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China Briefing handpicks and explains the most important climate and energy stories from China over the past fortnight. Subscribe for free here.
Key developments
China released draft of long-awaited Energy Law
FULL TEXT: The latest draft of China’s long-awaited Energy Law has been issued for public comment following approval by China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), economic newswire Jiemian reported, in an analysis of the text. The law, which was initially drafted in 2005, will likely be “considered at three [NPCSC] meetings before being put to a [final] vote”, the outlet said, which means it could be formally enacted “within the year”.
PRIORITISING RENEWABLES: Jiemian added that the law “clearly supports prioritising the development of renewable energy; rational development of clean and efficient use of fossil energy; and orderly promotion of non-fossil fuel energy instead of fossil fuel energy and low-carbon energy instead of high-carbon energy”. Chinese energy news site International Energy Net noted that the draft law calls on the state to “establish a mechanism to promote green energy consumption and encourage energy users to prioritise using renewable energy and other clean and low-carbon energy sources”. Elsewhere, Chen Xinghua, associate professor at North China University of Technology and deputy secretary-general of the China Law Society’s energy law research group, told China Environment News that, until now, the “development of the energy industry…has relied more on dividends from reform of the energy system”. He added that a unified Energy Law is “urgently needed” to resolve the “intricate and complex” interests of various stakeholders, as well as the challenges of a modern energy system and meeting China’s carbon neutrality goals.
LONG ROAD: The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post said that the law “has been [on] one of the longest [journeys] for any piece of Chinese legislation”. It quoted an unnamed Tsinghua University law professor attributing the delays to staunch resistance from energy sector stakeholders, who “lobbied extensively” to “[try] to hold onto their territory”. The professor speculated that this resistance may have been broken by president Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign.
Leaders and targets plot ‘realistic’ path
2024 TARGET: The Ministry of Environment and Ecology (MEE) is aiming for carbon emissions per unit of GDP – also known as carbon intensity – to fall by 3.9% in 2024, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Previous Carbon Brief analysis found that carbon intensity would need to fall by 7% per year to meet China’s 2025 climate commitments. This was echoed by consultancy Trivium China, which said in a recent newsletter that the target for 2024 “isn’t enough to get China emissions intensity reductions back on track”.
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‘BE REALISTIC’: Meanwhile, Chinese president Xi Jinping called on policymakers to both “be realistic, by not slowing the pace of green and low-carbon development, and not be too idealistic, above all guaranteeing energy supply”, International Energy Net reported. At a technology-focused forum in Beijing, National Energy Administration director Zhang Jianhua said China would “lead the innovation of the clean energy industry…further strengthen the foundation of energy security [and] continue to improve the scale and quality of non-fossil energy supply”, according to state news agency Xinhua.
COAL CAPACITY: Following an announcement that China will establish a coal production capacity reserve system by 2027, Xinhua published an analysis stating that the move will allow China to “quickly release reserve capacity in extreme situations, such as fluctuations in the international energy market, instances of severe weather and [other] drastic changes to supply and demand”. It added that this measure was not intended “to significantly increase coal production capacity”. (Read more in Carbon Brief’s China Briefing from 18 April).
US-China methane cooperation continued
BLINKEN TRIP: With US secretary of state Anthony Blinken visiting Beijing last week, the “two superpowers continued dialogue to manage a growing list of differences”, reported Bloomberg. Citing a Chinese foreign ministry statement, the outlet said Xi told Blinken that “China and the US should be partners rather than rivals”. The Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi also told Blinken that China “urged” the US “not to interfere in China’s internal affairs, not to hold China’s development back, and not to step on China’s red lines on China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests”, according to a report from the Associated Press. Blinken responded by saying that “the Biden administration places a premium on” the bilateral dialogue even “on issues of dispute”, according to the newswire.
EASIER FUTURE?: Despite several areas of disagreement, the Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily mentioned the two sides reached an agreement on further “cooperation” on climate change. China Environment published an announcement by the MEE that a US-China climate action working group held a virtual meeting, at which they pledged to “strengthen communication” and cooperation on controlling methane emissions. Meanwhile, China enacted a tariff law during Blinken’s visit to strengthen China’s “trade defence capabilities”, Reuters reported. The outlet said the law was passed amid US and EU industrial “overcapacity” concerns and outlines “a range of legal provisions related to tariffs on Chinese imports and exports”. It quoted Henry Gao, a professor at Singapore Management University, who described the law as “a nuclear weapon” to show the US and EU “that this is our prerogative: If you’re going to hit us with tariffs, we can do the same”.
