Welcome to Carbon Brief’s China Briefing.
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 issued new guidance on coal
COAL GUIDANCE: The Chinese government issued a “guideline” on “strengthening the clean and efficient use of coal”, aiming to establish a system for coal use that is compatible with “green and low-carbon development” by 2030, industry news outlet BJX News reported. The guideline covers coal development, production, storage and transportation, as well as efficient usage and reducing emissions, according to the outlet. At a press conference, one of the ministries behind the document, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said that “clean and efficient utilisation of coal” means applying “advanced technologies and management methods throughout the entire coal industry chain”, according to another BJX News article. The NDRC added that the approach “plays a crucial role in ensuring coal’s foundational role in energy security and promoting the green and low-carbon transition of energy”, said the report.
EXPERT VOICE: The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a Finland-based thinktank, commented in a LinkedIn post that the guideline tries to “uphold coal’s position, but coal growth targets cannot be proposed under [China’s] ‘dual-carbon goals’”. It suggested China should “move quickly to establish quantitative targets for both coal consumption and clean energy, which would help instil confidence in the clean-energy sector while ensuring a well-managed transition” away from coal. CREA’s China team lead Xinyi Shen pointed out in another LinkedIn post that, while the new policy calls for coal use limits in some regions with poor air quality, it does not “set a nationwide cap, leaving room for increased coal consumption in other regions”. She said: “Given that China’s industrial sector is already relatively advanced in energy efficiency, further improvements may be limited or less cost-effective…to make meaningful reductions in industrial pollution and carbon emissions, large-scale adoption of low-carbon technologies – such as electric furnace steelmaking and hydrogen metallurgy – should become a higher priority.”
Reports point to 2035 emissions cuts for China
EMISSIONS TARGET: A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that implementing the goals agreed at COP28 last year –and aligning the next round of national climate pledges with national net-zero targets – would mean emerging market countries, such as China, cutting their energy-related emissions to 35-60% below 2022 levels by 2035. A new paper from CREA said China could cut its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to at least 30% below 2023 levels by 2035 and its non-CO2 emissions by 35%, based on recent trends in clean-energy deployment.
PEAK OIL?: An analysis by financial media outlet Caixin explored the reasons “driving down China’s crude [oil] demand”. Citing S&P Global, it said “China’s oil demand may have already peaked or is likely to peak soon”. Caixin attributed the shift to “an economic slowdown, sluggish construction and manufacturing sectors”, as well as extreme weather events and the shift to “new energy vehicles” (NEVs, including battery electric and plug-in hybrids). The rise of NEVs is “dramatically reducing [China’s] reliance on fossil fuels”, Caixin added.
SECURITY STRATEGY: Writing in Legal Planet, Alex Wang, a professor of law at UCLA School of Law, explored the implications of China’s energy security strategy. He noted that, as the largest oil importer in the world, as well as a major importer of coal and gas, China’s push for electric vehicles (EVs) and renewables “directly supports” its energy “self-reliance” strategy, “though it creates other risks, such as those related to maintaining supply chains for critical mineral mining and processing in global south countries”. Wang added that “China is not reliant solely on clean energy, but is going ‘all in’ on all forms of energy, including coal, oil, gas, hydropower and nuclear”.
ACCELERATING TRANSITION: A “big read” in the Financial Times on China’s “accelerating green transition” noted that two-thirds of the world’s new wind and solar project are in the country, but to “wean industry off coal, Beijing needs to set up a real energy market”. It added that China is forecast to need $800bn of grid investment by 2030. Bloomberg reported that China’s “focus” is shifting from “generating clean energy to making sure it can be used”, pushing energy storage to the “centre stage” of its energy transition.
EU vote on China tariffs imminent
EU’S DECISION: After a long negotiation with China, the EU is set to vote on 4 October on “whether to impose tariffs as high as 45%” on imported EVs made in China, said Bloomberg. The EU’s climate commissioner, Wopke Hoekstra, said ahead of the vote that the EU “face[s] a China problem” and that “it cannot be that our companies go bust because the marketplace is flooded with state-subsidised products”, according to another Bloomberg report. He also called on China to contribute more finance to help developing countries combat the impact of global warming, added the report.
ONGOING DISPUTES: Last week, US president Joe Biden proposed software and hardware rules that would “effectively bar” Chinese vehicles from US roads, reported Reuters. Bloomberg said that Biden’s plan “may have ramifications beyond the auto industry and could result in retaliation against US businesses in China”. In China, the Ministry of Commerce launched an anti-discrimination investigation into “Canada’s tariff hikes” on Chinese EVs “as well as steel and aluminium products imported from China”, the Chinese state-owned newspaper Global Times reported. The newspaper quoted the ministry saying: “China’s attitude is clear-cut and it will take all necessary measures to defend the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.”
