Europe is not prepared for the rapidly growing climate risks it faces, the European Environment Agency (EEA) has said in its first risk assessment, reports the Guardian, adding: “From wildfires burning down homes to violent weather straining public finances, the report says more action is needed to address half of the 36 significant climate risks with potentially severe consequences that it identifies for Europe. Five more risks need urgent action, the report says.” European Environment Agency executive director Leena Ylä-Mononen tells the Financial Times: “This is a wake-up call for the financial industry and the insurance industry.” She continues: “It’s not that we face a major financial shock tomorrow, but it is accumulating. If we start talking about major investments in general into our infrastructure or if we make wrong choices in investing in the way we are constructing our society…the risks are getting higher and higher.” The FT adds: “Europe is the fastest-warming continent in the world, with temperatures rising at roughly twice the global rate. A long-term global average temperature rise of 1.5C from the pre-industrial era would correlate to 3C across Europe. The impact of that could be dire, according to [the EEA report], which warns that without ‘decisive action’, ‘hundreds of thousands of people would die from heatwaves, and economic losses from coastal floods alone could exceed €1tn a year.” The article continues: “In a draft response to the EEA report, seen by the Financial Times, the European Commission said that it planned to set ‘minimum climate resilience requirements’ for all spending under the next EU budget from 2027. It would also establish a committee to plan strategies for financing adaptation measures. The commission’s draft report, subject to change before its publication on Tuesday, also warned of ‘risk of conflicts’ between member states over water resources, a drop in productivity because of extreme heat and an increase in diseases such as West Nile virus and dengue fever, until now prevalent mainly in tropical regions.” Reuters quotes the response of Kate Levick, associate director at climate thinktank E3G: “There’s a particular role for finance ministers to essentially look at what happens to balance sheets, in terms of assets and liabilities at national level, as a result of climate risk.” And Politico has an article headlined: “Five things we learned from the EU’s big (and first) climate risk report”, which includes: “Restoring nature isn’t optional.”

Sky News reports in an “exclusive” that “plans to impose targets for electric heat pump sales on gas boiler manufacturers could be confirmed as early as [this] week, after fierce debate within government and intense lobbying from industry to abandon the policy”. The outlet continues: “Sky News understands energy secretary Claire Coutinho had intended to ditch the policy, known as the Clean Heat Market Mechanism (CHMM), but will now proceed following objections from ministerial colleagues, who argued that it is crucial to decarbonising home heating and meeting wider net-zero policy. Manufacturers have warned the policy will increase the cost of boilers. In a concession to the industry, fines for missing electric heat pump targets will be pushed back by 12 months to April 2025. Coutinho is also expected to refer several major gas boiler manufacturers to the Competition and Markets Authority for potentially colluding over price increases of up to £120 on gas boilers, imposed to cover potential fines that they described as a ‘boiler tax’. The long-awaited announcement comes after weeks of tension in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).”

The Sunday Telegraph covers another development it expects Countinho to announce this week: “Developers are to be handed more cash to erect wind turbines and solar farms near towns and cities in a bid to get more power generation near to where it is needed. Renewable energy companies will be allowed to charge customers more for their power if they generate it close to where it is needed, rather than in sparsely populated parts of the country. The scheme, to be formally announced on Tuesday by Claire Coutinho, the energy secretary, is designed to trigger a rush to build wind and solar infrastructure on farmland around cities.” The article continues: “The policy is also likely to prove highly controversial with environment groups because of the likely impact on treasured landscapes. The government will introduce zonal pricing, with generators paid different rates according to the distance between their assets and consumers. The UK will be divided into about half a dozen generating zones so that onshore wind and solar farms in the Home Counties could be paid more for their power than those in Scotland, for example. Research by Ofgem suggests that making electricity prices higher in the South East, where demand is strongest and supply weakest, would incentivise solar developers. They would be encouraged to buy up swathes of farmland in a region stretching from London to Bristol and up to Norwich and Cambridge for solar parks and windfarms.” (Commenting on LinkedIn, Johnny Gowdy, the director of Regen, a “not-for-profit centre of energy expertise”, says: “I would be surprised if there was an announcement on Tuesday that zonal is a preferred or chosen option – none of the REMA [Review of Electricity Market Arrangements] analysis to date would back that up. If it is, then this is highly political. The Telegraph article picks up so many wrong ends of the stick it is laughable.”)