Chinese climate envoy announced US visit
MAY VISIT: In an interview with Bloomberg, China’s climate envoy Liu Zhenmin announced that he plans to visit the US in May for his first formal face-to-face meeting with US counterpart John Podesta. Liu stated that China aims to “extend cooperation on issues including energy, the circular economy and efforts to curb greenhouse gases beyond carbon dioxide”. He added that the US and China “have to cooperate as far as possible” on climate, and that the two nations “also need to respect each other on all issues”. Another Bloomberg article on the Liu interview said: “Efforts by the US and Europe to stem China’s dominance in green technologies risk stalling the fight against global warming, according to [Liu].”
‘DIFFERENT LENS’: Elsewhere, Liu raised four challenges to global resilience at a forum hosted by the thinktank Center for China and Globalisation. Notably, he listed these challenges in the following order: geopolitical conflicts; setbacks to economic globalisation; climate change; and unease around artificial intelligence. In an earlier article, the Diplomat had suggested that Liu – given his Ministry of Foreign Affairs background – may see climate “more as a lever in China’s overall diplomatic strategy, rather than a critical, standalone issue to address”.
Spotlight
Media reaction: Guangdong flooding and the role of climate change
Guangdong province in southern China has been pounded by heavy rains since 19 April, causing flooding that has left at least four dead and seen more than 110,000 people evacuated.
Guangdong is China’s most populous province and an economic powerhouse driving China’s manufacturing industry and exports.
In this issue, Carbon Brief examines the impact of climate change on the flooding and the response from Chinese and international media.
How has flooding affected Guangdong?
“Intense” rainstorms began in the northern and western regions of Guangdong province on 19 April, with the ensuing rainfall breaking records for the month, according to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Originally, floodwaters from the Bei River, a major tributary of the Pearl River, were expected to peak on 22 April, the newspaper added.
The heavy rainstorms continued, however, and by 28 April three separate floods had been recorded, according to the Communist party-affiliated People’s Daily and regional newspaper Southern Daily.
On 30 April, state broadcaster CGTN announced that China issued a severe weather warning for further torrential rain, thunderstorms, gales and hail for parts of Guangdong, as well as five other provinces.
Four people were reported dead and 10 missing during the initial flood, BBC News said, adding that at least 110,000 people were evacuated.
The worst-hit areas included the provincial capital Guangzhou – home to almost 19 million people – as well as the cities of Zhaoqing, Shaoguan, Qingyuan, Jiangmen, Huizhou and Heyuan, according to various media outlets.
Guangzhou Daily reported that the provincial government announced a relief fund of 90m yuan ($12.4m) to be used to recover from the damage caused by the flood.
Meanwhile, Chinese vice-premier Zhang Guoqing and Guangdong governor Wang Weizhong both called on local governments to improve monitoring of extreme weather, the China Daily and Southern Daily reported.
In addition to the floods, CNN reported that a tornado, which appeared after “multiple days of heavy rains”, killed “at least five people” in Guangzhou on 27 April.
On 1 May, the collapse of a highway near Meizhou city in Guangdong killed at least 48 people, the Associated Press reported, adding that ongoing torrential rainfall was hampering rescue efforts.
Separate Associated Press coverage noted that heavy rains “pose a special risk to mountain roadways and highway bridges”, although an official cause of the accident had not yet been established.
Is climate change a contributor to the flooding?
While the Pearl River delta is prone to summer flooding, the rains this year were unusually early, according to Reuters.
Agence France-Presse reported that Yin Zhijie, chief hydrology forecaster at the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources, told state-run China National Radio that “intensifying climate change” raised the likelihood of early heavy rains.
Xu Xiaofeng, executive vice-chairman of the Chinese government’s China Meteorological Work Development Advisory Committee and president of the China Meteorological Services Association, told economic newswire Jiemian that recent warm and humid currents in the north-west Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean have created significant water vapour in southern China, contributing to the rainfall.
