Daily Briefing: ‘Insufficient’ nature policies | EU car row | England’s ‘severe’ drought

16.10.26

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News

Countries urged to ramp up ‘insufficient’ nature policies at COP17

Sebastian Rodriguez, Climate Home News

The latest set of biodiversity plans filed by countries is “insufficient” to meet the world’s nature goals for 2030, a landmark UN report has concluded, according to Climate Home News. It reports: “The State of Biodiversity Action, put together by a panel of technical experts for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), was released in Yerevan, ahead of the COP17 nature talks starting on Monday in the Armenian capital. Over the next two weeks, governments will for the first time take stock of progress towards the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) agreed in 2022 – a set of 23 targets also known as the ‘Paris Agreement for nature’ – and will decide on policy guidelines for ramping up ambition before the 2030 deadline. The UN report will be the main basis for these negotiations.” [Carbon Brief takes an in-depth look at what the report says about progress on each of the 23 nature targets for 2030. Carbon Brief also covered a draft version of the report earlier this year.]

EU leaders’ summit descends into three-hour argument over taxing car emissions

Ben Makuch, Politico

Politico reports that the first session of talks on how to curb energy prices at an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels yesterday “descended into a three-hour fight over whether the EU should put a carbon price on driving cars and heating buildings”. It continues: “Countries including Italy, Poland, Czechia and Hungary called for ETS2 [emissions trading system 2] – an already-legislated law that will put a carbon price on heating and transport from 2028 – to be delayed for two more years. Estonia suggested it could be scrapped altogether. The push was rejected by a majority of the bloc, with several EU diplomats telling Politico it was, as one put it, an ‘unacceptable’ offer.” The Financial Times says: “ETS sceptics succeeded in focusing discussions on the weight of carbon costs on energy prices. But proponents ultimately won out, settling for agreement to ‘update the assessment of all impacts’ of its extension, rather than the delay that sceptics had requested.”

MORE ON EUROPE

Politico: “Late discord delays Franco-German deal on Made in Europe, car emissions.”
The Independent: “Deadly flooding hits Europe as deaths reported in Greece and Turkey.”

Severe drought declared in England for first time

Adam Vaughan, The Times

Several UK publications report that severe drought has been declared in England for the first time in history. The Times says the news comes as “two reservoirs fell to worryingly low levels after the driest six months in more than a century”. It continues: “The significant escalation means parts of six counties across southern England – Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, East Sussex and West Sussex – are in severe drought. Most of the rest of England is in drought, including Yorkshire as of last week.” The Daily Telegraph says the country is facing its worst drought in “31 years”. BBC News says that “water supplies have been significantly impacted by high demand following the hottest summer on record”, adding: “The government said customer supplies would be uninterrupted and declaring severe drought ‘ensures proactive steps are taken to safeguard water before any disruption occurs’.” There is further coverage in the Guardian, i newspaper and the Independent.

MORE ON UK

The Times: “Data centre expansion could push up energy bills, energy chiefs warn.”
The Independent reports that the head of energy regulator Ofgem has said the UK could face a “difficult” winter for energy bills. The Daily Telegraph reports that the CEO of Scottish Power has warned that people face a bills “doom loop”.
The Guardian: “Cost of balancing Great Britain’s power grid reaches nearly £50m a day.”
BusinessGreen: “’A huge opportunity’: UK offshore wind supply chain could unlock £14.6bn by 2050.”
BBC News: “The whole street was in flames: Inside the West Midlands wildfire disaster.”
Scottish first minister John Swinney has accused GB Energy of doing “literally, absolutely nothing”, reports the Independent.

China removes western wind power equipment to boost security

Will Mathis, Bloomberg

According to analysis of public procurement documents by a Polish state-backed thinktank, Chinese wind companies are “replacing” European components with domestic alternatives due to “security and control” concerns, reports Bloomberg. It says that implications for Europe’s wind turbine industry are “significant”. The Guardian reports that the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a “grouping of China-sceptic legislators”, has “identified [climate change] as a low-risk area for cooperation and alignment” between the UK and China. The Daily Mail also covers the news, saying the report found that the UK is “dependent” on China to meet “green targets”. Quoting domestic exports, state-supporting newspaper the Global Times says the report “exaggerate[s] China-related security risks and differences in values”. Meanwhile, online publication Table.Briefings reports that MERICS, a Berlin-based thinktank, said that the “pros and cons of trade with China are creating a strategic dilemma for Germany’s cleantech sector”.

MORE ON CHINA

China’s commerce ministry said its “understanding” with the EU on hybrid cars is “reciprocal and mutually beneficial”, reports China News Service.
China’s special envoy for the “High Seas Treaty” tells China Daily that choosing China as the BBNJ secretariat host would “ensure the full and balanced fulfilment of the agreement’s dual objectives of conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity”.
A People’s Daily commentary under the byline Heyin – indicating it expresses the views of party leadership on international affairs – says China is willing to strengthen “new energy” cooperation with the African nation of Togo.
China has helped “stabilise” global oil markets by choosing “restraint over panic” during the Hormuz crisis, says Xinhua. An Economic Daily column article said that by “slowing” oil imports, China has provided a “crucial backstop” for energy markets.
Jiemian reports China’s wind industry is shifting from “worshipping scale” to improving quality and ensuring “reliable substitution”.
Tsinghua University professor Ouyang Minggao writes an opinion article for People’s Daily that EVs can help “stabilise” China’s power grid”.

Comment

Why COP31’s electrification push must put interconnection at its core

Niklas Persson, Backchannel

For the Backchannel substack, Niklas Persson, the CEO of grid integration at Hitachi Energy, says next month’s COP31 climate summit “must treat interconnection with the importance it deserves”. The climate benefits of interconnection “are often understated”, he says, noting that they “extend beyond emissions reductions” and lower the “overall cost of decarbonisation”. He continues: “Today, less than 4% of global electricity production crosses international borders. By comparison, over 40% of global oil production is traded internationally. We have spent decades building global systems to move fossil fuels, but the attention must shift to the infrastructure needed for a global economy powered by electricity.”

MORE COMMENT

An editorial in Nature urges the importance of raising funds for protecting nature ahead of the COP17 summit.
An editorial in the Guardian says experts warn the UK must prepare itself for food price shocks, driven by factors such as “Brexit, climate stress and the wars in Ukraine and Iran”.
Patrick Maguire, chief political commentator for the Times, says that he has been told that prime minister Andy Burnham could be planning a “big, pro-growth move on oil and gas”.
The climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph speaks to people living in a village in Suffolk “being encircled by pylons”.

Research

A study of 15,330 ice cliffs across Earth’s ice sheet margins suggests that “model projections may underestimate subannual rates of cliff calving” | Science
An assessment of 774 reef-building coral species reveals that “nearly half” are classified as “threatened”, mostly due to projected thermal stress | Nature
Deployment of stratospheric aerosol injection would require a management organisation insulated from “inappropriate political interference” | Climatic Change