Kier Starmer, the leader of the the UK’s opposition Labour party, has written a comment article for the Times headlined: “Rishi Sunak’s climate failure is a gift to Putin.” In its own news article about Starmer’s piece, the Times says: “Starmer has distanced himself from Just Stop Oil by criticising its call to immediately cease drilling for oil and gas as ‘contemptible’…Starmer confirmed that a Labour government would not revoke any existing licences. The Labour leader said he would only block new oil and gas developments in the North Sea, a policy designed to cut reliance on fossil fuels. The clarification of Labour’s policy comes after shadow frontbenchers contradicted each other in response to Rishi Sunak’s announcement of plans to grant more than 100 exploration licences for new oilfields and gasfields before the next election. The comments also respond to a warning by unions that a policy to block new oil and gas developments in the North Sea would put thousands of jobs at risk.” The Times also highlights that Starmer warns that creating a “cultural wedge” between motorists and people who want policies to address climate change – the UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has been doing over recent weeks – would not work because British people “both overwhelmingly drive cars and overwhelmingly want to tackle climate change”.

Starmer adds in his article: “You can’t divide people against themselves – and you can’t win an election when you have abandoned the centre ground. Sunak’s actions this past week have exposed a prime minister who is led and does not lead, who has given up on the national interest for his own short-term interest. Labour is once again the political wing of the British people and we have a plan to manage the transition to net-zero.”

Relatedly, the Daily Telegraph reports that Labour has claimed that UK industry has paid a £3.5bn premium on its energy costs under the Conservatives. It adds: “UK companies are paying 62% more for energy than the international average, the opposition said, based on comparisons of prices from 2021 before the outbreak of war in Ukraine sent fuel costs rocketing. Its analysis indicated the Conservatives have failed to match Labour’s record in office when industrial energy prices were just 8% higher in Britain than the European average. Labour accused the government of failing to capitalise on advances in renewable technology a week after the prime minister announced hundreds of new North Sea oil and gas licences to improve Britain’s energy security.” The Times carries a feature about the government’s ‘energy week” where, via a series of political visits and announcements, it attempted to create a sharp divide with Labour over energy and climate policies. The article quotes one unnamed cabinet minister: “Rishi is walking a tightrope. He’s seeing a differential opportunity he has got to take. It’s delicate.” Another former cabinet minister tells the paper: “They have not overstepped the line yet and it is vital that they don’t or there will be trouble. If we start pandering to ‘Farageistas’ then we might as well give up on the home counties and younger voters entirely.”

Meanwhile, in other UK political news, the Times has interviewed Grant Shapps, the UK’s energy and net-zero security of state. He suggests the Conservatives will end the moratorium on onshore wind turbines before the election. “Essentially, I think the solution is staring us right in the face. If we make this a local decision…and crucially make sure local people get something from it – maybe discounted energy – I think we’ll actually find it’s quite popular.” He also says that after having an electric car for a year: “I would personally never go back,” adding: “I don’t drive an electric car or have solar panels on my roof because I’m an eco-warrior, I do them because it makes financial sense to do.” The Times also reports that Thérèse Coffey , the environment secretary, has “warned Rishi Sunak not to downgrade net-zero ambitions, suggesting the Tories would be kicked out if they abandoned green policies. The environment secretary said the government had to show it cared about the climate to win over voters.” Coffey was speaking to the Mail on Sunday, which says: “Her remarks will be taken as a show of defiance amid rumours that she is likely to be moved during a Cabinet reshuffle, which is expected in September.” Separately, the Daily Telegraph reports that Coffey has “ceased all engagement by her department with Greenpeace after activists staged a stunt at Rishi Sunak’s house”. BBC News says that “travel disruption will be worsened by climate change unless more money is spent on the UK’s transport networks, a government advisor [Sir John Armitt] has warned.” Finally, the Sunday Telegraph warns its readers – in a frontpage story – that an “invasion of cheap Chinese EVs is fast approaching”. It adds: “Experts, industry insiders and senior politicians say this looming shift threatens the survival of European car manufacturing – and poses worrying security questions for governments as well.” The Daily Telegraph says “Britain must invest in its own breakthrough battery technologies to avoid becoming dependent on countries such as China in the shift to net-zero, the boss of a leading research institute has warned”.

