Climate News June 2025

UK & EU Climate News

• Spring 2025 was the UK’s warmest on record, according to provisional Met Office data, BBC News reports. Eight of the ten warmest UK springs have occurred since 2000, with the top three all since 2017. It was also the sunniest spring on record for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and the driest in over 50 years. The Times says average daytime temperatures reached 14.6C, surpassing the 1893 record. England saw its driest spring since that year, with just 128.2mm of rain. Reservoirs are lower than in 2022’s drought, and the Environment Agency has declared a drought in northwest England. The Met Office warns of increased heatwave risk this summer.

• At the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) annual congress in Berlin, Germany’s new economy and energy minister, Katherina Reiche, stressed that energy policy is a matter of national security, not just climate, reports WirtschaftsWoche. Criticising the previous government's approach as too rigid, she has called for a more pragmatic, innovation-led strategy with clear targets. Reiche echoed concerns from major utilities about “overly ambitious” renewable targets, warning of costly, unnecessary grid expansions. She backed increased gas capacity, battery storage, and flexible power plants. Reuters notes she announced a government review of electricity demand and supply security.

• The UK’s chancellor Rachel Reeves has unveiled a £86bn science and tech funding package in the UK’s Spending Review, BBC News says the investment will support electric vehicles and advanced batteries. Reeves will also confirm £113bn in infrastructure investment, including approval for the Sizewell C nuclear plant and mini-reactors. While the head of the Sizewell C scheme in Suffolk is “optimistic”, BBC News notes a new legal challenge has been launched. The Guardian reports energy secretary Ed Miliband fought to retain funding for a major insulation programme, amid concerns other green schemes could be cut. The Times says the spending review will determine the fate of key carbon capture and storage projects. The Guardian also reveals Friends of the Earth has warned Labour of legal action if net-zero plans are undermined.

• Centrica, owner of British Gas, has signed a £20bn deal to buy gas from Norway’s Equinor over the next decade, reports the Financial Times. The agreement, covering 5bn cubic metres annually from October to 2035, will supply about 9% of the UK’s current gas demand - enough for 5m homes. While smaller than recent deals, The Guardian notes it includes a clause to swap gas for emissions-free hydrogen, aligning with net-zero goals.

• The UK government has confirmed that the long awaited Future Homes Standard will be published this autumn, making it clear that all new homes will require solar panels. The announcement is part of the government’s broader Plan for Change, which focuses on enhancing energy efficiency, cutting carbon emissions, and reducing future homeowners’ energy costs. While the initiative has been praised by many industry professionals and consumers as a positive move toward sustainable energy and financial savings, some have expressed concerns about the potential difficulties it may pose for builders and homebuyers as the new regulations are implemented. Beyond solar, the Future Homes Standard includes mandatory low-carbon heating solutions like heat pumps, alongside high energy efficiency standards. Planning rules have already been relaxed to support this transition: homeowners can now install a heat pump within one metre of their property boundary without needing planning permission.

Global Climate News

• The European Commission is set to propose a ban on new Russian gas contracts by the end of 2027, reports Reuters, aiming to use trade law in a move to ensure the plan cannot be blocked by EU members Hungary and Slovakia. Most imports of Russian pipeline and liquefied natural gas would be banned from 2026, with longer deadlines for certain contracts. Around 19% of Europe’s gas still comes from Russia. Austria has suggested the EU remain open to resuming Russian gas imports if a peace deal ends the war in Ukraine. The proposal does not include limits on Russian nuclear fuel.

• The Trump administration has unveiled plans to remove federal protections across millions of acres in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, opening the vast wilderness to oil drilling and mining, reports the New York Times. Interior secretary Doug Burgum claimed the Biden-era restrictions exceeded federal authority. The 23m-acre reserve is the largest area of public land in the US and ecologically sensitive. The Financial Times says industry groups and Republicans welcomed the move, while Democrats and environmentalists condemned it. The Associated Press adds that Trump aims to double Alaskan oil flow and launch a major natural gas project. At an Anchorage energy conference, top Trump officials promoted expanded fossil fuel development, drawing protests for ignoring the climate crisis.

• Global energy investment is projected to hit a record $3.3tn in 2025, driven by a surge in clean-energy spending, reports Reuters. The International Energy Agency (IEA) says $2.2tn will go towards clean technologies, double the investment expected in fossil fuels, despite ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainty. A sharp drop in oil prices has led to a “contraction in the oil sector”, the Financial Times notes, with oil production spending forecast to fall 6% - the largest drop since 2016 excluding the pandemic years. Overall upstream oil and gas investment will decline by 4% to under $570bn, and global refinery investment will hit a decade low at around $30bn, adds Bloomberg. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports solar power investment is expected to reach $450bn in 2025.

