheduled to connect to the grid in 2026 and 2027 are set to miss the target”. 
• BBC News reports on a new legal challenge to the Sizewell C new nuclear plant in Suffolk. The Guardian says a “fish disco” at the Hinkley C new nuclear plant in Somerset “could help save 90% of fish from the power plant’s water intake pipes”.
• The Daily Express has a story under the headline: “Fury over Labour’s ‘hypocrisy’ as Ed Miliband’s own headquarters powered by fossil fuels.”

The European Commission “wants to grant itself the power to exempt goods from the just-launched carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), which requires importers of certain products to pay for planet-warming pollution emitted during the production process”, according to Politico. The outlet reports that manufacturers are concerned that the decision is “throwing investment plans into disarray and threatening much-needed decarbonisation projects”. Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that the head of German multinational BASF – Europe’s biggest chemical company – has argued that the EU’s emissions trading system is “hurting the sector already suffering from high energy costs, aggressively priced Chinese products and myriad environmental rules”. 

MORE ON EU

• Campaigners have warned EU leaders against a “rollback of the green agenda”, ahead of a meeting on Thursday, reports the Guardian. 
• Reuters reports that later this week, France “will set out an ambitious energy plan”, including a doubling of electricity’s share of energy consumption to 60% by 2030.
• BusinessGreen: “A year on from the launch of European green bond standard, over €22bn of bonds have been issued in line with the new label.”
• Reuters: “The German government plans to charge renewables companies for connecting to the electricity grid as part of efforts to meet the fast-rising demand for expansion.”

The Chinese government has launched a series of policies “aimed at regulating the country’s battery recycling industry, says Climate Home News. It adds that spent batteries from old electric vehicles (EVs) are expected to reach 1m tonnes per year in 2030. The outlet quotes Li Yifei, assistant professor at New York University Shanghai, saying that the Chinese government’s focus on battery recycling also “reflects concern about critical minerals supplies”, adding that despite dominating the refining of many critical minerals, China still “relies on imports of the raw materials”. Industry news outlet Ideacarbon reports that China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) issued a notice on the implementation work for China’s national carbon trading market in 2026.

MORE ON CHINA

• People’s Daily reports that China’s consumption of refined oil in 2025 fell by about 3% year on year, while oil used for chemical production emerged as a new growth driver, rising 8.8%. Futures Daily reports that “green methanol” accounted for less than 5% of China’s methanol production capacity by the end of 2025, but will see “explosive growth” as the energy transition accelerates.
• Bank of China says at the first meeting of the China-UK financial working group that the two countries should work together to “seize broad cooperation opportunities in areas such as green bonds and transition finance”, reports Cailian Press.
• China Electric Power News publishes an opinion article by Yang Lei and Wu Di, both with the Peking University Institute of Energy, saying that the key to building a “strong energy country” lies in keeping China’s “leading position” in new energy industries.
• A Bloomberg opinion article by columnist David Fickling says that it is getting “harder” for China to cut its coal output as electricity demand increases rapidly.
• An editorial by China Daily cites the saying that China’s rise in Brand Finance’s “global soft power index 2026” shows that the country offers the “predictability” the world needs to navigate supply-chain disruptions and the energy transition.
• An article by People’s Daily under the byline Jin Xuan, which denotes it was approved by the NDRC, discusses the “five new aspects” of China’s “high-quality economic development”, including “accelerated green transition”. The newspaper also publishes an article on the frontpage of its print edition under the byline Ren Ping – a homophone for “People’s Daily commentary”, urging local authorities to “find their proper positioning” and adhere to the directions of “green development”.

The Guardian has published an editorial arguing that “the disruption and distress caused by record downpours must focus minds on the need for climate preparedness”. The newspaper notes that the Environment Agency is “embarking on a review of its flood management strategy for England”. However, it says that “years of cuts to Environment Agency budgets, combined with confusion over its purpose, mean that confidence in its capacity to lead on climate resilience efforts, including flood prevention, is far from assured”. It concludes: “The danger is that as extreme rain becomes more frequent, and people get used to drivers being rescued from stranded vehicles or pensioners from flooded homes, these events are seen as less rather than more alarming. Climate researchers have warned that the ‘boiling frog’ effect can make gradual change difficult to address. But with 6.3m properties in England at risk, rising to 8m by 2050, ministers need to focus on climate adaptation, including drainage – and keep doing so long after the latest floods have receded.”

MORE COMMENT

• Florian Krampe, director of the climate change and risk programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, writes in the Financial Times that “climate change is actively altering the physics on which strategic stability in the [Arctic] region depends”. For example, he notes that thawing permafrost is “destabilising the runways and radar stations that provide early warning in the High North”.
• Liam Denning, a Bloomberg opinion columnist covering energy, writes that “Chinese cars are coming to the US – like it or not”. Separately, Patrick Leblond and Liam Ibbott from the University of Ottawa have an opinion piece in the Financial Post under the headline: “Chinese EVs in Canada? Keep calm and carry on.”
• Samuel Rojas Fernández, a law school student at the University of Costa Rica, writes in the Washington Post that his country is “often presented as a global model of environmental success”, for example noting that all its electricity comes from renewable sources. However, he says that this “success” comes at the cost of “the gradual displacement of people from places they have long called home”. 
• Zeke Hausfather, climate science contributor at Carbon Brief, publishes the “Climate Brink dashboard” on his Climate Brink substack.
• Robert Muggah from the Igarapé Institute argues in Mongabay that “climate tipping points and large-scale biodiversity loss now pose a more profound threat to global security than many conventional risks, undermining food systems, water supplies, public health, and state legitimacy across borders”. 

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

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