E&E News reports that the White House has “directed federal agencies to stop monetising climate damages when crafting regulations and making other decisions – unless it is ‘plainly required in their governing statutes’.” The outlet adds: “The memo by Jeffrey Clark, President Donald Trump’s acting regulatory chief, directs agencies not to use a social cost of greenhouse gas emissions metric when weighing costs and benefits of federal actions like permits and rules.” The New York Times explains that the directive “effectively shelves a powerful tool that has been used for more than two decades by the federal government to weigh the costs and benefits of a particular policy or regulation”. It continues: “During the Obama administration, White House economists calculated the social cost of carbon at $42 a tonne. The first Trump administration lowered it to less than $5 a tonne. Under the Biden administration, the cost was adjusted for inflation and jumped to $190 per tonne.” (See Carbon Brief’s Q&A and timeline on the social cost of carbon.)

In other US news, the Financial Times reports that “US regulators are calling on the world’s financial rulemakers to downgrade a flagship project to tackle the risks of climate change in the latest sign of America’s retreat from environmental issues since Donald Trump became president”. The newspaper adds: “Top officials at US financial watchdogs are seeking to weaken the power of a high-level task force set up in 2020 to examine climate change risks to the financial system by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the standard-setter for global financial regulation. The proposal to dilute the Basel committee’s task force is on the agenda for a meeting of the world’s top central bank governors and financial supervisors on Monday, according to three people briefed on the matter.”

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that a “coalition of 15 states is suing over President Donald Trump’s efforts to fast-track energy-related projects, saying the administration is bypassing environmental protection laws and threatening endangered species, critical habitat and cultural resources”. Another AP story says the Norwegian energy company Equinor says it will “be forced to terminate an offshore wind project for New York within days unless President Donald Trump’s administration relents on its order that stopped construction”. The Washington Post carries an article under the headline: “Trump promised US dominance. Instead, energy companies are faltering. Oil and gas firms are reeling and major renewables projects are getting shelved as Trump’s policies rattle energy investors and executives.”

Finally, the Associated Press has an interview with David Miliband, the former UK foreign secretary who, based in the US, now leads the International Rescue Committee. He argues that, amid cuts to foreign aid, “I would say at least half the global aid budget needs to go to conflict states”. The article continues: “Miliband points to climate mitigation in wealthier countries and help for newly arrived refugees to settle in wealthier countries as programs that should be lower priorities for donors in the current harsh aid environment.”

There is widespread coverage across the UK media of the government’s announcement that a “£1bn investment” has been “secured” for a new electric car battery plant in north-east England. BBC News says: “It is hoped the new gigafactory being built at the International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP) in Washington, Sunderland will support 1,000 jobs and power 100,000 electric vehicles annually. The news comes after the UK’s economic deal with the US [last Thursday], which saw car export tariffs slashed.” The Guardian adds: “The funding will allow Japan’s AESC to install tooling and start production of batteries at the site, which is being built to serve Nissan’s car factory down the road.” The Times, Reuters and BusinessGreen are among the other outlets covering the news. 

In another government announcement, the UK has “more than doubled funding available under a scheme seeking to spur investment in offshore wind projects to £544m ($721m), after higher than expected demand”, reports Reuters. Separately, the Times carries news of a new report co-commissioned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, which concludes that “renewables can help land Highlands [a] £100bn windfall”. The Guardian has an article headlined: “Potential role for Chinese firm in key UK windfarm attracts government scrutiny.”

Elsewhere, there is growing coverage of the Green party’s leadership election this summer. The Guardian’s Peter Walker has an analysis piece headlined: “Green party must choose again between election-focused or activist leaders.” Peter Walker also has an interview with the current co-leader of the party: “Carla Denyer accuses Labour of failing to challenge Reform UK’s net-zero ‘lie’.” The New Statesman’s weekend interview is with Green party leadership hopeful Zack Polanski, who it describes as the “eco-populist against net-zero”.

Finally, the UK’s climate-sceptic newspapers continue their relentless search to find any possible reason to attack net-zero policies. The latest “victims” include “British picnics” and “curry houses”. (The Sun even carries an editorial on how “Britain’s beloved curry houses are the latest industry put at risk by Ed Miliband’s mad dash to reach net-zero by 2050.”) The Daily Telegraph scaremongers that “Britain could face months-long blackouts because of net-zero”. It also warns how “Ed Miliband is plotting a surge in the windfarm subsidies added to electricity bills to prop up his ailing green power target”. The newspaper also trails on its frontpage a false claim about a false claim about climate science made on the BBC’s Question Time by the Reform party’s Richard Tice. (See a factcheck of Tice’s false claim posted on Bluesky by Nasa’s Dr Gavin Schmidt.) The Daily Mail carries a double-page spread in its print edition about efforts in an Essex village to “halt the march of the pylons!”

