The US is pressuring other countries to reject a UN deal on cutting emissions from shipping by threatening them with tariffs, visa restrictions and port levies, Reuters reports. The newswire explains: “In April, countries struck a draft agreement through the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) that would impose a fee on ships that breach global carbon emissions standards.” It adds: “The US State Department has reached out to other IMO member countries in recent days warning them not to adopt the so-called ‘Net-Zero Framework’, according to four sources, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter…The initial deal was passed by 63 states, with 16 voting no and 24 abstentions. A majority will be required for adoption if it goes to a vote, and sources said it was unclear if it could pass if more countries abstained.” The EU remains committed to the deal, reports Euractiv.

The UN “urged countries on Wednesday to set more ambitious climate plans during this month”, Reuters reports, citing a letter issued by UN climate chief Simon Stiell. The newswire says the letter is “seeking to pressure major economies including the EU and China ahead of this year’s UN climate summit”. Climate Home News says Stiell called for “strong” climate targets to be submitted as soon as possible, so that they can be included in a UN assessment of their collective impact, due to be published before the COP30 climate talks in November.

MORE ON COP

• The Brazilian COP30 presidency is pushing “two key initiatives”, reports the Financial Times Moral Money newsletter, namely a $125bn global fund for forest conservation and greater global coordination on carbon pricing. It says the latter faces “serious obstacles”, but “reflects the growing global momentum around carbon pricing”.
• Reuters: “Ethiopia bids to host 2027 UN climate summit.”
• The Guardian: “Brazil’s Amazon love motels ditch erotic decor to host COP30 climate summit.”

The White House has “taken the extraordinary step of instructing a half-dozen agencies to draft plans to thwart the country’s offshore wind industry”, the New York Times reports. It continues: “Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, and Stephen Miller, a senior White House adviser, are leading the effort, according to two people briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly. Agencies that typically have little to do with offshore wind power have been drawn into the effort, the two people said.” The administration “plans to revoke federal approval of Avangrid’s planned New England Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts”, Reuters reports, citing court filings. The Hill, Bloomberg and E&E News also have the story.

In related coverage, Bloomberg reports comments from Massachusetts governor Maura Healey “saying more electricity supplies are needed to help consumers struggling to pay already-high utility bills”. It quotes her saying that the federal government should be “working with states, not against states, in an effort to bring more power on board” and that Donald Trump’s stance on wind “makes no sense”. Climatewire says the US offshore wind industry is “in a fight for survival”. 

MORE ON US

• Trump’s funding cuts for the Federal Emergency Management Agency have “hampered the agency’s ability to respond to hurricanes and other natural catastrophes”, the New York Times reports, citing a “government oversight body”.
• A US appeals court “unanimously” rejected environment groups’ effort to block Trump administration plans for oil and gas lease sales off the Gulf coast, Politico says.
• The Wall Street Journal: “Trump’s anti-climate crusade puts big oil in awkward spot.” The New York Times: “The biggest US oil companies are eliminating thousands of jobs.” 
• Bloomberg: “Top US coal miner Peabody sees booming demand in Trump era.”
• A comment for the Financial Times by Thea Riofrancos, associate professor of political science at Providence College, says Trump has a “fixation” with rare earths, but that demand for the elements “is greatest in the clean energy sector that the US president is intent on dismantling”.

The European Commission is set to propose measures to prevent countries from “dodging” the EU’s carbon border tariffs when they kick in at the start of next year, Reuters reports. It explains: “The system aims to put foreign producers on a level footing with European manufacturers, who already pay for their emissions under Europe’s carbon market. Officials in Brussels are concerned the system could be circumvented if foreign companies simply adjust by sending low-carbon products to Europe, while continuing to produce high-carbon goods for other markets. This would allow them to dodge the EU carbon levy without making their overall production any greener.”

MORE ON EUROPE

• The Polish government is pushing for a greater share of the EU’s 2040 emissions reduction target to be met using international carbon credits, says Bloomberg.
• The EU will issue €9.8bn for nuclear research, with fusion projects “taking [the] lion’s share”, reports Euractiv. Separately, Energywire reports under the headline: “Fusion cash is everywhere. Is a breakthrough coming?”
• An “investment gap” is “putting [the] EU’s clean tech competitiveness and climate progress at risk”, BusinessGreen reports, citing a new analysis.
• The carbon capture and storage industry is calling for greater EU-UK cooperation, says BusinessGreen.
• The “collapse” in sales of Tesla electric vehicles (EVs) has continued in Europe’s largest markets, according to Bloomberg, even as EV sales overall climbed 26% year-on-year in the first seven months of 2025.

Oil and gas major Shell has “scrapped construction of one of Europe’s biggest biofuels plants as it continues its retreat from green energy”, the Times reports. It says Shell will not restart building the facility in Rotterdam, which started in 2022 and had been due to make “sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel”. The newspaper quotes a Shell executive saying: “We continue to believe that low-carbon molecules, including biofuels, will underpin the future energy system.” Reuters says construction on the plant, which had been due to open in 2025, was paused last year. It adds: “Along with other major oil companies, Shell has been shifting away from renewable projects and back to its traditional expertise of fossil fuel production.” Bloomberg says the plant was to have been one of Europe’s biggest of its type. The Wall Street Journal, Euractiv and the Daily Telegraph all have the story. In a comment article for the Times, chief business commentator Alistair Osborne writes that “green flights seem like pie in the sky” after Shell’s decision to stop building the SAF plant.

