The UK government is planning to build a new nuclear reactor in Scotland, despite opposition, according to the Scottish secretary Alistair Jack, reports BBC News. Jack has told the House of Lords committee he has asked the UK energy minister to plan for a nuclear site as part off a UK-wide strategy, it adds. The nuclear site could get built if the SNP is “ousted from government” in the next Holyrood election, reports the Daily Telegraph. The small modular reactor would be the first new nuclear power station in the country in decades – since SNP ministers took power in 2007 they have blocked construction of any new nuclear power, it adds. Jack has instructed UK ministers to start planning for the development as he predicts a unionist administration will be in power in Scotland after the next Holyrood election in 2026, reports the Independent. The UK government is planning to develop small modular reactors at eight sites, with the first expected to be ready in the early 2030s, reports the Times. The UK government plans would see existing or former nuclear sites prioritised for small modular reactors, meaning Dounreay in Caithness, Hunterston in Ayrshire and Chapelcross in Dumfries and Galloway are all potentials, reports STV. 

In other UK nuclear news, the country’s attempt to continue collaborating in the world’s largest nuclear fusion experiment has been “rebuffed” by the EU, which wants the UK to rejoin its civil atomic programme as part of the deal, reports the Financial Times. The UK will be “locked out” of the Iter project in France within months, unless it affiliates to Euratom, which it quit when it left the EU, it adds.

Elsewhere, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak’s “U-turns” over net-zero have delayed progress on vital infrastructure needed for economic growth, reports the Guardian. Sir John Armitt, chair of government advisors the National Infrastructure commission, has said good progress had been made on renewable energy over the past five years, but changes to key policies are creating uncertainty and delay, he adds. 

Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis has signed new legislation that makes climate change a lesser priority in the state and will see it largely disappear from state statutes, reports the Associated Press. The legislation also bans power-generating wind turbines offshore or near the state’s coastline, it adds. Critics have said the measure ignores the reality of climate change threats in Florida, including projections of rising sea levels, extreme heat and flooding and increasingly severe storms, the newswire continues. The new legislation, which will take effect on 1 July, will also boost expansion of gas, reduce regulation of gas pipelines in the state and increase protections against bans on gas appliances such as stoves, AP adds. The legislation deletes requirements that state agencies use climate-friendly products and purchase fuel-efficient vehicles, reports the New York Times. After signing the legislation along with two other bills on Wednesday, DeSantis tweeted he “will keep windmills off our beaches, gas in our tanks, and China out of our state. We’re restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots.”

The International Energy Agency has reduced its forecast for oil demand growth in 2024, widening the gap with producer group OPEC, reports Reuters. The divide between the IEA and petroleum-exporting countries “sends divergent signals about oil market strength in 2024” and beyond as the speed of the world’s transition to cleaner fuels becomes clearer, it continues. World fuel consumption will increase by 1.1m barrels a day this year, about 140,000 barrels less than expected a month ago, according to the IEA, reports Bloomberg. “Poor industrial activity and another mild winter have sapped gas and oil consumption this year, particularly in Europe, where a declining share of diesel cars in the fleet were already undercutting consumption,” said the IEA, adds Bloomberg.

Reuters reports that Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi has said that US tariffs on Chinese products are the “most typical form of bullying in the world today”. Wang added: “It shows that some people in the US have reached the point of losing their minds in order to maintain their unipolar hegemony.” State-run newspaper China Daily quotes foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin saying that the US is “making double standards by justifying its own subsidies and exports, while accusing other countries’ subsidies and exports as ‘unfair’ and ‘overcapacity’”. State broadcaster CCTV reposts a statement by the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) which says that the US move is “a clear example of political manipulation”. Reuters notes that, compared with former President Donald Trump’s 2018 tariffs on Chinese products, Beijing’s response this time suggests a “new dynamic” and “confidence” in geopolitical relations. Bloomberg quotes US energy company Invenergy saying the tariffs have been “pushed” by dominant US and South Korean solar manufacturers in a “bid to protect their own profits at the expense of clean energy deployment”.

