The UK government will not defend legal challenges brought against plans to develop the largest untapped oil and gas field, along with a second site in the North Sea, reports Sky News. Rosebank off Shetland contains around 300m barrels of oil and is the UK’s largest undeveloped site and, along with Jackdaw off Aberdeen, has faced legal challenges from environmental groups such as Uplift and Greenpeace, the article notes. Oil and gas giants Equinor and Shell – which are behind the development of the oil fields – can continue to oppose the legal challenges and their exploration licences have not been revoked, but the government itself will no longer oppose environmental groups in court over the developments, the article explains. (Labour ruled out issuing new licences when it took power in June, but there are still 13 oil and gas projects that could be approved, leading to 350m tonnes of CO2 equivalent if the fuels produced are burned, recent Carbon Brief analysis found). The announcement follows the landmark supreme court decision in June on drilling at Horse Hill in Surrey, which said that the environmental impact on emissions from burning fossil fuels must be considered in planning applications for extraction projects, and not just the emissions from extraction, Sky News notes. (Carbon Brief looked at the implications of the ruling at the time and whether it could mean other projects were rejected). The change to the “defence” of oil and gas projects comes as part of the development of new environmental guidance for the oil and gas sector following the Horse Hill decision, also known as the Finch Ruling, reports Energy Live News. It quotes minister for energy Michael Shanks, who said: “While we make that transition the oil and gas industry will play an important role in the economy for decades to come. As we support the North Sea’s clean energy future, this government is committed to protecting current and future generations of good jobs as we do so.” BBC News says: “The UK government is planning to consult later this year on its manifesto position not to issue new oil and gas licences to explore new fields.”

In other UK news, BBC News reports that “power is flowing from the Shetland Isles to mainland Britain for the first time as the UK’s most productive onshore windfarm comes on stream”. The outlet adds: “SSE says its 103-turbine project, known as Viking, can generate 443 megawatts (MW) of electricity, enough to power nearly 500,000 homes. Shetland is the windiest part of the UK, which means it will be rare for the turbines not to be spinning. Chief executive Alistair Phillips-Davies told BBC News a ‘significant acceleration’ in renewable energy infrastructure is now urgently needed if the UK is to meet its climate change targets.”

UK power station operator Drax has agreed to pay £25m following an investigation into the sustainability of the biomass it uses, reports City AM. The company, which receives “hefty government subsidies from burning biomass wood chips”, lacked the necessary data governance and controls in place, according to regulator Ofgem, the article continues. Drax failed to give the regulator accurate and robust data on the type of wood it uses, it adds. The company will now pay £25m to Ofgem’s voluntary redress fund as a result of the findings, City AM notes. It quotes Drax Group chief executive, Will Gardiner: “It is welcome that Ofgem has found no evidence that our biomass failed to meet the sustainability criteria of the Renewables Obligation (RO) scheme, nor that the ROCs we received for the renewable power we produced had been provided incorrectly. Although Ofgem has noted there is no evidence to suggest Drax deliberately misreported its profiling data, we recognise the importance of maintaining a strong evidence base and are continuing to invest to improve confidence in our future reporting.” Reuters says: “Green groups have criticised the practice [of using wood residuals or byproducts from trees as fuel for the power plant], arguing that it is not a renewable form of energy generation and that pellet production can contribute to deforestation.” The Ofgem investigation will now close, but Drax will now commission an independent external audit of its international supply chain data and reporting standards for the period between April 2023 and March 2024, reports the Times.

Canadian wildfires in 2023 released more greenhouse gases than some of the largest emitting countries, according to a new study, which, reports Reuters, calls into question national emissions budgets that rely on forests as carbon stores. Wildfires in 2023 released 647 megatonnes of carbon, exceeding the emissions of 10 of the largest emitters in 2022, including Germany, Japan and Russia, the study published in Nature finds. Just China, India and the US had higher emissions, meaning, if the Canadian wildfires were a country, they would be the fourth biggest emitter globally, the newswire adds. The abnormally hot temperatures experienced in 2023 are projected to be common by the 2050s, which is likely to lead to severe fires across 347m hectares of woodlands that Canada uses to store carbon, the article adds.

Elsewhere, a new World Weather Attribution study has found that “hyper-violent” Typhoon Gaemi was made fiercer and more likely by climate change, reports the Guardian. The typhoon hit the Philippines, Taiwan and Hunan province in China in July, with floods and landslides destroying homes and killing at least 100 people, the article continues. Typhoon Gaemi’s wind speeds were about 9mph (14km/h) faster due to human-caused global heating, according to the research, adding that burning fossil fuels caused its rainfall to be up to 14% higher. The researchers note that “Asia will become an increasingly dangerous place to live until fossil fuels are replaced”, says the Guardian. 

