Daily Briefing: Lula win reaction | China’s ‘plenum’ | EU plans for 3C

27.10.26

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News

Lula’s election win in Brazil raises hopes for zero-deforestation drive

Sebastian Rodriguez, Climate Home News

There is continued coverage and reaction to what Climate Home News calls the “surprise re-election” of Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Sunday. The outlet says the result has raised hopes the country can meet its flagship target to end deforestation by 2030 and advance international fundraising to protect rainforests. It adds that Lula, in his acceptance speech, said that “we will show the world how climate policy is handled in this country” and highlighted the drop in deforestation under his previous four years as leader. The Associated Press quotes Brazilian scientist David Lapola saying: “The Amazon can breathe a sigh of relief!

Bloomberg adds that Lula’s defeat of Flávio Bolsonaro – who called for more development in the Amazon and looser environmental rules – keeps Brazil on a “climate-policy path centred on protecting forests”, as well as maintaining the nation’s prominent role in UN climate talks. The New York Times quotes Carlos Nobre, a professor of climate and sustainability at the University of São Paulo, who said had Bolsonaro won, “it would have been ecocide”. Inside Climate News adds that climate activists welcomed Lula’s re-election, but called for him to speed up the recognition of Indigenous territories, pressure agriculture businesses to stop using illegally deforested land, better protect environmental defenders and to cancel oil and road projects that threaten environmental progress.

China’s Xi opens Communist Party plenum, aims for firm governance measures

Reuters

China’s Communist Party began its fifth “plenum” on Monday, a four-day meeting of its highest-ranking members, “targeting concrete measures for ‘full and rigorous party self-governance’”, reports Reuters. It says Chinese president Xi Jinping was briefed at the plenum on a draft document that “addressed the challenges the party faced, including growing its governing capacity, as well as guarding against complacency and combating corruption”. A frontpage commentary in the Communist Party-affiliated People’s Daily under the byline “Ren Zhongping” – indicating the view of the ruling Communist Party – says that under the “rigorous” party self-governance, China is accelerating its “green energy transition” amid sharp fluctuations in global energy markets and building an “ecological civilisation” in the face of “unsustainable extensive growth”. It adds that the country is contributing Chinese expertise to the world in addressing climate change by launching the weather early-warning system “Mazu”.

MORE ON CHINA

China’s installed wind and solar capacity exceeded 2,000 gigawatts (GW) by the end of September – about half of the global total – reports China Environment News.
China’s first regional electricity market has officially entered operation in the southern region, marking a “major breakthrough” in building a unified national electricity market, reports Science and Technology Daily.
China’s domestic vehicle sales are set to fall to 18.5m vehicles in 2026, before rising 2% in 2027, according to the China Passenger Car Association, reports Reuters.
Chinese automakers “outsold Japanese rivals in Europe for the first time over a full quarter”, reports Bloomberg.
Indonesia’s energy minister Bahlil Lahadalia will travel this week to countries including China in a bid to “secure more gasoline supplies”, reports Reuters.
A comment by state news agency Xinhua says a key factor behind rehabilitating China’s mining areas was the decision to “thoroughly probe the political issues” underlying the ecological damage.

EU tells countries to make plans to cope with 3C of global warming

Ian Johnston, The Financial Times

The Financial Times reports that new rules proposed by the European Commission would require countries to plan for 3C of global warming. It adds that this would be the first legal proposal to prepare EU member states for such warming, following reports that the world is on track for 2.8C by 2100 under current policies. The article quotes EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, who told the publication: “Even if we do everything right today in the domain of mitigation, it will not be enough to get our citizens out of harm’s way. Last summer simply proved that alone is no longer nearly good enough.” Bloomberg adds that member states would have to come forward with adaptation plans by the end of 2030, while the European Commission would identify major risks, including possibly tipping points.

MORE ON EUROPE

Reuters reports that the Netherlands has pledged $500m to protect tropical forests, joining a coalition of countries to have pledged funds.
The Associated Press covers a pledge by French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen to reverse a ban on oil exploration if she is elected next May.
Bloomberg reports a “win for big tech” in Spain after rules on matching 80% of data-centre power usage with renewables were eased.

US: How Trump’s views on rising oil and gas prices have shifted since launching the war with Iran

Wyatte Grantham-Philips, The Associated Press

The Associated Press looks at what US president Donald Trump has said about energy costs since launching the Iran war in February. It notes that over those eight months, energy prices have soared, along with the cost of crude oil, leading to the average petrol price jumping to $4.29, up from $2.98 before the war, while diesel surpassed $6 last month. Back in March, the article continues, Trump celebrated surging oil costs saying: “When oil prices go up, we make a lot of money”. It adds that in June, Trump claimed: “Just as I promised, Oil prices are plummeting FAST, and gas [petrol] prices at the pump are dropping too”.

