Daily Briefing: Gas price surge | UK set for hottest summer | India flood toll

12.08.26

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News

Heatwaves push European gas prices close to Iran war highs

Rachel Millard, Financial Times

European gas prices have reached their “highest levels” since the start of the Iran war as Wednesday’s solar eclipse and “yet another heatwave” have increased demand for gas-fired power generation, reports the Financial Times. It explains that demand for gas has been pushed up by “high demand for air conditioning and lower output from some nuclear and coal power stations as heatwaves make the temperature of the water in rivers they need for cooling too high, while in several areas levels are too low”. Reuters reports that Romania could shut down its last working nuclear reactor on Thursday as water levels in the Danube fall. Meanwhile, Bloomberg says that water levels in parts of the Rhine have fallen to their lowest since records began and could drop further this week. It continues that the disruption along the waterway – a “key shipping route” through Europe’s industrial heartland – is “throwing up supply chain challenges for companies”. The Guardian looks at why Europe is the fastest-warming continent.

MORE ON EUROPE HEAT

The Independent reports that Spain could see temperatures as high as 42C later this week and that Hungary, Serbia and Romania could reach “temperatures near the 40s” next week.
Reuters: “French power prices jump over 20% as heatwave tightens supply.”
The Financial Times looks at how farmers in Europe are shifting their practices to cope with extreme weather.
Reuters: “Europe’s hot summer stunts Austrian crops, prompts rush to slaughterhouse.”
New wildfires have erupted near Athens, Greece, according to the Independent.
France24 looks at how drought is impacting France’s cheese industry while the Associated Press looks at how Italy’s sparkling wine industry is affected.

Summer 2026 on course to be UK’s hottest on record, Met Office says

Emily Beament, The Press Association

The Press Association covers an update from the Met Office that warns the UK is on course for its hottest summer on record, with ”only average conditions needed” for the rest of August to beat last year’s record. The newswire notes that parts of the country are facing their fifth heatwave of the summer, with amber extreme heat warnings in place for parts of England and temperatures expected to reach 38C. It continues that “nearly three quarters” of England and all of Wales are in drought, after a “record dry July and very dry start to August has combined with high temperatures” to put pressure on water resources. The Independent and i newspaper cover the projected summer record on their frontpages, which the Guardian covers on its liveblog. The Guardian says the prime minister will today chair a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee in response to the extreme heat.

The i newspaper reports that the cost of fruit and vegetables, bread and cereals could rise as crop yields have been struck by a lack of rain. It continues that “several experts” have said this could “feed through to higher price rises in six to 12 months”. The Daily Telegraph covers a warning from analysts at Share Capital investment bank that the UK “is facing its worst food security crisis in decades”. In a frontpage story, the Daily Telegraph claims that drought has “forced” the UK to pay a “record energy bill”. It says the country has “paid record sums to buy electricity from Europe this summer”. The Guardian says analysis from the Verdant thinktank puts the cost to the UK economy of repeated heatwaves at more than £4bn by the end of July. The Daily Telegraph covers separate warnings that heatwaves are “hammering Britain’s economy”.

MORE ON UK

More than 500 scientists have urged the government to resist industry lobbying for more North Sea oil and gas, reports the Times.
A study covered by the Financial Times finds that climate change is an “existential threat” to England’s green spaces.
There is widespread coverage – including on the frontpage of the Financial Times and in BBC News and the Guardian – that UK households living near new grid infrastructure could get £250 a year off their energy bills.
The Independent covers comments from AA boss Edmund King that heatwaves triggered 40,000 “pothole-related breakdown calls” in a month.
The UK’s fire union chief has warned of a “national emergency” over wildfires, according to the Press Association.
The Guardian covers a blaze in the New Forest, BBC News wildfires near Grimethorpe and the Independent a fire in a park in Exeter.

