More than half of the US is in drought “as extreme heat and a persistent lack of rain and snow raise the spectre of water shortages and fire risk, while scientists forecast the return of the El Niño warming cycle”, reports the Financial Times. The newspaper adds: “Early spring temperatures have been at near-record levels in parts of the northern hemisphere, and the naturally occurring Pacific Ocean warming cycle could intensify the heat driven by climate change in the second half of the year. The global average temperature for March was 1.48C above preindustrial levels, the European Earth observation service Copernicus reported on Friday. Arctic sea ice was at its lowest extent on record for March, while sea surface temperatures approached historic highs…Stoked by high temperatures and dry conditions since the start of the year, swaths of land across the US Midwest have already burnt in wildfires.” The FT quotes Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, saying: “Each figure is striking on its own – together, they paint a picture of a climate system under sustained and accelerating pressure.”

MORE ON US

• The EPA on Thursday “proposed weakened rules governing the safe disposal of ash produced by burning coal”, a Biden-era rule aimed at curbing coal pollution, says the Guardian.
• Volkswagen on Thursday announced that it will this month end its electric car production at its Tennessee factory to “focus on manufacturing a large, gasoline-powered sport utility vehicle”, reports the New York Times.
• The New York Times and Politico both have features from the gathering in Washington of “once-fringe” climate-sceptic lobbyists, where Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin appeared as a keynote speaker on Wednesday.

There is widespread coverage in the UK of the news that ChatGPT-maker OpenAI is “pausing” a multi-billion-pound data-centre project, “citing concerns about high energy costs and regulation”, according to BBC News. The “Stargate UK” project included a large data centre in north-east England and “making thousands of powerful chips for AI development available as part of a partnership with tech firms Nvidia and Nscale”, according to the broadcaster. The Financial Times says that the decision to put the project on hold “marks the latest shift in OpenAI’s investment strategy, despite completing a record $122bn fundraising just last month”. The newspaper continues: “In recent weeks, OpenAI has also scaled back its commitments to its flagship Stargate data centre in Abilene, Texas, and shut down its AI video app, Sora, as it seeks to refocus resources on competing with Anthropic and a resurgent Google.” The FT adds that “OpenAI said concerns about the UK government’s AI policy, in particular a decision to delay contentious changes that would have made it easier for AI companies to include copyrighted content in their training data, contributed to the delay” and that it remains committed to expanding its projects in London.

Right-leaning outlets misuse the story to continue to push their anti-net-zero narratives. The Daily Mail runs a frontpage titled: “Ed Miliband’s ‘mad dash’ to net-zero is blamed for OpenAI shelving a multi-billion-pound investment into Britain”, which quotes a Tory business spokesperson claiming: “Miliband’s suicidal energy policy has just cost us another huge investment.” On Twitter, shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho claims the UK has “lost our share” of the project because of “our insane energy prices”. There is further coverage of the story in the Times, Daily Telegraph, Guardian and Bloomberg.

Elsewhere in the UK, several publications cover a new report from the Tony Blair Institute, the thinktank fronted by the former UK prime minister, calling for the government to approve the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil-and-gas fields. The Independent notes that the institute has previously called for the government to expand North Sea drilling in the past and cited the energy crisis to reiterate this message. There is further coverage in the Daily Mail, Daily Express, Times and Daily Telegraph. [See Carbon Brief’s factcheck of “nine false or misleading myths about North Sea oil and gas”.]

MORE ON UK

• Financial Times: “North Sea oil prices hit record high as Iran keeps hold over Strait of Hormuz.”
• The UK has broken its record for solar generation twice in the last week, says BusinessGreen.
• A Somerset factory due to supply batteries to make electric Range Rovers and Jaguars is to receive a £380m government grant, says the Guardian.
• Financial Times: “Chinese carmakers double share of UK market in March.”
• The Times: “Green investors face 50% losses as eco fund winds down.”
• Byline Times reports on former coal sites being turned into “renewable power houses”.

