Just 17% of people surveyed in the latest round of government surveys support fracking for shale gas, reports the Press Association. This marks the lowest level of support since the surveys began. A note accompanying the results suggests it may be because many people “lack a detailed knowledge” of fracking, reports Climate Home. Yet a rising number – some 79% of respondents – say they know something about the process. Support for nuclear has also dipped, reports Business Green, while support for onshore wind hit a record high of 71%. Fracking industry representatives say leaving the EU is a fresh opportunity to boost the UK’s shale gas sector, reports DeSmog UK.

Global warming is on track to disrupt the Mediterranean region more than any droughts or heatwaves in the past 10,000 years, turning parts of southern Europe into desert by the end of the century, according to new research reported by Reuters. Average temperatures in the region have already risen by 1.3C, it adds. “Southern Spain will become desert unless global warming is reined in sharply,” says the Associated Press, covering the same research. Even if warming is limited to 2C, desertification would overtake some parts of the region, Inside Climate News reports. Avoiding this fate will be impossible without “extremely ambitious and politically unlikely carbon emissions cuts,” reports the Guardian. Carbon Brief also covered the study. The Washington Post also has the story.

The shipping industry is showing signs of tackling its environmental footprint, reports Climate Home, covering International Maritime Organisation (IMO) talks being held in London this week. The meeting agreed to tighten limits on ship sulphur emissions in 2020. The “immense” decade-long battle over the deal “raises questions over the capability of the IMO to deliver a similar agreement on climate change, its next major task”, says Climate Home. The IMO plans to agree this week to develop a climate roadmap at some point in future.

European winter power prices have reached new highs in anticipation of fresh outages in the French nuclear fleet, reports Reuters. Setbacks for French nuclear reactors are “deepening”, it says, after safety watchdog ASN said its probe of reactor part quality control reports would turn up more irregularities. The problems are threatening to increase energy bills for UK consumers, reports the Financial Times, because it will squeeze supplies of imported power.

“We heard virtually nothing about climate change in the presidential debates this year”, writes Brad Plumer for Vox. But on Tuesday this week, the two campaigns’ energy advisers had a wide-ranging debate, he says, including “its share of depressing nonsense, like when [Republican adviser] Cramer waffled on whether humans are causing global warming”. Despite this, the discussion was “genuinely substantive”, Plumer writes, covering the Paris climate deal, nuclear power and more.

“The battle between clean energy and dirty coal has entered a new phase”, says the Economist, reporting International Energy Agency (IEA) news that renewable capacity just passed coal for the first time. The IEA expects the share of renewables in total power generation to rise to almost 28%, from 21% today, it adds. Coal is “showing surprising resilience”, the Economist says, in rising prices. Yet “if the rally continues, it would give a further fillip to the green brigade: higher coal prices will squeeze the margins of their dirty rivals.”

“There is no plan for constraining carbon emissions from the new Heathrow runway”, writes Richard Black in New Scientist. “The government just hopes it will happen”. Emissions from air travel could make up half the UK’s carbon budget in 2050, Black writes (the figure comes from Carbon Brief analysis published at the start of the week). “The sure way to make a hash of both the economy and the climate system is to let every sector and every minister make carbon cuts Somebody Else’s Problem; but that is exactly what the government has done.”

As the warming climate sees a greater loss of Antarctic ice, it increases the chances of “ice scour” – caused by icebergs crashing into the seabed, a new study says. Researchers monitored the impact of ice scour on tiny organisms that live on the seabed in Ryder Bay on the West Antarctic Peninsula. The findings show that icebergs collisions kill off the organisms, thus limiting their important role in taking up “blue carbon” (carbon absorbed and stored in coastal or marine ecosystems).

At the Paris climate talks in December 2015, China was – for the first time – willing to commit to an absolute cap on carbon emissions. A new study argues that this change in negotiating position from previous talks was down to China’s transition to a ‘New Normal’ model of economic development. This includes a shift from energy-intensive growth based on heavy industry, exports and investment, to a more balanced economy with slower growth and a focus on innovation and low-carbon technologies, the researchers say. The transition “gave China the opportunity to re-formulate its priorities in international climate negotiations,” the paper concludes.