In other UK news, the Daily Telegraph reports that “Labour has hired the former Bank of England governor Mark Carney and the boss of Barclays to help unlock billions of pounds in private investment after it was forced to abandon its £28bn green spending pledge”. Another Daily Telegraph article says that “Great British Nuclear (GBN) has delayed a decision on where the first mini-nuclear reactors will be built until after the next election, following concerns that losers of a design contest may otherwise threaten to sue”. The Times reports that “delays in securing another developer at a site earmarked for the construction of a nuclear power station will cost the British economy £90m a year, the Welsh Labour party has claimed”. The Sunday Telegraph says that “the head of the government’s climate watchdog told officials to ‘kill’ a negative news story with ‘technical language’”. A Daily Telegraph article covers polling for Bright Blue which shows 75% of the public “support more green housing built with low carbon emissions and high energy and water efficiency being developed in their local area”. Yet the article is headlined: “Young people ‘twice as likely to oppose new onshore windfarms’.”

Finally, the Financial Times says “the extension of oil and gas windfall taxes has provided much-needed ammunition for the Scottish National party to target Conservative seats in north-east Scotland, where 100,000 workers rely on the hydrocarbons industry”. The Times reports that “the boss of Sainsbury’s has warned that new government policies designed to make farming more sustainable could harm Britain’s food production and lead to more imported food”. And the Daily Telegraph says that “British battery metal refiners and electric car gigafactories are being handed cheap power deals by the government as part of a battle to cut the West’s dependence on China”.

German economy and climate action minister Robert Habeck has criticised US climate protection efforts during a four-day visit to the country, pointing out, reports Die Zeit, that the US has one of the highest per-capita CO2 emissions globally and “has not taken the necessary steps to substantially change this by 2050”. “Solve the f*cking problems,” he is reported saying during a speech to students at Columbia University in New York, where he emphasises that “politicians should not simply pass problems on to the next generation”. Der Spiegel adds that Habeck acknowledged US president Joe Biden’s climate protection investment package, the Inflation Reduction Act, as a positive step, but expressed concern from a German and European standpoint, emphasising the potential for “subsidy competition” with the US. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) highlights Habeck’s reaction to the recent report from the German Federal Audit Court, which said that Germany is falling behind its climate targets: “I’m not saying we’re done, Habeck said. “But to say that the federal government is not doing enough…is a remarkable perception that has nothing to do with reality.”

Meanwhile, the Local reports that German chemical maker Covestro, one of Europe’s largest chemical companies, is trialling the manufacture of a product using sugar instead of oil to reduce its carbon emissions. The outlet quotes Walter Leitner, from Aachen University, who has been involved in the project for a decade, saying that of the 100m barrels of oil produced worldwide each day, “a quarter goes directly into the chemical industry”. In addition, FAZ reports that Germany’s largest steel conglomerate, Thyssenkrupp, is constructing a facility for “environmentally friendly” steel production. The newspaper says that the project focuses on hydrogen-based steel production, involving a 40-metre-high test facility.

“New energy” vehicles (NEVs, mostly electric vehicles) account for 77.6% of China’s public transport system, says Xinhua, citing transport minister Li Xiaopeng on the sidelines of the “two sessions” political meetings in Beijing. The outlet says Li added that “new energy and clean energy equipment have been more widely used” in China’s transport system. State-run newspaper China Daily quotes Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) head Huang Runqiu saying during a press conference at the “two sessions” that, “despite unfavourable meteorological conditions last year, China managed to [make]…steady improvements in its environmental quality”. Industry newspaper China Energy News also covers the press conference, adding that Huang said that the MEE will work with other departments to “continue…cracking down on third-party environmental service agencies taking part in falsification [of environmental data]”. Bloomberg says that the price of China’s carbon allowances in its emissions trading system has reached an all-time high, due to pending regulatory changes, under which “participants found to have withheld or misreported emissions data will face fines of as much as 2m yuan [$280,000] and will be allocated fewer pollution allowances in the future”. Xinhua has published a summary of a speech given by Huang on Saturday, in which he said that China “should take the construction of the first ‘beautiful China’ zone as a focus point”. China Energy Net reports that Jin Zhuanglong, minister of industry and information technology, said at the “two sessions” that “rapidly forming new productive forces of high quality” is a “key task” for China.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that China’s coal imports are expected to remain stable or decrease in 2024 despite an “expected increase in overall demand”, according to officials, state-run utilities and traders. Bloomberg says that, according to deputy secretary-general of the China National Coal Association Zhang Hong, China is nearing “peak coal consumption”, although consumption will plateau due to its “role in helping to address energy security concerns”.  

