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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

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This week saw potentially significant rollbacks in emissions reduction commitments by Britain and the EU, diluting net zero pledges and scaling back legislation.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a delay in the ban on sales of new petrol cars, while the EU debates weaker emissions regulations for combustion engine vehicles.

Sunak said the change was to ease “unacceptable costs” on British households from the energy transition, causing him to push back the ban on new petrol and diesel cars to 2035 from 2030. He also said he would ease the transition to heat pumps from gas boilers in homes, adding that he would not force any household to improve their insulation.

“This looks chaotic and not the way long-term policy should be made around important issues, with emergency cabinet meetings and investors spooked,” said Jess Ralston, energy analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit.

“The implication that any of these policies were going to affect the cost of living here and now is untrue. In fact, the PM has sided with landlords over renters, putting their energy bills and cost of living up by ducking the improvement of rules on energy efficiency,” she added.

In Europe, France, Italy and the Czech Republic were among eight countries pushing to weaken new EU emissions limits on combustion engine vehicles. A draft document said some countries had requested the weaker rules, without naming them.

Clean transport NGO, Transport and Environment, said they had “caved into automaker threats…condemning people to avoidable ill health and premature death for decades to come”. 

1. Reactions to PM Sunak watering down Britain’s climate goals

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak watered down Britain’s commitments to tackle climate change, delaying targets for changing cars and domestic heating to maintain the consent of the British people in the switch to net zero. Click here for some reaction to his announcements and click here for a breakdown of some of the current emissions targets for Britain’s top polluting sectors and how the announcement impacts them.

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during a press conference on the net zero target, Downing Street Briefing Room, in central London, on Sept. 20, 2023.JUSTIN TALLIS/Pool via REUTERS 

2. EU countries debate weakened new car emissions proposal

EU countries are debating a compromise draft for new emissions regulations on combustion engine vehicles that waters down limits, monitoring and delays the start date for the cuts, a document showed. The European Union has been progressively tightening road vehicle emission limits since the first set of regulations, known as “Euro 1”, in 1992. The Commission proposed the latest set of rules, “Euro 7”, in November last year.

3. Climate Change made Libya’s deadly rainfall up to 50 times more likely – study

Climate Change made the heavy rainfall that led to deadly floods in Libya up to 50 times more likely, scientists said. Communications went down, some journalists were pushed out and a United Nations aid team was blocked from the flood-hit city of Derna, as the authorities sought to contain public anger over the failure to prevent Libya’s worst ever natural disaster. The International Organization for Migration said Derna was home to more than 8,000 migrants, mostly from Chad, Egypt and Sudan, when the floods hit. An estimated 400 migrants died when, on the night of Sept 10, the heavy rains of Storm Daniel burst through two dams meant to keep Derna safe.

4. Maui fire lawsuit blames landowners for wild grass growth

The father of a woman who died in the Hawaii wildfires last month has launched a lawsuit against three major landowners. Harold Wells of Arizona, whose 57-year-old daughter Rebecca Rans perished in the deadly Lahaina blaze, contends the property owners should pay damages because they allowed invasive species of towering grasses to grow wild on their property, accumulating dense fire fuel next to the historic town. Scientists have said the invasive grasses were likely the largest factor in spreading the fires, more than warmer temperatures or hurricane weather.

5. China, India lead Asia’s biggest hydropower crunch in decades

Hydropower generation in Asia has plunged at the fastest rate in decades amid sharp declines in China and India, data shows, forcing power regulators battling volatile electricity demand and erratic weather to rely more on fossil fuels. Hydropower output also plunged in other major Asian economies including India and Vietnam, as well as the Philippines and Malaysia, data from Ember and the International Energy Agency showed, mainly due to drier weather.

Four years after deadly bushfires destroyed swathes of southeastern Australia, killing 33, the country is once again on high alert, bracing for what weather experts say will be the hottest, driest period since the so-called Black Summer. Click here or on the image for the video.

An unusually dense plankton bloom off the eastern coast of Thailand is creating an aquatic “dead zone”, threatening the livelihood of local fishermen who farm mussels in the waters.

Marine scientists say some areas in the Gulf of Thailand have more than 10 times the normal amount of plankton, turning the water bright green and killing marine life. “This is the first time that I’ve seen it so bad,” said marine scientist Tanuspong Pokavanich.

53%

Brazil aims to cut its emissions by 53% by 2030, compared with 2005 levels, the country’s environment minister Marina Silva told the United Nations’ Climate Ambition Summit in New York, as she issued a revised set of stronger climate goals. Brazil also aims to cut its emissions by 48% by 2025, Silva added.

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