Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Farewell to coal
142 YEARS: The UK’s “142-year history of coal-fired electricity” ended on Monday as the UK’s last coal power station, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, turned off its turbines for the final time, reported the Guardian. The UK is now the first major economy and the first country in the G7 to successfully phase out coal power, reported the Times.
10BN TONNES: From 1882 until Ratcliffe’s closure, the UK’s coal plants will have burned through 4.6bn tonnes of coal and emitted 10.4bn tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) – more than most countries have ever produced from all sources, according to a comprehensive timeline of the nation’s coal phase-out from Carbon Brief. Carbon Brief’s analysis was cited by publications globally, ranging from US radio station NPR to Indonesian newspaper Kompas.
PERMISSION REFUSED: In other coal news, the UK’s coal regulator the Coal Authority refused to grant licences for what would have been the country’s first new coal mine in 30 years, the Press Association reported. Also on Monday, Tata Steel, the UK’s biggest steelworks, shut down its last coal-powered furnace after more than 100 years, reported Sky News.
Global storms
HURRICANE HELENE: More than 200 people have been killed and at least one million are still without power after Hurricane Helene hit the US south-east and midwest last week, reported CNN. A preliminary study from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that “climate change caused 50% more rainfall during the hurricane in some parts of Georgia and the Carolinas”, the Guardian reported. Hurricane Helene is now the second deadliest to hit the US after Hurricane Katrina, reported the Times.
SWING STATES: Georgia and North Carolina are both key battlegrounds for presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, reported Reuters. Former president Donald Trump visited victims in Georgia on Monday evening, only to court oil executives during meetings held on Wednesday, reported the Guardian. Vice-president Kamala Harris visited Georgia on Wednesday calling the damage “extraordinary” and the loss of life “particularly devastating”, reported the Washington Post.
TYPHOON KRATHON: At least two people have been killed after Typhoon Krathon slammed into Taiwan, Al Jazeera reported. Typhoons often hit the east coast of the island, but Krathon directly hit the west coast, leading Taiwan’s media to label it a “weird” storm, the publication added. In Nepal, heavy flooding and rain killed 193 people in Kathmandu and the surrounding area, the Associated Press reported.
Around the world
- BLACK GOLD: Oil prices have breached $75 a barrel amid reports that Israel could strike Iranian oil facilities, fuelling fears of conflict escalation and resulting global energy supply disruption, reported the Times.
- DRAW DOWN: The UK government announced up to £21.7bn of support over 25 years for carbon capture and storage projects, the Financial Times reported. Meanwhile, a Carbon Brief exclusive reported that the nation will miss the deadline to submit a new nature pledge ahead of the COP16 biodiversity summit this month.
- FORESTS FEATURE: Environment ministers from the Group of 20 (G20) nations agreed on Thursday to increase funding for tropical forest conservation, the Associated Press reported. It comes as the EU moved to delay its anti-deforestation law for a year amid trade backlash, the Financial Times said.
- UNCHARTERED TERRITORY: Melting glaciers fuelled by climate change have forced Italy and Switzerland to redraw a border in the Alps, the Daily Telegraph reported.
- EU TARIFFS: The European Commission is set “to adopt tariffs” of up to 45% on Chinese electric vehicles after saying it had received enough support from member states in a vote earlier today, Reuters reported.
106 million
The amount of CO2, in tonnes, released by Arctic wildfires this summer, roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of Kuwait, reported the Times.
Latest climate research
- National rates of partner violence against women can be higher two years after some climate “shocks”, such as storms, landslides and floods, according to a study in PLOS Climate.
- A new study in Communications Earth and Environment found that the northern Amazon has seen a three-fold increase in the number of days with “extreme fire weather conditions” since 1971.
- Satellite images suggest that the Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing “an accelerated rate” of “greening” in response to recent warming, according to research published in Nature Geoscience.
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured
Following a rapid withdrawal from nuclear power after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, 10 of Japan’s 33 nuclear reactors are now back online. Nuclear was a key topic of debate in the country’s recent leadership race, touted by business leaders and the previous administration as a necessity for energy security and to meet decarbonisation goals. New leader Shigeru Ishiba (more below) entered the campaign with a platform of reducing nuclear power to “close to zero”. Just one day after taking office, however, he released a nuclear plan consistent with the previous administration, reported Reuters.
Spotlight
Japan’s new prime minister and climate change
This week, Carbon Brief speaks to experts about where Japan’s new prime minister stands on climate change, nuclear and renewables.
Japan welcomed its 65th prime minister on Tuesday as Shigeru Ishiba won the closest leadership race in almost seven decades to become the next leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) party.
Ishiba is a former defence and agriculture minister who has sat in parliament for almost four decades.
