Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.  An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change. This week Asian extreme weather SWELTERING: An intense heatwave is sweeping across south and eastern Asia. The Dhaka Tribune said temperatures in Bangladesh have surpassed 40C in many regions and the Daily Star reported that the country recorded at least 23 days “heatwave days” in April. Agence France-Presse reported that Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, reached 40.1C on Wednesday. The Bangkok Post added that temperatures could reach 43C in northern Thailand next week. (See Carb ..read more

Latin American and Caribbean countries approved a new action plan to protect environmental defenders this week. This occurred at the third Conference of the Parties (COP3) to the Escazú Agreement, held in Santiago, Chile, from 22 to 24 April.  The Escazú Agreement, in force since 22 April 2021, is a legally binding regional treaty that aims to protect environmental defenders and promote public participation and access to information on environmental matters. The conference brought together more than 700 people, from state parties and civil-society organisations to youth activists and Indi ..read more

Welcome to Carbon Brief’s Cropped.  We handpick and explain the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight. This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s fortnightly Cropped email newsletter. Subscribe for free here. Key developments Mass coral bleaching event GLOBAL EVENT: The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced last week that the “world is currently experiencing a global coral bleaching event” – the fourth ever and the second this decade. “Mass bleaching” of reefs in every major ocean basin has ..read more

Fossil-fuel drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) could put polar bears at risk of “lethal” oil spills, new research suggests. Former president Donald Trump passed a law to enable drilling in the refuge in 2017. This followed decades of fierce debate between Democrats and Republicans about whether to allow extractive activities in the 7.7m-hectare (19m-acre) expanse, a haven for wildlife sitting on top of an estimated 11bn barrels of oil. On his first day in office, US president Joe Biden suspended drilling inside the ANWR pending a review. In 2023, his administration can ..read more

The share of electricity in Great Britain generated from burning coal and gas fell to a record-low 2.4% earlier this month, Carbon Brief analysis shows. The record low was reached at lunchtime on Monday 15 April and lasted for one hour. There have been a record 75 half-hour periods in 2024 to date when fossil fuels met less than 5% of demand. There were only five such periods during the whole of 2022 – and just 16 last year. The findings show that National Grid Electricity System Operator (NGESO) is closing in on its target of running the country’s electricity network without fossil fuels ..read more

This year is shaping up to either match or surpass 2023 as the hottest year on record. Global temperatures have been exceptionally high over the past three months – at around 1.6C above pre-industrial levels – following the peak of current El Niño event at the start of 2024. The past 10 months have all set new all-time monthly temperature records, though the margin by which new records have been set has fallen from around 0.3C last year to 0.1C over the first three months of 2024.  April 2024 is on track to extend this streak to 11 record months in a row. The first quarter of th ..read more

根据全球能源监测组织（GEM）的最新年度报告，2023年中国煤电建设活动占全球新建煤电活动的95%。 GEM的全球煤电行业年度报告称，中国有70吉瓦（GW）的煤电装机容量破土动工，相较2019年增长了四倍。 相比之下，世界其他地区新开工煤电装机容量不足4吉瓦，是2014年以来的最低水平。 除中国外，只有32个国家有处于拟建阶段的新建煤电项目，只有七个国家有在建电厂。 虽然2023年全球煤电装机容量（包括总装机容量和中国以外地区的装机容量）有所增长，但GEM表示，这很可能只是“昙花一现”，随着未来几年美国和欧洲加速煤炭退役，这一增长将会被抵消。 该报告的其他主要发现包括：全球燃煤电厂——中国以外地区——建设连续第二年下降。然而，全球煤电厂的退役率也处于2011年以来的最低水平。 中国的“关键时刻” GEM表示，2023年中国有47.4吉瓦的煤电装机容量投产。这一增量占全球在运煤电装机容量增长的三分之二，全球装机容量整体增长了2%，达到2130吉瓦。 2023年，中国有70.2吉瓦的新建项目开工，是世界其他国家，合计3.7吉瓦，的19倍。如下图所示，中国的发展轨迹（红线）与世界其他地区（橙色线）存在显著差异。 中国的新开工装机容量几乎是2019年的四倍，彼时中国的新建燃煤电厂开工量创下了九年来的新低。 这是中国每年开工建设的新燃煤电厂装机容量连续第四年增长。GEM指出，这与中国在20 ..read more

Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.  An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change. This week Coral mass bleaching FOURTH MASS BLEACHING: US government scientists confirmed that the world is facing its fourth mass coral bleaching event, which is on track to be the “most extensive on record”, the Guardian reported. Mass coral bleaching is a phenomenon of the climate change era, first occurring in 1998, the story said. It added that 54% of ocean waters with coral reefs have experienced heat stress high enough for bleaching.  BARRIER BREACHED: The Great B ..read more

Welcome to Carbon Brief’s China Briefing. China Briefing handpicks and explains the most important climate and energy stories from China over the past fortnight. Subscribe for free here. Key developments China pushes back on US and EU ‘overcapacity’ complaints ‘FAIR’ COMPETITION: German chancellor Olaf Scholz and US treasury secretary Janet Yellen have visited China in the past fortnight, amid concerns regarding China’s dominance in clean-technology supply chains. Scholz commented in Shanghai that “competition must be fair” and, “in other words, that there is no dumping, that there is no ..read more

Hundreds of millions of Indians will head to the polls from 19 April to 1 June amid scorching heat to cast their votes in the world’s biggest elections. Their decisions could have significant consequences for how – or even if – India meets its climate goals and adapts rapidly to now almost daily extreme weather impacts.  Over the past decade, the Narendra Modi-led Indian government has been projected and perceived as a climate leader internationally: from his COP26 speech in Glasgow committing India to net-zero by 2070 through to his G20 presidency last year where he announced a renewable ..read more