Daily Briefing: Climate on agenda at UNGA | ‘Release’ oil reserves | Saudi authors at IPCC

21.09.26

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News

World leaders meet at UN as their planet grapples with war, division, runaway AI and climate shocks

Edith M Lederer, The Associated Press

The Associated Press previews this week’s UN general assembly where world leaders will be meeting “facing new fears that runaway artificial intelligence could threaten humanity even as climate shocks and escalating prices are already making life much tougher for hundreds of millions of people”. It says that the future of the UN itself will be “on the agenda”, while there will be “behind the scenes…speculation” as the next secretary general. The Backchannel substack asks “what to expect on climate” at the general assembly. The Financial Times “week ahead” newsletter also previews the meeting, saying there is “speculation” that there will be additional late entrants to the secretary-general race. For the Guardian, journalist Steve Bloomfield has a comment under the headline: “In a world of wars and climate crisis, a new leader could save the UN. But would Trump allow it?” [See the Carbon Brief summary of the current candidates’ views on climate change.]

France calls G7 summit on releasing more oil reserves

Adrienne Klasa, Rachel Millard, Verity Ratcliffe, Ryohtaroh Satoh and Paola Tamma, Financial Times

The Financial Times reports French president Emmanuel Macron saying on Friday that he would convene a G7 summit to look at releasing more strategic oil reserves, in the wake of “spreading conflict in the Middle East”. The newspaper says that the flow from a previous release of reserves, coordinated by the International Energy Agency in March, has “slowed to a trickle” as it nears completion. It adds: “Macron added that he would contact the European Commission president to co-ordinate a bloc-wide response on natural gas supplies, including increasing gas storage levels.” Politico and Reuters also have the story. A Financial Times “big read” looks at “five ways the Iran energy shock is wrongfooting the world”. Semafor reports on Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia over the weekend “threatening to ignite another round of regional escalation”. BBC News covers Ukrainian strikes on an oil refinery in the Moscow region.

MORE ON ENERGY CRISIS

The Financial Times says government finances around the world are “set to come under further strain from mounting fuel-subsidy costs, as they attempt to shield households and businesses from the worsening energy crisis”.
Reuters: “Bolivia scraps diesel subsidy to combat fuel shortages.”
Financial Times: “Biodiesel for shipping now cheaper than conventional fuels after price fall.”
Politico: “Germany cuts fuel tax as Middle East conflicts send prices soaring.”
Reuters: “Bangladesh raises fuel prices as Middle East conflict drives up costs.”

EU ministers discuss taxing windfall profits of energy companies as oil prices surge

Jan Strupczewski, Reuters

EU finance ministers discussed whether to impose an EU-wide windfall tax on energy companies at a meeting on Friday, reports Reuters. It says further talks are expected in October. The Guardian adds: “With elections due next year in eight EU countries including France, Italy, Spain and Poland, leaders are scrambling to head off the potential fallout from what analysts have warned could be one of the continent’s biggest energy shocks in decades.” It continues: “The EU’s economic commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, has said the commission has no plans ‘at this stage’ for an ⁠EU-wide taxing mechanism, but stressed it was ‘ready to engage in discussion’ and member states were free to impose their own taxes.” Euractiv also has the story.

MORE ON EU

The Guardian: “Burning forests, emptying rivers, €180bn in damage: Europe’s politicians face reckoning after ‘summer of truth’.”
Reuters: “EU to impose provisional safeguards to protect electrical steel from imports.”
The Financial Times: “Single bet on electric trucks would be ‘super dangerous’ for Europe, Volvo says.”
The Financial Times: “Ineos to store carbon dioxide off Denmark as technology gains momentum.”
Euractiv: “Brussels should ‘resist’ U-turn on methane rules, lawmakers warn.”
Euractiv: “Interview: Hoekstra on climate and energy crises, COP31 and China.”

UK: Clean-power contract auction could slash energy bills by £11bn, analysts claim

James Murray, BusinessGreen

The UK’s next auction for clean energy “could deliver over £11bn in savings for consumers through to 2050, according to a new analysis from LCP Delta”, reports BusinessGreen. It says the analysis points to the potential for significant savings on energy bills from the upcoming eighth “contracts for difference” auction, due to be held this autumn. The outlet adds that the auction could secure up to 19 gigawatts of new capacity and that this would reduce wholesale power costs by £51bn over 25 years, only partially offset by contract payments of £38bn. The Times reports warnings that a £600m government scheme to reduce energy costs for businesses “will be far less generous than intended due to rising energy prices”.

Meanwhile, in the climate-sceptic newspapers, an article in the Sunday Telegraph claims the UK’s “rush to net-zero…risks giving [Beijing] critical leverage over [the] UK power system”, as part of a feature on China’s “dominance” of cleantech supply chains. The Daily Mail carries an article under the headline: “Spies fear Ed Miliband will be weak on China as we need their green tech to hit his net-zero targets.” It quotes one unnamed “security source” and reuses an old quote from Richard Dearlove, the former MI6 chief who last week delivered the annual lecture to the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a UK climate-sceptic lobby group. An accompanying Daily Mail comment by author Ian Williams describes wind turbines as “weapons”.