Spotlight
Could ‘green hydrogen’ help China achieve its climate goal?
In 2022, China set a target of producing up to 200,000 tonnes (t) of “green hydrogen” per year by the end of 2025, to help achieve its “dual-carbon” goal.
A report by Rystad Energy, a Norway-based research company, says the country is projected to “exceed that volume” by the end of 2024. However, this output remains a tiny fraction of hydrogen production overall – and use is not yet widespread.
In this issue, Carbon Brief looks at China’s green hydrogen production and utilisation, as well as what its future may look like.
‘Green hydrogen’ in China
Hydrogen comes in different “colours”, such as grey, blue and green.
“Green hydrogen”, produced by splitting water using electrolysis powered by renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, is seen as the cleanest form.
However, green hydrogen only accounted for around 0.1% of global hydrogen output in 2023, according to a report released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) this week. The rest is produced from “fossil fuels…through steam methane reforming of natural gas or gasification of coal”, which generates large carbon emissions, according to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
China is the world leader in green hydrogen, installing 1 gigawatt (GW) of electrolyser capacity in 2023, according to research company Rystad Energy. The IEA said the country accounted for 40% of electrolyser capacity that was approved in the past year and “three-quarters of the new capacity additions that could become operational in 2024”.
Its capacity is growing fast and is due to be in a position to make 220,000t of green hydrogen annually by the end of 2024, said Rystad Energy. This would exceed the 200,000t target for 2025 a year early.
However, green hydrogen still only accounted for 1% of China’s hydrogen production in 2023, the South China Morning Post reported, citing data from China Hydrogen Alliance.
Nevertheless, a report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Ouyang Minggao, a prominent energy professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said rich renewable resources in north-west China offer a “unique advantage” in supporting the “key” energy required to produce green hydrogen.
Utilisation in transportation
Green hydrogen is gradually “gaining more recognition” with its potential to help China’s low-carbon transition, Yao Zhe, global policy analyst for Greenpeace East Asia, told Carbon Brief.
“It is understood that green hydrogen will play an important role. However, what still needs further clarification is in which specific sectors it will have a more significant impact,” Yao said, adding that one sector mentioned by China was public transport.
A 2022 plan from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top planner, aimed to produce 50,000 hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (HFCV) in 2025.
For now, however, the vast majority of “new energy vehicles” being produced and sold in China are electric vehicles (EVs) – including battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles – whereas HFCVs account for a very small portion of the market. Yao agreed that HFCVs are “not necessarily needed as a solution to decarbonisation” for transport.
“From the perspective of researchers”, she said, “the primary application of green hydrogen in transportation will be in the long-distance heavy truck sector.”
The report by BCG and Ouyang echoed this idea, saying that long-haul heavy-duty trucks have the “biggest potential” for green hydrogen utilisation in transport, thanks to the fuel’s “higher energy density” and shorter time for refuelling.
China now dominates hydrogen-powered heavy-duty vehicles, with more than 95% of the world’s fuel-cell lorries in use in China, according to the IEA. Business news outlet Caixin reported that, in 2023, sales of “new energy-heavy trucks”, including pure electric vehicles, fuel cell trucks and plug-in hybrid trucks, in China surged by 139% year-on-year.
However, “high costs and the inconvenience of refuelling” remain a big challenge, Yao added: “This is problematic as China’s trucking industry is facing fierce competition, and its profit margins are already very low.”
Prof Yi Baolian, a prominent scientist with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said in a speech in 2023 that “hydrogen fuel can only compete with diesel if the price drops below 30 yuan ($4.26) per kilogram”.
Currently, the cost of green hydrogen ranges from around 15 to 45 yuan per kilogram, state news agency Xinhua reported in May 2024.
Decarbonising heavy industries
Despite the focus on transport, Yao said, “at least for me, green hydrogen will play its biggest role in the industrial field in the future”.
Xinyi Shen, the China team lead at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), told Carbon Brief that hydrogen utilisation in the steel sector was “technically feasible” and “seen as a promising technology”, with “hydrogen metallurgy” being successfully used in some pilot projects. But she added that “green hydrogen” has not been tried due to its high costs and was still “in a very early stage of development”.