According to the outlet, Xu said: “Recent record-breaking precipitation…occurred precisely against the backdrop of global warming.”
The outlet also quoted another expert, Zhang Qiang from the Gansu Meteorological Administration, saying heavy and abnormal rainfall in the region is becoming “a normal phenomenon” due to the influence of global warming.
While there is, as yet, no formal “attribution” study of whether the flooding was made worse by human-caused global warming, one rapid analysis found that the “somewhat uncommon event” was “exacerbated” by both human-caused climate change and natural variability.
It concluded that weather systems similar to those that caused the floods are 8-12% wetter over Guangdong province in the present climate than they were in the past.
Previous Carbon Brief analysis has also identified a number of attribution studies that have quantified the influence of climate change on flooding in southern China.
For example, record-breaking rainfall in the June-July period of 2020 was found by one study to be more than five times more likely in the present-day climate – “80% of which can be attributed to climate change”.
How has the Chinese media responded?
While most local media coverage focused on individual stories and local responses, several Chinese media outlets have pointed to links between the floods and climate change.
In its reporting, China Daily cited a China Meteorological Administration (CMA) interview with Chinese Academy of Engineering member Ding Yihui, who said: “The world has entered a new phase of climate change, which is characterised by an increased frequency of extreme weather events, resulting in the occurrences of sudden climate and weather-related disasters.”
The municipal newspaper Guangzhou Daily made a connection with extreme rainfall in Dubai and quoted Zhang Xingying, deputy director of the CMA’s science, technology and climate change department, saying that, due to “global warming and El Niño”, China will see more extreme weather, including floods, in 2024.
“Chinese and foreign scientists”, the Guangzhou Daily article said, “remind us that new features of extreme weather and climate events are emerging globally.”
It added that “our generation will witness more and more extreme weather…All we can do now is leave a better future for future generations.”
On 28 April, the Guangzhou Daily also reposted an article by Shanghai-based newspaper the Paper, in which China Academy of Meteorological Sciences scholar Sun Shao argued that “recent extreme weather events are closely linked to climate change”.
Sun said that, in the face of this challenge, the international community must strengthen global cooperation to combat climate change.
Meanwhile, an SCMP editorial said that both the flooding and an emerging drought in nearby hydropower-producing Yunnan province, “illustrate just how critical the climate-change issue is – not just for China but globally”.
It added: “While the flooding is a reminder to be prepared for sudden climate-linked extreme events, including fires and violent storms, the drought is a wake-up call about longer term consequences for the climate of failure to rein in carbon emissions.”
Watch, read, listen
2035 NDC: Project Syndicate published an article by the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Li Shuo and Lauri Myllyvirta about how setting ambitious commitments in its “nationally determined contribution” (NDC) for 2035 could both spur China’s energy transition and boost its profile as a climate leader.
GLOBAL COMPETITION: The substack High Capacity explored the “paradox” of how several Chinese clean-energy technology industries were able to overtake competitors in Germany, despite Germany’s significant industrial advantages.
JUST TRANSITION: Dialogue Earth reported on the need for China to give “higher priority to a just transition” in coal-producing provinces such as Inner Mongolia and Shanxi.
NAVIGATING OVERCAPACITY: Bloomberg: The China Show interviewed a representative of polysilicon producer GCL Technology on how the industry survives cycles of overcapacity.
23
The amount of battery storage capacity added in China in 2023, in gigawatts, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency. This was triple the amount added in 2022, according to the report, and accounted for 55% of global growth.
New science
Co-production of steel and chemicals to mitigate hard-to-abate carbon emissions
Nature Chemical Engineering
New research examined how co-producing steel and chemicals in China could mitigate greenhouse gases and lower costs. The study found that co-production, by itself, would cut greenhouse gas emissions for the steel and chemical sectors by 36m tonnes of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e, 7%) and reduce costs by 1.5bn yuan ($21m, 1%), compared to independent production. However, it found that if a carbon price of 350 yuan ($48) per tonne of CO2 were enacted in addition to co-production, emissions would drop by 113 MtCO2e (22%) and costs by 25.5bn yuan ($3.5bn, 10%).
