There is widespread coverage in the UK media of Zac Goldsmith’s resignation on Friday from the UK government in his role as international environment minister. The Press Association says: “A minister accused of being part of a campaign to undermine an inquiry into Boris Johnson has resigned, criticising Rishi Sunak’s ‘apathy’ towards the climate crisis. In a scathing letter on Friday, Lord Zac Goldsmith took aim at the prime minister directly for being ‘simply uninterested’ in the environment and said his position had been made ‘untenable’.” The Press Association has also published the full text of Goldsmith’s letter in which he says: “The UK has visibly stepped off the world stage and withdrawn our leadership on climate and nature. Too often we are simply absent from key international fora. Only last week you seemingly chose to attend the party of a media baron [Rupert Murdoch] rather than attend a critically important environment summit in Paris that ordinarily the UK would have co-led. Worse still, we have effectively abandoned one of the most widely reported and solemn promises we have made on this issue: our pledge to spend £11.6bn of our aid on climate and environment. Indeed the only reason the government has not had to come clean on the broken promise is because the final year of expenditure falls after the next general election and will therefore be the problem for the next government, not this one. This is a promise, remember, that has been consistently repeated by prime ministers in the past four years, including by you, and for good reason. It is the single most important signal of intend [sic] for the dozens of small island and climate-vulnerable states on an issue that is existential for them. These states, remember, have equal sway in the UN where we routinely seek their support on other issues. That same promise was also used successfully by the UK as leverage to persuade G7 countries to follow suit, and breaking it would not only infuriate them, along with those small island states in the Commonwealth and beyond – it would shred any reputation we have for being a reliable partner.” The i newspaper says that Goldsmith has been “backed by various green groups”, adding: “Shaun Spiers, executive director of the think-tank Green Alliance, told i: ‘Zac Goldsmith has fought tirelessly for the environment for many years and had a significant impact as a minister but there is only so much any minister can do without strong support from the top.’” (See Comment below for more reaction.)

Meanwhile, the Observer reports that “Rishi Sunak is facing mounting criticism for putting politics above the fight against climate change, amid clear signs that ministers are backtracking on plans to allow more onshore windfarms in England before a general election”. The newspaper continues: “The Observer understands that a much-vaunted government consultation on ending what has in effect been a ban on new onshore wind projects will lead to a minimal relaxation of planning rules – because ministers do not want to anger potential Tory voters who oppose huge wind turbines in their neighbourhoods. On Saturday night – as the Conservative party threatened to split over green policy – the former Tory environment secretary and outgoing chair of the Climate Change Committee, Lord Deben, said it was simply unacceptable that the government was still discussing whether it was in favour of onshore wind or not when it was widely recognised as one of the cheapest forms of energy generation. The danger was also that UK industry would lose out in the resulting green industrial revolution for renewable energy to the US, China and the EU.”

Separately, the Sunday Telegraph reports on its frontpage that “hundreds of miles of overhead cables and pylons are expected to be fast-tracked through the planning system despite local opposition, so Britain can meet its net-zero targets”. It adds: “The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) is devising sweeping planning reforms that industry leaders say are needed for the UK to hit milestones such as eliminating fossil fuel generation by 2035. Ministers are increasingly concerned the growing demand for energy could outpace the capacity of the national grid, as households switch to electric cars and heat pumps while there is also a massive national expansion in wind power. John Pettigrew, the chief executive of National Grid, told the Sunday Telegraph it would be ‘incredibly challenging’ to expand the existing network to meet the government’s targets without major planning reforms. Currently, the UK generates up to 14GW [gigawatts] of energy from offshore wind farms. The government’s net-zero plan includes raising that capacity to 50GW by 2030. Pettigrew said: ‘Without planning reform, if you’re trying to get to 50GW by 2030, that’s going to be difficult…You have to see a shortening of the planning process’…The net-zero department is expected to publish a ‘connections action plan’ in the summer and a review is currently examining ways to halve ‘delivery times’ for grid infrastructure, such as overhead cables and pylons.” The Sunday Telegraph also reports: “Rishi Sunak and [chancellor] Jeremy Hunt are facing a backlash from charities and energy firms over the ‘stealth’ return of the £170 green levies on consumer bills. Charities, energy suppliers and senior MPs are warning that the reimposition of the levies on consumers, from this weekend, means a return to a ‘regressive’ system that would hit struggling families amid the cost of living crisis.”

