Daily Briefing: NESO investigation | IPCC ‘deadlock’ | Europe EVs ‘up 70%’

20.10.26

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News

Staff at Britain’s grid operator did not cover up blackout risks, probe finds

Anna Wise, The Press Association

An investigation into the UK’s National Energy System Operator (NESO) found that staff “were not involved in a cover-up to avoid blackout risks becoming public this summer”, reports the Press Association. The newswire says NESO was “investigated over allegations raised by whistleblowers”, including a claim that “control room staff were encouraged to conceal or alter records to avoid leaving a paper trail linked to efforts to stabilise the grid during a period of extreme heat between 22-26 June”. It says the investigation “found no evidence to substantiate the allegations”. However, the Guardian says the investigation found “‘high levels of stress and concern’ within the control room over how staff would be able to keep the power system balanced as renewable energy replaces legacy fossil-fuel power plants in line with the government’s net-zero ambitions”. The Times, renews, the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph also cover the news.

MORE ON UK

The Daily Express quotes lieutenant general Richard Nugee saying climate change and nature loss “threatens the fabric of our society”. It says he and other experts will join climate minister Katie White today at the first “climate and nature security taskforce meeting”.
The Press Association: “UK’s first plant to build subsea cables opens in Highlands.”
BusinessGreen: “Report: Britain’s grid upgrade plans expected to deliver £58bn economic boost.”
The Guardian says offshore North Sea rig workers will take part ⁠in a 24-hour strike from Wednesday, which could “severely disrupt” UK supplies.
The Financial Times: “Farmers look to ‘plough everything’ after failing to receive green subsidies.”
The Daily Telegraph covers a report by the right-wing Adam Smith Institute claiming that the security of electricity supplies in the UK is worse than in Ukraine.

IPCC scientists vow to press on with climate reports despite political deadlock

Megan Rowling and Matteo Civillini, Climate Home News

Scientists working on the next set of reports for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have “vowed to keep working”, after a “political row over the timeline for their release saw its latest session suspended on Friday evening without agreement”, reports Climate Home News. The Guardian says: “A loose group of governments led by Saudi Arabia, Russia and India, and also including China and Kenya, have raised objections to publishing the report in 2028, arguing that climate science is dominated by developed countries, which they say has skewed its findings. But many scientists, and experts, worry that a delay would prevent the seventh assessment cycle being used to inform the next round of pledges of emissions cuts, due to be discussed by governments at the COP33 climate summit in late 2028.” Agence France-Presse reports that IPCC chair Jim Skea said the panel will “reconvene at the earliest opportunity”.

China: Clean energy accounts for 36.8% of power generation, per NBS briefing on economic performance in first three quarters

China Electric Power News

Clean-energy sources, including hydropower, nuclear, wind and solar, accounted for 36.8% of electricity generation in China in the first three-quarters of 2026, according to an official with the National Bureau of Statistics, reports China Electric Power News. China’s September electricity generation was down 1.2% year-on-year, according to industry news outlet BJX News. It adds that thermal-power generation fell 1.4%, while wind and solar power generation rose 10.6% and 19.5% respectively. Bloomberg reports that China’s coal production fell 6.8% year-on-year, as “concerns over supply mount ahead of the winter heating season when consumption typically peaks”.

Meanwhile, the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planning agency, released draft rules for the electricity spot market, according to BJX News. The Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily says the “intermittent and variable nature” of new energy sources poses challenges to stable electricity supply as China’s energy demand continues to grow. Business news outlet Jiemian says grid companies are facing billions of yuan in losses, with some retailers “collectively and publicly appealing to the government for relief”. It adds that prices have risen due to the Hormuz crisis,”growing electricity demand in the southern region, fluctuations in clean-energy output and power plant maintenance”. Financial news outlet Caixin says the crisis is “testing” China’s overhaul in the electricity sector, quoting one expert saying “governments and customers should not pay for losses caused by mistaken forecasts and irrational competition”.

MORE ON CHINA

MEE head Huang Runqiu said at COP17 that China shows the “highest political commitment” in global biodiversity governance, reports Ideacarbon.
China called for building a “green and circular business ecosystem”, reports Xinhua. A new policy will develop pilot city clusters to create demonstration zones for “green hydrogen”, according to China Energy Net.
Economic Daily publishes a commentary under the byline Jin Guanping, used to signal the thoughts of party leadership on economic matters, urging officials to look beyond GDP growth and “give greater weight” to “green development”.
A commentary by Chai Qimin, NCSC director for strategy and planning, in Dianlian Xinmei says the shift to dual control of carbon is a “systemic reform” involving governance, management, assessment and market mechanisms.
A South China Morning Post commentary by UNEP advisor Zhu Shouqing, writing in a private capacity, says China “shows how decisions about production and finance shape” a country’s climate action.
Jiemian says the share of data centres equipped with energy storage “remains low”, despite years of policy support.

