The Guardian devotes its frontpage to a special series called the “great carbon divide”. The main article covers news findings by Oxfam which reveal that the “richest 1% of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%, with dire consequences for vulnerable communities and global efforts to tackle the climate emergency”. It adds: “The most comprehensive study of global climate inequality ever undertaken shows that this elite group, made up of 77 million people including billionaires, millionaires and those paid more than US$140,000 (£112,500) a year, accounted for 16% of all CO2 emissions in 2019 – enough to cause more than a million excess deaths due to heat, according to the report.

For the past six months, the Guardian has worked with Oxfam, the Stockholm Environment Institute and other experts on an exclusive basis to produce a special investigation, The Great Carbon Divide. It explores the causes and consequences of carbon inequality and the disproportionate impact of super-rich individuals, who have been termed ‘the polluter elite’. Climate justice will be high on the agenda of this month’s UN COP28 climate summit in the United Arab Emirates. The Oxfam report shows that while the wealthiest 1% tend to live climate-insulated, air-conditioned lives, their emissions – 5.9bn tonnes of CO2 in 2019 – are responsible for immense suffering. Using a ‘mortality cost’ formula – used by the US Environmental Protection Agency, among others – of 226 excess deaths worldwide for every million tonnes of carbon, the report calculates that the emissions from the 1% alone would be enough to cause the heat-related deaths of 1.3 million people over the coming decades. Over the period from 1990 to 2019, the accumulated emissions of the 1% were equivalent to wiping out last year’s harvests of EU corn, US wheat, Bangladeshi rice and Chinese soya beans.” The series includes a feature which begins: “We are not equally to blame for rising temperatures, and recognising that is an important step in identifying possible solutions.” Another article is headlined: “Twelve billionaires’ climate emissions outpollute 2.1m homes, analysis finds.” This leads to a spin-off feature: “Elon Musk was once an environmental hero: is he still a rare green billionaire?”

Relatedly, the Guardian has also published a letter signed by 19 leading charities and campaigners in the UK – including Greenpeace, Christian Aid and Patriotic Millionaires UK – which argues that billions of pounds could be raised to help finance decarbonisation: “[UK chancellor] Jeremy Hunt has been warned that combating the climate emergency will require higher taxes on wealth and big corporate polluters at the autumn statement rather than a package of giveaways for the rich.”

There is continuing coverage of the extreme heatwave affecting parts of Brazil. Axios says: “An extreme heatwave that’s sweeping Brazil is setting daily and monthly records, and causing spring temperatures to soar to levels that would even be unusually hot during mid-summer in some areas…The death of a woman at a Taylor Swift concert at which firefighters said 1,000 fans fainted in searing Rio de Janeiro heat Friday comes as the National Institute of Meteorology warns that Brazilians face ‘great danger’ from this extreme weather event.” It adds: “The extreme heat across much of Brazil, with the greatest temperature departures from average focused in the country’s southeast, where Rio is located, is due in part to an area of high pressure aloft. This weather feature, also known as a heat dome, promotes sinking, warming air, and deters showers and thunderstorms from forming.” The Guardian notes that “Brazil has already experienced its eighth heatwave of the year so far, as temperatures soar to dangerously high levels”. It continues: “Brazil’s justice minister, Flávio Dino, posted on X that emergency rules would be implemented requiring leisure venues to allow fans access to water. Other politicians across the region were expected to follow suit. Following Brazil’s hottest July, August, September and October on record, this week’s temperatures were expected to ‘rewrite climate history’ in the country, the MetSul weather company said. Experts partly attribute the excessive heat to a strong El Niño, with the climate crisis making the intensity and frequency of such events more likely.” BBC News has published a video showing the singer Taylor Swift “struggling to breathe during a concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Friday in the middle of a heatwave”. O Globo in Brazil says “after high temperatures and peak energy consumption, storms hit southern states and trigger warnings in the Southeast, while the Cerrado catches fire”. 

BBC News says it has “learned” that the UK government is to “spend millions of pounds helping countries prepare for future humanitarian disasters in a radical shake-up of its development policy”, adding: “A new £150m fund will help poorer countries get access to money faster in emergencies and reduce the impact of future climate crises. The change is expected to be part of a new white paper designed to make Britain’s foreign aid spending go further while also finding new sources of international finance. Ministers hope the 140-page policy document – published [later today] – can help restore Britain’s reputation as a development superpower after years of aid cuts. It is understood the paper has been endorsed by world leaders, global philanthropists and international finance chiefs. Ministers are also hoping to win cross-party support in parliament so the seven-year plans survive beyond the next election regardless of the outcome.” The Guardian also carries the story as an “exclusive”, saying: “David Cameron is marking his return to frontline politics by saying he wants to unlock billions of dollars for foreign aid over the next decade, as part of a ‘moral mission’ to help the world’s poorest people. In a remarkable change of tone for a government that closed the Department for International Development and slashed the foreign aid budget, the former prime minister is to say he wants to push for the restoration of aid’s status in British foreign policy. Cameron, who was appointed foreign secretary by Rishi Sunak [last] Monday in an astonishing political comeback, is to write in a foreword to a new international development white paper that foreign aid is even more vital, but more difficult than when he was last in office. The internationalist tone will probably infuriate the Tory right, already angry that Cameron’s return signals a rush to the political centre ground, while his failure to formally commit extra public money to aid will dismay many charities. Cameron will say that the UK must find fresh ways to meet the UN’s sustainable development goals, including ending global hunger by 2030.”

