Climate, in brief

The US Supreme Court opened its new term on Monday with Suncor Energy v. Boulder County, a climate case brought by a city and county in Colorado. [1][3]

Boulder sued Exxon Mobil and Suncor, a Canadian oil company, in a Colorado court in 2018. [2] It says they hid what they knew about how burning their fuel warms the planet, and should share the cost of the fires and floods that follow. [1][3]

The hearing was not about what the companies knew. [2] They argued that national law, the Clean Air Act or the US Constitution, overrides Colorado's law here, so Colorado's courts cannot hear the case at all. [2][3]

Kannon Shanmugam, the companies' lawyer, said the case would let some 90,000 US local governments set energy policy through juries. [2] Kevin Russell, Boulder's lawyer, said the case is about deception, not about emissions. [2]

Justice Clarence Thomas's first question was whether the court can rule yet, because no Colorado court has finished the case. [2] US law lets the US Supreme Court review only a state court's final judgment, and several justices suggested it was too early. [4][2]

Justice Samuel Alito stepped aside last week, after pressure over his shares in oil companies that face similar suits. [2][3] With eight justices left, a 4-4 tie would leave Colorado's ruling in place, and the case would go to trial. [4][3]

Lawyers who watched did not agree on what they heard. [1] Michael Gerrard, who runs Columbia University's climate law centre, said several conservative justices seemed ready to block at least some of Boulder's claims. [2] Kirti Datla of Earthjustice, an environmental law group, said the justices struggled to find a legal reason to side with the companies. [1]

A Washington Post opinion piece, which sides with the companies, said the justices sounded wary of letting such suits go ahead. [8]

The ruling reaches far past Boulder. [2] More than 60 US state and local governments have filed dozens of similar suits, and many are paused until this one is decided. [7][2]

Middlesex County in New Jersey filed one more on 2 October, against Exxon, BP, Chevron, Shell and others, citing more than $500 million of flood damage. [6]

Two federal judges have already blocked New York's climate superfund law, which sought $75 billion from fossil fuel companies, ruling that national clean air law overrides it. [5]

The Trump administration argued on the companies' side. [3] In 2024 the US government's own lawyers at the court had argued the opposite, in a similar case from Honolulu. [3]

Why it matters. Watch whether the justices decide they may rule at all: if they say it is too early, Boulder's case goes back to a Colorado trial court, and a decision is due by the end of June. [4][2]

President Trump signed an order on Monday letting road vehicles run on red-dyed diesel, a fuel normally kept for farms and building sites because it carries no road tax. [10][12] The order also defers the federal tax of 24.4 cents a gallon on road diesel to the end of the year. [12][10] US diesel averages more than $6.30 a gallon, after a record of about $6.50 last month. [10][11] At least 10 states had already let farm diesel onto their roads. [12]

Why it matters. Trump said a typical trucker would save over $100 a fill-up, four weeks before the 3 November elections. [12] The order only defers the tax and tells agencies to look for ways to cancel it, so nobody yet knows whether it will be owed later. [10]

Britain's Conservative party said on Monday it would scrap the Future Homes Standard if it wins the next election. [13] The rule makes builders fit new homes with heat pumps and solar panels instead of gas boilers. [13] E3G, a climate research group, says dropping it would leave the owner of a three-bedroom home about 1,000 pounds a year worse off in energy bills. [13] Over 25 years that is at least 25,000 pounds. [13]

Why it matters. Builders would spend less on each house they build. [13] The family who buys the house would get the higher bills, for as long as they live there. [13]

Cars that run only on petrol made up 49% of the world's new car sales in the first half of 2026, down from 73% in 2021, according to Mobility Global, a car data firm. [14] It is the first time on record they have been under half. [14] Fully electric cars rose 12% to 6.87 million, or 17% of sales, and ordinary hybrids took 18%. [14] Nikkei, a Japanese newspaper, ties the speed-up to fuel prices since the Middle East war began. [14]