MORE ON US

Politico speculates about how Democrats will handle a “fully politicised” decision on electric-vehicle incentives if they retake congress at the midterm elections.
The Financial Times covers Trump’s “fresh campaign against wind power”, following the administration challenging three projects in recent weeks.
The Independent: “Trump’s oil and gas investments have doubled since the Iran war.”

UN climate science body left in limbo without budget sign-off after deadlock

Attracta Mooney, The Financial Times

The Financial Times reports that the leading scientific body on global warming is “in limbo”, after countries failed to approve its budget. It adds: “The stranglehold on funding for the UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), made up of hundreds of international experts, comes after a failure to resolve a three-year deadlock over when the next research should be delivered.” The article notes that the budget was not signed off at a meeting in Ethiopia in October, where “attendees [said] the IPCC was being held hostage to the discussions about the publication timeline”. [See the Carbon Brief summary of the meeting for more details.]

UK: Energy bills could hit nearly £2,200 a year as Iran war drives up gas prices

Nicole Wootton-Cane, The Independent

A new forecast suggests UK household energy bills could jump 27% to £2,192 a year from January, reports the Independent. It adds that the new forecasts follow renewed hostilities between the US and Iran in recent weeks, pushing gas prices to a four-year high, as “fears grow over dwindling European supplies as the continent heads towards winter”. The Times reports that the forecast, from energy company EDF, suggests that the energy price cap could rise from £1,723 a year today to as much as £2,389 a year from April. It adds that the price consumers pay for each unit of gas is expected to hit a record high of 11.1p in January, beating the previous record of 10.3p set in 2023, when the UK government stepped in to protect consumers from price rises triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

MORE ON UK

The Guardian reports that the UK government is considering giving EV manufacturers incentives to add “vehicle to grid” technology to cars.
The Financial Times covers expected announcements in tomorrow’s budget, including support for energy bills.
The Times: “Half of GB Energy’s leaders decline to move to Scotland.”
The Press Association covers another report from the Tony Blair Institute calling on the government to focus on cutting energy prices.
The Daily Mirror reports that as the lengthy drought continues in the UK, a “lost village” hidden under a reservoir for decades has reappeared.
The Guardian: “Burnham in danger of sleepwalking into climate disaster, say campaigners.”

Thailand launches $1.5bn household-solar push

The Straits Times

Thailand has announced subsidies worth up to $1.5bn to help households install solar panels, as it looks to boost renewables and reduce its dependence on fuel imports, reports the Straits Times. It says up to a million households will be offered almost 50,000 baht ($1,480) towards the installation of solar, as well as low-interest loans and tax benefits. The article quotes finance minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas saying: “Today, we import a lot of our energy, we’re among the top buyers globally…[however this is] not a sustainable solution”. The outlet notes that the solar offering will be funded by an emergency borrowing package announced earlier in 2026 to “cushion the economic impacts of the Middle East war”.

MORE ON SOLAR

BBC Earth looks at how solar power is “quietly becoming bigger than nuclear”.
Climate Home News: “African governments strengthen waste rules as solar and battery use surges.”

Comment

Joining the dots: Why more and accurate media coverage of climate change matters

James Painter, The BMJ

In a comment for the BMJ, research associate James Painter writes that there has been a “renewed sense of urgency” regarding preparation for global temperature rise following this summer’s heatwaves in Europe and across the world. However, he says that despite global temperatures reaching record highs in 2025, print and online coverage of climate change has declined by 38% since 2021. Painter explores the potential reasons behind this drop in coverage, including cuts to editorial resources and the fact that “journalists often follow prompts from politicians in their coverage”, before discussing what can be done. He concludes by quoting Angus Foster, climate editorial chief at the BBC, as saying: “The audience is still with us, but we have to find ways into the climate story that are fresh and provide information that they really want.”

MORE COMMENT

An editorial in the Guardian says Lula’s re-election in Brazil has “saved the planetary air-conditioning system of the Amazon from irreparable destruction”.
An editorial in Sun welcomes reports that UK chancellor John Healey will freeze fuel duty in tomorrow’s budget, but adds “many will argue he should have gone further”.
At his Climate Brink substack, Carbon Brief contributor Dr Zeke Hausfather writes under the headline: “Off-grid data centres have 60-80% higher emissions.”
In the New York Times, Michael Sonnenfeldt, chair of investment firm MUUS & Company, writes that Trump has “unwittingly” boosted clean energy.
For Reuters, Ivan Frishberg, chief sustainability officer at Amalgamated Bank, argues: “Climate finance has capital. What’s missing is policy.”

Research

Tanzanian agropastoralists are migrating in response to “environmental degradation”, according to a survey of 1,000 households | Ecology & Society
Climate action in cities “relies on coordination and mutual support among institutional, economic, and social factors” | Environmental Research Letters
Scientists have created a first-of-its-kind map of how rewilding projects are monitored and evaluated | Conservation Biology

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