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
Roadless rule
ROADLESS RULE NO MORE: The US agriculture department announced last week that it plans to “rescind a decades-old rule that protects 58.5m acres [236,741km2] of national forestland from road construction and timber harvesting”, the Los Angeles Times reported. The “Roadless Rule” has been in place since 2001 and “established lasting protection for specific wilderness areas within the national forests”, the outlet continued. US agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins called the rule “outdated”, while environmental groups “condemned the decision and vowed to take the administration to court”, according to the Washington Post.
PUBLIC LANDS PRESSURE: Amid Republican opposition, Utah senator Mike Lee pulled his “controversial proposal” to sell off public lands for housing developments from the “sprawling” domestic policy bill known as the “Big Beautiful Bill”, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. According to Politico, Lee blamed “misinformation” for the provision’s lack of support, even though, “in reality, he faced stiff opposition from western Republicans from states with large public land holdings”. On Tuesday, the Senate “narrowly approved” the bill, which now has to return to the House – where “many members have balked at the Senate’s changes to the measure” – for further approval, the Washington Post said.
BACK ONLINE: The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) is back online following a “months-long shutdown” due to the Trump administration’s “slash[ing]” of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) budget, Devex reported. The publication called the site’s restoration a “welcome development for aid agencies around the world” and noted that FEWS NET is “widely regarded as the world’s most reliable early-warning system for food insecurity”. Updated data is “expected to be available by October 2025”, said a spokesperson for FEWS NET.
Bonn to Belém
FOOD-CLIMATE NEXUS: While “agenda fights”, finance and threats to multilateralism dominated the narrative at Bonn climate talks that concluded last week, food discussions were “potentially productive”, observers told Carbon Brief. The meeting featured the first of two workshops under the Sharm-el-Sheikh joint work on climate action, agriculture and food security – the only dedicated forum for agriculture in UN climate talks. Action Aid’s Teresa Anderson told Carbon Brief: “Agriculture negotiations are now reaping the bitter harvest from Baku. After initial resistance, negotiations resulted in more targeted and potentially useful guidance to at least help identify finance gaps in agriculture.”
SECOND CHANCES: A Down to Earth comment by Indian agricultural economist Smita Sirohi described the workshop as “a “second chance to reframe the debate” around agriculture and climate to ensure more focus on adaptation, not just mitigation. While countries shared their experiences with “systemic and holistic approaches” to integrating climate into national food plans, finance for these approaches was still a sticking point. Anderson added that many governments “[came] to the conclusion that agroecology is the most effective way to achieve multiple climate and development goals”. (For more, read Carbon Brief’s in-depth summary of the meeting.)
ENDS WITHOUT MEANS: Adaptation was at the forefront in Bonn. Before the start of the conference, countries “miraculously” narrowed down a list of “indicators” for the global goal on adaptation (GGA) from 9,000 to 490. Key divisions emerged between developed and developing countries on whether to include indicators on “means of implementation” (MOI) – shorthand for finance – as well as language around “transformational” adaptation. The final text invited experts to continue refining GGA indicators to a manageable 100, it included MOI indicators that developing countries viewed as a win.
FOREST FUND: More countries and private-sector groups supported Brazil’s Tropical Forest Forever Fund during London Climate Action Week, a statement said, but there is currently no funding estimate available ahead of its launch at COP30. Brazil is aiming for “$4-5bn per year for the investment in forests, 20% of that being destined for Indigenous [peoples] and local communities”, the country’s environment and climate minister, Marina Silva, told Carbon Brief at an event last week at the Brazilian embassy in London. Silva added: “It is not donation, it is not charity…We can have a fund that will be remunerating those who protect their forests – be they communities or private owners.” Elsewhere, Brazil and the UN held the first “global ethical stocktake” in London to hear from civil society before COP30.
Spotlight
How extreme weather is impacting India’s ‘food in 10 minutes’ delivery drivers
This week, Cropped’s Mumbai-based reporter Aruna Chandrasekhar spoke to a union leader fighting to hold delivery-app companies accountable for protecting millions of India’s food delivery workers from extreme weather.
Driven by increasing urbanisation, smartphone usage and home-based lifestyles further entrenched by the Covid-19 pandemic, food delivery platforms continue to boom in India.
On any given waterlogged day of the week, Mumbai residents can order iPhone chargers with their okra, or apples from New Zealand, even well after midnight.