Several UK newspapers look ahead to this Wednesday’s autumn statement and what it could mean for the nation’s net-zero policies. The Daily Telegraph says: “Jeremy Hunt has vowed to invest £4.5bn in manufacturing to keep Britain ‘at the forefront of the global transition to net-zero’. Electric cars, offshore wind and carbon-capture technology are all in line for extra funding from 2025 – beyond the expected date of next year’s general election.

The chancellor said he is ‘targeting funding to support the sectors where the UK is or could be world-leading’. He said: ‘Our £4.5bn of funding will leverage many times that from the private sector, and in turn will grow our economy, create more skilled, higher-paid jobs in new industries that will be built to last.’ Under the proposals, more than £2bn will go to the automotive industry’…His comments come as the government prepares to publish its battery strategy next week, which will set out plans to encourage a ‘globally competitive battery supply chain in the UK by 2030’.” BBC News reports that the autumn statement is expected to reveal that households living close to new pylons and electricity substations could receive up to £1,000 a year off energy bills for a decade under new plans: “It is hoped the plan would convince people to support upgrades in their area, which are needed in part for new electric vehicle charging points.” The Guardian says that “a growing number of manufacturers, Tory MPs and experts are calling for charges to be levied on the carbon emissions associated with imports”.

Meanwhile, the Times reports that Labour has claimed that “Britain is failing to compete in the global race to develop green technologies”. It adds: “James Murray, the shadow financial secretary to the Treasury, has called on the chancellor to respond to ambitious American subsidies in the autumn statement this week. He said the government’s response to president [Joe] Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, under which $669bn of taxpayers’ money in the US will be used to fund tax credits for electric vehicles and the building of green supply chains, was inadequate.” The Daily Telegraph says that Labour leader Keir Starmer, during a visit to the St Fergus gas terminal in Aberdeenshire, has said that “energy companies in Scotland’s northeast back [Labour’s] plans to transition away from oil and gas”.

In other UK news, the Financial Times reports that “Octopus Energy is launching a fund to invest £3bn in offshore wind by the end of the decade, in a boost for the technology following a string of setbacks”. The Press Association, BBC News and Guardian are among the outlets covering a new report by the National Trust calling on the UK government to introduce legislation that recognises the importance of adapting buildings, coastlines and countryside to make sure they can cope with the effects of climate change. Reuters says that prime minister Rishi Sunak will today “announce a new science initiative to bring together work on developing climate-resilient crops as his government hosts a global food security summit in London”. Finally, Unearthed analysis reveals that “more than a quarter of the offshore oil and gas sites licensed by the UK government last month sit within marine protected areas prized for their rare habitats and species”.

There has been continuing coverage in the Chinese media of president Xi Jinping’s visit to California last week. State news agency Xinhua reports that Xi said at an informal dialogue and working lunch during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in San Francisco that sustainable development is the “golden key” to solving current global problems. The agency reports Xi urging countries to “build global synergy to address climate change” and saying that countries should “uphold the UNFCCC as a main channel in global climate governance; adhere to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities; formulate climate targets in line with respective national conditions; address the concerns of developing countries in terms of financing, capacity building and technology transfer; and promote the full and effective implementation of the convention and the Paris Agreement”. According to the outlet, he also stressed that to promote the green belt and road initiative (BRI), China will “continue to deepen cooperation…and support the capacity building of developing countries through the special fund for south-south cooperation on climate change”. 

Elsewhere, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that presidents Xi and Joe Biden started negotiations on “renewing a decades-old science and technology agreement”, with both stressing their interest in cooperation on climate change. Xinhua has published Xi’s full speech at the APEC summit, in which he said that “China’s exports of new energy vehicles, lithium batteries and solar products, known as the ‘new three items’, have experienced rapid growth” and that China’s voluntary emissions market will create “enormous opportunities”. Chinese energy outlet IN-EN.com quotes Xi remarking in a speech to the US business community that China is “committed to turning its words [on carbon neutrality] into actions”. The Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily carries a commentary by “Zhongsheng”, the nom de plume of party leadership, saying that during the Xi-BIden meeting in San Francisco, Xi “eloquently pointed out that China and the US should jointly establish a correct understanding, effectively manage differences, promote mutually beneficial cooperation [and] shoulder the responsibilities of major countries together”. Meanwhile, the SCMP has published two op-eds on the Xi-Biden summit. One, which is by Morgan Stanley Asia ex-chairman Stephen Roach, argues that “no meaningful breakthrough[s]” were made, except for the Sunnylands statement by the nation’s two climate envoys. (See Carbon Brief’s China Briefing newsletter.) The other is by Davi Dodwell, the executive director of the thinktank Hong Kong-APEC trade policy study group, who writes “[that] the US and China reached agreements, however modest, on military communication and climate change, is cause for hope”. 