Flood death toll in India’s Assam reaches 100 as thousands lose their homes

Wasbir Hussain, The Associated Press

On Monday, “the flood crisis in India’s north-eastern Assam state remained critical, with the death toll reaching 100,” reports the Associated Press. It adds that several rivers “remain above danger levels, raising the risk of fresh flooding in vulnerable areas”. The story notes that “human-caused climate change is intensifying” monsoon rains, which “now arrive in erratic bursts that dump extreme amounts of water” in short periods, followed by dry spells. Assam’s chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma promised to “raise concerns” that “illegal sand, stone and coal mining” in the neighbouring state of Nagaland contributed to flooding, reports the Hindu. Brahmaputra basin researcher Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman tells Mongabay that “[r]ampant and consistent wetland degradation and infrastructure projects have been hampering the natural drainage flow of many tributaries”. The Assam Tribune reports that Sarma’s government is seeking to reduce the eco-sensitive zone around the flooded Kaziranga National Park “to strike a balance between conservation and development”.

In Kerala, heavy rains have claimed “15 lives so far, while seven people remain missing”, the Hindu BusinessLine reports. It quotes chief minister VD Satheesan saying that flash floods were caused by “extremely intense, localised rainfall that left little time for evacuation”, quoting experts who “attribute this to El Niño”. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) tells the New Indian Express that monsoon in the state remains “22% below normal”, despite the intense rain spells. Former IMD chief Madhavan Rajeevan tells Deutsche Welle that the rise in extreme rainfall “represents a structural shift” in the monsoon. It quotes environmental lawyer Ritwick Dutta, who says decision-makers “fail[ing] to consider climate change while planning construction projects” are effectively “weaponising the environment”. It also quotes Sunita Narain, director of the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, who says: “The challenge is no longer proving the science, but redesigning our economy and infrastructure to survive it.”

MORE ON INDIA

India’s solar capacity additions in the last three years have cut midday fossil-fuel generation by about “15 coal-fired power units”, reports the Economic Times, citing thinktank Ember.
ISignal covers a new Climate Central study finding that 16 Indian cities experienced “dangerous humid days” for more than six months each year.
A Down to Earth comment argues that protecting workers from climate-related risks is “not merely a welfare measure” but an “investment in economic resilience, sustainable industrial growth and national productivity.”

China: Six departments release 15th ‘five-year plan’ for ecological protection

China Energy Net

China’s new “five-year plan” for ecological protection aims to improve ecological quality, improve ecological protection and restoration supervision systems, while safeguarding national ecological security by 2030, according to China Energy Net. State-run newspaper China Daily also covers the story, saying that China sets a target of expanding forest coverage to 25.8% by 2030. The country’s “five-year plan” for the “standardisation development of comprehensive transportation” calls for promoting the low-carbon transition of transport energy sources, says industry news outlet BJX News. China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, has issued the “five-year plan”, calling for improving the quality of financial support for “green and low-carbon” development, according to Ideacarbon. The Communist Party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily covers China’s plan for its coal sector, which was published on Monday. It says by 2030 China’s “safe and green” development as well as clean and efficient utilisation of coal will “significantly improve”.

MORE ON CHINA

Reuters reports that, in July, China’s “electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid exports grew 147.8% year-on-year, versus a 3.9% drop in their domestic sales”.
Chinese-developed AI weather models are helping generate much faster and more accurate forecasts for Typhoon Dolphin, says Reuters. Reuters also reports Beijing expects to receive “one-third of its annual rainfall over [the] next 24 hours”.
People’s Daily carries an article under the byline “Zhong Yin” – a byline that signals approval from party leadership – saying that China has ensured “stable” energy supplies amid “one of the largest shocks” to global energy markets.
Building a new energy system that balances supply and demand has become an “urgent priority” as more solar and wind power is wasted, says Jiemian.
Nikkei Asia reports that China now accounts for more than a third of foreign investment in Bangladesh’s power industry.
An article by China Daily calls for deeper energy cooperation between China and the ASEAN region to enhance regional energy resilience.