Why it matters. Most of the cars replacing petrol-only models are hybrids that still carry a petrol tank. [14] Buyers are choosing cars that cost less to run while fuel stays dear. [14]

Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil exporter, will sell its main crude to Asian buyers in November at $5 a barrel below the regional benchmark, its lowest price in six years. [15] Traders had expected a rise. [15] Kpler, a firm that tracks tankers, says Gulf oil exports outside Iran matched their pre-war average in September. [17] Now 40% of them avoid the Strait of Hormuz by pipeline or other routes, against 17% before the war. [17]

Why it matters. A barrel of Brent, the world's benchmark oil, still cost about $102 on Monday, against about $72 before the war. [17] Aramco's chief, Amin Nasser, said refilling the world's oil stocks could take up to two years. [16]

Adnoc, the United Arab Emirates' state oil company, agreed on Monday to supply about 2 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas to Gulf Development, a Thai energy company, from 2027. [19] Gas makes more than 60% of Thailand's electricity. [19] About 2.2 million tonnes of its yearly gas imports normally pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely shut since late February. [19] Adnoc did not say what the gas will cost or where it will come from. [19]

Why it matters. Thailand is buying from more sellers so that one closed strait cannot cut its power. [19] The deliveries start in 2027, so they do nothing for this winter. [19]

About 4,000 people gathered in Nadi, Fiji, on Monday for a pre-COP, the meeting that prepares November's UN climate summit in Antalya, Turkey. [20] Australia is co-hosting it with Fiji under a deal struck at last year's summit. [21] Only 14 national leaders are going on to Tuvalu, a low-lying island nation, on Tuesday, and only two of them come from outside the Pacific. [20] Australia's climate minister, Chris Bowen, promised A$7.29 million for the region's move to clean power. [21]

Why it matters. A negotiator for small island states said low tides now show the foundations of old homes and the graves of ancestors. [22] Australia hosts these talks a week after its biggest state approved its largest coal mine project. [20]

Nearly three in four maternal health workers say heat-related problems in pregnancy have risen over the past five years, in a survey for Wellcome, a health research charity. [23] It asked 1,000 doctors, midwives and others in Australia, Brazil, India, the UK and Zimbabwe. [23] Wellcome links each extra 1C to about 5% more premature births. [23] Simon Stiell, the UN's climate chief, cited it at the talks in Fiji on Monday. [23]

Why it matters. Stiell said better heat warnings and reliable water and power in clinics can cut much of the danger. [23] Pacific countries at the same talks want climate money for the poorest countries guaranteed. [21]

More than 70 scientists from nearly 30 countries published the yearly 10 New Insights in Climate Science report on Tuesday. [9] It says warming past 1.5C, the Paris Agreement's safer limit, raises the risk of damage to ice, oceans and frozen ground that cannot be undone. [9] It says newer models put the harm from each tonne of carbon dioxide at up to four times older estimates. [9] The world's sea surface reached 21.1C in August, the hottest ever measured. [9]

Why it matters. The report says science can now trace damage back to the emissions of a single company. [9] It says that evidence could strengthen climate lawsuits, like the one the US Supreme Court heard on Monday. [9]

Australia had its second-hottest September on record, 2.71C above the 1961-1990 average, Bureau of Meteorology data showed. [24] Nights were the warmest of any September since records began in 1910. [24] Snow depth in Kosciuszko National Park fell to zero in September for the first time since 1954. [24] A strengthening El Nino, the Pacific warming pattern, added to the heat. [24]

Why it matters. Every state and territory except Western Australia had below-average rain. [24] A University of Melbourne scientist said winter is ending earlier and spring starting sooner. [24]

A Kelvin wave, a slow pulse of warm water thousands of miles across, is moving up the Pacific coast toward Mexico and California, Scientific American reported. [25] El Nino's weaker winds let these pulses cross the Pacific from west to east over two to three months. [25] When one reaches the Americas, part of it turns north and lifts the average sea level along the coast for a time. [25] It is not a tsunami. [25]