Ishiba has previously demonstrated an impressive literacy on climate change, likely influenced by his childhood in the rural prefecture of Tottori, Tobias Harris, founder of Japan Foresight, a Japan-focused advisory firm in the US, told Carbon Brief:
“Judging by his August 2024 book Hoshu seijika [Conservative Politician], he is well informed of the science on climate change, citing IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] reports, noting the impacts ranging from wildfires, methane gas release in Siberia, sea level rise, and more severe storms, as well as the human impacts, including refugee flows, food and water shortages, and, interestingly, the possibility for ‘climate fascism’ – he actually uses the phrase.
“It’s hard to think of a Japanese politician of his stature who has used this kind of language to talk about climate change.”
As part of his platform, Ishiba proposed a new government agency for disaster management in response to extreme weather events in Japan.
As recently as August, Typhoon Shanshan caused widespread damage in Japan, killing seven and leaving at least 131 injured. A rapid attribution study by Imperial College London found Typhoon Shanshan was made 7.5% more intense and 26% more likely by climate change.
Renewables and nuclear
At the start of his campaign, Ishiba broke with mainstream LDP thought by advocating for maximising Japan’s renewable potential, while reducing reliance on nuclear power to “close to zero”.
Under the previous administration, Japan had sought to actively restart nuclear plants and develop new ones to meet energy security and climate goals. But nuclear remains a controversial subject in Japan following the Fukushima disaster in 2011, in which a tsunami claimed more than 2,000 lives and flooded a nuclear power plant in the prefecture.
Just a day into his premiership, however, Ishiba’s newly appointed minister of economy, trade and industry told a press conference that Japan would continue restarting nuclear plants under Ishiba’s government.
This “appears to be a continuation of previous administrations’ positions”, Yuri Okubo, a senior researcher at the Renewable Energy Institute in Japan, told Carbon Brief.
This policy change could have been influenced by pressure from business groups, Yuko Nakano, Japan chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the US, added to Carbon Brief:
“Comments from business leaders reflect the private sector’s caution towards the new prime minister’s [original] energy policy.”
With a snap election later this month, Ishiba will also be seeking to “heal party divisions and secure a national mandate”, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, the government is in the process of revising its strategic energy plan, which will set the course of Japan’s energy policies in the medium and long-term, Nakano told Carbon Brief. It is expected by March 2025.
Harris told Carbon Brief that “Ishiba’s shift” reveals “how the politics around nuclear energy have shifted in recent years” in Japan, adding:
“Whereas it was once primarily touted as a way to promote energy independence, it has increasingly been promoted as part of its decarbonisation efforts.”
Watch, read, listen
SOLAR BOOM: The DER Task Force podcast spoke to Jenny Chase of Bloomberg New Energy Finance about Pakistan’s distributed solar boom.
‘PEACEWASHING’: Ahead of COP29 next month, human rights professor Brian Brivati in the Conversation discussed Azerbaijan’s history, including “military aggression, human rights abuses and violations of international law”.
VAN GOGH PROTEST: Politico dived into the story of two climate activists who were imprisoned last week after throwing paint over a Van Gogh.
Coming up
- 9 October: Mozambique presidential and parliamentary elections
- 9 October: International Energy Agency (IEA) Renewables 2024 report launch
- 10-12 October: China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCIED) annual general meeting, Beijing
Pick of the jobs
- Duke University, assistant professor of climate policy (accenture chair) | Salary: Unknown. Location: Durham, North Carolina
- Royal Geographical Society, press and digital communications officer | Salary: £32,590 to £35,385. Location: London
- CPRE The Countryside Charity, media officer | Salary: £41,006. Location: London
- Environment Agency, carbon specialist | Salary: £39,635. Location: UK
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.
The post DeBriefed 4 October 2024: UK turns the lights out on coal; Hurricane Helene; Where does Japan’s new PM stand on climate? appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Climate Change
DeBriefed 15 August 2025: Raging wildfires; Xi’s priorities; Factchecking the Trump climate report
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Blazing heat hits Europe
FANNING THE FLAMES: Wildfires “fanned by a heatwave and strong winds” caused havoc across southern Europe, Reuters reported. It added: “Fire has affected nearly 440,000 hectares (1,700 square miles) in the eurozone so far in 2025, double the average for the same period of the year since 2006.” Extreme heat is “breaking temperature records across Europe”, the Guardian said, with several countries reporting readings of around 40C.
HUMAN TOLL: At least three people have died in the wildfires erupting across Spain, Turkey and Albania, France24 said, adding that the fires have “displaced thousands in Greece and Albania”. Le Monde reported that a child in Italy “died of heatstroke”, while thousands were evacuated from Spain and firefighters “battled three large wildfires” in Portugal.