In other China news, the SCMP says that the city of Guangzhou is accelerating “a climate financing push” in the Greater Bay area, “becoming the first to launch its pilot investment scheme”. Xinhua reports that Guangzhou hosted a conference to “guide more financial resources into the climate change sector”. Guo Peiyuan, chairman of consulting firm SynTao Green Finance, writes in an op-ed for Caixin that China’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) market has “considerable room for growth” in a review of ESG policy development in the country. Caixin also publishes another article by Guo Peiyuan titled: “Everything you need to know about ESG in China.”

BBC News has published a news feature interviewing a range of climate scientists, which examines the “four additional reasons [beyond the rise in human-caused emissions] that could be behind the increases” in global temperatures this year. It lists: a “weird” El Nino; cutting aerosols; a large volcanic eruption; and an Antarctic “radiator”. It then concludes by asking: “So is the world warming faster than expected?” It adds: “While the rate of warming seems to have sped up in recent decades, this has not yet consistently exceeded the range of possible temperatures that scientists expected from climate models.”

Meanwhile, the Washington Post headlines a feature: “Earth passed a feared global warming milestone Friday, at least briefly.” It continues: “The planet marked an ominous milestone [on] Friday: The first day global warmth crossed a threshold, if only briefly, that climate scientists have warned could have calamitous consequences. Preliminary data show global temperatures averaged more than 2C (3.6F) above a historic norm, from a time before humans started consuming fossil fuels and emitting planet-warming greenhouse gases. That does not mean efforts to limit global warming have failed – yet. Temperatures would have to surpass the 2C benchmark for months and years at a time before scientists consider it breached. But it’s a striking reminder that the climate is moving into uncharted territory.” And, relatedly, the Financial Times reports that “the cyclical El Niño effect which helped put the world on track for a heat record this year and is continuing to exacerbate and interfere with weather patterns will persist into 2024, scientists say”.

In contrast, the Daily Telegraph reports under a simplistic headline: “Global warming might not happen quite as fast as we thought – here’s why.” It reports on a new study which finds that “under the extreme RCP 8.5 warming scenario, a pathway where greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow unmitigated, plants would take a fifth more carbon dioxide from the air than currently expected”. The end of the article includes an all-important clarifier from Prof Simon Lewis, professor of global change science at University College London, who says: “This is a good study, but the interpretation of what this means for the future carbon uptake from the atmosphere and into forests needs care. Faster growing trees tend to have shorter lifespans, so it is possible that we could see greater photosynthesis as this study shows, but without large additional increases in carbon stored on the land.”

Dr Kate Marvel, a Nasa climate scientist who co-authored the recent US National Climate Assessment, starts her comment piece for the New York Times: “Frankly, I was sick of admonishing people about how bad things could get. Scientists have raised the alarm over and over again, and still the temperature rises. Extreme events like heatwaves, floods and droughts are becoming more severe and frequent, exactly as we predicted they would. We were proved right. It didn’t seem to matter.” But she says she feels things are now different: “For the first time in my career, I felt something strange: optimism. And that simple realisation was enough to convince me that releasing yet another climate report was worthwhile. Something has changed in the US, and not just the climate. State, local and tribal governments all around the country have begun to take action. Some politicians now actually campaign on climate change, instead of ignoring or lying about it. Congress passed federal climate legislation – something I’d long regarded as impossible – in 2022 as we turned in the first draft.”

Several outlets have published commentary previewing COP28, which starts in just over a week’s time in Dubai. The Economist says the “fights” will focus on methane and climate finance. However, the third arena of battle is the “ugliest”, it says: “Much blood will be spilt over the question of whether fossil fuels should be ‘phased down’ or ‘phased out’ and whether the use of ‘abatement’ technologies (which enable the capture and storage of GHG emissions from energy use) should permit the continued use of fossil fuels.”

Politico has published a special “Road to COP” series, sponsored by a lithium miner, which includes a “who’s who” and a “who wants what out of COP28”, plus a feature headlined: “Anti-green backlash hovers over COP climate talks.”

Elsewhere, the Cayman Compass carries a comment piece by Aleigha General on “COP28 and Caribbean interests”. Kenya’s Nation sees Brian Omenyi asking “will world leaders answer Africa’s call on energy access” at COP28? And Al Jazeera carries a comment piece by Sydney Chisi headlined: “COP28 must not repeat the mistakes of the Africa Climate Summit.”

A new study presents the first “fine-scale” observations of methane and carbon dioxide from NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) imaging spectrometer. The authors attribute the emissions to their sources, including the oil and gas, waste and energy sectors. “For selected countries observed during the first 30 days of EMIT operations, methane emissions varied at a regional scale, with the largest total emissions observed for Turkmenistan,” the paper says.