The US cuts the mileage new cars must average in 2031 from 50.4 to about 35 miles a gallon, and missing it already costs carmakers nothing

The rest of the day

11 more stories on this beat.

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

1. 02

   Hurricane Polo reaches Mexico's Baja coast

   Hurricane Polo bore down on Baja California Sur, a Mexican state on a long Pacific peninsula, on Monday as a Category 3 storm. [4][6] Its winds were near 115mph, and the US National Hurricane Center warned of 15 to 30cm of rain, flash floods and mudslides. [4] Water began to flood some streets along the coast on Monday. [7] Officials said 90% of Puerto San Carlos, a fishing town of about 5,700 people, could flood. [6] In Jalisco state, two children died after their home was swept away, and their parents are missing. [4]

   Why it matters — After crossing the peninsula, Polo could hit mainland Mexico as a hurricane late on Monday or early on Tuesday. [4] San Juanico, a small fishing town in its path, has had electricity all day only for a few years and still loses it often. [6]

2. 03

   A new kind of geothermal plant sells power

   Fervo Energy began selling electricity to the grid from Cape Station in Utah, the first time a large next-generation geothermal plant has done so anywhere. [8][9] Older geothermal plants use hot water and steam that are already underground. [8] Fervo uses drilling methods from the oil and gas industry to make its own reservoir in hot, dry rock, where water turns to steam. [8] Its first 33-megawatt unit starts full commercial service this week, selling to Shell Energy. [8] Fervo raised $1.9 billion when it listed its shares in May. [10]

   Why it matters — Geothermal makes only 0.4% of US electricity, and it runs day and night. [8] Fervo told Canary Media its first phase would cost about $7,000 per kilowatt to build and the second about $5,500, against $2,157 for an average new US gas plant in 2025. [8]

3. 04

   New York picks its first big battery projects

   NYSERDA, New York State's energy agency, picked eight large battery projects on Wednesday with 950 megawatts between them. [11] They are lithium batteries that can each run for four to eight hours. [11] They include a 150-megawatt battery in Suffolk County and the eight-hour, 140-megawatt Lighthouse project in Chautauqua County. [11] The agency also chose 13 solar, wind and hydro projects with 719 megawatts. [11] The state's goal is 6,000 megawatts of storage by 2030, and it pays each project only once it is running. [11]

   Batteries picked this week950 MW

   State storage goal for 20306,000 MW

   Why it matters — The batteries would more than double the large-scale storage New York has built or contracted, the agency said. [11] The state has fallen behind its clean-power goals, and this year it changed its targets for cutting greenhouse gases. [11]

4. 05

   US limits solar imports before new tariffs

   The US Commerce Department issued an emergency rule capping imports of solar panels, cells, wafers and polysilicon, the purified silicon they are made from. [12] From 4 December these imports pay a 15% tariff and must meet minimum prices. [12] The rule is meant to stop importers bringing in far more than usual before that date. [12] Importers registered after 6 August may bring in only 55 panels and 2,000 cells a week. [12] Customs brokers who help anyone dodge the limits can lose their licences. [12]

   Why it matters — Hanwha Qcells, which makes solar panels in the US, welcomed the rule. [12] Clean-energy trade groups and developers warn the tariffs will raise the cost of building solar farms and slow the move away from fossil fuels. [12]

5. 06

   EU warns 18 countries over sharing home power

   The European Commission sent formal letters to 18 EU countries, including France, Spain, Poland and Sweden, over an energy law agreed in 2024. [13] The law lets households, small firms and public bodies share the renewable or stored power they make with other customers, and the shared power comes off those customers' bills. [13] Countries had until 17 July to write it into their own laws and report it. [13] The 18 have two months to answer, and the case can end at the EU's top court. [13]

   18 of 27

   EU countries sent letters

   Why it matters — The letters are about failing to report, not a finding that the rules are missing: Spain and France already had schemes for sharing power people make themselves. [13] The Commission also wrote to 26 countries over a separate hydrogen and gas law, whose deadline only Italy met. [13]

