A tax plan proposed by the US House Republicans “seeking to cut clean-energy subsidies” has included provisions that “disqualify companies from claiming key tax credits if they use components, ‘subcomponents’ or critical minerals” imported from China, Bloomberg reports. It adds that the bill, if enacted, could “constitute ‘a complete death’ for energy projects that rely on complex, global supply chains for solar cells, magnets, batteries and other materials”. US energy officials are “reassessing the risk posed” by Chinese-made devices in solar panels and batteries “after unexplained communication equipment was found inside some of them”, according to anonymous sources cited by Reuters. Chinese manufacturers of rare-earth magnet are “gradually resuming overseas shipments” as they begin to receive export licenses from the Chinese government, business media outlet Caixin notes. Bloomberg said that the “detente” in the US-China trade war has included a move by China to suspend the ban on exports of some “dual-use” materials, “likely including some rare earths”. Nevertheless, although “American buyers welcome any easing” of the rare-earth export controls, they will likely be “skittish” about sourcing from China in the long-term, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) quotes one expert as saying.

Meanwhile, Chinese coal prices are in a “downward spiral due to a persistent glut of the fuel”, as coal output climbed to 1.2bn tonnes in the first quarter of 2025, but thermal power generation fell due to the “rapid adoption of clean energy”, according to Bloomberg. A majority of Chinese listed thermal-power companies have “not seen revenues increase” in the first quarter of 2025 “due to fluctuating electricity and coal prices”, energy news outlet BJX News says. One Chinese company has launched the “world’s largest single deployment of driverless electric mining trucks” for use in coal mines, reports SCMP.

In other news, the China Electricity Council-affiliated Dianlian Xinmei says that the recent blackouts in Spain and Portugal should “ring alarm bells” in China, adding that China should develop a power system that uses nuclear energy as a “baseload” and coal-fired power for “emergencies”. An editorial in the state-supporting newspaper Global Times says that the outcomes of the recent China-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum in Beijing shows governments’ “willingness” to cooperate on the “energy transition”. Finally, an article by Kate Logan, director at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s China Climate Hub, in Dialogue Earth explores how “understanding China’s motivations for its climate finance actions at COP29” could help accelerate climate finance ambition.

More than a dozen US Republicans in the House of Representatives are pushing for party leaders to “undo key rollbacks” of Democrats’ clean energy credits that were pushed through on Wednesday as part of the party’s “megabill”, Politico reports. The tax credits in question are from the Inflation Reduction Act, a landmark piece of climate legislation introduced under the Biden administration, the article says. It explains that the group of “moderate” Republicans have issued a statement warning that abruptly ending the credits, introducing “onerous” restrictions and “changing provisions that help fund projects more quickly” would hamper investments in new energy technologies. Politico notes that the group “stopped short of vowing to reject the party-line package if it isn’t changed”, but adds that it could “give cover to Senate Republicans who have already pledged to ease some of the rollbacks”. The Hill quotes the group’s statement, which says: “The last thing any of us want to do is provoke an energy crisis or cause higher energy bills for working families.” Another Politico article explains that voting to upend the underlying bill would put the Republicans “at risk of enduring [president Donald] Trump’s ire”. At the same time, it notes that “letting their colleagues steamroll progress on major investments in their communities could make them crosswise with their constituents”. Meanwhile, Reuters reports that US solar industry figures say the Republican budget bill would deal them a “massive blow” by eliminating subsidies for home solar power installation that have helped drive massive growth in their sector.

Meanwhile, the Hill reports that 11 House Democrats have written to Trump “rais[ing] concerns” about proposed cuts to bodies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Another letter has been sent by Democratic lawmakers to the chief executives of BlackRock, JPMorgan and other major finance companies that have recently departed various climate initiatives, such as the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, Reuters reports. 

In more US news, Bloomberg reports that Liberty Energy, the oil services company founded by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, is “gearing up for a slowdown in shale drilling in the second half of the year”. This is in spite of Trump advocating for “energy dominance” via fossil fuels, an effort that has been hampered by “trade tensions and OPEC’s move to ramp up production”, the article explains. Energy Monitor says the US Department of the Interior (DOI) has announced its intention to rescind the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) clean energy regulation favouring renewable energy developments. And the Financial Times considers Trump’s pledge to “resurrect” the 124-mile Constitution gas pipeline in the north-eastern US. 