Finally, BBC News reports that “energy prices could spike this winter forcing governments to step in and subsidise bills again, the head of the International Energy Agency has said. If the Chinese economy strengthens quickly and there is a harsh winter, gas prices could rise, putting pressure on consumers, Fatih Birol said. He added that governments should push for energy-saving and boost renewables. However, a UK government spokesperson said energy bills are set to fall by an average £430 this month.” Another BBC News article reports the head of energy firm Centrica, which owns British Gas, saying that energy bills are likely to remain high for the foreseeable future and warning that further instability in Russia or a rebound in economic activity in China could see prices going up again.

The campaigning by right-leaning UK newspapers against electric vehicles has gone up a gear with the Daily Mail today using its frontpage to highlight new polling by Survation (the details of which have not yet been published) showing that “only a quarter” of those polled agree with the government’s deadline for “banning petrol and diesel cars by 2030”. [This is inaccurate and extremely misleading reporting: the government plans to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030, not ban all such vehicles from this date.] The Daily Mail goes on to say: “More than half disagree with the rush to switch to electric cars. Manufacturers and industry leaders have called on Rishi Sunak to rethink the drastic timescale or risk ruinous economic consequences. Cabinet ministers are also known to have raised concerns. The target is designed to turbocharge the switch to electric vehicles as part of ministers’ efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. But a major audit by this newspaper has uncovered a series of concerns about the policy, including questions over the supposed financial and environmental benefits, as well as whether Britain’s infrastructure is ready. Currently each public charging point has an average of 36 drivers fighting over it. There are also fears that the rush to ban new petrol and diesel cars could cost hundreds of thousands of jobs and leave households worse off.” [See the factcheck by Carbon Brief’s Dr Simon Evans published in the Guardian for a more accurate overview of electric vehicles, plus Carbon Brief’s own factcheck published in 2019 headlined: “How electric vehicles help to tackle climate change.”] The Sun on Sunday also campaigns against electric vehicles within its own reporting: “Barmy proposals to ban hybrid cars by 2030 risks hammering Britain’s car industry, Business secretary Kemi Badenoch has warned the Cabinet. The Sun on Sunday understands that Badenoch has raised the issue with chancellor Jeremy Hunt and transport secretary Mark Harper.” The newspaper then quotes the climate-sceptic Conservative MP Craig Mackinlay: “The UK’s uniquely stupid net-zero policies is likely to lead to the loss of our proud car industry by the end of the decade.” Politico reports: “Badenoch is ramping up pressure on the EU to save electric vehicle manufacturers on both sides of the channel from being hit by new Brexit trade rules in 2024. But Brussels’ top diplomat in London, Pedro Serrano, is telling people privately it may be difficult to avoid the coming post-Brexit cliff-edge this year, a visitor who recently met the ambassador told Politico. It’s already too late for manufacturers such as Nissan, Ford and Stellantis. They are planning how many electric cars and trucks to make in the second half of the year to sell cross-channel. The new rules, set out in the UK-EU trade agreement, ratchet up on 1 January, 2024, and will slap a 10% tax on new electric vehicles if a majority of key parts, such as batteries, aren’t made in either Britain or the EU. Most EV batteries are supplied by China.” Meanwhile, BusinessGreen notes that “the UK now has one publicly accessible charge point for every 11.2 Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) on the road, having seen a 70% jump in the number of public charge points over the past year”. (See Comment below for more reaction.)

Reuters has published a news feature with the views of a range of experts around the world, in which they assess the state of global action on climate change: “The target of keeping long-term global warming within 1.5C is moving out of reach, climate experts say, with nations failing to set more ambitious goals despite months of record-breaking heat on land and sea. As envoys gathered in Bonn in early June to prepare for this year’s annual climate talks in November, average global surface air temperatures were more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels for several days, the EU-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said. Though mean temperatures had temporarily breached the 1.5C threshold before, this was the first time they had done so in the northern hemisphere summer that starts on 1 June. Sea temperatures also broke April and May records. ‘We’ve run out of time because change takes time,’ said Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, a climatologist at Australia’s University of New South Wales.” The newswire continues: “Global average sea surface temperatures hit 21C in late March and have remained at record levels for the time of year throughout April and May. Australia’s weather agency warned that Pacific and Indian ocean sea temperatures could be 3C warmer than normal by October. Global warming is the major factor, said Piers Forster, professor of climate physics at the University of Leeds, but El Niño, the decline in Saharan dust blowing over the ocean and the use of low-sulphur shipping fuels were also to blame. ‘So in all, oceans are being hit by a quadruple whammy,’ he said. ‘It’s a sign of things to come.’”

