Daily Briefing: Climate impact on schools | Oil and gas prices ‘surge’ | US coal’s ‘long decline’

11.09.26

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News

Climate hazards disrupted school for one in 10 students in 2025: Unicef

Al Jazeera

One in 10 school children had their education interrupted by climate hazards last year, according to a new report by the UN children’s agency (Unicef), covered by Al Jazeera. The news outlet explains that Unicef found 171 million students were affected globally, based on data from 106 countries and territories. BusinessGreen says the report shows how climate change-related disruption “led to suspended classes, damaged schools, a shift to remote learning, shortened instructional time, reduced school attendance and an increased risk of dropping out from education for millions of children”. It adds that “climate hazards are causing school closures which could result in $200bn in lost lifetime earnings for impacted students worldwide”. Agence France-Presse notes that “girls are at greater risk of dropping out of education when their schools are hit by heatwaves, storms or wildfires linked to climate change”.

MORE ON CLIMATE HAZARDS

The Financial Times: “Scientists predicted a brutal year ahead as climate change and the El Niño pattern collide, after the latest data showed sea temperatures broke heat records for 100 days.”
The Guardian reports on “feedback loops”, covering new research showing that climate change is transforming the world’s forests, wetlands and tundra “to the point they are releasing emissions that could further worsen global heating”.

Oil, gas and borrowing costs surge as fears over Middle East escalate

Theo Leggett and Francisco Velasquez, BBC News

Oil prices have jumped to $105 a barrel “amid signs the conflict in the Middle East will not be resolved quickly, fuelling fears that inflation could accelerate”, reports BBC News. The outlet adds that gas prices have also been “soaring on wholesale markets”, reaching above 200p a therm in the UK for the first time since the end of 2022. This comes amid intensified conflict between the US and Iran in recent days, according to the news website. The “oil price surge” appears on the frontpage of the Financial Times, which notes that “analysts are speedily ratcheting up 2026 and 2027 oil price forecasts amid few signs the US and Iran are prepared to agree a peace deal”. The Economist questions whether shipping traffic through the strait of Hormuc is “really back to normal”, as the US has claimed. The Financial Times reports that Saudi Arabia’s oil output has dropped to its lowest level this year, amid threats from Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Donald Trump’s US coal revival push fails to reverse fuel’s long decline

Martha Muir, The Financial Times

The “long decline” of US coal is “deepening despite Donald Trump’s high-profile push to revive it”, according to the Financial Times. The newspaper explains that data from the US Energy Information Administration shows that, in the first half of 2026, coal power generation dropped 11% compared to the same period last year. Overall, it adds that generation is set to drop another 4% in the second half of this year and then 3% in 2027. The New York Times notes that the Trump administration took the “extraordinary step of ordering several ageing coal plants that had been headed for retirement to stay open and keep running”. Despite this, the newspaper says, coal is being outcompeted by cheaper gas, wind and solar.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that organisations that had previously received federal funding for environmental projects have filed a lawsuit alleging that the federal government “unconstitutionally terminated nearly 300 grants worth billions of dollars due to the recipients residing in states that tend to vote for Democratic candidates”.

MORE ON US

The Trump administration is aiming to make data centres easier to build, including a rule that could treat some gas turbines as mobile equipment rather than stationary pollution sources, reports Axios.
The Los Angeles Times explains how the conversion of the city’s largest gas power plant to burn hydrogen is facing opposition from groups who say the plan will “ultimately prolong the life of LA’s fossil fuel infrastructure”.
Following the hottest summer in the US on record, the Washington Post has a map showing “where nighttime temperatures remained particularly warm”.
The Los Angeles Times covers the Trump administration’s aim to amend the 2023 National Climate Assessment to “recast worst‑case climate scenarios as implausible and limit their use in federal decision‑making”.

Take climate action to win votes, UN executive tells EU politicians

Ruth Wright, Euronews

UN climate chief Simon Stiell has linked climate action with economic markers that are often tied to elections, in an address to the European parliament committee on the environment, climate and food safety, according to Euronews. The outlet quotes Stiell saying “it’s entirely in Europe’s interests to stand firm behind climate action” and that, in order to boost economic stability and energy security, “clean energy is the surest path to deliver, cheaply and safely”. Euractiv cites Stiell saying that fossil-fuel dependence is Europe’s “economic achilles’ heel”. Reuters quotes the executive secretary of UN Climate Change stating that “the EU’s summer of hellish heat comes on top of the ongoing fossil fuel cost crisis” and that both are adding to inflationary pressures. In addition, Stiell said attempts to stoke climate “culture war” must be rejected in order to avoid economic harm, according to the Guardian.

MORE ON EUROPE

A “draft impact assessment” seen by Euronews suggests the European Commission is preparing to reshape the EU’s “renewable-energy rulebook” after 2030, signalling a shift from less regulation to greater focus on investment, grids and storage.
Euractiv reports that European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is considering proposing new EU water legislation following this summer’s drought.
Reuters reports that Hungary’s central bank is considering adding climate risk scenarios to its decision-making framework, following severe drought this year.

