Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.
This week
Methane on the rise
NEAR-RECORD LEVELS: Methane emissions from the fossil-fuel industry rose to near-record levels of 120m tonnes last year, “despite technology available to curb this pollution at virtually no cost”, according to Agence France-Presse. Reuters added that the high levels of methane emissions were produced despite commitments by companies and governments to plug leaking fossil-fuel infrastructure, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) annual methane tracker report.
MORE METHANE: Separately, a new study in Nature concluded that US oil-and-gas infrastructure emits three times as much methane into the atmosphere as government estimates suggest, the Associated Press reported. According to New Scientist, the study was based on nearly one million aerial surveys of methane leaks, creating what one of the scientists described as “the largest such dataset that has ever been assembled”.
Europe’s climate risks
MAJOR SHOCKS: The European Environment Agency (EEA) has issued its first assessment of the “urgent” climate risks facing Europe, the Guardian reported. More action is needed to address half of the 36 significant climate risks, such as wildfires and other climate disasters, according to the report, the Guardian said. The Financial Times noted that, according to the EEA, the EU is at “higher and higher” risk of major financial shocks from climate change.
DECIMATED FARMING: Meanwhile, Politico reported that the European Commission is working on legislative proposals that would “severely weaken” environmental requirements for agricultural workers in the EU, amid ongoing farmers’ protests across the continent. This is despite advice by top EU scientists that agriculture “must become more sustainable or it will be decimated by climate change”, the article added.
Around the world
- ZAMBIA DROUGHT: More than one million people face food shortages and malnutrition in Zambia due to crop failures triggered by drought, according to an Oxfam report covered by Down To Earth. Much of southern Africa continued to face record temperatures.
- TRANSITIONING AWAY?: The US Export-Import Bank, a federal institution that finances projects overseas, has voted to put $500m toward an oil-and-gas project in Bahrain, according to the New York Times. It noted that this was viewed by critics as “out of step” with US pledges to move away from fossil fuels.
- SHELL BACKTRACKS: Oil giant Shell has weakened its emissions target for 2030 and dropped its goal for 2035 entirely, in an update to its “energy transition strategy”, Bloomberg reported. Carbon Brief explained the changes with charts.
- YOUTH AT RISK: Young activists, including climate campaigners, must be better protected from online attacks, arrests and physical threats, according to a report by UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders Mary Lawlor, covered by the Guardian.
- GAS BOOST: UK energy secretary Claire Coutinho announced plans to support new gas power plants, claiming that without them the country could face “blackouts”, the Press Association reported. Ministers later confirmed that unabated gas would still only meet around 1% of demand in 2035.
- ELECTRIC SWAP: Mexico’s parliament has agreed to amend the nation’s General Law on Climate Change to support programmes that facilitate the replacement of combustion-engine cars with electric and hybrid vehicles, according to Excélsior.
$1 trillion
The amount that India has asked developed countries to provide in climate finance each year from 2025 as a minimum to help developing countries deal with climate change, according to the Times of India.
Latest climate research
- New research in Nature estimated that global economic losses from heat stress could reach 0.6-4.6% by 2060. Major losses came from health impacts, lower labour productivity and disruptions to supply chains, the study found.
- Fears about Covid-19 reinforced climate change concerns rather than providing a distraction from the crisis, according to a new survey of 28 European countries published in Climate Risk Management.
- Newcastle University in the UK is asking members of the public to participate in a survey into “uncertainty distress” in relation to climate change.
Captured

New Carbon Brief analysis based on provisional government data showed that UK emissions fell to just 383m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2023. This marked the first time emissions have fallen below 400MtCO2e since Victorian times. However, this drop was mostly unrelated to deliberate climate action by the government. Instead, much of it came about due to a drop in gas demand, driven by factors such as higher electricity imports from French nuclear plants and warmer temperatures. The analysis was covered by the Times and was the focus of an editorial.
Spotlight
‘Drill, baby, drill’: The history of Trump’s favourite slogan
Carbon Brief explores the history of a slogan claimed by Donald Trump, but with roots stretching back to Sarah Palin and, prior to this, the Black Panthers.