Exceptional winter heat in the Andean mountains of South America has surged to 37C, prompting local scientists to warn the “worst may be yet to come as human-caused climate disruption and El Niño cause havoc across the region”, reports the Guardian. The newspaper continues: “The heatwave in the central Chilean Andes is melting the snow below 3,000 metres (9,840ft), which will have knock-on effects for people living in downstream valleys who depend on meltwater during the spring and summer. [Last] Tuesday was probably the warmest winter day in northern Chile in 72 years, according to Raul Cordero, a climate scientist at the University of Groningen, who said the 37C recorded at the Vicuña Los Pimientos station in the Coquimbo region was caused by a combination of global heating, El Niño and easterly gusts, known by locals as Terral winds that bring hot, dry weather.” Reuters reports that “the parched shoreline and shrinking depths of Lake Titicaca are prompting growing alarm that an age-old way of life around South America’s largest lake is slipping away as a brutal heatwave wreaks havoc on the southern hemisphere’s winter”.

In other coverage of extreme weather events affecting areas around the planet, BBC News says hundreds have fallen ill in South Korea at the “outdoor World Scout Jamboree, which is attended by more than 40,000 young people from around the world, amid 35C (95F) heat”. It adds: “The British group of 4,500, the largest in attendance, is moving from a campsite at Saemangeum to Seoul, the Scout Association confirmed. The US and Singaporean teams are also pulling their members out of the event.” The Financial Times says that “Slovenia on Sunday called for help from the EU and Nato alliance to deal with the aftermath of flooding that killed at least three people and caused damage estimated at more than half a billion euros”. And Reuters reports: “A major increase in solar power generation in southern Europe played a leading role in averting energy shortages during the heatwaves of recent weeks when temperatures broke records and drove unprecedented demand for air conditioning.”

Elsewhere, there is continuing coverage of the impacts of Typhoon Doksuri. BBC News has published a gallery of “alarming pictures” from China and the Philippines. The feature begins: “Storms bearing unusually torrential rain and ferocious winds this early in the north Pacific typhoon season have flooded large swathes of east Asia, with China among the countries worst hit. In the capital of Beijing alone, the amount of rain over the past week has broken a 140-year-old record.” The Economist has an article titled: “Xi Jinping’s revealing response to floods and heatwaves: China’s rulers would rather talk about extreme weather than a changing climate.” The Guardian says “Chinese social media users have reacted angrily to comments from a local Communist party official suggesting that the city of Zhuozhou and other flood-hit areas near Beijing should be used as a ‘moat for the capital’.”

The Times reports that “BP is considering building two huge offshore wind farms in British waters without government subsidy contracts in what would be a first for the sector”. The newspaper continues: “Bernard Looney, the energy group’s chief executive, said it could start building the Morgan and Mona projects in the Irish Sea as soon as ‘late next year’ and may not seek contracts from the government to guarantee their revenues. The wind farms together would boast up to 214 turbines about 20 miles off the coasts of north Wales and northwest England and could power 3.4m homes. Looney’s comments buck a gloomy mood in the offshore wind industry as it battles soaring costs, with other developers lobbying for increased subsidies and scrapping some projects. However, his ambitious timescale was met with scepticism from industry experts, given that BP has yet to apply for planning consent, which can take several years to secure.”

In contrast, the Observer says “Britain faces being left with no hope of meeting its crucial climate crisis goals and losing its status as a world leader in offshore wind energy without an urgent overhaul of government support, ministers are being warned”. It adds: “The sudden halting of one of the country’s biggest offshore windfarm projects last month could signal a ‘tipping point’ in the construction of new sites unless ministers intervene, a number of senior energy industry figures told the Observer. They warn that a swathe of new projects, which Britain is relying on to meet key climate targets, could also become economically unviable under the existing regime. While the industry has been hit by huge price inflationary pressures, it warns that the government has failed to adjust the scheme that guarantees the price it is paid for energy.” A Department for Energy Security and Net-Zero spokesperson tells the newspaper: “We understand there are supply chain pressures for the sector globally, not just in the UK, and we are listening to the sector’s concerns.” The Financial Times reports: “Siemens Energy expects to rack up a €4.5bn loss this year as the German group struggles to fix its ailing wind turbine business.” It adds: “The Dax-listed group warned investors on Monday that resolving issues at the wind turbine division, which has been beset by technical problems as well as the inflationary pressures afflicting the rest of the industry, will prove costlier than expected.” Meanwhile, the Sunday Times reports that Bill Gates’s nuclear startup TerraPower is eyeing “dozens” of reactors in UK. 