Increased harvested carbon of cropland in China
Environmental Research Letters
A new study collected statistical data on crop production for ten crop types in China from 1981 to 2020 to assess trends in carbon stored in harvested crops, which “significantly [influence] the carbon budget of the cropland ecosystem”. It revealed that harvested crop carbon increased from 0.185 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon in 1981 to 0.423Gt in 2020. It also found that the average annual removal of carbon sink capacity through harvesting crops totalled 0.32Gt of carbon, which it said was greater than the net carbon sink of China’s entire terrestrial ecosystem – “substantially impact[ing]” calculations of China’s carbon budget.
Large methane mitigation potential through prioritised closure of gas-rich coal mines
Nature Climate Change
Methane emissions from China’s abandoned coal mines have been underestimated, according to a new study. The authors constructed a “coal mine database” to estimate China’s coal methane emissions between 2011 and 2019, and calculated future emissions based on different mine closure policies. They estimated that by 2035, abandoned mines will be China’s largest sources of coal methane emissions – larger than emissions from active coal mines. The authors also developed a “coal mine closure strategy”, which they say could “reduce cumulative methane emissions by 67m tonnes (26%) to 2050, potentially reaching 100m tonnes (39%) with improved methane recovery and utilisation practices”.
China Briefing is compiled by Wanyuan Song and Anika Patel. It is edited by Wanyuan Song and Dr Simon Evans. Please send tips and feedback to china@carbonbrief.org
The post China Briefing 2 May: Energy Law draft; 3.9% carbon intensity target; Guangdong floods appeared first on Carbon Brief.
China Briefing 2 May: Energy Law draft; 3.9% carbon intensity target; Guangdong floods
Ellen Davies is head of programmes at the African Climate Foundation and is based in Kenya. Wole Hammond is programme officer for adaptation and resilience at the foundation, based in Nigeria.
For generations, African communities have lived on the frontlines of climate disruption, managing erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts and the slow erosion of their livelihoods, which depend on predictable seasons.
When the rains failed across Southern Africa in 2024, it was but the latest chapter of a crisis already long underway. During that season, maize crop failures of 40-80% devastated farming communities in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi, where roughly 70% of people depend on rain-fed agriculture. Governments already stretched by debt were forced to raid development budgets, trading long-term growth for emergency relief.
Then came the floods. In early 2026, parts of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa received over a year’s worth of rain in days. More than 2 million people were affected. In East Africa, drought has displaced nearly 62,000 people in Somalia this year alone, with nearly one in four Somalis now facing acute food insecurity.
This is what climate change looks like on the ground – not parts per million or diplomatic jargon, but whether a school stays open after floods cut off the road, whether a clinic can function in extreme heat, whether a country can still invest in its future when every year brings another disaster bill.
As Nigeria rails at loss and damage “mirage”, fund boss assures money is coming
Africa as a continent contributes the least to global emissions yet bears a disproportionate share of the consequences. Nine of the ten countries most vulnerable to climate change are African. As livelihoods collapse and rural economies fail, migration pressures will intensify, driven by climate change intersecting with poverty, conflict and constrained opportunity.
Chronic under-funding
Europe is only now beginning to experience, in more limited form, what African communities have navigated for decades with far less fiscal space, thinner insurance coverage and fewer resources for recovery. With El Niño conditions confirmed and a “super” version of the naturally occurring weather pattern possible later this year, the pressure is set to intensify further.
In Africa, climate action is fundamentally a development challenge where adaptation and mitigation must go hand in hand. Building a solar grid and flood-proofing the road that serves it are not separate agendas. Yet for too long, the global climate conversation has prioritised mitigation while leaving adaptation – the work of protecting lives, livelihoods and economies in a changing climate – chronically under-funded.
The result is three compounding gaps. A visibility gap: much of Africa’s adaptation work remains under-documented and under-recognised in global climate narratives. A financing gap: capital does not flow at the scale or speed required to the people and institutions best placed to use it. And a decision-making gap: too many solutions are still designed elsewhere and imported into African contexts, rather than backing African-led platforms to scale what is already working.
Live from LCAW – Raw diplomacy: Can new mineral alliances deliver a just energy transition?