Meanwhile, BBC News says that “the UK’s hottest June on record caused unprecedented deaths of fish in rivers and disturbed insects and plants, environment groups have warned”. The Conversation has an article by Stephen Burt, a visiting fellow in meteorology at the University of Reading, under the headline: “June 2023 was the hottest in England since 1846 – here’s why it was so unusual.” And the Press Association notes that the UK Met Office has confirmed that Antarctic sea ice was at a record low for the end of June: “It is 1.3 million sq km (501,930 sq miles) below the previous low record for this time of year, an amount that is more than five times the surface area of the UK.” 

Reuters reports that the Texas power grid comfortably met record demand during last week’s heatwave with “abundant power supply from wind and solar plants”, according to data from the grid operator. The newswire continues: “The Texas grid is a focus in the US whenever it is tested by extreme weather after a catastrophic failure in February 2021 during freezing temperatures left millions of Texans without power, water and heat for days during a deadly storm. Texas has limited connection to grids in other states, so is unable to meet spikes in demand with imported power. This week, grid operator the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) had little trouble meeting demand even as consumption for air conditioning rose temperatures rose as high as 102 degrees Fahrenheit (38.9C) in the Fort Worth/Dallas area, according to the US National Weather Service. ERCOT said power use peaked at 80,828 megawatts (MW) on Tuesday, topping the grid’s prior all-time high of 80,148MW set on 20 July, 2022. The grid had a margin of about 13,900MW at the peak hour, enough to keep prices below $100 per megawatt hour (MWh) all day. During the 2021 crisis, prices rose to around $9,000 per MWh, which was the grid’s price cap at that time.”

Separately, the Financial Times has produced a series of graphic showing how the “deadly ‘heat dome’ takes toll on US south and Mexico”. The Associated Press says “as smoky as the summer has been so far [in North America], scientists say it will likely be worse in future years because of climate change”. The newswire adds: “While many people exposed to bad air may be asking themselves if this is a ‘new normal’, several scientists told the Associated Press they specifically reject any such idea because the phrase makes it sound like the world has changed to a new and steady pattern of extreme events. ‘Is this a new normal? No, it’s a new abnormal,’ University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann said. ‘It continues to get worse. If we continue to warm the planet, we don’t settle into some new state. It’s an ever-moving baseline of worse and worse.’ It’s so bad that perhaps the term ‘wildfire’ also needs to be rethought, suggested Woodwell Climate Research Center senior scientist Jennifer Francis. ‘We can’t really call them wildfires anymore,’ Francis said. ‘To some extent they’re just not, they’re not wild. They’re not natural anymore. We are just making them more likely. We’re making them more intense.’ Several scientists told the AP that the problem of smoke and wildfires will progressively worsen until the world significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions, which has not happened despite years of international negotiations and lofty goals.” Hannah Ritchie in her latest Sustainability by Numbers substack post says new data shows it is “already a record year” for Canadian wildfires.

Elsewhere, Politico says: “[A] White House report released late Friday indicates that the Biden administration is open to studying the possibility that altering sunlight might quickly cool the planet. But it added a degree of scepticism by noting that Congress has ordered the review, and the administration said it does not signal any new policy decisions related to a process that is sometimes referred to – or derided as – geoengineering…the White House said in a statement accompanying the report, ‘there are no plans underway to establish a comprehensive research program focused on solar radiation modification’.”

Bloomberg reports that “China is on a natural gas shopping spree”, even after “a global energy crisis has eased”. The outlet says China is “on track to be the world’s top importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2023” with the country signing more long-term LNG deals than “rival importers”. China has been pushing LNG deals for “the third straight year” to “avoid a repeat of energy shortages, while also seeking to fuel economic growth”, adds the outlet.

