Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Intensifying hurricanes
STILL POWERFUL: Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida on Wednesday “weakening but still tremendously powerful”, the Guardian reported, bringing “catastrophic winds likely to cause significant property damage” and leaving “nearly 3m homes and businesses…without power”. At least 16 people were killed across the state, officials told CBS News. Bloomberg noted that the US “has been hit by five hurricanes so far this year”.
2.5 TIMES MORE FREQUENT: Record-breaking sea temperatures across the Gulf of Mexico are a key driver of the intense hurricanes devastating the region this year, Carbon Brief reported (see more below). The Independent covered new World Weather Attribution analysis finding that hurricanes as intense as Hurricane Helene, the second most deadly US storm in history which made landfall just days before Milton, “are now about 2.5 times more frequent” because of human-caused climate change.
GLOBAL CRISIS: Elsewhere, “unprecedented” flooding in Niger killed 339 people and displaced more than 1.1 million, Radio France Internationale said, adding that “neighbouring Mali [saw] over 40 people killed and thousands displaced”. Floods and landslides in Bosnia killed at least 22 people, Le Monde reported. Finally, in Bangladesh, five people died and more than 100,000 were stranded by floods, Reuters said.
Oil rush
AMBITION ABANDONED: BP will abandon its “ambitious target” to cut oil and gas production by 40% by 2030, the Times reported, with the move expected to be formalised in February. The newspaper added that BP is “battl[ing] to close a valuation gap” with industry rivals and faces pressure from investors to increase fossil fuel production and “stop investing in any more ill-conceived wind projects”. (Any new fossil fuel projects globally are incompatible with keeping global warming at 1.5C.)
RACE TO THE BOTTOM: India will “radically reform regulations and invite foreign oil majors to explore both onshore and offshore [opportunities]” as the country “races to extract as much oil as possible while there remains a market”, according to the Financial Times. The newspaper noted that oil companies hope India’s strong economic growth forecast “will underpin future demand”.
UNLIKELY CHAMPIONS: In the US, oil companies are lobbying Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump “not to slash provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act”, the Wall Street Journal said, as many of them benefit from the law’s provision of billions of dollars in “tax credits vital for their investments in renewable fuel, carbon capture and hydrogen”.
Around the world
- NO-SHOWS: Ahead of COP29, the EU has called for a phaseout of “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that do not address energy poverty or just transitions”, ENDS Europe reported. Meanwhile, Bank of America, BlackRock, Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank and other financial institutions will “skip” COP29, the Financial Times said.
- STREAMLINING: COP16 host Colombia is pushing for the United Nations to combine the COPs for climate change, biodiversity and desertification in order to avoid “wasting time” and create “synergies” in countries’ climate plans, according to Reuters.
- NEW RULES: The UN has developed a compulsory mechanism that aims to prevent carbon credit project developers from breaching human rights or causing environmental damage with their activities, Climate Home News reported.
- ‘CATASTROPHIC’ DECLINE: Wildlife populations have dropped by a “catastrophic” average rate of 73% over the past 50 years, according to a World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) report covered by the Washington Post.
- TWO EXTREMES: The World Meteorological Organization found that 2023 was the “driest year in more than three decades for the world’s rivers”, the Associated Press said. At the same time, the Financial Times reported, rising temperatures “helped drive extreme rainfall events” in September.
5,500
The amount of new renewable energy capacity, in gigawatts, to be added globally between 2024 and 2030, 2.6 times greater than total additions between 2017 and 2023, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency.
Latest climate research
- The presence of permafrost almost halves riverbank erosion rates in an Arctic river, according to a study published in Nature.
- Research in Nature Climate Change found that, even if global warming is limited to 1.5C, climate change’s impact will increase inequality by an average of 1.4 points of the Gini index, the most common measure of income disparity, by the end of the century.
- A new study in Nature Climate Change estimated that climate change will increase the risk of whale sharks, the world’s largest fish, crossing into global shipping routes and colliding with vessels.
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured
The amount of heat stored in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico has reached record levels this month amid an unprecedented marine heatwave. These temperatures, themselves made 200-500 times more likely by climate change, played a key role in causing the hurricanes devastating the US this year to be more intense, according to a new study covered by Carbon Brief. The hurricanes Helene and Milton, which struck the US within two weeks of each other, were made more powerful by passing over the gulf, due to the hotter ocean water passing more energy to the storms and making them intensify more quickly.
