Flash flooding in central Texas on Friday has killed at least 82 people, including dozens of children who were attending summer camps over the holiday weekend, with officials warning that the “death toll was sure to rise”, reports the Associated Press. The “historic” flood saw destructive, fast-moving waters rise 8 metres on the Guadalupe River in just 45 minutes in the early hours of Friday morning, washing away homes and vehicles, another Associated Press article explains. Featuring heavily in the wall-to-wall coverage of the event is one particular summer camp for girls, at Camp Mystic, where 10 girls and a counselor are still unaccounted for, a third AP article says. BBC News reports on how the camp was “swept away”. Flooding continued throughout the weekend and more storms are expected in the next 24-48 hours, says another BBC News article. This “could hamper rescue teams who are already facing venomous snakes as they sift through mud and debris”. The article quotes Texas governor Greg Abbott, who said yesterday that authorities would “stop at nothing” to ensure every missing person is found. US president Donald Trump, at his golf club in Bedminster in New Jersey, signed a major disaster declaration that freed up resources for the state, reports France24. Former president Barack Obama described the events as “absolutely heartbreaking”, reports the Hill.

A separate Associated Press article says the flash floods came about after “incredible amounts of moisture in the air fuelled a storm that moved slowly and dumped rain over central Texas”. One AccuWeather meteorologist tells the outlet: “With climate change we have a warming atmosphere. A warmer atmosphere holds a lot more moisture – and we are seeing obviously much more total atmospheric moisture across the globe in recent years than we normally have.” In addition, the article notes, “the area had been in a drought, so the water ran down the dry, hard land fast”. Yale Climate Connections notes that much of the moisture was the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry, which had moved northwards from Mexico in recent days. The Washington Post says that at least 1.8tn gallons of rain fell over the Texas Hill Country region on Friday morning. The New York Times says “it was as if a completely saturated sponge overhead was wrung out”. Another Associated Press article notes that flash floods – flooding that begins within six hours, and often in as little as three hours, of heavy rainfall – are the “nation’s top storm-related killer”. Another New York Times article says: “Even in places, like Central Texas, with a long history of floods, human-caused warming is creating the conditions for more frequent and severe deluges.” NPR has a timeline of how events unfolded. 

Officials in Texas are “under intensifying scrutiny” over why residents and youth summer camps dotted along the river were not alerted sooner or told to evacuate, reports Politico. It continues: “Local officials have said they had not expected such an intense downpour that was the equivalent of months’ worth of rain for the area.” Kristi Noem, US secretary of homeland security, said a “moderate” flood watch issued on Thursday by the National Weather Service (NWS) had not accurately predicted the extreme rainfall and said the Trump administration was working to upgrade the system, Reuters reports. Noem also “deflected questioning about the timing of warnings issued ahead of the floods”, following cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its NWS, reports the Financial Times. The article notes that critics had warned that the job cuts “would impair the country’s ability to produce life-saving forecasts”. CNN reports that the “two Texas NWS offices most closely involved in forecasting and warning about the flooding on the Guadalupe River…are missing some key staff members, but still issued a slew of watches and warnings about the flood danger”. BBC News looks into the timings of the warnings. The Guardian says one of the missing staff positions is a “warning coordination officer”, a leadership position “whose primary function is to be a decision-making point of contact for local officials and the general public, especially during dangerous weather”. Axios reports that, when asked whether his administration would investigate if some of the cuts to the federal government left key vacancies at the NWS, Trump responded: “They did not.” The Texas Tribune reports that Texas lawmakers “failed to pass a bill to improve local disaster warning systems” earlier this year. 

There is further coverage of the floods in the New York Times, Bloomberg, Guardian, Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Texas Tribune, NBC News, Sky News, ABC News, Deutsche Welle, Al Jazeera, Independent, Daily Telegraph, Sun, Daily Mail and Observer. The Sunday Times carries images and video footage of the floods, BBC News has drone footage of the “catastrophic flooding” and the New York Times has images and videos of the aftermath at the summer camp. 

