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Daily Briefing: Diesel price ‘jump’ | South Korea’s ‘green transformation’ | Penguin peril

08.10.26

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Article Contents

News

Diesel price jumps after IEA says no additional fuel will be released

Ian Johnston, The Financial Times

European diesel prices have jumped 8% after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said member states would not add to the release of 400m barrels of crude and refined products that it committed to in March, reports the Financial Times. The G7 agreed last Friday to release 100m barrels of oil and diesel, says Politico: “However, the IEA appeared to confirm Wednesday that that release would draw from stocks pledged under an agreement in March and not include additional supplies. In other words, it would not amount to a new release at all, but would simply fulfil prior promises.” It adds that EU officials endorsed the position, agreeing to defer any future drawdowns “pending a clearer IEA assessment of market conditions and security-of-supply risks”. Reuters reports that France will release 10m barrels of diesel from its strategic reserves as part of the release of the final 100m barrels of oil from the March commitment. 

Separately, the Financial Times reports that the world’s largest oil companies are “looking past the chaos, destruction and lost production caused by the war in the Middle East as they target greater access to the region’s vast oil and gas reserves”.

Korea to accelerate renewable energy expansion to 100GW by 2030

Yi Whan-woo, The Korea Times

South Korea will increase renewable energy capacity to at least 100 gigawatts by 2030 with around $750bn in government-led investment planned over the next decade, reports the Korea Times. It adds that the goal is a part of the Korean Green Transformation (K-GX), a strategy unveiled yesterday. Reuters adds that K-GX also includes plans to support industries such as green steel, batteries, solar power, wind energy hydrogen and small modular reactors. It quotes Korean president Lee Jae Myung, who said: “We must move away ​from the practice of chasing others and become architects and leaders of the green market ourselves”. In other news, Reuters reports that South Korea has pushed back against Ukrainian claims the nation “eased Russia’s fuel crisis” by allowing imports of petroleum products ​from South Korean ports.

Australia says COP31 co-presidency will work on a cover decision

Megan Rowling, Climate Home News

Australia and Turkey have agreed to work on a “cover decision” for COP31 after consulting with different countries and groups, reports Climate Home News. It notes that, unlike a formal decision text at COP, cover decisions are not negotiated by governments, but instead offer summaries crafted by the presidency. Speaking at the pre-COP meeting in Fiji, Australia’s climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen said the presidency did not want to negotiate “a lengthy political statement”, the article notes. It quotes Bowen, who said the cover decision at COP31 will be one that “captures the global moment and calls for action”, adding that it would offer “a focused and concrete response to the challenges and opportunities of our time”.

MORE ON AUSTRALIA

  • The Financial Times covers comments by a trade association that the Australian high court ruling blocking the expansion of a coal mine is a “blow” to industry, which has put the sector at risk and could be used as a template for future cases.
  • The Guardian reports that New South Wales premier Chris Minns has said climate activists should not get “overexcited” about the high court decision. 

World’s largest penguin colony hit by climate-driven decline

Victoria Gill, BBC News

Nearly two-thirds of the population of chinstrap penguins on Zavodovski Island have “disappeared”, reports BBC News. It adds that the remote volcanic island near Antarctica was home to the largest penguin colony in the world, yet aerial surveys suggest this is no longer true. The research suggests that there are 63% fewer occupied nests of penguins in 2025 than at the same time in 2011, it continues. The article adds that “the research team say climate change is affecting the birds’ food supply and survival, and the penguins may now be officially endangered”. Elsewhere, BBC Earth looks at Deception Island where in “a rare winner of climate change” gentoo penguins are “flourishing” inside an active Antarctic volcano. In other wildlife news, Reuters covers new figures from WWF that suggest populations of wild species fell by an average of 73% from 1970 to 2022.

China urges France, Germany to uphold free trade, avoid protectionism

Zhong Nan, China Daily

China’s ministry of commerce has called on France and Germany to “support open markets and free trade”, and to avoid pushing the EU toward “greater use of protectionist measures”, in response to a proposal from the two countries to the bloc on “wider use” of the trade defence tools, reports China Daily. China’s foreign ministry has said the country’s electric vehicle (EV) sector offers competitive choices to global consumers, including those in the UK, reports Yicai. The ministry added that Chinese-made EVs, whose demand exceeds supply, have supported the green transition, notes the outlet. The EU is planning to “limit imports of Chinese hybrid vehicles into the bloc in a bid to reduce the trade deficit”, reports Bloomberg. The New York Times says Chinese automakers have increasingly exported hybrid vehicles as the country builds charging infrastructure at an “extraordinary pace”. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post says that “non-stop working-level talks have proven difficult” between China and the EU.

MORE ON CHINA

  • China will build a “new-type power system” by promoting smart microgrid development and improving system regulation capabilities, according to CCTV.
  • Peking University’s Tian Xuan writes in Economic Daily that “green finance” can help high-emission industries reduce barriers to industrial transformation and carry out carbon-reduction upgrades.
  • China’s carbon market is generating ecological benefits across the country and injecting new momentum into local “green development”, according to Xinhua.
  • Two Chinese icebreakers have returned from the Arctic, bringing data that will provide “important support for global climate research”, reports CCTV.

