Daily Briefing: Nepal flood losses | Typhoon Saudel hits China | Brits should ‘stock up’ on food

04.09.26

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News

Nepal flood losses estimated at $2.56bn, official says

Gopal Sharma, Reuters

Nepal’s catastrophic floods have caused damages to property, housing and infrastructure worth at least $2.56bn, the country’s disaster authority chief tells Reuters. Dharma Raj Upreti, chief of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, says to the newswire that the first four months of recovery, involving building roads and temporary shelters and restoring power and drinking water, would cost more than $50m. Upreti tells Reuters: “These are estimated amounts. We have calculated this in coordination with different concerned agencies and departments.” Reuters also reports on how Nepalese authorities are working to try to reach 900 people that are believed to be trapped inside hydroelectric plants, and has a story on how engineers are guiding rescue efforts from a WhatsApp group.

China: Fujian province relocates 83,700 people as Typhoon Saudel brings heavy rainfall

Xinhua

Local authorities in south-eastern China’s Fujian province have relocated 83,700 people in dangerous areas as Typhoon Saudel brings “persistent heavy rainfall, with high cumulative rainfall in some areas and a high risk of disasters”, reports state news agency Xinhua. Local authorities said cumulative rainfall exceeded 100mm in 122 townships across 20 counties in the province, adds the newswire. China has allocated 5,000 items of central disaster relief supplies to support disaster relief and assistance efforts in affected areas in Fujian, according to Xinhua. Meanwhile, more than 2,500 teachers and students were trapped in a school compound in neighbouring ⁠Zhejiang province on Wednesday after heavy rainfall caused flash floods, reports Reuters. Experts estimate that two-to-three typhoons are expected to “make landfall in or significantly affect China” in September, exceeding the average of 1.6 during the same period in previous years, reports state broadcaster CCTV. The typhoons are expected to be “stronger than usual”, adds the outlet.

Meanwhile, the glacier area on the Tibetan Plateau has shrunk by around 24% over the past 60 years, with around 7,000 small glaciers disappearing completely, reports the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, citing Gao Rong, deputy director of China’s National Climate Centre. Gao also said that climate change is an “important background factor” behind the recent disaster on the China-Nepal border, according to CCTV. The outlet adds that the stability of the glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is expected to “decline further in the future, potentially leading to more frequent glacial disasters”, Gao warned.

MORE ON CHINA

Following disagreement over a joint statement, finance vice-minister Liao Min called on the G20 to “uphold free trade” and “promote economic globalisation”, reports China Daily. Bloomberg says that “China proposed a tweaked phrase that would have addressed trade imbalances without putting a spotlight on the nation’s [state-owned enterprises]”.
China’s commerce ministry said using the G20 to promote claims of “economic imbalances” and “overcapacity” is an attempt to “pursue protectionism”, reports Xinhua. China says talks between China and the EU should not involve “unilateral demands” and “threats such as closing markets”, reports Global Times.
Chinese vice-premier Ding Xuexiang called for China and Russia to deepen cooperation in areas such as “green industries”, reports Xinhua.
Economic Daily publishes an article by reporter Wang Yichen saying that “energy storage, power grids and dispatching are all indispensable” for solar power to become China’s “major power source”.
A new “five-year plan” calls for supporting the “green transformation and upgrading” of small and medium-sized enterprises, according to BJX News.

Spain pushes for EU oil and gas tax to pay for climate change response

Ian Johnston, The Financial Times

Spain “wants the EU to tax oil and gas company profits to fund measures to adapt to climate change, after drought and wildfires ravaged western Europe during the region’s hottest summer on record”, says the Financial Times. It continues: “Spanish minister for ecological transition (and third vice-president) Sara Aagesen Muñoz called on the EU to establish a climate adaptation fund, financed by measures including the permanent levy on oil and gas profits and the issue of more common debt to help it fund protections from extreme events driven by climate change. The Spanish government made the recommendations in a letter and policy paper, seen by the FT, addressed to EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, who will deliver a new strategy on climate adaptation and resilience this autumn.” It adds that “economists estimate the cost of the drought in Europe this summer was at least €50bn ($58bn), with one bank putting the total cost as high as €180bn ($209bn)”.