Solutions ready for finance
The solutions exist. Rwanda’s green investment fund has mobilised climate finance at national scale through its own systems. Egypt’s Nexus of Water, Food and Energy programme has shown how integrated planning can stretch limited resources across interdependent systems.
Zambia’s Presidential Irrigation Initiative is building climate-resilient food production from the ground up. In Pata, Senegal, a solar irrigation project has unlocked agricultural production and created jobs, demonstrating how integrated investments in water, energy and livelihoods can deliver resilience and development gains simultaneously.
In South Africa, the African Climate Foundation’s work with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) is supporting district municipalities to assess their climate risks and develop fit-for-purpose Climate Action Plans, building adaptation capacity where it is needed most – at the local level.
These are not pilot projects waiting to be validated. They are working systems waiting for investment.
Closing the gaps requires a decisive shift in posture from global finance, philanthropy and development institutions. It means backing country-led platforms that can prepare, aggregate and finance adaptation projects. It means investing in place-based initiatives grounded in local knowledge.
French court rules Total must revise climate plan to account for all emissions
It means fostering intra- and inter-continental collaboration, so that lessons from Kigali inform decisions in Nairobi and innovations in Lagos reach communities in Dakar. And it means treating adaptation as core economic infrastructure, not charitable relief.
Invest now for future gains
The economic case is clear. Every dollar invested in climate adaptation returns an estimated four dollars in benefits on average – and up to five in the poorest economies. Under-investment in African adaptation is as economically irrational as it is morally unjust.
The world depends on Africa’s food systems, its young workforce – the majority of the continent’s population is under 25 – and its minerals. Several African countries supply a substantial share of the copper, cobalt and other critical materials underpinning the global clean energy transition.
Drought in Zambia has already shown how climate stress can disrupt hydropower, electricity supply and mining output. A transition that depends on African minerals cannot afford to ignore African climate resilience.
The world can continue to under-fund adaptation and pay repeatedly for emergencies, instability and lost development. Or it can invest now in the people, institutions and systems already doing the work on the ground in Africa, not in solutions imported from elsewhere.
Africa has the agency, the knowledge and the platforms. What it needs is the finance to match. A super El Niño will not wait for consensus to form. Neither, frankly, should we.
The post Climate adaptation in Africa needs investment, not imported solutions appeared first on Climate Home News.
Climate adaptation in Africa needs investment, not imported solutions
Climate Change
DeBriefed 26 June 2026: Heat records broken across Europe | London climate action week | Introducing ‘Project Cosmos’
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Record Europe heat
HOTTEST EVER: The UK broke its temperature record for June twice this week, while France recorded its hottest day ever two days in a row, reported the Guardian. The Times reported that temperatures reached 36.7C in Somerset on Thursday, as the “London Ambulance Service had its busiest-ever day for life-threatening emergencies”.
FRANCE FRYING: French newspaper Libération said that temperatures reached as high as 44.3C in the south-western commune of Pissos on Wednesday. Spain also recorded its highest daily average temperature for June, said BBC News. On Thursday, Switzerland also had its hottest June day, when temperatures reached 37C in four locations, reported SwissInfo.
CLIMATE LINK: CNN covered a rapid analysis from the World Weather Attribution service finding that fossil-fuelled climate change has made this heatwave the most severe and widespread in Europe’s history. Carbon Brief covered the broken heat records, explaining the influence of climate change.
‘Electrifying’ London talks
‘LONDON COOKING’: In a sweltering, packed-out event at London climate action week, UN chief António Guterres quipped that “London is not just calling, it’s cooking”, reported Edie. Guterres also used his address to release a “global call to action on methane” and to call on artificial intelligence companies to reveal their environmental impact and source their power solely from renewables by 2030, said the publication.
‘ELECTRIFY NOW’: Elsewhere, dozens of governments, led by the EU and the UK, committed to throwing “their political weight” behind a rapid electrification of the world’s economy, according to Climate Home News. A high-level summit in London’s Mansion House saw energy ministers and business leaders, joined by Guterres, in “calling for faster action to curb demand for oil, coal and gas by powering homes, industry and transport with clean electricity”.