In other China news, finance outlet Caixin and energy media outlet Bjx.com both cover the “China renewable energy development report 2022” released by the Water Conservancy Hydropower Planning Design General Institute, which belongs to the Ministry of Water Resources. The report says “new energy” may replace thermal energy as the primary electricity source in the early stage of the “15th five-year plan” (2025-2030). The report adds that China’s installed solar capacity achieved a “new record high” in 2022, up 59%, and the installed capacity of “new energy storage” exceeded 10 gigawatt (GW). The development of hydrogen generators and geothermal has also been ”active”, adds the report. 

Meanwhile, Lei Xianzhang, president of Tianfu New Energy Research Institute, said at the “China energy security summit dialogue” last Thursday that “clean and low-carbon energy sources, like hydrogen and thermal energy”, should replace fossil fuels to ensure China’s energy security, the National Business Daily reports. He also said “energy conservation and consumption reduction” are ways to mitigate “the biggest risk [for energy security]”, adding that “72% of petroleum in China relies on imports”. The Chinese business newspaper adds that an academic study on energy, “White paper on China’s energy security”, was released at the summit. A Chinese science website ScienceNet.cn also covers the summit. 

Separately, Securities Daily writes that electric vehicles (EVs), lithium batteries and solar cells are the new three “backbones” for Chinese exports. The New York Times says that, “through its influence in electric vehicles”, China has increased its car exports fourfold within two years, surpassing $6bn per month. It adds that “green energy” is another area where China is “thriving”, with its exports of solar panels seeing a threefold increase over the past three years, reaching nearly $5bn per month. 

In other news, Caixin reports that the province of Sichuan, in southwest China, is expected to face an electricity “shortfall” of approximately 7.5GW this summer during the Chengdu 2023 FISU World University Games in late July. China Daily reports that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has established an “integrated space-ground supervision system to enhance air quality supervision”. The head of the ministry, Huang Runqiu, met the UN deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed in Beijing and discussed biodiversity and climate change, reports state-backed newspaper the Paper. Finally, Reuters says that talks between the US and China could resume next week with US climate envoy John Kerry prepared to visit Beijing, “though few expect it to add momentum to climate negotiations”. And a separate Reuters article covers the intense rain and flooding in China’s southern Hunan province.

BBC News previews this week’s meeting in London of the UN’s International Maritime Organisation in which delegates from 175 shipping countries will meet to “try and agree on a new timeline for completely decarbonising their industry”. The article says: “The shipping industry is under growing pressure to dramatically curb planet-warming emissions from smokestacks. Maritime transport emits as much CO2 in a year as Germany, but is the biggest global sector without a goal for cutting emissions to ‘net-zero’. Some delegates…want this by 2050 and emissions halved by 2030. Campaigners say it would be the climate ‘deal of the decade’ if agreed…For years, the shipping industry, governments and environmental groups have wrangled on how to make the transport of goods by sea greener. The issue was deemed just too difficult to be included in the 2015 Paris climate pact to keep down global warming. It matters because around 90% of the products and goods the world consumes travel by ship. These vessels often burn highly polluting fuels which contribute as much as 3% of the world’s global carbon dioxide emissions, roughly the same amount as that of Germany or 243 coal plants. That could grow by as much as 50% by the middle of this century if stronger action isn’t taken, experts have warned. The shipping industry’s current plans only envisage a halving of emissions by the middle of this century, a commitment that scientists say is far out of line with the Paris climate agreement.”

Relatedly, the Financial Times says: “China has urged poorer countries to oppose a levy on shipping emissions and stronger targets for decarbonising one of the world’s most polluting industries, criticising wealthy nations for setting ‘unrealistic’ goals with ‘significant’ financial costs. Beijing distributed a ‘diplomatic note’ to developing nations as they prepared for a critical meeting at the UN’s International Maritime Organization in July, according to four people present at IMO discussions. The lobbying effort comes days after France rallied 22 allies behind a shipping emissions levy. China warned that ‘an overly ambitious emission reduction target will seriously impede the sustainable development of international shipping, significantly increase the cost of the supply chain and will adversely impede the recovery of the global economy’, according to a document seen by the Financial Times. It added: ‘Developed countries are pushing the IMO to reach unrealistic visions and levels of ambition. [They are advocating] a flat [levy that] will lead to a significant increase in maritime transport costs.’ Wealthy nations have not agreed a price for the emissions levy.”