Separately, state-run newswire China.org.cn carries a commentary arguing that, in 2024, China will continue cooperating with other countries to “further advance global climate governance to new heights”, demonstrating its responsibilities as a “leading country”. China Energy Net publishes an analysis by Wang Chengshan, member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, of some of the challenges facing development of distribution grids, which include that “the carrying capacity for new energy…is insufficient”. China Daily republishes an article from Qiushi which argues that “strengthening ecological and environmental protection is an important task” and an intrinsic aspect of the concept of “high-quality development”. Economic Daily says that the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism is essentially a form of “green trade barrier”, but that, in the long-term, it will push companies to construct green supply chains, which are “the fundamental path to reducing corporate carbon emissions”. The Daily Telegraph carries an article originally headlined: “How China crushed the West in the race to power electric cars.” (The headline was later changed to: “West scrambles for ‘insurance policy’ as China raids Earth’s raw materials.”)

In his first international interview since being appointed as the incoming COP29 president, Mukhtar Babayev has told the Financial Times that Azerbaijan is suffering from the effects of global warming with water shortages and land degradation. The FT says he also defended Azerbaijan in its position “as yet another oil and gas producing nation to host the world’s most important climate summit”. The newspaper highlights that oil and gas bring in about 90% of Azerbaijan’s export revenues and finance about 60% of the government budget, according to International Energy Agency figures. Babayev tells the newspaper: “In [the] nearest years, we will continue to deliver the gas to our customers. But at the same time, the main agenda for the country is to increase green energy production and to maximise invest[ment] to this area.” The article ends by saying: “While Babayev expected to outline his key focuses for the summit during the summer, he said climate finance would be one of the priorities. ‘In Baku, we will have the chance to talk not only about the main agenda, not only climate finance, but all other issues related to climate change – water, land degradation, food security, agriculture and others.’”

Politico has a cover story in its print edition magazine which focuses on Botley West, which “if built, would be the UK’s largest solar development, a mega farm covering 18 [square] kilometres of countryside, with the potential to power 330,000 homes”. The feature interviews a range of local protestors who want the project stopped because “it is too large”. The outlet also carries the views of Chris Goodall, an environmental expert and local resident: “The UK needs massive expansion of its solar capacity. The grid is extremely constrained,” he said, adding that the scheme will be “converting land which has relatively low agricultural value into something which is very important for Britain’s future”.

In other comment, the Daily Telegraph has a feature about the UK’s consumption-based emissions headlined: “The big net-zero lie? Britain’s ‘hidden’ carbon emissions.” The Daily Telegraph has also published a comment piece by its deputy comment editor Annabel Denham arguing that “we must end the net-zero delusion before it’s too late”. And a third comment piece in the Daily Telegraph is by climate sceptic columnist Matthew Lynn who says that “Britain should make a bold offer to Elon Musk after his German [gigafactory] disaster”.

Finally, an editorial in the Guardian on low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) says: “Rejecting green transport policies was a backwards step by Rishi Sunak. New research proves it…One study commissioned by Sunak himself, and buried before being leaked to the Guardian, showed that LTNs in Birmingham, York, Wigan and London had an average of 45% support and 21% opposition – putting to rest the myth of their unpopularity.”

“After people experienced the 2021 European flooding, their pro-environmental attitudes increased significantly,” a new paper says. The study says this effect is “stronger” in regions that are more strongly impacted by flooding. The authors use national survey data collected from more than 2,000 individuals aged 16-29 across Luxembourg to examine the links between flooding experience, “pro-environmental attitudes” and “pro-environmental behaviour”. They find that “higher levels of environmental attitudes partly translated into greater willingness to act in a pro-environmental way”.

The faster a marine population shifts northwards, the greater its population decline, according to a new study. Using more than 2,500 estimates of changes in marine fish abundance, the authors find that “shift velocities” of 17 km per year are associated with a 50% decrease in population sizes over a 10-year period. This is “dramatic compared to the overall stable population trends in non-shifting species”, the paper says. The findings suggest that “marine fishes experiencing rapid range shifts could be more vulnerable to climatic change”, the authors note.