The world will burn less oil this year, and no government decided it

The rest of the day

26 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   US carbon rules scrapped, then challenged in court

   The US Environmental Protection Agency finalised the repeal of most of a 2024 rule limiting carbon dioxide from coal and gas power stations, and published it on Thursday. [14][15] Its head, Lee Zeldin, announced the move at a meeting of G20 energy ministers in Houston and said models show power-station greenhouse gases have no material effect on the climate. [16] The agency also proposed scrapping every remaining greenhouse-gas rule for the sector. [14][17] The American Lung Association, the Natural Resources Defense Council and others asked a federal appeals court in Washington to review it the same day. [15]

   Why it matters — US power stations are the country's second-largest source of greenhouse gases, about a quarter of the total, and their emissions rose 4% last year. [16] Whether the repeal stands is now a question for judges rather than for the agency.

2. 03

   One senator stops the data-centre electricity bill

   The US House of Representatives voted 417 to 3 on Wednesday for the Ratepayer Protection Act. [20] It would make state electricity regulators consider whether very large users, data centres included, should pay for the power lines and plants built to serve them. [20] On Thursday Senator Martin Heinrich, the senior Democrat on the energy committee of the US Senate, blocked an attempt to pass it without a recorded vote. [18][19] He said it leaned too heavily on promises companies make voluntarily. [19]

   Why it matters — It was the first bill either chamber had passed on the cost of the data-centre boom, and household electricity bills are an issue seven weeks before the US midterm elections. [18][20]

3. 04

   Russian refining falls to a twenty-year low

   Russia's refineries processed 3.8 million barrels of crude a day in June, the lowest in more than twenty years and about 30% below a year earlier, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday. [8] Petrol output is down about 20% on 2025 levels and diesel by nearly 30%, and the Russian government has restricted fuel exports to protect supplies at home. [8] In the first eight months of 2026 a Russian refinery was hit on average once every three days. [8]

   Russia's refining capacity6.5 m barrels a day

   What it actually ran in June3.8 m barrels a day

   Why it matters — Russia normally refines more oil than anyone except the United States and China. Fuel it cannot make has to come from somewhere else, which is part of why a gallon of US diesel now costs $6.31, the most ever recorded. [2][8]

4. 05

   China's refineries run harder again as it exports fuel

   China processed 13.91 million barrels of crude a day in August, up 11.2% on July but still 6.9% below a year earlier, its national statistics bureau said. [6] Refinery runs had fallen to Covid-era levels in June, when high oil prices and export curbs cut demand. [6] China's authorities eased those curbs in mid-July and fuel exports picked up. [6] Reuters calculations suggest the country drew 639,000 barrels a day out of storage in August, the second-largest drawdown since the war began. [6]

   Why it matters — China is the world's biggest oil importer, so what it takes out of its own tanks instead of buying is part of why prices have not gone higher. [2][6]

5. 06

   Aramco tells European refineries: nothing next month

   Saudi Aramco has told at least two European refining customers they will receive no Saudi crude in October, after drone attacks shut the kingdom's East-West pipeline and damaged three pumping stations. [10] European refineries normally buy under term contracts that guarantee monthly deliveries. [10] Poland's Orlen has bought North Sea crude instead. [10] Aramco is working to restart the pipeline partly within days and fully within six weeks, and has been moving more crude by transferring it between ships off Oman. [10]

   Why it matters — The pipeline carries up to 4% of the world's oil around the blocked Strait of Hormuz. [5] A term contract is meant to guarantee the crude turns up every month, so a cancelled one leaves a refinery hunting for millions of barrels in a few weeks.

6. 07

   Putin's envoy prepares to meet Germany's AfD about gas

   Kirill Dmitriev, who runs Russia's sovereign wealth fund and advises President Vladimir Putin, is preparing to meet the leaders of the AfD, Germany's far-right party, as early as March to discuss restarting Russian gas deliveries. [21] Before sanctions followed Russia's full invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia supplied more than half of Germany's natural gas. [21] The AfD is kept out of power by a coalition of its rivals but is Germany's most popular party with voters. [21] Organisers say the meeting only happens if Russia and Ukraine agree a peace framework first. [21]

   Why it matters — Germany is Europe's biggest economy and its factories have paid high gas prices for four years. A party promising cheap Russian gas is offering voters a smaller bill, and that offer is now being organised rather than talked about.

