Offshore windfarms could provide cheaper power than Britain’s new nuclear power stations, the chief executive of wind industry trade body RenewableUK has told The Guardian. Hugh McNeall said he expected that offshore windfarms would secure a deal with the government lower than the £92.50 per megawatt hour agreed with EDF for £18bn Hinkley Point C. Bidding begins in April for the government’s £290m-a-year contracts for difference scheme, which offer generators a guaranteed price for their electricity above the wholesale price. The industry has been buoyed by recent figures showing the price of offshore wind power had fallen by nearly one-third since 2012 to £100/MWh, though McNeal said the decision by ministers to end onshore windfarm subsidies will the building of new turbines on land is expected to largely grind to a halt after next year.

Woodland glades are at risk of losing their colourful displays of bluebells because the famous flower may struggle as temperatures rise, according to scientists. A new analysis of 200,000 records collected by amateur observers for a Woodland Trust citizen Science study found rising temperatures were upsetting the timing of leaf and flower bloom in sycamore, larch, garlic mustard and the iconic bluebell. While some other plants, including silver birch, alder, beech, ash, wood anemone, cuckooflower and cocks-foot, are expected to keep pace, climate change could see affected species developing between three and eight days earlier for each 1C rise, according to the paper in Global Change Biology. The Mirror also covers the story.

A team of scientists from Arizona State University has come up with a cunning plan to replenish shrinking sea ice in the Arctic. The scheme would see 10 million wind-powered pumps installed on the ice, pumping water up to the surface in winter where it would freeze and thicken the ice. At an estimated cost of £400bn, the pumps could add an extra metre of sea ice, significantly reducing the danger of sea ice disappearing from the Arctic in summer, say the scientists. Elsewhere, The Washington Post describes how temperatures in the Arctic are “skyrocketing” for the third time this winter. As of Thursday, temperatures north of 80 degrees latitude were already more than 10C warmer than the average temperature for this time of year. Scientists are pinning the unseasonably warm temperatures, and similar periods that occurred in November and December, on the steady march of climate change and interactions between the air and Arctic sea ice.

Australia is facing the “worst possible fire conditions” with parts of the country engulfed in a series record-breaking heat wave, according to authorities. Temperatures in New South Wales (NSW) have exceeded 40C in recent days, with 49 separate fires burning at one point. In a press conference, New South Wales rural fire commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said, “To put it simply [the conditions] are off the old scale. It is without precedent in NSW.” The article reports finding by science information project Climate Signals that new weather patterns caused by climate change has caused a 14% increase in the past 20 years in the number of days with temperatures 35C or over in Australia.

The cost to UK households of funding smart meters and subsidy schemes to encourage low carbon technology will increase by £39 per year this Spring, according to analysis by First Utility, one of the UK’s biggest independent energy suppliers. The group calculates the amount households pay to support green energy initiatives will rise to £134.20 per customer per year from April, up from £94.50 in the previous year. The renewables obligation scheme, currently the biggest renewable subsidy cost to consumers, will close to all new generating capacity at the end of next month but the cost of “capacity auctions” that the government runs to guarantee power generation during periods of high demand, for example, are rising, says the FT.

It is admirable that Europe wants to take the lead in showing the world what is possible when it comes to reducing emissions but the extent to which the proposed next stage of the emissions trading system (ETS) will affect Europe’s steel industry needs to be understood before it’s too late, says Lakshmi Mittal, the chairman of ArcelorMittal, a Luxembourg-based steel and mining company. “European steelmakers recognise the need to reduce emissions…What we don’t agree with is the method that is on the cusp of being implemented in Europe…The aim of the system should be not just to reduce emissions from what Europe produces, but also to reduce emissions from what Europe consumes. The answer, he says, is the introduction of border carbon adjustments to protect European competitiveness.

Scientist Prof Peter Thorne responds to David Rose’s spirited defence of his Mail on Sunday article last weekend, in which he made false allegations – now debunked by many, including Carbon Brief – that world leaders had been “duped” by manipulated climate data. Last week, the allegations were that a critical paper was rushed to influence the Paris agreement, says Thorne, though he describes the idea that any single study was a clincher as “pure bunkum”. This week, he says, there has been a “volte face” with the allegation now that the said paper led to a delay in releasing a new dataset. Thorne explains: “NOAA waited on releasing this new ERSSTv4 data set until the Karl et al. paper was out because the Karl et al. paper presented the implications of the new corrections…There is still nothing in these process complaints that substantiates anything but high-quality science that has already been reproduced by other scientists in peer-reviewed scientific articles.” The Sunday Times joined the melee in this weekend, suggesting the whole issue “gives sceptics a warm glow”. Meanwhile, the Mail on Sunday has published two letters, by Bob Ward from the Grantham Research Institute and Prof Phil Williamson from UEA, correcting a significant error in the original article by Rose.

Tropical cyclones hitting East China have become more destructive between 1975–2014, a new study suggests. Using four different tropical cyclone datasets, the researchers find significant increases in the frequency of landfalling cyclones, as well as their intensity. In contrast, for tropical cyclones hitting South China, there are no obvious changes in terms of landfall frequency, duration, or maximum intensity, the researchers say.

A new study illustrates how local knowledge is being used by smallholder farmers to adapt to climate change and variability. Using interviews in Palapye in Eastern Botswana, the author finds that farmers correctly perceive changes in climate such as a reduction in rainfall, rising temperatures, and increasing frequency of drought. To minimise the impacts on their livelihoods, farmers favoured drought-tolerant crops, reduced livestock herd sizes, and even brewed and sold alcohol made from sorghum to supplement their income.