Climate, in brief

England's Environment Agency, the public body that looks after rivers and water supplies, declared a severe drought on Thursday in parts of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, East Sussex and West Sussex. [1][2]

It is the first time England has used the 'severe drought' level. It was created after the 2012 drought, and the UK government says only 1976 and 1995 would have reached it. [3]

Two reservoirs set it off. Wimbleball on Exmoor is 14.9% full and Ardingly in West Sussex is 19.4% full, when the agency expects about 75% at this time of year. [2]

Wimbleball supplies about 300,000 homes and businesses across Devon, Somerset and west Dorset. Ardingly supplies 280,000 customers in East and West Sussex. [2]

South-east and south-west England had their driest April to September in more than a century. England and Wales both had their hottest summers on record. [2][3]

The declaration brings no new bans by itself. Reservoirs and rivers will be checked every day, and businesses that pump water from rivers will face more checks. [1][2]

Water quality will be watched more closely too, because sewage in a low river is less diluted. [1]

The agency let South East Water send 3 million litres a day less from Ardingly into the River Ouse, and South West Water 9 million litres a day less into the River Exe. [2]

Emma Hardy, the UK water minister, told the agency to protect public supplies first wherever that clashes with rules that protect nature. [1]

South East Water, South West Water and Southern Water want to ban businesses such as golf clubs and car washes from non-essential water use. The UK environment secretary, Angela Eagle, has not approved it yet. [1]

About 30 million people in England and Wales are already under hosepipe bans, set by 11 water companies this year. [3]

South East Water says standpipes in the street are in its plan but unlikely to be needed, and it has 92 repair crews fixing leaks in Sussex and Kent. [2]

Last winter was wetter than usual, and a landmark review blamed water companies for years of too little spending on pipes and reservoirs. Nine new reservoirs are planned for England by 2050. [3]

Why it matters. Watch whether Angela Eagle approves the bans on business water use, and whether rain lifts Wimbleball and Ardingly before winter; South East Water says a wet winter is forecast, timing unclear. [1][2]

Great Britain's grid operator paid £47.9m on Wednesday to switch wind farms off where there was too much power and gas plants on where there was too little. [4] The operator, Neso, keeps supply and demand matched across the country. [4] Wind farms in Scotland are often paid to stop because too few power lines run south. [4] September's balancing bill was £505m, the highest month on record, and £3.2bn is expected over the next year. [4]

Why it matters. The cost goes onto household energy bills. [4] Neso says new power lines could halve these costs by the end of the decade, but the £150bn network upgrade is falling behind new wind farms. [4]

The death toll from floods in Istanbul, Turkey's biggest city, rose to three on Thursday. [7] A 14-year-old boy was electrocuted when he stepped in a puddle, and a 34-year-old man slipped and hit his head. [5] The governor, Davut Gul, said it was the most rain since records began in 1942, with 242mm in the Beykoz district. [7] About 3,000 people were rescued, schools closed on Thursday and Friday, and more rain is due for two or three days. [7][5]

Why it matters. About 16 million people live in the city, and 8,000 workers were sent out to clear water. [5] At Istanbul Airport 51 flights were diverted and 19 cancelled, and power cuts stopped water supplies to some homes. [7]

Indonesia blamed peat land damaged by past farm projects for its worst fire season in 11 years. [15] Peat fires smoulder slowly under the surface, flare up again and give off thicker smoke. [15] A deputy minister named a 1990s food project that dug drains through it. [15] Four people died fighting a fire in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park on Java on Thursday, and hotspots rose by 427 in a day. [16]

Why it matters. Hundreds of thousands of people in seven provinces have breathing problems, and the smoke closed schools in East Timor and Malaysia. [15] Only 3% of peat burned in 2015-2019 has grown back as forest; 54% became plantations, mostly oil palm, a monitoring group says. [15]

NASA satellites show fires rising since September in the central and eastern Amazon, around the cities of Manaus and Santarem. [17] On 12 October smoke closed schools in Manaus, a city of more than 2 million. [17] Rain there was 95% below normal in August and 60% below in September, during this year's El Nino, a warm swing of the Pacific that shifts rain worldwide. [17] People started almost all the fires, mostly to clear fields. [17]