MORE ON EUROPE

A frontpage story in the Financial Times says that the EU is entering winter with its lowest gas stocks on record.
German car giant Volkswagen has approved a plan to cut another 50,000 jobs as “part of the biggest restructuring in the group’s almost nine-decade history”, says BBC News. VW said it is facing “shifting demand and technological change”, adds the broadcaster.
The Journal: “Summer 2026 was officially the hottest in modern Irish history.”
Reuters: “Hungary to create watchdog to oversee EV battery plants, boost fines for polluters.”
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will announce €200m ($233m) in funding for Greenland on a visit to the nation this weekend, with the money going towards “critical raw materials industry, renewable energy, undersea cables, satellite connections and data centres”, says the Financial Times.

Minister tells Brits to stock up on days of supplies after ‘supersize’ El Niño warning

Kiran Stacey and Damian Carrington, The Guardian

A frontpage story in the Guardian says that environment minister Angela Eagle has urged people in the UK to have enough food and water stored to survive several days without power or water, amid the rapidly intensifying super El Niño. The newspaper says that the UK government is currently planning a campaign to urge citizens to prepare for national emergencies. It quotes Eagle as saying: “We’re about to experience probably the largest El Niño that has ever been seen, and that will lead to drier summers, wetter winters, with more extreme storms in this country. If you’ve got a store of a bit of food that can keep you going for a while before the emergency services can get to you, you’re going to be a lot better off than if you haven’t. So some of it is that kind of preparation for just being a bit more resilient.” A frontpage story in the Daily Telegraph says citizens have been told to “prepare for food shortages”. El Niño also makes the frontpage of the Metro.

MORE ON UK

BBC News reports that the Jackdaw gas project is set to be approved in mid-September, according to “government and industry sources”. The Guardian also has the story, saying the announcement could come as “soon as next week”.
Pro-oil and gas newspaper the Daily Telegraph claims that “drilling the North Sea’s controversial Jackdaw gas field is the best option for the climate”.
The UK has announced a £400m ($541m) loan for Brazil’s Tropical Forests Forever Facility, says Reuters.
Publications including Sky News, BBC News, the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian cover the news that an invasive tropical mosquito has been found breeding in east London.
Hundreds gathered to urge the Scottish government to stop rapid data centre expansion, says the Guardian. The story makes the frontpage of the National.
BBC News: “Households warned gas price spike could pile fresh pressure on energy bills.”

Comment

From ‘psyops’ to ‘hysterical hysteria’: how GB News and Talk TV lost their cool in the heatwaves

Damian Carrington, The Guardian

Guardian environment editor Damian Carrington writes on how the announcement of thousands of heat-related deaths in this summer’s record UK heat “appeared to only intensify” climate denial from rightwing TV channels. He writes: “Over on TalkTV, a British streaming news channel, there was little empathy as the country sweltered in deadly heat. ‘I’m very sorry if someone dies because of the heat, but I don’t think that’s a reason for us never to be allowed to take a flight again, or stop being allowed to eat meat,’ said the presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer on 24 June, citing policies no one is putting in place…Many heat-related deaths are among elderly people and those who are already unwell, factors that apparently made their premature demise less important for some contributors, such as Ross Clark, who had told TalkTV on 25 June that they were ‘perhaps on the point of dying anyway’.”

MORE COMMENT

A letter to the Guardian by Prof Lyla Mehta says that “climate injustices have been laid bare in the Nepal-Tibet flood disaster”.
Euan Ritchie, from the Center for Global Development, writes in Climate Home News that the “UK’s budget juggling trick with rainforest loan for bus-fare cap needs transparency”.
An editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald says the UN’s overshoot report is a “timely reminder of the urgent need for climate change reforms”.
A comment in Euractiv by a policy fellow and the secretary general of the European Solar Manufacturing Council says that Europe and the US should “work together” on solar to boost security.
Financial Times senior trade writer Alan Beattie says “free trade can shield us from El Niño”.
An editorial in the Economist says the “moral panic over data centres is foolish”. Another Economist editorial says “Donald Trump’s Venezuela deal is bold, but dodgy”.

Research

Greenhouse gas forcing is dominating the “relentless” westward extension of the western North Pacific subtropical high, a “crucial” component of the Asian monsoon system | Atmospheric Research
Warmer temperatures and lower precipitation “are associated with increased political instability”, with the effect greater in “vulnerable settings” | Climate Risk Management
Gendered restrictions on mobility are among the factors limiting adaptation to climate change by Indigenous Vedda women in Sri Lanka | Environmental Science & Policy