UN teams were deployed to the Syrian coast yesterday, where firefighters were battling wildfires for a fourth day, reports the Associated Press. According to one UN coordinator, fast-spreading blazes in the north-western province of Latakia “have forced hundreds of families to flee their homes, while vast tracts of agricultural land and vital infrastructure have been destroyed”, the newswire reports: “Firefighting teams from Turkey and Jordan have joined Syrian civil defense teams, providing support from the air with helicopters. Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported that emergency crews are attempting to prevent the blazes from reaching the al-Frunloq natural reserve, with its ‘large, interconnected forests’.” CNN notes that Syria is in the “grip of a long-running drought”, while efforts to control the fires have been “hampered by strong winds, rugged terrain and the danger of landmines left behind from years of war”. Syria has recorded more than 3,500 wildfires between April and June, notes the New York Times.

Meanwhile, in Europe, deadly wildfires have continued in Turkey and Greece, reports the Associated Press. It says: “A new wildfire in Greece prompted evacuations in coastal areas south of Athens on Friday, as firefighters in neighboring Turkey remained locked in a battle to contain flames tearing through forested hillsides in the west of the country.” The Times says that Turkey’s fires are “being fuelled by searing heat, fierce winds of more than 75mph and parched countryside that has been rendered perfect tinder by a continuing drought”. Two people have died as a result of the fires, reports the Sun. There is continuing coverage of the wildfires on the Greek island of Crete, with Al Jazeera reporting that they – plus the fire near Athens – have now been extinguished. 

Elsewhere, California is battling its “largest wildfire of the year”, which has grown to more than 30,000 hectares and has forced evacuations, reports the Los Angeles Times. The Madre fire in rural San Luis Obispo County in central California is “more than triple the size of the Palisades fire, which burned 23,000 acres in coastal Los Angeles County nearly six months ago”, the newspaper notes. 

The EU is “holding back on signing a joint declaration on climate action with China” at a leaders’ summit this month, reports the Financial Times. It continues: “EU officials said Beijing had made multiple requests for a declaration on their mutual climate commitment following a mid-July summit between European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Chinese president Xi Jinping to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations. But Brussels had refused to agree on a communiqué unless China pledged greater efforts to cut its greenhouse gas emissions.” EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra tells the newspaper: “I understand and recognise the Chinese push for a declaration [by] the presidents for diplomatic value but that in itself for the [EU] is not enough…There is only merit in having a declaration from our perspective if there are also content nuts to be cracked and ambition to be displayed.” A joint communiqué “would have echoes of the so-called Sunnylands statement made by the US and China” ahead of the UN climate conference in Dubai in 2023, the article notes.

US president Donald Trump signed his major budget bill into law on Friday, meeting his self-imposed deadline of 4 July in what he described as a “triumph of democracy”, reports the Hill. At a “military family picnic at the White House”, which included a flyover of two B-2 bombers, Trump signed the bill that “cuts incentives that promote green energy and expands domestic production of oil, coal and natural gas”, the article says. The Los Angeles Times says that “previous tax breaks meant to create incentives for wind and solar energy are being hacked dramatically”. The Associated Press reports that the bill “repeals a multibillion-dollar green bank for financing climate-friendly projects”. According to a court filing, the Environmental Protection Agency has said the bill should hand them a victory in their fight against an earlier federal judge’s decision forcing the EPA to release money to not-for-profit organisations, the newswire says. CBS News says that buyers have until the end of September to “qualify for the federal tax credits on electric vehicles before they are terminated”. The Washington Post looks at how the legislation could affect the 2026 elections and beyond, noting that some experts have warned that the “legislation could raise energy prices for consumers at a time when demand is soaring”. Carbon Brief analysis shows that the bill will add an extra 7bn tonnes of carbon emissions from now until 2030, compared to the US meeting its former climate pledge under the Paris Agreement.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that the sweeping tax law “puts at risk a crucial source of profit” for EV manufacturer Tesla by “neutering rules that allow the electric-vehicle maker to sell billions of dollars of emissions credits”. The bill “deepens a crisis for the company that is already reeling from plunging sales and the loss of EV tax incentives”, says the FT, noting that the legislation “provoked a furious response from Musk”. The billionaire has said he is carrying out his threat to form a new political party after falling out with Trump, announcing the America Party, reports the Associated Press. Musk “didn’t provide details”, notes Bloomberg.

In other US news, despite Trump’s urging to “drill, baby, drill”, oil producers have warned that “Trump’s trade policies are discouraging drilling”, says Axios. And Climate Home News reports that, at a three-day informal gathering in Nairobi, the US “made clear it does not support provisions that would regulate the supply side of plastics or feedstocks used in its manufacturing”. 