But India’s 7.7m delivery workers are having to brave extreme heat and high water in India’s crowded cities – whether on electric mopeds, cycles or horseback – to bring India such items direct to the doorstep.
It begs the question: are food delivery platforms effectively outsourcing climate adaptation to informal gig workers with fewer social protections?
A Nature Cities study published in January found a “significant surge” in lunchtime orders on the hottest days of the year in China’s cities, “reveal[ing] the transfer of heat exposure” from consumers to delivery riders.
Similarly, a study published in Sage last week found that digital technologies are “reshaping food practices in urban India in ways that reinforce existing caste, class and gender hierarchies”.
As temperatures touched 44C this summer, the Telangana state gig and platform workers union (TGPWU) urged citizens to offer a “glass of water” to the thousands of delivery workers battling extreme heat to bring them their food.
According to the International Labour Organisation, delivery workers in India can work up to 82 hours a week, with apps increasingly racing to offer consumers delivery in under 10 minutes.
“Is 10-minute delivery even possible? Can we look at humans as humans and not as robots?” says Shaik Salauddin, TGPWU founder and general secretary of the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IFAT), speaking to Carbon Brief. He continues:
“As unions, we can tell workers to rest, but who’s going to pay for their daily bread? But if the aggregators are telling workers to carry hot parcels of biriyani in 46C, bag between their shoulders, wearing a dark uniform: can you imagine the heat and mental stress? And then buildings with 10-15 floors don’t give them access to the lift, when they have less than 10 minutes to deliver.”
Salauddin, who worked as a taxi driver for 10 years, has been fighting for the impact of extreme weather on food delivery workers to be better recognised. Two weeks ago – well into the monsoon – India’s National Disaster Management issued guidelines to recognise delivery workers “as one of the most vulnerable” to heatwaves and to create separate sections for informal workers in city and state heat action plans.
This week, Salauddin is sending out extreme rain alerts on WhatsApp and Telegram. He tells Carbon Brief that he is “tired of the PR” and “superhero” praise heaped on riders risking their lives in record floods by the same delivery platforms that offer little accountability or transparency. He says:
“I tell workers there’s a red alert for extreme rain, open drains are overflowing, your EVs won’t make it, please don’t go out there. In 10 minutes, the apps say: ‘Please come online, we’ll pay you 30% extra as part of rain mode.’ Who do I fight with now?”
To Salauddin, climate change and “just transition” are “big words” that have to be linked to livelihoods and need a far-reaching vision: whether it is subsidies for marginalised castes to buy or retrofit EVs, more charging stations, or even just restrooms for exhausted workers. Governments must engage with unions every three months, he says, not just at the height of summer or monsoon. With the exception of a few states, India’s many gig workers are not formally recognised for social security benefits.
The biggest change, Salauddin says, must come from food delivery apps themselves. He concludes:
“Simply saying that ‘we’re a broker between companies and people, we take our commission and nothing else’ is not a good model. They need to take responsibility for livelihoods, for climate impacts and their emissions. In our nature of work, we should be looking at the future of work – and the future is already here.”
News and views
COUNTING CONTROVERSY: The European climate commissioner, Wopke Hoekstra, may allow EU member states to “count controversial carbon credits from developing countries towards their climate targets”, the Guardian reported. Hoekstra told the outlet that “developing countries were keen to gain EU financing through carbon credits” and that the “possibility of allowing this was ‘potentially very attractive’”. However, the Guardian noted, “green groups are furious” and insist that the EU must “meet its targets domestically”, without the use of overseas carbon offsets.
FUELLING FOOD: Around 40% of petrochemicals are used by food systems around the world, mostly through synthetic fertilisers and plastic packaging, according to a new report. The research, from the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food), noted that food production and processing accounts for at least 15% of global fossil-fuel use. Action on food systems is “missing” from global agreements to transition away from fossil fuels, the report said. IPES-Food expert, Prof Raj Patel, said in a statement: “Delinking food from fossil fuels has never been more critical to stabilise food prices and ensure people can access food.”
PLANT FUEL: Efforts are underway in Chad to switch to “green charcoal” – a fuel made from plant waste, such as sesame stalks or palm fronds – to prevent further “rampant deforestation”, Agence France-Presse reported. The central African country has lost more than 90% of its forest cover since the 1970s and is “steadily turning to desert”, the newswire said. “Green charcoal” is intended for household uses, such as cooking, as an alternative to cut-down trees. An initiative to produce this fuel, which allegedly emits less CO2 than ordinary charcoal when burned, is backed by the World Bank and the UN refugee agency, added AFP.