UK energy networks provider the National Grid has said it would invest £60bn in infrastructure by March 2029 “as its full-year results came in above forecasts”, according to the Times. The newspaper notes that this is in spite of a “£303m impairment” resulting from a paused wind power project in New York, which it links to “president Trump’s hostility to wind power”. Bloomberg says “Europe’s grids have come under intense scrutiny in recent months following the Heathrow outage and a hugely disruptive blackout in Spain”. Amid this, it points to “mounting calls to expand and accelerate vast network upgrades”. The Daily Telegraph headlines its coverage with statements by the company’s chief executive John Pettigrew: “National Grid boss urges [energy secretary Ed] Miliband to reject regional energy shake-up”. [In fact, Pettigrew’s quote in the article is more measured, stating: “There may well be a time when zonal pricing is right for the UK, but I don’t think it’s now.”]

Meanwhile, during a debate about solar power in the House of Commons, energy minister Michael Shanks has said the government aims to put solar panels on “every possible rooftop right across the country”, the Press Association reports. Shanks mentioned plans to install solar panels on new homes, industrial sites and car parks, it notes. In the same debate, Conservative MP Dr Caroline Johnson suggested that light reflecting from solar panels could dazzle Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots flying from air bases and “cause the Red Arrows to crash”, according to BBC News. It adds that this statement was “dismissed” by a “senior RAF source”, who said: “In general terms, solar panels across fields in Lincolnshire are not going to affect our pilots.” Another BBC News article quotes Miliband criticising the hard-right, populist Reform UK’s stance on net-zero “as he defended his decision to approve a large solar farm in east Yorkshire”. BusinessGreen has an article about what it calls “the reverse Farage effect”. It notes that most people in the UK still support net-zero, under a headline stating “how attempts to polarise the climate debate have ‘not really borne fruit’”.

In more UK news, the Guardian covers analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit thinktank that finds “people living in newly built homes are being hit with energy bills that are nearly £1,000 a year higher than need be because of the poor standards to which they have been constructed”. BusinessGreen reports on new analysis from the UK”s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) that finds two in five car models on the market are now battery electric vehicles. Finally, Matt Garman, chief executive of Amazon Web Services, tells BBC News that the UK needs more nuclear power to supply data centres for artificial intelligence.

Germany’s independent government advisers, the Council of Experts on Climate Change, have concluded that the country is on track to meet its 2030 climate target, but risks missing post-2030 goals without a clear long-term climate strategy, Reuters reports. The outlet notes that Germany will likely cut emissions by 65% from 1990 levels by 2030, mainly due to “exceptional events” such as the Covid-19 pandemic and a slowdown in industrial activity. “The total greenhouse gas emissions from 2021 to 2030 neither exceed nor fall short of the allowable amount under the Climate Protection Act,” the council said. However, Der Spiegel reports that emissions are projected to breach limits from 2030 onwards, making Germany’s climate neutrality target by 2045 likely to be “missed”. The newspaper details that the gaps persist in sectors such as land use, forests and wetlands, as well as in so-called residual emissions, which lack defined targets. The council has called for a comprehensive “climate policy framework” to address these shortcomings. Die Zeit adds that the transport and buildings sectors exceeded their legally mandated emissions targets. ZDF quotes council’s deputy chair Brigitte Knopf saying that the coalition agreement of the new German government provides “no significant impetus” for even the 2030 target. She stressed that the upcoming climate protection programme, which is due by March 2026, must align with the long-term goal, the article says. 

A commentary in Der Spiegel described the council’s report as a “flowery annual review” and urged the introduction of a climate check for all reforms to clarify their emissions impact, particularly in light of recent policy reversals – such as the scrapping of the Building Energy Act, which would result in continuing of installation of oil and gas heating systems. 