Why it matters. The danger comes when the raised sea meets a very high tide or a storm surge. [25] Some coastal places have already put out sandbags. [25]

Amazon signed a 20-year deal to buy 690 megawatts from Calvert Cliffs, Maryland's only nuclear plant, owned by Constellation Energy. [26] Constellation says the steady income lets it renew the plant's licence for another 20 years. [26] It will also add about 190 megawatts of new output between 2030 and 2032. [26] The companies put the investment at over $3 billion. [26]

Why it matters. Amazon gets steady power for its data centres. [26] Maryland keeps its largest source of clean power for two more decades. [26]

Virginia's governor, Abigail Spanberger, published an energy plan on 1 October that keeps the state's law requiring carbon-free power by 2050. [27] Virginia has more data centres than anywhere in the world, and the plan expects electricity demand to grow 85%. [27] It puts the cost of meeting that at up to $422 billion, and says the tech industry could provide $265 billion of it. [27] A fifth scenario, dropping the clean power goals, saves $90 billion in power costs but adds $145 billion in health damage. [27]

Why it matters. Republican critics used the $90 billion saving to argue for repealing the clean power law. [27] The plan has no force of law, but regulators will have it in front of them when Dominion Energy, the state's biggest utility, asks to build new gas plants. [27]

A hearing examiner at Virginia's utility regulator ruled on Friday that Dominion Energy and NextEra must release documents they had held back from the review of their $67 billion merger. [30] They include a memo said to describe an investigation into political activity by Florida Power & Light, NextEra's Florida utility. [30] Clean Virginia, a customer group, had asked for it. [30]

Why it matters. The examiner said the merged company's governance is relevant to the review. [30] Virginia's regulators must decide whether the combined company is fit to run the state's main power supply. [30]

MISO, which runs the power grid across much of the US Midwest and South, asked federal regulators on Friday to approve a fast-track study for large new users. [28] It would cover users above 200 megawatts, such as data centres and factories, that come with new power plants in the same area. [28] Each study would take 120 days. [28] MISO expects demand on its grid to grow 1% to 3% a year through 2044. [28]

Why it matters. MISO asked for a decision by 2 December so the first study can open early next year. [28] Data centres and factories are driving its forecasts, as on other US grids. [28]

Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, said on Monday that the US data-centre power crunch is getting worse. [29] It estimates developers face a 34% shortfall in power through 2028, about 32 gigawatts, even after counting their own generators and fuel cells. [29] It said chipmakers Nvidia and Broadcom are fairly well protected. [29] Makers of memory and other parts could see orders pushed back if data centres cannot be switched on. [29]

Why it matters. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have both flagged limits on how fast US data centres can be built. [29] Morgan Stanley names labour, power and politics as the limits. [29]

Heat pumps made up close to half of all heating and cooling units shipped in the US in July, AHRI, the industry's trade group, reported. [31] Heat pump shipments rose 17.6% on July last year, second only to July 2024. [31] Electric water heaters outsold gas ones by about 52,000 units. [31] Since July 2016, heat pump shipments have grown about 77%. [31]

Why it matters. State rules and a long shift to electric heating are keeping sales up despite cuts to federal support, the report says. [31]

Seventeen local building rules from 15 California cities and counties, including Alameda and Palo Alto, are still waiting for state approval, some for nearly a year. [32] A 2025 state law, AB 130, paused building code updates for six years to speed up house building, with a narrow exception for climate rules. [32] The local rules push owners toward electric appliances, such as fitting a heat pump when an old air conditioner breaks. [32] The state's Building Standards Commission says the 17 need more review. [32]

Why it matters. Buildings make about a quarter of California's planet-heating emissions. [32] City officials say the delay is holding back their plans to cut pollution from gas appliances. [32]