In other extreme weather coverage, a “big read” in the Financial Times looks at how some countries are adapting to 50C temperatures. It explores how individual experiences of extreme heat vary depending on wealth, with extreme climate risks entrenching and exacerbating inequality.

Bloomberg quotes Song Wen, director of China’s National Energy Administration’s (NEA) law and institutional reform department, saying at the launch of a report on the nation’s energy transition that “great efforts are still needed to achieve the goals of peak carbon and carbon neutrality”. The outlet says the comments “downplay growing speculation that the country’s carbon emissions have already peaked years ahead of target”. Song also tells reporters that, “while China is confident that it will achieve its goal of hitting peak emissions before 2030, domestic energy demand is still growing and the outlook is uncertain”. The article adds: “The clean energy boom means a structural decline may have already begun this year, Lauri Myllyvirta, senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said in a report for Carbon Brief this month – so long as renewables installations continue apace and growth in power demand remains restrained.” Speaking alongside Song at the launch of a white paper on China’s energy transition, NEA head Zhang Jianhua said “China would continue to reform its electricity system, expand the spot market, promote green electricity trading and replace fossil fuels with renewable energy…[and] also called for market-oriented reforms”, Reuters reports. The newswire adds: “Asked whether China could set an even more ambitious renewables goal for 2030, new-energy department director Li Changjun said only that China would put forward new goals and measures based on its national conditions.” The People’s Daily, a Communist party-affiliated newspaper, also covers the launch of the white paper, reporting that it states “China will work with the rest of the world to improve the industrial and supply chains of clean energy and contribute to global sustainable energy development”. The white paper also says that “China has become the world’s largest investor in energy transition”, investing $676bn in its energy transition, according to Xinhua. The state news agency adds that the report says “China’s exports of wind power and solar products helped other countries reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 810m tonnes in 2023”. 

Elsewhere, Securities Daily reports that China issued guidance on “further enhancing financial support for green, low-carbon and high-quality development of the Yangtze River economic belt”. Companies based in the region, which contributes 44% of China’s GDP, will be “encouraged to raise capital via green bonds and equity”, says the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. The People’s Daily, BJX News and Caixin also cover the story. State-run newspaper China Daily reports that China will “extensively upgrade equipment and improve technologies in key energy sectors”, aiming to increase investments by 25% by 2027.

Meanwhile, the state-supporting newspaper Global Times reports that China and many African countries on Tuesday “jointly launched an initiative in Beijing to strengthen their cooperation for green and sustainable development” ahead of the upcoming summit for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Economic news outlet Jiemian also covers the story, saying that the initiative includes “deepening cooperation in climate change adaptation and mitigation and promoting dialogues and exchanges on environmental and climate policies between the two parties”. The Standard, a Kenyan newspaper, reports on the China-Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Summit 2024 in Nairobi, quoting the Chinese Academy of Financial Inclusion’s Bei Duoguang saying: “Renewable energy should be the focus for Africa…in the fight against climate change.” State news agency Xinhua publishes an article saying China-Africa cooperation on the energy transition is “not only mutually beneficial, but also essential for a shared sustainable future for all”. China Daily quotes foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian saying “active participation of African nations is a bright spot in the high-quality co-construction of the belt and road initiative”. 

Finally, according to People’s Daily, China’s climate envoy Liu Zhenmin said at a recent event that “efforts to address climate change are still far from sufficient”, adding that countries should “fill gaps in global climate governance and rebuild north-south trust through strong international cooperation to promote a fair, orderly, and just energy transition”. And Bloomberg reports that “John Podesta, the US senior adviser to the president for international climate policy, is set to meet with…Liu Zhenmin during the first week of September, according to people familiar with the matter”.

More than 50 Brazilian business leaders from the country’s largest companies have released a joint statement urging action on climate change. The manifesto, published in Folha de São Paulo and other national newspapers, calls for the “acceleration and deepening” of the national decarbonisation plan. The statement follows “climate-related tragedies”, such as the wildfires in the Pantanal. Separately, the newspaper highlights challenges in Belém, the Brazilian host city of COP30 next year, including “low sewage collection rates, a waste management crisis, and informal settlements where more than half the population lacks access to basic services”. It adds that, “until COP30, nothing is expected to change”. In another article, the newspaper reports that Brazil’s government wants the Amazon states to ban fires used for pasture management or creating bonfires. Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will meet with state governors to urge them to implement the ban.

Meanwhile, in other Latin American news, Colombia is hosting the first “Latin American and Caribbean forum on climate targets by 2030”, according to El Espectador. The forum brings together more than 160 people from 26 countries across the region and will allow countries to present progress made on their climate pledges. In a separate piece, the outlet interviews the German ambassador in Colombia, Martina Klumpp, who discusses energy and biodiversity cooperation between both countries. He says Germany has allocated £496m (€589m) to Colombia to support climate and biodiversity efforts. Additionally, he argues that “natural” gas “should serve to pivot” Colombia’s energy transition.

