Climate News March 2026
UK & EU Climate News
- The UK government plans to cut climate aid to developing countries by about 14 percent, reducing spending to £2bn a year as part of a wider refocus of overseas aid. The decision comes as the overall aid budget is cut to 0.3 percent of gross national income, with climate, health, education and humanitarian programmes all affected under pressure from higher defence and economic costs linked to the Iran conflict. Funding for nature and forest protection has been scrapped, ending a long standing commitment to support deforestation prevention. Labour MPs and campaigners argue the move is short sighted and that climate and nature aid is central to global stability and the national security of Britain.
- Germany narrowly met its 2025 climate targets as greenhouse gas emissions fell by just 0.1 percent, suggesting stalled progress in cutting pollution. Emissions totalled around 649 million tonnes of CO2, only around 2 percent below the legal limit set by the country’s Climate Protection Act and well short of earlier forecasts. While overall emissions remained within the annual cap, the transport and buildings sectors missed their targets again, posting higher emissions and widening their shortfalls. Environment minister Carsten Schneider criticised the slow pace of change, calling for faster uptake of electric vehicles, heat pumps and renewable energy. Despite the weak performance, ministers remain confident Germany can still achieve its 2030 goal of reducing emissions by 65 percent from 1990 levels.
- Plans to speed up delivery of windfarms, solar parks and tidal power schemes have been set out as part of a new deal between the renewable energy industry and the Welsh government. Ministers say Wales must move faster to achieve energy independence, following recent volatility in global oil and gas markets. The deal includes 78 commitments, covering faster planning, skills and training, and measures to ensure communities benefit from local schemes. Wales generated enough renewable power to meet 54 percent of the country's electricity use in 2024 and aims to reach 100 percent by 2035. Industry groups say the agreement unlocks a £10bn investment opportunity and thousands of jobs. However, rural campaigners warn against expanding onshore wind and solar without community consent.
- England will need to repurpose around 7 percent of its land for nature restoration and renewable energy to meet climate and environmental targets, according to the UK government’s first national land use framework, reports The Guardian. The plan suggests that current land use is inefficient rather than limited by space, and it aims to meet conflicting demands for housing, food production, energy, and nature. Ministers say food production will be protected, housing can still expand, and only around 1 percent of land is likely to be needed for wind and solar.
Global Climate News
- India aims to cut the emissions intensity of its economy by 47 percent from 2005 levels by 2035, while continuing to scale up renewable energy under its Paris Agreement commitments. The government said clean power will underpin its strategy, with a target to raise the share of installed non fossil fuel capacity to 60 percent over the next decade. India had already reduced emissions intensity by 36 percent by 2020 and reached its 50 percent clean power target five years ahead of schedule. Analysts described the new targets as conservative, arguing rapid growth in solar and wind means progress is likely to outpace official commitments.
- Hawaii experienced its worst flooding in more than two decades, caused by intense rainfall across Oahu and Maui. Thousands were evacuated as floodwaters lifted cars and houses, submerged farms and swept through shops, leaving thick mud across communities. More than 200 people were rescued, with no deaths reported, but state officials estimate damage could exceed $1bn. The flooding followed weeks of extreme winter weather that left soils saturated, while storms drove unusually heavy rainfall. Experts say climate change is increasing the intensity and frequency of such extreme rain events in Hawaii.
- Asian countries pivot to coal as conflict in the Middle East disrupts liquefied natural gas supplies and drives prices higher. LNG prices in Asia have doubled to three year highs after shipping through the Strait of Hormuz stalled and exports from Qatar were halted. Utilities in Bangladesh, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand have increased coal fired power output, while Japan and South Korea are keeping coal and nuclear plants running more to limit reliance on expensive gas.
- Scientists say the record breaking heatwave scorching the western United States in early spring would have been virtually impossible without climate change. Temperatures across much of the region reached up to 17 degrees centigrade above average for March, breaking records in more than 140 cities in the US. An analysis found climate change has made such extreme heat around four times more likely, intensifying and amplifying the event compared with recent decades. Weather officials raised concerns about an increase in heat related illnesses, especially among vulnerable populations, and advised people to remain hydrated and stay inside when they can.
Solar panels and low carbon heating mandated for new homes in England
The UK government has published updated planning rules under the Future Homes Standard, requiring all new homes in England to use low carbon heating and rooftop solar. The Future Homes Standard will come into force from 24 March 2027, with a 12 month transitional period for developers to begin construction of existing projects under current rules. Housebuilders that begin construction after 24 March 2028, will face significantly increasing carbon emission targets and an obligation to install onsite renewable electricity generation.
Gas connections will end for new builds, with homes instead using heat pumps or heat networks. Developers will also need to install solar panels covering around 40 percent of the ground floor area. Developers expect the changes may add around £10,000 to construction costs per home, though lower energy bills are expected over time. Housebuilders support the direction of travel but warn that solar size requirements will prove difficult on many sites, potentially slowing delivery against government housing targets.
Alongside new build rules, the government plans to expand access to small plug in solar panels for existing homes, particularly flats. These balcony mounted systems are widely used in Europe and are expected to reach UK retailers once safety regulations are updated.
