Net Zero

1. Climate at the polls
2. EU targets Chinese EVs
3. Beijing turns focus to SAF
4. Mexico’s Beryl ‘red alert’
5. Central banks’ worry: food

How climate plays at the polls

Elections in two of Europe’s biggest economies point to shifting views on climate in the region. In the UK, the Labour Party’s thumping victory — it took nearly two-thirds of seats, with the ruling Conservatives suffering a historic drubbing — offers a “super strong mandate for ambitious climate action and green investment,” the think tank E3G said. New Prime Minister Keir Starmer was criticized during the campaign by climate activists for dialing back green investment plans, citing the UK’s already heavy debt burden. But his party ran on pledges to spend $16.8 billion on residential energy efficiency upgrades, to ensure Britain’s power grid is “clean” by 2030, and even to reform the country’s permitting system, ostensibly with a focus on housing, which could have a knock-on effect on renewables construction.

In France, which holds the second round of its legislative election this weekend, the far-right National Rally is expected to emerge triumphant, albeit short of an outright majority. Like in Britain, climate has not played a central role in campaigning, with voters instead focusing more on immigration and the economy. But the RN has thundered against what it describes as the European Union’s “punitive ecology,” and the party’s success will represent “a big regression, at least for climate policy,” one prominent French researcher told The Guardian.

EU targets Chinese EVs

The European Union slapped provisional tariffs of up to 37.6% on electric vehicles imported from China, effective Friday. EU policymakers went ahead with the plan despite opposition from Chinese trade officials, who had quietly floated the idea of lowering the country’s own tariffs on imported European cars in exchange for Europe scrapping its EV tariffs. Volkswagen and other top automakers are also worried about losing market access in China and eroding buyers’ appetites for EVs in Europe. But prices may not rise right away: For now, Chinese exporters will need to provide a provisional bank guarantee to customs officials rather than cash, pending the outcome of an EU member-state vote in the autumn.

Beijing turns focus to SAF

Chinese authorities — whose interventions and support have driven the country’s dominance of a swath of green technologies — announced an upgraded focus on sustainable aviation fuels. The new research and standard-setting organization unveiled by Beijing comes with China expected to outline new policies on the use of SAF. Given the size of the country’s aviation sector, the move could drive huge investment in the industry, Reuters reported. The fuels, typically made with renewable waste or residues, are key to cutting emissions from the aviation sector. Estimates vary wildly over how much headway they will make in the coming years: BloombergNEF projects that SAF could account for between 5% and 71% of total aviation fuel demand by 2050.

Mexico issues Beryl ‘red alert’

Mexico issued a “red alert” as Hurricane Beryl moved towards the country’s Atlantic coast. Beryl — at its peak the earliest Category 5 storm in recorded history — hit parts of the Caribbean and battered Jamaica this week, killing at least 11 people and damaging homes and infrastructure. Climate scientists say the hurricane’s force and timing portends an “extraordinary” storm season, driven by climate change as well as natural weather variations. “No hesitating,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wrote on social media. “Material things can be recovered. The most important thing is life.”

Central banks’ new worry: food

Global coffee prices rose about 20% over the last three months, the latest commodity to see surges driven largely by extreme heat affecting crops. Shifting weather patterns have also driven up prices of rubber from southeast Asia, olives from southern Europe, and oranges from Brazil: Global food price inflation could be as much as 3.2% each year within the next decade, according to European Central Bank research. While most major central banks exclude changes in food prices from their inflation monitors, citing their relative instability, that may soon have to change. Viewing food inflation spikes as temporary “is not really going to be a useful approach anymore,” one researcher told the Financial Times.

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