Shen said that it takes time for the technology, including the storage and transportation of hydrogen, to become “mature” and the cost to be acceptable for commercial production.
Other industries, such as petrochemicals, fertilisers and heating, are reportedly also attempting to use green hydrogen, but none of them has applied it at a large scale.
Shen told Carbon Brief that the broader use of green hydrogen as “a key pathway to achieve carbon neutrality” in different industries not only needs technology upgrades but also policy support. She said:
“Policymakers need to consider how to design market rules, including subsidies or taxes, to ensure that resources are applied across different industries, generating the greatest emissions reduction effect within the entire system.”
This spotlight is by freelance climate journalist Henry Zhang for Carbon Brief.
Watch, read, listen
CBAM: German publication Table published an analysis on how the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) could affect China.
CHINA-BRAZIL: A comment piece by Leo Horn-Phathanothai, affiliate researcher with the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Asia, and economist Rogerio Studart in Dialogue Earth said China and Brazil could “lead the way on South-South climate cooperation”.
SOLAR RACE: Bloomberg climate columnist David Fickling wrote a comment piece on how “the US lost the solar race to China” – and what it means for the “fight” over EV tariffs.
75 YEARS: The Global Times published aseriesofeditorials to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. One of them listed environmental protection achievements, including China’s energy transition.
49%
The increase in China’s solar capacity between the end of August 2024 and a year earlier, according to National Energy Administration data cited by International Energy Net. Installed solar capacity reached 752GW in August, it said, with wind reaching 474GW, up 20%.
New science
Journal of climate
“Anthropogenic forcing” has caused extreme precipitation to intensify in three of China’s four climate zones over 1961-2014, according to a new study. The authors conducted a “detection and attribution” analysis to investigate changes in the intensity and frequency of extreme precipitation over China, using models from the sixth coupled model intercomparison project. They found that increasing levels of human-produced greenhouse gas were the dominant contributor to the increase in rainfall.
Urban rooftops for food and energy in China
Nature cities
A new study comparing the benefits of urban rooftop agriculture and rooftop solar found that the former “yields superior economic benefits”, while the latter “excels in greenhouse gas emission reduction”. The authors compared the benefits of rooftop agriculture and rooftop solar, then considered their allocation strategies across 13m buildings in 124 Chinese cities. They found that allocating 61% of the flat rooftop area to agriculture and all the remaining space to solar panels, would meet 15% of “urban vegetable needs” and 5% of urban electricity needs.
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 3 October 2024: New coal guideline; Less oil consumption; ‘Green’ hydrogen appeared first on Carbon Brief.
China Briefing 3 October 2024: New coal guideline; Less oil consumption; ‘Green’ hydrogen
Greenhouse Gases
Cropped 25 February 2026: Food inflation strikes | El Niño looms | Biodiversity talks stagnate
We handpick and explain the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s fortnightly Cropped email newsletter.
Subscribe for free here.
Key developments
Food inflation on the rise
DELUGE STRIKES FOOD: Extreme rainfall and flooding across the Mediterranean and north Africa has “battered the winter growing regions that feed Europe…threatening food price rises”, reported the Financial Times. Western France has “endured more than 36 days of continuous rain”, while farmers’ associations in Spain’s Andalusia estimate that “20% of all production has been lost”, it added. Policy expert David Barmes told the paper that the “latest storms were part of a wider pattern of climate shocks feeding into food price inflation”.
-
Sign up to Carbon Brief’s free “Cropped” email newsletter. A fortnightly digest of food, land and nature news and views. Sent to your inbox every other Wednesday.
NO BEEF: The UK’s beef farmers, meanwhile, “face a double blow” from climate change as “relentless rain forces them to keep cows indoors”, while last summer’s drought hit hay supplies, said another Financial Times article. At the same time, indoor growers in south England described a 60% increase in electricity standing charges as a “ticking timebomb” that could “force them to raise their prices or stop production, which will further fuel food price inflation”, wrote the Guardian.
‘TINDERBOX’ AND TARIFFS: A study, covered by the Guardian, warned that major extreme weather and other “shocks” could “spark social unrest and even food riots in the UK”. Experts cited “chronic” vulnerabilities, including climate change, low incomes, poor farming policy and “fragile” supply chains that have made the UK’s food system a “tinderbox”. A New York Times explainer noted that while trade could once guard against food supply shocks, barriers such as tariffs and export controls – which are being “increasingly” used by politicians – “can shut off that safety valve”.
