New analysis shows that US president Donald Trump has placed more than 40 people with direct ties to oil, gas and coal within his administration, reports the Guardian. According to a new report from consumer advocacy and ethics non-profit Public Citizen and corporate watchdog Revolving Door Project, dozens of people with ties to the fossil-fuel industry have been given positions, it adds. The nominees and appointees have been placed within the White House and eight agencies dictating energy, environmental and climate policy, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the interior and energy departments and others, the article notes. Relatedly, Politico reports that the Senate confirmed more than 100 Trump administration nominees this week, including several energy and environmental candidates. 

MORE ON US

• The Financial Times reports that the US is “demanding the EU water down parts of its green legislation just months after agreeing a tariff pact to avoid an all-out transatlantic trade war”.
• The Wall Street Journal discusses the impact of Trump’s “wind energy assault” on the Republican states that have been leading the rollout of the technology. 
• Politico has a list of potential clean-energy projects whose funding could be cut by the Trump administration, impacting hydrogen and direct air capture hubs in red states.
• Reuters reports that, earlier this week, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney “raised the prospect” of reviving the Canada-US Keystone XL oil pipeline in a meeting with Trump.
• Former energy department deputy secretary Dave Turk, who served throughout most of the Biden administration, is joining the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as director of its environment programme, Politico reports.

Officials in Downing Street have blocked publication of a report warning that the collapse of tropical rainforests could push up food prices in UK supermarkets, the Times reports. The ‘global ecosystem assessment report’, which looks at the consequences of the degradation and destruction of tropical and boreal forests, coral reefs and mangroves for the UK, was due to be published today. In its coverage, the Guardian notes that the report from parliament’s joint intelligence committee is understood to say that one of the “biggest risks facing Britain” is the “destabilising impact of the climate and nature crises on national security”. An unnamed source tells the paper that they feared the report was being suppressed because the government was “unwilling to face the issues raised” against a backdrop of cuts to foreign aid, which could help “stabilise countries most at risk from the climate crisis and avoid some of the impacts”.

MORE ON FOOD

• New analysis shows that UK wheat production is down by the equivalent of more than one year’s supply of British bread in recent years amid increasingly extreme weather, reports Press Association. BusinessGreen also has the story. 
• The UK food industry says domestic policies, not global pressures, are forcing grocery bills higher, according to the Financial Times.
• The Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, Reuters and Wall Street Journal all report that food giant Nestle has quit a global initiative to cut methane emissions from dairy suppliers.

There is continuing regional coverage of a mid-year report by thinktank Ember on global electricity generation. China’s state broadcaster China Global Television Network (CGTN) reports that “​​global renewable electricity generation exceeded coal in the first half of 2025, marking a major shift mainly due to the massive scale of clean energy deployment in China”. It continues: “The analysis…confirms China’s role as the primary driver of the transition, responsible for more solar and wind capacity additions than the rest of the world combined. In the first six months of the year, China accounted for 55% of global solar generation growth and an impressive 82% of the global increase in wind generation.” State-supporting newspaper Global Times also covers the story.

MORE ON CHINA

• Xinhua: “China’s National Day holiday travel goes green as charging network expands.”
• Dialogue Earth publishes an article discussing how China’s effort to boost its green ammonia industry can help the growth of the country’s “green hydrogen” sector.
• South China Morning Post publishes a comment by Winston Mok, a private investor, under the headline: “China is driving a green energy future while the US is frozen in the past.”
• Bloomberg reports that China’s auto dealerships are facing “existential threat” amid a “long-running price war” and overcapacity in the electric vehicle sector.

There is widespread coverage of the conclusion of the Conservative party conference yesterday. Party leader Kemi Badenoch promised what she called a “proper strategy” for tackling climate change, reports BusinessGreen, but she offered “no indication” of what that strategy might entail, the outlet notes. In her conference speech, Badenoch set out previously announced plans to “scrap” the Climate Change Act, repeal the UK’s headline net-zero target and end the “renewables obligation subsidy scheme for legacy wind and solar projects”, the outlet explains. A scorecard published after the conference by the Tories alleges that “axing net-zero-related programmes” could cut public spending by £1.6bn a year, the article notes. 

In its coverage, the i newspaper says there are “battles to come” over Badenoch’s climate change policy proposals and reports on predictions it will be “watered down once it goes through internal party processes”. The Guardian, BBC News, Politico, Sun and Times mention Badenoch’s energy and climate proposals in their coverage of the party conference. Meanwhile, the Press Association covers comments from shadow Scotland secretary Andrew Bowie, who reportedly described the UK’s current oil and gas policies as “unhinged”.

MORE ON UK POLITICS

• The Scotsman reports that MSPs have approved Scotland’s “watered-down” climate targets – despite having “not yet seen” the government’s blueprint for meeting them.

A study covered by Folha de São Paulo finds that 64% of Brazilian people say they are supportive of COP30 being held in their country. However, the study, published by the institute Ipsos-Ipec, also finds that 55% of Brazilians consider themselves “uninformed” about the climate summit, the outlet notes. Another 56% say the event will yield more benefits than drawbacks for the country’s economy, the newspaper adds. Meanwhile, the Brazilian congress approved a bill that “symbolically transfers Brazil’s capital from Brasília to Belém [during COP30] this year”, G1 reports. It adds that acts and orders signed by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will refer to Belém, rather than Brasilia. 

Elsewhere, Estadão reports about three problems Brazil’s government needs to address in Belém, ahead of COP30, including the country’s participation at the event, submissions of national climate commitments and ensuring that finance discussions do not delay the agenda. Ana Toni, COP30 CEO, told the outlet that countries are being consulted about their interests in order to set up a strategy.