Meanwhile, the Communist party-affiliated newspaper Study Times publishes an comment article arguing that “overcapacity theory” is a variant of the “China threat theory”, plus an attempt to “curb China’s technological progress and industrial upgrading”. A China Daily editorial argues that the US’s tariff hike will “only be detrimental to itself in the long-run”. Energy newspaper International Energy Net reposts an article from the MOFCOM website arguing that China’s “new energy” industry represents “advanced production capacity”. State news agency Xinhua publishes the final article in a series on manufacturing capacity, arguing that the overcapacity argument “distorts and smears China’s path of high-quality development”. Xinhua also carries an unbylined comment article arguing that the US and China are “highly complementary to each other”, but that US consumers and the global community are “paying the price” of US “unilateralism, protectionism, coercion and suppression”. A Wall Street Journal editorial says: “Biden’s tariffs are certain to disrupt business supply chains and raise costs for US consumers and businesses. They are unlikely to change Chinese policies, and they’ll invite retaliation against US goods.” While, an editorial in the Economist says: “It is deeply regrettable that President Joe Biden has decided to impose tariffs of 100% on electric vehicles made in China…Mr Biden’s tariffs are a blunt tool…and will bring underappreciated economic harms to America and the world.” Writing in the New York Times, Gernot Wagner and Conor Walsh, who are both economists at Columbia Business School, say: “Don’t slam the door on inexpensive Chinese electric vehicles.” They continue: “The Biden administration is right that climate policies must work for the people of Detroit and Pittsburgh as much as they work for well-off Tesla drivers. But to accomplish these goals, it ought to be taxing China for its soaring carbon emissions, not for its electric vehicles and solar panels, which for now, at least, the US needs badly. Given China’s soaring carbon emissions, carbon tariffs will be tough on the country, but for the right reasons.”

Separately, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reports that the EU is facing pressure on its “new energy vehicle” (NEV) investigations, whereby member states with “major automotive ties to China” are voicing their opposition to any push “to match US import tariffs, or to impose any duties at all”. Reuters says the EU “will launch calls within days for projects to improve EU supply of critical minerals”, including lithium, copper and other minerals to “reduce dependence on China”. Economic newswire Jiemian reports that two solar companies that withdrew tenders to supply a Romanian solar farm have lost out on a contract valued at nearly 3bn yuan ($420m).

Finally, Reuters reports that “a sharp increase in China’s hydropower generation from late April is likely to continue, leading to lower-than-expected demand for coal in power plants”. Another Reuters article says that the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner, has “ordered provinces to develop energy-efficiency plans for entities accounting for about 70% of consumption and carbon emissions by 2025-end”. It quotes Yao Zhe, global policy advisor for Greenpeace East Asia, characterising the order as “an attempt to catch up on the [lagging progress towards China’s] energy intensity target”. Finally, industry news outlet BJX News carried an article by NDRC vice-chairman Zhao Chenxin, who says “promoting the energy saving and carbon reduction goal is clear and the direction is correct”, and that China “must further enhance the sense of responsibility and urgency of the mission…and maintain our grasp of…the work”.

High temperatures in Mexico last week led to several deaths, including that of a 60-year-old man who died at home from heat stroke in the northern state of San Luis Potosí, Excélsior reports. The newspaper notes that “these cases have highlighted the vulnerability of elderly and low-income people to extreme heatwaves”. In a separate article, the outlet reports that the extreme heat also killed birds, such as yellow-headed parrots and red-crowned amazons, across two states, including San Luis Potosí, where temperatures exceeded 50C.

Meanwhile, in Colombia, around 32,000 people have been affected by recent flooding in the La Mojana region, in the north of the country, which has been declared a “public calamity”, El Espectador reports. The newspaper adds that the overflowing of the Cauca River caused the flooding, which affected houses and crops. Elsewhere, Brazilian cities face “immense challenges” as weather events become increasingly intense and municipalities suffer from a lack of planning, Folha de São Paulo reports, adding that, over the past 10 years, more than 90% of the country’s municipalities have been hit by extreme events. El Comercio tells the story of some Peruvians affected by the floodings in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. They have not received “concrete support” from Peru’s government after losing their homes, the newspaper notes.

In other news from Latin America, La Tercera reports that an analysis of Chile’s nationally determined contributions (NDC) – which aims to reducing 95m tonnes of CO2e by 2030, reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 – has found that the country is unlikely to meet its targets because other sectors, such as transport, are increasing their emissions. The South American country reduced its emissions by 3.4% in 2023 compared to levels in 2020, the outlet adds. 

