Climate, in brief

Cuba's national power grid collapsed on Friday, the country's energy ministry said, causing a blackout across an island of about 9 million people. [2]

It was at least the sixth island-wide blackout since January, when US President Donald Trump cut off fuel shipments to Cuba. [1]

Cuban officials said a failure on power lines in the west of the island brought the system down as far as Matanzas province. [1] The eastern half was then cut off too. [1]

Granma, Cuba's official newspaper, said unstable weather made the grid's state worse. [1]

By dusk, power was back for 5% of Havana's roughly 862,000 customers. [1] Engineers were building small separate pockets of supply, which Cuba calls micro-islands, in Camaguey, Pinar del Rio and Granma provinces, and restarting hospital supplies first. [1]

Cuba's power plants run on imported fuel. [1] The US blockade stops the island importing that fuel, and also the spare parts needed to repair plants that are in many cases obsolete. [1]

Only one fuel tanker has reached Cuba since January, a Russian ship in March. [1]

The blockade is aimed at forcing a change in Cuba's political system, AP reports. [1] Reuters says fuel shortages, worn-out equipment and the US oil blockade have all strained the grid. [2]

Earlier island-wide blackouts came in March, July and twice in early August. [1] Even when the grid is working, Cubans often go more than 30 hours in a row without power. [1]

The blackouts stop water pumps, cooking, phones and the internet, and have led to shorter working hours and cancelled flights. [1]

Cuba is not the only country losing power as fuel costs rise. Rolling blackouts and rationing have spread from Asia to Latin America, and power cuts have stopped factories in Bangladesh for hours. [3]

Oil costs more than $108 a barrel, up from $70 in June, after drone attacks shut a Saudi pipeline that had been carrying oil around the blocked Strait of Hormuz. [29] Protesters have burned tyres and cars over fuel prices in Guatemala and Syria. [4]

Why it matters. Watch whether any fuel tanker reaches Cuba in the coming weeks: the island's power plants depend on imported fuel, and the grid has failed at least six times since January. [1]

A US federal judge ruled on Friday that the Environmental Protection Agency, the US agency in charge of pollution rules, broke the law when it cancelled Solar for All. [5] The $7 billion programme helps low- and moderate-income families put up solar panels, and was designed to reach more than 900,000 people. [6] Judge Mary McElroy wrote that Congress clearly meant the grants to continue. [5] The EPA said it is reviewing the ruling and considering an appeal. [5]

Why it matters. If the ruling stands, families promised solar panels could get the money back. [5] A writer who led a separate cancelled grant in Maryland says the EPA told a court it lacks the staff and money to restore funds it was ordered to repay. [7]

China bought 23% less oil in the first six months of the Iran war than a year earlier, customs data show, according to The New York Times. [8] It could do that because it had stored huge amounts of oil, built extra refineries and invested in coal and other fuels. [8] Goldman Sachs, a US bank, estimates oil was about $10 a barrel cheaper in late August than it would have been otherwise. [8] Early in the war, China also stopped selling jet fuel, petrol and diesel to its neighbours. [8]

Why it matters. China has long been highly exposed to oil shocks, and former US officials now say that fear may no longer hold its leaders back over Taiwan. [8] A former US diplomat calls China's cut in buying the biggest reason prices are not higher still. [3]

EDF, France's state-owned power company, plans to build 10 small nuclear reactors in the European Union by 2035, an executive said on Friday. [9] The first will be in France and another in Italy, with help from Edison, EDF's Italian arm, and possibly the builders Saipem and Webuild. [9] EDF dropped a more ambitious design after problems and fears of delays and cost overruns, and switched to simpler, better-proven technology. [9] Italy is expected to approve a law next week allowing nuclear power, almost 40 years after a referendum banned it. [9]

Why it matters. Each reactor would make about 400 megawatts, and Edison is aiming for power at about 100 euros per megawatt-hour, which it compares with gas plants. [9] EDF says building ten lets it spread a project cost of 'tens of billions' of euros across more reactors. [9]

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, South Korea's big memory-chip makers, have turned down a request from KEPCO, the country's state-run power company. [10] KEPCO asked them to pay 25 trillion won, about $18.7 billion, in advance for electricity their planned giant chip factory zones would use. [10] The money would have let KEPCO build what it needs to power those factories. [10] A company official said they are not sure chip demand will last. [10]

Why it matters. KEPCO wanted the money before the chip zones use any power, to build the supply they need. [10] The chipmakers said they doubt such a large payment in advance is needed. [10]

