Last year was the hottest on record by a large margin, according to EU climate data covered by much of the world’s press. The Guardian reports that, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (CCCS), 2023 was 1.48C hotter than pre-industrial times. This is 0.17C higher than the previous record set in 2016 – “marking a very large increase in climate terms”, according to the Guardian. According to the data, 2023 was hotter than any time in the past 100,000 years, the Financial Times says. The Independent reports that, according to the data, every day of 2023 was at least 1C hotter than in pre-industrial times for the first time in 2023. BBC News reports that the record heat was “driven by human-caused climate change and boosted by the natural El Niño weather event”. According to BBC analysis, almost every day since July has seen a new global air temperature high for the time of year. BBC News speaks to climate scientist Prof Andrew Dessler, who says: “What struck me was not just that [2023] was record-breaking, but the amount by which it broke previous records.” MailOnline reports that global temperatures neared the 1.5C limit set by countries under the Paris Agreement. [The 1.5C limit of the Paris Agreement is interpreted by scientists as being a long-term, multi-year average that takes into account natural variability in Earth’s climate. This means that breaching 1.5C in a single year does not mean the limit has been crossed.] The Times publishes “the climate crisis in charts” in light of the news. The Independent publishes a separate piece examining whether 2024 could be even hotter than 2023. The New York Times, Politico and Daily Telegraph are among titles also covering the news.

Several UK newspapers report that four British nuclear power plants could remain running for a further two years, following an announcement from French-state operator EDF Energy. The FT explains: “The UK’s nuclear generating capacity has fallen rapidly since the start of the decade as three of the country’s eight ageing power stations closed. But EDF, which owns the country’s nuclear fleet via a joint venture with Centrica, said it now planned to explore keeping two of the power stations – Heysham 2 and Torness – open beyond their planned closure date of 2028. This follows an announcement last year by the company of similar plans to keep the two other power stations that use the same reactor design – Hartlepool and Heysham 1 – open for at least two years beyond their scheduled closure date of 2024.” EDF said a decision on the planned extensions of Heysham 2 and Torness power stations, which have a joint generating capacity of 2.4GW, will be taken by the end of this year, “subject to plant inspections and regulatory approvals”, the FT reports. The Office for Nuclear Regulation tells the FT that “several safety cases for the stations are likely to require updating” if EDF is to achieve its aims. The Times says that keeping the plants open for longer could “help balance more intermittent renewable energy sources”. The Guardian adds that EDF is also looking into running its Sizewell B plant on the Suffolk coast for 20 years longer than scheduled, until 2055.

Elsewhere, the Guardian reports that a controversial gas drilling project at a site in the Surrey Hills can go ahead after the court of appeal ruled against any further legal attempts to stop the project. The Guardian explains: “The Loxley site, just outside the village of Dunsfold, has been at the centre of a protracted legal battle over plans by the energy company UK Oil and Gas to sink an exploration well. The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has faced criticism after being accused of not sufficiently opposing the scheme since taking his cabinet position…The local environmental issue has angered many of his constituents, who have complained about the noise and environmental impacts of drilling for gas near the Surrey Hills area of outstanding natural beauty.” The Evening Standard reports that Hunt said he was “bitterly disappointed” by the court ruling.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the actor Ralph Fiennes has made a video protesting against the installation of wind farm substations in Suffolk. BBC News speaks to a farmer worried he will lose his land if a solar farm in Derbyshire goes ahead. The Daily Telegraph also reports that nearly 37,000 heat pumps were installed in the UK last year, a record number. However, this figure is still far off the government’s aim to have 600,000 installed every year by 2028, it adds.

US oil and gas production is set to reach record highs in 2024 and 2025, according to government figures reported on by the FT. It says: “Average US oil production will amount to 13.2m barrels per day this year, rising to 13.4m b/d next year, according to an energy outlook released on Tuesday by the Energy Information Administration. The figures top the 12.9m b/d estimated in 2023 – itself a record, surpassing levels reached before the Covid-19 pandemic. Dry natural gas production, meanwhile, is set to rise to an unprecedented 105bn cubic feet per day in 2024 and 106bn cu ft/d in 2025.” Despite the new records, growth in production is expected to slow “as efficiency gains offset a decline in rig activity”, Reuters says. Politico reports that US president Joe Biden’s team is considering introducing a “climate test” for gas exports, which “could tap the breaks on the booming US gas export industry”. It explains: “The review being led by the Department of Energy will examine whether regulators should take climate change into account when deciding whether a proposed gas export project meets the national interest, according to two people familiar with the action who were granted anonymity to discuss deliberations that have not yet been publicly acknowledged.” It comes as a separate Reuters story says US wind power likely fell in 2023 for the first time in two decades.

