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Kristin Toussaint, Fast Company
The newly elected Pope Leo XIV – formerly known as cardinal Robert Francis Prevost – “seems to have similar views on the environment as his predecessor”, according to Fast Company. Like Pope Francis, who “made the climate crisis a central issue of his papacy”, Leo has been “outspoken about the need for urgent climate action”, the article explains. It says he has echoed several of Francis’s statements about climate action over the years, as well as warning against the “consequences of unchecked technological development”. At the same time, Leo has “reiterat[ed] the church’s commitment to protecting the environment through actions like the Vatican’s solar panels or by shifting to electric vehicles”, it adds. The Washington Post says then-cardinal Prevost once urged that society move “from words to action” to address climate change and has warned that “dominion over nature” should not become “tyrannical”. Time magazine says the new pope “will likely continue Francis’ legacy as a steward of the environment”. Bloomberg columnist Mark Gongloff also has a comment article listing Leo’s handful of past climate-related statements. He notes that, going forward, there will be a need for “not only more powerful words but also powerful actions”. The leader of the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC), James Bhagwan, has said there was hope in the Pacific region that the new pope would continue the focus on “ending fossil fuels” as well as “climate justice”, Radio New Zealand reports. [In a recent Debriefed edition, Carbon Brief explored the climate credentials of some of the other papal candidates.]
In its profile, Politico notes that Leo – who is the first pope from the US – has a worldview that “appears at odds with ‘America First’”. The article explains that “Leo hails from a more progressive, inclusive wing of Catholicism” and speculates that his “homegrown credibility” could see him “become a global rival” to US president Donald Trump, due in part to his potential to influence Catholic Republicans. It compares this to times when the late Pope Francis challenged Trump on issues such as climate change during the president’s first term, to which “the White House and its allies responded with a collective shrug”. BBC News says Francis was “sometimes criticised for lacking an ability to win more allies in the US” on issues such as climate change, “because of a disconnect in understanding the most effective ways of communicating his arguments to them”.
Isabella O'Malley, The Associated Press
Climate change intensified deadly rainfall and made storms more likely to occur in Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and other states across the US south and midwest in early April, the Associated Press reports. The analysis of the disaster, which caused at least 24 deaths, comes from the World Weather Attribution research group, the news outlet explains. The researchers found that climate change made the heavy rainfall 40% more likely and 9% more intense than in pre-industrial times, according to Mongabay. The Guardian specifies that the “four-day historic storm that caused death and destruction across the central Mississippi valley…was made significantly more likely and more severe by burning fossil fuels”. It points to the forecasting and early warnings by the National Weather Service (NWS), which issued the third-highest number of severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings on record. “Last month’s death toll could have been much worse” without these warnings, the newspaper says, adding that the NWS is now “facing major cuts and staff layoffs thanks to Donald Trump and his billionaire donor Elon Musk”.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has announced that it will stop tracking the cost of the country’s most expensive disasters – defined as those that cause at least $1bn in damage. The newspaper describes this as the “latest effort from the Trump administration to restrict or eliminate climate research. It notes that the action would “leave insurance companies, researchers and government policymakers without information to help understand the patterns of major disasters”, including those exacerbated by climate change such as hurricanes and wildfires. The agency’s National Centers for Environmental Information no longer plans to update its billion-dollar weather and climate disasters database beyond 2024, the Associated Press says. It explains that the data is regarded as “standardised and unduplicable, given the agency’s access to non-public data”. The Trump administration has also removed Cameron Hamilton as the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after he told Congress on Wednesday that he does not believe the agency should be abolished, according to the Washington Post.
In more news of US cuts, the Washington Post reports on a US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plan to end “energy star” – a “decades-old programme that gave consumers a choice to buy environmentally friendly refrigerators, dishwashers and other electronics”. And US financial regulators are attempting to weaken the power of a task force set up to examine climate change risks to the financial system by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which is the standard-setter for global financial regulation, according to the Financial Times.
Anna Hirtenstein and Marwa Rashad, Reuters
In an “exclusive” story, Reuters reports that officials from the US and Russia have held discussions about the US “helping to revive Russian gas sales” to Europe. The article cites “eight sources familiar with the talks” and says the Trump administration’s “push for peace” in Ukraine could raise the prospect of a shift in gas trade. “Though much of Europe has sought alternative supply, some buyers have remained and industry officials say more could return once a peace deal is agreed,” it explains. The article says such a deal could involve US investors “taking stakes in the Nord Stream pipeline connecting Russia and Germany, or in the pipeline crossing Ukraine, or in [Russian state-owned energy firm] Gazprom itself”. While the European Commission declined to comment, commission president Ursula von der Leyen has previously “expressed her opposition to returning to Russian energy supplies”, the article notes. Reuters says that “Brussels wants to ban new Russian gas deals by the end of 2025 and ban imports under existing deals by the end of 2027”, although it faces opposition from some member states. As the commission unveiled its “delayed” roadmap to phase out Russian fossil fuels by 2027, Deutsche Welle has an article about why achieving this goal “is so difficult”. In related news, Berliner Zeitung reports that a Swiss court will today decide on the future of Nord Stream 2, which faces a potential bankruptcy. If the proceedings are opened, US investor Stephen Lynch, a businessman “with close ties to Donald Trump’s administration”, could acquire the remnants of Nord Stream 2, according to Handelsblatt.