Why it matters. A NASA scientist expects fires to move north in November and December, and to peak in the southern Amazon in August and September 2027. [17] Many of the forests burning now also burned in 2015 and 2023, which leaves them easier to burn again. [17]

France and Germany reached a provisional deal on Thursday to loosen the EU's carbon rules for new cars. [11] The European Commission had proposed replacing the 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel cars with a 90% cut. [11] Carmakers would have had to make up the last 10% with credits, for example by using low-carbon steel. [11] The Franco-German deal drops that duty, and lets cars on renewable fuels count as zero-emission. [11]

Why it matters. Germany won on the carbon rules, while France won on keeping 'made in Europe' money mostly inside the EU, with Britain and Norway allowed in. [11] The deal is provisional until the German government signs it off, diplomats said. [11]

The US International Trade Commission, which rules on whether imports harm American firms, voted on Wednesday. [9] It found that cheap solar cells from India, Indonesia and Laos hurt US makers; cells are the slices inside a panel that turn light into power. [9] The ruling lets the US Commerce Department set taxes on them, expected on 2 November. [9] For India the proposed rates are 123% for selling below cost plus 126% for subsidies. [9]

Why it matters. The firms that asked for it, led by First Solar and Hanwha Qcells, say it closes a route Chinese-owned companies in Indonesia and Laos used to avoid earlier US taxes. [9] Their lawyer says imports from Ethiopia have since jumped more than 3,000% in a year. [9]

Almost 600,000 electric and plug-in hybrid cars were sold in Europe in September, up 39% on a year earlier and a monthly record, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a research firm, counts. [10] North America sold about 130,000, down 44%. [10] That fall is partly a quirk: September 2025 was the last month of the US $7,500 tax credit, when buyers rushed in. [10] Worldwide sales were 2.15 million, down 2%. [10]

Why it matters. China's sales fell 18% at home, and its carmakers exported a record 558,000 electric and hybrid cars. [10] A planned EU-China deal would cap Chinese-built electric car imports to the EU at 350,000 in 2027. [10]

Hurricane Trudy was 480km south-southwest of the beach town of Acapulco on Thursday, with winds of 120 km/h, the US National Hurricane Center said. [8] It was forecast to grow quickly into a major hurricane on Friday. [8] Heavy rain is expected in the Mexican states of Colima and Jalisco, with a risk of deadly floods and landslides. [8] Tropical Storm Simon sits further north, off the coast. [8]

Why it matters. The same coast was hit by storms in recent weeks that killed several people and caused severe flooding. [8] Simon is forecast to graze the Baja California peninsula over the weekend. [8]

Thwaites glacier in West Antarctica, about the size of Great Britain, kept losing ice for 150 years in three computer models even when all melting from the ocean was switched off. [13] Its neighbour, Pine Island glacier, grew back under the same test. [13] Rosie Williams of the British Antarctic Survey says Thwaites may still be reacting to a strong El Nino in the 1940s. [13]

Why it matters. If Thwaites collapsed completely it could set off losses that raise sea levels by up to 5 metres. [13] Warmer water makes it lose ice faster, so the researchers say cutting emissions still slows it; another study this week says it may retreat faster than thought. [13]

Satellite data on the world's tallest ice cliffs shows they can drop icebergs up to three times faster than models predicted, a team led by Caroline Needell at MIT and Woods Hole found. [14] But none of the glaciers they watched fell into runaway collapse. [14] Scientists had feared each falling cliff would expose a taller, weaker one behind it. [14] Fast-flowing ice seems to thin the cliff edge and keep it lower. [14]

Why it matters. Runaway cliff collapse is one of the biggest unknowns in how fast seas will rise, and a UN climate report said it could double the rise expected in the next 100 years. [14] Thwaites, the glacier above, rests on undersea ridges that may run out this century. [14]

