The US and Iran announced yesterday that they have reached an interim agreement to halt the war and reopen the strait of Hormuz on Friday, reports Bloomberg. It continues: “Officials from the two countries will meet in Switzerland on 19 June to formally sign the agreement, a decision that suggests aspects of the deal remain unresolved. Neither side has released a text, leaving key sticking points for the next stage of talks.” The agreement would trigger a 60-day ceasefire period in which a “more expansive agreement would be negotiated”, says Reuters. This gives just two months to “resolve what to do about Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium and its atomic programme”, says the Associated Press: “That took years to resolve in Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.” 

Politico reports that US president Donald Trump offered his “congratulations to all” in a social media post, adding: “I hereby fully authorise the toll-free opening of the strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorise the immediate removal of the US naval blockade. Ships of the world, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” In early trading, crude oil prices fell by more than 4% to their lowest levels in over three months, says Axios. However, “it will likely take months before energy companies can resume operations to the point of meeting the world’s demand”, notes the Associated Press, adding: “The slow pace of the process of shipping and refining crude oil, and doubts about the security of travelling through the strait mean the effect won’t be seen immediately.” There are around 500 ships in the backlog waiting to pass through the strait, says the Financial Times.

Prime minister Keir Starmer is “poised to water down” the UK’s electric vehicle (EV) sales targets in favour of hybrid options, reports the Financial Times, “although the government will stick to its pledge to end the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030”. Following “conversations” with industry groups and trade unions, Starmer is set to launch a consultation on the changes, the article says: “The current zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate requires 80% of all new cars sold in Britain to be all-electric by the end of the decade, with hybrid cars making up the other 20%. But Starmer has signed off a plan to reduce the electric cap to 50%, with hybrid cars…making up the other 50%.” The Sunday Times frontpage story says that Starmer “overruled” energy secretary Ed Miliband on the decision. In a letter to Starmer, EV charging companies have “threaten[ed] to axe £2bn” of investment if the ZEV is weakened, reports the Daily Telegraph. The Guardian, Sun and BBC News also have the story. The Financial Times trails the story on its frontpage.

Meanwhile, there is continued speculation around potential challengers to Starmer, with Saturday’s Daily Telegraph reporting on its frontpage that Miliband is “front-runner” to be chancellor if Andy Burnham – currently mayor of Greater Manchester – were to become prime minister. The choice would be “divisive”, the newspaper argues, as “the unions have been critical of his net-zero policies”. The Guardian says that a “decade-long project to bring water and energy into public control” would be part of Burnham’s agenda as leader. The Sunday Times reports Miliband had been on “resignation watch” last week “after he refused repeatedly to meet Starmer to discuss planned cuts to his net-zero agenda”. Potential leadership challengers Wes Streeting and Al Carns have penned comment articles – in the Financial Times and Sunday Telegraph, respectively – in favour of further North Sea drilling.

MORE ON UK

• Industry group Make UK has warned that the UK is losing manufacturing jobs abroad and risks the loss of major industries due to high energy costs, reports Reuters. The Guardian and Times also have the story.
• A full UK ban on ​diesel and jet fuel made ‌in Russia will be brought into place by 2027, reports Reuters.
• The Independent reports that eight out of 10 of the most flood-prone constituencies in England are projected to vote in a Reform MP at the next general election.
• The Daily Telegraph interprets new energy efficiency requirements as Miliband “com[ing] for [electric] underfloor heating in net-zero drive”.
• In a speech to the Conservative Environment Network today, Tom Tugendhat MP will argue that Miliband should drop his “Stalinist” approach to net-zero, reports the Daily Telegraph.
• A “cost-of-living campaigner” has called on Miliband to pause the development of offshore wind to avoid the “scandal” of constraint payments that pay operators to switch off when the grid cannot take their power, reports the Times.
  

Nine renewable energy companies are suing the US military because they say national security reviews for new windfarms on private land have been effectively frozen for months, reports the Associated Press. The lawsuit against the Pentagon and defense secretary Pete Hegseth argues that the logjam jeopardises $47bn in investments and thousands of jobs in 21 states, the outlet says. The Pentagon has intervened in reviews of windfarms to determine whether they interfere with military operations, Bloomberg explains: “The defense department has effectively stopped making determinations of wind projects to be sent to the Federal Aviation Administration, which must issue its own determination before projects can go forward, according to the suit.” The renewables groups argue that this process had previously been “conducted in a timely fashion”, the outlet adds.