7. 08

   French fishermen blockade ports over fuel

   Fishermen blocked access to ports in southern France on Thursday over the price of fuel, the latest in a wave of protests that also saw power-sector workers and police strike this week over pay and fuel. [22] France's government set out 54 billion euros of savings for the 2027 budget, which it must present at the end of the month to a deeply divided parliament. [22] The finance minister, Roland Lescure, said fallout from the Middle East crisis means France will miss its 5% deficit target this year. [22]

   Why it matters — Two previous French prime ministers were toppled over budgets. [22] The price of fuel is now one of the things that decides whether this one gets through.

8. 09

   Heathrow runway given a price by climate advisers

   The Climate Change Committee, which advises the UK government, said a third runway at Heathrow airport is not compatible with Britain's net-zero target as policy stands today. [23] Expansion could still go ahead, it said, if airlines pay for cleaner fuels and for machines that pull carbon dioxide back out of the air. [23] That would add about 150 pounds to a return flight to Alicante and 400 pounds to New York by 2050, in today's money. [23] A vote in the House of Commons is expected later this year. [23]

   Return flight to Alicante150 pounds

   Return flight to New York400 pounds

   Why it matters — On the committee's figures the expanded airport would emit more carbon dioxide by 2050 than any other single part of the British economy. [23] Heathrow says expansion and climate goals are not a choice and it will deliver both.

9. 10

   Holtec pulls its nuclear share sale

   Holtec Nuclear, a New Jersey company that makes reactor parts, stores spent fuel and takes old nuclear plants apart, suspended its planned US stock market listing on Wednesday, blaming market conditions. [24] It had been seeking up to $900 million by selling 50 million shares at $15 to $18 each. [24] It is the latest setback for nuclear listings: Standard Nuclear trades 20.6% below its July offer price, and the reactor maker X-Energy is 36.7% below its. [24]

   Why it matters — Small reactors appear in almost every plan for powering data centres without burning more gas. Investors backing away is how those plans get slower.

10. 11

    China publishes an electric-car plan as its clean spending falls

    China published a five-year plan for electric vehicles and issued the plan for handing out permits in its carbon market, Carbon Brief reported in its fortnightly China briefing. [25] At the BRICS summit in Delhi, a grouping that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, President Xi Jinping said countries of the global south must improve climate governance. [25] The summit's joint statement said fossil fuels will still play an important role. [25] The same briefing examined why Chinese investment in clean technology is falling. [25]

    Why it matters — China makes most of the world's solar panels and batteries. What it spends on new factories this year sets how many panels the rest of the world can buy in three years' time.

11. 12

    India met two years of extra demand from clean power

    India's power-sector emissions have been flat for two years because every unit of extra electricity the country needed came from clean sources, Carbon Brief found. [9] Demand rose by 63 terawatt-hours over the period; solar added 44, wind 13, hydro 8 and nuclear 7, making 70 in all. [9] India built 77 gigawatts of new solar in those two years, plus 11 of wind, 5 of hydro and 0.6 of nuclear. [9] Gujarat cut the most fossil-fuel generation and added the most clean power, followed by Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. [9]

    • Solar44 TWh · 61%
    • Wind13 TWh · 18%
    • Hydro8 TWh · 11%
    • Nuclear7 TWh · 10%

    Why it matters — Whether the extra power holds after dark depends on storage. India has put out tenders for about 272 gigawatt-hours of it, against the 7.5 gigawatt-hours of batteries it has now. [9]

12. 13

    A flood and a blackout together put more people in hospital

    Researchers studying New York State found that floods and power cuts each raise hospital admissions for heart conditions, and that the two together raise them more than either alone, by up to 9%. [26] The risk climbed when flooding lasted more than three days and when more than 15.3% of customers lost power. [26] The effect was strongest for high blood pressure, stroke and coronary heart disease, and among people over 65, rural residents and those on Medicaid or with no insurance. [26] The work appeared in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology. [26]

    Why it matters — Emergency planning usually counts one hazard at a time. This says the combination is its own hazard, and it lands hardest on people who are old, rural or uninsured. [26]

13. 14

    California decides who calls a smoke-damaged home safe

    Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law on Tuesday setting what its supporters call the first science-based standard in the US for deciding when a house hit by wildfire smoke is safe to live in. [27] Until now California had no statewide rule, so after the Eaton and Palisades fires of January 2025 homeowners and insurers argued over how clean was clean enough. [27] The state's toxic substances department has two years to write testing and clean-up standards, covering lead, beryllium, cyanide, manganese and lithium. [27]

    Why it matters — After the January 2025 fires, thousands of homes in Altadena were left standing but full of smoke contamination. [27] Who gets to declare one safe decides whether an insurer pays for a deep clean or a family moves back in anyway.

