Climate Home News reports that China has “slammed” the US for its record on climate change and the environment “in an extraordinary public attack less than two weeks before Americans go to the polls”. CHN reports that the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs has produced a “factsheet” which describes the US as a “consensus-breaker and a troublemaker” and says it “seriously undermined global climate governance and cooperation” by failing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. Commenting on US president Donald Trump specifically, the factsheet says he “not only back-pedalled on its domestic environmental protection policies, but also seriously undermined the fairness, efficiency and effectiveness of global environmental governance”. The tone of the factsheet suggests that “even if Joe Biden wins the election on 3 November, a Democratic administration would have to face up to the consequences of the US retreat from climate action”, CHN says. Meanwhile,Naturereports on how China could meet its pledge to reach carbon neutrality by 2060. (See Carbon Brief’sarticleon the same topic published last week.)

The Guardian reports that billions of dollars are being loaned on high-interest terms to poor countries seeking help to cope with the impacts of climate change, raising the risk of debt, according to Oxfam. Poor countries are reported to have received about $60bn (£45bn) in climate finance from rich governments and publicly funded institutions in 2017-18, the Guardian says. But Oxfam estimates that the amount that actually reached the countries was more like $19bn to $22.5bn when interest, repayments and other costs are subtracted, the Guardian reports. The Oxfam report also shows that rich countries have not delivered on their 2009 commitment to mobilise $100bn in climate finance by 2020,Climate Home Newsreports. (In 2018,亚慱官网reported on how climate finance flows around the world.)

The Times reports that UK car companies could be compelled to sell a rising share of electric vehicles each year under “California-style plans” being considered by the government. Ministers believe a “zero-emission vehicle mandate”, similar to the one introduced in the US state in the 1990s, could be the most efficient way of delivering their pledge to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035, the Times says. The Times reports: “It would allow grants and other subsidies for electric cars, such as zero road tax, to be phased out while ensuring sales rose rapidly. It could also help attract electric car manufacturers to Britain.” Meanwhile, theGuardianreports that Uber has pledged to spend £5m in public electric vehicle charging infrastructure in some of the poorest boroughs in London, to help persuade its reluctant drivers to switch to electric cars.

The Daily Telegraph reports on a study finding climate change researchers fly more frequently than those from other disciplines. A survey of more than 1,400 university researchers found climate researchers took about five flights a year compared to four for non-climate researchers, before the coronavirus pandemic, the Daily Telegraph says. “Rates among climate scientists were higher even after taking into consideration the fact they conducted more fieldwork,” the Daily Telegraph says. Thei newspaperreports that study lead author Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh said the findings of the survey were “unexpected”, but said they prove “knowledge is not enough” to change workplace behaviour. TheTimesalso has the story.

For the New York Times, opinion writer Margaret Renkl argues the “world cannot survive four more years of the [Donald] Trump administration’s environmental policy”. She says: “Instead of getting serious about climate change, Republicans have run headfirst into the fire, repealing or weakening nearly 100 existing environmental protections. Those changes alone, if left to stand, will add 1.8 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere by 2035.” Meanwhile, theGuardianhas published an interactive article detailing 75 ways Trump has “shredded” environmental protections while in office.

The FT’s energy editor David Sheppard speaks to International Energy Agency chief Faith Birol on the global transition to net-zero emissions. Commenting on oil companies’ commitments to reducing their emissions, Birol says: “When I read the newspapers, oil companies that are making commitments – this European company, that European company, that American company – well, if you look at the numbers, if you put all these oil companies, which are covering 90% of the pages of newspaper coverage about those making net-zero commitments, they are making less than 10% of global oil production. There are a huge amount of oil companies in the world which have not yet committed themselves to CO2 reductions.” Sheppard spoke to Birol at the FT Commodities Global Summit on 28 September.

The Daily Telegraph has published a three-part series on how oil giants are clambering to reinvent themselves as environmentally friendly companies. The first part, by Ambrose-Evan Pritchard andpublished昨天一个fternoon, says oil giants have “embraced carbon capture with the zeal of the converted, betting that this neglected technology can be made cheap enough – quickly enough – to head off the seemingly unstoppable march towards electrification and the green hydrogen economy”. Yesterday, theDaily Telegraph由罗宾Pagnamenta发表了一篇文章,标题d: “How Big Oil’s beasts risk being reduced to the role of dinosaurs.” The third part, published this morning by Rachel Millard, looks at BP and Shell’s “bold ambitions” for boosting renewables. She writes: “[Oil giant chiefs] now tread a delicate path as they try and push forward in renewable energy while maintaining high enough returns to generate investment – and without cutting off the cash from their core oil and gas businesses, which remains a lifeline.”

US homeowners installing an air source heat pump will have likely seen a boost to their house price, new research suggests. In a study across 23 states, the researchers find that residences with an air source heat pump “enjoy a 4.3–7.1% (or US$10,400–17,000) price premium on average”. The authors note that “residents who are environmentally conscious, middle class and live in regions with mild climate are more likely to pay a larger price premium”.

一个新的“重点文章“旨在理解outcomes of climate activism and the climate movement. The study provides “an overview of climate-related activism as a form of civic engagement” and pays “particular attention to the targets of this activism and its environmental outcomes in terms of greenhouse gas emissions reductions”. The paper also focuses on school strikes and discusses “how the coronavirus pandemic has changed the climate movement with much activism moving online”.

New research tests the relative effects of three major environmental cues that shape spring phenological events: chilling, forcing and photoperiod. Using a global meta-analysis of all published experiments, the researchers find that “almost all species show strong responses to all three cues, with chilling being the strongest and photoperiod the weakest”. The findings “unify both sides of the debate over phenological cues”, the authors say, adding: “while all species may respond to all cues strongly in experimental conditions, in current environmental conditions the dominant signal of climate change is from increased forcing.”