Climate, in brief

Nearly 200 countries agreed a new plan for nature early on Saturday, after overtime. [2]

They met at COP17, the UN's nature summit, in Yerevan, Armenia's capital. [1]

Countries promised to speed up work on the nature targets they set for 2030. [1]

But they left open the biggest fight: which countries must pay for it. [1]

Scientists say species are dying out about 100 times faster than the natural rate. [2]

Governments also pay twice: they fund harmful fishing, like trawling, then pay to repair nature. [2]

In diplomacy this is a consensus rule: a deal passes only when no country objects. [3]

The 2022 deal aims to cut $500 billion a year of subsidies that harm nature. [3]

Greenpeace says the agreed wording on those subsidies is weak. [4]

Ecuador beat Panama in a secret vote to host the next nature summit, in 2028. [4]

Nearly 200 countries in Yerevan agreed to try harder on 2030 nature targets that they are mostly missing, but they did not settle who pays.

The Cali Fund, meant to charge companies for nature's genetic data, has about $10,000 and was put off to 2028. [1][3]

A gavel, applause and a deal announced at dawn look like a result, while the hardest questions are moved to the next meeting.

The 2006 list of countries that must pay for nature still classes them as developing, and COP17 did not change it. [1][5]

A significant share was meant to reach them, and the fund has raised just over $10,000. [1]

How much new money COP17 actually raised.

The BBC counts more than $1 billion pledged, half from charities and rich donors; the summit's own secretariat counted more than $1.8 billion announced. [2][3]

What the final COP17 texts say.

The final versions of the two main texts were still not published early on Saturday. [4]

Whether China and Gulf states will ever join the countries that must pay for nature.

A late draft only invited other countries to join by choice, and the final agreement left it open. [4][1]

Germany said it will miss its goal of having gas stores 70% full by Sunday. [6]

Its stores are about 62% full, against 91% in Italy and 75% across the EU. [6]

Alessandro Noce, an Italian energy official, blamed late German buying for prices above €100. [6]

That price is for a megawatt-hour of gas; he says it would otherwise be near €70. [6]

Late last month Germany's minister told SEFE, a state-owned firm, to buy and store gas. [6]

Germany's economy ministry said on Friday: "We firmly reject the accusation." [6]

Italy spent about €300 million filling its own stores, Noce said. [6]

If winter is very cold, Italy may have to help cover Germany's shortfall. [6]

In energy economics a shared market has one price, so Germany's buying moves Italy's too. [6]

Countries that stored early, like Italy, may still pay for another country's late start. [6]

Whether Germany's gas stores fill before a cold spell.

Germany will miss its 70% goal by Sunday, and Italy says it may have to help if winter is very cold. [6]

UAE officials said they had contained the oil spill from the damaged tanker Gem No. 2. [7]

They have found no fresh leak, and the pollution has noticeably declined. [7]

The Chinese-owned supertanker was hit off Sharjah more than two weeks ago, experts say. [8]

Beaches stay shut in Umm Al Quwain, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, three UAE emirates. [7]

The slick lies mostly off Umm Al Quwain, reaching partly towards Ajman too. [7]

A marine monitor, Windward, counted 12 spills near the strait between July and September. [8]

Experts warn that turtles, dolphins and seabirds could be harmed. [8]

Spill teams are using machines to remove oil, alongside chemical sprays called dispersants. [7]

Fishermen have been told to avoid polluted areas while the clean-up goes on. [8]

This October is on track to be the hottest October ever recorded. [9]

Global temperatures are set to be about 1.76C above pre-industrial levels. [9]

That would beat October 2023, which reached 1.7C. [9]

Climate scientists Andrew Dessler and Zeke Hausfather made the projection. [9]

They used data from Copernicus, a Europe-based service that tracks the climate. [9]

El Nino, an unusually warm patch of the Pacific Ocean, is adding to the heat. [9]

2026 is now on track to be among the hottest years recorded, if not the hottest. [9]

Climate scientists add two pushes: steady warming from burning fuels, and El Nino's swings. [9]

The record is a projection; the final October figure is not out yet. [9]

Hausfather expects a series of record months, ending in a record 2027. [9]

A glacial lake in north-west Bhutan burst on Thursday night, flooding the Mochhu river. [10]

The lake, Shintapu Tsho, lies in Gasa district, which borders Tibet. [10]

The flood damaged two roads and swept away a bridge built in 2022 with Indian help. [10]

It washed away almost all public buildings at Gasa Tshachu, a popular hot spring. [10]

Officials reported no deaths or injuries. [10]

In India, at least 4,000 people in West Bengal were moved to safety. [11]

Assam's chief minister said his Indian state was watching the flood closely. [10]

This kind of flood has its own name: a glacial lake outburst flood, or GLOF. [10]

All 47 people reported missing in West Bengal were later found safe. [11]

The water crosses a border, so West Bengal relies on Bhutan's warnings and its own checks. [11]

Officials now fear a new lake, formed downstream near Taktsemakhang, could also burst. [10]

The glacial flood washed away almost all its public facilities. [10]

Whether the new lake in Bhutan bursts too.