FOSSIL TRANSITION: At the same event, ministers from Colombia and the Netherlands, the co-hosts of the world’s first summit on transitioning away from fossil fuels in April, unveiled a report on their key takeaways. It comes after the current Colombian government has been ousted by a presidential election defeat to a fossil-fuel-supporting Trump ally. Carbon Brief examined what this could mean for the world’s energy transition.
Around the world
- UK TARGET: The UK parliament has approved its “seventh carbon budget”, aimed at cutting emissions 87% below 1990 levels by 2040.
- TOTAL ACCOUNTABILITY: A French court has ordered oil-and-gas giant TotalEnergies to account for the emissions from the use of its products, following a case brought by a climate NGO, reported Le Monde.
- METHANE RULES: The US, Qatar and other major energy exporters have urged the EU to “rewrite planned methane emissions” rules for oil-and-gas imports, saying that the policy could disrupt fuel supplies to Europe, according to Reuters.
- CHINA MESSAGE: China’s special envoy for climate change, Liu Zhenmin, said at the World Economic Forum that energy shortages triggered by the Iran war should be a “lesson to countries to accelerate their energy transitions”, reported Bloomberg.
- US WEBSITE REVIVED: Former US government workers have “recreated a valuable climate-science website” shut down by the Trump administration last year, said the New York Times.
6,600 animals
The number of livestock that perished in transport during heat in England and Wales from June to August 2025, double the number killed the year before, reported Carbon Brief.
Latest climate research
- Some world regions are experiencing up to 50 additional heat stress days annually, when compared to 1950 | Nature Climate Change
- Projections of national land-use emissions to 2100 suggest the strongest “carbon sinks” will be in China and Indonesia, whereas Brazil and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will “dominate global sources” | Nature
- Most carbon-offset projects relying on “avoided deforestation” have “mixed, negligible or negative impacts relative to control areas” | Nature Climate Change
(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 government’s official climate advisers, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), has released its latest progress report, emphasising that faster electrification is the best way to secure lower energy bills and stronger energy security. Electrification has shot up the agenda in recent months, with the COP31 presidency calling for countries to back a global goal for 35% of “final” energy to come from electricity by 2035. The text of the CCC’s latest report uses the word “electrification” far more often than previous editions, as shown in the figure above. See Carbon Brief’s in-depth breakdown of the CCC’s latest advice.
Spotlight
Introducing ‘Project Cosmos’
Carbon Brief explains how it built a major new database of climate science research and unveils a new ranking of the 500 most highly cited publications, authors and institutions in climate science.
This week, Carbon Brief launched Project Cosmos – the world’s largest and most complete database of climate change research.
The database features more than 1.8m academic papers, books and reports, capturing the vast body of human knowledge about climate change that has accumulated over more than a century of academic study.
The climate science “universe” is based on reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which are recognised as the world’s most authoritative summaries of the latest climate science.
Since its first report was published in 1990, humanity’s knowledge about human-caused climate change has ballooned. The IPCC has published six sets of reports in total – each one longer than the last.
In total, IPCC reports reference more than 100,000 other papers, books and reports. This is the core of our climate science universe. Carbon Brief then built on this core, by looking at four other sources of data. Read more about how the Cosmos database was created here.
Every single publication in the Cosmos database is linked to at least one other through references. Visualising these links reveals a “galaxy” of references.
In the image above, each colour and cluster reveals different topics and densities of research. Explore the galaxy in an interactive map.
Cosmos 500
As part of an initial wave of preliminary analysis to demonstrate the scope of the Project Cosmos database, Carbon Brief has ranked the 500 most highly cited publications, authors and institutions in the database.
The most highly cited climate scientist is Prof Philippe Ciais, who has spent almost four decades researching the planet’s carbon cycle – and the ways in which humans have been impacting its balance. Carbon Brief recently interviewed Ciais in Paris.
The US tops the tables for the most highly cited authors and institutions. Almost half of the 500 most highly-cited authors are from US institutions. This raises particular concerns for the future of climate science, as US climate scientists and institutions are coming under attack under the Trump administration.
Experts from global south countries account for only 4% of all authors in the Cosmos 500. China stands out as the most highly-cited global south country. Meanwhile, only 10% of authors in the Cosmos 500 are women.