El Niño looms
NEW ENSO INDEX: Researchers have developed a new index for calculating El Niño, the large-scale climate pattern that influences global weather and causes “billions in damages by bringing floods to some regions and drought to others”, reported CNN. It added that climate change is making it more difficult for scientists to observe El Niño patterns by warming up the entire ocean. The outlet said that with the new metric, “scientists can now see it earlier and our long-range weather forecasts will be improved for it.”
WARMING WARNING: Meanwhile, the US Climate Prediction Center announced that there is a 60% chance of the current La Niña conditions shifting towards a neutral state over the next few months, with an El Niño likely to follow in late spring, according to Reuters. The Vibes, a Malaysian news outlet, quoted a climate scientist saying: “If the El Niño does materialise, it could possibly push 2026 or 2027 as the warmest year on record, replacing 2024.”
CROP IMPACTS: Reuters noted that neutral conditions lead to “more stable weather and potentially better crop yields”. However, the newswire added, an El Niño state would mean “worsening drought conditions and issues for the next growing season” to Australia. El Niño also “typically brings a poor south-west monsoon to India, including droughts”, reported the Hindu’s Business Line. A 2024 guest post for Carbon Brief explained that El Niño is linked to crop failure in south-eastern Africa and south-east Asia.
News and views
- DAM-AG-ES: Several South Korean farmers filed a lawsuit against the country’s state-owned utility company, “seek[ing] financial compensation for climate-related agricultural damages”, reported United Press International. Meanwhile, a national climate change assessment for the Philippines found that the country “lost up to $219bn in agricultural damages from typhoons, floods and droughts” over 2000-10, according to Eco-Business.
- SCORCHED GRASS: South Africa’s Western Cape province is experiencing “one of the worst droughts in living memory”, which is “scorching grass and killing livestock”, said Reuters. The newswire wrote: “In 2015, a drought almost dried up the taps in the city; farmers say this one has been even more brutal than a decade ago.”
- NOUVELLE VEG: New guidelines published under France’s national food, nutrition and climate strategy “urged” citizens to “limit” their meat consumption, reported Euronews. The delayed strategy comes a month after the US government “upended decades of recommendations by touting consumption of red meat and full-fat dairy”, it noted.
- COURTING DISASTER: India’s top green court accepted the findings of a committee that “found no flaws” in greenlighting the Great Nicobar project that “will lead to the felling of a million trees” and translocating corals, reported Mongabay. The court found “no good ground to interfere”, despite “threats to a globally unique biodiversity hotspot” and Indigenous tribes at risk of displacement by the project, wrote Frontline.
- FISH FALLING: A new study found that fish biomass is “falling by 7.2% from as little as 0.1C of warming per decade”, noted the Guardian. While experts also pointed to the role of overfishing in marine life loss, marine ecologist and study lead author Dr Shahar Chaikin told the outlet: “Our research proves exactly what that biological cost [of warming] looks like underwater.”
- TOO HOT FOR COFFEE: According to new analysis by Climate Central, countries where coffee beans are grown “are becoming too hot to cultivate them”, reported the Guardian. The world’s top five coffee-growing countries faced “57 additional days of coffee-harming heat” annually because of climate change, it added.
Spotlight
Nature talks inch forward
This week, Carbon Brief covers the latest round of negotiations under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which occurred in Rome over 16-19 February.
The penultimate set of biodiversity negotiations before October’s Conference of the Parties ended in Rome last week, leaving plenty of unfinished business.
The CBD’s subsidiary body on implementation (SBI) met in the Italian capital for four days to discuss a range of issues, including biodiversity finance and reviewing progress towards the nature targets agreed under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
However, many of the major sticking points – particularly around finance – will have to wait until later this summer, leaving some observers worried about the capacity for delegates to get through a packed agenda at COP17.
The SBI, along with the subsidiary body on scientific, technical and technological advice (SBSTTA) will both meet in Nairobi, Kenya, later this summer for a final round of talks before COP17 kicks off in Yerevan, Armenia, on 19 October.
Money talks
Finance for nature has long been a sticking point at negotiations under the CBD.
Discussions on a new fund for biodiversity derailed biodiversity talks in Cali, Colombia, in autumn 2024, requiring resumed talks a few months later.
Despite this, finance was barely on the agenda at the SBI meetings in Rome. Delegates discussed three studies on the relationship between debt sustainability and implementation of nature plans, but the more substantive talks are set to take place at the next SBI meeting in Nairobi.
Several parties “highlighted concerns with the imbalance of work” on finance between these SBI talks and the next ones, reported Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB).