Mathias de Rozario, Reuters

Sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in Europe grew by 70% year-on-year in September, reports Reuters. It says nearly a third of sales last month across “17 key European markets” were BEVs, with the total sold this year up 38% on the same period in 2025. The newswire says “high oil prices, subsidies and the availability of more affordable models continued to lead the growth” in BEV sales, which came “amid a deal made by France and Germany to soften proposed EU car emissions rules”.

EU drops push for global ban on Arctic drilling

Ian Johnston, The Financial Times

“The EU will abandon its efforts to secure a global ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic as part of a new strategy that focuses on security risks in the polar region,” reports the Financial Times. According to the newspaper, the European Commission will announce a new strategy today, which will “maintain the EU’s opposition to Arctic oil and gas drilling but will end efforts to secure a global agreement on stopping hydrocarbon exploration there”. It adds: “The energy element of the strategy has divided parts of the European Commission, several officials said.” The Times interviews the EU’s chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, who it says tells the newspaper “why Europe must bolster defences in the high north, and how Trump’s Greenland threats have damaged trust”.

MORE ON EU

The Wall Street Journal: “EU curbs on Chinese hybrids could make European automakers investable again.”
Rapporteur: “Conservatives rally to delay EU climate levy on fuels.”
Reuters says: “Italy has met only 15% of its energy transition targets for 2030, the ECCO climate change thinktank said on Monday ‌in an annual monitoring report.”
Reuters: “Germany unveils plan to accelerate adoption of hydrogen.”

Trump gives contentious New York pipeline a Defense Production Act boost

Rachel Frazin, The Hill

The US energy department announced yesterday that it will give up to $42m to the Constitution Pipeline project, which will transport gas from Pennsylvania to New York, according to the Hill. The outlet says the pipeline was initially scrapped in 2020 after New York officials did not give a “key approval”. However, it reports that Trump is using the “Defense Production Act”, which was “passed during the Korean War as an effort to help the government jumpstart industries needed for defense purposes”, to give the project a “boost”.

MORE ON US

The Guardian: “US disaster survivors still await at least $10bn in federal aid: ‘It’s devastating’.”
The Associated Press: “Trump’s war on science sparks American brain drain as top researchers flee overseas.”
The Guardian: “Melting Ron DeSantis statue unveiled to call out his inaction on climate crisis.”
The New York Times covers the findings of California’s fifth climate change assessment, which it says “warns of major upheaval to California way of life”.
Reuters: “Trump geothermal lease sale collides with planned Nevada solar farms.”
Inside Climate News: “‘Pitchfork populism’ over data centres rattles Ohio’s US senate race.”

Comment

Protecting nature is a public duty, not a Wall Street profit opportunity

An Lambrechts, Climate Home News

An Lambrechts, head of the Greenpeace delegation at COP17, writes in Climate Home News that to raise money for nature protection, “governments should focus on redirecting subsidies that currently harm nature, while working on a new convention to recover the vast wealth drained by cross-border tax abuse”. She says “countries are not on track to meet the biodiversity targets”, adding that “funding falls far short of the scale needed to halt and reverse nature loss”. She says that “discussions about how to close the biodiversity finance gap continue to claim that salvation lies in mobilising private capital, scaling offsets and ‘derisking’ investments in nature”, but argues that “expecting profit-seeking private capital to protect nature perpetuates the structural drivers of ecosystem destruction in the first place”. Instead, she argues that “the answer lies in recovering the vast public wealth currently drained by cross-border tax abuse, financial secrecy and corporate impunity”.

MORE COMMENT

Steven Guilbeault, a former environment minister of Canada, writes in the Guardian under the headline: “Do not be distracted by other global crises. Nature cannot wait for a better year – we must act now.”
Freelance science and environment writer Tom Bawden writes in the i newspaper that “a widespread switch from gas boilers to electric heat pumps is by far the best way of curbing the UK’s gas dependency”.
John Flint, a former chief executive of HSBC, writes in the Financial Times: “It’s time to give individual shareholders direct votes on climate change.”
Carbon Brief contributor Zeke Hausfather on the Climate Brink substack: “How not to detect warming acceleration.”
Reuters energy columnist Rob Bousso writes: “Asian refiners’ pain is Middle East oil producers’ problem.”
Ben Marlow, associate editor and columnist at the Daily Telegraph, writes: “Data centre farce exposes flaws in Britain’s AI boom.”

Research

The unprecedented 2023 North Atlantic heatwave could have been even more severe | Nature Communications
Glaciers in Alaska will lose between half and three-quarters of their 2015 mass by the end of the century | Earth’s Future
Researchers argue that “rare diseases are an overlooked dimension in climate-health adaptation” | Nature Climate Change