US power use to beat record highs in 2026 and 2027 as AI use surges, EIA says

Scott Disavino, Reuters

Reuters covers an outlook report from the US Energy Information Administration which finds that US power consumption – which hit its second straight annual record-high in 2025 – will rise further in 2026 and 2027. It notes that demand is “surging in large part due to data centres dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency” and as homes and businesses “use more electricity and less fossil fuels for heat and transportation”. The Guardian covers a peer-reviewed study that it says finds AI is set to drive more productivity gains in coal, oil and gas that it will avoid emissions through applications in renewables globally. It says: “Across 64 scenarios, they found net yearly carbon pollution rose by 0.47-1.8bn tonnes, or about 1-5% of the energy sector’s annual emissions.” Axios also covers the study.

MORE ON US

The Senate Committee has advanced a bill exempting a Montana coal company from environmental standards, reports Inside Climate News.
Bloomberg reports on how Trump’s “anti-wind crusade” is boosting oil and gas.
There is continuing coverage of the Trump administration’s decision to axe an annual Arctic report card, including in the New York Times.
There is also continuing coverage in Scientific American of the National Academy of Sciences’ decision to pull a climate chapter from a judges’ manual.
Politico: “California energy regulator says he is open to working with Trump on oil refineries.”
California has sent a subpoena to energy company RWE, seeking to learn more about a $1.2bn deal it made with the Trump administration to end offshore wind leases, says Politico.

Comment

How to stop global warming

Pilita Clark, Financial Times

In a comment piece trailed on the frontpage of the Financial Times, associate editor Pilita Clark writes that scientists have “understood for years that net-zero is the point at which global warming stops, meaning temperatures cease rising”. Clark urges readers to consider this when told that an “‘eco-zealot’ like foreign secretary Ed Miliband has a ‘religious obsession’” with net-zero. She continues that, in fact, it “requires dedicated ideological belief to argue against the scientific evidence that net-zero is needed to stop ever more expensive and destructive warming”. Clark says: “The longer we wait to reach net-zero, the higher the eventual peak temperature will be and the worse the associated damage.” She points to a “dramatic change” in how the UK media covers net-zero, noting that in 2018, 90% of articles referred to climate change – but by 2024 that figure had dropped to 42%. As a result, she says, it is “no wonder polls have shown support for more urgent action has tumbled”. She concludes: “Views may change after this awful summer, but what really needs to shift is political thinking…Reasonable people can debate the best way forward. Blinkered, ideological zealots will never get us anywhere.”

MORE COMMENT

An editorial in the Guardian argues that the summer’s extraordinary heat, drought and wildfires should be a “spur to action on both the fire service and the wider climate crisis”.
In the Guardian, regular columnist George Monbiot argues that the “greatest question” is whether humanity can hit “social tipping points” on tackling climate change before “environmental tipping points” are reached.
In the Guardian, scientist and author Peter Gleick argues the current “water crisis” is the “direct consequence of accelerating human-caused climate changes, on top of decades of neglect and underinvestment in water institutions and infrastructure”.
The US ambassador to the EU Andrew Pudzer writes in the Financial Times that the bloc’s carbon border adjustment mechanism is a “tariff by another name”
In the Daily Telegraph, climate-sceptic peer Ian Botham claims that the UK’s wildfire crisis is the result of policies that have added “too much vegetation to our landscape”, adding that it is “rewilding not winter burns which dries the landscape”.
John Gapper, chief business columnist for the Financial Times, argues the “benefits of solar power for a country burdened by high energy prices are obvious”.

Research

Hibernating polar bears leave their dens earlier in the year following a low sea-ice season, reducing the survival rate of their young | Global Change Biology
Incorporating the health costs of fossil-fuel air pollution during “renewable energy droughts” into planning models could enable a “deeper clean-energy transition” | Nature Geoscience
Modelling of historical reforestation in the eastern US shows that the total carbon stock recovered to up to 90% of its pre-deforestation baseline over a period of 150 years | Environmental Research Letters