Isaias becomes the first hurricane of the Atlantic season as it surges towards US Gulf coast

RJ Rico, Dave Collins and Hallie Golden, The Associated Press

Tropical storm Isaias has strengthened into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, prompting mandatory evacuations and school closures across Florida’s coastal areas, reports the Associated Press. It adds that forecasters have warned that Isaias could bring damaging hurricane-force winds to Florida, Alabama and southern Mississippi, as well as storm surge along the northern Gulf Coast. Reuters reports that Isaias is expected to hit the US coast early Saturday, bringing 10 inches of rainfall. Scientific American looks at how El Niño has led to an “eerily quiet” start to the Atlantic hurricane season. There is further coverage of Isaias in BBC News, CNN and the Guardian.

MORE ON US 

  • Reuters reports that the US Environmental Protection Agency will soon rescind a policy brought in under former president Joe Biden targeting methane leaks.
  • The Hill reports that “Red states exude confidence after supreme court climate arguments”. 
  • Reuters reports that the US Securities and Exchange Commission “will not charge top funds over climate concerns but warns of disclosure obligations”. 
  • The Guardian looks at whether California is “ready for the ravages of El Niño?”

UK: Blow for EV drivers in conservation areas who need pavement cables

David Byers, The Times

The Times covers last-minute government amendments that will stop electric car owners in England’s 10,000 conservation areas from being automatically allowed to run charging cables across the pavement, potentially doubling the cost of charging. It adds that the rules, which were set to come into force on 21 October, would have allowed all residents without driveways across England to run cables across pavements without needing planning permission.

MORE ON UK 

  • BBC News looks at why “hotter summers are making British potatoes smaller”. 
  • The Daily Telegraph reports that prime minister Andy Burnham is expected to match the EU’s electric car benefit, raising Chinese EV tariffs but potentially benefiting from a European trade scheme.
  • The Daily Express covers a call for Burnham to scrap a pay-per-mile car tax for EVs, set to come in in 2028.

Comment

Real men don’t do climate change

Pilita Clark, The Financial Times

In the Financial Times, columnist Pilita Clark argues that climate campaigns and communications “may need a rethink” as research shows a gender difference in how people think about global warming. She writes that research suggests some men “brush off the climate problem for fear of seeming too feminine”. Clark walks through numerous studies into the topic, which look at the impact of socialising and patterns of conditioning, as well as how to change the narrative to appeal to men. She concludes: “There is a message here for those of us who rightly worry about warming temperatures. Scientific facts really matter, as does the health of the environment. But there will be times when the best thing you can do for the planet is not talk about it at all.”

MORE COMMENT 

  • The Guardian, the Financial Times and the Times all carry editorials focused on the UK Conservative party conference, including party leader Kemi Badenoch’s calls for new North Sea oil and gas drilling and her “hostility to net-zero climate policy”.
  • In the Financial Times, director of market intelligence Amrita Sen writes that “crude futures are no longer a reliable guide to the inflationary impact of fuel prices”.
  • A Wall Street Journal editorial argues that the “climate reality [has] hit Massachusetts” amid an ongoing supreme court case.
  • In the Daily Express, political commentator Tim Newark argues that net-zero is “now a defunct concept whose time is up”. 
  • In the print edition of the Daily Telegraph, writer Izabella Kaminska argues that the UK should stockpile its own oil, adding: “As diesel prices soar it now looks incred­ibly short-sighted to have allowed refiner­ies to close.”

Overseas, Albanese sees ‘the very definition of climate injustice’ – but at home, he still wants coal

Adam Morton, The Guardian

In the Guardian, Australia climate and environment editor Adam Morton looks at the “historic victory” of community members against the expansion of a coalmine in New South Wales this week. He writes that the outcome is unlikely to please the Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese, who has said that alongside renewables his government supported “existing industries”, meaning coal. Morton looks at the contrast between Albanese’s language at the pre-COP meetings and how he approaches policy at home. Separately in the Guardian, Professor Jacqueline Peel, a climate litigation expert at the University of Melbourne, argues fossil fuel producers should be “shaking in their boots” after this week’s supreme court ruling. 

Research

  • Model simulations suggest that ocean alkalinity enhancement could drive stronger CO2 uptake on the European coastline in winter, turning the region into a “year-round carbon sink” | Earth System Dynamics
  • Ozone emissions generated by fires in the Amazon increases carbon losses by approximately one-quarter of the direct emissions of the fires themselves | Communications Earth & Environment
  • Land-use practices introduced by British colonists have increased Australia’s vulnerability to climate-driven wildfires | Nature

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Molly Lempriere, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Anika Patel. It was edited by Robert McSweeney.

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This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Molly Lempriere, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Anika Patel. It was edited by Robert McSweeney.