UK WILDFIRE RISK: The UK saw temperatures as high as 33.4C this week as England “entered its fourth heatwave”, BBC News said. The high heat is causing “nationally significant” water shortfalls, it added, “hitting farms, damaging wildlife and increasing wildfires”. The Daily Mirror noted that these conditions “could last until mid-autumn”. Scientists warn the UK faces possible “firewaves” due to climate change, BBC News also reported.
Around the world
- GRID PRESSURES: Iraq suffered a “near nationwide blackout” as elevated power demand – due to extreme temperatures of around 50C – triggered a transmission line failure, Bloomberg reported.
- ‘DIRE’ DOWN UNDER: The Australian government is keeping a climate risk assessment that contains “dire” implications for the continent “under wraps”, the Australian Financial Review said.
- EXTREME RAINFALL: Mexico City is “seeing one of its heaviest rainy seasons in years”, the Washington Post said. Downpours in the Japanese island of Kyushu “caused flooding and mudslides”, according to Politico. In Kashmir, flash floods killed 56 and left “scores missing”, the Associated Press said.
- SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION: China and Brazil agreed to “ensure the success” of COP30 in a recent phone call, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.
- PLASTIC ‘DEADLOCK’: Talks on a plastic pollution treaty have failed again at a summit in Geneva, according to the Guardian, with countries “deadlocked” on whether it should include “curbs on production and toxic chemicals”.
15
The number of times by which the most ethnically-diverse areas in England are more likely to experience extreme heat than its “least diverse” areas, according to new analysis by Carbon Brief.
Latest climate research
- As many as 13 minerals critical for low-carbon energy may face shortages under 2C pathways | Nature Climate Change
- A “scoping review” examined the impact of climate change on poor sexual and reproductive health and rights in sub-Saharan Africa | PLOS One
- A UK university cut the carbon footprint of its weekly canteen menu by 31% “without students noticing” | Nature Food
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured
Factchecking Trump’s climate report
A report commissioned by the US government to justify rolling back climate regulations contains “at least 100 false or misleading statements”, according to a Carbon Brief factcheck involving dozens of leading climate scientists. The report, compiled in two months by five hand-picked researchers, inaccurately claims that “CO2-induced warming might be less damaging economically than commonly believed” and misleadingly states that “excessively aggressive [emissions] mitigation policies could prove more detrimental than beneficial”80
Spotlight
Does Xi Jinping care about climate change?
This week, Carbon Brief unpacks new research on Chinese president Xi Jinping’s policy priorities.
On this day in 2005, Xi Jinping, a local official in eastern China, made an unplanned speech when touring a small village – a rare occurrence in China’s highly-choreographed political culture.
In it, he observed that “lucid waters and lush mountains are mountains of silver and gold” – that is, the environment cannot be sacrificed for the sake of growth.
(The full text of the speech is not available, although Xi discussed the concept in a brief newspaper column – see below – a few days later.)
In a time where most government officials were laser-focused on delivering economic growth, this message was highly unusual.
Forward-thinking on environment
As a local official in the early 2000s, Xi endorsed the concept of “green GDP”, which integrates the value of natural resources and the environment into GDP calculations.
He also penned a regular newspaper column, 22 of which discussed environmental protection – although “climate change” was never mentioned.
This focus carried over to China’s national agenda when Xi became president.
New research from the Asia Society Policy Institute tracked policies in which Xi is reported by state media to have “personally” taken action.
It found that environmental protection is one of six topics in which he is often said to have directly steered policymaking.
Such policies include guidelines to build a “Beautiful China”, the creation of an environmental protection inspection team and the “three-north shelterbelt” afforestation programme.
“It’s important to know what Xi’s priorities are because the top leader wields outsized influence in the Chinese political system,” Neil Thomas, Asia Society Policy Institute fellow and report co-author, told Carbon Brief.
Local policymakers are “more likely” to invest resources in addressing policies they know have Xi’s attention, to increase their chances for promotion, he added.
What about climate and energy?
However, the research noted, climate and energy policies have not been publicised as bearing Xi’s personal touch.
“I think Xi prioritises environmental protection more than climate change because reducing pollution is an issue of social stability,” Thomas said, noting that “smoggy skies and polluted rivers” were more visible and more likely to trigger civil society pushback than gradual temperature increases.
The paper also said topics might not be linked to Xi personally when they are “too technical” or “politically sensitive”.
For example, Xi’s landmark decision for China to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 is widely reported as having only been made after climate modelling – facilitated by former climate envoy Xie Zhenhua – showed that this goal was achievable.