]The two largest grid operators in China invested a combined $24.5bn in the country’s electricity grid in the first quarter of 2026, reports business news outlet Yicai. The outlet adds that investment from the two power distributors, State Grid and China Southern Power Grid, increased by around 37% and 50%, respectively. State Grid said first-quarter spending on new energy grid-connection projects rose more than 50% year-on-year, which ensures that “electricity from big solar and wind projects can be connected to the grid and absorbed in time”. Wan Jinsong, deputy director of the National Energy Administration (NEA), has called for maintaining the “positive momentum” of investment growth in the “new energy” sector during a meeting, reports energy news outlet International Energy Net.

MORE ON CHINA

• China’s new energy vehicle (NEV) exports jumped 140% in March from a year ago as the war in Iran “renewed interest” in NEVs, reports Bloomberg.
• China has completed the 1-GW solar project in Laos, one of Southeast Asia’s largest projects, reports the South China Morning Post. Guancha also covers the story.
• China is considering “financial relief” for its struggling state-run airlines as the war in the Middle East “sends fuel costs soaring”, reports Bloomberg.
• The University of Oxford’s Amir Lebdioui tells Global Times that China has been “successful” at integrating “green goals” into industrial strategies.
• The MEE has announced several new engineering technology centres, including one focused on low-carbon utilisation of coal, reports BJX News.

The “mass drowning of emperor penguin chicks as sea ice is melted by the climate crisis” has led the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to declare the species officially in danger of extinction, reports the Guardian. It continues: “Emperor penguins rely on ‘fast’ ice – sea ice that is firmly attached to the coast – for nine months of the year. It is where their fluffy chicks are hatched and grow until they have their waterproof feathers. Adults moult every year and also need a safe haven while their swimming feathers regrow. However, global heating has led to record lows in Antarctic sea ice since 2016. When sea ice breaks up early, entire colonies can fall into the ocean, leaving the chicks to drown. Even if some penguins escape the water, they are soaked and will freeze to death. Four of the five known emperor penguin breeding sites in the Bellingshausen Sea collapsed in 2022, with the loss of thousands of chicks. Another colony in the Weddell Sea collapsed in 2016. Researchers called the catastrophes ‘grim’ and ‘extraordinarily distressing’.” There is further coverage in the Washington Post, USA Today, Times, Daily Telegraph and Press Association.

UK prime minister Keir Starmer has an article in the Guardian, where he argues that the UK government has responded to the current energy crisis by “capp[ing] energy bills and invest[ing] heavily in the homegrown energy that can free us from the tyrants who manipulate gas prices”. He adds that the government will continue to invest in “secure, homegrown energy” in the future, [not specifying whether this will be fossil fuels, renewables or both]. In a separate interview with ITV News he says the “only way to get energy independence is to go even more quickly to renewables because we are not going to get it on the international markets”. Elsewhere, the Daily Telegraph runs a comment article by Richard Tice, the climate-sceptic deputy leader of the hard-right Reform UK, headlined: “North Sea oil and gas drilling is our patriotic duty.”

MORE COMMENT

• Both the climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph and the Sun run editorials that misleadingly blame the government’s net-zero policies for OpenAI’s decision to halt a UK project.
• The Daily Telegraph runs another climate-sceptic themed column headlined: “Miliband is cynically exploiting the war with solar farm dash.”
• Times business commentator Alistair Osborne examines why a green investment fund decided to shut down.
• An Economist editorial says the Iran crisis will push countries to “hunt for new sources of natural gas”, noting that the “fracking revolution of the 2010s, from which America has benefited hugely, is an example of adaptation”.
• On his Crucial Years substack, veteran environmentalist and author Bill McKibben says the US Democratic party needs “real champions” to take forward the climate cause, endorsing US billionaire and philanthropist Tom Steyer.

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

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