A frontpage story in the Daily Mail reports that UK drivers could see fuel duty raised in the “painful” upcoming Autumn budget. An online version of the story highlights a warning from automotive company RAC to drivers that fuel duty could be put back to 58p, following a 5p cut under the previous Conservative government in 2022. The RAC says the new chancellor Rachel Reeves has “no option but to put fuel duty back up to 58p a litre”, the article adds. According to the RAC, motorists are currently being “denied the benefits” of the 5p cut, which has cost the Treasury £2bn a year, reports the Times. The motoring group accuses fuel retailers of using the cut to keep profit margins high, it adds. A “reverse” could help fill the £22bn “hole” in public finances identified by the chancellor, reports the Daily Telegraph in a frontpage article. It would mark the end of a 14-year period under the Conservatives without a rise in fuel duty, it notes. (Analysis by Carbon Brief in 2023 found that the freeze on fuel duty since 2010 has led to UK emissions being as much as 7% higher than they would have been.) The Sun includes a full-page comment piece by Howard Cox, the climate-sceptic Reform candidate for London mayor and head of a pro-motoring lobby group, who argues “if Keir Starmer whacks 10p on fuel duty in the budget it will hammer any chances of growth and drive Britain to ruin”. Cox claims that he has “credible Whitehall intelligence” that fuel duty will be raised by 10p. 

In other motoring news, South Korean automotive company Hyundai has said its “future is mixed” following a “drop” in demand for all-electric vehicles, reports the Times. It has become the largest manufacturer to step up investment in hybrid cars, revealing plans to double its range up to 14 hybrid models in anticipation of a rise in demand, especially in North America, the article continues. Hyundai has increased its hybrid sales goal by 40% to 1.33m units by 2028, notes the Times. Elsewhere, European EV maker Polestar has announced that CEO Thomas Ingenlath has resigned following the company losing $1.5bn in a year, reports the Daily Telegraph. The Swedish company’s sales fell 40% in the first quarter of 2024, from 12,076 in 2023 to 7,221 this year, it adds.

The climate minister for the Pacific island nation Tuvalu has declared that “opening, subsidising and exporting fossil fuels is immoral and unacceptable”, reports the Guardian. The comments come a day after Australia ratified a climate and security deal with the nation, it adds. The deal was welcomed by Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese, who said Pacific island countries were “fully aware of the commitment that we have to climate action”, but that gas would “continue to play a role”. Speaking at the Pacific Islands Forum talks in Tonga, Tuvalu’s climate change minister, Maina Talia, announced his support for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, noting that fossil fuels are “killing us”, the Guardian adds. It quotes Talia, who said: “Opening, subsidising and exporting fossil fuels is immoral and unacceptable. If this [Pif leaders’ meeting] aims for regional prosperity, we must address climate justice, sea level rise and the root cause of climate change, which is the burning of fossil fuels.”

In the Guardian, columnist George Monbiot argues that environmental persuasion must be “nationalised”. The “potential impacts [of climate change] are greater than any recent pandemic, or any war we have suffered” and the speed and scale of the change has taken “even scientists by surprise”, he writes. “Yet the effort to persuade people of the need for action has been left almost entirely to either the private or voluntary sectors,” writes Monbiot. “And it simply does not work.” He details the challenges of the current system, as well as other areas where the government has taken an active role in public-information campaigns, concluding: “We cannot build social consensus without the state. Where is it?”

Elsewhere, Zainab Usman, a senior fellow and director of the Africa programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, highlights in the Financial Times that “Africa’s petrostates are missing out on the oil boom”. She argues that while climate activists might celebrate the contraction in production, African nations need to somehow finance their energy transitions.

A new study assessing the “feasibility” of scaling up CO2 storage warns that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth assessment report “vastly overestimate[s] the feasibility of deployment in China, Indonesia and South Korea”. The authors use a model that “considers constraints [in carbon storage deployment] from both geology and scale-up rate”. They find that global carbon storage could reach a maximum rate of 16bn tonnes of CO2 per year by 2050, if the US contributes 60% of the total. However, they say that a rate of 5-6bn tonnes of CO2 per year, with the US contributing around 1bn tonnes per year, is a more “feasible benchmark”.

The 2023 Canadian forest fires released 647 teragrams of carbon – an amount comparable to the annual fossil fuel emissions of large nations – a new study finds. The authors note that 2023 was the warmest and driest year since at least 1980, adding that temperatures like these are “likely to be typical during the 2050s, even under a moderate climate mitigation scenario”. The study adds to “concerns about the long-term durability of these forests as a carbon sink”, the authors warn.