Water is building up behind debris near Taktsemakhang, and officials fear a second outburst. [10]

Storm warnings covered Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane as a cold front crossed Australia. [12]

The Bureau of Meteorology, Australia's weather agency, warned of winds over 125km/h. [12]

Winds like that could bring down large trees and damage homes, it said. [12]

Large hail and flash floods were also possible in inland New South Wales. [12]

Storms reached Melbourne on Saturday and were due on the east coast on Sunday. [12]

Places soaked in the past fortnight face the highest flash-flood risk, a forecaster said. [12]

Meteorologists say these storms form where a cold front meets warm, humid air. [12]

How much damage the storms did is not yet known; these were warnings. [12]

Brisbane expects heavy rain and storms on Sunday afternoon. [12]

Greece and Turkey issued severe rain and flood warnings this week. [13]

Another 100-150mm of rain is expected in central Greece and western Turkey. [13]

Some places could get even more, forecasters say. [13]

The rain comes with strong winds across south-eastern Europe and Turkey. [13]

On Tuesday a tornado in Antalya, on Turkey's coast, killed 4 construction workers. [13]

Forecasters say an area of low pressure is letting powerful thunderstorms build there. [13]

Rain on this scale brings a risk of floods, which is why both countries issued warnings. [13]

Typhoon In-fa became a super typhoon on Wednesday, with sustained winds of 240km/h. [13]

Its gusts went over 296km/h. [13]

It is heading north-west and expected to miss Guam, hit by Typhoon Champi this month. [13]

In-fa is expected to affect the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific. [13]

Further east, Tropical Storm Vance brought 50-100mm of rain to western Mexico. [13]

Vance has now weakened to a tropical depression, a weaker storm. [13]

The islands have already been battered by four super typhoons this year. [13]

Its exact path, and how hard it hits the islands, is still a forecast. [13]

Xcel Energy, a US power company, plans to spend $70 billion over five years. [14]

That is 17% more than its previous $60 billion plan. [14]

It would add 9.2 gigawatts of renewables, 2.3 of storage and 3.3 of gas. [14]

About $7 billion goes to data centre projects already under contract. [14]

Xcel will borrow $26 billion and sell $8 billion of new shares to pay for it. [14]

Its quarterly profit jumped 83% to $960 million. [14]

Its boss says existing customers should not subsidise new large users like data centres. [14]

Utility regulators set its prices: Minnesota approved a 2.9% yearly rise in July. [14]

Xcel cannot yet say what it owes for the 2024 Smokehouse Creek fire in Texas. [14]

Claims could exceed its $525 million insurance, its filing says. [14]

Its quarterly profit rose 83% to $960 million on good weather, more sales and approved price rises. [14]

Britain's government approved Sea Link, a 138km undersea power cable from Suffolk to Kent. [15]

It can carry 2GW, enough for the equivalent of two million homes, National Grid says. [15]

It will carry power from offshore wind farms, links abroad and nuclear plants. [15]

It runs under the sea from Pegwell Bay in Kent to near Aldeburgh in Suffolk. [15]

The Planning Inspectorate said it heard local views before making its recommendation. [15]

Britain's government says it will cut payments to generators to switch off power. [15]

When the wires are full, the grid pays generators to stop; more wires cut that. [15]

Kent Wildlife Trust says the cable harms coastal habitats and will keep challenging it. [15]

A fault has halved how much power Northern Ireland can import from Great Britain. [16]

The link, the Moyle Interconnector, is an undersea cable now carrying only 250MW. [16]

Mutual Energy, which runs it, does not know the cause or a repair date. [16]

The fault comes just before winter, when demand for power is highest. [16]

The grid operator, SONI, still expects enough power to meet demand this winter. [16]

Grid operators test winter against a base case that assumes plants and links work. [16]

If the link stays broken, the risk rises but stays within safe limits, SONI says. [16]

When the Moyle power link is repaired.

Mutual Energy does not yet know the cause or the repair date. [16]

The EU and Canada agreed on Friday to study shipping Canadian gas to Europe. [17]

Canada has plenty of gas but no east-coast plant to turn it into liquid for ships. [17]

They also agreed more EU investment in Canada's critical minerals. [17]

The money would come through the European Investment Bank, the EU's lending arm. [17]

The deal was concluded after talks in Montreal. [17]

Both sides call themselves like-minded democracies in a world moving away from shared rules. [17]

The gas part is only a long-term feasibility study, not a supply deal. [17]

Ogra, Pakistan's oil and gas regulator, raised the price of imported gas by up to 15.3%. [18]

The rise follows a 20% cut for September. [18]

Higher crude oil prices were the main cause, the regulator said. [18]