The senior Republican who first used the phrase tells Carbon Brief that he is critical of Trump and those who want to “drill with abandon” today.
In a recent interview with Fox News, former president Donald Trump summarised his plans for US fossil-fuel production if he wins the election this year, by saying:
“We are going to – I used this expression, now everyone else is using it so I hate to use it, but – drill, baby, drill.”
Despite Trump’s assertion, it was Michael Steele, the US politician who was the first African-American lieutenant governor of Maryland and chair of the Republican National Committee, who came up with the slogan
Addressing the 2008 Republican National Convention, he told the crowd:
“Let’s reduce our dependency on foreign sources of oil, and promote oil-and-gas production at home. Let me make it very clear: Drill, baby, drill, and drill now.”
Speaking to Carbon Brief, Steele said that the slogan came to him late at night, after a fit of “writer’s block”.
“Donald Trump…his BS aside, had nothing to do with ‘drill, baby drill’,” stressed Steele, who today is a staunch critic of the Republican presidential candidate.
The phrase was used by supporters throughout the campaign of Republican John McCain in his unsuccessful presidential bid against Barack Obama.
It became particularly associated with Sarah Palin, the climate-sceptic Republican vice-presidential pick, who said in a debate with her Democratic challenger Joe Biden:
“The chant is ‘drill, baby, drill’. And that’s what we hear all across this country in our rallies because people are so hungry for those domestic sources of energy.”
In the years that followed, the phrase was repeated endlessly by Republican politicians, as well as in comment articles and political analysis. (It did, however, see a dip in popularity following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.)
There was some bemusement at a slogan that appeared to have been derived from “burn, baby, burn”.
That phrase, which has since made its way into everything from disco songs to hot sauce, was originally associated with Black nationalist group the Black Panthers and particularly the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles. It was chanted as buildings were set on fire, amid civil unrest sparked by police violence against an African-American man.
Writing shortly after the Republican National Convention in 2008, journalist Derrick Z Jackson alluded to this when he wrote in the Boston Globe:
“This 93% White gathering blithely stole from the race riots of the ’60s to lustily chant ‘drill, baby, drill’.”
For his part, Steele told Carbon Brief that his intention was to use a colloquial expression to “connect it to something that was very real” – namely, cutting US reliance on Middle Eastern oil. He said:
“Unfortunately, a lot of people use it…in a way that they don’t fully appreciate what the point was, and the point was the self-sufficiency of the American spirit.”
He added that “it’s not just ‘drill with abandon’, it’s also the idea of drilling responsibly”, noting that, with the growth of electric cars and other technologies in the US:
“‘Drill, baby, drill’ may at some point in the future change to…‘plug, baby, plug’.”
Nevertheless, Steele accepted that while he will “always be there to remind [Trump]” of where the slogan came from, it is out of his hands now:
“My only regret is that I didn’t copyright it and put it on a T-shirt.”
Watch, read, listen
‘OIL COLONIALISM’: The latest episode of the Drilled podcast explored how Nigerians are “resisting oil colonialism” after Shell announced at the end of 2023 that it was shutting down its onshore operations in the country.
CLIMATE PLOTTERS: An article in Sierra examined what it called a “conspiracy to take down wind and solar power” across the US, made up of “climate-science deniers, right-wing think tanks and fossil fuel shills”.
KYOTO ON STAGE: The Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK, is putting on a production of Kyoto, a play that dramatises the UN climate summit in 1997 that gave rise to the Kyoto Protocol.
