Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Deadly extremes
FLOODING: Up to 700 people are believed to have been killed by flash floods in Nigeria, reported BBC News. Northern Nigeria has faced “prolonged dry spells worsened by climate change”, followed by “excessive rainfall”, which can cause flash flooding, reported the Associated Press.
FIRES: In Canada, continuing wildfires forced the evacuation of more than 26,000 people, “with heavy smoke choking millions of Canadians and Americans and reaching as far away as Europe”, reported Le Monde. CBC News reported that authorities in the Canadian state of Saskatchewan have been “battling the worst wildfire [the state has] seen in decades”. Scientist Prof Colin Laroque told the broadcaster: “This is classic climate change…This is our new normal.”
DEVASTATION: In northeastern India, at least 48 people have been killed in flash floods, Al Jazeera reported. Meanwhile, in China’s southwestern Yunnan province, heavy rainfall over the weekend triggered “flash floods and mudslides”, damaging roads and disrupting power supplies to around 5,000 people, reported Reuters.
Trumping at the bit
DRILL, BABY, DRILL: The Trump administration in the US announced plans to eliminate Biden-era protections across millions of acres of the Alaskan Arctic, opening the area up for drilling and mining “in some of the last remaining pristine wilderness in the country”, the New York Times reported. According to US energy secretary, Chris Wright, Trump wants to “double the amount of oil coursing through Alaska’s vast pipeline system” and build a “massive natural gas project as its ‘big beautiful twin’”, reported the Associated Press.
‘GOLD STANDARD’: Elsewhere, more than 6,000 scientists and academics signed an open letter opposing a new push by Trump to impose what he called a restoration of “gold standard science” across federal agencies and national laboratories, reported the the New York Times. It explained: “The executive order puts his political appointees in charge of vetting scientific research and gives them the authority to ‘correct scientific information’, control the way it is communicated to the public and the power to ‘discipline’ anyone who violates the way the administration views science.” Meanwhile, CNN reported that “NASA scientists describe ‘absolute sh*tshow’ at agency as Trump budget seeks to dismantle top US climate lab”.
Around the world
- BIG TECH: Meta signed a 20-year deal with an Illinois nuclear plant for energy to power its AI and data centres, reported the Financial Times.
- BIG SOLAR: Builders will be required to fit solar panels to the “vast majority” of new-build homes in England under changes to be published this year, according to energy secretary Ed Miliband, said BBC News.
- BIG TARGET: The EU’s climate science adviser warned the bloc against watering down climate targets, a day after it was reported that EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra “successfully lobbied Germany’s coalition government to endorse a controversial measure that weakens the EU’s next climate target”, said Politico.
- BIG PROBELÉM: Civil society groups raised the alarm on how the “exorbitant price of accommodation” and “high cost of flights” will undermine Brazil’s civil society participation at COP30 in Belém, reported Dialogue Earth.
$2.2 trillion
How much global investment in clean-energy technologies, including renewables, nuclear and energy storage, is expected in 2025, according to the International Energy Agency. This is “twice the amount expected for fossil fuels”, reported Reuters.
Latest climate research
- A study in Communications Earth & Environment warned that the world has “likely” already reached a tipping point in the West Antarctic ice sheet and that its collapse would result in four metres of sea level rise over a timescale that “could be millennia”.
- Nature Communications published research which found that poor air quality in Europe could lead to 282,000 premature deaths a year by 2100 under a low-ambition climate scenario – but drop to 67,000 if ambitious action is taken to cut emissions.
- Climate change-driven atmospheric evaporative demand – sometimes known as “atmospheric thirst” – caused around 40% of increased drought severity globally from 1981-2022, according to new research in Nature.
(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 UK’s sunniest spring generated a record amount of solar power, according to new Carbon Brief analysis. The data revealed that the nation’s solar sites generated a record 7.6 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity from January to May 2025. This is 42% higher than the 5.4TWh generated in the same period last year, as well as marking a much larger 160% increase over the past decade, the analysis said. It added: “The solar electricity generated in 2025 to date has avoided the need to import gas costing around £600m, which would have released 6m tonnes of carbon dioxide (MtCO2) when burned.” The Times and BBC News covered the analysis.
Spotlight
Lessons from 20 years of Japanese ‘Cool Biz’
This week, Carbon Brief examines a “casual dress” policy that has been “surprisingly effective” at driving emissions savings in Japan.
For many people, the thought of Japan conjures up images of thronging cities, bright lights and smartly dressed “salary-men” unwinding in an “izakaya” (Japanese pub) after a gruelling day at the office.
Every morning, in cities around Japan, some 38 million office workers put on a uniform of suits and ties and make their way to work.
Come summer, however, and the morning commute adopts a laid-back Friday feel. Men’s suit jackets and neckties are replaced by open collars and short sleeves. Venture to the southern island of Okinawa and you might spot a salary-man in a Hawaiian-style “kariyushi” shirt.
This was not always the case. Twenty years ago this month, then-environment minister Yuriko Koike introduced Japan – and the world – to the term “Cool Biz”.