Bleached corals recovered within eight weeks in a California lab when they touched a healthy piece of the same coral, a study in Science Advances reported on 14 October. [12] Bleaching happens when hot water makes corals push out the tiny algae that feed them. [12] The healthy piece grew a bridge of tissue and passed algae across. [12] Bleached pieces kept a few millimetres apart died after 20 weeks. [12]

Why it matters. It worked only between pieces of one coral with the same genes, and only in a tank, so it is not yet a way to save reefs. [12] One of the authors says it may inspire fixes that can one day be used at scale. [12]

Rich countries gave about $4.4 billion a year in public money for nature in poorer countries from 2020 to 2023, a UN report found, against a goal of $20 billion a year by 2025. [18] The Cali Fund, set up in 2024 for companies that profit from nature's genetic data, has received two payments worth $6,000. [18] Countries are behind on 22 of the 23 nature targets they agreed in 2022. [19]

Why it matters. COP17, the UN's nature summit, opens in Yerevan, Armenia, on 19 October, and money is likely to be the main fight. [18] The 2022 deal promised to close a $200 billion a year gap in nature funding by 2030. [18]

India has approved factories that can make about 217 GW of solar panels a year, but only about 36 GW of the cells that go inside them, figures for August show. [20] Since June, panels for government-backed projects must use cells made in India. [20] From June 2028 the wafers, the thin discs cells are cut into, must be local too. [20] Cell capacity is expected to pass 80 GW by the end of 2027. [20]

Why it matters. India will need only 43 to 49 GW of panels this year, so many panel makers face a shake-out in 2027 and 2028. [20] Until the cell plants come, Indian projects stay short of cells that meet the rule. [20]

More than 45% of US solar panel production in 2027 will happen within about 100 miles of one Texas highway corridor near Dallas and Houston, Terawatt PV Research forecasts. [21] Firms such as Canadian Solar, Waaree and SEG Solar picked Texas partly because they could fit out empty buildings fast. [21] Several plan cell factories in Texas from 2027. [21]

Why it matters. The panel lines came first, and the cell factories are planned to follow from 2027. [21] It links to the US taxes on imported cells reported above. [9]

BloombergNEF, an energy research firm, now expects 584 GW of solar to be built worldwide in 2026, down 10.8% from 655 GW in 2025. [22] China is expected to fall 29%, from 383 GW to 271 GW. [22] The rest of the world grows from 272 GW to 313 GW, led by India, the Philippines, Nigeria and Malaysia. [22] An analyst there blames China's slowdown on its market filling up. [22]

Why it matters. The whole fall comes from China; the rest of the world is building about 15% more. [22] In Nigeria and the Philippines the growth is mostly panels on homes and businesses. [22]

AEP, one of the biggest US power companies, agreed to buy up to 1.6 GW of Mainspring Energy's generators over eight years, worth up to $4 billion. [23] They can run on gas, biogas or hydrogen and be working within 12 months. [23] Separately, AEP will spend about $4 billion on a 702 MW fuel cell plant near Cheyenne, Wyoming, to supply Google for 20 years. [24] The fuel cells are made by Bloom Energy and are due to run fully by the end of 2028. [24]

Why it matters. Tech companies want power faster than new grid lines and big plants can be built. [24] Earlier this month Google signed a similar deal with Black Hills, a utility planning $1.8 billion of new plants for its Cheyenne data centre. [24]

Members of NERC, the body that sets safety rules for North America's power grids, approved new rules for data centres and crypto mines on Thursday. [25] They would cover sites using 50 MW or more on high-voltage lines. [25] The rules follow an alert in May, after data centres suddenly dropped off the grid or swung their demand, shaking local grids. [25] A start-up, ON.Energy, sells batteries meant to cushion those jolts. [26]

Why it matters. NERC's board must still vote, and then the US energy regulator must approve. [25] Most data centres still rely on diesel generators for backup, which the batteries could partly replace. [26]

Duke Energy, the main power company in North Carolina, says it will start talks in early 2027 on a plan that lets big customers pay extra for new clean power. [27] Google and other companies have asked for this for most of the decade. [27] Duke said it would do it in spring 2024 and never followed through. [27] Only Duke may sell power to them in most of the state. [27]

