Claudia Sheinbaum, a former climate scientist and head of Mexico City’s government, has been elected as the first woman president of Mexico, Axios reports. A member of the left-wing ruling party Morena, she has “proposed policies similar to those of her mentor, outgoing president Andrés Manuel López Obrador”, the news website explains. Sheinbaum won in a “landslide” victory, beating her nearest rival from a centre-right opposition coalition by more than 30 percentage points, according to the Financial Times. The New York Times says Sheinbaum has “ample” experience. The newspaper notes that she has a PhD in energy engineering and was an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) author in 2007, when it earned a Nobel Peace Prize. A profile of the new president for Mexican newspaper El Universal explains how Sheinbaum, who was a co-author of the industry chapter for the IPCC report in question, “has been recognised internationally for her work in physics and energy”.  Le Monde describes Sheinbaum as “a climate scientist with a social conscience”. World leaders, including US president Joe Biden, have congratulated Sheinbaum on her victory, according to Mexican newspaper Excélsior. It says French president Emmanual Macron told her that their two countries would continue “working to combat climate change” together.

Meanwhile, Climate Home News interviews Mexican climate scientists and political analysts who question “whether she will deliver on her green promises”. Some note her lack of extensive climate policies while mayor of Mexico City, while others point to her long-standing alliance with outgoing president López Obrador, who “dismantled climate policies and institutions and promoted energy sovereignty through domestic fossil fuel production”. Sheinbaum favours an energy transition driven by public investment in renewables and efforts by state companies such as the oil firm Pemex, rather than private investment, the article notes. According to another New York Times article, if Sheinbaum maintains her predecessor’s policies to limit private investment in renewables, this “could significantly slow down the country’s clean energy transition”. The newspaper also notes that she will face many challenges in the energy sector: “Federal budgets are tight. Energy demands are rising. Mexico’s national oil company is heavily indebted.” Reuters covers similar themes in its reporting, noting that Sheinbaum now must balance the advancement of López Obrador’s “state-centric economic policies, especially over natural resources such as oil and minerals” with “progress on issues seen as his weak points like the environment and crime”.

Nations gathered at mid-year UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, should make “serious progress” towards setting a new climate finance goal for after 2025, according to Simon Stiell, the head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Climate Home News reports. The article explains that this goal is “one of the main decisions” expected from the COP29 UN climate summit taking place in November in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku. However, the outlet says that broadly developed and developing countries have divergent views on how much money should be provided, who should provide it and how “climate finance” should be defined. Stiell also called on countries to come forward with more ambitious climate plans, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), Business Green reports. The article notes that the next round of these plans must be submitted in 2025. According to the Hindustan Times, Stiell said the trajectory to the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5C, would be “steep”, with the world currently heading for 2.7C. He noted that the world would have been “headed for up to 5C of global heating” without international cooperation to date, it adds. Meanwhile, Reuters reports that two climate activists – Anabella Rosemberg and Climate Action Network International executive director Tasneem Essop – were expelled from the Bonn conference after taking to the stage to demonstrate against Israel’s war in Gaza.

The Guardian has an interview with Laurence Tubiana, chief executive of the European Climate Foundation (which funds Carbon Brief), who says rich people around the world should contribute more to climate action – either through taxes or charges on consumption, such as frequent flyer levies.

Separately, the Financial Times reports that the world’s low-carbon energy plans “still fall almost a third short” of what is required to reach the goal of tripling renewable capacity by 2030, which was agreed at the COP28 UN climate talks last year. This is according to a new assessment by the International Energy Agency, which describes the goal as “ambitious but achievable”, according to Business Green. Its reporting notes that current NDCs do not even reflect governments’ stated goals for renewables, so any new climate plans would need to both match those ambitions and go even further to hit the tripling target.

The German Expert Council on Climate Issues, which has independent authority to judge the country’s climate performance, said Germany “is unlikely” to meet its goal to cut 65% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 because sectors such as transport and construction “are struggling to meet their targets”, reports Reuters. This statement follows Germany’s recent adoption of a “more flexible” climate protection law in April, which eliminates sector-specific targets, adds the outlet. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) notes that in March, the German Federal Environment Agency stated, based on its own projections, that the 2030 goal could be achieved. However, as detailed by Der Spiegel, the expert panel highlighted that these projections were based on “outdated” assumptions, with recent developments including budget cuts in the Climate and Transformation Fund, resulting in decreased state aid for electric cars and heat pumps, along with lower market prices for CO2 certificates in the EU emissions trading scheme, as well as “slow progress” in establishing new green hydrogen facilities.

Meanwhile, according to Der Spiegel, Thyssenkrupp, a German steel company, anticipates meeting 40% of its annual electricity needs for one of its plants from a nearby windfarm, marking the first example of such integration in a German industrial facility, with the goal of mitigating grid fees and relieving pressure on the public electricity grid.