UK energy secretary Ed Miliband has announced Nigel Topping as the government’s preferred candidate for chairman of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), reports the Press Association. Speaking on Friday, Miliband said that the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments, as well as the Northern Ireland executive, all agreed on Topping’s selection to lead the UK’s climate advisory body, the newswire explains. Topping is currently a member of the CCC and previously held the position of the UK’s high-level climate action champion, the article notes, adding: “Following an 18-year private-sector career in emerging markets and manufacturing, he worked as executive director of the Carbon Disclosure Project and chief executive of the We Mean Business Coalition.” BusinessGreen quotes Miliband, who said: “Nigel’s strong business background will help us drive growth on the transition to net-zero.” Before being formally appointed to replace interim chair Prof Piers Forster, Topping will be questioned by MPs on the energy and environmental audit select committees on 16 July, the outlet adds. 

Meanwhile, the Times reports that “ministers are exploring using the powers of parliament to cut the time it takes to approve new railways, power stations and other infrastructure projects”. The i newspaper looks at how the government could “fast track” a third runway at Heathrow airport. UK chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced a project to develop a pipeline to capture carbon emitted by cement and lime factories in the Peak District and bury it below the Irish Sea, BBC News reports. The project will get the go-ahead “within weeks”, says the Times, while Reuters says it will receive a £29m investment from the National Wealth Fund. The Daily Telegraph also has the story.

In other UK news, BusinessGreen reports that Miliband has approved the Mona wind farm, which will be the largest in the Irish Sea. BusinessGreen also reports that British International Investment – the UK’s development finance institution – committed a record £708m in climate finance in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean in 2024. In an “exclusive”, the i newspaper interviews environment secretary Steve Reed, who says the UK public was unaware of how close the country was to bringing in rationing for water. The Daily Telegraph reports that last week’s failure of Prax Group, which owned the Lindsey Oil Refinery, “threatens the taxpayer with a bill of up to £250m”. The Sunday Times profiles how the company “imploded”. A second article in the Daily Telegraph reports that the town of Slough has “emerged as Britain’s fastest-growing pollution hotspot”. And a third reports on how the hard-right, populist Reform UK are taking aim at the health service’s “insane” climate goals. An “exclusive” in the Sun reports on “killer germs” in heat pumps. In response, the Department of Energy and Net Zero said “there is no ­evidence of more health-related issues coming from heat pumps compared to boilers”, the article notes.

Finally, the Daily Telegraph reports that five UK solar farms – out of around 3,300 – were paid a total of £102,500 to switch off in the first half of this year. According to the chief executive of the solar industry’s trade body, the “issue is of limited significance, though it does underline that the grid needs more energy storage”. [The article quotes John Constable without mentioning he is energy editor of the campaign arm of the climate-sceptic lobby group, the Global Warming Policy Foundation.] The Daily Express picks up the story.

“Sweltering heat enveloped China’s eastern seaboard on Friday,” reports Reuters, adding that temperatures are expected to reach 37-39C in the east and up to 40C in the central over the coming week, Reuters reports. The newswire adds that “extreme heat, which meteorologists link to climate change, has emerged as a major challenge for Chinese policymakers”. State-supporting newspaper Global Times says that China “is in the grip of the strongest heatwave of the year”. A university has canceled its exam due to the high temperature, reports local newspaper Jimu News.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that more than 500 gigawatts (GWs) of wind and solar will be added in China in 2025, “giving clean power a 48% share in China’s total capacity – overtaking thermal plants burning coal and natural gas for the first time, the State Grid Energy Research Institute said Friday in a report”. International Energy Net reports that China’s total electricity consumption in 2024 has reached 9,852,100 gigawatt-hours (GWh), according to data from the National Energy Administration (NEA). Financial news outlet Caijing reports that high temperatures have “driven a rapid rise in electricity load”. 

Elsewhere, Bloomberg reports that China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) says it will “strengthen” its guidance over China’s “beleaguered” solar industry. MIIT minister Li Lecheng says that Chinese president Xi Jinping has addressed the need to promote the development of “new energy and clean energy”, industry news outlet BJX News reports. China Reform News, an outlet managed by top economic-planning body the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), publishes an article saying that the country’s “two new” policy will be “further expanded nationwide”. Another article published by China Reform News says that the energy intensity and carbon intensity reduced by 3.8% and 3.4%, respectively, year-on-year in 2024. 