In more European news, Bloomberg reports that the EU has agreed to give car manufacturers in the bloc more time to comply with 2025 emissions goals, meaning they will avoid billions of euros of fines. The move “raises questions about the feasibility of the EU’s future goals, most notably the obligation for new cars to be emissions-free by 2035”, the article says. Meanwhile, a planned package of reforms of EU farm policy from the European Commission involves providing more aid to farmers hit by climate-related disasters “while weakening the very green rules that are meant to safeguard the environment”, according to Politico.
Finally, the New York Times reports on the “uncertainty” that the Trump administration has brought to Europe’s wind power industry. “A few years ago, the US looked like a promising market for offshore wind. Now industry executives assume no new offshore projects will start up under the Trump administration,” the article says.
Zhang Ke, Yicai
China has unveiled a blueprint to “digitally transform” its transport infrastructure, “strengthen the connectivity of multimodal freight facilities…and [integrate] transportation with the energy and tourism sectors” into 2027, Shanghai-based financial media outlet Yicai reports, citing the transport ministry. The outlet adds that the plan has highlighted “misaligned standards between transportation and industries like energy and tourism, such as mismatched charging infrastructure for new energy logistics vehicles”. China has issued “guiding opinions” to curb “motor vehicle emissions, especially from lorries”, through “stricter enforcements”, “enhanced inspection and supervision”, “support for scrapping and renewal of older vehicle models”, “cross department data sharing...and a robust legal system”, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Bloomberg says Chinese electric vehicles “are losing momentum in Europe”, but “the number of Chinese-brand cars registered across Europe hit record levels in the first three months of the year”.
In other news, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has “pledged to expand private sector participation in major national projects” on “transport, energy, water conservancy and other infrastructure”, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports. State news agency Xinhua also covers the story. State-supporting newspaper Global Times says that China is “accelerating the formulation of guidelines to promote the high-quality development of tech insurance” as the country makes “impressive advances” in “new-energy vehicles, green energy” and other areas.
Meanwhile, China and Russia are at an “active stage of negotiations” to build the Russia-China Power of Siberia-2 pipeline, Reuters reports. The US will seek “UN sanctions against vessels” transporting North Korean coal and iron ore to Chinese ports, says Reuters in a separate report. Citing ship-tracking data, Bloomberg alleges “zombie ships” with fake identities have been carrying Iranian crude to China in “new workarounds” to “avoid sanctions”.
Finally, Reuters explains “how renewable energy is helping China’s tourism industry go green”. And China’s Meteorological Administration has warned that “polar temperatures have been trending upwards while polar sea ice levels remain low”, according to the China Science Daily.
Mike Crawley, CBC News
Ontario Power Generation has been given the green light to start construction on Canada's first small modular nuclear reactor at a site near Toronto, CBC News reports. Construction of the reactor is expected to finish by the end of 2029, with a grid connection expected in 2030, it adds.The C$20.9bn ($15bn) project is “expected to be the first” to be deployed in a G7 country and has been “touted as a way to meet surging power demand from artificial intelligence”, according to Bloomberg. So far, only a handful of small modular reactors are in operation – mainly in Russia and China – but the company ultimately aims to build four in Canada, the news outlet explains. The Globe and Mail headlines its coverage with the statement that the price tag is “significantly higher than expected”.
Meanwhile, Canada’s first large-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal is getting ready to begin overseas sales in June, Bloomberg reports. The project, run by Shell, is “set to transform Canada into an LNG exporter” and help to address gas “price spikes”, the article says. The Financial Post reports that Canada's largest gas producer, Tourmaline, “continues its relentless consolidation of land” with the acquisition of two new drilling sites. According to the newspaper, the company is set to benefit “as North American LNG exports continue to ramp up”.
Eamon Farhat, Bloomberg
King Charles III’s crown estate, which owns the UK’s seabed, has approved the development of higher-density wind farms on existing seabed leases, Bloomberg reports. The move will allow existing projects to boost their capacity by 4.7 gigawatts (GW), as the government seeks to increase its wind capacity from 15GW to about 50GW. The article notes that the flagship government target of clean power by 2030 is “looking more challenging” this week after Orsted cancelled plans to build “a huge wind farm in the North Sea”. The Daily Telegraph has an article that quotes climate-sceptic lobbyist John Constable stating that the cancellation “puts the feasibility of the net-zero targets into question”. The Economist has an article about the need to scale up renewable energy jobs quickly in Aberdeen to replace jobs in the fossil-fuel sector. “Aberdeen may be well-placed to reap the rewards of the energy transition – but it is dangerously exposed to its hazards, too,” it says.
In UK political news, BusinessGreen reports that the Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer confirmed she will not seek re-election to head the party, meaning a change of leadership this autumn. The leadership race will come as the hard-right, populist Reform UK party “ramps up its opposition to climate and environmental policies following its success in last week's local elections”, the article notes. In an article headlined “Braverman refuses to rule out Reform defection”, the Daily Telegraph quotes former UK Conservative home secretary Suella Braverman speaking in support of Reform UK’s policies on issues such as “net-zero and woke”. DeSmog has an article about Reform UK party chair Zia Yusuf, a multi-millionaire tech entrepreneur, who “has expressed a variety of anti-climate stances”.
Finally, the Financial Times has an article about Scottish first minister John Swinney, which mentions his “slimmed-down diet of measures around the economy, healthcare and climate action”.
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