Coming up
- 15-17 March: Russian presidential election
- 18-21 March: Global Methane Forum, Geneva, Switzerland
- 21-22 March: Copenhagen Climate Ministerial, Denmark
Pick of the jobs
- International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, senior cryosphere specialist | Salary: $66,510. Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
- UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, climate science advisor | Salary: £31,120-37,260. Location: Aberdeen, Birmingham, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh, London or Salford, UK
- Rewiring America, writer and editor (newsletters, website) | Salary: $75,000-100,000, Location: Remote
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org
The post DeBriefed: Global methane surge; Europe faces ‘urgent’ climate risks; Surprising origin of Trump’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Climate Change
Analysis: Record UK wildfires have burned an area twice the size of Glasgow in 2025
Wildfires have scorched more than 40,000 hectares of land so far this year across the UK – an area more than twice the size of the Scottish city of Glasgow.
This is already a record amount of land burned in a single year, far exceeding the previous high, Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS) data shows.
It is also almost four times the average area burned in wildfires by this stage of the year over 2012-24 – and 50% higher than the previous record amount burned by this time in 2019.
The burned area overtook the previous annual record in April, BBC News reported at the time, and has continued to soar in the months since.
Major wildfires
The chart below shows that UK wildfires in 2025 so far have already burned by far the largest area of land over any calendar year since GWIS records began in 2012. The previous record year was 2019, followed by 2022, while 2024 saw the lowest area size burned.

Annual land area burned by wildfires across the UK from 2012 to 2025 (red), alongside the average area burned each year over 2012-24. Source: Global Wildfire Information System.
Climate change can increase the risk and impact of wildfires. Warmer temperatures and drought can leave land parched and dry out vegetation, which helps fires spread more rapidly. Climate change is making these types of extreme conditions more likely to occur, as well as more severe.
Fire services in England and Wales responded to 564 wildfires from January to June 2025 – an increase from 69 fires in the same period last year, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) said in a statement in June.
Most wildfires in the UK are caused by human activity, whether accidental or deliberate, according to the NFCC. Some common ignition sources are disposable barbecues, lit cigarettes and campfires.
Jessica Richter, a research analyst at Global Forest Watch, says that, while fires are also a key part of some ecosystems, climate change is the “major driver behind the increasing fire activity around the globe”. She tells Carbon Brief:
“As we see more fires, we’re going to see more carbon being emitted and that’s just going to be, for lack of a better phrasing, adding fuel to the fire.”

Examples of 2025 wildfires around Galloway (1) and Inverness (2) in Scotland, and a wildfire in Powys (3) in Wales. Source: FIRMS, MapTiler, OpenStreetMap contributors.
The UK has also recorded its highest-ever wildfire emissions this year, according to Copernicus, which was “primarily driven” by major wildfires in Scotland from late June to early July.
These were the largest wildfires ever recorded in the country, reported the Scotsman. They “ravaged” land in Moray and the Highlands in the north of the country, the newspaper added.
Scotland experienced an extreme wildfire in Galloway Forest Park in April, which was “so intense it could be seen from space”, the Financial Times said.
Elsewhere, in April, the Belfast News Letter reported that firefighters tackled almost 150 fires on the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland.
More recently, BBC News reported that firefighters in Dorset, England received “non-stop” wildfire calls in the first weekend of August, with one blaze “engulf[ing] an area the size of 30 football pitches”.
Wildfires have also caused devastation across many parts of Europe in recent weeks – including Albania, Cyprus, France, Greece, Spain and Turkey – as well as in the US and Canada.
The post Analysis: Record UK wildfires have burned an area twice the size of Glasgow in 2025 appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Analysis: Record UK wildfires have burned an area twice the size of Glasgow in 2025
Climate Change
DeBriefed 8 August 2025: Arctic heatwave; Climate anxiety deep-dive; France’s wildfire crisis
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Global extremes
RECORD HEAT: Multiple countries experienced record heat this week. Nordic countries were hit by a “truly unprecedented” heatwave, where temperatures reached above 30C in the Arctic Circle and Finland endured three straight weeks with 30C heat, its longest heat streak in records going back to 1961, said the Guardian. Reuters reported that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is facing “surging temperatures this summer”, following its hottest spring ever.
FIRE WEATHER: Some 81 million Americans were under air quality alerts as hundreds of wildfires burned across Canada and parts of the US, reported the Guardian. Meanwhile, a “massive” wildfire in California has “become the biggest blaze in the state so far this year” amid an intensifying heatwave, reported the Associated Press.
