Republicans in the US Senate have “quietly inserted provisions in President Trump’s domestic policy bill that would not only end federal support for wind and solar energy, but would impose an entirely new tax on future projects, a move that industry groups say could devastate the renewable power industry”. The newspaper explains that the new provisions were added to a version of the bill made public late on Friday night and quotes one executive saying: “This is how you kill an industry.” Politico says the changes came after a “late-stage push by…Trump to crack down further” on clean-energy incentives. Another Politico article quotes a policy adviser calling the move a “kill shot”. Reuters says the latest version of the bill “deals a fatal blow to the use of tax credits in place since 2005 to spur more wind and solar energy and would set a new tax on those projects for the first time”, as well as “offering a new tax break for coal production” and “accelerat[ing] the phase-out of clean-energy manufacturing tax credits”. Axios says the draft “gives wind and solar projects a harsher cutoff from IRA tax credits while granting hydrogen a reprieve”. The Washington Post reports: “Congressional Republicans are poised to reverse course on US energy policy by wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars in incentives for solar and wind projects as well as for consumers seeking to purchase everything from energy-saving appliances to electric cars.” The New York Times says that the latest version of the bill has dropped a “contentious plan to sell millions of acres of public lands”. The Guardian says the bill “seeks to prevent AI regulation. Experts fear a heavy toll on the planet.” (Separately, Reuters reports that Trump “plans executive orders to power AI growth”.)

CNN carries an article saying household energy bills will be higher if the bill passes. The Wall Street Journal quotes Elon Musk calling the latest version of the bill “utterly insane and destructive”. An article published by the Washington Post on Monday morning says the energy provisions have “draw[n] flak from some onetime allies”. It says: “The massive tax and immigration bill advancing through Congress could raise energy prices in much of the US and make it harder for American companies to compete globally on artificial intelligence and manufacturing as a result of deep cuts to federal support for wind and solar power, batteries and other renewable technologies, a wide range of experts warned on Sunday.” The newspaper says critics include the US Chamber of Commerce, fossil-fuel advocate Alex Epstein and Musk. Bloomberg carries coverage under the headline: “Musk fumes as Trump tax bill cuts electric vehicle credits.” A joint edition of the Distilled and Heated newsletters says the bill “is about to destroy clean energy to give tax cuts to billionaires”. The Washington Post reported on Sunday that the bill had, by 51 votes to 49, “narrowly cleared a key procedural step” as legislators “race to advance” it before Trump’s 4 July deadline. Bloomberg says a final Senate vote on the bill is expected later today.

Overseas carbon credits could count towards the EU’s 2040 climate goal under proposals from the European Commission set to be published on 2 July, Reuters reports. The newswire explains: “The EU executive had initially planned a 90% net emissions cut, against 1990 levels, but in recent months has sought to make this goal more flexible, in response to pushback from governments including Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic, concerned about the costs.” Citing an internal summary of the proposals, it says that they would allow “high-quality international credits” to meet 3% of the emissions cuts needed by 2040. The newswire adds: “The document said the credits would be phased in from 2036 and that additional EU legislation would later set out the origin and quality criteria that the credits must meet, and details of how they would be purchased.” It concludes: “EU countries and the European Parliament must negotiate the final target and could amend what the Commission proposes.” Politico says the Commission’s proposed inclusion of international credits would come “despite fierce criticism from its own scientific advisers”. The outlet adds: “[T]he proposal specifically excludes the possibility of integrating credits in the EU’s carbon market, an option that some experts feared could tank the bloc’s CO2 price.” Bloomberg also has the story. Politico reports separately that French president Emmanuel Macron “wants to delay agreement” on the 2040 goal. Reuters reports: “European nations should not halt the continent’s green transition, Denmark’s climate minister told Reuters, as his country prepares to lead EU negotiations on a new climate target amid a backlash from some governments concerned about its cost.”

