A US federal judge has ruled that a wind project off the coast of New York state can continue, which now means that “all five offshore wind projects halted by the Trump administration in December can resume construction”, Reuters reports. The newswire says this case from Ørsted “was the fifth brought by an offshore wind developer since the 22 December pause on five leases”. Bloomberg adds that “Ørsted said it has spent $7bn on the development, which is 45% complete”. 

The New York Times notes: “The administration is now 0-5 in its effort to stop windfarms under construction along the east coast.” The newspaper says that officials at the US interior department, who issued the order to halt work on these projects, “cited a classified report by the defense department that they said found the projects to be a national security threat”. But it adds that the judge in the New York case “said he was unpersuaded by the government’s claims about national security after reviewing the classified report under seal”. E&E News adds that the interior department “said it had no comment at this time due to pending litigation”. 

MORE ON US 

• Trump plans to launch a “strategic critical-minerals stockpile with $12bn in seed money”, reports Bloomberg. 
• Bloomberg says Colombians are “on edge” as the country’s president Gustavo Petro is due to visit the White House this week. The outlet says Petro has “repeatedly criticised” Trump’s policies on climate change and other issues. 
• E&E News covers released emails showing that US Department of Energy scientists criticised a report released by the department last year which “calls into question the basic tenets of climate science”. [A Carbon Brief factcheck found that the report included more than 100 false or misleading claims.] 
• A Financial Times “big read” explores the “political cost of America’s surging electricity bills”. 
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the recent US winter storm “was not historically exceptional”, reports Agence France-Presse. 
• Amid high electricity prices, the Los Angeles Times says some people are “surreptitiously installing solar panels on balconies and in backyards without their utility’s permission”.

China’s solar power capacity is expected to exceed that of coal power for the first time during 2026, business news outlet 21st Century Business Herald says, citing a new China Electricity Council (CEC) report. By the end of this year, it adds, the CEC predicts that wind and solar installations will account for half of China’s total power capacity, while coal power capacity will fall to around 31%. State broadcaster CCTV also covers the new report, saying that in addition to their capacity, wind, solar and biomass power met 97% of electricity demand growth. State news agency Xinhua reports that, in 2025, renewable energy capacity in Shanxi province, China’s largest coal-producing region, surpassed coal-fired power capacity for the first time. Meanwhile, government officials say China’s update to its coal “capacity pricing” mechanism is aimed at ensuring a stable power supply during periods of “insufficient” clean-energy output, according to energy news outlet International Energy Net. 

MORE ON CHINA

• Foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian says “protecting wetlands…and addressing climate change” are a “long-term” shared global responsibility, reports Xinhua.
• Xinhua publishes a commentary under the byline “Xinhua commentator” saying China will foster hydrogen and nuclear fusion as new drivers of economic growth.
• Xinhua publishes a “study” article on China’s need to become an “energy powerhouse”, saying it is necessary for “leading” on the low-carbon transition and “enhancing new competitive advantages”. Xinhua also releases another article on “assessing ecological protection and restoration” in the same series.
• Xinhua: “Nuclear energy sector provides safe, clean power for China’s green development.”
• Xinhua publishes an unbylined commentary stating that it is “wise and forward-looking for countries to deepen cooperation in the clean-energy sector”.
• Caixin: “How gutter oil [used cooking oil] became a prized fuel for international airlines.”

“Africa recorded its fastest solar growth on record in 2025, driven by a surge in utility-scale projects, and could add more than six times last year’s annual capacity by 2029”, according to an industry report covered by Bloomberg. The outlet notes that the Global Solar Council report finds that around 4.5 gigawatts of new solar capacity was installed across the continent last year – a 54% increase from 2024. It adds: “South Africa led installations with 1.6 gigawatts, followed by Nigeria at 803 megawatts and Egypt at 500 megawatts…By 2029, Africa could install over 33 gigawatts of solar capacity.” 