Car manufacturers in the UK are set to miss a key government target for electric vehicle (EV) sales, reports the Independent. The share of the new car market held by EVs is predicted to hit 19.8% in 2024, industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has told the transport select committee, it adds. At least 22% of new cars and 10% of new vans sold by each manufacturer in the UK in 2024 is required to be zero-emission under the government’s zero emission vehicle mandate, the article continues. One of the UK’s largest car dealers Vertu has warned that “volatility” in the market for new cars is spilling over into used car sales as manufacturers struggle to hit their quotas for EVs, reports the Times. Car sellers could face a shortage of petrol vehicles, therefore, as manufacturers restrict carmaking to artificially boost EV compliance, Vertu warns, reports the Daily Telegraph. EV sales have “stalled” argues the company, raising the risk that manufacturers will miss sales targets mandated by law and thus face fines, it adds.

Writing in the Financial Times, former Labour business secretary and EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson says: “[Rishi] Sunak thinks he smells electoral advantage by soft pedalling on [net-zero] policies, but he is discouraging would-be investors in decarbonising power generation, heat and transport. Prevarication prompts businesses and investors to look elsewhere in Europe, Asia and the US, where there are stronger signals to invest in decarbonising assets and technologies…Our existing industrial capabilities point to expanding manufacturing in wind energy, green transport and heat pumps. If we align the UK’s university and research strengths, an educated and flexible labour market, our entrepreneurialism and a strong regulatory bias in favour of innovation and new design, we can make the most of these opportunities. It is too late to create an industry building solar panels here, but not too late to develop the grid-level storage capacity to transform the economics of solar power. There are similar possibilities offered by the UK’s strong science base – and similar demands for sympathetic government policy.” On a similar theme, the Daily Mail reports on a new report from Tony Blair’s institute which, it says, accuses Labour of setting “unrealistic” short-term climate goals. In an accompanying editorial, the Daily Mail says: “The ex-prime minister’s [is] warning about Britain’s insane rush to net-zero. Our politicians should listen to his pragmatic intervention. We can all do our bit to tackle climate change, but common sense must prevail.” An editorial in the Sun attacks Labour’s Ed Miliband: “If the polls are right this obsessive ideologue is months away from ruling over us anyway…trusted by Keir Starmer to run our energy needs…It was Miliband, during Labour’s last stint in power, who first clobbered us with green levies – a mere taste of what is likely to come.” The Sun has also recorded an interview in the back of a London taxi with UK net-zero secretary Claire Coutinho in which the newspaper says she confirms that “mini-nuclear reactors will begin to be rolled out across the country within the next ten years – but there will be no return to fracking anytime soon”.

Elsewhere, the Guardian carries a comment piece by veteran climate campaigner Bill McKibben in which he writes: “The precise number we’re aiming for matters less at this point than the time frame: what 1.5C taught the policymakers was that they can’t do their usual dithering. This is an emergency – and the sense of emergency hasn’t faded with the passing of a target. The news from the atmosphere and the ocean is very, very grim. The news from the engineers is promising. We don’t yet know how it will play out, just that we still have some power to decide. But only – and this is the most important message the scientists have to offer – if we act with great speed. If we don’t, the deal is done.”

The US public has highest confidence in attributing wildfires and extreme heat to climate change and lowest confidence for hurricanes and tornadoes, a new study finds. The authors assessed how confidently a representative sample of the US population (n = 1,071) attribute different extreme weather events to climate change, as well as the factors affecting this “attribution confidence” and how it compares with scientific assessments. The results suggest respondents aligned with scientific event attribution for an average of two out of five extreme event types, leading the authors to conclude that “the public is connecting climate change to extreme weather and making distinctions in attribution levels, but politics and experiences with extreme weather matter”.

Despite initiatives to promote gender equality, challenges that disproportionately affect women continue to persist for environmental conservation workers in Latin America, including national-level policymaking processes such as climate change, according to new research. The study explores the perspectives of 163 women from 16 countries across Latin America. Workshops culminated in the “bottom-up development of a regionally-constructed, gender-conscious conceptual model for change” covering capacity-building and gender-based violence, among other issues. Noting the “challenging task ahead”, the authors warn that “the future of our field rests on our ability to provide more diverse, inclusive, and equitable spaces”.