G&T DANGER: “Volatile” weather, made “more likely by climate breakdown”, may impact the flavour of juniper berries – the “key botanical” in gin – according to a new study covered by the Guardian. The research, published in the Journal of the Institute of Brewing, looked at berries from seven European countries taken across different harvests. “A wet harvest year can reduce the total volatile compounds in juniper by about 12% compared to a dry year. This has direct implications for the sensory characteristics that make gin taste like gin,” the lead study author Dr Matthew Pauley, an assistant professor at Heriot-Watt University, told the newspaper.
TREE TROUBLE: The UK missed its tree-planting targets by an area of forest equivalent to the size of the Isle of Wight over the past five years, according to Carbon Brief analysis. New figures showed that 15,700 hectares of trees were planted across the UK in the last year – roughly half of the annual 30,000 hectare target set by the previous government. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have repeatedly not met national targets since 2020, previous data showed. These missed goals amount to more than 36,000 hectares of unplanted forest.
ASIA IMPACTED: According to the World Meteorological Organisation’s State of Climate in Asia 2024 report released last week, Asia is warming twice as fast as the global average, reported the Times of India. Extreme summer heat and reduced winter snowfall “accelerated glacier mass loss” in 23 of 24 glaciers in the central Himalayas and Tian Shan, Down to Earth wrote, with drought in China affecting more than 4.8 million people. Per the report, marine heatwaves “gripped a record area of the ocean”. The north Bay of Bengal region recorded the “second fastest rate” of sea level rise globally after the South China Sea, wrote the New Indian Express.
Watch, read, listen
BLEACHING POINT: Kenyan marine ecologist Dr David Obura spoke to the Guardian about coral reefs that are “flickering out across the world”.
SHADOWY BROKER: The Financial Times looked at the life and death of Samuele Landi, an Italian “telecoms entrepreneur turned fraudster” and carbon-credits broker.
HORNBILL HOUR: The Some Like it Wild Podcast spoke to Dr Aparajita Datta about her research on the “secret life” of hornbills and valuing community knowledge in conservation research.
WOMEN’S WORK: For LitHub, Dr Sarah Boon wrote about “trailblaz[ing]” women scientists who carried out fieldwork in the 1900s.
New science
- A new study in Science Advances found that more than half of existing sea turtle hotspots “may disappear by 2050, with many new habitats in high shipping intensity areas” under a high-emissions scenario. “Alarmingly”, the authors added, only 23% of these hotspots are conserved under current marine protected areas.
- According to new research in Nature Climate Change, protecting “existing young secondary forests” can remove eight times more carbon per hectare than new tree plantations.
- A new study, published in Nature and covered by Carbon Brief, found that six staple crops will face “substantial” yield losses under future climate change – even when accounting for farmers’ adaptation efforts.
In the diary
- 7-25 July: Second part of the 30th annual session of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) | Kingston, Jamaica
- 7-11 July: Final meeting of the working group on access and benefit-sharing in the Plant Treaty | Lima, Peru
- 14-23 July: High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development 2025 (HLPF) | New York City
- 23-31 July: Ramsar Convention on Wetlands COP15 | Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
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 2 July 2025: US public lands under attack; How India’s gig workers are suffering under climate change; Bonn to Belém appeared first on Carbon Brief.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has unveiled new guidance for governments seeking to protect people from extreme heat, a growing priority as climate change pushes temperatures higher worldwide and intensifies heatwaves and related health risks.
The launch came as the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Thursday that El Niño has developed in the tropical Pacific. The climate phenomenon – which occurs naturally every few years – is predicted to intensify to a moderate or strong level this autumn, the service said.
Scientists have warned that a strong El Niño weather pattern could fuel “unprecedented” weather extremes in the coming months, including severe fires and droughts, and may make 2027 the next record-breaking hot year as it supercharges human-driven warming.
Scientists warn El Niño could intensify climate extremes in 2026
Unveiling updated recommendations for “Heat-Health Action Plans”, which are tailored for Europe but can be adapted globally, Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe, said that over the past four years, heat has claimed more than 200,000 lives across 32 European countries.