Speed up electricity grid upgrade or else face higher bills, warns UK watchdog

Alex Daniel, The Guardian

The UK National Audit Office (NAO) has warned that upgrades to the country’s electricity transmission grid are at risk of not being delivered ‌and could lead to consumers paying higher bills, according to the Guardian. The newspaper says a report from NAO notes that the extra costs associated with managing the ageing power network could reach £7.8bn a year by 2030. The article explains that the government’s plan to modernise the grid and carry more power from wind and solar sources is intended to lower bills – but NAO warns that, without faster action, costs could rise instead. Reuters explains that the extra costs come from the grid operator “paying gas plants or wind farms to turn off and gas plants to turn on”, as needed. The Daily Telegraph focuses on the money spent on “wasted wind payments”, when turbines are switched off. The story, under the headline “households face £100 on energy bills to pay cost of wind”, also appears on the frontpage of the Times.

MORE ON UK

Plans to build a £16m renewable energy research centre in Ayrshire, south-west Scotland, have been “abandoned”, according to BBC News.
An investigation by campaigners at Global Witness, covered by Reuters, finds that major UK retailers are selling barbecue charcoal from “trees cleared to create more farmland in Paraguay’s Gran Chaco”.
The Daily Telegraph reports that the UK government has paid 16 social media influencers £170,000 to “promote net-zero”.

Brazil eyes China as buyer of carbon credits, targets accord by COP31

Marcela Ayres, Reuters

Brazil is looking to assess whether Beijing could “become a buyer of Brazilian carbon credits” and advance talks toward a “bilateral carbon market” during a scheduled visit to China next month, said Brazil’s carbon market secretary Cristina Reis, reports Reuters. Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that Chinese president Xi Jinping will visit India to attend the 18th BRICS summit, alongside representatives from Brazil and other countries, reports state news agency Xinhua. Bloomberg says the “intensifying climate crisis” will be a major topic at the BRICS summit as “extreme weather events become increasingly frequent and damaging”. University of International Business and Economics’ Lan Qingxin and Pan Juncheng write in the state-run newspaper China Daily that the BRICS members are expanding cooperation in areas such as “green development”. A newsletter by CNBC says India’s battery energy storage system, key to the country’s energy transition, will have to grapple with the fact that 80% of batteries originate from China.

MORE ON CHINA

China’s EV penetration rate is expected to reach 75% to 80% by 2030, according to the Economics and Development Research Institute at Sinopec, the state-owned oil and gas company, reports Reuters. ⁠
Bloomberg carries an opinion article by columnist Liam Denning, saying that “shutting out Chinese battery technology altogether” will not create a battery industry, but will prevent one from forming.
A new report by thinktank Rhodium finds global investment in clean technologies fell 17% in the first half of 2026 on the back of slowing momentum in China, reports Reuters.
The death toll from rain-triggered mudslides and landslides earlier this month in southern China’s Jiangxi province now stands at 16, reports Xinhua.
A Global Times editorial argues that current trade tensions between China and the EU will “forfeit” potential cooperation on climate.
Asia Society Policy Institute China climate hub director Li Shuo writes in the China-Global South Project that increasingly severe climate impacts are likely to become a “permanent” thread in China’s relations with global south countries.

Comment

The green economy is reaching a tipping point. Britain doesn’t want to get left behind

Jason Knauf, The Daily Telegraph

Jason Knauf, chief executive of the Earthshot Prize – the global environmental prize launched by Prince William – writes for the Daily Telegraph about the importance of supporting clean technologies. He reflects on recent commentary published in Daily Telegraph: “This summer, the climate debate in these pages became a debate about Britain itself: our prosperity, our security, our industrial future and whether we stay competitive in a changing world.” Knauf argues that “there’s a danger in assuming we have to wait for cleaner technologies to become cheaper before backing them”, adding that “waiting for every good idea to become cheap, without helping it get there, risks permanent delay”. He points to the growth of renewables in China and India, contradicting a “favourite argument of climate sceptics” that these countries are not acting. Knauf adds: “The danger for Britain is not only that we reduce emissions too slowly, or that we lose our moral standing on climate leadership. It is that we wake up in a decade to find economic rivals with access to unlimited, cheap energy that also makes their cities cleaner and people healthier.”

MORE COMMENT

Guardian financial editor Nils Pratley calls for the government to be more transparent about grid upgrade costs, following a report from the NAO warning that projects are running “over budget and behind schedule”.
Cat Ecceles, the Labour MP for Stourbridge, writes in PoliticsHome about the wildfires that burned houses in her constituency and argues that “we must not approve Rosebank” – the largest undeveloped oil field in the UK.
Reuters energy columnist Ron Bousso writes about conflict in the Middle East and oil prices, noting that “uncertainty itself has become a major market force, embedding a persistent risk premium in crude prices that could endure for months”.

Research

A study finds “persistent” greening and increasing interannual variability across global drylands from 1982-2020, highlighting the potential to ”disrupt key dryland ecosystem services” | Nature Climate Change
Warming-induced emissions of greenhouse gases – such as those released from permafrost, wetlands and wildfires – could amplify post-2020 anthropogenic warming by 20%-30% | Environmental Research Letters
Climate anxiety is positively associated with “pro-environmental behavioral intentions”, while also resulting in “poorer mental health outcomes” | Frontiers in Climate