MORE ON US

• A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to reinstall ‌exhibits and signs on topics such as slavery and climate change, which it had removed from parks and monuments nationwide, reports Reuters, Los Angeles Times and New York Times.
• A federal judge in South Carolina has ruled that the Trump administration’s termination of environmental justice grants was “illegal”, reports Inside Climate News.
• Politico reports that the Republican party’s “favourite power plants run on subsidies”.
• The US Environmental ​Protection Agency has said it will send California’s landmark vehicle emissions rules to the Republican-controlled Congress for potential ‌repeal, reports Reuters.
• In the latest of the New York Times “lost science” series, scientist Amy McGovern explains how she used AI to help forecast extreme weather, until the National Science Foundation ended her funding.
• Politico: “‘This is not normal’: Trump leans on MAGA organiser to revive coal.”

China’s state council has approved the “15th five-year plan for building a Beautiful China”, which calls for the country to advance “ecosystem improvement”, address climate change and accelerate “green production and lifestyles”, reports industry news outlet BJX News. Experts said that addressing climate change requires both emission reductions and strengthened responses to extreme weather, according to an explainer of the new plan by state news agency Xinhua. The plan will also accelerate the “low-carbon transformation” of traditional industries and develop non-fossil energy and the clean, efficient use of coal, reports 21st Century Business Herald. Economic Information Daily quotes Sun Chuanwang, a professor at Xiamen University, saying that low-carbon industries are key drivers in building a “Beautiful China”. 

Separately, China Environment News reports that China’s environment ministry has approved the “15th five-year plan for a national response to climate change”. It adds that meeting participants noted that China “must implement the national strategy for actively addressing climate change, organically link the 2030 and 2035 nationally determined contribution targets and vigorously advance all aspects of climate change response”.

MORE ON CHINA

• China’s top coal-producing region, Inner Mongolia, plans to build the country’s “largest base for turning coal into oil, gas and chemicals”, reports Reuters.
• The EU’s ban on public funding for Chinese-made solar inverters could “affect more than a fifth of new solar capacity”, reports Reuters. A Global Times editorial says if European auto parts can match the “cost-performance and technology”, Chinese automakers will source more locally.
• Johan Rockström, a professor at the University of Potsdam, writes in China Daily that China’s “vision of an ecological civilisation” helps keep the Earth within “safe planetary boundaries”.
• Jiemian reports on speculation that China will introduce “mandatory national energy-efficiency standards” for solar products to guide capacity optimisation.
• Yicai reports that 67% of auto sales in China were new energy vehicles (NEVs) in the first week of June.
• Nikkei Asia: “China’s hydrogen push outstrips Japan’s in new fuel race.”

EU countries have agreed to extend the bloc’s carbon border tax to almost 400 new types of steel and aluminium imports in an effort to stop circumvention of the levy, reports the Financial Times. The European Commission last year proposed to extend the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) to 180 “downstream products” that contain significant amounts of steel or aluminium, such as forklifts, washing machines and garden tools, the article explains: “[This was] to prevent companies getting around the levy by simply turning steel or aluminium into a more finished product before importing it into the EU.” EU countries have now decided to add an additional 200 types of goods to that list, the FT says, and they “will now enter into negotiations with the European parliament before the revised product list applies from 2028”. Countries also agreed to restrict ‌the “serious and unforeseen circumstances” in which the bloc can suspend its carbon-emissions fee on imports, says Reuters.

MORE ON EUROPE

• The Financial Times has published a new six-part “special report” on “Europe’s climate leaders”, which includes articles on a nuclear power “revival”, AI for battery technology and how energy shocks are pushing Italian businesses to decarbonise.

The UK and Japan have agreed an £18bn deal that will “create new jobs in the offshore wind, infrastructure and financial services sectors”, says Bloomberg. Reporting on a statement released on Saturday by Starmer’s office, the outlet says the proposed deal includes “up to £9bn in Japanese investment to develop 5.9 gigawatts of floating offshore wind projects in the UK and ultimately generate enough clean electricity to power 8m homes”. The deal was confirmed during a meeting between Starmer and Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi at Downing Street yesterday, reports BBC News. Among the agreements, it was announced that “Rolls-Royce would work with Japan’s Atomic Energy Agency to develop next generation nuclear technologies”, the outlet says. The Sunday Telegraph says that this will see the companies “build mini nuclear reactors capable of powering factories, datacentres and military bases”. The Press Association and Reuters also have the story.

Shell is preparing to launch a sale of its offshore windfarms, in what Bloomberg describes as the “oil major’s latest move away from renewable energy to focus on its higher-returning fossil fuel business”. The sale “could fetch over $1bn”, the outlet says, with the process expected to start before the end of the year. It notes that Shell CEO Wael Sawan has “sought to cut costs and offload low-returning assets since taking over more than three years ago”, adding: “The plan to sell the offshore farms marks a further departure from the British energy giant’s past strategy to diversify into green electricity, with a strong emphasis on wind energy.” Reuters picks up the story.