14. 15

    Homeowners build a rock wall against the Pacific

    Homeowners on Beach Road in Dana Point, California, are paying for a rock wall to hold back the ocean after years of beach erosion, storm damage and higher tides. [28] Several houses in the gated community have been tagged red or yellow as unsafe, and some have already fallen into the sea. [28] The California Coastal Commission, the state agency charged with protecting the coastline, has been discussing what to allow, and residents are fighting its decisions. [28]

    Why it matters — It is an early version of an argument every eroding coastline is heading towards: who decides whether a private owner may wall off their own piece of shore. [28]

15. 16

    Asia's gas buyers say they will come back

    Gas buyers in China, India and Pakistan expect to return to liquefied natural gas once Middle East supplies recover, executives said at the Gastech conference in Bangkok. [7] Asian spot prices have gone from around $10 per million British thermal units before the war to nearly $30. [7] Shell estimates the world has lost about 36 million tonnes of Middle East gas this year. [7] GAIL, India's biggest gas distributor by market share, said many industries switch to other fuels when gas stops being viable for them, and called the demand price-sensitive rather than gone. [7]

    Why it matters — If they are right, this year's drop in gas burning is a pause. If they are wrong, some of those factories will already have bought equipment that runs on something else. [7]

16. 17

    China Gas signs twenty years of American gas

    China Gas Holdings agreed to buy half a million tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year from the US firm Venture Global for twenty years, starting in 2030. [30] China stopped importing American gas in March 2025 after its own tariffs on US energy took effect, and it still charges 15% on the fuel. [30] The deal was announced at the Gastech conference in Bangkok, days before President Xi Jinping is expected to visit the United States. [30] China's gas imports fell to a three-year low of 68.43 million tonnes in 2025. [30]

    Why it matters — A twenty-year contract signed in the middle of a shortage is a bet that the shortage ends. It also hands two governments in a tariff fight something to point at. [30]

17. 18

    Europe's fast-tracked mineral projects are stalling

    Twenty-three of the critical-mineral projects the European Union fast-tracked are now in immediate jeopardy, according to a joint warning submitted to the European Commission. [31] The bloc selected 47 such projects in March last year and added 13 outside the EU in June. [31] Viridian Lithium in France, which aimed to supply a tenth of the bloc's lithium, went bankrupt in March after the promised investment never arrived. [31] The think tank ODI found no evidence of financial commitment for 40% of the projects. [31]

    Why it matters — Lithium, rare earths and the rest are what batteries, wind turbines and electric motors are made from. A bloc that cannot finance its own mines keeps importing them, which is the dependence the targets were written to end. [31]

18. 19

    India warns the US over tariffs on Russian oil

    India's foreign ministry warned the United States on Thursday that new tariffs on buyers of Russian oil could damage relations. [13] The warning came hours after the US House of Representatives passed a bill letting the US president impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries including India and China. [13] India is the world's third-biggest oil importer and one of the largest buyers of Russian crude, and its September and October cargoes include it. [13] India's ministry said it will keep buying from a range of sellers. [13]

    Why it matters — India's government says its size and population need supply that is both secure and affordable. [13] A 100% tariff asks it to give up one of those for the sake of its trade talks with the US.

