Carbon Brief

Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed. An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change. This week Crisis responses OIL SUPPLIES: The International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that oil supply disruptions will worsen in April due to the Iran war, reported CNBC. The outlet added that the IEA was considering another release of strategic oil reserves. Meanwhile, US exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) reached an “all-time high” in March, with shipments

The UK avoided the need for gas imports worth £1bn in March 2026 thanks to record electricity generation from wind and solar, reveals Carbon Brief analysis. Wind generation hit a new record for the month of March on the island of Great Britain, up 38% year-on-year, while solar nearly matched the output of last year’s exceptionally sunny spring. Together, wind and solar generated 11 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in March 2026, up a combined 28% and setting a new record for the month,

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 Climate on agenda at post-two sessions forums ‘UNWAVERING’ ON CLIMATE: “China will “unwaveringly” follow a low-carbon pathway, said environment vice-minister Li Gao at the China Development Forum (CDF) – a high-level and business-focused event traditionally held after China’s tw

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) latest assessment cycle has been beset by disagreements between nations over the timeline for publishing its next landmark report. During the UN climate science body’s last five “sessions” – biannual meetings where governments discuss matters related to the IPCC’s work – governments have been unable to sign off on the delivery date of the “working group” reports.  The deadlock over the delivery plan for the seventh assessmen

Plug-in solar panels could save a typical UK household £1,100 over their 15-year lifetime, according to Carbon Brief analysis. In response to the ongoing energy crisis, the UK government announced on 15 March a package of clean-energy measures to “boost” energy security. Among these was the introduction of “plug-in” solar panels to the UK, which would be available “within months” at retailers, according to the government. A cost-benefit analysis by Carbon Brief finds that plug-in solar

Governments are still at loggerheads over the timeline for publishing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) next three-part report, after countries doubled down on existing positions at a meeting in Bangkok.  Last week, around 330 delegates from more than 100 countries met in Thailand for the 64th session (IPCC-64) of the UN’s climate science body. The meeting, set against the backdrop of a global energy shock triggered by war in the Middle East, comes more than two-a

Extreme weather events around the world, such as wildfires and storms, were the major driver behind $107bn in insured losses in 2025, according to industry data.  The Los Angeles wildfires alone caused record-high $40bn in insured losses from fires, says a new report from reinsurance company Swiss Re.  The report notes that, while overall insured losses in 2025 were lower than previous years, this was due to a “[luck] rather than a reduction in risk”, partly due to no major hurri

Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed. An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change. This week Hormuz latest DELAYED ULTIMATUM: The week started with US president Donald Trump giving Iran 48 hours to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital supply route for oil and gas, or the US would “hit and obliterate” Iranian power plants, reported the Guardian. By the end of the week, Reuters was reporting Trump’s statement that he would “pause” the threa

Arctic sea ice has reached its peak extent for this winter, clocking in as the joint-smallest in a satellite record going back almost half a century. Provisional data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) shows that sea ice extent peaked at 14.29m square kilometres (km2) on 15 March. This is slightly smaller than the previous record for the annual maximum – set just last year – but it counts as a statistical tie, the NSIDC says. The annual maximum is a key marker in a cy

India has set a new target to reduce its “emissions intensity” – greenhouse gas emissions per unit of economic output – to 47% below 2005 levels by 2035. The much-awaited announcement comes within India’s delayed new nationally determined contribution (NDC) for 2035 under the Paris Agreement, which had been due last year. The pledge, which has not yet been published by the UN, was approved by India’s cabinet and issued as a government press release on 25 March.  The updated ND

The UK is roughly halving the climate aid it allocates to developing countries, when accounting changes and inflation are factored in, according to new analysis by Carbon Brief. On 19 March, the government announced that the UK would provide “around £6bn” of international “climate finance” over the next three years. This replaces a previous goal to provide £11.6bn across the 2021-2026 period to help nations in the global south cut their emissions and deal with climate threats. The new t

For the past two decades, low-level cloud cover has been declining, increasing the amount of sunlight absorbed by Earth and amplifying global warming. As global temperatures have reached record highs in recent years, there has been concern that the decline in cloudiness may be enhancing warming more than previously expected. In a new study, published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Letters, we investigate how the decline in global cloudiness affects the Earth’s “energy imbalance” – th

India’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions grew by 0.5% in the second half of 2025 and by just 0.7% in the year as a whole, the slowest rate in more than two decades. This is a sharp slowdown from the growth of 4-11% in the preceding four years and marks the lowest rate of increase since 2001, excluding the impact of Covid in 2020. This is the second in a new series of half-yearly analysis on India’s CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and cement, based on official data for fuel use, industrial pr

The Iran war has triggered another fossil-fuel energy crisis, with surging global prices and increasing concerns over energy security. In the UK, many newspapers, opposition politicians and other public figures have used the crisis to argue in favour of issuing more licences for oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. These arguments have also been amplified in AI-generated posts on social media, shared by fake accounts that usually post anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim content. However, m

Limiting warming to 2C above pre-industrial temperatures may not be enough to prevent “extreme global climate outcomes”, according to research published in Nature. The authors simulate climate extremes – such as drought in breadbasket regions and flooding in populated areas – under a 2C warming scenario using a range of different global climate models. They find that the “worst-case” model projections in a 2C warmer world are often more severe than the “average” scenarios in a 3C or 4C war

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 Seabed mining talks stall UNFINISHED BUSINESS: The International Seabed Authority (ISA) ended a two-week meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, without agreement on the “long-delayed” code for deep-sea mining, which “remains both unfinish

Emissions from the new data centres set to drive the UK’s AI “revolution” could be hundreds of times higher than government estimates, according to analysis by Carbon Brief. There are dozens of data centres being developed across the country, potentially driving a surge in electricity demand. Amid uncertainty about the scale and pace of this expansion, there are mounting concerns that new data centres could pose a threat to the nation’s climate goals. UK government analysis concluded th

Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed. An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change. This week Iran war fallout continues WORK FROM HOME: The International Energy Agency has advised its member countries to take 10 steps in response to the ongoing energy crisis fuelled by the Iran war, including reducing highway speeds and encouraging people to work from home, said the Guardian. It came after retaliatory attacks between Israel and Iran continued t

Around 300 scientists, civil servants, journalists and climate experts took part in the 11th annual Carbon Brief quiz on Wednesday 18 March 2026. For the second time, this year’s quiz was hosted by Octopus Energy at its headquarters in central London. In total, 39 teams participated – 25 teams in person and 14 teams joining via Zoom. Competing teams reflected a wide range of climate change and energy professionals. The list included journalists, civil servants, climate campaigners, poli

Just 1% of England’s land will be needed for renewables to help meet the UK’s climate goals by 2050, according to a first-of-its-kind framework. There is enough land in England to meet climate and nature goals, while also producing more food and building new homes, according to the UK government’s new “land-use framework”. Speaking at the framework’s launch on Wednesday, environment secretary Emma Reynolds said she hoped it would put an end to the idea that England faces “false choices” ov