Daily Briefing: UK govt’s emergency heatwave meeting | India fuels global ‘coal jump’ | Climate anxiety

13.08.26

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News

Heatwave and solar eclipse send Europe power prices soaring

Eamon Farhat, Bloomberg

Europe’s power prices are “continuing to soar”, due to extreme heat pushing up the demand for cooling and yesterday’s solar eclipse reducing solar output, reports Bloomberg. The outlet estimated that Europe’s power output would fall by about 9.7GW during the eclipse. Separately, Bloomberg reports that, according to the UK’s national energy system operator, a shortfall of nearly 1.8GW was forecast for Wednesday. The Guardian says that the UK’s grid was “expected to make multimillion-pound payments to secure electricity at short notice” during the eclipse.

Meanwhile, there is ongoing coverage of the hot, dry conditions across Europe. The New York Times reports that the continent’s fifth heatwave “is expected to sweep from the west, with a high of 109 degrees Fahrenheit, or 43C, predicted in Spain on Thursday, before hitting more eastern countries like Germany over the weekend”. Euronews reports that there is an orange heat alert in place across “78 departments” in France, with temperatures expected to exceed 40C in some areas on Thursday. The New York Times outlines how heat is “transforming tourism” across the continent. Reuters says: “The heatwaves that have hit France in recent months could result in €10-15bn in direct and indirect costs, French environment minister Monique Barbut said on Wednesday.” Agence France-Presse says: “France on Wednesday recorded a more than 20% shortfall in nuclear power production capacity, a record deficit caused by environmentally related outages linked to drought, extreme heat and a jellyfish invasion.”

EurActiv says: “Romania will begin shutting down its only nuclear power plant on Thursday after the Danube’s flow fell to a record low this week and efforts to avert a complete shutdown failed.” Reuters adds: “The river Rhine in Germany has fallen to new lows, stranding cargo vessels, the country’s inland navigation agency said on Wednesday.” Yale E360 reports that “43% of small waterways in France have been partially or completely dried up”. The Financial Times reports that European farmers are moving to the “night shift” to avoid the heat. The Associated Press reports on the impacts of the drought on European crops.

UK: Burnham holds emergency meeting over drought and wildfires

Chloe Chaplain, Bloomberg

UK prime minister Andy Burnham brought together ministers and senior officials yesterday for an “emergency government meeting on the UK’s latest heatwave”, reports Bloomberg. The outlet says this “comes as much of the country entered its fifth heatwave of what’s on track to be Britain’s hottest-ever summer”. The Guardian says this “will be the second [such] meeting this year on heatwaves, after one took place amid high temperatures in June.” Politico reports that these “COBR (Cabinet Office briefing room) meetings are convened during a crisis or emergency”. It adds that the Green party “first demanded a COBR meeting weeks ago after a wildfire engulfed parts of Suffolk in eastern England”. The Press Associated reports that, ahead of the meeting, “Baroness Brown, who chairs the independent advisory Climate Change Committee’s adaptation work, called for measures to help the UK cope with more extreme weather that rising global temperatures are bringing”.

In other news on UK extreme weather, the New York Times reports that the Met Office has issued an amber warning for large parts of southeast England for Thursday. The Financial Times reported that, after the meeting, Burnham asked retailers “to comply with restrictions on the sale of disposable barbecues, which have been linked to a number of wildfires in recent years”. The Guardian reports that nurses are “fainting in ‘inhumane’ conditions due to extreme heat”. The Daily Telegraph reports that “banks are rolling out emergency loans for farmers as a drought threatens to hit crop yields”. The i newspaper reports on “the UK towns at risk of running out of water within six weeks”. The Times outlines the impacts of the heat on the UK’s “quality cider makers”.

