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Southern Spain hit 35.2C on Thursday, more than 10 degrees above normal, as heavy snow fell on Utah

A broad area of low pressure has remained west of the British Isles during the past week. South-westerly winds associated with this system have transported air from north-western Africa to western and central Europe.

The result of this advection has been anomalously warm temperatures across large parts of Europe – in particular across France and Spain, where temperatures soared to over 10C above normal. Maximum temperatures widely exceeded 30C in parts of Spain on Thursday, with 35.2C measured at Morón de la Frontera, south-east of Seville.

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Australia makes surfboards, so why not turbine blades? We definitely need a national strategy to deliver on our ambitious state renewable plans.

The post Australia’s biggest states have set stunning renewable plans. Now we need a national strategy appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

The Canadian environment ministry put forth plans to annually increase the stringency of industrial facilities’ performance standards under the ‘backstop’ output-based pricing system (OBPS) this week, and also updated the programme’s excess emissions charge schedule in line with the post-2022 carbon pricing benchmark.

California regulator ARB on Friday presented updated GHG reduction target modelling for next month’s final 2022 Scoping Plan, showing a slightly more stringent abatement trajectory than the draft plan.

Compliance entities unloaded V23 California Carbon Allowance (CCAs) but kept their overall net length mostly stable, while speculators whittled back their positions in both the WCI and RGGI markets, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday.

An Australian think-tank has argued that national regulators attempting to crackdown on greenwashing claims by corporates and large emitters are being undermined by the federal government’s own policies and programmes.

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Researchers examining data going back to 1990s find global south has borne brunt despite causing least emissions

Heatwaves brought on by human-caused climate breakdown have cost the global economy about $16tn since the 1990s, according to a study.

The research calculates the financial impact of extreme heat on infrastructure, agriculture, productivity, human health and other areas.

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The globally agreed target of 1.5C is on track to be missed. For those working to prevent disaster, the only option is to keep trying

The world is falling into an “abyss of risk”, said Prof Johan Rockström of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. Reports published this week by three UN agencies all point to the failure of governments to make – and keep – sufficient commitments to ensure that global temperatures will not rise by more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, which was the target in the 2015 Paris agreement. This is the worst possible news, and arrives just a week before this year’s round of climate talks, Cop27, is due to open in Egypt.

So far human activities have raised the temperature by around 1C on average. If current pledges on emissions are fulfilled, that figure is expected to rise to 2.5C. That would – and probably will – mean destruction on a scale that is hard to imagine, even after what we have already witnessed, most recently with devastating floods in Pakistan but also record-breaking heatwaves and other extreme weather elsewhere.

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A carbon credit ratings firm has put a bumper 13 projects on watch this week, raising the prospect of a change in their ratings.

ICE Futures late on Friday published the calendar of UK Allowance auctions for 2023, showing that the UK will sell 3.1% fewer UKAs next year than in 2022.

The Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) programme on Friday announced it has advanced Costa Rica to the verification stage, though overlap with another jurisdiction-scale forest protection scheme may limit its carbon credit generation.

Western Balkan nations have until the end of year to adopt 2030 climate goals as a precursor to imposing carbon pricing, with the EU this week pledging €500 million in aid to help the process along while staving off Russian influence in the region.

The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) climate finance coalition will no longer require its sub-alliances to be members of a group that had at one stage aimed to impose limits on fossil fuel finance.

The new super space observatory captures another stunning view of star birth far from Earth.

Critics say delaying the deadline is an embarrassment for the UK ahead of the COP27 climate summit.

Rishi Sunak has denied that his decision not to attend the Cop27 climate summit is a failure of leadership, arguing that the UK has shown 'unmatched' leadership on the climate crisis. Sunak said he was 'very passionate' and 'very personally committed' to the environment. Keir Starmer accused the new prime minister of an 'absolute failure of leadership' in deciding not to attend the conference, which begins in Egypt next month

• UK politics: latest updates

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EUAs were headed for their biggest weekly increase in more than five years on Friday as the rally extended into a sixth day on  steady buying, while energy prices stabilised after several days of losses.

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including goats grazing in Kyiv and newborn seal pups in Norfolk

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