Imported LNG cost $18.96 in July, $12.12 in August, $10.06 in September, $10.75 in October. [18]

LNG is liquefied natural gas, shipped in from abroad, priced per million British thermal units. [18]

Power stations burn this gas, so electricity costs in December are expected to rise. [18]

One gas company, SSGC, now loses 12.55% of its gas in its pipes, up from 10.6%. [18]

Imported gas rose by up to 15.3%, which is expected to raise power costs in December. [18]

First Solar, a US solar panel maker, cut its sales forecast for 2026. [19]

It now expects $4.6 billion to $4.9 billion, down from $4.9 billion to $5.2 billion. [19]

Its sales fell 23% in the third quarter as it sold fewer panels to other firms. [19]

Its profit still rose 25%, to $571 million. [19]

It blames uncertainty after an August US tariff order under a trade law, Section 232. [19]

Buyers who cannot tell what tariffs will cost hold back, so orders slow. [19]

Economists call this policy uncertainty: firms delay buying until the rules are clear. [19]

Its shareholders still gain: it approved a new $500 million share buyback. [19]

It faces a "binary decision" on the future of its Malaysia factory. [19]

SEG Solar plans a $950 million factory near Houston to make 4 gigawatts of solar cells. [20]

Today SEG assembles panels in Texas; the new plant would make the cells inside them. [20]

It will use a high-efficiency design called heterojunction, or HJT. [20]

It would open in two halves, in 2028 and 2029, with over 700 jobs. [20]

US-made cells help solar farms meet rules that reward home-made parts. [20]

SEG calls itself the only US firm making everything in one place: its own claim. [20]

US customs released solar cells made in Ethiopia by TOYO, a Japanese company. [21]

TOYO showed where its polysilicon and wafers, the cells' raw silicon, came from. [21]

In May, 8 US makers, including First Solar, accused it of using Chinese wafers. [21]

They say this dodges US duties on Chinese solar goods. [21]

Ethiopia's solar cell and panel sales to the US were almost nil before July 2025. [21]

In the second half of 2025 they reached about $277 million. [21]

The ruling decides whether Ethiopia's fast-growing solar trade with the US can carry on. [21]

Trade lawyers call it circumvention: routing goods through another country to avoid a duty. [21]

Any duties could be charged back to the start of the inquiry. [21]

The US Commerce Department makes a first ruling by 10 December. [21]

Its Ethiopian cells were released and can be sold in the US while the trade inquiry runs. [21]

Whether Ethiopia-made solar cells will face US duties.

The first US ruling is due by 10 December and the final one around May 2027. [21]

JA Solar, a Chinese solar maker, lost 3.64 billion yuan in the first nine months. [22]

That is more than its 3.558 billion yuan loss a year earlier. [22]

Its revenue fell 23.62% to 28.113 billion yuan. [22]

It blames low prices across the industry. [22]

Overseas buyers took 60.92% of the panels it shipped. [22]

Another Chinese maker, Jinko, renamed itself to invest in AI and space as well. [22]

Its losses come from low prices, write-downs on its factories and compensation costs, it says. [22]

Benin, a West African country, secured €30 million for its first privately run solar plants. [23]

The four plants will total 62 megawatts. [23]

The lenders are the International Finance Corporation and Proparco, France's development lender for firms. [23]

Axian, a pan-African company, will build them in Natitingou, Djougou, Parakou and Bohicon. [23]

They should add about 17% to Benin's power from 2028. [23]

Benin aims to connect about 928,000 more households to power by 2030. [23]

The state utility has agreed to buy the plants' power under long-term contracts. [23]

The money is now agreed, with power due in early 2028. [23]

Benin signed €30 million in loans for four solar plants that should add about 17% to its power from 2028.

Italy's cabinet rejected 10 solar projects totalling about 468 megawatts on 28 October. [24]

It approved five others, totalling 272 megawatts, all in Puglia. [24]

Many were agrivoltaic: solar panels built over farmland that is still farmed. [24]

The largest rejected was a 113-megawatt plant in Ascoli Satriano, in Puglia. [24]

The largest approved is a 76.77-megawatt farm between Foggia and Lucera, also in Puglia. [24]

Each project needs a formal environmental review opinion from the cabinet before it is built. [24]

Italy's government said protecting landscape and heritage outweighed producing more clean power. [24]

Neighbours who value the view gain; developers lose 468 megawatts of planned plants. [24]

Hitachi, a Japanese conglomerate, said its nuclear revenue rose 48% in a year. [25]

It plans to deliver the first of four small reactors to Ontario, Canada, in 2030. [25]

The reactors, called BWRX-300, make 300 megawatts each and are built with GE Vernova. [25]

The Tennessee Valley Authority, a US public power firm, wants one by 2032. [25]

Most of Hitachi's energy money still comes from grid equipment: $5.7 billion in the quarter. [25]

Data centres are driving demand for its grid equipment, Hitachi says. [25]