TORRENTIAL RAIN: A “torrent of mud” has killed at least four people in the northern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, Reuters reported. According to the Times of India, “more than one cloudburst” hit the high-altitude district of Uttarkashi on Tuesday, triggering flash floods. It added that cloudburst risks in the Himalayan region are “projected to increase with climate change”. Meanwhile, Taiwan News said that “torrential rain in central and southern Taiwan over several days has left three dead, four missing, 49 injured and prompted 85 rescues”. Flash floods in a Myanmar-China “border town” have killed six people, according to the Straits Times.
Around the world
- COP30 CHAOS: After significant delays and pressure from a UN committee, Brazil has finally launched the official accommodation platform for COP30, Climate Home News reported. It added that “significant markups and sky-high prices remained”.
- MORE TARIFFS: Donald Trump has increased tariffs on imports from India to 50% as “punishment” for the country buying Russian oil, the New York Times reported.
- CORAL BLEACHING: The Guardian said that the Great Barrier Reef suffered its biggest annual drop in live coral since 1986 in two out of the three areas that are monitored by scientists..
- ENDANGERED: Top scientific advisers in the US have announced that they will “conduct an independent, fast-track review of the latest climate science” following the Trump administration’s move to repeal the “endangerment finding”, the scientific basis for federal climate regulations, Inside Climate News reported.
10,000
The number of glaciers in the Indian Himalayas that are “receding due to a warming climate”, according to Reuters.
Latest climate research
- Ecosystem restoration should be “pursued primarily” for biodiversity, supporting livelihoods and resilience of ecosystem services, as “climate mitigation potential will vary” | Nature Geoscience
- Attendees at the 2024 UN Environment Assembly “underestimate global public willingness to contribute 1% of their personal income to climate action” | Communications Earth & Environment
- Urban green spaces can lower temperatures by 1-7C and play a “crucial role in cooling urban environments” | Climate Risk Management
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured
Carbon Brief’s in-depth explainer unpacked the findings of a recent analysis on climate anxiety in more detail. The analysis explored 94 studies, involving more than 170,000 participants across 27 countries, to find out who is more likely to be affected by climate anxiety and what its consequences could be. The analysis suggests that women, young adults and people with “left-wing” political views are more likely to feel climate anxiety.
Spotlight
Heat and fire in France
This week, Carbon Brief explores how France’s media has covered the impacts of recent heatwaves and wildfires.
“We’re used to high temperatures, but we’ve never experienced heat like this [so] early in the year before,” a family member who lives in the Dordogne area of southwest France explained during a recent visit to the country.
Over recent weeks, there have been extreme heatwaves and fires across Europe, which has set new records across the continent, including in France.
France is now gripped once again by extremes. The country is currently experiencing yet another heatwave and this week faced its “largest wildfire in decades”, according to France24.
French climate scientist Dr Olivier Boucher, who is also the CEO of Klima consulting, told Carbon Brief:
“Climate change is already having visible and significant impacts in France. Heatwaves are becoming more frequent, more intense, and are occurring earlier in the season.
“This trend is accompanied by an increased risk of wildfires, particularly in southern regions, though other areas are also increasingly affected, putting the built environment at risk.”
Red alerts
In July, nearly 200 schools closed or partially closed as a result of high temperatures across the country.
Since the start of the summer, water reserves have been under close surveillance and multiple areas are facing water restrictions as a result of drought.
These water restrictions can include the use of tap water and violations can incur fines of €1,500 (£1,300). According to Le Monde, more than a third of the country is under drought alerts.
France has also experienced a “devastating summer” for fire outbreaks, according to FranceInfo. Traditional firework displays celebrating France’s Bastille day on 14 July were cancelled across the country due to forest fire risks, said Le Monde.

On 4 August, the local area of Aude, situated in the south-east, was placed under a red alert for forest fire risks.