Spotlight
How Scotland is protecting its ancient stone circles from climate change
This week, Carbon Brief explores what climate change means for a 5,000-year-old monument in Orkney.
Orkney, in the north of Scotland, is famous for its neolithic monuments, including the Ring of Brodgar, the largest stone circle in Scotland.
Historic Environment Scotland (HES), a public body that maintains Scotland’s historic sites, encourages tourists to help monitor the monument for signs of the impact of climate change through the citizen science programme Monument Monitor.
Carbon Brief interviews Dr Mairi Davies, climate change policy manager at HES, about the impact of climate change on the site and the effectiveness of citizen science in combating it.
Carbon Brief: What impact has climate change had on the Ring of Brodgar?
Mairi Davies: In 2019, we hosted a workshop in Orkney to apply the Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI), a methodology developed to rapidly assess climate impacts for all types of world heritage properties, to the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage site (HONO), which includes the Ring of Brodgar.
HONO was determined to be extremely vulnerable to the impacts of three key climate drivers: sea level change; precipitation change; and storm intensity and frequency change.
Increased footfall at the Ring of Brodgar is interacting with changes in precipitation patterns – primarily increased precipitation, but also periods of very dry weather – which has led to serious and increasing footfall erosion, threatening the fabric of the site.
CB: What inspired HES to turn to citizen science to monitor these impacts? And has it been effective?
MD: We care for a diverse estate of properties, many of which are in remote areas. While we undertake regular site inspection visits, we can’t be everywhere at once.
Since launching in 2018, Monument Monitor has been a really useful tool for aiding conservation work across the sites we care for, as well as fostering engagement with visitors and local communities alike. Using pictures sent to us by visitors, we’ve been able to model how climate change is affecting flooding at Machrie Moor Standing Stone Circle in Arran, as well as measuring the impact of increased visitor footfall at Clava Cairns…At the Ring of Brodgar, visitor photos are helping us record how well the site can drain after increasing incidences of extreme weather.
CB: What more needs to be done to protect Scotland’s neolithic heritage from climate impacts?
MD: Over the last few years at the Ring of Brodgar, we have undertaken an extensive programme…to create more resilient footpaths for visitors. Balancing access at the Ring of Brodgar, especially to the inner ring, with conservation is now a key issue for site management, with periods of partial site closure required to allow areas of footpath to recover.
Projects such as SCAPE (Scotland’s Coastal Archaeology and the Problem of Erosion) work with the public to research and promote the eroding archaeological remains on Scotland’s coasts.
More broadly, HES will continue its work with communities and partners across Scotland to investigate the impacts of climate change on our historic sites and to support climate adaptation. Our Guide to Climate Impacts identifies many of the risks and hazards of climate change that are facing Scotland’s historic environment and offers owners, local communities and carers of historic sites routes to…enhance resilience to climate change.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Watch, read, listen
EUROPE’S FUTURE: The Columbia Energy Exchange podcast spoke with European commissioner for energy Kadri Simson about the EU’s energy strategy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
BY THE NUMBERS: The Associated Press interviewed the founder of consulting firm Rystad Energy about why he believed technology is key to “containing climate change”.
CHINA NDC: An op-ed in Foreign Policy argued that China must avoid setting “weak” targets in its 2035 climate commitments, adding it “is in China’s own interest” to include ambitious goals.
Coming up
- 13 October: Lithuania parliamentary elections (first round)
- 14-16 October: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scoping meeting for carbon dioxide removal, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 16 October: IEA 2024 World Energy Outlook report launch
Pick of the jobs
- Ellen MacArthur Foundation, senior editor | Salary: £39,000. Location: Cowes, Isle of Wight or remote
- Oxford Economics, lead economist – climate consulting | Salary: Unknown. Location: Oxford or London
- Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, policy analyst and research advisor to Prof Lord Nicholas Stern | Salary: £40,229-£48,456. Location: London
- Bloomberg, Bloomberg Green editor | Salary: $120,000-160,000. Location: New York
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 11 October 2024: Hurricane Milton; BP abandons oil reduction target; Scotland’s ancient stone circles and climate change 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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