Antarctica’s west coast is “missing an area of winter sea ice the size of France”, reports the Guardian in an “exclusive”, which is “sparking concerns for threatened penguins, other marine life and global sea levels”. Satellite observations show that the Bellingshausen Sea – on the west side of the Antarctic peninsula and which by June would usually be covered by ice – is almost completely ice free, the newspaper explains. Sea ice expert Dr Will Hobbs from the University of Tasmania described the news as “remarkable”, the article reports. He tells the Guardian that this was the third time in four years that sea ice had been very low in the region, noting: “I don’t think we will see sea ice there any more. It’s done.” The newspaper says he added that the loss of sea ice was likely linked to changes in the ocean and scientists were trying to understand if global warming was a factor. ABC News picks up the story.

MORE ON ANTARCTICA

• Conservationists have warned that a warming climate may make the wreck of Ernest Shackleton’s “Endurance” ship more accessible in the Antarctic’s Weddell Sea and at greater risk of damage by explorers, reports the Guardian.

Commenting on further delays to the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station that, it says, are due to concerns over danger to fish, an editorial in the Times calls for regulation to be “present, but proportionate”. The newspaper laments that the UK is playing a “very slow game of catch-up” on its civil nuclear programme, warning: “The patchily configured map for nuclear power gives succour to those who argue that the UK must exploit its ­remaining oil and gas resources in the North Sea.” The article argues that “there are many places for environmental energies to direct themselves, not least in cleaning up the UK’s filthy rivers and seas”.

Elsewhere, writing in the Guardian, a group of scientists urge “the EU, UK and international partners” to fund an ocean monitoring programme for the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). They warn: “Several AMOC monitoring initiatives are at a risk of being defunded [by the Trump administration] and could be discontinued at any moment. While we can’t go back in time to do more observations, we can improve our observation strategy for the future.” They add: “The cost of all AMOC monitoring adds up to about €25m a year. Meaning that for five cents per person per year, the EU can maintain one of the world’s most important climate monitoring systems that impacts our everyday lives and improves resilience to the climate crisis.” [For more on the threat to AMOC monitoring, see the first edition of Carbon Brief’s new climate-science newsletter, Cited.]

MORE UK COMMENT

• In an editorial urging the UK government to “get behind AI”, the Sunday Telegraph criticises Labour’s “perverse net-zero obsession” for causing high power prices. [Expensive gas is the main driver of the UK’s high electricity prices.]
• A Sun editorial congratulates Starmer for “having finally overruled” Miliband on EV targets, adding: “Why not get rid of Miliband himself?”
• In a Sunday Times column, Robert Colvile, director of the free-market thinktank the Centre for Policy Studies, accuses the Scottish government of appearing “perfectly happy to bankrupt the fossil-fuel sector in pursuit of a climate utopia”.
• Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin offers a “six-point plan to save the Tories and the nation”, which includes a reversal on “refus[ing] to drill North Sea oil and gas”.
• The climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph publishes two comment articles on defence spending that attack the government’s environmental policies.
  

Brazil “has an opportunity to lead the rescue of the world’s largest rainforest”, says an editorial in the journal Nature, but “leadership at all levels is needed to continue driving deforestation down”. The “initial evidence” suggests that Brazilian president Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva “might be succeeding” in curbing deforestation rates in the Amazon. This news comes as recent research shows the Amazon rainforest is more resilient to a potential climate “tipping point” if deforestation is curbed, the article says. [See Carbon Brief’s interview with the study’s lead author last month.] The editorial continues: “All of this means that the race is on to achieve two objectives that could save the Amazon. Lula must reach his goal of eliminating illegal deforestation in the region by the end of 2030, and the international community must redouble its efforts to limit global warming.”

MORE COMMENT

• Reuters energy columnist Ron Bousso writes that the “fragile Iran deal offers oil relief”, but warns that “risks remain” for the shipping in the strait of Hormuz.
• In a comment article in the journal the Lancet, a group of scientists warn of the impacts of climate change and war on the global health-care supply chain.
• In the New York Times, contributing opinion writer Robinson Meyer offers a “few good reasons” why the US should embrace plug-in solar panels. In the UK, BBC News looks at whether plug-in solar will “help cut bills”. [They will.]
• An editorial in the Washington Post argues that “battery breakthroughs will lessen AI’s demand on the electricity grid”.