Following media reports earlier this week, the UK government has confirmed it has decided it will not split the electricity market into several price zones, ending “a debate that’s rumbled on for years and caused a rift between producers and the nation’s largest residential supplier”, reports Bloomberg. The government says it will reform the existing national pricing system, according to a statement released this morning, the article notes. The government had been considering a proposal for zonal pricing that would see different areas of the country pay different rates for their electricity, depending on local supply and demand, reports the Press Association. The plan, part of a package of potential reforms to the electricity market that have been being considered for several years, would have resulted in the south of England paying more for electricity than Scotland, reports the Financial Times. The government says it will now retain a single national wholesale price as it is the “right way to deliver a fair, affordable, secure and efficient electricity system”, the article notes. Reuters reports that, alongside the decision not to pursue zonal pricing, the government has announced that it will seek to spread out the building of new energy projects around the country, giving investors more confidence on where and when to build projects and speed up grid connections. The net-zero-sceptic Daily Express reports that the energy secretary Ed Miliband has performed a “u-turn” by abandoning the “highly controversial zonal pricing” policy “hated by Brits”. It adds that this marks the “latest humiliation” for Miliband. (The consultation on proposed changes to the power sector, including zonal pricing, was launched in 2022 under a former Conservative government.) The announcement follows days of speculation, with the Guardian, BusinessGreen and Financial Times and other publications reporting on it over the recent days.  

MORE ON UK: 

• The UK is set to hold a minority stake in the new nuclear power plant Sizewell C as ministers close in on a final deal to secure private investment into the multibillion pound development, reports the Financial Times.
• BBC News reports that “yellow heat” health alerts are set to come into force today as a third heatwave of the summer builds in the UK.
• Energy bills could rise by £50 a year because of delays to the rollout of clean-power projects, reports the Times.

Extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, flooding and wildfires, “could wipe as much off euro zone GDP in the next five years as the global financial crisis or the Covid-19 pandemic”, according to Livio Stracca, deputy director general at European Central Bank in comments covered by Reuters. The newswire adds: “A series of severe weather-related events could cause an almost 5% near-term drop in euro-zone growth, based on the most extreme climate scenario devised by a group of over 140 bank supervisors and regulators earlier this year…The group found euro-zone growth was most severely impacted in a scenario known as ‘Disasters and Policy Stagnation’ where heatwaves, droughts and wildfires in 2026 were followed by a combination of floods and storms in 2027. Should the euro zone follow through with its net-zero transition policies, including its plan for a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, it could largely mitigate losses, another scenario found.”

MORE ON EUROPE: 

• More than 100 people have been injured in a wildfire in the south of France, as the blaze reaches the city of Marseille, reports the Times.
• The French have been warned of a “high-risk summer for wildfires” as the Marseille fire continues to burn, reports the Guardian.
• The European Parliament has rejected a call to rush through its greenhouse gas reduction target, “a bid to limit the influence of the far-right Patriots for Europe group after it seized control of the file”, reports Euractiv. 
• Solar power was the largest source of electricity in the EU for the first time in June, overtaking nuclear and wind, while coal fell to an all-time-low, reports Reuters based on Ember data. 
• A new report by Boston Consulting Group has found that the European electricity transmissions system operators’ investment plans to upgrade and expand the power grids face a €250bn shortfall, according to Reuters.

The number of people who have died from flooding in the US state of Texas continues to rise, with state officials saying yesterday that at least 119 are confirmed dead, reports the Guardian in continuing extensive coverage of the fatal event. At least 161 people are still missing in Kerr County, with authorities and volunteers continuing to search the Guadalupe River, reports the Washington Post. “Officials say no one has been found alive since 4 July, when the deluge arrived in the pre-dawn hours, tearing through a 100km stretch of the Guadalupe River packed with vacationers,” reports Bloomberg. Across all of Texas, 173 people are unaccounted for following the “devastating flood”, adds the New York Times. “From a climate perspective, this tragedy was caused by a combination of exceptional factors, compounded by the impact of human-induced climate change,” notes Le Monde. 

MORE ON TEXAS: 

• The Federal Emergency Management Agency sent fewer than 100 staffers to Texas, while the state rolled out over 1,800 responders, reports the Independent.
• Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem has renewed her call to “eliminate” FEMA, reports Bloomberg.
• Kerr County predicted nine months ago that flooding would occur this year, but “failed to act”, says the Daily Mail.
• Trump appointees have ties that could see them benefit from weather forecasting being privatised, reports the Associated Press.  
• Far-right conspiracy theories are spreading in the aftermath of the Texas floods, reports the Guardian. 
• The floods have rung “alarm bells over global early warning systems”, according to the Financial Times.