An “extraordinary heatwave” has gripped the US state of Texas this week, with record-breaking temperatures as high as 111F (43.8C) across its central and southern regions, the Guardian reports. “While 100F [37.8C] days are common in Texas summers, such early season heat is unusual,” the article explains, noting the health risks posed by the unseasonable heat, especially for those without air conditioning. It adds that “the scientific community is in agreement that the global climate crisis is making heatwaves more intense, frequent and long-lasting”. An article in the Austin American-Statesman describes the Texas-Mexico border as “the hottest place on the planet” as of Wednesday. The “torrid Texas weather” was part of a larger “dome” of heat over stretches of the US from the central and southern plains east to Florida, Reuters reports. The National Weather Service called the Texas event “one of the hottest May heat waves of all time”, according to the New York Times. The newspaper says energy use “soared” in the state this week due to air conditioner use. It adds: “Texas’ electrical grid is under increased stress as new manufacturing plants and data centres for artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies are opening in the state.”

The Hill says the extreme heat comes at a “fraught time”, with Texas state legislature debating measures that experts say “would curtail the very power supply that will keep the air conditioning on and deadly blackouts at bay”. The article lists multiple bills in the works that would restrict renewable energy development in the state, including limits on where solar farms and wind turbines can be built. It notes that this “push”, which “the Texas renewables industry calls an existential threat”, is happening alongside efforts by the national Republican party to reverse existing US support for clean energy. In a comment article, Bloomberg columnist Mark Gongloff says the Texas heat reveals the “contradictions of climate policy in the Trump 2.0 era”. He writes: “An increasingly hostile nature argues for urgent attention and action while politicians serving the fossil-fuel industry argue the opposite.”

Meanwhile, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says high temperatures and “the proliferation of data centres” are expected to boost US electricity consumption to a four-year high this summer, Reuters reports. New England, the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic, the south-west and Texas all face “higher risks of power shortfalls under a range of anomalies”, the article says.

With the UK government planning a “housebuilding spree” that would see 1.5m new homes built across England, the Guardian considers current plans to equip these new homes with energy efficiency measures and solar panels. The editorial notes that the previous Conservative government scrapped environmental rules for new homes, “leading to a disgraceful proliferation of new developments where the houses do not even have solar panels on the roofs”. As it stands, the Labour government’s new future homes standard is set to include a solar panel obligation, “but questions remain about how prescriptive the new rules will be”, the article notes. It also highlights the importance of low-carbon heating, explaining that campaigners are concerned that the government “will cave in to housebuilders’ demands by allowing them to fit gas boilers”. The editorial explains: “The danger…is that builders call the shots. This highly concentrated industry was a crucial source of donations to the Tory party and remains very powerful, since ministers have no other means of delivering their pledges.”

Elsewhere, John Gapper, chief UK business columnist of the Financial Times, argues that the UK government’s aim of achieving a clean power system in Britain by 2030 by “unleashing” £40bn of investment a year is becoming less likely. He points to recent developments such as the pause on Hornsea 4, an offshore wind project, and delays to a subsea cable linking Scotland to north-east England to carry wind energy. Gapper argues: “The rapid timetable the government set comes with a price that is high and rising. Miliband’s original offer was not just to move rapidly to a net zero energy system but to cut household bills by detaching the country from its reliance on high-priced and volatile gas imports. Trying to meet the target by spending so much that they rise would be a gift to opponents.” Gapper says that delaying the target would be “embarrassing” for energy secretary Ed Miliband, but argues that it “would be better than locking Britain into long-term generation contracts at inflated prices in an effort to meet a round-number deadline”. 

Finally, in the Scotsman, Jeremy Grant – a freelance writer and editor and former Financial Times journalist – writes that Scotland’s offshore wind industry should get on a “war footing to make its case to communities and the public with a fresh narrative”. And an editorial in the Times argues that it’s “time to turn off Russia’s taps” due to the government’s lack of compliance with Ukraine peace talks. It says countries in Europe that continue to import fossil fuels from Russia should stop. 

New research finds that the Amazon rainforest may be able to adjust to persistent drought in the long term – albeit with significant impacts on forest makeup and carbon storage. Researchers study an experimental plot in the Amazon and subject it to more than two decades of drought. They find that as the larger trees died off, there was “increasing water availability for the remaining trees”, which stabilised the remaining forest. However, they warn: “While it prevented drought-induced collapse, eco-hydrological stabilisation resulted in a forest with reduced biomass and carbon accumulation in wood.”