He added that most of those deaths were “entirely preventable” and are “just the tip of the iceberg”, with millions more people being affected physically and mentally by the effects of extreme heat. Scientists have said Europe is the fastest-warming continent.
“Individual action, such as keeping out of the heat, keeping our homes cool and keeping our bodies hydrated, can make a big difference in protecting us, but it is not enough to fight a systemic crisis,” Kluge said in a statement. “We need a coordinated, powerful and institutional response.”
The new guidance focuses on the importance of providing early warning and alerts, targeting vulnerable groups and putting in place longer-term prevention measures across households and buildings, especially in cities which are often hotter than rural areas, as well as offering practical advice on how to do that.
Who’s most vulnerable to heat?
Heat can trigger exhaustion and heat stroke, and exacerbate existing medical conditions, including diabetes and cardiovascular, respiratory and cerebrovascular diseases, as well as disrupting sleep and aggravating mental health conditions.
In a fact-sheet, the WHO warned that rising global temperatures, more people living in cities and demographic aging are increasing exposure to heat and vulnerability to its impacts. Some of the most at-risk groups include older people, children, outdoor workers, athletes and sports players, those attending mass public gatherings and poorer social groups, it said.
Employers need plans to protect workers from rising heat stress, UN says
The WHO emphasised, however, that it does not just propose wider use of air-conditioning (AC) as the solution because it is not sustainable, is often unaffordable for those with low incomes and increases energy demand.
“It contributes to both the urban heat island effect and climate change, thus worsening heat exposures in the medium and long term,” the fact-sheet said.
Europe’s intense May heatwave
On Wednesday, Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) announced that May 2026 was the second warmest May on record globally across land and sea.
Across Europe, the month saw a rapid transition from much cooler-than-average conditions to one of the most intense heatwaves ever observed this early in the year in western Europe, C3S said. Numerous temperature records were broken for May with France, the UK, Ireland and Portugal enduring particularly severe conditions, it added.
C3S noted that the quick flip to a period of extreme heat “likely increased impacts on populations, leaving little time for people – or crops and ecosystems during growing season – to acclimatise to much higher temperatures”.
“Prepare for rougher times”
In a foreword to the new WHO heat plan guidance, Wopke Hoekstra, European Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth, wrote that extreme heat is responsible for some 95% of all climate-related deaths in Europe, undermines labour productivity and risks overwhelming hospitals.
He noted that investing in emission reductions is far cheaper than paying for climate damage.
“Yet, while we push for emission reductions, we must also prepare for rougher times. Strengthening Europe’s climate resilience, protecting both well-being and economies, is non-negotiable,” he added.
By the end of this year, the European Union plans to adopt a new framework for climate resilience across all sectors, including health.
In the UK, the independent Climate Change Committee warned last month that, in a projected scenario of 2C of global warming by 2050, recent record hot summers will become the “new normal” in the usually temperate country, putting regular stress on domestic agricultural production.
Heatwaves lasting at least a week will be common and could regularly exceed 40C in the south, the committee’s report on adaptation said, posing challenges for keeping vulnerable people sufficiently cool.
It recommended that cooling will be needed in hospitals, prisons, schools and care homes, while regulation should set maximum temperature limits for workplaces.
Berlin’s Heat-Health Action Plan
On Thursday, the WHO said that since the publication of the first edition of its heat and health guidance in 2008, far more scientific evidence and practical experience have been gained. Many countries have since established Heat-Health Action Plans, but their adoption and implementation have been uneven, it said.
Comment: Early warnings for heatwaves can save lives – and we need them now
In Germany, where local authorities are primarily responsible for heat protection, the Berlin Senate adopted a state-wide heat–health action plan in 2025. It contains 72 measures to improve heat protection for residents, including informing them every summer of the risks via traditional and digital media.
A heat protection portal offers access to Berlin’s heat–health action plan, and a map of cool places in the city, as well as behavioural advice.
Berlin Senator Ina Czyborra said the city is also working on the long-term maintenance and expansion of parks, green spaces and water bodies, which can all help alleviate the effects of heat.
“One thing is clear: protection from heat is a cross-cutting task that can only be tackled through a joint effort by all administrative departments and levels, and with the involvement of civil society actors,” she added in a statement.
The post WHO issues new guidance on heat-health action plans, as El Niño sets in appeared first on Climate Home News.