Lim Li Ching, senior researcher at Third World Network, noted that tensions around finance permeated every aspect of the talks. She told Carbon Brief:
“If you’re talking about the gender plan of action – if there’s little or no financial resources provided to actually put it into practice and implement it, then it’s [just] paper, right? Same with the reporting requirements and obligations.”
Monitoring and reporting
Closely linked to the issue of finance is the obligations of parties to report on their progress towards the goals and targets of the GBF.
Parties do so through the submission of national reports.
Several parties at the talks pointed to a lack of timely funding for driving delays in their reporting, according to ENB.
A note released by the CBD Secretariat in December said that no parties had submitted their national reports yet; by the time of the SBI meetings, only the EU had. It further noted that just 58 parties had submitted their national biodiversity plans, which were initially meant to be published by COP16, in October 2024.
Linda Krueger, director of biodiversity and infrastructure policy at the environmental not-for-profit Nature Conservancy, told Carbon Brief that despite the sparse submissions, parties are “very focused on the national report preparation”. She added:
“Everybody wants to be able to show that we’re on the path and that there still is a pathway to getting to 2030 that’s positive and largely in the right direction.”
Watch, read, listen
NET LOSS: Nigeria’s marine life is being “threatened” by “ghost gear” – nets and other fishing equipment discarded in the ocean – said Dialogue Earth.
COMEBACK CAUSALITY: A Vox long-read looked at whether Costa Rica’s “payments for ecosystem services” programme helped the country turn a corner on deforestation.
HOMEGROWN GOALS: A Straits Times podcast discussed whether import-dependent Singapore can afford to shelve its goal to produce 30% of its food locally by 2030.
‘RUSTING’ RIVERS: The Financial Times took a closer look at a “strange new force blighting the [Arctic] landscape”: rivers turning rust-orange due to global warming.
New science
- Lakes in the Congo Basin’s peatlands are releasing carbon that is thousands of years old | Nature Geoscience
- Natural non-forest ecosystems – such as grasslands and marshlands – were converted for agriculture at four times the rate of land with tree cover between 2005 and 2020 | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Around one-quarter of global tree-cover loss over 2001-22 was driven by cropland expansion, pastures and forest plantations for commodity production | Nature Food
In the diary
- 2-6 March: UN Food and Agriculture Organization regional conference for Latin America and Caribbean | Brasília
- 5 March: Nepal general elections
- 9-20 March: First part of the thirty-first session of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) | Kingston, Jamaica
Cropped is researched and written by Dr Giuliana Viglione, Aruna Chandrasekhar, Daisy Dunne, Orla Dwyer and Yanine Quiroz.
Please send tips and feedback to cropped@carbonbrief.org
The post Cropped 25 February 2026: Food inflation strikes | El Niño looms | Biodiversity talks stagnate appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Cropped 25 February 2026: Food inflation strikes | El Niño looms | Biodiversity talks stagnate
Greenhouse Gases
Dangerous heat for Tour de France riders only a ‘question of time’
Rising temperatures across France since the mid-1970s is putting Tour de France competitors at “high risk”, according to new research.
The study, published in Scientific Reports, uses 50 years of climate data to calculate the potential heat stress that athletes have been exposed to across a dozen different locations during the world-famous cycling race.
The researchers find that both the severity and frequency of high-heat-stress events have increased across France over recent decades.
But, despite record-setting heatwaves in France, the heat-stress threshold for safe competition has rarely been breached in any particular city on the day the Tour passed through.
(This threshold was set out by cycling’s international governing body in 2024.)
However, the researchers add it is “only a question of time” until this occurs as average temperatures in France continue to rise.
The lead author of the study tells Carbon Brief that, while the race organisers have been fortunate to avoid major heat stress on race days so far, it will be “harder and harder to be lucky” as extreme heat becomes more common.
‘Iconic’
The Tour de France is one of the world’s most storied cycling races and the oldest of Europe’s three major multi-week cycling competitions, or Grand Tours.
Riders cover around 3,500 kilometres (km) of distance and gain up to nearly 55km of altitude over 21 stages, with only two or three rest days throughout the gruelling race.
The researchers selected the Tour de France because it is the “iconic bike race. It is the bike race of bike races,” says Dr Ivana Cvijanovic, a climate scientist at the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development, who led the new work.
Heat has become a growing problem for the competition in recent years.
In 2022, Alexis Vuillermoz, a French competitor, collapsed at the finish line of the Tour’s ninth stage, leaving in an ambulance and subsequently pulling out of the race entirely.
