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Rachel Morison, Eamon Farhat, Alex Longley and Petra Sorge, Bloomberg
European leaders speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos have condemned Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement, Bloomberg reports. According to the publication, European commissioner Ursula von der Leyen said in a speech: “The Paris Agreement continues to be the best hope for all humanity. So Europe will stay the course and keep working with all nations that want to protect nature and stop global warming.” Germany’s economy minister Robert Habeck described it as a “fatal signal to the world” and “the beginning of historic failure”, Bloomberg says. The Associated Press reports that European leaders “stated in no uncertain terms that they will hold fort and remain a part of the global climate pact”. It quotes Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo saying: “The world is full of uncertainty after yesterday even more, and maybe tomorrow there might be even more uncertainty. Let’s please, as Europeans within the European Union, not add to the uncertainty by creating ambiguity on our goals.” AP adds that China also criticised Trump’s move, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun saying: “Climate change is a common challenge facing mankind. No country can be outside of it. No country can be immune to it.” The Times reports that UK prime minister Keir Starmer refused to condemn Trump’s withdrawal from the pact. However, net-zero and energy secretary Ed Miliband told a House of Lords committee meeting that it was in the country's “self interest” to remain in the agreement and that the transition to clean energy is “unstoppable”, the Daily Telegraph says.
The National speaks to several experts about what Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement could mean for global climate action, citing Carbon Brief analysis finding that his victory could mean 4bn more tonnes of emissions by 2030. Kenya’s the Standard reports on what Trump’s withdrawal means for Africa, reporting the decision “comes as the world grapples with the tangible effects of climate change, highlighting the urgency of unified global action”.
Elsewhere, Reuters reports that Trump’s decision to suspend wind power projects in the US has left a number of European companies with development plans exposed. Danish firm Orsted, the world’s biggest wind developer, saw its shares sink after the announcement, the Times says. DeSmog maps Trump’s “transatlantic anti-green network”.
Fiona Harvey, The Guardian
Brazil has appointed André Aranha Corrêa do Lago – an “experienced climate negotiator” and the country’s secretary for climate, energy and environment – as incoming president of the COP30 climate talks, the Guardian reports. Ana Toni, “a respected Brazilian economist and the government’s climate change secretary”, will take on the role of executive director of the summit, the newspaper says, adding that environment minister Marina Silva has been “by-passed”. Brazil’s COP30 president-designate is 65 and was previously an ambassador to Japan and India, the Financial Times says. Climate Home News reports he has been Brazil’s chief climate negotiator since 2023 when president Lula da Silva returned to power. Corrêa do Lago “is also a well-regarded architecture critic and curator”, Climate Home News says. It adds that he is the fifth man in a row, and the 25th man out of 30, to be president of a climate COP. Bloomberg quotes him as saying: “It is a huge honor and we’re all going to have to build the COP all together.” Reuters adds that Corrêa do Lago said Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement will cast a “huge shadow” over the talks. According to the newswire, he said: “We are still analysing Trump's announcements, but there is no doubt they will have a significant impact on preparation for COP30.”
Nidhi Verma, Reuters
India is likely to increase its US oil and gas purchases after Donald Trump's announcement to maximise production, Reuters reports. The country’s oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri told reporters that “there is a possibility of more energy purchase between India and US”, adding that “more US energy coming into the market is welcome”. While oil refiners in India “have been hit hard” by a spike in global oil prices following “sweeping new US sanctions targeting Russian insurers, tankers and oil producers”, Puri said that “there is currently no oil shortage” in the market. Another Reuters story earlier this week reports that Indian state refiners have approached UAE-owned oil company ADNOC “to offer pricing of its crude on a delivered basis”, as the world’s “top buyer of discounted Russian seaborne oil” is being “push[ed]...back to traditional Middle East sources” following tighter sanctions. Meanwhile, Argentina’s state-run oil company YPF inked a deal with three Indian firms to “potentially export up to 10m metric tonnes of [liquified natural gas] per year”, according to a third Reuters story. The deal also covers “cooperation in lithium, critical minerals, and hydrocarbon exploration and production”, it adds.
Separately, the Times of India writes that Trump’s decision to withdraw “the world’s biggest historical polluter” from the Paris Agreement again “will cast a shadow over most countries’ fresh mitigation pledges under the global pact, which they are expected to make by February for their climate actions until 2035”. It adds that “apprehension of weak global climate action without the US on board is not without basis”, pointing to the fact that “rich nations…allow[ed] COP29 to end with a weak outcome on climate finance” and that “[s]imilar results in terms of countries’ climate action goals might not be surprising”. According to climate expert Arunabha Ghosh, quoted in the Business Standard, the second withdrawal of the US from the agreement “creates two kinds of uncertainty: Will state-level and corporate action in the US double down on investments and innovation in clean tech? And how will other large historical emitters step up to fill the emissions reduction gap?” At the same time, Press Trust of India quotes India’s former environment and climate minister Jairam Ramesh as saying that “whatever the US approach, India has to keep doing what it must to deal effectively with its multiple vulnerabilities to climate change” and “it is in India’s self-interest to be proactive”. A comment in the Indian Express argues that “[n]o matter the road the US takes, building a climate-resilient economy and focusing on emission mitigation in the near term must remain an important prerogative” for the country.