There are many possibilities for future avenues of research using the Cosmos database. Over time, the database could be used to reveal, for example, how interest in different areas of climate science has changed over time, plus identify potential knowledge gaps and, thus, opportunities for future research.
Carbon Brief invites researchers – including academics, journalists and analysts – to submit their own proposals for co-authored studies, literature reviews and analytical projects. Proposals should be sent to cosmos AT carbonbrief DOT org.
This spotlight first appeared in Cited, Carbon Brief’s new fortnightly newsletter focused on climate research. Sign up for free.
Watch, read, listen
‘DOOMSDAY CULT’: OpenDemocracy reported on a “religious cult” spreading climate misinformation in “parliaments” and at “COP summits”.
‘WEDGES’ EXAMINED: ProPublica and Drilled released an investigation into how oil executives worked to influence a climate research paper from Princeton University known as “wedges”.
‘1976 to 2056’: A 30-minute YouTube video from the Met Office had climate scientists explaining how current UK temperatures compare to the infamous 1976 heatwave, and how extremes could worsen by 2056.
Coming up
- 29-30 June: Hamburg sustainability conference, Hamburg, Germany
- 29-30 June: Seventh global conference on climate and sustainable development goals synergies, Bangkok, Thailand
- 29-30 June: 11th annual global conference on energy efficiency, Montreal, Canada
Pick of the jobs
- Drilled, series editor | Salary: $4,000 a month (six-month contract). Location: US
- Met Office, ocean climate science manager | Salary: £54,515-£58,582. Location: Exeter, UK
- Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, research officer (climate science and law) | Salary: £43,277-£55,497. Location: London
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 26 June 2026: Heat records broken across Europe | London climate action week | Introducing ‘Project Cosmos’ appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Over the last four years, Colombia has emerged as one of the most vocal advocates for the world to transition away from fossil fuels.
Under the leadership of leftist politician and economist Gustavo Petro, it became the first major oil-and-gas producer to commit to halting all new fossil-fuel expansion.
In April, the nation hosted a first-of-its-kind meeting of countries on transitioning away from fossil fuels, alongside the Netherlands, in the Caribbean city of Santa Marta.
The meeting concluded with a promise for a new “Santa Marta process” spearheaded by Colombia and the Netherlands, a movement of countries that would continue to push for a transition away from fossil fuels at home – and at international climate talks.
But on 21 June, an ally of Petro suffered defeat in a presidential election runoff against Abelardo de la Espriella, a hard-right populist and favourite of US president Donald Trump, who has pledged to boost oil production and pursue “fracking to the max”.
Below, Carbon Brief examines what the loss could mean for Colombia’s stance on fossil fuels, as well as international efforts to transition away from coal, oil and gas, including at the COP31 climate summit in Turkey in November.
- How could the election defeat change Colombia’s stance on fossil fuels?
- How could it affect international efforts to transition away from fossil fuels?
- How could efforts to transition away from fossil fuels feature at COP31?
How could the election defeat change Colombia’s stance on fossil fuels?
In 2022, Petro became Colombia’s first left-wing president in recent history.
Under his leadership, Colombia became the first major oil producer and exporter to halt all new fossil-fuel expansion, boosted renewable energy and saw a sustained decline in deforestation.
At the COP28 summit in 2023, Petro announced that Colombia would become the first major oil exporter to sign the fossil-fuel non-proliferation treaty, a pact to legally control fossil-fuel production and use.
Successive Colombian environment ministers became among the most vocal supporters of transitioning away from fossil fuels at UN climate talks.
This included former minister Susana Muhamad, a political scientist and environmentalist who stepped in to lead the most recent UN biodiversity summit in 2024 after original host Turkey was forced to withdraw following earthquakes.
She was succeeded by Irene Vélez Torres, a former academic who led calls for a “fossil-fuel roadmap” to be part of the formal outcome at the COP30 summit in 2025.
At the sidelines of COP30, Vélez Torres and Netherlands climate minister Stientje van Veldhoven announced plans to co-host a first-of-its-kind summit on transitioning away from fossil fuels in Colombia in April 2026.