“Cool Biz” – literally Cool Business – is an enduring campaign aimed at reducing energy consumption from air conditioning in the hot summer months when temperatures routinely exceed 30C.
‘No necktie’
Introduced in 2005, the same year the Kyoto protocol finally “entered into force”, Cool Biz mandated that government office buildings turn down the air conditioning to 28C and encourage employees to cool off by wearing less formal clothing. The campaign was characterised by the pithy slogan: “No jacket, no necktie.”
The impact was near immediate. By official estimates, nearly half a million tonnes of CO2 were saved in the first year of Cool Biz. The following year the savings tripled.
In 2012, the policy was estimated to have saved Japan 2.2 MtCO2 of emissions. (This is equivalent to the emissions of Montenegro that year.)
While temperature regulations were only mandated in government buildings, the impacts of the campaign extended far wider.
Thanks to a widespread publicity campaign – which included a Cool Biz fashion show of Japanese public figures and business leaders – name recognition reached 96% in its first year, according to a survey by the Ministry of Environment.
Uniqlo, Japan’s largest clothes retailer, recorded a 14% sales bump – which it attributed to its range of Cool Biz-appropriate casual workwear. And the Federation of Japanese Necktie Unions petitioned the government, after it forecast a 30% sales slump worth approximately £1bn.
‘Accidental steering’
Twenty years on, working in relaxed attire in summer has become “firmly established in Japanese society”, Atsushi Watabe, programme director of sustainable consumption and production at Japan’s Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, told Carbon Brief.
But research into its popularity revealed that concerns about climate change are unlikely to have played a major role in the uptake.
Surveys with members of the public found that Cool Biz had little or no impact on peoples’ reported environmental awareness or commitment, according to Prof Elizabeth Shove, an emeritus professor of sociology at Lancaster University,
Cool Biz’s actual success was a case of “accidental steering” through a combination of social, material and historical factors, said Shove.
Government officials led by example, she said. Japan’s then prime minister Junchiro Koizumi insisted that Cool Biz be worn for cabinet meetings and appeared in interviews in open-collar shirts.
“If the ministers are wearing a tie, their subordinates would feel uneasy about not wearing it,” prime minister Koizumi said at the time. “So the ministers should not wear a tie.”
Turning down the air conditioning in government buildings, likewise, set a standard for other businesses to follow.
Timing also played a role, according to Watabe. Women working in Japanese offices were some of the earliest to support Cool Biz, having been subjected to cooling conventions adapted for male workers, he said, adding:
“Gradually, men who had always considered wearing suits outside as the norm also accepted the change and began to feel its benefits.”
A key lesson is that the success of Cool Biz came from shifting societal norms rather than targeting the behaviour of individuals, said Shove:
“Norms and values don’t just exist – they come from histories of standards, regulations and building research… [Cool Biz] was surprisingly effective by not changing individual behavior, but by just setting a new standard in the government’s own buildings and in industry.”
Watch, read, listen
DRILLED: A new podcast series explored how ”Greenpeace, which was only tangentially involved in the Standing Rock [oil pipeline] protests, has been slapped with a $666m bill for damages”.
REPUBLICANS ‘SCARED’: The Guardian interviewed former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on a wide range of issues, including his thoughts on why some Republicans are “scared” to speak about the reality of climate change.
SELLING NEGATIVE EMISSIONS: A feature in the Financial Times examined the “battle to create a carbon trading market for negative emissions” in the UK.
Coming up
- 7 June: Ocean Rise and Coastal Resilience Summit, Nice, France
- 7-8 June: Blue Economy and Finance Forum, Monaco
- 9-13 June: Third UN Ocean Conference, Nice, France
- 11-13 June: Global NDC Conference 2025, Berlin, Germany
Pick of the jobs
- Asia Society Policy Institute, senior programme officer, China climate industrial policy | Salary: $58,500-70,000). Location: Washington DC
- Greenpeace, senior communications advisor | Salary: AUD$116,562.56. Location: Australia
- The Hertie School, research associate or postdoctoral researcher – climate politics | Salary: Unknown. Location: Berlin, Germany
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 6 June 2025: Nigeria’s deadly flash floods; UK’s record spring drives solar surge; Lessons from Japan’s ‘Cool Biz’ 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/
-
Climate Change2 years ago
Spanish-language misinformation on renewable energy spreads online, report shows
-
Climate Change Videos2 years ago
The toxic gas flares fuelling Nigeria’s climate change – BBC News
-
Greenhouse Gases1 year ago嘉宾来稿：满足中国增长的用电需求 光伏加储能“比新建煤电更实惠”
-
Climate Change1 year ago嘉宾来稿：满足中国增长的用电需求 光伏加储能“比新建煤电更实惠”
-
Carbon Footprint1 year agoUS SEC’s Climate Disclosure Rules Spur Renewed Interest in Carbon Credits
-
Climate Change2 years ago
Why airlines are perfect targets for anti-greenwashing legal action
-
Climate Change Videos2 years ago
The toxic gas flares fuelling Nigeria’s climate change – BBC News
-
Climate Change2 years ago
Some firms unaware of England’s new single-use plastic ban