Elsewhere, Reuters reports that a massive winter storm moving across the eastern half of the US on Tuesday “knocked out power to about 811,000 homes and businesses in 12 states ahead of a brutal freeze expected to blanket the region starting this weekend”. The Independent reports that the US faced a record number of billion-dollar climate disasters in 2023.

Norway has become the first country in the world to approve commercial deep-sea mining, reports the Times and others. The move means companies will now be able to apply to the government for licences to explore for minerals, including precious metals, across nearly 300,000 square kilometres of the Norwegian sea stretching as far north as the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, the Times says. The Guardian says the decision comes “despite warnings from scientists that it could have a devastating impact on marine life, and opposition from the EU and the UK, which have called for a temporary ban on deep-sea mining because of environmental concerns”. Mongabay speaks to Astrid Bergmål, Norway’s energy minister, who claims that deep-sea mining could help the country find metals needed for green technologies. “Critics, however, say that minerals for renewable energy technologies could be obtained from land-based sources and recycling processes,” Mongabay says. It adds that the high seas, areas beyond national borders, has also been “earmarked” for deep sea mining. Mining in the high seas is regulated by the UN International Seabed Authority, which is currently overseeing negotiations for a set of rules to govern deep sea mining, it adds. The Guardian has a separate piece explaining the risks of deep-sea mining.

Indian electricity company Tata has reached an exploratory agreement with the government of Tamil Nadu to invest an estimated 708bn rupees ($8.5bn) in clean energy projects, “as the company seeks to decarbonise its generation capacity”, Bloomberg reports. The firm signed a preliminary deal with the southern Indian state to build 10 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy projects and expand an existing plan for solar panel manufacturing to 4.3GW of capacity on Tuesday, according to a company filing seen by Bloomberg. It adds: “The projects would spread over 50,000 acres (about 20,000 hectares) of land and would include solar, wind, hybrid and round-the-clock power plants, Tata Power said in the filing.” Separately, Bloomberg reports on why India’s plan to double coal production “ignores” the threat from climate change. In addition, Reuters reports that Indian conglomerate Adani Group will invest 2tn rupees ($24bn) in five years in the green energy and renewable energy sectors in the western state of Gujarat, its chairman Gautam Adani said on Wednesday at an investment summit.

Israel’s war in Gaza since 7 October has produced more greenhouse gas emissions than 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries create in a year, according to new analysis covered by the Guardian. Research by UK and US scientists, which has not yet undergone peer review, finds that Israel’s aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza has produced around 281,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, the Guardian says. It adds: “According to the study, which is based on only a handful of carbon-intensive activities and is therefore probably a significant underestimate, the climate cost of the first 60 days of Israel’s military response was equivalent to burning at least 150,000 tonnes of coal.”

Shi Yubo, president of China Energy Research Society, says that in 2023, China’s installed capacity of new energy storage reached “another record high, with the annual new installed capacity exceeding 45 gigawatt-hours (GWh), tripling 2022 levels”, reports the Chinese economic outlet Jiemian. Yue Fen, deputy secretary general of Zhongguancun Energy Storage Industry Technology Alliance says that the competition in the industry will “intensify in 2024”, the newspaper adds. China Energy Net reports that in 2023, the number of new energy storage projects in China “exceeded 2,500, an increase of 46% compared with 2022”. Rao Hong, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, says that the large-scale and rapid development of new energy accelerates demands for energy storage. Chinese outlet Caixin says that the expansion rose to meet increasing demand and “as part of a clean energy push”. While the industry “still faces technological barriers and challenges to its profitability, its fast expansion and the influx of investment has increased competition”, it adds.