Pakistan’s climate change minister has said his country is facing a “crisis of injustice” after heavy rains and flash floods killed dozens of people, Al Jazeera reports. The minister, Musadiq Malik, tells the outlet: “I don’t look at this as a crisis of climate. I look at this as a crisis of justice and this lopsided allocation that we are talking about…This lopsided allocation of green funding, I don’t look at it as a funding gap. I look at it as a moral gap.” Agence France-Presse says 45 people have been killed in the country in “just a few days since the start of the monsoon season”, citing disaster management officials. The newswire adds: “Pakistan is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change, and its 240 million residents are facing extreme weather events with increasing frequency.”  The Times of India reports: “The death toll includes a large number of children, underscoring the human cost of intensifying climate-related disasters in the country.” It adds: “Scientists and disaster experts have repeatedly warned that climate change is accelerating the frequency and severity of extreme weather, putting millions at risk in the region.” The Guardian’s coverage of the latest floods notes: “Climate-induced flash floods in 2022, killed at least 1,700 people and affected more than 33 million people.”

Health and fire warnings are in place in many European countries, with temperatures exceeding 40C in some places, BBC News reports. It says: “BBC Weather says the heatwave is ‘very intense’ for this time of the year – with the continent normally experiencing such high temperatures in July and early August…While it is hard to link individual extreme weather events to climate change, heatwaves are becoming more common and more intense due to climate change. Scientists at World Weather Attribution, who analyse the influence of climate change on extreme weather events, say June heatwaves with three consecutive days above 28C are about 10 times more likely to occur now compared to pre-industrial times.” The Guardian says the European heatwave is a sign of the “fastest-warming continent continu[ing] to suffer the effects of the climate emergency”. BBC News says Spain has already recorded temperatures of 46C over the weekend. MailOnline says temperatures are set to hit 47C in Spain and adds: “The searing heat spreading across the Mediterranean from the Iberian peninsula to the Balkans and Greece comes as climate scientists warn that galloping human-induced climate change is causing more extreme weather, including longer and more intense heatwaves.” The New York Times, Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press and Sky News also have the story.

Meanwhile, Agence France-Presse, MailOnline, the Scotsman, Sun, Independent, Le Monde and Bloomberg report on wildfires currently raging in Greece, Turkey, Spain, Portugal and even Scotland. The Daily Telegraph says “Wimbledon is bracing for its hottest-ever opening day.” It adds: “Imperial research has found that the weather in June is now up to 4C hotter as a result of climate change, taking once pleasant summer temperatures into more hazardous territory.” Another Daily Telegraph article is titled: “Pensioners told to shelter from heatwave in museums and swimming pools.” BBC News says UK temperatures are set to peak at 34C this week. BBC News says the mayor of London has warned of “increased risk of floods due to climate change”. Another BBC News article quotes an expert saying extreme heat events are “creeping up on us”.

The Guardian reports on heatwaves being a “silent killer”. Axios explains “what increasing heat does to our bodies”. Bloomberg says the heatwave “threatens European crops and power systems”. The Observer says the Alps are “melting – and never faster than now”. A comment by Lara Williams for Bloomberg says the UK’s heatwave “isn’t all good news”. The Associated Press says rising summer heat “increases risk of child deaths in hot cars”. The Guardian reflects on last week’s “sweltering US heat”. The Hill says heatwaves such as the one over the US last week are being made “more frequent and intense” by climate change. The Guardian says “torrential rain” is set to hit Sydney in Australia this week.

China has “raised its emergency response level as extreme weather persists across the country”, reports state broadcaster CGTN. It says that “widespread rainfall remained…regions in Huanghuai and the southwest witnessed intense downpours. Simultaneously, the Jiangnan region was engulfed by a large-scale heatwave”, with temperatures “soaring above” 37C. Reuters reports that the Chinese government has “expanded the economic safeguards for segments of its population affected by flood control schemes in times of extreme rainfall”. State news agency Xinhua publishes an article under the title: “Extreme heatwaves underscore climate urgency, demand action.” Another Xinhua report says that under global warming, China has seen an “increase in extreme high temperature and heavy rainfall events”, according to reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Meanwhile, in an interview with CGTN, Liu Zhenmin, China’s special envoy for climate change, says on the sidelines of the Summer Davos meeting in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin that China will continue its “green transition”, but faces “serious challenges” such as ensuring energy security and meeting increasing electricity demands. 

Elsewhere, Bloomberg publishes its “energy daily” newsletter under the title: “China’s grid looks ready for searing heat after heavy investment.” China Energy Net reports that China’s state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission has instructed “central energy supply enterprises” to accelerate the construction of “regulated coal power projects” and enhance the capacity to “integrate and regulate new energy” to ensure electricity supply during peak summer demand. China is adopting “new energy” technologies in the “inland waterway shipping sector”, transitioning “vessels to liquefied natural gas, battery, methanol and hydrogen fuel power sources”, according to Fu Xuyin, vice minister of the Ministry of Transport, reports the state-run newspaper China Daily. 