• In a significant shift from recent trends, major banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America boosted their fossil fuel financing by over 20% in 2024. A report from a coalition of groups, led by the Rainforest Action Network, found that the top 65 global banks by assets increased their coal, oil, and gas funding by $162 billion, reaching a total of $869 billion. This marked the first increase in fossil fuel financing since 2021, the year many banks committed to net-zero targets at the UN COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. Additionally, the Observer reports that Brazil plans to hold an oil exploration rights auction just months before hosting the COP30 climate summit.

• At least 151 people have died in central Nigeria after flash floods struck the town of Mokwa at the end of May, reports BBC News. The Niger State Emergency Management Agency said more than 500 households and over 3,000 people were affected, with entire families among the victims. Officials warned the death toll may rise as some were swept into the River Niger. The Associated Press links the disaster to climate change, citing extreme rainfall following prolonged dry spells. Agence France-Presse reports over 50 children missing from an Islamic school, while Daily Post criticises the lack of flood prevention despite early warnings.

UK Government to announce 'largest flood defence investment programme in history'

The UK government has confirmed its upcoming infrastructure strategy will include “the largest flooding programme in history”, with a record £7.9bn of public funding over the next decade. The investment will cover traditional flood defences and nature-based solutions such as reforestation and wetland restoration to help reduce flood risks. The Press Association highlights that climate change is increasing flooding threats, with the Environment Agency warning that one in four properties in England will face flood risks from rivers, the sea, or surface water by mid-century. The government estimates that every £1 spent on flood defences could prevent £8 in economic damage.

Oceans protection treaty could take effect from January

The UN Ocean Conference opened in Nice, France, with French president Emmanuel Macron announcing that a landmark treaty to protect the high seas is on track to come into force in early 2026. Macron said 55 countries have already ratified the agreement, with at least 15 more in progress - surpassing the 60-ratification threshold required.

Macron criticised US president Donald Trump for allowing deep-sea mining and pulling climate funding, arguing such moves undermine global ocean protections. The US declined to participate fully in the sumit, sending only observers, with Bloomberg stating Washington opposes the UN’s focus on marine conservation.

UN secretary-general António Guterres urged world leaders to ratify the treaty, warning of the worsening impacts of overfishing, plastic pollution and ocean warming. “We must move from plunder to protection,” he told delegates. The summit drew 60 world leaders, including Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Argentina’s Javier Milei, and several small island states.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced an EU pledge to restore 20% of marine ecosystems by 2030. The UK has committed to ratifying the treaty “as soon as legislative time allows”, according to The Times. In addition, the UK government has proposed extending a ban on bottom trawling across 30,000km² of English seabed.

Sizewell C power station to be built as part of UK’s £14bn nuclear investment

UK energy secretary Ed Miliband has announced £14.2bn in funding for new nuclear power, including a major boost to the Sizewell C project in Suffolk. The plant is expected to create 10,000 jobs and generate electricity for 6m homes. Miliband described the investment as part of a “golden age” of nuclear, essential to achieving the government’s net-zero goals amid rising electricity demand.

The funding forms part of the £113bn capital investment package due to be confirmed by chancellor Rachel Reeves in the Spending Review. The Financial Times reports that the government’s announcement includes £11.5bn in new funding for Sizewell C, bringing total taxpayer support to £17.8bn.

However, The Times notes concerns over costs and delays, pointing to EDF’s Hinkley Point C in Somerset, which shares the same design as Sizewell and has been plagued by overruns. Though EDF claims lessons from Hinkley will help reduce costs and timelines for Sizewell, the Suffolk project is still expected to exceed its initial £20bn estimate and will not deliver power for at least another decade. Final costs and private investor details will be revealed this summer. Miliband insisted the nuclear push will not come at the expense of renewables, calling it “essential” to the UK’s clean power and net-zero ambitions.

Canadian wildfire smoke causes air quality hazards in the US and reaches Europe

Smoke from Canadian wildfires affected air quality across the US Midwest in June, reports Le Monde. Over 26,000 people were evacuated as the fires persisted across three provinces, sending thick smoke across Canada and the US. Smoke reportedly covered around one third of the US. The Associated Press reports that High-altitude plumes were reported to reach Greece and the eastern Mediterranean, with a larger plume crossing the Atlantic. Copernicus scientist Mark Parrington said the ability of the smoke to travel such vast distances shows the fires’ intensity. The fires have caused millions to experience hazardous air quality, highlighting growing concerns over the environmental and public health impacts of increasingly severe wildfire seasons linked to climate change.

