|
Lauren Fedor, Financial Times
US president Donald Trump “lashed out at Canada” on Friday over wildfire smoke that has blanketed large swathes of the US, reports the Financial Times, and threatened to levy billions more in tariffs on Canadian imports in retaliation. In a social-media post, Trump said Canada was “not properly maintaining their forests and brush therein”, the newspaper reports, claiming that the US was being “unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted and unhealthy air”. He added that the cost of the pollution “is incalculable” and should be “added to the tariffs Canada currently pays”. At yesterday’s World Cup final, Trump told Canadian prime minister Mark Carney that Canada must “do better” at controlling the fires, reports Reuters. Other Republican lawmakers made similar criticisms and threats, reports Politico. The New York Times notes that, in recent months, the Trump administration has “moved to shutter several government laboratories” that studied wildfires.
Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, where there are 191 active wildfires, expressed frustration with Trump’s comments, reports CNN. According to the outlet, Ford noted that the Trump administration had a “very short, short memory”, adding: “We had the water bombers, everyone ready, going over to California. It was last year.” Scientists have attributed the proliferation of wildfires across North America to a range of factors, including hot and dry conditions worsened by climate change, says Al Jazeera. On his “Climate Brink” Substack, Carbon Brief’s climate science contributor Zeke Hausfather notes that “the surge in Canadian [wildfire] burning tracks temperature with striking consistency”. The story is widely covered, including in the Independent and Axios, while the New York Times, Reuters and the Associated Press all cover the Canadian fires and the health impacts of the smoke.
MORE ON US
Scientists have warned that climate change is driving increasingly common bouts of heavy rain in the US that cause deadly and damaging flash floods, reports the Guardian. Homeowners trying to rebuild after last year’s Los Angeles wildfires are facing a barrier of mortgage lenders “delaying and denying access to their insurance funds”, reports the Los Angeles Times. The Guardian: “Majority of US voters link extreme weather to climate crisis, study finds.” A Washington Post editorial says that “Californians have been mitigating the danger of worsening wildfires by hiring goats to munch on flammable brush, but the state’s revised labour law risks sending these goats to slaughter”. US oil companies signed roughly $60bn in agreements and partnerships with the Iraqi government on Friday, including deals intended to create alternative routes for shipping oil out of the Persian Gulf, reports the Associated Press. CNN: “US EV sales are down, but not out. Here's why automakers won't pull the plug.”
Jack Fenwick and Alicia Curry, BBC News
As Andy Burnham becomes the UK’s new prime minister later today, there is widespread media coverage of his potential policies. BBC News says that Burnham is set to announce plans for new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. While details of the plans are “not clear”, the outlet says, Burnham is expected to honour the Labour party's 2024 manifesto, which pledged to issue no new licences, but to honour existing ones. The article notes that “at the heart of the debate are two oil and gas fields in Scotland – Rosebank and Jackdaw”, which are currently subject to a legal challenge. These ongoing legal processes mean that Burnham will “not be able to explicitly announce their approval, but he will likely nod to it” in his first speech as prime minister today. Burnham could also “pledge to speed up existing plans to drill more” as “many oil and gas licences already approved in recent years remain largely undeveloped”, the article adds.
Effectively confirming the story, Labour's deputy leader Lucy Powell said Burnham would stick to the Labour manifesto, but bring a "change of emphasis" on North Sea oil and gas, reports a separate BBC News article. Speaking on the TV programme Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Powell said: "We've been really clear that the way to achieve…long-term energy security and lower bills is by ensuring that we do have our own homegrown, clean, much cheaper energy,” the article says. [Read Carbon Brief’s North Sea factcheck to see why these statements are misleading.] On social media, US president Donald Trump celebrated the move, claiming it would prevent the UK from becoming a “poverty stricken disaster”, reports the Independent. Trump also said that the North Sea was being “open[ed] up all the way”, which is not the case, notes the Times. The story is also covered by the Financial Times, Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mail and on the frontpage of the Sun.
MORE ON BURNHAM
Labour “insiders” have warned that Burnham risks his first confrontation with his MPs if he announces new oil and gas drilling licences, reports the Guardian. In a letter to Burnham, a group of charities has warned that new drilling licences in the North Sea would damage UK's security and hurt families struggling with the cost of living, reports the Sunday Mirror. Industry documents show that “only 27 direct full-time jobs would be created by Jackdaw”, reports the Guardian. Burnham is “considering radical plans” that could cut household energy bills by £130 a year and make running a heat pump cheaper than a gas boiler, says the Guardian. The Times looks at who could be in Burnham’s cabinet, noting that Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, is the “frontrunner after a vituperative campaign from senior allies of Burnham” to stop energy secretary Ed Miliband from getting the role.
Ian Johnston, Financial Times
The EU is set to recommend a three-year delay on penalties for energy importers that do not comply with the bloc’s new methane emissions rules, reports the Financial Times, with the decision coming “after fierce lobbying from the US and member states that raised fears about gas supply risks”. It continues: “Under the present regulation, energy companies that fail to show they are properly monitoring, reporting and verifying leaks and flares of the highly potent greenhouse gas could face penalties by member states of up to 20% of their annual revenue from next year. But the measure has come under intense pressure from major gas importers.” According to “several officials and diplomats”, the European Commission is planning this week to “recommend to member states that they do not penalise infringements of the rules over the first three years”, the article says, noting that the “recommendation will not be legally binding”. E&E News also covers the story.
Meanwhile, there is continuing coverage of the European Commission’s plan to overhaul the EU Emissions Trading System (EUETS), which – the Guardian says – proposes “giving companies a less demanding and cheaper pathway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions”. The newspaper notes that “some heavy industries will benefit from free pollution permits for longer, while the number of permits in circulation will be reduced more slowly, also giving companies more leeway”. The move would see EU industry “continue emitting planet-warming gases well into the 2040s”, says Politico. This “represents a significant watering down of ambition”, it says, and is “likely to spark a fight in parliament and among member countries between those who want more concessions for industry and those who want to accelerate the path to climate neutrality”. There is further reporting in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, BBC News and Reuters, while Euractiv says that, rather than the EUETS being extended to all long-haul flights, it will now include “only flights departing from Europe and landing within a 5,000km radius of Frankfurt airport”.
MORE ON EUROPE
The European Commission has also unveiled its electrification action plan, which aims to double the current levels of electrification, but “back[s] away from setting a legally-binding target”, says Politico. Reuters: “Greece says EU sanctions against Russia risk ceding LNG market share to rival.” Reuters: “Electric cars became cheaper in Germany despite rising average prices.”
Ben Ellery and Juliet Samuel, The Times
Internal reports show that five safety limits on the UK’s electricity grid were breached during last month’s heatwave and “system security was compromised”, reports the Times. The National Energy System Operator (Neso) “insisted at the time that the electricity system ‘operated securely’ during the incident” on 23 June, the newspaper says, adding: “Neso confirmed that the reports were genuine, but said they were preliminary documents produced quickly after the event and did not represent its final assessment.” On Friday, energy regulator Ofgem announced that it would oversee an investigation into whether the grid was operated safely and what the Times describes as “allegations that Neso covered up the seriousness of the incident”. A spokesperson for Neso said its analysis showed that the grid operated securely during “an unprecedented period of extreme heat”, adding: “No customer demand was disconnected, frequency and voltage remained within statutory limits, and no lines or cables were overloaded.”
|