WHO issues new guidance on heat-health action plans, as El Niño sets in
Climate Change
China Briefing 11 June 2026: Tech clampdown | Extreme weather | Provinces’ energy plans
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
Trade tensions intensify
AUTHORITY TO RETALIATE: China has issued “sweeping” new rules that increase “controls over the overseas transfer of domestic technology”, while also giving the government “explicit” authority to retaliate against governments that restrict Chinese investments, reported finance news outlet Caixin. The rules are a “shield for Chinese enterprises”, argued an editorial in the state-run newspaper China Daily, as well as a way to “protect” China’s “development interests”. Cosimo Ries, an analyst at Trivium China, told Carbon Brief that protecting China’s lead in cleantech manufacturing is one of the aims of the regulations. He said that language around restrictive foreign actions is, in his view, “clearly designed as a response” to the EU’s Industrial Accelerator Act. Ries added that the government is “increasingly working to prevent Chinese IP from being forcefully appropriated or handed away by its own companies seeking market access abroad”.
COMMISSIONERS MEET: The rules come as the EU debates plans to “broaden the use of its trade defences” to protect industries from what the EU industry commissioner described to the Financial Times as “unfair” Chinese competition. A meeting of EU commissioners reaffirmed the need for a “more robust and coherent” response to trade and investment from China, which is seen as “not sustainable”, according to a readout from the European Commission. In response, China said it will “resolutely” retaliate to any “discriminatory” EU trade measures, reported Bloomberg. Meanwhile, Chinese automaker SAIC has confirmed plans to invest €200m ($232m) to build a factory in Spain for vehicles including electric vehicles, said Caixin. Trade envoys from the EU and China backed further discussions after a meeting in early June, reported Reuters.
SURPLUS ‘WIDENED’: According to Chinese customs data covered by Bloomberg, China’s trade surplus with the EU “widened slightly” in May, though its exports to the bloc “slowed”. The outlet added ongoing EU-China trade tensions “could pose a risk to Beijing’s favoured ‘new three’ energy industries”, for which the EU was the “destination for about 40% of exports” in 2025. While country-specific data is not yet available, China’s global exports of “green products”, such as batteries and wind turbines, grew by around 40% in January-May, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Early heat tests China’s grid
PATTERNS BROKEN: China Southern Power Grid, which covers a number of provinces across southern China, reported that it saw a record electricity load of 259 gigawatts (GW) in late May, according to Shanghai-based outlet the Paper. It added that the new record – driven by “widespread cooling demand” due to high temperatures – came “nearly a month earlier” than usual, “breaking a seasonal pattern” where peaks occurred in June and July. High temperatures continued in early June across both northern and southern China, reported China Daily, with some regions reporting temperatures of almost 40C.
HEAVY RAINS: China also continued to see heavy rains across “multiple provinces in southern China”, reported China Daily, with “nearly 10,000 residents” evacuated in Guizhou after torrential rains caused flooding in the area. Flood-response measures have been activated in Hunan and Guangxi, said Bloomberg. The Communist party-affiliated People’s Daily said that floods were also expected in Yunnan, Guangdong and Fujian provinces. Meanwhile, northern China’s Hebei province experienced “dramatic” weather, including “thunderstorms, strong winds, hail and heavy downpours”, said Jing-Jin-Ji News Channel.
CROP RISK: “Against the backdrop of intensifying global warming, northern China is seeing a clear trend of more frequent and severe extreme weather,” said the People’s Daily. Meteorologists attributed the unusually early and intense rain to shifting weather patterns that “reflects broader weather changes in China associated with global warming”, said Bloomberg. An article in the People’s Daily noted that extreme and unusual weather, driven by “climate change”, has “posed varying degrees of risks and challenges to agricultural production”. Another Bloomberg article said expected further rains in southern China could “inundat[e] crops and damag[e] rice fields”.
Mineral trade controls and concerns
EXPORTS BLOCKED: Elsewhere, the Chinese government has “penalised at least 11 companies this year for illegally exporting restricted rare earths and critical minerals”, reported Caixin. It said this included a subsidiary of solar manufacturer JA (formerly JA Solar) for “shipping unlicensed graphite parts to Vietnam”. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported that China’s rare-earth exports fell by 6.4% in May as “Beijing maintained tight control over shipments”. A new report on rare earths by the Center for Strategic and International Studies stated that “although China’s exports of rare earths and rare-earth magnets have resumed”, flows have been “highly volatile” and licensing has been “uneven”. This was echoed in a report by the Royal United Services Institute that said “China incentivises the export of final products containing rare earths…rather than rare earths themselves”, which could pose “risks” to electric vehicle (EV) and offshore wind supply chains.