Since then, there have been record-breaking fires in the region. BBC News reported that fires have “scorched an area larger than Paris”. The broadcaster added that the country’s prime minister, François Bayrou, linked the fires to global warming and drought, describing them as a “catastrophe on an unprecedented scale”.
Needing to adapt
Le Point explained how heatwaves impact grape vines and how winemakers have adapted their growing techniques by leaving more leaves on vines to protect the grapes from getting burned by the sun. However, it added that, “in the long run, it is necessary to think about more long-term modifications of viticulture”.
FranceInfo told the story of winegrowers losing their crops, worth millions of euros, in the recent fires in southern France, adding that it is “a real economic disaster for farmers affected by the flames”.
Le Monde interviewed French geographer Dr Magali Reghezza-Zitt, who described the nation’s preparations for dealing with climate change as inadequate. She told the newspaper:
“The gap between what needs to be done and the pace at which climate change is accelerating grows wider each year.”
Boucher added to Carbon Brief:
“All economic sectors are impacted by climate change, with agriculture among the most vulnerable. As the warming trend is projected to continue over the coming decades, adaptation will be essential – both through the climate-proofing of infrastructure and through changes in practices across sectors.”
Watch, read, listen
‘GRASSROOTS ALLIANCE’: A Deutsche Welle documentary explained how unions, activists and the India Meteorological Department have joined forces to protect Delhi’s informal workers from extreme heat.
NEW RULES: A Bloomberg article said that South Africa “will seek jail time, fines and higher taxes for breaches of proposed rules to govern carbon emissions” as part of new efforts to reduce the country’s dependency on coal.
SUSTAINABLE AI?: As the AI race intensifies, the Financial Times investigated if data centers can “ever truly be green”.
Coming up
- 5-14 August: Resumed talks on a global plastics treaty, Geneva, Switzerland
- 10-15 August: Ecological Society of America annual meeting | Baltimore, US
- 13-15 August: African Union-AIP water investment summit 2025 | Cape Town, South Africa
- 15 August: China Environmental Science Youth Academic Conference | Changsha, China
Pick of the jobs
- Save the Children, senior climate advisor | Salary: £61,500-£69,200. Location: London
- Irish Independent, environmental correspondent | Salary: Unknown. Location: Dublin
- Ember, interim managing director | Salary: £89,000-£100,000. Location: Remote
- British Antarctic Survey, seabird remote sensing data analyst | Salary: £41,344-£45,479. Location: Cambridge, UK
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 8 August 2025: Arctic heatwave; Climate anxiety deep-dive; France’s wildfire crisis appeared first on Carbon Brief.
DeBriefed 8 August 2025: Arctic heatwave; Climate anxiety deep-dive; France’s wildfire crisis
Climate Change
N.C.’s Democratic Congressional Delegation Condemns EPA Cancellation of Solar for All
They joined a chorus of critics across the country, where grantees in almost every state had been awarded funds to provide solar energy for 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
Democratic U.S. House members from North Carolina on Thursday condemned the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to cancel $7 billion in grants for the Solar for All program, created under the Biden administration to expand access to solar energy in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
N.C.’s Democratic Congressional Delegation Condemns EPA Cancellation of Solar for All
-
Climate Change2 years ago
Spanish-language misinformation on renewable energy spreads online, report shows
-
Climate Change Videos2 years ago
The toxic gas flares fuelling Nigeria’s climate change – BBC News
-
Greenhouse Gases1 year ago
嘉宾来稿:满足中国增长的用电需求 光伏加储能“比新建煤电更实惠”
-
Climate Change1 year ago
嘉宾来稿:满足中国增长的用电需求 光伏加储能“比新建煤电更实惠”
-
Carbon Footprint1 year ago
US SEC’s Climate Disclosure Rules Spur Renewed Interest in Carbon Credits
-
Climate Change2 years ago
Why airlines are perfect targets for anti-greenwashing legal action
-
Climate Change Videos2 years ago
The toxic gas flares fuelling Nigeria’s climate change – BBC News
-
Climate Change2 years ago
Some firms unaware of England’s new single-use plastic ban