Virginia, which has more data centres than anywhere else in the world, announced tighter rules on them on Friday. [11] Governor Abigail Spanberger's plan bans secrecy agreements for projects of 25 megawatts or more, and offers rewards for solar or wind backup power instead of gas or diesel generators. [11] Part of it needs approval from state lawmakers next year. [11] Separately, Microsoft has filed a notice that keeps open its right to appeal a Virginia ruling making data centres pay for the lines that connect them. [12]

Why it matters. Spanberger said the rules answer public worry about secrecy and power bills, and governors in New York, Texas and Pennsylvania have made similar moves. [11] Microsoft has until late November to decide whether to appeal. [12]

Flash floods on the Navajo Nation, a large Native American territory in the US Southwest, killed three people this week near Newcomb, New Mexico. [13] A grandmother, her 7-year-old granddaughter and a friend were swept away while crossing a flooded dry riverbed. [13] Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren declared a state of emergency on Friday, as roads stayed closed and families were cut off. [13] A late surge of summer monsoon moisture brought the rain. [13]

Why it matters. More is coming: flood watches covered parts of 10 US states on Friday, with heavy rain forecast across the country for the next week to 10 days. [14] Record-warm Pacific water is loading the air with extra moisture, linked to an El Nino heading for record strength. [14]

Wholesale gas, used to heat homes and make electricity, has almost doubled in price in Britain and Europe since July, the BBC reports. [29] As a result, the cap on British household energy bills, set by the regulator Ofgem, is forecast to rise 25% in January. [29] That is about 440 pounds a year for a typical home. [29] Petrol in Britain is above 170 pence a litre, the highest since 2022. [29]

Why it matters. The rise follows drone attacks that shut Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, which had been carrying oil around the blocked Strait of Hormuz. [29] The International Monetary Fund estimates that a lasting 10% rise in oil prices adds about 0.4% to world inflation. [29]

A new kind of geothermal power drills deep into hot rock to make steam for electricity, using the rigs, pipes and cementing methods of the oil and gas industry. [15] It costs about $15,000 per kilowatt of capacity to build, against $4,800 to $6,300 for older geothermal plants, the FT reports. [15] Only a handful of such projects run anywhere in the world. [15] Fervo Energy's Cape Station in Utah, the biggest, has its first 33 megawatts due online at the end of this year. [15]

Why it matters. Geothermal gives power day and night, unlike sun or wind, and it has support from both big US parties. [15] Oil and gas firms could be among the biggest winners, because the builders need their drilling rigs, steel and workers. [15]

Electric school buses in the US are selling power back to the grid in the evenings, when demand is highest. [16] In a pilot in Beverly, near Boston, a single bus earned nearly $12,000 a season this way. [16] In Oakland, California, a company called Zum runs 74 buses that can feed 2.1 gigawatt-hours a year into the grid. [16] At least 26 US utilities and 19 states now have such programmes. [16]

Why it matters. The money helps school districts pay for electric buses, which cost more to buy than diesel ones. [16] Zum plans 238 more electric buses in San Francisco over the next two school years, which would make it the biggest such fleet in the US. [16]

In the EU's carbon market, big polluters must hold a permit for each tonne of carbon dioxide they emit. EU countries are now negotiating changes to the market's reserve, which takes spare permits out of it. [17] On Tuesday Germany proposed stronger rules to withdraw surplus permits 'effectively and quickly', according to a document seen by Bloomberg. [17]

Why it matters. Germany's worry is that a glut of spare permits would drive their value down. [17] Cheap permits make polluting cheaper for factories and power plants.

Three German states that are home to the country's biggest carmakers, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria and Lower Saxony, issued a joint statement on Thursday. [19] They said the car industry faces 'historic disruption' and risks 'irreversible damage'. [19] They asked for the EU's carbon rules for cars to be relaxed, with room for hybrid cars and efficient petrol engines. [19] They also asked the EU to widen its anti-subsidy investigations to cover plug-in hybrids. [19]

Why it matters. The three states are home to Germany's largest carmakers, and they sent their demands to both the German government and EU leaders. [19] They also want lower energy costs and less paperwork. [19]

Brookfield, a large US investment firm, will invest up to $600 million in ACME Cleantech Ventures, an Indian company, the two said on Thursday. [18] ACME builds projects making 'green' ammonia and methanol, produced with renewable power, in India and Oman. [18] It already has buyers lined up, including Norway's Yara and Japan's IHI and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical. [18]

Why it matters. It is Brookfield's first move into low-carbon fuels in the region, and the firms expect demand to grow as industries look for alternatives to fossil fuels. [18] Brookfield already owns about 50 gigawatts of wind and solar in India, running or planned. [18]