Finally, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) publishes an article under the title: “China has begun issuing rare-earth export licences to European firms, EU sources say.” The White House says that the US and China have reached a “‘framework’ agreement on how to facilitate rare-earth shipments”, according to another SCMP report.

World leaders are set to attend a summit in Seville, Spain this week for a “once-a-decade United Nations development financing summit aimed at curbing global poverty, disease and the worst-case threats of climate change”, Reuters reports. It says the leaders face “scorching temperatures” and a “major chill” due to the decision by the US not to attend. The Associated Press says the four-day meeting, beginning today, aims to “drum up trillions of dollars”. It explains that the summit is set to approve a 38-page outcome document drafted at a preparatory meeting earlier this month, which includes proposals such as a tripling of lending by multilateral development banks and scaling up private finance. Another Reuters article says ahead of the summit that protestors “demand debt cancellation, climate action”.

There is further coverage of the Bonn climate talks, which closed late last week, with BusinessGreen reporting that observers “lamented the ‘painfully slow’ progress on a raft of key issues”. Climate Home News says the talks reached a “hard-fought compromise on climate adaptation metrics”. Agence France-Presse quotes UN climate chief Simon Stiell saying there was a “lot more to do” before the COP30 summit in November. Politico says “COP30 logistics chaos overshadows” the Bonn talks. Inside Climate News says the meeting was “rife with roadblocks and dead ends”. Euractiv says: “Stalled talks in Bonn expose deep divides over finance and ambition, raising doubts ahead of COP30 in Brazil.”

Reflecting on the two weeks of negotiations in Bonn, the Guardian offers “10 things we learned”, including that new national climate pledges, due by September, “will be key”. In an interview with the Financial Times, Brazilian COP30 president-designate André Aranha Corrêa do Lago says: “This is a complicated debate [about how to be 1.5C compatible]…But the fact is that this is what we have decided, so we all have to try to have NDCs [national defined contributions] that are adjusted to 1.5C.” The Guardian carries an interview with Ana Toni, COP30 chief executive, quoting her saying: “Climate is our biggest war. Climate is here for the next 100 years. We need to focus and…not allow those [other] wars to take our attention away from the bigger fight that we need to have.” Carbon Brief has published its own in-depth summary of the Bonn talks.

Consumers saved more than £300m by using energy flexibly in 2024, according to figures from the Energy Networks Association covered by the Press Association. According to the newswire, the savings resulted from lower infrastructure costs, reduced connection charges and increased use of low-carbon sources. BusinessGreen asks if the UK is “quietly becoming a leader in flexible grids”. In other UK news, the Times has continuing coverage of Centrica’s plans to invest in the Sizewell C new nuclear plant. Another Times article carries complaints from chemical firm Ineos that an investment in production using low-carbon hydrogen has resulted in a delay in receiving free allowances under the UK emission trading system, as the site is now classified as new-build. The Observer reports on the “energy tycoons in lobbying war over zonal pricing policy”. The Guardian looks at the impact of the Grangemouth refinery closure. A panel in the Daily Mail speculates that the government could raise fuel duty in the autumn. It says: “Treasury sources said the chancellor will be urged to hike fuel duty…Officials believe [it] has been frozen for too long, with a resulting loss of billions of pounds in tax.” The Daily Telegraph claims that the UK government is “considering copying French laws that impose strict net-zero limits on housebuilders”.

More than a third of citizens of Tuvalu have “entered the ballot for a world-first climate visa which would allow them to permanently migrate to Australia”, BBC News reports. It says there had been 1,124 applications covering 4,052 citizens out of the island’s total population of 10,643, with only 280 visas available. The broadcaster adds: “At just five metres (16ft) above sea level, the tiny Pacific archipelago is one of the most climate-threatened nations in the world.” The New York Times and Reuters also have the story.