19. 20

    Canada's petrol bill and its grocery bill move apart

    Canadian consumer prices rose 3% in the year to August, the same as in July, with petrol up 22.8% and food up 2.8%. [12] It was the first time in fourteen months that food rose more slowly than prices in general, led by dairy at 0.7%, down from 3.1% in July. [12] Core measures that strip out the biggest movers stayed near 2%, which suggests the oil price has not yet spread through everything else. [12] Prices fell 0.1% between July and August. [12]

    Petrol22.8%

    All prices3%

    Food2.8%

    Why it matters — This is what a war-driven oil price looks like inside one household's month: the fuel gets much dearer while most other things do not. [12]

20. 21

    The world is running short of supertankers

    The cost of moving oil around the world has jumped because there are barely any very large tankers left to hire in some regions, Bloomberg reported. [11] That is making long-distance crude trades uneconomic and pushing refineries to buy from whoever is nearest. [11] The squeeze comes while ships avoid the Strait of Hormuz and take longer routes, including one along Oman's coast, which ties each vessel up for more days per cargo. [3][11]

    Why it matters — A longer voyage ties up the same ship for more days. [3] So the same fleet delivers fewer barrels a month, and the shortage deepens without a single extra barrel being lost. [11]

21. 22

    Explosions in the Saudi capital as the oil war widens

    Emergency alerts sounded across Saudi Arabia on Saturday and residents of Riyadh reported loud explosions, with flights disrupted at the city's airport. [36][37] The cause was not immediately clear. [37] It followed days of escalation between the kingdom and the Houthis, the armed group that controls much of Yemen. [36] The Houthis have been striking Saudi targets and tightening their blockade of the Bab el-Mandeb shipping lane at the southern end of the Red Sea. [3]

    Why it matters — Saudi Arabia is the world's largest oil exporter, and its output fell to 6 million barrels a day in August, the lowest in more than thirty years. [3] JP Morgan says traders are pricing in the risk of losing more supply on top of the 10 million barrels a day already disrupted. [2]

22. 23

    Rivers are missing from the carbon accounts

    Scientists writing in Nature say the frameworks used to assess climate change treat rivers one piece at a time. [34] The IPCC's reports, national greenhouse-gas inventories and UN reporting each look at a river as water supply, or as carbon flows, or as pollution, rather than as one system that feeds back into the climate. [34] Rivers move and process carbon, and damaged rivers do it differently. [34] Leaving those feedbacks out makes carbon budgets more uncertain than they need to be, the authors argue. [34]

    Why it matters — Carbon budgets are the numbers every national target is measured against. An error in what the world's rivers do is an error carried into all of them. [34]

23. 24

    Deeper roots, and $18m to find out if they hold carbon

    Researchers at the Salk Institute in California have edited soybean and sorghum genes so the plants send roots straight down instead of sideways, hoping they store more carbon underground and cope better with drought. [29] After reading the genomes of hundreds of versions of these crops, the team picked out 347 genes linked to root growth and carbon storage. [29] The Bezos Earth Fund has given $18 million to test the plants in real fields. [29]

    Why it matters — Most ways of pulling carbon out of the air need new machines and new money. This one would ride on land that is already ploughed every year, if it works. [29]

24. 25

    US state races could redraw climate rules

    Democrats are on course to win control of the governor's office and both legislative chambers in at least three US states at this year's midterm elections, Inside Climate News reported. [32] States set much of US climate and energy policy: Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Mexico and Virginia all passed laws to cut emissions or expand renewables after Democrats took full control. [32] Republicans currently hold that kind of control in 23 states, Democrats in 16, and 11 are split. [32]

    Why it matters — With federal carbon rules being repealed, state law is where US emissions policy is now actually written. [14][32]

25. 26

    Maryland's climate grants are still unpaid

    A $20 million grant won in 2024 for tree planting, flood drainage and home insulation in Prince George's County, Maryland, was never paid after the incoming US administration stopped the process, one of the programme's authors wrote. [33] Nearly $3 billion in US environmental and climate justice grants to cities, non-profits and tribes was cancelled last year, along with $20 billion in clean-energy grants. [33] Federal courts ruled the clawbacks illegal and set a deadline of 30 September. [33]

    Why it matters — A court can order money released and still not produce it, if the agency that has to send it has been cut back. That is the distance between winning a case and being paid. [33]

26. 27

    A network of people who lost homes to weather

    Thirty-eight percent of Americans say their community was hit by a severe storm, flood or fire in the past year, according to the polling firm Gallup. [35] A group called Extreme Weather Survivors now links people across the US who have lost homes, sharing emotional support and practical help with insurance claims. [35] It was set up by Chris Kocher, who had previously built networks for survivors of gun violence and of Covid, and Sierra Lindsey Kos, whose newborn son was in hospital during Oregon's Labor Day fires in 2020. [35]

    Why it matters — Recovery after a disaster is mostly paperwork, and the people who have already been through it once are the ones who know how it is done. [35]