Engineers India, a state-run Indian engineering company, said on Friday it is in talks with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia about new oil infrastructure. [25] The two countries want pipelines, oil terminals and port works that avoid the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely shut since the Iran war began. [25] The UAE also plans more underground oil storage at Fujairah, on its eastern coast. [25]

Why it matters. Orders from the region had slowed, but the company's chairman said the conflict has 'opened more opportunities' for it. [25] He expects its order book, now about $1.77 billion, to grow. [25]

Electricity and other utility rates in the US have risen 38% since 2020, said Gabe Grosberg of S&P Global, a company that rates the debts of cities and utilities. [22] He blamed data centres, climate change and other factors, and called the rise 'something we've never seen before'. [22] S&P warned that if people and businesses avoid cities with high bills, those cities could have less tax money to pay for their own utilities. [22]

Why it matters. S&P says it is not yet cutting cities' credit ratings over this, but calls it a 'simmering risk'. [22] It lands hardest where bills are high compared with what households earn. [22]

Hurricane Lowell hit Kauai, one of the Hawaiian islands, on 7 September, cutting power and washing out roads. [28] Officials first asked tourists to stay away while repairs went on. [28] On Thursday Kauai's mayor, Derek Kawakami, said the island is welcoming visitors back. [28] More than 3,000 homes and businesses still had no power. [28]

Why it matters. Small firms are running out of money: one food truck business laid off half its 50 staff. [28] Tourism brought Hawaii $21.75 billion last year. [28]

Britain's Prince William announced 15 finalists on Friday for the 2026 Earthshot Prize, an award for projects tackling climate change and pollution. [21] They include a group keeping wildlife routes open along the Rocky Mountains from Wyoming to Canada, and an Argentine project that tracks wildfires with satellites and AI. [21] A group of companies trying to cut carbon from shipping, and Orsted, a big offshore wind builder, are also on the list. [21]

Why it matters. The winner in each of five categories gets 1 million pounds, about $1.34 million, and help to grow. [21]

The Isle of Man, an island between Britain and Ireland, had its warmest summer since records began in 1947, its government said. [23] The average was 16.4C, beating the 16.0C record set only last year. [23] July had just 2mm of rain, with a 24-day dry spell. [23] Nights were the warmest ever measured there, with an average low of 13.4C. [23]

Why it matters. All five of the island's warmest summers have now come since 2018. [23] The heat came from warm weather that lasted, not from one very hot day. [23]

For decades, Mexico's authorities have used a rural valley in Hidalgo state to flush away Mexico City's waste, The New York Times reports. [24] More than 20 communities live around a reservoir there called the Endho Dam. [24] In one town, an activist counted at least 42 cancer deaths within a few blocks. [24]

Why it matters. The Times reports that the local communities are now paying for that decision, often with their lives. [24] Residents call it a cancer cluster that decades of official choices created. [24]

Researchers interviewed 530 people working on nature projects, such as restoring mangroves and grazing land, in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar and South Africa. [26] They found people want climate information that mixes weather forecasts with local knowledge about land, water and jobs. [26]

Why it matters. The projects help people cope with climate change and threats to their food and water. [26] The researchers say asking people what they need is not enough, and forecasters must work with them. [26]

By 2018, piped water reached 95% of South African households, but only 65% had a reliable supply, researchers write. [30] Three million people have no clean running water. [30] South Africa's government pays to build new water systems but not to maintain them, leaving towns to fund repairs. [30] As pipes decay, replacing them costs far more. [30]

Why it matters. The poorest and rural areas get the least reliable water. [30] Droughts made worse by climate change add to the pressure. [30]

Villagers in Westhall, Suffolk, in England, who bought their local pub with a 96,000-pound government grant in 2021, now want to build their own wind turbine or solar farm. [20] On Thursday, Great British Energy, the UK's state-owned energy company, released 30 million pounds to support more than 1,000 community-owned clean energy projects. [20] Westhall will discuss its plan on 26 September. [20]

Why it matters. More than half the village's homes have no mains gas and heat with oil or bottled gas. [20] An organiser says a community-owned project would give villagers a discount on power and a say in where it goes. [20]

Thousands of olive ridley sea turtles came ashore at La Escobilla beach in Oaxaca, Mexico, within 48 hours to lay their eggs, sanctuary officials said. [27] The mass arrival is called 'la arribada'. [27] It is the sixth wave of the nesting season, which began in March. [27]

Why it matters. Over a whole season, hundreds of thousands of the turtles swim ashore on this stretch of southern Mexico's coast. [27]