A German government spokeswoman has told Table.Media that the economy ministry, which is led by Robert Habeck, will publish new funding guidelines this summer to “strengthen the financial aid for batteries’ components used for energy storage”. Based on the new federal regulations for “transformation technologies” (known as TCTF), the German federal and state governments can set up funding programmes and approve applications that no longer have to be approved “individually” and “time-consumingly” by the European Commission, notes the outlet. It adds that TCTF was adopted due to an “economic slump” caused by the Ukraine war in an effort “to promote the development of production capacities for green technologies”, such as batteries, heat pumps, solar panels, wind turbines, electrolysers for hydrogen production and equipment for carbon capture and storage. Meanwhile, Handelsblatt reports that Germany wants to use a “climate label” to better inform drivers about a new car’s CO2 emissions, showing the costs of emissions “much more clearly” and, thus, “promote the switch to electric cars”. The outlet explains that, according to the label, a car with CO2 emissions of 123 grams per kilometre would have to pay an extra €2,057 compared to a “climate-neutral” vehicle.

Elsewhere, Süddeutsche Zeitung reports that Environmental Action Germany (DUH), an NGO, wants a court to prohibit the operation of the liquefied “natural” gas (LNG) terminal ship Neptun in Lubmin, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Finally, the Guardian reports that a hailstorm in the south-west German city of Reutlingen led to “winter-like scenes” and temporarily interrupted traffic, with about 30cm of hail falling in some areas. BBC News adds that about 250 firefighters took part in the clean up, even deploying snowploughs.

An editorial in the Financial Times argues that “governments need better strategies to handle the costs of the climate transition”. It continues: “Better communication is crucial…Information on green measures must be accessible and widely publicised. Policy messaging also needs to be targeted to the audience. Some people may be more receptive to the virtue of going green, but others need a clearer sense of the upsides, be those health-related or financial, before they will act. The Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act did well to emphasise its boost for jobs, growth and national security. Costs of green measures also need to be levied as proportionately and progressively as possible. Carbon pricing is a useful mechanism as it entrenches a ‘polluter pays’ principle. But the less well-off may still find it harder to adjust. Green tax revenues can be used to offset some of the burden on the most vulnerable through tax cuts or targeted grants. Not all costs can be offset, so incentives will play an important role too. Tax credits for energy efficiency measures and green technologies can be effective. The right environment must be created, including widespread electric vehicle charging points and better public transport. And for those whose jobs are directly under threat from the transition, retraining schemes are essential.” London’s Evening Standard has published an editorial which begins: “From land to sea, human-induced climate change is stressing our planet beyond safe limits. The only rational course of action is to reduce our carbon emissions to net-zero. Instead of retreating from climate policies and feeding a culture war, ministers ought to double down on their pursuit of clean energy and jobs.”

An editorial in the Times attacks Greenpeace for undertaking a protest at Rishi Sunak’s home in Yorkshire: “In the mind of these zealots the public is too docile, too selfish, too stupid to grasp climate change; it must be roused by self-indulgent theatre, not the sober and chilling warnings of science. In staging this stunt Greenpeace – presumably smarting from the publicity garnered by Just Stop Oil – has ceased to be a responsible organisation. It has displayed a reckless disregard for a family’s right to privacy and peace of mind; it has crossed a red line.” An editorial in the Sun continues the newspaper’s campaigning against net-zero policies, in particular the ban on the sales new petrol and diesel cars in 2030: “The Sun is pleased that we have sparked a national debate this week about the wisdom of making a dash to net-zero before the country is fully ready. And we’re clearly in tune with public opinion.” [This is false. Polling continually shows that the UK public supports the net-zero goal.] The Independent’s chief political commentator John Rentoul says that Greenpeace’s stunt could hardly have been better designed to undermine public support for its cause”.