Elsewhere, Handelsblatt reports that the German economy and finance ministries reached an agreement on a package to better support the coal regions through direct investments in business settlements, stimulating investments in “green” transformation technologies in lignite regions. In addition, a major German energy company RWE has agreed to an accelerated coal phase out by 2030 in the Rhineland region, notes the article. 

Finally, there is extensive coverage of flooding in southern Germany, which has killed four people, according to the Associated Press. In an article drawing a clear link between the event and the government’s failure to reach its climate goals, Politico says this marks the third major flooding event to hit the country this year, adding that “such disasters are becoming more frequent and more intense as a result of global warming”. Visiting a flood-struck site north of Munich, the Guardian reports that German chancellor Olaf Scholz said such floods were no longer a “one-off”, adding that: “We must not neglect the task of stopping man-made climate change.” Deutsche Welle asks if extreme floods are “the new normal for Germany”.

Much of the western US is set to face a high-pressure ridge, or heat dome, from Tuesday, “likely driving temperatures to near-record or record-breaking levels, with several excessive heat watches and warnings already issued”, the Los Angeles Times reports. The newspaper says the “early-season heatwave” is expected to “broil much of inland California” with temperatures reaching 100F (37.8C) in places. According to the New York Times, the event is expected to drive temperatures in Phoenix, Arizona, up to 110F (43.3C) for the first time this season. Semafor notes that, alongside medical emergencies and fires, the heat is expected to put strain on the electrical grid in California, which has installed more battery storage than anywhere apart from China. “The heatwave will stress California’s electric grid as homes and businesses turn up the AC, and in particular, it will test the state’s battery system used to store electricity produced by solar power,” it says. The Daily Mail reports that four migrants have been killed by the “brutally hot conditions they encountered” after entering the US near El Paso, Texas.

Meanwhile, extreme heat continues in India, with the Independent reporting that more than 200 people, “including dozens of workers on election duty” have been killed by the soaring temperatures.

State broadcaster CCTV reports that China’s Ministry of Finance has allocated 6.44bn yuan ($889m) in 2024 to support and promote vehicle renewal and trade-in, mostly for new energy vehicles (NEVs). State-supporting newspaper Global Times also covers the story, saying that the move is “a bid to further boost consumption in [the] domestic auto market”.

Bloomberg reports that despite the escalating geopolitical tensions and anxiety about Chinese EV exports, automakers outside China are “growing ever closer” with their Chinese counterparts at the “corporate level”. A separate Bloomberg report says that leading manufacturers in China’s EV sector “all reported strong sales growth in May”. Meanwhile, “Brazil is going to be [the] key market if Chinese automakers are going to thrive”, Bloomberg reports. State news agency Xinhua reports that Wang Wentao, minister of China’s Ministry of Commerce, says that “China is open to dialogues to properly resolve trade frictions” with the EU, adding that the Chinese government will “take all necessary measures to defend the legitimate interests of Chinese companies”. Bloomberg also covers the story. 

Separately, the Financial Times reports that Japan and the EU are working together to “align their clean energy policies to prevent cheap Chinese suppliers from further undercutting their manufacturers”. The Financial Times “Trade Secrets” newsletter says that Beijing is threatening to “counterattack” following US tariff hikes and investigations by the EU. Economic news outlet Jiemian reports that “China’s race to mass-produce all-solid-state batteries” has intensified, with Japan, Europe, and the US also pushing forward in the technology.

Elsewhere, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that China will “step up construction of strategic railroad links in Xinjiang and Tibet”, the autonomous regions in western China, as part of the plan to “strengthen transport links to ensure energy and supply chain security”. SCMP carries another article, saying that according to a new study, due to increased rainfall caused by climate change, lakes in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in southwest China are estimated to expand 50% by 2100, “an early warning signal for the wider effects of global warming”. Xinhua reports that a new round of heavy rainfall will continue to develop in the southern China region on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

Finally, Pakistan prime minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif will visit China from Tuesday to Saturday this week, meeting with business leaders to talk about cooperation in sectors including oil and gas, energy and emerging technologies, the Communist Party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily reports. 

Climate change doubled the chances of the historic floods in southern Brazil and scaled up intense rains caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon, according to Agence France-Presse. A study by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group concluded that three months’ worth of rain was dumped on the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul over two weeks in an “extremely rare event, expected to occur only once every 100-250 years”, the outlet notes. The record-breaking disaster killed at least 169 people, as well as destroying homes and harvests, according to the Guardian. The newspaper adds that it was “worsened by deforestation, investment cuts and human incompetence”. The New York Times notes that the weather pattern known as El Niño was also a factor.

Separately, the Financial Times reports that the El Niño weather pattern is expected to “swing to its opposite La Niña cooling phase from late summer”. This “rapid transition from one extreme to the other in the tropical Pacific would see more parts of the world battered by weather events, not long after the strong El Niño warming event has wreaked havoc on rainfall patterns and commodity prices”, the newspaper says.