MORE ON UK

Through a freedom-of-information request, the Guardian has revealed that only 20 staff out of the 6,613 in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are working on climate adaptation.
The Financial Times reports that Scotland’s North Sea oil revenues declined by 12%, to £3.2bn, in 2025-26.
The Financial Times: “Oil companies operating in the declining North Sea will have to rapidly speed up the decommissioning of their wells as more fields run down, an industry regulator has said.”
The Guardian lists “10 climate crisis policies Britain needs right now”.
The Daily Telegraph claims that “Britain’s electricity grid upgrade will overshadow up to 160,000 homes [which will receive compensation] with giant pylons built less than 500 metres away”.
The Daily Mail promotes the views of “gamekeepers” on its frontpage with claims that the record wildfires this year are due to “eco dogma” about “rewilding”. It quotes a Defra spokesperson in response, who says that “peatland restoration is the most effective, sustainable and long-term solution for reducing fuel load on degraded peatlands”.

India fuels worldwide jump in planned coal production

Jillian Ambrose, The Guardian

Enough new coal-mining projects were proposed last year to increase global supplies by 2.5bn tonnes a year, according to the Guardian. Quoting a report from the Global Energy Monitor, the newspaper says the increase was driven almost entirely by the Indian states of Jharkhand and Odisha, which “doubled their proposals for new coal mines in line with an ambitious plan from India’s ministry of coal to increase the country’s output”. It adds: “India plans to increase its coal production by nearly 100m tonnes to 1.15bn tonnes in the 2025-26 fiscal year to help meet the country’s rising demand for electricity to support economic growth and contend with heatwaves, which have become more severe and more frequent because of the climate crisis.” Reuters adds that, while coal-mine proposals ⁠increased, “new capacity additions fell nearly 40% in 2025”, due to declines in China and Australia, according to the report.

MORE ON ASIA

The Guardian reports on the extreme heat sweeping across Asia, under the headline: “Potatoes ‘boil’ in the ground.”
The Associated Press reports that “heavy monsoon rains triggered a landslide” in Mumbai, India, yesterday, in an article linking “heavier and more unpredictable rainfall” to climate change.
The Associated Press covers a report, which finds that “smaller steel companies responsible for nearly 40% of India’s crude steel production could cut their electricity bills by about a third while sharply reducing carbon emissions by switching to renewable energy”.

Rain pounds Beijing as Typhoon Dolphin sweeps through China

Liz Lee, Tingshu Wang and Alessandro Diviggiano, Reuters

Typhoon Dolphin, China’s strongest typhoon this year, has “battered” Beijing with “bouts of intense rain that flooded key roads and stranded vehicles”, reports Reuters. It adds that China is “increasingly battling destructive weather that scientists link to climate change”. Thousands have been evacuated from areas “at risk of flooding and landslides” in Beijing, reports the Guardian. State-run newspaper China Daily reports that heavy rain has continued to affect parts of China. An article by the state-run newspaper Economic Daily says north-western China’s Xinjiang has seen torrential rain hit usually drought-stricken desert areas. [China Daily and Economic Daily do not mention climate change in their coverage.] The “heat dome” effect will make extreme heat more frequent amid climate change, Sun Yat-sen University professor Li Qingxiang tells Southern Weekly. Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Wei Ke tells the newspaper that temperatures exceeding 40C will “become the norm” in many parts of China, occurring every summer and lasting for “increasingly longer periods”.

MORE ON CHINA

CAAM data shows China’s “new energy vehicle” sales in July accounted for more than 60% of the monthly new auto sales for the first time, reports Xinhua. Another Xinhua article cites CPCA data saying that NEV’s share of monthly sales reached a new high of 65.1%. [CPCA has reported an NEV market share above 60% for the past few months.]
Foreign minister Wang Yi writes in People’s Daily that China’s 2035 national climate target, its implementation of the Paris Agreement and the Kunming Biodiversity Fund are all indicative of “our efforts in safeguarding our shared home”.
A comment article in People’s Daily under the byline “Ren Ping” – indicating a “People’s Daily commentary” – says China has strengthened the capacity to ensure energy security with “greener development and greater resilience”.
Peking University professor Gong Gu writes in People’s Daily that China’s ecological and environmental code incorporates the circular economy, energy transition and climate change within a policy framework.
The NEA says it will accelerate the release of guidelines for virtual power plants, reports BJX News. The NEA also calls for accelerating the adoption of new models for local and nearby consumption of renewable energy, says BJX News.
China’s first large-scale project to “reuse decommissioned wind turbines” has launched, reports BJX News.