Shell’s European renewable power boss Thomas Brostrom has decided to leave the company as the oil supermajor revises its strategy to focus more investment into fossil fuels, reports Bloomberg. The outlet adds: “The departure comes as Shell trims back its ambitions for renewable power to focus on the oil and natural gas that generate most of the firm’s profits. Chief executive officer Wael Sawan is targeting better shareholder returns and sent a message to the renewables business that cutting CO2 emissions needed to be paired with higher earnings. Shell announced Brostrom’s exit in an internal memo seen by Bloomberg, which was confirmed by a company spokesman. Shell had hired the executive from Danish wind energy giant Orsted A/S amid its push into renewable power.” The Times says: “Sawan, who became chief executive in January, announced a shift back to oil and gas production last month while paring back investments in renewables after investor pressure to focus on its most profitable businesses. Sawan scrapped Shell’s previous target to cut oil output by 20% by 2030 after it already fallen to about that level following the company making steeper cuts than expected in the last few years.”

Meanwhile, in other Shell news, BBC News reports that the company “is still trading Russian gas more than a year after pledging to withdraw from the Russian energy market”. The broadcaster adds: “The company was involved in nearly an eighth of Russia’s shipborne gas exports in 2022, according to analysis from campaign group Global Witness. Oleg Ustenko, an adviser to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, accused Shell of accepting ‘blood money’. Shell said the trades were the result of ‘long-term contractual commitments’ and do not violate laws or sanctions.”

The latest draft of Germany’s Building Energy Act, which aims to phase out fossil fuel-powered domestic boilers, was published on Friday, reports Table.Media. The draft shows, it says, that the initiators of the bill, the Green party, “could not protect several important points introduced initially, for example, on who has to pay the additional costs for biomethane or hydrogen in rented apartments and how long fossil-fuel based heating systems can continue to be installed”. The outlet also explains that a fossil fuel-based heating system can now be installed for up to five years whenever a heating system is replaced. It adds that while the gas industry has celebrated the changes to the draft law, environmental groups have been left disappointed: “The gas lobby is obviously still succeeding in brutally sabotaging the heat transition,” comments the co-managing director of Deutsche Umwelthilfe, Barbara Metz, according to the outlet.

Meanwhile, the Local adds that the compromise of the latest draft says that, from January 2024, the obligation to install heating systems powered by 65% renewables will only apply to new buildings, while, in existing buildings, new oil and gas heating systems can continue to be installed until the municipality in question has presented a plan for the transition to “climate-neutral” heating. According to Clean Energy Wire, this can include an expansion of district heating. Under the proposed new rules, homeowners will need to install low-emission heating systems, such as heat pumps and solar energy, by 2045 at the latest. Die Zeit adds that the German government plans to cover 30-70% of the transition costs. The outlet reports that the law should be passed in the German parliament this week despite the long battles between the ruling coalition and opposition parties. The Local explains that the right-leaning German tabloid newspaper Bild launched a campaign against the law, dubbing it the “heat hammer” and publishing misleading information about the plans. 

An editorial in the Observer argues that “for the sake of the planet and his party, the prime minister must not try to draw a line dividing the Conservatives from Labour on green issues”. It continues: “With China dominating markets in solar power and battery technologies, and Biden investing a trillion dollars to help the US catch up, a global race is on to lead the way in building the future. Yet Sunak seems content to see Britain left behind. For what? So he and his ministers can deploy cheap jibes to try to characterise Labour as being in hock to Just Stop Oil militants? Or is he simply too weak to stand up to out-of-touch rightwingers such as David Frost, Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman? The prime minister will have the opportunity to correct his course when his energy bill returns to the Commons. He should back proposals from [Chris] Skidmore and opposition parties to unblock onshore wind and solar energy, block new coal mines and restore the climate consensus our security and prosperity demand.”