Extreme rainfall in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu has killed at least seven people, reports the Associated Press (AP). Abdinasir Hirsi Idle, a regional administration spokesperson, tells the newswire: “The death toll could rise because the rains were heavy and lasted for several hours, causing nine houses to collapse across different neighborhoods, and at least six major roads to suffer severe damage.” AP adds: “Somalia has in the past suffered extreme climate shocks that include prolonged dry seasons that have caused drought and heavy rains that have resulted in floods.” Reuters also reports on how “severe rainfall swept through the east African nation” on Friday evening.

Meanwhile, other episodes of extreme weather around the world have been making headlines. The Los Angeles Times reports how “more than two dozen people were rescued [on] Saturday during a record-breaking heatwave as temperatures climbed to the high 90s [high 30s in C] in parts of Southern California”. In southern Australia, the Guardian reports on how “farmers are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on hay as the promised winter rain is pushed back until June”. Reuters says: “Chinese buyers bought between 400,000 and 500,000 metric tonnes of wheat from Australia and Canada in recent weeks, traders said, as heat threatens to damage crops in China’s agricultural heartlands.” Bloomberg carries a news feature, which says “global wheat supplies are expected to remain tight in the new season, leaving the market vulnerable to higher prices if weather worsens in key growers before the approaching harvest”.

Similarly, in the UK, the Times reports: “Record sunshine and scant rainfall has left wheat crops stressed and farms dependent for survival upon a dwindling stream of environmental grants.” Another Times article begins: “More than half of England’s rivers are drier than normal and reservoirs across the north are emptier than expected, as the dry spring brings fears of a drought. A sunny and warm spring with low rainfall has left the UK vulnerable this summer, with rivers running low and reservoir levels dropping.”

Chinese official data shows that its exports of rare earth metals dropped by 16% in April from a month earlier to 4,785 tonnes, reports Bloomberg. The outlet adds that the fall comes as the government is adding additional curbs on the supply of materials to a mix of restrictions and bans placed over the past two years “on a broad category of strategic minerals”. Meanwhile, the state-supporting newspaper Global Times reports that China said on Friday it will “make efforts” to “crack down on the smuggling and illegal export of strategic minerals”, such as gallium, germanium, antimony, tungsten, plus other critical minerals. Bloomberg also covers the story. 

Elsewhere, state-run newspaper China Daily says that Russia and China are forging a “greener energy partnership” that “far transcends the traditional fossil energy trade, taking in hydrogen and renewables”. Another China Daily article says that China and the EU’s commitment to the “green transition” could lay a “strong foundation” to deepening cooperation. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) says that Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers are now looking to regions such as South Korea to “chase fresh growth”. Nikkei Asia publishes an article under the headline: “China auto parts makers triple in Thailand on EV battery rush.”

Finally, SCMP reports that the world’s tallest dam, the recently completed Shuangjiangkou hydropower project in southwestern China, has started storing water. China Energy Media says that China’s national carbon market (ETS) still faces issues such as “limited market coverage”, an “underdeveloped” allowance allocation mechanism, “insufficient” carbon finance innovation and regulatory challenges. And the Financial Times has a “big read” on “how Xi sparked China’s electricity revolution”.

Die Zeit reports that Germany’s newly appointed economy minister Katherina Reiche has called for the rapid expansion of gas-fired power plants. It quotes Reiche saying at the Ludwig Erhard summit: “We need flexible gas power plants that deliver electricity when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining. And we need them quickly.” The outlet explains that the construction of at least 20 gigawatts of new capacity is in line with the coalition agreement between the CDU/CSU and SPD. At the same time, the newspaper notes that climate activists from Fridays for Future “accused” the new federal government under chancellor Friedrich Merz of “climate inaction” and promised widespread protests. 

Meanwhile, Tagesschau and Handelsblatt highlight Reiche’s call for a “reality check” on the energy transition, noting that, while the expansion of renewables has advanced climate neutrality goals, it has also led to rising system costs. In addition, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) adds that Reiche has ruled out a return to nuclear energy.