Two years later, British cyclist Sir Mark Cavendish vomited on his bike during the first stage of the race after struggling with the 36C heat.
The Tour also makes a good case study because it is almost entirely held during the month of July and, while the route itself changes, there are many cities and stages that are repeated from year to year, Cvijanovic adds.
‘Have to be lucky’
The study focuses on the 50-year span between 1974 and 2023.
The researchers select six locations across the country that have commonly hosted the Tour, from the mountain pass of Col du Tourmalet, in the French Pyrenees, to the city of Paris – where the race finishes, along the Champs-Élysées.
These sites represent a broad range of climatic zones: Alpe d’ Huez, Bourdeaux, Col du Tourmalet, Nîmes, Paris and Toulouse.
For each location, they use meteorological reanalysis data from ERA5 and radiant temperature data from ERA5-HEAT to calculate the “wet-bulb globe temperature” (WBGT) for multiple times of day across the month of July each year.
WBGT is a heat-stress index that takes into account temperature, humidity, wind speed and direct sunlight.
Although there is “no exact scientific consensus” on the best heat-stress index to use, WBGT is “one of the rare indicators that has been originally developed based on the actual human response to heat”, Cvijanovic explains.
It is also the one that the International Cycling Union (UCI) – the world governing body for sport cycling – uses to assess risk. A WBGT of 28C or higher is classified as “high risk” by the group.
WBGT is the “gold standard” for assessing heat stress, says Dr Jessica Murfree, director of the ACCESS Research Laboratory and assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Murfree, who was not involved in the new study, adds that the researchers are “doing the right things by conducting their science in alignment with the business practices that are already happening”.
The researchers find that across the 50-year time period, WBGT has been increasing across the entire country – albeit, at different rates. In the north-west of the country, WBGT has increased at an average rate of 0.1C per decade, while in the southern and eastern parts of the country, it has increased by more than 0.5C per decade.
The maps below show the maximum July WBGT for each decade of the analysis (rows) and for hourly increments of the late afternoon (columns). Lower temperatures are shown in lighter greens and yellows, while higher temperatures are shown in darker reds and purples.
Six Tour de France locations analysed in the study are shown as triangles on the maps (clockwise from top): Paris, Alpe d’ Huez, Nîmes, Toulouse, Col du Tourmalet and Bordeaux.
The maps show that the maximum WBGT temperature in the afternoon has surpassed 28C over almost the entire country in the last decade. The notable exceptions to this are the mountainous regions of the Alps and the Pyrenees.
The researchers also find that most of the country has crossed the 28C WBGT threshold – which they describe as “dangerous heat levels” – on at least one July day over the past decade. However, by looking at the WBGT on the day the Tour passed through any of these six locations, they find that the threshold has rarely been breached during the race itself.
For example, the research notes that, since 1974, Paris has seen a WBGT of 28C five times at 3pm in July – but that these events have “so far” not coincided with the cycling race.
The study states that it is “fortunate” that the Tour has so far avoided the worst of the heat-stress.
Cvijanovic says the organisers and competitors have been “lucky” to date. She adds:
“It has worked really well for them so far. But as the frequency of these [extreme heat] events is increasing, it will be harder and harder to be lucky.”
Dr Madeleine Orr, an assistant professor of sport ecology at the University of Toronto who was not involved in the study, tells Carbon Brief that the paper was “really well done”, noting that its “methods are good [and its] approach was sound”. She adds:
“[The Tour has] had athletes complain about [the heat]. They’ve had athletes collapse – and still those aren’t the worst conditions. I think that that says a lot about what we consider safe. They’ve still been lucky to not see what unsafe looks like, despite [the heat] having already had impacts.”
Heat safety protocols
In 2024, the UCI set out its first-ever high temperature protocol – a set of guidelines for race organisers to assess athletes’ risk of heat stress.
The assessment places the potential risk into one of five categories based on the WBGT, ranging from very low to high risk.
The protocol then sets out suggested actions to take in the event of extreme heat, ranging from having athletes complete their warm-ups using ice vests and cold towels to increasing the number of support vehicles providing water and ice.
If the WBGT climbs above the 28C mark, the protocol suggests that organisers modify the start time of the stage, adapt the course to remove particularly hazardous sections – or even cancel the race entirely.
However, Orr notes that many other parts of the race, such as spectator comfort and equipment functioning, may have lower temperatures thresholds that are not accounted for in the protocol, but should also be considered.
