Climate, in brief

Nearly 300mm of rain fell on Bangkok, Thailand's capital, in the 48 hours to Saturday. [1][5] It flooded major roads and left some cars partly under water. [1]

The rain fell almost without a break from Thursday afternoon to Saturday morning. [10][8]

On Saturday Bangkok's governor, Chadchart Sittipunt, declared the city a disaster zone. [6] All 50 districts were included so officials could act faster, though not every part of the city was under water. [3]

The governor put the rain at about 30 million cubic metres of water, and said eastern Bangkok was hit hardest. [5][4]

He said the city was pumping water out, but every canal was already full. [4] People living near canals were told to move their belongings to higher ground. [6]

Thailand's prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, said the endless rain had overwhelmed the drains in many areas. [2]

About 4,200 people moved into 233 city shelters by Saturday. [1] About 3,000 were still there on Sunday. [2]

The rain eased on Sunday, but some of the city's main canals were still rising, because water kept flowing in from nearby areas. [2] Reuters reported floodwater receding that day, with some residents still stranded at home. [7]

Outside Bangkok, more than 545,000 people in 25 provinces had been hit by floods by Sunday, Thailand's disaster department said. [2] At least eight people died across Thailand in ten days. [2]

A border province near Cambodia was also still badly flooded on Sunday. [9] Bangkok's governor told residents to avoid needless travel, as several roads were still under water. [11]

Thailand's cabinet gave civil servants in Bangkok and three nearby provinces Monday and Tuesday off, to cut travel. [7] That could delay a court ruling on ballots from February's election, though the court has not said so. [7]

Residents compared the water with 2011, when three months of floods killed hundreds of people across Thailand. [4][3]

Why it matters. Watch whether Bangkok's main canals fall this week as the low-pressure area behind the rain moves towards central Thailand, and whether the court keeps the date of its ruling on February's ballots. [2][4][7]

Heavy rain set off floods and landslides across northern India and Nepal, killing at least 19 people by the weekend, officials said. [12] In India's Uttar Pradesh state, 15 people died in 48 hours, after a day with 19 times the normal rainfall. [12] India's Central Water Commission said 30 river gauges in seven states showed a severe situation. [12] The Ganga, the Kosi and other big rivers were above their danger marks. [12] In Nepal, a landslide buried a house in Baglung district, killing a woman and three children as they slept. [12]

Why it matters. Nepal warned of flash floods in 49 of its 77 districts, a month after floods there killed more than 1,450 people. [12] Floodwater on the Rahuganga River also damaged a 40-megawatt hydropower plant. [12]

Hurricane Nolo, a strong Category 2 storm with winds of 105mph, sat still about 145 miles south of Hawaii's Big Island on Saturday morning, The Washington Post reported. [13] The Post said that standing still is what made Nolo a serious flood threat to the island. [13] The Big Island took 20 to 30 inches of rain from Hurricane Lala only last month. [13]

Why it matters. The Post said a big hurricane was stalling near the island once again. [13] In Bangkok this week the rain also stayed over one place, for 48 hours, and flooded the city. [1]

Russia's economy ministry now expects the country to produce and export less gas this year than it forecast in May, a draft government paper seen by Reuters shows. [14] Output is put at 683.1 billion cubic metres, 5.3 billion less than in May, but still more than in 2025. [14] Gas cooled into liquid and sent by ship is forecast at 35 million tonnes, 5.3 million less than expected. [14] The European Union plans to stop buying Russian gas from next year. [14]

Why it matters. Russia sent Europe 18 billion cubic metres of gas in 2025, the least since the mid-1970s, by Reuters' count. [14] Russia's economy ministry expects China to pay about $248 per thousand cubic metres this year, against an average of about $403 from buyers outside the former Soviet Union. [14]

Seven of the ten countries doing most to soften high fuel prices since the Iran war began are in the European Union. [15] That is the finding of a new report by the OECD, a group of mostly rich countries. [15] France added a 450 million euro package, with 100 euro payments for 5.5 million workers who drive far to work. [15] Germany will cut fuel tax by 17 cents a litre from 1 October, at a cost of 2.5 billion euros. [15] Italy put off pulling down its coal power plants. [15]

Why it matters. The EU imports nearly all its oil and 85% of its gas. [15] Transport & Environment, a campaign group, says Europeans are paying an extra 203 million euros a day for diesel alone. [15]

US foreign aid cuts in 2025 shut down SERVIR, a programme that used satellites to help Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan watch for floods and landslides, AP reports. [16] It was run by USAID, NASA and ICIMOD, a mountain research centre in Kathmandu. [16] Aid from the rich countries in the OECD fell 23% in 2025, the biggest drop on record. [16] ActionAid, a campaign group, says poorer countries pay about 225 times more in debt than they get in climate grants. [16]

Why it matters. The US State Department says SERVIR's tools still run through ICIMOD. [16] ICIMOD's Neha Rai says the cuts will be felt for years, and have hurt the sharing of flood information between countries. [16]