EXPORTS CONTROLLED: Zimbabwe has announced that a Chinese company will establish a lithium-carbonate plant in the country, said Bloomberg. It said this followed a ban on lithium exports as the country aimed to “build up local processing capacity for the battery metal”. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Chinese investors in Indonesia’s coal-dependent nickel industry are looking to other countries. It said this followed plans by the Indonesian government to plan nickel export controls, tighter quotas and tax hikes.
More China news
- ‘GEC’ GUIDANCE: A new set of trial guidelines has been issued to “unify” how clean-electricity consumption is measured, said state broadcaster CCTV. Ying (Jenny) Zheng, a researcher at the Tsinghua TianGong Thinktank, told Carbon Brief that the measures are more than just accounting guidelines. She said they provide a “foundation for one of the key control indicators within China’s emerging carbon-control framework” that should help boost consumption of low-carbon power.
- TOWNS AND TRACTORS: China called for “vigorous efforts” to develop low-carbon buildings in a new 15th five-year plan for “urban renewal”, said BJX News. A five-year plan for agriculture also listed “accelerating” the “green transformation” of agriculture as one of seven key tasks, said Xinhua.
- FUNDRAISING FIGURES: China raised 6bn yuan ($885m) in green sovereign bonds, reported Bloomberg. It said these have previously been used for emissions reductions and “biodiversity preservation”.
- SALES SLUMP: Sales of electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids in China fell 7.5% year-on-year in May, reported Reuters. It said they nevertheless made up 62% of all sales, with the Associated Press noting that petrol-car sales fell 42%.
- UK DIALOGUE: UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper told her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that the UK is willing to “deepen cooperation” with China on energy and climate change, according to a readout by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- MEASURING SUBSIDIES: The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released a report saying Chinese companies received “three to eight times more government support than firms based in the OECD”, said Agence France Presse. China’s commerce ministry responded saying the report was “one-sided and arbitrary”, according to Xinhua.
Captured
China’s emissions in January-March 2026 rose 2% year-on-year, driven by growing “curtailment” of wind and solar in the power sector due to “inflexible grid management”, said new analysis for Carbon Brief.
Spotlight
What do China’s provincial five-year plans reveal about its energy transition?
China’s provincial-level governments have now all published their 15th five-year plans – economic and social development blueprints for 2026-2030.
In this issue, Carbon Brief analyses what all 31 documents say about energy and climate.
Provinces remain focused on clean energy
At the broad level, the new provincial plans follow China’s overarching climate goals. All 31 provincial-level jurisdictions in mainland China pledged to peak carbon emissions before 2030.
Every plan also mentioned the core elements of China’s energy transition strategy, including solar, wind, hydrogen, energy storage and upgrading the power grid.
While solar featured in every plan, specific interests in the technology vary from province to province.
Some set goals to add new solar capacity by 2030. Zhejiang province aims to add 90GW of solar capacity, while Shaanxi plans to “accelerate” construction of wind and solar “bases”. Several others mentioned developing offshore solar farms in the next five years.
However, others instead focused on recycling old solar panels or strengthening solar R&D.
Almost every plan mentioned growing consumption and production of new-energy vehicles (NEVs).
Around 15 provinces mentioned promoting NEV uptake. Jilin set a target for NEVs comprising more than 50% of new car sales by 2030, although its current rate is already thought to be 47%.
While the central government is issuing directives to limit “overcapacity” in the sector, more than 20 provinces said they will continue developing their NEV industries, with many aiming to generate hundreds of billions – or even trillions – of yuan in value.
Meanwhile, 24 provinces will prioritise developing renewable power “direct connection” models, in which renewable generators supply industrial users via a dedicated line – a system that could boost consumption of clean energy.
Provinces diverge in terms of what other technologies they name and how detailed their plans are.
For example, offshore wind and nuclear are mentioned by 11 and 12 provinces respectively, with both technologies mostly targeted to be built in coastal provinces.
But in general, variation reflects more than just geography or resources endowment, said Anders Hove, a senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.
“The differences between provinces reflect primarily differences in economic development capabilities and industrial structure,” he told Carbon Brief.