Meanwhile, Alan Rusbridger, the editor of Prospect magazine (and former Guardian editor), warns that “politics will get truly ugly as Sunak pollutes the climate debate”. His article is also published in the Independent. For the i newspaper, columnist Ian Dunt writes: “Rishi Sunak’s obscene disregard for the climate will damn him once he’s flung from power. We’re lost in a parochial, short-termist, idiot debate about ideology and electoral tactics.” Rana Foroohar – global business columnist and associate editor of the Financial Times – argues that “getting rid of carbon and forced labour in clean energy supply chains is costly but necessary”. George Hay – Europe, the Middle East and Africa editor for Reuters’ BreakingViews – says that the UK government’s net-zero “pragmatism” is an “odd way to get real” about climate change. And the Guardian carries a new poem by novelist and poet Ben Okri under the headline: “Earth cries! We are the gods that must step up to the biggest crisis in history.”

The UK’s right-leaning newspapers continue to publish a torrent of comment articles attacking net-zero policies and, more widely, action on climate change. An editorial in the Sunday Telegraph combines this stance with its deep suspicions of China: “We must instead find ways to protect ourselves from a threat that could soon reach inside every electric car in the country. That means increasingly “friendshoring” our tech supply chains and working with more reliable countries around the world to green our economy. At home, politicians must revise the ZEV [zero emissions vehicles] mandate so it never subsidises unreliable foreign suppliers. Free trade is not the enemy. Yet China cannot be allowed to subvert that system’s promise by exporting its techno-totalitarianism to the West.” The Daily Telegraph gives space to the climate-sceptic columnist Charles Moore under the headline: “Net-zero’s dam has burst, but the BBC is still papering over the cracks.” The Sunday Telegraph’s Zoe Strimpel continues her own crusade against “eco-zealots”, this time by targeting vegans claiming that such “extremism” makes “us all sick”.

Meanwhile, in the Sun, columnist and motoring broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson is raging against the “green propaganda” of weather forecasts. In the Daily Mail, climate-sceptic columnist Dominic Lawson is given a full page under the headline: “On climate change and foreign aid, Rishi Sunak is accused by his critics of betraying our ‘global leadership’ role. But that lofty status was always a fantasy.” Priti Patel, the former home secretary and Brexit campaigner, writes in the Sun: “It’s time for our country’s hard-working and silent majority to take back control of the green agenda and for the Government to make meaningful changes to its plans to reach net-zero.” The Sunday Times has a comment piece by Helen Thompson, a professor of political economy at Cambridge University, who says: “Whether net-zero is challenged or not, politicians and voters will have to learn to live with a constant contest over energy. We are in a world of permanent energy politics.” Today’s Times sees space given to Mark Littlewood, who leads a right-wing thinktank with a history of promoting climate scepticism. The headline says: “We must talk more about costs in any debate about the environment.” The Times has also published an” essay” by its climate-sceptic columnist Juliet Samuel in which she tours the oil-producing communities of Scotland to hear how net-zero policies will affect jobs. The Financial Times sees climate-sceptic former banker Stuart Kirk attacking ESG policies. And, finally, the Daily Telegraph allows the two notorious climate-sceptic misinformers Jordan Peterson and Bjorn Lomborg to lay out their own solutions to “fear-mongering” over climate change. (The Wall Street Journal carries a letter by US climate scientist Prof Michael Mann correcting another article by Lomborg.)

New research examines the climate change adaptation research priorities of 13 US federal agencies. While most agencies “prioritise research that is relevant and accessible to stakeholders and decision-makers”, the authors note that “justice and equity considerations, and interdisciplinary research should be emphasised to a greater degree”. For example, adaptation research and strategies “should ensure that collaborations are inclusive and sustainable and would benefit from meaningful and respectful collaboration with tribes and Indigenous Peoples, as well as marginalised and under-represented groups”, the paper says. In addition, although adaptation research capacity and funding opportunities are “expanding”, the authors say, “they remain inadequate for the scale of research needed”.