Finally, Reuters publishes an article under the headline: “China’s foreign minister dismisses European worries over rare earths.” The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) covers the same story. The Financial Times publishes an article under the headline: “China snaps up mines around the world in rush to secure resources.” Another SCMP article says China and the EU “have largely finalised the ‘technical’ part of negotiations towards resolving their electric vehicle (EV) tariff dispute, with the deal now hinging on “political will” from the European side, according to Chinese state-affiliated media”.

On the final day of the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro today, leaders will “address the shared challenges of climate change” and demand that “wealthy nations fund global mitigation of greenhouse emissions”, reports Reuters. In their joint statement, released yesterday, BRICS leaders underscored that providing climate finance “is a responsibility of developed countries towards developing countries”, the newswire reports. The statement also “argued that fossil fuels will continue to play an important role in the global energy mix, particularly in developing economies”, the article says, adding: “Their declaration also mentioned the group’s support for a fund that Brazil proposed to protect endangered forests – the Tropical Forests Forever Facility – as a way for emerging economies to fund climate change mitigation beyond the mandatory requirements imposed on wealthy nations by the 2015 Paris Agreement.” The Times of India also covers the statement, while Mint says the BRICS leaders “welcomed India’s candidacy” to host COP33 in 2028.

Meanwhile, Newsweek reports that COP30 CEO Ana Toni said at an event last week that “we need to be realistic [about] where the geopolitics are at the moment and the geopolitics are definitely not helping”. Toni “cautioned against hopes for a dramatic outcome” from COP30 in Belém later this year, the article notes. She said: “I know there is a lot of temptation to imagine that any one meeting will solve our problems, unfortunately this is not the case…The work will not finish at COP30, it’s just a very important moment.”

There is further reporting on the proposed budget for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which “sheds further light on the Trump administration’s proposed cuts and changes for the weather and climate agency”, reports Axios. The 400-page proposal for the 2025-26 financial year would “gut federal climate research efforts and spending”, the article says, including “eliminat[ing] NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), which performs and coordinates climate research”. The proposal states that NOAA would also “no longer support climate research grants”, Axios reports. With this statement, one former NOAA employee tells the outlet, “the administration signals its intent to have NOAA, arguably the world’s leading oceanic and atmospheric governmental organisation, completely abandon climate science”. The proposal is “subject to congressional tweaks and approval”, the article notes.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports on how the Trump administration is “already cutting off climate research”. The outlet speaks to concerned scientists, including one who warns: “We’re getting a message loud and clear from this administration: climate and environmental research are not welcome in this country.” The New York Times reports on how Antarctica faces a “tense future” as the US cuts budgets for science. And, in Scientific American, the authors of a recent study describe their work on how “climate change left its signature on the atmosphere early in the industrial revolution”. The authors, which include veteran scientist Ben Santer, write that federally funded climate science is now “being dismantled”, adding: “We are now observing what happens when decades of work to understand the nature and causes of climate changes are rejected and are replaced by ideology, conspiracy theories and disinformation. Stopping climate work will lead to a data vacuum that could last years or even decades. This experiment in willful ignorance can only end poorly.”

Germany’s economy minister, Katherina Reiche, has launched a “reality check” on the country’s “green electricity expansion”, due by the end of August, reports Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). The review, conducted by “expert institutes”, aims to assess how the “transformation of the energy system for climate protection purposes” can become more “affordable and reliable” for households and businesses. “Based on the inventory, the question is whether a reorientation of energy policy is necessary to minimise costs and ensure security of supply while implementing national and European climate targets,” the review’s terms of reference state. According to the ministry, the evaluation will examine whether the government’s “previous” energy targets are “achievable, coherent and cost-effective”, notes the outlet. Der Spiegel reports that Germany’s Greens have criticised Reiche’s choice of “expert institutes” that will conduct this assessment, pointing out that one had previously “positively evaluated” the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The vice-chairman of the party’s parliamentary group, Andreas Audretsch, has accused Reiche of undermining the renewable transition and favouring fossil fuels. He claimed she wants to “give gas an eternity guarantee” and “shovel billions to the fossil fuel lobby”. In addition, the Financial Times reports that Berlin is considering €4bn in subsidies for heavy industry. 

