The World Bank has announced that it will “retire” its goal to devote 45% of its annual lending to projects with climate co-benefits, reports Reuters. The newswire adds that the lender will extend its climate-change action plan, which is due to expire today. It continues: “The development lender, which had been under pressure from the Trump administration to abandon the climate lending ​target adopted during the Biden administration in 2023, said in a statement it would complete a shift to ​focusing on lending outcomes rather than input goals.” Bloomberg notes that the US is the biggest shareholder in the World Bank. Agence France-Presse also covers the news.

MORE ON FINANCE

• Inside Climate News says “multiple donors and international organisations” announced plans to provide climate finance for developing countries during London Climate Action Week, but adds that the money is “not nearly enough”.
• Bloomberg says: “Fossil-fuel subsidies are projected to reach $1.1tn in 2026 as governments spend more to shield consumers from high energy prices triggered by the war in Iran.”

There is ongoing coverage of the heatwave sweeping across Europe. The Guardian reports that Belgrade and Bucharest reached 38C and 37C respectively yesterday, while Slovakia set a new record temperature of 40.5C. It adds that Budapest is forecast to exceed 40C today. Bloomberg says: “Red warnings for extreme heat have been issued in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Slovakia.” EuroNews reports that in Portugal, temperatures will reach 43C by this weekend. The Associated Press reports that “for Western Europe, where temperatures have dipped from record June highs, there was also a warning that the heat was likely to build again next week”.

Reuters says the French prime minister has announced that he is keeping the ​country’s health emergency response plan at its highest level in the coming days. Le Monde reports that the French government has been criticised over its “climate record and sluggish heatwave response”. Bloomberg reports that France’s nuclear output has dropped to its lowest level in nine months because rivers are too warm to cool reactors. CNN outlines the impacts of the heatwave on men’s fashion week in Paris. 

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph reports that parts of Germany’s autobahn highway network are “crumbling” in the heat. Sky News covers new analysis on UK heat exposure which finds that “people of colour or on low income are more than twice as likely to live in neighbourhoods that are polluted and prone to overheating”. 

MORE ON EUROPEAN HEATWAVE

• Teresa Ribera, European Commission executive vice-president for a clean, just and competitive transition, tells the Guardian that the heatwave is a “‘dramatic warning’ to reject climate naysayers”. 
• Agence France-Presse reports that “the European Union refused to be drawn into a heated political debate on the merits of air conditioning Monday, saying it was not for the 27-nation bloc to micromanage how people cool their homes”. 

China’s exports of electric fans to Europe surged in the first five months of the year amid a “record-breaking heatwave”, reports business news outlet Yicai. It quotes Li Mingyang, a manager at Luckyway Home Appliances, saying that orders from Europe are expected to “keep increasing” next year. State broadcaster CCTV reports that sales of other Chinese cooling products, such as air conditioners, have also surged amid “persistent heatwaves” in Europe, adding that China’s exports of air conditioners to western European countries rose 9.7% year-on-year in the first five months of 2026. An article by the Communist Party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily says as “climate change drives more frequent and intense heatwaves”, China is “supporting domestic comfort while helping address rising demand in Europe”.

The EU and China “set an October deadline to make progress on trade disagreements”, says Bloomberg, following a meeting between trade officials Maros Sefcovic and Wang Wentao. It adds that the EU’s stance will “partly depend” on Germany, which has “long preferred dialogue”, but whose automotive, chemical and clean-tech sectors have “been under severe pressure”. Sefcovic said Wang reassured him that rare-earth and permanent magnet export controls will “not disrupt EU supply chains”, reports Agence France-Presse. The Financial Times covers a statement by a state-backed outlet that Beijing could “weather a ‘freeze’ in [EU] commercial relations”. The South China Morning Post quotes a “senior” EU figure saying it has to “live with” China’s “overcapacity”. A comment article by the state news agency Xinhua says that “as Europe swelters under severe heatwaves, Chinese-made air conditioners are flying off the shelves”, adding that the EU must not resort to “protectionism” when Chinese products are in demand. 

MORE ON CHINA

• BJX News reports 11 Chinese battery companies have backed an initiative to shorten payment terms, helping move the industry toward “more sustainable development”.
• China Daily reports experts saying China is facing a “complex mix of climate-related risks this flood season” amid El Niño and global warming.
• AI, electric vehicles and other emerging sectors are creating “greater uncertainty in forecasting energy demand” for China, a government official tells Bloomberg.
• Solar power could make “desalinating seawater cheaper than producing bottled water”, reports the South China Morning Post.
• Xinhua says that cooperation between Chinese and Australian companies is expanding into “mine decarbonisation, green steel and renewable energy”.