Meanwhile, Wall Street CN reports that, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), retail sales of passenger vehicles increased by “5.6% year-on-year in 2023”. It adds that the retail sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs, mostly electric vehicles or EVs) is particularly impressive, with a year-on-year growth of 36.2%, reaching 7.7m units. Bloomberg says that the growth of China’s EV market is expected to slow down for the second consecutive year in 2024 as the country’s “patchy economic recovery from the pandemic weighs on consumer sentiment”. Reuters reports that in 2024, Chinese automobile brands are poised for improved profitability despite heightened competition in the world’s “largest auto market” due to “upgrades” in their product mix, according to UBS analysts. China Energy Net reports that a Chinese NEV company has delivered the world’s “first batch of sodium-ion battery EVs” to customers.

Separately, state news agency Xinhua reports that in 2023, China’s domestic oil and gas production reached an equivalent of more than “390m tonnes, maintaining a rapid growth momentum at the 10m-tonne level for the seventh consecutive year and achieving a historical record”. The state-run industry newspaper China Electric Power News reports that the production of unconventional oil and gas “continues to grow, serving as a crucial support for the increased storage and production of oil and gas nationwide”. 

Elsewhere, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reports that China is “building a surveillance network to monitor Antarctic krill as part of a project that could help protect the continent’s marine ecology in future”. Chinese outlet the Paper says that the world’s “first active laser carbon dioxide detection satellite, which is also an atmospheric environmental monitoring satellite”, has successfully completed its in-orbit testing. This could use remote sensing data to support China’s “precise prevention and control of atmospheric pollution and the achievement of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals”.

Writing for Context – which is funded by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, climate journalist Megan Rowling explores how the deal to transition away from fossil fuels agreed at COP28 can be achieved while minimising social disruption. She writes: “This week, hard on the heels of COP28, held in the oil-rich UAE amid fears of heavy influence by the fossil fuel industry, German farmers kicked off protests against plans to phase out diesel subsidies, blocking roads with tractors. The social unrest echoed similar disruptions in recent years in countries from France to Ecuador and Nigeria, triggered by state-led efforts to curb consumption of carbon-polluting fuels by hiking prices…Ignoring the social impacts risks a backlash that can be co-opted by politicians and others on the ‘populist right’ who are portraying clean air and cheaper energy bills as ‘the fantasies of an out-of-touch liberal elite’, said Rachel Kyte, visiting professor at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government.” Kyte tells Context that, to tackle this, governments must invest in green infrastructure that “benefits ordinary people”. Elsewhere, African Arguments speaks to Egypt’s chief negotiator about his thoughts on the outcomes of COP28. In addition, Foreign Policy has a piece by Prof Jun Arima, a former Japanese negotiator and Vijaya Ramachandran, the director for energy and development at the Breakthrough Institute, titled: “The death of the 1.5C climate target.”

An editorial in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change reflects on broken climate records in 2023 and the outcomes of the COP28 climate summit. It says: “Regardless of the pledges and commitments that came from the discussions, and we wait to see updated [national climate pledges under the Paris Agreement] in the coming months, this needs to translate into action and [deliver] on these promises for progress to be achieved on minimising climate change impacts. The Paris Agreement in 2015 looked to have changed climate aspiration, but here we are eight years later still discussing action plans, when these should have been in place already.” Elsewhere, an editorial in the health journal the Lancet Respiratory Medicine warns that flooding and heavy rainfall poses a risk to respiratory health.

A pair of new papers delve into the “exceptional heatwave” that hit east Antarctica in March 2022, bringing “widespread 30-40C temperature anomalies across the ice sheet”. This “record-shattering event saw numerous monthly temperature records being broken including a new all-time temperature record of -9.4C on 18 March at Concordia Station”, the first paper explains. It finds that the “driver for these temperature extremes was an intense atmospheric river (AR) advecting subtropical/midlatitude heat and moisture deep into the Antarctic interior”. The authors add: “Despite a temperature anomaly return time of about 100 years, a closer recurrence of such an event is possible under future climate projections.” The second paper looks at the impacts of the event on the ice sheet, noting that “an extratropical cyclone west of the AR landfall likely triggered the final collapse of the critically unstable Conger Ice Shelf while further reducing an already record low sea ice extent”.