MORE ON LATIN AMERICA

• Between 2022 and 2024, a fifth of global oil reserves were discovered in the Amazon, according to an analysis by InfoAmazonia.
• The Colombian Amazon lost 1,198 hectares of forests between April and June this year, according to a report covered by El Espectador reports. The figure is 15.6% lower than last year and the second lowest in the past five years.
• Chequeado and other organisations produced a report showing that 73% of official commitments by Argentina “are not on track to be achieved by 2030”.
• México’s city governor announced that the city will commit to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 35% by 2030, Animal Político reports. However, the governor did not mention the strategy for achieving the commitment, the outlet adds.
• El Aragüeño reports that Venezuela will hold a global meeting on climate change today and tomorrow in Caracas. The event will include various actors and social movements to bring a joint proposal to COP30. Venezuela’s president said the country “will have a prominent delegation at the upcoming [COP30]”.

The Nobel prize in chemistry has been awarded to a team of scientists who created “molecular constructions with potential to help combat climate change”, reports Bloomberg. The team, made up of scientists from Japan, the UK and Jordan, created constructions with large spaces that allow gases and other chemicals to flow through, it adds. “Applications for the so-called metal-organic frameworks include capturing carbon dioxide and harvesting water from desert air”, the article notes. The Washington Post notes that the researchers have already used the molecular structures to “harvest water from desert air, extract pollutants from water, capture carbon dioxide and store hydrogen”. BBC News reports that the three winners, Prof Kitagawa, Prof Richard Robson and Prof Omar M Yaghi, will share the prize money of 11 million Swedish kronor (£872,000).

In the UK, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, head of chemicals giant Ineos, has called on European legislators to reduce price pressures on chemical businesses, arguing the “biggest problem” facing businesses is gas and electricity costs, Sky News reports. The Times also covers comments made by Ratcliffe on its podcast where he claimed his company is threatened “by a lethal combination of high energy costs, carbon taxes, US tariffs and cheap competition from China”. The intervention comes just days after Ineos cut 20% of the workforce at its Acetyls plant in Hull, according to a report in City AM. The Daily Telegraph also covers comments from Ratcliffe where he says that “carbon taxes” are costing the Ineos Grangemouth plant £130m a year.

Britain’s electricity and gas grid operators expect the country to have sufficient energy supplies this winter, reports Reuters, despite “tighter gas margins” due to declining domestic production. The newswire notes that gas demand is expected to be 3% lower this year, mainly due to reduced power sector demand as renewable power output increases. In its coverage of the electricity and gas grid winter outlooks, the Press Association reports that the energy system operator has warned of “tight days” for energy supply, but noted that new battery storage will help to meet national demand. The Daily Telegraph and the Sun also have the story.

An editorial in the Guardian argues that it would be “unforgivable” for UK prime minister Keir Starmer to miss the forthcoming COP30 climate summit in Belém. COP30 will be a “crucial moment”, following on from countries submitting their 2035 climate targets and the Paris Agreement 1.5C threshold being temporarily crossed last year, the article notes. Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s diplomatic outreach to “key players”, including climate sceptic Trump, is significant as “having heavyweights in the room can make all the difference”, it continues. As such, it is important that Starmer attends, as “he may not be the most powerful world leader, but his presence is a moral and diplomatic imperative”, the Guardian states. It concludes: “If there was ever a time to show that the climate is a diplomatic priority, this is it. Sir Keir must not leave the question of his attendance hanging any longer. He must decide – and go.”

MORE IN COMMENT

• In the Los Angeles Times, the faculty co-director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment questions whether the US will be left behind when it comes to solar power.
• In Bloomberg, opinion editor Mark Gongloff explores a chart created by Carbon Brief’s science contributor Zeke Hausfather showing the percentage of the world’s land that has experienced a record-hottest month each decade.
• In his Substack newsletter, the Crucial Years, veteran campaigner Bill McKibben writes that “something extraordinary just happened” following the news this week that renewable generation surpassed coal for the first time.

There are a number of comment pieces in the wake of the Conservative party conference. In an editorial, the Financial Times describes Badenoch’s proposal to repeal the Climate Change Act as a “betrayal of the leadership the UK, and the Tories, have shown on the green transition and the jobs and investment it has generated”. The Financial Times Lex column notes that discussions linking net-zero to high energy costs are a “red herring”, noting that the main “culprit” for the UK’s high energy costs are not climate policies, but natural gas. It states that Badenoch’s pledge to scrap the Climate Change Act “exposes a deep division”. Meanwhile, the i newspaper’s political editor Hugo Gye includes Badenoch’s plans to scrap the act among a string of examples of how the Conservatives are turning away from their own policies. He asks: “The question for voters is this: if the Tories hate themselves so much, why should the public feel any differently?” 

MORE ON UK COMMENT:

• Writing in BusinessGreen, the University of Oxford’s Sam Fankhauser argues repealing the act has the potential to be a “major own goal – politically, environmentally and economically”.
• A short editorial in the net-zero-sceptic Daily Telegraph argues that plans for a 50-acre solar farm in Suffolk could lead to objections from homeowners. 
• In the Scotsman, assistant editor Paul Wilson writes that first minister of Scotland, John Swinney, must answer the “burning question” of what the Scottish National party’s net-zero policy looks like.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Cecilia Keating with contributions from Henry Zhang, Molly Lempriere and Yanine Quiroz. It was edited by Robert McSweeney.

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