Why it matters. Duke wants to build new gas plants partly for data centres. [27] Supporters say letting firms pay for their own clean power protects households from paying for plants a data centre may never use. [27]

Solaria, a Spanish solar company, signed a deal with Uruguay's government for data centres worth $5.7 billion, which Uruguay's government calls the largest foreign investment ever announced in the country. [31] The plan has 500 MW of data centres and 350 MW of solar panels to help power them. [31] The solar alone will not cover all the power needed. [31] Building is expected to run to 2029. [31]

Why it matters. Uruguay already makes a large share of its power from renewable sources. [31] The deal is expected to bring 3,100 building jobs and about 1,500 lasting ones. [31]

Families on one street in Allen, a town in Argentina's Patagonia region, describe cancers, miscarriages and birth defects since a fracking well was drilled there 13 years ago, the Guardian reports. [34] Fracking pumps water, sand and chemicals into rock at high pressure to free gas and oil. [34] Their street sits at the edge of Vaca Muerta, which holds the world's second-largest shale gas reserve and has more than 2,600 active wells. [34]

Why it matters. Doctors told residents fracking could be the cause but that it cannot be proved without proper studies. [34] Argentina's government is counting on Vaca Muerta: crude oil became the country's top export in 2025. [34]

Madeleine King, Australia's resources minister, said on Wednesday that emissions from the Beetaloo gas field are offset, then added that she would have to check. [35] Offsetting means paying for carbon cuts elsewhere to balance your own. [35] The Northern Territory government does not require it: an earlier government dropped the rule after the gas industry objected. [35] The first Beetaloo gas was pumped last month. [35]

Why it matters. A 2018 inquiry said the field should add nothing to Australia's total emissions. [35] A national rule covers only some sites that emit more than 100,000 tonnes a year. [35]

Climate scientists released the Carbon Impacts Tracer, which uses published studies to estimate the harm from each million tonnes of carbon dioxide. [36] Applied to a coal mine expansion in Australia's Hunter Valley, it estimates 809 million tonnes of emissions. [36] That could mean about 107 more deaths in Europe and 41,800 more people pushed into extreme poverty, it says. [36]

Why it matters. A single mine looks tiny next to the world's yearly emissions, and the tool is built to show what one project adds. [36] The figures are estimates from models, not counted harms. [36]

The Skuta glacier is the last glacier left in Slovenia, after the ice on Mount Triglav, its highest peak, melted away. [37] Scientists who have measured both for 80 years say Skuta has shrunk from 2.5 to 3 hectares to 1.5, and thinned from tens of metres to a few. [37] This year brought very little snow and then a very hot summer, the mix that hurts the ice most, says Miha Pavsek, one of them. [37]

Why it matters. Glaciers feed rivers such as the Drava and the Mura, which refill the groundwater that wells and pumps draw on. [37] Forecasts say all glaciers below 3,500 metres in Austria will be gone by 2050. [37]

Two hydrogen hubs in Pennsylvania, promised $750 million and $925 million of US government money in 2023, have stalled. [28] Green hydrogen is made by running clean electricity through water to split it. [28] One hub has gone silent, and the other's chief says its award is still active but partners are moving cautiously. [28] The US Energy Department did not respond to questions. [28]

Why it matters. The hubs were sold as bringing more than 20,000 jobs to the Delaware Valley alone. [28] Making hydrogen from solar power loses about 30% of the energy in the first step, which keeps it costly. [28]

About 109 million US homes, three-quarters of them, could switch to heat pumps without new power plants, a report from RMI, an energy research group, finds. [29] A heat pump moves warmth from outside air into a home instead of burning fuel. [29] US grids have spare room in winter, because most demand peaks in summer for air conditioning. [29] Bills could fall more than 20% in some states. [29]

Why it matters. More use of grid capacity already built spreads its cost over more power sold, which lowers the rate everyone pays, RMI says. [29] The spare room differs by region, so not every place gains equally. [29]