Germany’s new 3,000-page budget, “the country’s largest green spending program”, will support power grids, geothermal energy and “climate-friendly” public transport, reports Bloomberg. However, it also emphasises the controversy over plans to use €3.4bn from the climate and transformation fund to support gas storage, prompting criticism from climate advocates who call it a “plunder”. The fund is set to be expanded with €100bn, but funding for clean energy industry initiatives, including hydrogen and carbon capture, may drop from €24.5bn to just €1.8bn. According to Der Spiegel, the government’s budget leaves no room for broad electricity tax relief, but farmers may still benefit from additional fuel tax breaks. Agriculture minister Alois Rainer is pushing for biofuel tax incentives and plans to reinstate full diesel tax refunds by 2026. He argues that alternative fuels are essential, as large farm machines cannot “run on electric motors”.

In other news from Germany, Der Spiegel reports that the European Commission has given its “general approval” to the industrial electricity price plans proposed by German economy minister Katherina Reiche, allowing 27 EU member states to cap electricity prices for energy-intensive industries and subsidise them with state aid, with the condition that the companies benefiting from the aid must invest in more “climate-friendly” production methods. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quotes economic expert Veronika Grimm criticising the plan: “As part of the transition to climate neutrality, it has long been recommended to tax CO2 emissions rather than electricity consumption”. In addition, Deutsche Welle carries an article titled: “German government shows cracks over nuclear energy”. 

Finally, Stern and Die Welt report that Reiche has questioned Germany’s 2045 climate neutrality goal, favouring the EU’s 2050 target. SPD leaders have rejected changes, warning such debates risk credibility and “commitments to future generations”. 

In the Independent, Lord Browne, former chief executive of BP, writes that the “world has changed” and that, as a result: “The government must emphasise the importance of clean energy, and private and public sectors must collaborate internationally to ensure the security of our country, and our planet.” Browne says: “The energy transition is a serious challenge, which will take years to complete, but it is underway and it is inextricably linked to energy security. The idea that energy security can be based solely on oil and gas is wrong and dangerous. So too is the view that we can achieve an overnight transition simply by setting net-zero targets.” He lays out four priorities, including R&D, immediate deployment of existing low-carbon technologies, global cooperation and private-sector involvement. Browne concludes: “There is much that can be done and no reason to despair.”

Elsewhere, an editorial in the Guardian says: “It’s an irony that the minerals needed to save the planet may help destroy it. Rare earth elements, the mineral backbones of wind turbines and electric vehicles, are now the prize in a geopolitical arms race.” It concludes: “Today’s scramble for critical minerals must not see the promises of responsible sourcing give way to a familiar logic – extract first, moralise later.” In the Times, columnist Trevor Phillips writes that Labour politicians should not be “surprised” if voters “turn to politicians who offer them a less punishing lesson in climate science”. A comment in the Sunday Times on UK-China relations, by columnist Cindy Yu, says: “Climate change is almost always trotted out as a straightforward example of collaboration. In reality it’s probably the trickiest area of our bilateral relations.” The Sunday Times also carries an interview with the climate-sceptic leader of the hard-right populist Reform party, Nigel Farage, that says: “He also believes the public are in a completely different place from Westminster over net-zero – the ‘next Brexit’.”

A Daily Telegraph feature on the UK’s “crippling” electricity prices states: “At the moment, the biggest single factor affecting electricity prices is gas.” It says that dependence on gas “left the country vulnerable to global crises such as the Ukraine war” but also claims that renewables are only “supposedly” cheaper. Also in the Daily Telegraph, world economy editor Ambrose Evans-Pritchard downplays recent hype over the growth of electricity demand for data centres and artificial intelligence, writing: “[W]ild talk that computing will gobble up half the world’s electricity by 2040 is crude extrapolation and likely to prove another Malthusian scare…the energy needs of advanced computing will also be fixed, and without requiring a mad dash for coal and gas.” Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph and its Sunday edition continue to give space to climate-sceptic commentators, including notorious dissembler Bjorn Lomborg calling climate action “virtue-signalling” and “independent analyst” Kathryn Porter calling biofuels “fake”.

Urbanisation and climate change will interact to exacerbate warming and reduce wind speeds in Tehran, a new study finds. The authors use climate models to assess the effects of urbanisation and climate change on July temperatures in Tehran, by comparing 2019-23 temperatures with 2050-54 temperatures under three future warming scenarios. According to the paper, “cool roofs” can mitigate the effects of urbanisation and climate change on temperature rise and thermal comfort by up to 4% and 15%, respectively.