Murfree points out that the study’s findings – and the heat protocol itself – are “really focused on adaptation, rather than mitigation”. While this is “to be expected”, she tells Carbon Brief:
“Moving to earlier start times or adjusting the route specifically to avoid these locations that score higher in heat stress doesn’t stop the heat stress. These aren’t climate preventative measures. That, I think, would be a much more difficult conversation to have in the research because of the Tour de France’s intimate relationship with fossil-fuel companies.”
The post Dangerous heat for Tour de France riders only a ‘question of time’ appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Dangerous heat for Tour de France riders only a ‘question of time’
Greenhouse Gases
DeBriefed 20 February 2026: EU’s ‘3C’ warning | Endangerment repeal’s impact on US emissions | ‘Tree invasion’ fuelled South America’s fires
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Preparing for 3C
NEW ALERT: The EU’s climate advisory board urged countries to prepare for 3C of global warming, reported the Guardian. The outlet quoted Maarten van Aalst, a member of the advisory board, saying that adapting to this future is a “daunting task, but, at the same time, quite a doable task”. The board recommended the creation of “climate risk assessments and investments in protective measures”.
‘INSUFFICIENT’ ACTION: EFE Verde added that the advisory board said that the EU’s adaptation efforts were so far “insufficient, fragmented and reactive” and “belated”. Climate impacts are expected to weaken the bloc’s productivity, put pressure on public budgets and increase security risks, it added.
UNDERWATER: Meanwhile, France faced “unprecedented” flooding this week, reported Le Monde. The flooding has inundated houses, streets and fields and forced the evacuation of around 2,000 people, according to the outlet. The Guardian quoted Monique Barbut, minister for the ecological transition, saying: “People who follow climate issues have been warning us for a long time that events like this will happen more often…In fact, tomorrow has arrived.”
IEA ‘erases’ climate
MISSING PRIORITY: The US has “succeeded” in removing climate change from the main priorities of the International Energy Agency (IEA) during a “tense ministerial meeting” in Paris, reported Politico. It noted that climate change is not listed among the agency’s priorities in the “chair’s summary” released at the end of the two-day summit.
US INTERVENTION: Bloomberg said the meeting marked the first time in nine years the IEA failed to release a communique setting out a unified position on issues – opting instead for the chair’s summary. This came after US energy secretary Chris Wright gave the organisation a one-year deadline to “scrap its support of goals to reduce energy emissions to net-zero” – or risk losing the US as a member, according to Reuters.
Around the world
- ISLAND OBJECTION: The US is pressuring Vanuatu to withdraw a draft resolution supporting an International Court of Justice ruling on climate change, according to Al Jazeera.
- GREENLAND HEAT: The Associated Press reported that Greenland’s capital Nuuk had its hottest January since records began 109 years ago.
- CHINA PRIORITIES: China’s Energy Administration set out its five energy priorities for 2026-2030, including developing a renewable energy plan, said International Energy Net.
- AMAZON REPRIEVE: Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has continued to fall into early 2026, extending a downward trend, according to the latest satellite data covered by Mongabay.
- GEZANI DESTRUCTION: Reuters reported the aftermath of the Gezani cyclone, which ripped through Madagascar last week, leaving 59 dead and more than 16,000 displaced people.
20cm
The average rise in global sea levels since 1901, according to a Carbon Brief guest post on the challenges in projecting future rises.
Latest climate research
- Wildfire smoke poses negative impacts on organisms and ecosystems, such as health impacts on air-breathing animals, changes in forests’ carbon storage and coral mortality | Global Ecology and Conservation
- As climate change warms Antarctica throughout the century, the Weddell Sea could see the growth of species such as krill and fish and remain habitable for Emperor penguins | Nature Climate Change
- About 97% of South American lakes have recorded “significant warming” over the past four decades and are expected to experience rising temperatures and more frequent heatwaves | Climatic 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

Repealing the US’s landmark “endangerment finding”, along with actions that rely on that finding, will slow the pace of US emissions cuts, according to Rhodium Group visualised by Carbon Brief. US president Donald Trump last week formally repealed the scientific finding that underpins federal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, although the move is likely to face legal challenges. Data from the Rhodium Group, an independent research firm, shows that US emissions will drop more slowly without climate regulations. However, even with climate regulations, emissions are expected to drop much slower under Trump than under the previous Joe Biden administration, according to the analysis.
Spotlight
How a ‘tree invasion’ helped to fuel South America’s fires
This week, Carbon Brief explores how the “invasion” of non-native tree species helped to fan the flames of forest fires in Argentina and Chile earlier this year.