Caribbean countries installed about 2.3 gigawatts of solar between 2021 and 2024, roughly twice what official counts show, Ember, an energy think tank, found from Chinese customs data. [33] More than 90% of the region's electricity comes from burning imported oil and gas, so its power is among the dearest in the world. [33] Much of the new solar sits on roofs that are not connected to the grid. [33] Their spare power goes to waste instead of being sold. [33]

Why it matters. In several countries the power company can block other sources from joining the grid. [33] Analysts want regulators, not power companies, to decide who connects. [33]

Off-grid solar in Africa south of the Sahara could grow 450% by 2035, with more than 35% of it in Nigeria, Wood Mackenzie, a research firm, forecasts. [34] Weak national grids mean many homes and firms already run their own diesel generators. [34] Dearer fuel since the Iran war, Nigeria's end of fuel subsidies and much cheaper panels are pushing them to solar. [34] Kenya and DR Congo are expected to be other big markets. [34]

Why it matters. The report says rural power plans and money from governments and private investors together are needed to reach more of the continent. [34]

China Huaneng, a state power company, has started both 350-megawatt units at its Jintan plant in Jiangsu, which stores electricity as squeezed air in salt caves about 1,000 metres underground. [35] At 700 megawatts it is the biggest salt-cave air store reported anywhere. [35] It uses power to pump air in, then lets the air out through turbines for about four hours, without burning gas. [35] It gets back more than 70% of the electricity it stores. [35]

Why it matters. The plant will now test its connection to the grid before it starts working. [35] It is expected to make about 924 gigawatt-hours a year. [35]

First Solar, a US solar panel maker, sued China's JA Solar and American Panel Solutions in a court in Delaware. [36] It says they used its patented method for making TOPCon cells, a kind of high-efficiency solar cell. [36] American Panel Solutions belongs to Corning, a US glass maker, which bought an Arizona panel plant once tied to JA Solar. [36] First Solar wants money and a permanent ban on importing, assembling and selling the panels in the US. [36]

Why it matters. A win would keep some imported and US-assembled panels off the US market. [36]

Next2Sun, a German maker of upright solar panels used on farmland, filed for insolvency for two of its companies after a share sale meant to raise 5 million euros fell through. [37] Its project companies keep running, and the group employs about 140 people. [37] More than 100 possible buyers have shown interest in Enerparc, one of Germany's biggest solar power producers, which went insolvent in September. [38] Its administrator hopes to announce a first sale in December. [38]

Why it matters. Further sales of Enerparc's solar parks are unlikely before early 2027. [38]

A solar farm in Narita, east of Tokyo, caught fire on 24 September after typhoon floodwater from a burst lake bank covered its electrical boxes. [39] Fire officials think the boxes short-circuited as the water fell and left them exposed. [39] Firefighters stayed back because of the risk of electric shock, and more than 10 explosions were heard. [39] No one was hurt. [39]

Why it matters. A flooded solar farm stays dangerous after the water goes down, because wet equipment can short-circuit as it dries. [39]

The European Commission gave cross-border status to three clean power projects, including Deploy, a 180-megawatt wind and solar plant in Gubin, Poland. [40] Its power will be turned into heat for factories and homes in Guben, the German town on the other side of the border. [40] The status gives it access to EU money for studies and building. [40] A final decision to build is expected by mid-2028. [40]

Why it matters. Guben's shared heating system would move from fuel to wind and solar power. [40]

Members of the Green Party of England and Wales voted at their conference to end their blanket opposition to nuclear power. [41] The party still puts wind and rooftop solar first, but its elected members may now back new reactors case by case. [41] Its MP Carla Denyer said keeping existing nuclear stations running can be low-carbon, because much of their carbon comes from building them. [41] In 2023 she called nuclear very slow and very expensive. [41]

Why it matters. Opposing nuclear power was one of the party's oldest positions. [41]