In a comment, Bloomberg columnist Juan Pablo Spinetto writes about what he calls the “tension between continuity and change” in the approaching presidency of the newly elected Mexican leader Claudia Sheinbaum. Specifically, he references her loyalty to outgoing president and mentor Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He notes that Sheinbaum is “a scientist and climate change expert who nevertheless supported [López Obrador’s] pro-oil policy and dismissed the environmental impact of his large infrastructure projects”. Similarly, Boston Globe columnist Marcela García questions Sheinbaum’s “progressive credentials”, highlighting her association with the populist politics of López Obrador. As an example, García notes that she “supports the completion of the Mayan Train, a mega project that has been severely criticised for the environmental destruction it has caused”. The article concludes: “Which Claudia Sheinbaum will Mexico get? Will she govern as an ideologue of [the left-wing political party to which she and López Obrador belong] Morena or as the pragmatist scientist people close to her say she is?” Meanwhile, the Financial Times’ Latin America editor Michael Stott writes that “although the former climate scientist is promising to boost renewable power, she has also made clear that the state will maintain its control over the energy sector and its costly support for the ailing government-owned oil company Pemex”.

Jonny Ball, associate editor of the New Statesman’s policy section and supplement, Spotlight, says Labour has been attempting to make an impact during the general election campaign with a “flurry of events, headlines and policy announcements around Great British Energy”. However, he argues that Labour’s plans to finance this initiative to build low-carbon energy with money from a windfall tax on energy companies will be insufficient. Ball says that since Labour dropped a plan to spend £28bn a year on “green” investments, “the agenda is threadbare”. Martin Sandbu, the Financial Times’s European economics commentator, similarly writes that Labour “should not have” given up on the “good idea of borrowing sizeable amounts to invest in green energy, tech and infrastructure for a transformed economy”. An editorial in the Financial Times reflects on the UK economy and says “Britain must decide what it wants to be good at”. It continues: “It cannot compete on all technologies and fronts in the green transition, given the size of its market, capital and work force relative to the US, China and the EU. That means it should create conditions for its comparative advantages – including in financial services, universities, life sciences, and some renewable technologies – to thrive.”

Meanwhile, the Daily Express carries an “exclusive” interview with Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak on its frontpage, in which he argues that, in the wake of Nigel Farage taking over as the leader of right-wing party Reform UK, “a vote for anyone who is not a Conservative just makes it more likely that [Labour leader] Keir Starmer is going to end up in Number 10”. He continues: “If you care about net-zero and getting there in a way that prioritises our country’s energy security and doesn’t land the families with thousands of pounds in extra costs, I’m the one that’s going to deliver that, not Keir Starmer. I’ve made the change on our approach to net-zero, Keir Starmer is going to reverse those changes and ban North Sea oil, it is going to be bad for our country’s energy security and is going to put costs off for people.” (Last week, International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol said: “If policy makers and industry leaders put off action and spending today, we will all end up paying more tomorrow. The first-of-a-kind global analysis in our new report shows that the way to make energy more affordable for more people is to speed up transitions, not slow them down.”) DeSmog has a rundown of all of Farage’s history as a climate sceptic and a “vocal-opponent of net-zero policies”. 

An article in the Conversation by researchers Anupama Sen and Sam Fankhauser states that “a misinformed debate over the [UK’s] climate transition and legally binding net-zero targets risks further dividing people”. They lay out new research that concludes: “Achieving net-zero and economic wellbeing are not mutually exclusive goals. In fact, the additional annual cost of pursuing net-zero is somewhere between 0.7% and 1% of GDP, or £5-£7 a week per person.”

Finally, a piece by Mehreen Khan, economics editor of the Times, argues that despite concerns about a “hard-right” populist “backlash”, in part against climate policies, in the upcoming European Parliament elections, “the green agenda cannot be reversed entirely”. She notes: “Much of the climate legislation put in place under the last commission will remain, and businesses will comply on [a] range of regulations on renewable energy or biodiversity targets.”

A new research paper conducted in the Indian Sundarbans, “a social-ecological system critically stressed by climate change”, aims to “disentangle, uncover and highlight obscured ways in which sudden and slow-onset eco-climatic shifts induced by climatic changes interact with existing patterns of social-ecological (mis)governance, gender inequity, power structures and struggles, therein, patriarchal policies and neoliberal markets”. It continues: “Coping mechanisms of the communities are shaped by complex, multi-layered, and scalar processes that involve institutional failures, private markets, and neoliberal governance patterns, which in turn are resulting in severely negative health consequences for women and children. Employing a justice lens and an agent-based coproduction of knowledge helps to move beyond the obscured causalities for specific health threats to foster an agenda for action.”