The world will only be able to safely store a tenth of the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) expected, according to new research covered by Bloomberg. The outlet says: “There’s ‘a prudent global limit’ of around 1.46tn tonnes of CO2 that can be safely stored in geologic formations, according to the research. That’s ‘almost 10 times smaller than estimates proposed by industry that have not considered risks to people and the environment’, it said.” The Financial Times says: “The risk of earthquakes, engineering failures or territorial disputes meant that less than 1,500bn tons could be safely stored, [the study] found, compared with previous estimates of up to 40,000bn tons.” It adds that this amount would reduce global warming by “only 0.7C”.

The rapid adaptation of electric heavy-duty trucks in China will “likely lead to diesel consumption dropping by 153,000 barrels per day”, business news outlet Yicai reports, citing energy research firm Rystad Energy. It quotes Ye Lin, an analyst with Rystad Energy, saying “electrification” in China means “demand for gasoline…will continue to fall in the coming years”. The state-run newspaper China Daily reports that 1m “new-energy vehicles (NEVs)” were sold in China in August, accounting for around 57% of sales, according to the China Passenger Car Association. It quotes Zhang Hong, a senior NEV industry expert at the China Automobile Dealers Association, saying NEVs are expected to account for around 54% of sales in the second half of 2025.

Meanwhile, China’s top coal-to-chemicals producers are seeing significant rises in profits, while “traditional oil-based” chemical producers are facing losses, Bloomberg reports. The news outlet cites analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air’s Lauri Myllyvirta for Carbon Brief, which found that China’s coal-to-chemicals sector “emitted 690m tonnes” of CO2 in 2024 – 440m tonnes more than would have been released by equivalent production at oil- and gas-based plants.

MORE ON CHINA

• The NDRC released new draft regulations on rules for the “medium- and long-term electricity market”, BJX News reports.
• International Energy Net covers a statement by China’s finance ministry that it rolled out “clean-heating policy support” across 88 cities.
• A Global Times editorial says the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) displays “true multilateralism” through cooperation in fields such as “energy” “and green development”. China Environment News covers a new report finding China-SCO cooperation on “developing green industry” is being “continuously strengthened”.
• PV Magazine: “China energy storage project pipeline grows nearly 140GWh in July.
• 21st Century Business Herald interviews Beijing Green Exchange chairman Wang Naixiang, who says demand in China’s voluntary carbon market will likely “further increase”.

Dutch pension fund PFZW, one of Europe’s largest, has “pulled…about €14.5bn from BlackRock in part because of concerns over the US asset manager’s voting record on sustainability issues”, the Times reports. It says the decision “highlights the diverging approaches towards environmental, social and governance credentials for investors in America and Europe”. The Financial Times, in coverage trailed on its frontpage, says the move “comes after the pension fund developed a new investment strategy where financial performance, risk and sustainability carry equal importance”. Bloomberg says the decision came “amid concerns the world’s biggest money manager [BlackRock] isn’t acting in the best interests of clients when it comes to climate risk”.

MORE ON FINANCE

• Financial Times: “New Lloyd’s of London boss gives insurers green light to cover fossil fuels.”
• Members of the Net-Zero Asset Managers group “hold billions of dollars’ worth of fossil-fuel stocks”, reports DeSmog.
• Venture capitalists in the All Aboard Coalition are aiming to “help address the fundraising challenge of climate tech startups on the brink of commercialisation”, says Bloomberg.
• Financial Times: “Microsoft extends dominance of carbon removal market.”

The German government is “not ruling out” a larger-than-planned expansion of gas-fired power plants over the next decade, Montel News reports, citing comments by economy minister Katherina Reiche yesterday. According to Bloomberg, the ministry cited figures from a new report from the Federal Network Agency as showing that the country would need 22-36 gigawatts (GW) of new gas capacity by 2035. However, the outlet adds: “While the economy ministry said the latest estimates highlight the need for more gas-fired power plants, the grid regulator didn’t specify any technology, saying batteries and flexible power consumption could also help fill the gap.”

MORE ON GERMANY

• In a report ahead of a government review, the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce has claimed that a greater focus on gas, emissions trading and reduced regulation would cut the cost of the country’s energy transition, reports Reuters.
• Clean Energy Wire: “Germany must do more to reduce energy prices, say industry groups.”

In a comment for the Financial Times, Richard Milne, Nordic and Baltic bureau chief, reflects on the ongoing 2025 election campaign in Norway, saying: “Norway – which had tried out the argument that it was among the ‘greenest’ of oil producers, with lower emissions per barrel than most in its production – now had a new selling point: it is the democratic supplier of choice, especially of gas, of which it is today Europe’s leading provider…But some in Norway – both in politics and business – worry that the country may be misreading its customers in Europe and their willingness to buy Norwegian oil and gas in the decades to come.” Milne says that while the future of the oil industry has played a “surprisingly small role” in the election, which is “too close to call between the ruling centre-left and the opposition centre-right”, there is a “decent chance that Norway gets ‘a much greener parliament than ever before’, as Green MP Rasmus Hansson puts it”.

MORE COMMENT

• BusinessGreen editor James Murray asks: “What is the future of the North Sea?”
• The Financial Times Inside Politics newsletter says the election of Zack Polanski as Green leader “could hobble Labour”.
• For the Times, columnist Hugo Rifkind writes under the headline: “Whose side are you on? Green Zack will tell you.”
• The net-zero sceptic Daily Telegraph carries a comment calling Polanski a “menace”.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Simon Evans, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Anika Patel. It was edited by Daisy Dunne.

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