Since early January, Chile and Argentina have faced large-scale and deadly wildfires, including in Patagonia, which spans both countries.
These fires have been described as “some of the most significant and damaging in the region”, according to a World Weather Attribution (WWA) analysis covered by Carbon Brief.
In both countries, the fires destroyed vast areas of native forests and grasslands, displacing thousands of people. In Chile, the fires resulted in 23 deaths.

Multiple drivers contributed to the spread of the fires, including extended periods of high temperatures, low rainfall and abundant dry vegetation.
The WWA analysis concluded that human-caused climate change made these weather conditions at least three times more likely.
According to the researchers, another contributing factor was the invasion of non-native trees in the regions where the fires occurred.
The risk of non-native forests
In Argentina, the wildfires began on 6 January and persisted until the first week of February. They hit the city of Puerto Patriada and the Los Alerces and Lago Puelo national parks, in the Chubut province, as well as nearby regions.
In these areas, more than 45,000 hectares of native forests – such as Patagonian alerce tree, myrtle, coigüe and ñire – along with scrubland and grasslands, were consumed by the flames, according to the WWA study.
In Chile, forest fires occurred from 17 to 19 January in the Biobío, Ñuble and Araucanía regions.
The fires destroyed more than 40,000 hectares of forest and more than 20,000 hectares of non-native forest plantations, including eucalyptus and Monterey pine.
Dr Javier Grosfeld, a researcher at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in northern Patagonia, told Carbon Brief that these species, introduced to Patagonia for production purposes in the late 20th century, grow quickly and are highly flammable.
Because of this, their presence played a role in helping the fires to spread more quickly and grow larger.
However, that is no reason to “demonise” them, he stressed.
Forest management
For Grosfeld, the problem in northern Patagonia, Argentina, is a significant deficit in the management of forests and forest plantations.
This management should include pruning branches from their base and controlling the spread of non-native species, he added.
A similar situation is happening in Chile, where management of pine and eucalyptus plantations is not regulated. This means there are no “firebreaks” – gaps in vegetation – in place to prevent fire spread, Dr Gabriela Azócar, a researcher at the University of Chile’s Centre for Climate and Resilience Research (CR2), told Carbon Brief.
She noted that, although Mapuche Indigenous communities in central-south Chile are knowledgeable about native species and manage their forests, their insight and participation are not recognised in the country’s fire management and prevention policies.
Grosfeld stated:
“We are seeing the transformation of the Patagonian landscape from forest to scrubland in recent years. There is a lack of preventive forestry measures, as well as prevention and evacuation plans.”
Watch, read, listen
FUTURE FURNACE: A Guardian video explored the “unbearable experience of walking in a heatwave in the future”.
THE FUN SIDE: A Channel 4 News video covered a new wave of climate comedians who are using digital platforms such as TikTok to entertain and raise awareness.
ICE SECRETS: The BBC’s Climate Question podcast explored how scientists study ice cores to understand what the climate was like in ancient times and how to use them to inform climate projections.
Coming up
- 22-27 February: Ocean Sciences Meeting, Glasgow
- 24-26 February: Methane Mitigation Europe Summit 2026, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 25-27 February: World Sustainable Development Summit 2026, New Delhi, India
Pick of the jobs
- The Climate Reality Project, digital specialist | Salary: $60,000-$61,200. Location: Washington DC
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), science officer in the IPCC Working Group I Technical Support Unit | Salary: Unknown. Location: Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Energy Transition Partnership, programme management intern | Salary: Unknown. Location: Bangkok, Thailand
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 20 February 2026: EU’s ‘3C’ warning | Endangerment repeal’s impact on US emissions | ‘Tree invasion’ fuelled South America’s fires appeared first on Carbon Brief.
-
Greenhouse Gases7 months ago
Guest post: Why China is still building new coal – and when it might stop
-
Climate Change7 months ago
Guest post: Why China is still building new coal – and when it might stop
-
Greenhouse Gases2 years 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 Change2 years ago
Bill Discounting Climate Change in Florida’s Energy Policy Awaits DeSantis’ Approval
-
Climate Change2 years ago
Spanish-language misinformation on renewable energy spreads online, report shows
-
Climate Change2 years 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 Change Videos2 years ago
The toxic gas flares fuelling Nigeria’s climate change – BBC News
-
Carbon Footprint2 years agoUS SEC’s Climate Disclosure Rules Spur Renewed Interest in Carbon Credits








