The Times reports that the UK government is poised to accept the recommendation of the Climate Change Committee (CCC) to set a legally binding goal of cutting emissions 87% by 2040. It continues: “The 2040 milestone is seen as a vital stepping stone to the country reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, the target that the Tories and Reform have pledged to scrap.” It quotes a “Labour source” saying: “This is a fight we’re happy to have and the politics is strong for Labour, especially with others really rowing back.” The newspaper reports that “three sources confirmed that legislation on the so-called seventh carbon budget was due to be laid in parliament on Thursday”, adding: “However, the step was delayed due to the cost-of-living announcement by the Treasury. It will now happen in June.” A government spokesperson described the story as “speculation”. The story is also in the climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph, which leads on an unsubstantiated claim that “households could be urged to eat less meat” to meet the target. 

MORE ON UK

• The Times: “UK recession risk rises as oil prices fuel inflation, Bank says.”
• The Independent reports that the UK is facing a “bank holiday heatwave as temperatures could soar to 33C”. BBC News says “extraordinary” heat health alerts have been issued for parts of England.
• BusinessGreen reports that chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced an energy support package for the chemicals and ceramics industry, as part of her cost-of-living measures. The Daily Telegraph says the plans include scrapping a “tax rule allowing oil and gas companies to offset profits made in Britain against losses made by foreign subsidiaries”.
• Bloomberg: “UK’s mandate for solar in car parks scrapped over cost concerns.”
• The Guardian visits a “flood-prone London school with a climate adapted playground”.
• BBC News: “Glow worms and slime moulds found in Scotland’s declining rainforest.”

US president Donald Trump announced yesterday an easing of restrictions on climate “super pollutants” used in air-conditioners and refrigerators, reports the New York Times. It adds that the “administration framed it as an effort to lower grocery prices that are testing voters’ finances before November’s midterm elections”. According to the newspaper, Lee Zeldin, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, joined Trump at the White House to “announce the relaxation of requirements for grocery stores, air-conditioning companies, semiconductor plants and others to reduce production and use of the chemicals”, known as hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs. There is widespread coverage of the news, including in Politico, Bloomberg, Axios, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and the Hill.

MORE ON US

• The New York Times: “Exxon is nearing a deal to pump oil in Venezuela, marking a victory for Trump.”
• Inside Climate News: “Trump officials, billionaires and the quiet reshaping of America’s public lands.”
• Reuters: “US scientists forecast below-normal 2026 Atlantic hurricane season.”
• Los Angeles Times: “Multiple wildfires trigger unhealthy air quality alert in southern California.”
• The Guardian: “Bernie Sanders backs climate activist in close Michigan congressional primary.”
• The US Army Corps of Engineers has finalised rules to allow the Dakota oil pipeline to continue operating, with new environmental restrictions, says Bloomberg.

International Energy Agency (IEA) chief Dr Fatih Birol has warned that oil markets could enter a “red zone” by July and August as “stocks dwindle before the summer travel season amid a shortage of fresh oil exports from the Middle East”, according to the Guardian. Speaking at Chatham House in London, Birol said that “it was open to IEA members to release more strategic oil reserves, as they had previously in March”, adding that “as much as 80% of IEA’s collective reserves have not been released”. He continued that he had “never seen the dark and long shadow of geopolitics so dominant in the energy sector”, says the Guardian.

MORE ON ENERGY CRISIS

• France has announced €710m (£614m) in “new measures to support households and companies hit by rising energy costs due to the Iran war”, says Bloomberg.
• The Associated Press reports that the “EU’s executive commission cut its growth outlook and predicted higher inflation due to sharply higher energy prices from the war in Iran, but said the economy will avoid an outright recession”.
• The Guardian reports on why Pacific island nations are “uniquely vulnerable to the oil crisis”.
• Bloomberg: “Satellite images show Persian gulf oil slicks growing during war.”
• Reuters: “No full Hormuz flow until first half of 2027, UAE’s oil giant says.”