Russia more than doubled its diesel shipments to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Tajikistan in August, to over 370,000 tonnes, traders told Reuters. [17] It did so while banning diesel exports to most other countries until the end of September. [17] Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries have caused fuel shortages and higher prices inside Russia. [17] Diesel delivered to Russia's own market fell to 4.7 million tonnes in August, from 5.0 million in July. [17]

Why it matters. Mongolia got about 215,000 tonnes, up from 124,000 in July, and takes about half of the diesel Russia sends to Central Asia and Afghanistan. [17] Deals between governments let that diesel through the ban. [17]

Canada could sell France gas cooled into liquid and shipped from its Pacific coast, Canada's foreign minister, Anita Anand, told Reuters at the United Nations on 21 September. [18] She spoke a day after the two countries' leaders met and talked about energy. [18] France's President Emmanuel Macron has been asking for closer energy ties while the war in the Middle East disrupts supplies. [18] Uniper, a German state-controlled energy company, signed a 20-year deal for Canadian gas at the end of July. [18]

Why it matters. Canada is the world's fifth-largest gas producer, and LNG Canada in British Columbia, led by Shell, is North America's first gas export plant facing the Pacific. [18] Anand called a partnership with France quite conceivable. [18]

Malaysia's energy ministry, PETRA, set a fixed fee of 0.14 ringgit a kilowatt-hour for solar farms that send steady power to companies over the national grid, down from 0.20. [19] To count as steady, a farm needs batteries that can supply half its output for four hours. [19] Deals must run at least 10 years, and farms must be working by the end of 2028. [19] Those taking part had asked for fees they could predict, to help them borrow. [19]

Why it matters. PETRA says projects totalling 3,148 megawatts have signed up since 2024, but not how much of that is built. [19] Data centres are part of why Malaysia needs more power. [19]

The Chinese province of Zhejiang will let big stand-alone batteries on its grid trade in its daily electricity market. [20] The rules came in a notice on 23 September from the local office of China's energy regulator and two provincial bodies. [20] Each day a battery can choose to sell power, or to sell help keeping the grid steady. [20] The notice lists 40 projects, 2.54 gigawatts in all, and 28 are already running. [20] From January 2027 the province plans to have them bid both a price and an amount. [20]

Why it matters. Batteries on older contracts may leave them to join the market. [20] It follows China's 2025 decision to drop a rule that made new solar and wind farms add batteries. [20]

Portugal postponed an auction for grid batteries by several weeks, after taking comments on its terms; it had been set for 14 September. [21] The batteries must be able to run for at least four hours, so the grid connections on offer mean at least 3 gigawatt-hours of storage. [21] A second auction is for renewable power plants with batteries attached. [21] Towns hosting stand-alone batteries would get 30% of the auction money, and 70% for plants with batteries attached. [21]

Why it matters. Portugal plans 6.9 gigawatts of storage by 2030, in a strategy still open for comment. [21] Winners pay their own connection costs, and may be held back for up to 750 hours a year when lines are full. [21]

ACEN, which has about 7.5 gigawatts of renewable power built or under construction, gave up government contracts for two planned solar farms in the Philippines, it told the stock exchange on 18 September. [22] The Pagbilao site in Quezon province hit problems buying land, and the Botolan site in Zambales could not get access. [22] Together they were listed at about 456 megawatts. [22] Neither had reached a final decision to build. [22]

Why it matters. The Philippines' energy department cancelled 84 renewable energy contracts, about 5,372 megawatts, in 2025 for missing work plans and other rules. [22] Its energy and farm departments plan to mark out land for solar, apart from land for food, in an agreement due in October. [22]

A weak monsoon brought more sun than usual to north-western and southern India and to Pakistan this summer, an analysis by Solcast, a company that tracks clouds by satellite, found. [23] It says the weak monsoon fits with this year's strong El Nino. [23] Its early estimate puts sunlight there about 5% above normal from June to September, and up to 10% above in August. [23] Jodhpur, near Rajasthan's solar farms, is on track for its second-sunniest monsoon since 2007. [23] August storms cut sunlight by 20-30% in eastern and central India. [23]

Why it matters. Most of India's big solar farms are in the sunnier regions, so the cloudy east cut national solar output less than those numbers suggest. [23] Solcast sells this kind of data to solar farm owners. [23]

The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy and the Global Solar Council want another 150 million solar installations by 2030. [24] They set out the goal in an opinion piece for Reuters on 22 September. [24] They call it the 300 Million Solar Homes Initiative. [24] They cite the International Energy Agency's estimate that about 150 million buildings will have rooftop solar by the end of this year. [24] Households and businesses in Pakistan fitted 27 gigawatts in two years. [24]

Why it matters. They argue that city halls decide how fast permits come, so national solar plans stall without them. [24] Close to 40% of Australian households already have solar panels, they write. [24]