In other energy news, India’s renewable energy minister Pralhad Joshi is quoted in the Economic Times as saying that India’s power demand is “projected to double by 2032, requiring a greater role for renewables” in the energy mix. The minister reportedly said that “India is on track to achieve and surpass its 500GW renewable energy target by 2030” and “green hydrogen, battery storage and distributed energy solutions” are key focus areas for centre-state engagement. Another Economic Times story unpacks what a climate finance taxonomy for India’s 2025 union budget could look like. Finally, Mint examines climate change’s impact on India’s farm sector amid falling yields of key crops.
Farah Master, Colleen Howe and Lewis Jackson
China has broken its “own records for new wind and solar power installations again” in 2024, with installed solar and wind power capacity increasing by 45% and 18%, respectively, Reuters reports, citing data released on Tuesday. The newswire adds China’s solar capacity has now reached 887 gigawatts (GW), with wind power capacity standing at 520GW. State news agency Xinhua also covers the story, saying that China’s total installed power capacity amounts to 3,350GW in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 15%, while investment in power grid projects rose by 15%, reaching 608bn yuan ($83bn).
In related news, the China Electricity Council (CEC) says that China’s economy ran “steadily” in 2024, supported by a “relatively fast growth in electricity consumption”, with the national electricity consumption growth rate 0.1 percentage points higher than in 2023, China Electric Power News reports. [Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, provides a critique of the analysis on Twitter.] China Energy Net reports that China has issued the first guideline on the “national data infrastructure construction”, which proposes to “convert green electricity into green computing power” by connecting “large wind and solar power bases” and “computing power hubs”. The China Iron and Steel Association urged “producers to limit excess output and price wars” after profits in China’s steel sector halved in 2024 due to weak demand, Yicai reports.
Meanwhile, China has said it is “concerned” about the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, adding that “climate change is a common challenge faced by humanity” and “no country can stay aloof or unaffected”, Xinhua reports. South China Morning Post (SCMP) covers Chinese executive vice premier Ding Xuexiang’s speech at Davos, where he said the world needs to “jointly tackle global challenges” including climate change and energy security. Ding also said China is “not pursuing a trade surplus and is willing to import more competitively priced high-quality products and services from abroad”, the Hong Kong-based outlet added. Xinhua says that China has created the “biggest clean power generation system in the world”. Bloomberg reports that Beijing has “rais[ed] production of its own food and energy to cut its import bills”, adding it is “unlikely” to compromise security of supply to “appease” US demands. SCMP says China’s recent restriction on exports of some critical materials to the US is “already having an impact on their trade”. Finally, Reuters reports that the EU will “host European automakers, suppliers and trade unions” for talks in late January to come up with a plan to “protect the struggling sector”.
Kate Devlin and Archie Mitchell, The Independent
The UK Labour Party is “split” over chancellor Rachel Reeves’ plans to approve a third runway at Heathrow airport, with fellow cabinet minister and energy secretary Ed Miliband and the mayors of London and Manchester strongly opposed to the move, the Independent reports. The government “could even face legal action from London mayor Sadiq Khan”, the Independent says, noting he said last week that if Heathrow came back “with plans for a new runway that was supported by the government, I wouldn’t hesitate to launch, with partners and colleagues, another legal challenge”. The Times says Khan is expected to “make a public intervention on Heathrow” as early as today, when he is questioned by the London assembly. The Climate Change Committee, the government’s climate advisers, warned on Tuesday “that there must be no airport expansion unless emissions are reduced sufficiently to allow for the impact of extra flights”, it adds. The Daily Telegraph carries news of Khan’s “rebellion” against Reeves on its frontpage. The Daily Mail reports that eight of those who attend cabinet, including prime minister Keir Starmer, have previously opposed Heathrow’s expansion. The Guardian reports that environmental campaigners labelled the plans to expand Heathrow, along with Gatwick and Luton airports, as “desperate”. The Press Association reports that the climate charity Possible called the move a “catastrophic misstep”.
Elsewhere, the Times reports on its frontpage that Labour plans to strip environmental regulators of their power to delay major housebuilding and infrastructure developments. The government has also announced new rules “to reduce underwater noise levels during offshore wind construction that can harm marine animals”, the Press Association says. BusinessGreen reports that the hydrogen industry is calling on the government to set “clear” targets for ramping up power-from-hydrogen capacity. The Daily Telegraph has a series of news stories pushing climate-sceptic viewpoints, including a call from a banker for Reeves to cut “burdensome net-zero rules”, an unsubstantiated warning that the UK is “at risk of entering a bidding war with Europe for electricity” and a similarly unbased story on how the “religion of rewilding” could put the UK at risk of “LA-style wildfires”. |