Half of provinces to expand fossil-fuel production
Almost every province pledged to peak coal and oil consumption, in line with similar language in the national-level plan.
However, 17 local governments also pledged to produce more fossil fuels – trying to peak consumption while also expanding output, opening new reserves or lifting production limits.
Most of these are regions designated as national energy-supply bases, including Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Shaanxi, Gansu and Heilongjiang.
Yang Li, deputy executive director at the Beijing-based thinktank Institute for Global Decarbonization Progress (iGDP), toldCarbon Brief this pattern reflects the “two dimensions of China’s [energy] transition”. These are a national-level push for peaking fossil-fuel consumption and a desire for energy security by provinces rich in energy resources.
Provinces with significant fossil-fuel economies are also the most likely to mention carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), which appears in 14 plans.
Provinces jostle to take the lead on AI and hydrogen
With the national government preparing to spend trillions of yuan on datacentres for the artificial intelligence (AI) industry in the next five years, provincial officials are also tying AI to their energy systems.
More than 20 aim to use AI to help manage coal mines, power grids, oilfields and forecasting renewables output.
Yang said that “AI+energy” represents a desire by policymakers to use AI to enhance energy governance, but adds that “large-scale commercialisation [of the technology] still has some way to go”.
Unlike AI, all provincial plans mention hydrogen, which is named as a “future industry” in the central-level five-year plan.
For example, Hunan calls for promoting hydrogen trucks and rail transport and developing “renewable energy-based” hydrogen production, while Shandong pledges to focus on technological breakthroughs around hydrogen transport and storage, as well as production of green hydrogen.
Similarly, 12 provinces named the other energy-related future industry – nuclear fusion, which remains an experimental technology – as a priority for the next five years. These provinces include Anhui, Guangdong, Hebei, Hubei and Shaanxi.
This spotlight is by freelance China analyst Lekai Liu for Carbon Brief.
Watch, read, listen
FUTURE-FOCUSED: Qiushi, China’s official journal for political theory, published an edition based on “future industries”, in which President Xi Jinping called for advancing hydrogen energy and nuclear fusion.
MIGHTY MANGROVES: The Grantham Research Institute explored China’s uptake of “blue carbon credits”, which could help preserve “powerful carbon sinks” in coastal ecosystems.
IN THE LEAD: Mission Possible Partnership published a report saying China is “widening its lead” in developing a low-carbon industrial sector.
‘AUTOBESITY’: Blue Map examined “autobesity”, the trend towards larger Chinese EVs, and what this could mean for their carbon footprint
13
The number of Chinese solar companies that have joined forces to create the Space Energy Development Alliance, a new organisation to promote space solar energy, said Bloomberg.
5
Minutes devoted to the opening ceremony, which did not offer “any details” on the alliance’s objectives, according to the outlet.
New science
- National and provincial planning scenarios for China’s solar and wind expansion until 2060 will present different trade-offs with biodiversity | Nature Ecology and Evolution
- Policies to decrease carbon emissions and declines in technology costs could together help achieve “deep” carbon emissions reductions by 2060 in China’s steel industry | PNAS
Recently published on WeChat
China Briefing is written by Anika Patel, with contributions from Lekai Liu, and edited by Simon Evans. Please send tips and feedback to china@carbonbrief.org
The post China Briefing 11 June 2026: Tech clampdown | Extreme weather | Provinces’ energy plans appeared first on Carbon Brief.
China Briefing 11 June 2026: Tech clampdown | Extreme weather | Provinces’ energy plans
Vishal Prasad is director of Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change.
When the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its advisory opinion on climate change last year, it marked a turning point not just for the Pacific, but for international climate law.
The court was unambiguous: states have legal obligations to protect the environment from greenhouse gas emissions, and they face accountability when they fail. For those of us who carried this campaign from a classroom in Vanuatu to Europe and New York, it was a moment of profound validation.
World’s top court opens door to compensation from countries responsible for climate crisis
But we have always said that the advisory opinion was a tool, not an endpoint. The ICJ affirmed what many in the Pacific have been saying for some time. Now we have a legal blueprint, we must carry this momentum from the courtrooms to the negotiating rooms.
Potential to shape climate politics
The advisory opinion has already begun to reshape the climate landscape. At COP30 in Belém, we saw countries that had supported the campaign citing the opinion in their interventions, while those blocking progress were clearly concerned of its implications. Its potential to shape climate politics and policy is significant.