Prior to this, Xi had never spoken publicly about carbon neutrality.
Prof Alex Wang, a University of California, Los Angeles professor of law not involved in the research, noted that emphasising Xi’s personal attention may signal “top” political priorities, but not necessarily Xi’s “personal interests”.
By not emphasising climate, he said, Xi may be trying to avoid “pushing the system to overprioritise climate to the exclusion of the other priorities”.
There are other ways to know where climate ranks on the policy agenda, Thomas noted:
“Climate watchers should look at what Xi says, what Xi does and what policies Xi authorises in the name of the ‘central committee’. Is Xi talking more about climate? Is Xi establishing institutions and convening meetings that focus on climate? Is climate becoming a more prominent theme in top-level documents?”
Watch, read, listen
TRUMP EFFECT: The Columbia Energy Exchange podcast examined how pressure from US tariffs could affect India’s clean energy transition.
NAMIBIAN ‘DESTRUCTION’: The National Observer investigated the failure to address “human rights abuses and environmental destruction” claims against a Canadian oil company in Namibia.
‘RED AI’: The Network for the Digital Economy and the Environment studied the state of current research on “Red AI”, or the “negative environmental implications of AI”.
Coming up
- 17 August: Bolivian general elections
- 18-29 August: Preparatory talks on the entry into force of the “High Seas Treaty”, New York
- 18-22 August: Y20 Summit, Johannesburg
- 21 August: Advancing the “Africa clean air programme” through Africa-Asia collaboration, Yokohama
Pick of the jobs
- Lancaster Environment Centre, senior research associate: JUST Centre | Salary: £39,355-£45,413. Location: Lancaster, UK
- Environmental Justice Foundation, communications and media officer, Francophone Africa | Salary: XOF600,000-XOF800,000. Location: Dakar, Senegal
- Politico, energy & climate editor | Salary: Unknown. Location: Brussels, Belgium
- EnviroCatalysts, meteorologist | Salary: Unknown. Location: New Delhi, India
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.
The post DeBriefed 15 August 2025: Raging wildfires; Xi’s priorities; Factchecking the Trump climate report appeared first on Carbon Brief.
DeBriefed 15 August 2025: Raging wildfires; Xi’s priorities; Factchecking the Trump climate report
Climate Change
New York Already Denied Permits to These Gas Pipelines. Under Trump, They Could Get Greenlit
The specter of a “gas-for-wind” compromise between the governor and the White House is drawing the ire of residents as a deadline looms.
Hundreds of New Yorkers rallied against new natural gas pipelines in their state as a deadline loomed for the public to comment on a revived proposal to expand the gas pipeline that supplies downstate New York.
New York Already Denied Permits to These Gas Pipelines. Under Trump, They Could Get Greenlit
A “critical assessment” report commissioned by the Trump administration to justify a rollback of US climate regulations contains at least 100 false or misleading statements, according to a Carbon Brief factcheck involving dozens of leading climate scientists.
The report – “A critical review of impacts of greenhouse gas emissions on the US climate” – was published by the US Department of Energy (DoE) on 23 July, just days before the government laid out plans to revoke a scientific finding used as the legal basis for emissions regulation.
The executive summary of the controversial report inaccurately claims that “CO2-induced warming might be less damaging economically than commonly believed”.
It also states misleadingly that “excessively aggressive [emissions] mitigation policies could prove more detrimental than beneficial”.
Compiled in just two months by five “independent” researchers hand-selected by the climate-sceptic US secretary of energy Chris Wright, the document has sparked fierce criticism from climate scientists, who have pointed to factual errors, misrepresentation of research, messy citations and the cherry-picking of data.
Experts have also noted the authors’ track record of promoting views at odds with the mainstream understanding of climate science.
Wright’s department claims the report – which is currently open to public comment as part of a 30-day review – underwent an “internal peer-review period amongst [the] DoE’s scientific research community”.
The report is designed to provide a scientific underpinning to one flank of the Trump administration’s plans to rescind a finding that serves as the legal prerequisite for federal emissions regulation. (The second flank is about legal authority to regulate emissions.)
The “endangerment finding” – enacted by the Obama administration in 2009 – states that six greenhouse gases are contributing to the net-negative impacts of climate change and, thus, put the public in danger.
In a press release on 29 July, the US Environmental Protection Agency said “updated studies and information” set out in the new report would “challenge the assumptions” of the 2009 finding.
Carbon Brief asked a wide range of climate scientists, including those cited in the “critical review” itself, to factcheck the report’s various claims and statements.
The post Factcheck: Trump’s climate report includes more than 100 false or misleading claims appeared first on Carbon Brief.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-trumps-climate-report-includes-more-than-100-false-or-misleading-claims/
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