(In the end, countries failed to agree to a formally negotiated “fossil-fuel roadmap” at COP30. However, the Brazilian COP30 presidency promised to bring forward a voluntary roadmap instead, informed by the Santa Marta summit.)
Some 57 countries – representing one-third of the world’s economy – participated in the event, with officials describing it as “refreshing”, “highly successful” and “groundbreaking”, according to Carbon Brief’s reporting from Colombia.
The meeting concluded with a range of outcomes, including a second fossil-fuel transition summit to be co-hosted by Tuvalu and Ireland in 2027.
In stark contrast to Petro’s government, new hard-right populist president Abelardo de la Espriella has promised to quickly boost new fossil-fuel and mining projects, including by “fracking to the max”.
De la Espriella has also promised to build 10 “mega prisons” inside Colombia’s Amazon rainforest.
He has not yet commented on whether he will withdraw Colombia from Santa Marta’s “coalition of the willing”.
How could it affect international efforts to transition away from fossil fuels?
Just two days after the Colombian government’s election defeat, environment minister Vélez Torres took to the stage at London climate action week, alongside Netherlands climate minister van Veldhoven, to present a report on key takeaways from the Santa Marta summit.
The report, written before the election loss, speaks of an ongoing “Santa Marta process” to accelerate the global transition away from fossil fuels. It says that this will be coordinated by Colombia and the Netherlands, along with the two appointed co-hosts of the second conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels, Tuvalu and Ireland.
Acknowledging that this was likely to be one of her last addresses as Colombia’s environment minister, Vélez Torres told the audience that, going forward, the Santa Marta process must be resilient to “political setbacks”.
At the sidelines of the event, Vélez Torres told Carbon Brief that the work her government has done “cannot be erased”, despite a change in power. She said:
“Right now, we are facing the dark nights, this will really shift the politics in terms of energy position and environmental protection. But we are certain that our legacy will continue. It goes beyond governments.”
Dutch minister van Veldhoven told Carbon Brief that the plan for the “Santa Marta process” is to hold fossil-fuel transition summits in a different country every year, with two new co-hosts each time. This could help weather political shocks, she said:
“We know that every couple of years there will be elections. That is why [we have] the idea of rotating presidencies and chairmanships…while we make sure we make use of existing secretariats and organisations that are not subject to political changes every couple of years.
“In that combination, we hope to create a historic legacy and continue to drive the process forward, but also [create space for] a new energy from two new countries every year that bring their own perspective and their own dynamic.”
Although new countries could drive the process forward without Colombia, there are few major oil producers that have shown the same level of commitment to transitioning away from fossil fuels.
Ana Toni, an economist and CEO of the COP30 summit in Brazil, told Carbon Brief at London climate action week that the world will “miss the leadership of Colombia”, but added:
“Not one country will stop this movement. All countries need to chip in. There isn’t one leader for this topic. Everybody needs to join forces.”
How could efforts to transition away from fossil fuels feature at COP31?
At London climate action week, Colombia and the Netherlands presented their Santa Marta report to the Brazilian COP30 presidency.
The COP30 presidency is due to release a voluntary international “fossil-fuel roadmap” ahead of COP31 in Turkey in November, which it has promised will be informed by the takeaways from Santa Marta.
Speaking at the sidelines of London climate action week, Colombia and the Netherlands added that they have had “constructive” conversations with the COP31 co-presidencies, Australia and Turkey, about how to incorporate the discussions from Santa Marta.
Colombian environment minister Irene Vélez Torres told a small group of journalists:
“We had this very interesting conversation with COP31 and they were clearly open to suggestions about what is needed in the discussion in Turkey, and we were explicit about the need to engage with the phasing out of fossil fuels.”
However, both Colombia and the Netherlands added that they were unsure of how this might work in practice.
When asked about whether the Santa Marta discussions could be incorporated into formal COP texts, they were keen to emphasise that all the conversations in Colombia were specifically not negotiations.
They added that they were unsure of whether the group of 57 countries that gathered in Santa Marta would appear as a collective at press conferences or events at the COP31 summit.
The post Q&A: What change of power in Colombia could mean for world’s fossil-fuel transition appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Q&A: What change of power in Colombia could mean for world’s fossil-fuel transition
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