Comment

Andy Burnham must be brave to tackle burning Britain

Editorial, The Independent

The Independent has an editorial arguing that UK prime minister Andy Burnham must prioritise a “vast rethink” on how the UK “adapts to future hotter summers and wetter winters”. The outlet says: “For the long term, everyone realises what needs to be done: achieve net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases.” However, the editorial says this is “not at the top of the Cobra [emergency government meeting] agenda for now”, arguing that “immensely damaging wildfires” are a more serious problem. It continues: “In this context, the suggested complete ban on disposable BBQs is a step that should have been taken before and the penalties for their improper use must act as a deterrent.” The outlet also warns that the ongoing drought will hit farmers the hardest. It says: “Food prices are certain to rise and the UK will inevitably have to import more foodstuffs as autumn approaches.” The outlet suggests that “Mr Burnham and his ministers will need to revisit the present system of farm subsidies, biased as they are towards environmental rather than production objectives.”

MORE UK COMMENT

An editorial in the Times says: “Banning disposable barbecues is a performative distraction. The PM must focus on the preventable deaths and infrastructure deficits he can actually fix.”
The Daily Mirror has an editorial about the extreme heat, arguing that “Britain must adapt faster, because summers like this are becoming harder to dismiss as exceptional”.
A Daily Express editorial says “the effects of this devastatingly dry period can be seen all around us” and “we must all redouble our efforts to responsibly preserve water”.
Journalist Robert Fox writes in the Independent: “Forget the credit crunch, we are now in the climate crunch”, adding that “we need a Dad’s Army fire brigade to fight back against burning Britain”.
Guardian columnist George Monbiot writes that “this summer’s extreme weather and wars in Iran and Ukraine have made our need for food stockpiles more pressing than ever”.
Writer Lia Leendertz says in the Financial Times that “British skies are growing too hot for swifts”.

We built the Pacific’s own resilience fund. Now help us fill it

David Paul, Backchannel

David Paul, the minister of finance for the Marshall Islands and chair of the Pacific resilience facility council, urges people to fill the Pacific’s resilience fund in a commentary for the Backchannel substack. Paul describes the facility as a “financial institution created, owned and governed by the Pacific, for the Pacific”. He continues: “The world’s big climate funds were designed for big projects in big countries. They require years of accreditation, complex proposals and expensive compliance.” However, he says the Pacific fund “works differently”, adding: “The facility acts like an endowment: contributions are invested, and the returns fund grants to communities. Of every dollar it earns, ninety cents flows out and ten cents is reinvested, so the fund grows permanently. We provide grants, not loans – because for too long, we have watched our communities borrow to recover from disasters they did nothing to cause.” He says that more than $300m is needed in the next six months and calls on countries to fill the fund.

MORE COMMENT

Climate scientists Gary Yohe, Kristie Ebi, Richard Rood and Henry Jacoby write in the Climate Cafe substack that the plumes of smoke from burning forests in North America are “primarily the result of our collective inaction on climate change”.
Writing in her Heated newsletter, climate journalist Emily Atkin outlines a new study which “reveals that AI’s climate impact extends far beyond its massive data center footprint”.
“Where are all those climate deniers now?” asks Times writer Hugo Rifkind, noting that they have “suddenly gone quiet”.
The Financial Times has an editorial arguing that China is “winning the race” for “maritime dominance and the Arctic”.
Simon Nixon, publisher of the Wealth of Nations newsletter (and former chief leader writer at the Times), argues in the Financial Times that “damage wrought by wildfires in Europe should be a wake-up call to pay more attention to environmental risk”.
Richard Milne, the Nordic and Baltic bureau chief at the Financial Times, writes that it will take a long time before the new routes opening up due to melting ice “become more than a niche commercial activity”.

Research

Analysis of 3,500 forest fires in Canada and the western US reveals that the fastest fires burn “outsized” areas and lead to reduced capacity for ecosystem recovery | Science Advances
A survey of 4,500 Germany university students finds that “more than half” experience climate anxiety | Frontiers in Climate Science
Climate effects on tropical-forest biomass differ from one region to another, with drier tropical forests, such as the Congo basin, more sensitive to warming and south-east Asian forests more impacted by long-term water limitations | Nature