The Financial Times reports that oil and gas major BP is “being challenged over its surge in upstream oil and gas spending by a group of shareholder activists and pension funds as they switch tactics on climate change to question the sector’s business strategy”. The newspaper says that UK workplace pension scheme Nest, Swiss federal pension fund Publica and four British local authority funds are involved in the move which is “in response to companies such as BP ditching their renewable energy businesses and rolling back climate pledges”. The group of investors has called on BP to “give more details on the cost competitiveness of projects and how it accounts for cost overruns and delays”, reports the Times. The outlet adds: “BP declined to comment on the resolution.” Bloomberg and Reuters also cover the story. 

MORE ON UK

• The government is concerned that EU “protectionist policies” will hit the UK’s “car, tech [and] green sectors”, reports Bloomberg.  
• A local authority plans to buy and demolish homes in a south Wales village “as they can no longer be protected from flooding caused by the climate crisis”, reports the Guardian on its frontpage. Meanwhile, BBC News reports that parts of the UK experienced the highest rainfall levels in more than a century in January.
• The climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph reports on domestic shipping joining the UK’s emissions trading scheme from July. It says the opposition Conservatives [who proposed and confirmed this move while in government in 2022 and 2023] “said the plans made a mockery of Keir Starmer’s pledge to prioritise tackling the cost of living”. 
• Left Foot Forward, a UK left-wing news outlet, reports: “Ofcom urged to act over TalkTV’s broadcast of climate misinformation.”
• A nuclear trade group has “urged” the Scottish government to scrap a draft climate action plan “because it does not include nuclear”, according to the Scotsman.
• A thinktank says “net-zero poses an ‘existential risk’ to Britain’s struggling farmers”, according to the Daily Telegraph. [It does not mention the key finding of the report, which says that policy action to shift the “modest” costs involved in decarbonising farming to consumers would add “less than 1%” to food prices by 2050.]

The EU is “struggling to diversify its supply of critical raw materials by the end of the decade, risking a successful energy transition and continued high dependence on China”, Euronews says in its coverage of a European Court of Auditors report. The Guardian says the “damning” report “examines the EU’s ability to meet its target of 42.5% of energy from renewables in 2030” and “exposes a gulf between rhetoric and reality”. The newspaper adds: “In one of the most damning conclusions, it notes that not only is mining and exploration ‘underdeveloped’ in the EU but ‘even when new deposits are found, it can take 20 years for an EU mining project to become operational’.” Reuters also covers the story. 

Bloomberg opinion columnist David Fickling writes that “we may be rapidly heading into an age of wild abundance” for critical minerals. He says that Trump’s announcement of a $12bn mineral stockpile “is the bazooka the market has been waiting for”. He adds: “What does $12bn buy you? Unless you use an extremely loose definition that includes widely traded commodities with diverse supply chains such as copper, aluminum, nickel, chromium and manganese, it should easily be sufficient to buy every gram of critical minerals consumed outside of China in a year.” Fickling concludes: “Expect a domino effect of reserve proliferation, as every government looks to lock down its own supply chain. The era of critical-minerals shortages is behind us. The era of gluts is about to dawn.” 

MORE COMMENT 

• The Australian government is “sweating over meeting its 43% emissions reduction target for 2030”, writes Guardian Australia political editor, Tom McIlroy.  
• Financial Times contributing columnist, Patti Waldmeir, discusses the role of climate change in the “melting of North America’s ancient ice roads”. 
• Mariana Mazzucato and Anna Hope Emerson from University College London write in the New Statesman: “The [UK] government must balance its long-term, transformational investments in clean energy with a dedication to tangibly improving people’s lives.” 
• Ben Houchen, Conservative mayor of the Tees Valley in England, writes in the Daily Telegraph about the importance of long-term state investment, saying that calls from Reform UK to “rip up existing ‘contracts for difference’ for offshore wind” are “reckless”.  
• Writer Josh Max says in the Washington Post: “The great obstacle to mass EV adoption isn’t the vehicles themselves. It’s the inconsistent, sometimes-maddening public charging experience.”
• Writer Sammy Roth says in the New York Times: “These four states are in denial over a looming water crisis.” 

In the latest episode of their Media Confidential podcast, former UK newspaper editors Alan Rusbridger and Lionel Barber are joined by Bob Ward, policy and communications director of LSE’s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, to discuss how some UK newspapers are repeatedly publishing misinformation about climate change.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Orla Dwyer, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Anika Patel. It was edited by Simon Evans.