MORE ON UK

BBC News reports that Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey is calling for a 10p cut in fuel duty for three months, along with lower rail and bus fares. The Times says Davey is “court[ing] Tory voters” with the fuel-duty call.
The Financial Times: “Dry British summers raise hopes of homegrown chickpeas.”
The Sunday Express cites a series of climate-sceptic lobby groups in an article calling for more North Sea oil and gas drilling.
The Observer: “Super El Niño could end the ‘sense of food abundance’ enjoyed by UK consumers.”
The Daily Express: “NHS heatwave trauma revealed in nurses’ poll.” The New York Times: “‘Way too hot’: Britain’s hospitals were not built for 96F [36C] summers.”
The Daily Mail: “Could the SNP’s eco zealots be coming for Scotland’s cows?”

China urges stable coal output as prices rise to three-year high

Bloomberg

Chinese authorities have issued a notice calling on coal miners to “accelerate efforts to ensure steady output and promote the reopening of mines to support economic growth and energy supply”, reports Bloomberg. The move comes after “spot prices for the power-station fuel rallied to the highest level in nearly three years”, adds the outlet. Industry news outlet BJX News carries the notice, jointly issued by China’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration, and the National Mine Safety Administration.

MORE ON CHINA

Reuters reports “direct economic losses” due to August’s extreme weather in China of 36bn yuan ($5.4bn). The recent Himalayan floods left 562 people dead or missing in Tibet, reports Guangming Daily, citing official figures released on Friday.
China has urged the EU to “provide a just and non-discriminatory business environment for enterprises from all countries”, reports the Global Times.
An official with China’s commerce ministry said “green and low-carbon development has become a defining feature of China’s foreign trade”, reports Xinhua.
The New York Times says that “already dominant” in low-carbon technologies, China now appears to “have an unparalleled position across the energy landscape”.
Reuters reports leading Chinese EV manufacturers and battery-makers may join president Xi Jinping’s upcoming visit to Washington.
The Financial Times publishes its “moral money” newsletter under the headline: “Why Al Gore welcomes China’s ‘unilateral leadership’ on climate?”

US: Trump’s EPA must reinstate $7bn grant programme for solar panels, judge rules

Jake Spring, The Washington Post

A court has ruled that the Trump administration “must reinstate a $7bn grant programme that funded solar-panel installation for low- and moderate-income families”, reports the Washington Post. The newspaper says the “solar for all” programme was created by the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. The Hill reports: “[The judge] said that…the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] did not have the power to rescind funds that were already awarded.” It calls the ruling “a blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce government spending and target Biden-era climate programmes”.

MORE ON US

Politico: Climate change is “already costing US households between $400 and $900 a year”.
Inside Climate News reports comments by senator Sheldon Whitehouse on its Inside Climate podcast, on the “climate-denial fraud operation…and the dark money corruption operation that the fossil-fuel industry runs”.
The Colorado Sun: “Iconic St Mary’s Glacier has disappeared for first time in over a century.”
The Financial Times: “US state department under pressure to disclose Venezuelan oil takings.”
The Financial Times: “Chevron plans drilling spree as it overhauls oil and gas search.”

Comment

How Saudi oil scientists ended up working on the world’s most important climate reports

Damian Carrington, Eoghan Gilmartin, Silvia Lazzaris, Rita Cruz, Simon Guichard and David Haas, The Guardian

A feature in the Guardian reports on its investigation into the “fossil-fuel links” of some authors of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports. It says the appointment of Dr Mustafa Babiker, a scientist who works for Saudi Aramco, as a coordinating lead author for the next IPCC assessment report “sparked controversy in the climate science community last year”. It adds: “But a Guardian investigation…has now revealed that Babiker is far from an isolated case.” It continues: “At least a dozen IPCC lead authors are employed by or linked to Saudi Aramco, Saudi institutions and other oil and gas interests, the investigation found. One IPCC vice-chair, part of the body’s leadership group, also represents the kingdom at global climate negotiations as a government employee.” The newspaper says: “The IPCC’s conflict of interest policy has been described as ‘not fit for purpose’ by experts who have reviewed the Guardian’s investigation.”

MORE COMMENT

In the Daily Mail, opposition Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch falsely claims that approving new North Sea oil and gas fields “could bring down [electricity bills]”.
In the Daily Telegraph, Nigel Farage, the leader of the climate-sceptic hard-right Reform UK, falsely blames high energy bills on the UK’s “bizarre net-zero targets”.
A Daily Mail editorial calls for a planned rise in fuel duty to be scrapped. An editorial in the Sun also calls for cuts to fuel duty.
Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson uses her slot to promote a climate-sceptic lobby group, of which she is a board member.
The Daily Telegraph gives a comment slot to oil industry veteran Richard Lyon to write about his upcoming book under the headline: “We must use the remaining fossil fuels to build nuclear. Time is perilously short.”
The Daily Telegraph runs a feature on “how net-zero became politically toxic”. Climate-sceptic columnist John Rentoul writes in the Independent that “action on climate change needs a rethink – not just a rebrand.”

Research

Both afforestation and reforestation can increase soil carbon storage and support soil microbial growth, but the former “has the potential to support greater soil microbial biomass and larger topsoil carbon storage across stand development spanning up to a century” | Nature Ecology and Evolution
The Santa Ana winds that help spread wildfires in southern California “are becoming less frequent and weaker” on average, although “the most intense wind events that drive destructive fires remain just as strong” | Earth’s Future
“Research on climate justice in carbon emissions mitigation has grown substantially”, with the bulk of research focusing on “distributive justice”, while “procedural and recognition justice receive insufficient attention” | Environmental Science and Policy