The world’s worst mega leaks of methane driving global heating
Satellite analysis has revealed widespread and severe methane mega leaks in 2025, highlighting a major avoidable driver of global heating. Using Carbon Mapper data, he investigation, led by the University of California, Los Angeles Stop Methane Project, identified extreme methane plumes from oil, gas, and waste facilities worldwide. Each of these leaks has a climate impact comparable to an entire coal fired power station.
Methane is responsible for around 25 percent of current global warming and has driven a sharp acceleration in temperature rise since 2007. Unlike carbon dioxide, methane stays in the atmosphere for a much shorter time. Cutting emissions offers rapid climate benefits, leading some experts to describe methane reduction as the climate system’s emergency brake.
The analysis found 4,400 significant methane plumes in 2025, each emitting more than 100 kilograms per hour. Many were linked to oil and gas infrastructure suffering from poor maintenance. Analysts stress that repairing these leaks is often simple, low cost, or even profitable because the captured gas can be sold.
Turkmenistan dominates the list of the worst mega leaks, reflecting long standing concerns about the scale of emissions from its state run energy sector. The United States also features prominently, with nine of the ten largest domestic leaks recorded in Texas. The single biggest U.S. plume leaked an estimated 5.5 tonnes of methane per hour, equivalent to emissions from around one million SUVs. Venezuela and Iran also recorded multiple major leaks from state owned facilities.
The study also shows methane releases from landfill sites, where poorly managed organic waste produces substantial emissions. These plumes were identified across Europe, North Africa, Asia, and North America.
Researchers argue that improved satellite monitoring removes any excuse for inaction. By identifying specific facilities and operators, the data enables governments, investors, and buyers to demand accountability. With the European Union introducing stricter methane standards for imported gas, analysts warn that high leak suppliers risk losing access to key markets unless meaningful repairs are made.
New Research
- A new research letter shows that climate change and forest loss will sharply raise temperatures during the hottest hour of the day across Southeast Asia by 2050, pushing many forests beyond known thermal limits. Maximum sub canopy temperatures are projected to rise by 1.7 degrees centigrade under moderate emissions and 2.3 degrees under high emissions. Between 52 percent and 66 percent of forests are expected to experience hotter conditions than any recorded since 1984, with the strongest warming in lowland and edge forests in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei.
- A research article finds that vegetation alters land surface temperatures in mountain regions in different ways depending on elevation across the Northern Hemisphere. Vegetation greening drives net surface warming above about 2000m, as darker plants replace snow and bare ground and absorb more solar energy. From 2001 to 2022, greening reduced the temperature contrast between high and low elevations by nearly 20 percent by flattening the elevational thermal gradient. At lower elevations, higher evapotranspiration offsets warming, while at high elevations albedo loss dominates, making mountains warm faster under climate change.
- An article maps growing opposition to solar geoengineering across governments, civil society, and academia, showing that resistance is increasing. It identifies eight core reasons for opposition, including extreme risks and uncertainties, failure to cut emissions, delays to mitigation, breaches of international law, injustice and power imbalances, lack of viable global governance, technological overconfidence, and ethical objections to manipulating the Earth system. Many groups now call for a global non use agreement, reshaping climate governance debates and rejecting solar geoengineering as a legitimate climate solution.
- A study shows that recent satellite observations of Thwaites Glacier align with scenarios of rapid ice loss over the next 50 years. Ice loss rates have increased more than fivefold since the 1990s. Models calibrated using surface elevation change data best match observed thinning and project losses of 180 to 200 billion tonnes per year by 2067, similar to today’s total Antarctic ice loss. Thinning spreads far inland along a deep bedrock trough, pointing to possible marine ice sheet instability and a significant future contribution to sea level rise.
- A new study assesses carbon dioxide removal from enhanced weathering on agricultural land. Experts estimate average global carbon removal potential of around 0.2 to 0.7 gigatonnes CO2 per year. However, the uncertainty around this estimate is high. Outcomes range from enhanced weathering acting as a net source of emissions to removing more than 5 gigatonnes of CO2 per year. Only around 27 to 39 percent of captured carbon is expected to reach durable storage, with major losses in soils and freshwater systems. The results show that there are large gaps in data on soil, river, and ocean processes which limit confidence in current carbon credit claims.
- A decade long grassland experiment shows that warming effects on soil carbon depend strongly on water availability. Warming reduced soil carbon by around 12 percent under drought conditions but increased it by nearly 7 percent in wet conditions. The study shows that losses during drought were driven mainly by declines in mineral associated organic carbon and not plant inputs. Microbial activity explains the contrast, with drought raising microbial carbon loss efficiency while wet conditions suppressed it.
- A new study shows that tropical cyclone heavy rainfall is moving further inland. From 1980 to 2023, the inland reach of cyclone rainfall of at least 30 millimetres in three hours increased by about 3.8 kilometres per decade along Northern Hemisphere coasts. The trend is strongest in the western North Atlantic, Bay of Bengal, and western North Pacific. The study suggests that nearshore sea surface warming linked to greenhouse gas forcing is the main driver.