Elsewhere in German news, Der Spiegel reports that climate policy under chancellor Merz signals a shift back to a more bureaucratic, “Merkel-era approach”. The newspaper explains that the German economy and climate action ministry will “lose” its “c” (for climate), although it will continue to oversee renewable energy. It says that the environment ministry under the SPD’s Carsten Schneider has regained responsibility for climate policy, while the role of international climate envoy, previously held by Jennifer Morgan, has been eliminated. Separately, Agence France-Press reports: “Merz on Friday called on the EU to ditch landmark new rules on environmental and human rights supply chain standards as part of its push to cut red tape for firms.”

Finally, the Guardian reports on “repeated attacks” on wind energy, which generated one-third of German electricity last year, from German centre-right and far-right parties, with the new German chancellor describing them as an “ugly” bridge solution that could one day be dismantled. Forbes has an article headlined: “Germany’s €100bn green gamble: inside the nation’s bold climate investment.”

There is a range of net-zero-focused commentary in the UK newspapers. The Guardian’s Fiona Harvey has a “Sunday read” which explores how, “under pressure from Reform and from the former PM [Tony Blair], Keir Starmer is facing a series of tests of his resolve on green policy”. Harvey focuses, in part, on the views of Zack Polanski, currently the Green party’s deputy leader who has leadership ambitions (see above): “Polanski has an answer: he would fund the green transition through a wealth tax, an idea that is overwhelmingly popular in polls and is gathering adherents in the Labour party too, behind closed doors.”

Meanwhile, in his Sunday Times column, Robert Coville writes: “Ed Miliband’s wind plan has left him hostage to suppliers. The idea that we could shift the grid from gas to wind within a single parliament, while saving money, was always hugely ambitious.” In the Times, business commentator Dominic O’Connell also focuses on how “Ørsted has taken the wind out of Miliband’s net-zero sails”, adding: “The Danish wind farm developer’s withdrawal from Hornsea 4 jeopardises Labour’s environmental goals.” The Sunday Times’s business section gives space to Keith Anderson, the chief executive of Scottish Power, who writes: “We mustn’t snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on wind power. Ørsted may have shelved its Hornsea 4 offshore windfarm, but…the UK can still be a world leader in renewable energy.” Tom Whipple, the Times’s science editor, looks at why tidal power in the UK is “still all at sea”. He asks: “In a country surrounded by sea, which wants renewable energy, but still struggles with the intermittency of sunshine and wind, should we build a tidal generator?”

Separately, the UK’s climate-sceptic newspapers continue to provide prominent platforms to climate-sceptic politicians. The Daily Mail clears two full pages to give space to the Reform party’s Nigel Farage to explain “here’s everything my government would do – from ditching net-zero to finally tackling immigration”. The Daily Telegraph also gives space to Reform’s Richard Tice to say: “It’s time to face facts. Net-zero is destroying the economy.” [He then fails to present any evidence to support his claim.] The Daily Express platforms Lois Perry of notorious US climate-denial lobby group, the Heartland Institute, under the headline: “Mad Ed Miliband’s net-zero vision just collided with perfect-storm reality.” And the Daily Telegraph’s Zoe Strimpel rants about how the “winds of taste, health and trend are blowing away from Miliband’s horrible, carbon-neutral vision of the future”.

Finally, Michael Liebreich, the founder of BloombergNEF, writes on his Substack about “why Tony Blair needs to reset his climate reset”.

An editorial in the Washington Post begins: “President Donald Trump’s administration is on a crusade against efforts to grapple with climate change. From the start of Trump’s second term, officials have halted clean energy projects or attempted to claw back funding for them, and, at the same time, they have fast-tracked permitting for fossil fuels. The administration has also been tearing down federal programs that protect Americans against the kind of extreme weather that climate change brings, making it harder for communities to prepare for and recover from natural disasters. These decisions will weaken the economy and – more important – could cost lives.” The editorial concludes: “Lawmakers – especially Republicans, who are no doubt nervous about their party’s political future – need to speak up for their constituents and press for climate mitigation programs to continue. So should business leaders who rely on government data to protect their investments. Americans need a government that cares about their safety.”

“Approximately half of the world’s oceans are now experiencing increasingly prolonged marine heatwaves,” according to a new study. The paper estimates that globally, heatwaves that would be expected once every 100 years under a pre-industrial climate have more than doubled in duration, while increasing by 67% in frequency and 23% in intensity. The authors add that “increasing anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are the primary driver of observed changes, accounting for over 80% of the changes”.