World’s oceans remain near record temperatures as CO2 levels rise

The world’s ocean temperatures hit their second-highest level on record for May, continuing a two-year trend of rapid warming. Data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service shows the global average sea surface temperature reached 20.79C, just 0.14C below the May 2024 record. Scientists warn the warming trend threatens the oceans’ ability to absorb carbon dioxide. The newspaper adds that atmospheric CO levels peaked globally at an average of 426 parts per million (ppm) in March, up from 423ppm last year, and exceeded 430ppm at Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory. CO levels have climbed from around 300ppm over the past six decades. The Copernicus data also revealed that last month was the hottest May on record globally, further fuelling concerns over the accelerating impacts of climate change.

New Research

• A new study warns that the world has “likely” already reached a tipping point in the West Antarctic ice sheet. The authors model the response of the Antarctic Ice Sheets to “glacial-interglacial warming and cooling cycles” over the last 800,000 years. They find that a collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet would result in 4 metres of sea level rise, with “little (0.25C) or even no ocean warming above present”. This finding supports recent studies which warn of “substantial irreversible ice loss with little or no further climate warming”, the authors say.

• New research finds premature deaths in Europe could rise to 282,000 a year by 2100 under a low-ambition climate scenario – but drop to 67,000 if ambitious action is taken to cut emissions. The study uses Coupled Model Intercomparison Project scenarios to look at how varying levels of climate ambition could impact air pollution-related deaths in 1,366 regions. It finds that over 90% of Europe’s population could live in areas meeting World Health Organization PM2.5 air pollution guidelines under the most ambitious scenario by 2100, but less than 10% under the least ambitious one. To reach their conclusions, the researchers modelled PM2.5 concentrations and combined this with population data, regional age structure and total mortality.

• A study reveals that atmospheric evaporative demand – sometimes known as “atmospheric thirst” – caused around 40% of increased drought severity globally from 1981-2022. Using global drought datasets, the study authors find that areas hit by drought grew by almost 75% on average from 2018-22, compared to 1981-2017. Atmospheric evaporative demand contributed to almost 60% of this increase, the researchers write. This demand plays an “increasingly important role in driving severe droughts”, they note, which will likely continue with future warming.

• A new study finds that climate-change-driven increases in extreme weather are causing “substantial” increases in threats to hotspots of vertebrate biodiversity. Researchers project changes in the frequency of extreme drought, heat and rainfall over 2050-90 using climate models and four different warming scenarios. They find that biodiversity hotspots in tropical regions will face the largest increases in the frequency of extreme heat and drought events. They write: “These results highlight the need to widely incorporate climate projections into conservation assessments, and for targeted research on the effects of climate extremes on tropical vertebrates.”

• New research warns that damage to coral reefs due to climate change will “outpace” coral reef expansion. The authors use a model that “reasonably reproduces the observed distribution and recent decline of corals across the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean”. They find that the most “severe declines” in coral reefs due to climate change will take place within 40-80 years, but warn that “large-scale coral reef expansion requires centuries”. According to the authors, their paper “emphasises the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate nonthermal stressors for corals, both in the tropics and in higher latitudes”.

• New findings suggest the weakening of a major ocean current system known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) has partially offset the drying of the southern Amazon rainforest, demonstrating that climate tipping elements have the potential to moderate each other. “Climate tipping points” are thresholds in nature where a tiny change could push a system into a completely new state, with large impacts for people and wildlife. The research analyses observational data and modelling to show that the weakening of the AMOC has offset 17% of dry season rainfall decrease in the southern Amazon from 1982-2022.

• New research has identified an “abrupt change” in rainfall seasonality in monsoon regions around the world between 1960-22. The researchers analyse variations in rainfall seasonality, finding that seasonal trends weakened in monsoon regions in parts of south Asia, South America, north Africa and southern Africa in the past six decades. Rainfall seasonality enhanced significantly in other areas, including parts of south Asia, north Africa and South America. These findings contribute to “enhancing agricultural productivity, fostering ecosystem sustainability, and promoting water resources management”, the study authors write. 

• A new study finds that the global population’s exposure to heatwaves will “increase tenfold” by 2100 – with some regions, such as south Asia, experiencing even higher increases due to both climate and population changes. Researchers use an atmospheric circulation model and water storage data to investigate the drivers of heatwaves in different regions for both a historical period and under two future warming scenarios. They find that while in most regions, heatwaves accompany drought conditions, there are some places where heatwaves can occur concurrently with wet conditions, such as western north America. They write that their results “emphasise the need for tailored adaptation strategies to mitigate heatwave impacts and ensure resilience in a warming world”.