Chinese steel, cement and polysilicon manufacturers will be required to “use green power to meet between 25% and 70% of their demand” in 2025 and 2026, according to recently published provincial quotas for renewable energy consumption, Bloomberg reports. The regulations also stipulate consumption targets of 80% for certain data centres. Under the quota that excludes hydropower, provinces were set targets ranging “between 10.7% and 30% for renewable energy consumption in 2025 and between 12.4% and 30% for [2026]”, Bloomberg adds. International Energy Net notes that, for the quota including hydropower, Sichuan, Yunnan and Qinghai provinces were given the “highest” targets, at 70%. Industry news outlet BJX News says that quotas cannot be “transferred” to the next year, according to the document. Meanwhile, Chinese president Xi Jinping told Shanxi policymakers during a visit to the coal-rich province that heavy industries “should not be abandoned”, Reuters reports. State news agency Xinhua says that Xi also told Shanxi officials that efforts should be made to “promote” the “high-end transformation of the coal industry” and turn coal products “from primary fuels to high-value products”. The Guardian has a long read titled: “China’s coal heartland fighting for a greener future.”

MORE ON CHINA:

• China has protested about European Commission’s Ursula von der Leyen saying that China is “distorting trade” in electric vehicles (EVs) and other industries, Bloomberg reports. 

• An editorial in the state-run China Daily says the EU is “trying to leverage” climate cooperation with China to “pressure” it on Ukraine, adding: “That is wishful thinking.”

• China has allocated 150m yuan ($21m) to “support relief efforts in regions [recently] affected by flooding, typhoons and geological disasters”, reports Xinhua.

• Reuters says that sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in China increased a “hefty” 29.7% in June year-on-year, accounting for 52.7% of total car sales.

• NDRC chairman Zheng Shanjie says China’s ratio of clean-power consumption will “rise” in remarks reviewing the country’s 14th five-year plan, reports BJX News.

• BBC News: “China’s emissions may be falling – here’s what you should know.”

Across northern Pakistan glaciers have been melting at an accelerated pace due to record-breaking summer temperatures, reports the Guardian. This has led to deadly flash flooding and landslides, with floods and monsoon rains killing at least 72 people and injuring more than 130 since the rains began in June, it adds. “In the country’s mountainous region of Gilgit-Baltistan, temperatures have risen as high as 48.5C which local officials described as unprecedented in a region that is more than 1,200 metres above sea level and famous for its snow-capped mountains. The previous record was 47C, set in 1971,” the article adds. Climate change is making South Asia’s monsoon season more prone to floods, landslides and heavy rains, reports the Associated Press.

Three people have been killed and dozens of homes damaged by a flash flood in the New Mexico mountain community of Ruidoso, reports the Associated Press, adding: “An intense bout of monsoon rains set the disaster in motion Tuesday. Water rushed from the surrounding mountainside, overwhelming the Rio Ruidoso and taking with it a man and two children from an RV park along the river.” Emergency crews carried out at least 85 rescues in Ruidoso, including people trapped in their homes and cars, reports the Independent. The flash floods were “so intense” an entire house was swept downstream, it adds. 

Argentina’s El Cronista covers a study revealing the “alarming” snowpack decrease on the Andean mountains, which could affect water security in central Chile. The study shows that the process has intensified over the past two decades. It explains that snow reduction is due to a change in wind patterns driven by the Southern Annular Mode, a phenomenon disturbing climate patterns in the Southern hemisphere, the outlet notes.

MORE ON LATIN AMERICA:

• An area of the Atacama desert in northern Chile has received a “strong” snowfall in what El Espectador dubs “an unprecedented event”.
• Satellite data from the European Space Agency (ESA) shows that the ocean surrounding Antarctica is “getting saltier”, BioBioChile reports, a development which is “deeply worrying” scientists.

In his New York Times newsletter, David Wallace-Wells discusses the floods in Texas, arguing that “the disaster is one of the most lethal the country has faced this century, and yet the tsunami-like storm surge itself competes with the death toll for sheer horror.” He writes of the increasing number of “searing reminders of the worsening crisis” in the form of floods, wildfires and other extreme weather events. “Every weather disaster now has both human and climate causes, but we often argue about which side of the ledger should get the blame when, either way, the headline message is that we were not ready.” His second observation is around the support available for Americans facing disasters under the current administration. He concludes by quoting former Department of Homeland Security official, MaryAnn Tierney, who has warned that the “help Americans rely on in their darkest hours is in danger of arriving late, underpowered or not at all”.

MORE COMMENT:

• The executive director of the US nonprofit Emergency Response Network writes a letter to the editor in the Washington Post focusing on the floods in Texas, arguing: “We must stop treating climate-driven events as unpredictable ‘natural’ disasters.”
• Simon Mundy, the editor of the Financial Times’ Moral Money newsletter, argues that Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” may end up being a “political gift to the clean-energy sector”. 
• Writing in the Guardian, Alexander Hurst, adjunct lecturer at Sciences Po, the Paris Institute of Political Studies, states that “extreme heat is our future – European cities must adapt”.
• The Daily Telegraph provides space for its team of net-zero-sceptic commentators to claim that the UK “can’t afford net-zero” and “will bankrupt” itself before admitting it. 

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Molly Lempriere, with contributions from Yanine Quiroz and Henry Zhang, and edited by Leo Hickman.