The UK’s National Energy System Operator (NESO) estimates that £89bn is needed to build  new high-voltage transmission lines and infrastructure across the UK to connect low-carbon energy to the grid in the 2030s, according to the Guardian. The newspaper says this is 50% higher than the operator’s original estimate of £58bn. It continues: “NESO, which is owned by the government, said the scale of investment was ‘broadly consistent’ with its initial recommendations but had evolved to align with the UK government’s 2030 clean power action plan, an accelerated rollout of new low-carbon energy projects and rising inflation.” Separately, Bloomberg reports that “the UK will probably miss its clean electricity target by five years because of capacity constraints on its grid and could struggle to deliver on promises to cut household energy bills, according to consultant LCP Delta”. It quotes one of the authors saying the UK would nevertheless have “lower reliance on gas, helping to shield households from the kind of price volatility seen during recent energy crises”.

MORE ON UK

• The Daily Mail reports comments by Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative party, calling energy secretary Ed Miliband “‘the villain’ of Britain’s energy crisis”. [Bills have mainly been driven up by expensive gas, not government energy policy.]

The Trump administration has announced that it will pay Duke Energy $129m to “abandon” its plans to build an offshore windfarm around 15-22 miles from south-eastern North Carolina, according to the New York Times. The newspaper says this is “the fourth such deal struck by the administration to throttle the development of offshore wind power”. It adds that “the project was in the early stages of development and construction had not yet begun”. Bloomberg says: “Duke aims to invest the refunded money in projects such as nuclear generating facilities and grid upgrades before the end of the year, according to a company statement.” It adds: “Duke acquired the lease in 2022. It said the area could support up to 1.6 gigawatts of wind energy, enough to power 375,000 homes by 2032.” Reuters also covers the story. 

MORE ON US

• The Associated Press reports that “tens of millions of people across the Midwest endured a heatwave [yesterday] that is expected to spread eastward”, while the Associated Press outlines how extreme heat will affect the US summer world cup.
• The New York Times reports that wildfire season is “revving up early” in western states, due to drought and a warm winter.
• Reuters says Trump administration policies are putting “more than $121bn of [clean-energy] ​investment at risk”, according to Wood Mackenzie. 
• E&E News says the Grantham Research Institute finds that around 12% of new climate-related lawsuits last year “could be considered anti-climate”. 
• The Guardian reports that the Trump administration “wants to loosen two Biden-era regulations governing oil and gas drilling on national public lands”.
• Reuters says that the US “accounted for about a third of the rise in global carbon emissions in ​2025, as higher gas prices pushed power producers ‌back to coal”. 

Kaveh Zadani, director of the office of climate change, biodiversity and environment at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), writes in Reuters that the coming El Niño is “building at a dangerous moment for global food security”. Zadani notes that the world “is already facing record heat, driven by climate change” and that shipping disruptions in the strait of Hormuz are affecting fertiliser markets just as many farmers prepare for planting. He notes that this could be one of the strongest El Niños in decades. Zadani goes on to outline new analysis from the FAO, which reveals where drought will hit the hardest, including the Sahel, across southern Africa, in south and south-east Asia, and in Central America’s “dry corridor” and the Caribbean. He concludes: “Now that the warning has coordinates, the test is whether resources and decisions can reach those places in time.”

MORE COMMENT

• In the Daily Express, Kemi Badenoch, UK Conservative party leader, reiterates her proposals for “scrapping the green taxes and backing drilling in the North Sea”.
• In the Conversation, Dr Milton Spencer and Prof Lance Leslie from the University of Technology Sydney ask if this could be Australia’s “warmest winter ever”. 
• The Daily Mail hands its lead comment slot to climate-sceptic peer Ian Botham, who uses the space to rail against “Miliband’s monster [wind] turbines”.
• Bloomberg opinion columnist David Fickling writes that “the hydrogen economy is down but not out”. 
• Clyde Russell, Asia commodities and energy columnist for Reuters, writes that “China will lead both renewable energy and coal consumption”. 

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Ayesha Tandon, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Anika Patel. It was edited by Simon Evans.

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