Meanwhile, Reuters notes the German economy ministry has presented a draft law to accelerate geothermal energy projects, as Berlin aims to phase out the use of fossil fuels in heating systems by 2045. Despite having some of Europe’s largest geothermal reserves, deployment of the energy source has long been stalled by “local resistance and regulatory red tape”. Finally, Deutsche Welle reports that “Germany’s Green Party is struggling to establish its new identity” in opposition.

On the one-year anniversary of Keir Starmer’s Labour party being elected to be the UK government, a number of outlets consider their successes and failures. An editorial in the Times says that the government “may have wisely given the green light to new nuclear power stations, but it has remained committed to an unyielding approach on net-zero”. The newspaper notes that the “much vaunted state-owned GB Energy has proved something of a dud, resulting in an energy company that is unlikely to ever produce any actual energy”. It also says that “scant progress has been made towards [energy secretary] Ed Milband’s pledge to cut energy bills by £300 a year”. An editorial in the climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph is more strident, declaring that Starmer is “driving Britain towards disaster”. Listing a litany of perceived failures, the newspaper argues – without evidence – that Ed Miliband “appears to be preparing Britain for blackouts”. Also in the Daily Telegraph, Conservative MP and former leadership candidate Robert Jenrick pens a “report card” on Starmer. He writes: “Ed Miliband promised to cut energy bills, yet experts say that bills are expected to increase next year.” In further comment, the Daily Telegraph includes articles on whether Starmer is “delivering on his election promises” and the “winners and losers” from Labour’s first year. The latter lists “net-zero supporters” under the winners. 

In BusinessGreen, editor James Murray describes climate action as “one of the few bright spots” for the government’s first year in office. He writes: “The government’s bold decarbonisation plans may have enraged critics of climate action, but they have provided one of the few areas where Labour has largely lived up to its ambitious pre-election plans.” He notes that “pretty much every week has seen significant new policies, plans and commitments from the government designed to accelerate the net-zero transition and boost the green economy”. Murray writes that the risk for the government is that this success is “overshadowed by economic headwinds, constant attacks from shameless populists and Labour’s own internal tensions and avoidable errors’. He concludes: “The next year will show whether the government can start to get some credit for its prioritisation of climate action, or whether welcome support for the green economy becomes nothing more than a positive footnote for a government that failed to deliver on its considerable promise.” DeSmog looks at the “climate progress and pushback” in UK politics since Labour took office.

In other UK comment, an editorial in the climate-sceptic Sun attacks Miliband – and describes him as an “eco clown” – for the Labour government policy announcement last week to expand onshore wind power. The newspaper writes that Miliband “clearly doesn’t care” that “tens of thousands of whirling blades will be a massive blight on the beauty of our communities”. In an editorial today, the Sun again attacks Miliband because a small number of solar farms were paid to be turned off. It says: “Why Ed Miliband continues to pour billions of pounds of our money into this nonsense is anyone’s guess.” William Sitwell, the Daily Telegraph’s restaurant critic, criticises the government’s onshore wind plans, claiming that “Miliband has finally lost the plot”. And Patrick Galbraith, a columnist for Country Life magazine, writes in the Daily Telegraph that “Miliband’s eco zealotry is destroying the beauty of rural Britain”.

The Financial Times has published a series of articles in a “special report” on the climate leaders in the Asia-Pacific region. It leads with an interactive listing of the companies that “have cut their carbon emissions intensity the most”. It also includes reporting on why campaigners are calling for the “spirit” of ambition in China climate targets; why the shift to solar comes at a price for Pakistan’s national grid; why the US withdrawal leaves an energy transition funding gap in south-east Asia; how a solar “model village” highlights challenges in India; why Japan is switching back to nuclear power; and how Australia is learning to “battle simultaneous floods and droughts”.

A new study finds that yearly meltwater from the Greenland ice sheet has “significantly increased”. The authors present a dataset of daily satellite observations of surface meltwater for the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets over 1992-2023. The paper says that east Antarctica has seen “high melt rates” since the year 2000 due to “warm air incursions from the Southern Ocean”. The authors add that east Antarctica “has become a melt hotspot, potentially leading to meltwater ponding and future ice shelf destabilisation”.