This year we have arrived at the mid-year climate negotiations in Bonn not only with the advisory opinion, but with a UN General Assembly resolution endorsing it. Despite a fierce campaign from the usual suspects, just eight countries, including the USA, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran voted against. That is a victory for multilateralism at a moment when multilateralism is under strain.
UN General Assembly backs “climate obligations” set by world’s top court
But we know that advisory opinions alone are not enough. Legal clarity will not automatically translate into reduced emissions, increased finance flows or stronger national climate plans. That translation requires political will in the negotiating rooms, both here in Bonn and all the way through Fiji and finally in Antalya this November.
What the Pacific needs from this negotiating year
The Pacific put significant political capital into the joint Australia-Pacific bid for COP31. It is fair to say that the compromise of Australia holding the role of president of negotiations while the COP is held and presided over by Türkiye is not what we imagined.
But we in the Pacific are used to looking for silver linings. Both Australia and Türkiye have acknowledged the important role the Pacific will have at COP31, through the appointment of Pacific champions and the hosting of a Pacific Pre-COP in Fiji with a leaders event in Tuvalu. These are genuine opportunities to bring the world to our shores and ensure that Pacific issues are front and centre going into the final negotiations.
But we are not naive. Envoy positions and meeting locations are just the architecture of goodwill. We need to see that goodwill converted into concrete negotiating outcomes and finance.
COP31 leaders unveil global targets, with spotlight on electrification
The Pacific helped put Australia’s climate minister Chris Bowen in this important position, so we expect to see Australia advocate not only for us, but to turn a mirror towards itself as one of the world’s biggest fossil fuel exporters.
At Bonn, and then in Antalya, we need ambition on mitigation that reflects the ICJ’s clarity on state obligations and the science. That means action on fossil fuels.
We need climate finance that is new, additional and accessible to the countries that need it most. In the Pacific we have already demonstrated what that looks like.
The Pacific Resilience Facility is the first climate finance facility designed, governed and managed by Pacific people, built specifically to reach the grassroots and community initiatives that larger funds routinely bypass. We need the international community to meet that ambition with contributions that reflect climate justice, starting with pledges to meet the $500-million capitalisation goal.
And we need the oceans – which are the lifeblood of the Pacific and a critical part of the global climate system – treated as a central element of the negotiations rather than a thematic aside.
Energy crisis driven by imported fossil fuels
The days of speaking about climate and fossil fuels purely as a moral issue are long gone. Pacific ministers recently adopted the Tassiriki Call for a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific, in the context of a deepening energy crisis that has triggered states of emergency in several Pacific nations. Our dependence on imported fossil fuels is both a climate and an economic vulnerability.
Conflict in the Middle East is pushing our region into an energy crisis. We are dependent on imported fossil fuels for 80% of our energy needs. My home country of Fiji could see an increased fuel bill of nearly three times our annual healthcare budget.
Comment: COP31 must persuade countries to make fossil fuel transition plans
We need the technical and financial support to transition to 100% renewable energy. Not only because it is what the world owes us for decades of carbon pollution that continue to render parts of our home uninhabitable, damaging ecosystems and culture. But because we must be part of that transition. Fossil fuels have proven to be the greatest source of damage to our climate, and with their volatility, to our sovereignty as well.
What next?
The demands have not changed. Greater action on mitigation, adaptation, finance, loss and damage: these remain the substance of what the Pacific requires from the international community. What has changed is the legal foundation beneath them.
The ICJ has affirmed that these are not requests. They are obligations. The task this year is to make the negotiations reflect that.
The post The Pacific made history in the courts – now we must do it in the negotiations appeared first on Climate Home News.
The Pacific made history in the courts – now we must do it in the negotiations
WHO issues new guidance on heat-health action plans, as El Niño sets in
China Briefing 11 June 2026: Tech clampdown | Extreme weather | Provinces’ energy plans
The Pacific made history in the courts – now we must do it in the negotiations
-
Climate Change10 months ago
Guest post: Why China is still building new coal – and when it might stop
-
Greenhouse Gases10 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
-
Renewable Energy8 months agoSending Progressive Philanthropist George Soros to Prison?
-
Carbon Footprint2 years agoUS SEC’s Climate Disclosure Rules Spur Renewed Interest in Carbon Credits
-
Greenhouse Gases11 months ago
嘉宾来稿：探究火山喷发如何影响气候预测