6. 07

   Britain's leader plans a state-owned grid company

   Andy Burnham, Britain's prime minister, was expected to announce Great British Grid, a publicly owned company to invest in the electricity grid, in a speech on Tuesday. [14] It would compete with the three private companies that own Britain's main power lines to build connections for new power plants and businesses. [14] Its money would come from the budget of GB Energy, the state-owned green energy company. [14] Full details have not been set out. [14] Ofgem, the energy regulator, estimates 70 billion pounds of grid investment is needed from 2025 to 2031. [14]

   Why it matters — Burnham ties it to a goal of bringing UK energy costs into line with other European countries within ten years. [14] Some forecasts have household energy bills in Britain rising by about 500 pounds from January, and Unite, Labour's biggest union funder, has proposed a cap on energy prices. [15][16]

7. 08

   Boston sues over a grant cut for car chargers

   Boston sued the US Transportation Department on Monday for cancelling a $20 million grant to rebuild three busy streets in Roxbury, a Boston neighbourhood. [17] The department said the grant clashed with its priorities because the project included chargers for electric cars. [17] The city says the chargers were less than 1% of the cost, and it offered to drop them. [17] The department refused to restore the money, and says it is reviewing the lawsuit. [17]

   Why it matters — Boston is the second city to sue over these cancelled grants: Albuquerque's case over an $11.5 million grant is still going. [17] The grants came from a 2021 infrastructure law signed by President Biden. [17]

8. 09

   Azerbaijan approves more gas from the Caspian

   SOCAR, Azerbaijan's state oil company, TotalEnergies of France and XRG of Abu Dhabi agreed to fully develop the Absheron gas field in the Caspian Sea. [18] President Ilham Aliyev said its second phase would raise Azerbaijan's gas output by about 5 billion cubic metres within three to four years. [18] SOCAR also signed with ExxonMobil, the US oil company, to look for unconventional oil and gas, meaning fuel held in tight rock, in the Middle Kura basin. [18] ExxonMobil will run that work. [18]

   Why it matters — About half of Azerbaijan's 25 billion cubic metres of gas exports last year went to EU countries. [18] Selling Europe more would need new pipeline capacity, and Aliyev said oil and gas would keep leading the economy. [18]

9. 10

   Lithium from hot water under Cornwall

   Geothermal Engineering, a company in Cornwall in south-west England, plans to spend about 43 million pounds on a plant that takes lithium out of hot, salty water from deep underground. [19] It aims to start commercial production in 2029, making about 1,500 tonnes of lithium carbonate a year. [19] That is enough for more than 180,000 typical electric-car batteries. [19] The UK government has offered the project nearly 10 million pounds from a fund for the car industry. [19]

   Why it matters — Lithium is used to make the batteries in electric cars, and demand for it is expected to rise 1,100% by 2035, the company said. [19] The plant would create nearly 50 jobs and support about 80 more, officials said. [19]

10. 11

    Dear loans slow clean power in poorer countries

    A study in Nature Climate Change looked at how much it costs to borrow for energy and industry projects in different countries. [20] The computer models used to plan the world's carbon cuts usually assume every country borrows as cheaply as the safest ones. [20] When the authors put in each country's own estimated borrowing rate, the price of keeping warming well below 2C rose by about 9% up to 2100. [20] The cheapest cuts also moved to lower-risk regions. [20]

    Why it matters — In the model, poorer countries got less money for their grids and made more of their central heat from gas. [20] Green hydrogen, made with clean electricity, came out dearer there, so it spread more slowly. [20]

11. 12

    The UN agrees a plan on rising seas

    The UN General Assembly in New York unanimously approved a resolution on how to deal with rising seas, Carbon Brief's daily digest reported. [21] The US did not block it, although it mentions climate change and climate aid for poorer countries. [21] In the same week, a fund aiming to raise $100 million to fight forest fires in South America was launched in New York. [21] A report the same week found a gap of millions of dollars in money for protecting tropical forests. [21]

    Why it matters — Grist, a climate news site, called the vote a rare win for countries acting together. [21] The fire fund leaves out large forests in Africa and south-east Asia. [21]