Focusing on the resignation of Zac Goldsmith, an analysis piece by the Guardian’s Helena Horton says “it’s hard to disagree” with the former minister when he says that Sunak is “apathetic about the environment”. She adds: “Under his leadership, the energy department has spent far more time attacking the Labour party for taking donations from a funder of the protest group Just Stop Oil than it has championing the net-zero by 2050 target enshrined in law by Sunak’s predecessors. Just look at this week’s Climate Change Committee report. The UK was not perfect on climate policy under Boris Johnson, but the committee, chaired by a Conservative MP, found the country had regressed further over the past year.” Writing for ConservativeHome, Sam Hall, who heads the Conservative Environment Network, says: “While Goldsmith has resigned, many ministers who are equally passionate about the environment remain. In fact, 41 former members of the CEN’s backbench parliamentary caucus are now in government. The Conservative Party and environmentalism are very much still entwined. Putting the environment back firmly among the government’s top priorities is a necessary step to win voters’ trust.” And the Daily Express has published a comment piece by Jack Richardson, head of energy and climate at the right-leaning thinktank Onward, in which he says: “Onward’s analysis found that Conservative voters are three times more likely to say the UK should be doing more than other countries to tackle the threat of climate change than to say we should do less. And they want to see nature restored and protected too. Over four-fifths of people believe nature is under threat and want to see action from the government. Sunak needs these environmentalists if he is to climb the steep and narrow path to victory. Labour and the Lib Dems are putting polluted rivers at the core of their campaigns to devastating effect. And while the Reform Party consistently fails to show up as a genuine threat in polls, the Green Party is taking more and more votes from the Conservatives on the ground.”

As with their news pages, the right-leaning UK newspapers continue their attacks on electric vehicles on their comment pages, too. The Sunday Telegraph carries a lengthy feature by Matt Oliver in which he says: “As the clock ticks down, alarm is growing that Britain will simply not be ready for 2030 – and a delay is increasingly likely…One former minister says: ‘A lot of these targets are aspirational…There’s an element of just trying to get the thing going, and then working out the problems afterwards. I do think 2030 is ambitious, but it is not impossible.’ Boris Johnson’s desire for Britain’s EV revolution to be world-beating was always ambitious. Now, as efforts to expand the charging network flounder, prices stay high and manufacturers struggle to develop a supply chain, it is looking ever harder to pull off.”

Meanwhile, an editorial in the Daily Mail says: “Our poll [see adobe] should make alarming reading for Tory and Labour politicians fixated on forcing voters into buying supposedly eco-friendly electric cars they cannot afford. It is not surprising there is woefully little support for banning sales of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030. Only one in four think this deadline – plucked from thin air without consultation – is a good idea…Voters want a pragmatic environmental strategy. They will not forgive politicians whose reckless virtue-signalling leaves them facing debt and difficulty.” [The ban on sales of petrol and diesel cars was brought forward from 2035 after analysis showed it would save money for consumers and for society as a whole.] The Daily Mail also carries a comment piece by Brian Clegg with the misleading headline: “Electric cars ARE the future, but the 2030 deadline to ban petrol and diesel cars is near impossible and we could all suffer the pain.” [The UK government does not intend to ban all petrol and diesel cars by 2030, just end the sale of new ones.] An editorial in the Sun on Sunday says: “For millions of Brits, a car is an essential part of life. But motorists are being hammered at every turn, from sky-high petrol prices to eco-loons blocking the roads. So it is good news that the competitions watchdog looks set to create a new PumpWatch website. This will finally allow drivers to compare petrol prices in their area – and avoid rip-off forecourts. It is a huge victory for our Keep It Down campaign and will help put real money back into peoples’ pockets. It is exactly what ministers should be focusing on – rather than bonkers net-zero policies that will just push prices up.” Finally, the Daily Telegraph carries a comment piece by its chief City commentator Ben Marlow under the headline: “The electric car ‘revolution’ is a disaster before it’s begun.”

Southern Europe has been experiencing a drying trend since the 1850s, according to a new study. The authors use tree ring data from a site in Bosnia and Herzegovin to explore the history of drought across southern Europe over the past 300 years. Using models from the sixth coupled model intercomparison project and “reanalysis data”, the authors also find that human-caused warming has “enhanced the strength of land–atmosphere coupling” since the 1850s.

Each 1C rise in maximum temperature in Bangladesh has driven a 4.6% rise in hospitalisations for diarrhoea in children under 5 years old, new research finds. The authors compare fortnightly hospital admissions data between August 2013 and June 2017 with  fortnightly average maximum temperature, relative humidity and rainfall recordings for six administrative divisions in Bangladesh. During the study period, more than 25,000 diarrhoea cases were hospitalised, according to the study. The authors find that “the relationship between maximum temperature and diarrhoea hospitalisations varied between divisions, with positive and negative effect estimates”.