China has exported “small quantities” of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to south-east Asia and other regions in April, as the country’s fuel exports fell to their lowest level in a decade, reports Reuters. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reports that China’s automaker Chery expects its overseas sales of electric vehicles (EVs) to rise 27% this year, reaching around 1.1m EVs in 2025. The company said its EV segment would account for 65 to 70% of its overseas sales, adds the outlet. Reuters reports that China’s solar exports to African and south-east Asian countries in April have jumped 83% and 75% year-on-year, respectively. State news agency Xinhua reports that countries across the Middle East are embracing Chinese solar companies to “drive green energy transitions”, adding that the Middle East is among the “most promising emerging markets” for solar development.

China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) and Uganda’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development have signed the first memorandum of understanding on a “clean cookstoves” flagship project under South-South climate cooperation, reports carbon-focused news outlet Ideacarbon. Niger and several Chinese oil companies signed a series of agreements aimed at “reviving crude production and exports”, reports Ecofin Agency. Chinese premier Li Qiang said during a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin that China is willing to deepen cooperation in areas including energy and green and low-carbon development, reports Xinhua.

MORE ON CHINA

• The Independent says that China’s emissions will fall 17% from their 2023 peak by 2030, citing a report by BloombergNEF.
• People’s Daily reports that “negative electricity prices” are a product of the “large-scale integration of renewable energy into the grid”.
• The MEE has issued a notice on updated requirements for corporate greenhouse gas emissions accounting and verification, reports Ideacarbon.
• Reuters says that China kept building its “massive stockpile of crude oil” last month despite the lowest imports in nearly four years. China is tapping coal rock gas, an “unconventional fuel source”, to unleash new gas supplies and advance Beijing’s goal of energy independence, reports Reuters.
• Red Star News quotes a climate expert saying that China’s recent heavy rainfall in May may be “closely linked to rising global temperatures”.
• EV makers in China have been “raising prices and tightening incentives this month as they pass on higher production costs to buyers”, reports Yicai.

In the Guardian, global environment writer Jonathan Watts previews Colombia’s presidential election, set for 31 May, which will test the nation’s global leadership on addressing climate change and biodiversity loss. He writes: “This month’s presidential election will decide whether Colombia remains a global leader on the climate and exemplar of ‘popular environmentalism’, or whether it switches to the side of fracking, mining and other forms of fossil fuel extractivism. In other words, whether it will change from green to grey.” He continues: “President Gustavo Petro, of Pacto Historico, is constitutionally barred from serving a consecutive second term, so the party has selected Iván Cepeda to run for president and continue his policies. The far-right candidate, Abelardo de la Espriella, and the centre-right candidate, Paloma Valencia, are both enthusiastic about reopening the oil spigot and fracking. US interference is a big concern, with Donald Trump talking of military intervention in Colombia.”

MORE COMMENT

• Several publications have long reads on the approach of a “strong” El Niño, including the New York Times, Agence France-Presse and the Financial Times.
• The Financial Times speaks to the IEA’s Dr Fatih Birol at length about how countries are managing the oil crisis. The FT also has a podcast on “dwindling oil”.
• A Lex opinion in the Financial Times says that the “US may produce more oil than it consumes, but banning exports would be extremely complicated”.
• Canadian climate writer Seth Klein says in the Guardian that “Canadian prime minister Mark Carney is not the climate guy you thought”.
• The Independent’s climate correspondent Nick Ferris argues that proponents of keeping Labour’s ban on new oil and gas licences should focus on the climate case, not just the economic one.
• In an editorial, the climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph is critical of chancellor Rachel Reeves’ policies, claiming that they have pushed up energy costs, “aided and abetted by Ed Miliband’s net-zero crusade”. [See Carbon Brief’s: “Factcheck: Why expensive gas – not net-zero – is keeping UK electricity prices so high.”]

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Daisy Dunne, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Anika Patel. It was edited by Robert McSweeney.

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