SUSTAINABLE SWITCH — Energy prices loom over EU summit

By Sharon Kimathi LONDON, Oct 16 (Reuters) — The European Union’s busy summit takes the focus in today’s newsletter as the bloc tackles how ​to tame soaring energy prices, imports of electric vehicles from China and emissions rules. Before we get into all the EU summit discussions, I’d like to thank readers for your positive feedback about the series on data centres. The Reuters team also sends its best wishes to one of our leading climate correspondents, Kate Abnett, whose reporting has been a cornerstone of this newsletter, as she embarks on a new chapter in her career.

Now, back to the EU summit in Brussels where members of the bloc ​put high energy prices on the agenda. The summit takes place at a time of heightened economic anxiety, with fuel price spikes since the Iran and Russia-Ukraine wars put cash-strapped governments on the back foot. Meanwhile, Ukraine struck a Russian oil ‌refinery after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy declared that Kyiv was abandoning a ceasefire covering energy sites announced by US President Donald Trump. Click here to revisit the Russia energy deal.

The leaders from the ‌EU's 27 members also discussed their recent agreement with Beijing to limit imports of hybrid cars from China, a first step towards cutting a goods trade deficit that hit €360 billion ($400 billion) in 2025. They discussed the Franco-German proposals, a joint package targeting EU automotive emissions, industrial policy, and the UK's participation in European manufacturing rules, which they released last week. The proposals mark a sharp turn for Germany, which only two years ago was the most vocal critic of EU anti-subsidy tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.

Under the plan, which still needs to be confirmed, the automotive sector’s "Made in Europe" label would cover the EU's 27 ​countries and other European partners that were part of the EU internal market on January 1, 2020. That would include Britain, ‌which ⁠left the EU single market at the end of 2020. It also waters down the CO2 emissions target for cars which would see it drop by 90% from 2021 levels in 2035. The softened target ⁠is broadly in line with the wishes of German automakers.

The EU’s two largest economies, France and Germany, also said there was an ​urgent need for measures to deal with imports ⁠of chemicals and PET — the plastic widely used in packaging — and called for measures to retaliate quickly against countries that harm the bloc. Climate Buzz AMOC: Atlantic Ocean currents can recover from severe climate weakening The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) system, weakened by global warming, ​could recover over time if the climate cools, according to a study by the Danish Meteorological Institute. The study found no sign there was an irreversible tipping point for the AMOC, ​as suggested by some previous studies.

It also showed that the Greenland ice sheet, which contributes to weakening the AMOC as it pours ⁠cold freshwater into the ocean, could not be restored once it had melted, even if the warming trend was ​reversed. Turtles offer early warning from a warming Mediterranean ahead of COP31 The loggerhead turtle, which nests on shores across the Mediterranean, is the mascot of COP31, the annual UN climate summit that Turkey hosts next month. Marine conservation will be a key focus of the gathering along the coast in Antalya.

Researchers say the turtle illustrates how climate change is ​altering ecosystems in the Mediterranean, which has experienced a long-term warming trend since the early 1980s. Click here for the full in-depth report. Fires surge in Brazil's Amazon, fuelled by El Niño and climate change There were 1,679 fires in Brazil's Amazonas state in the first two weeks of ​October, a 253% surge compared with the same period last year, according to data ​from the country's Amazon surveillance system. August and September are usually ​the height of the dry season in the Amazon, before the rainy season's ‌onset ⁠usually brings relief in October.

But rains have been slow to bring relief this year. Scientists and officials point to the El Niño phenomenon, which is predicted to be the strongest on record, and climate change as drivers of the surge in fires. Rotting meat smell sparks protest at Mexico's screwworm sterile-fly plant A rotten smell, described by residents as “pungent in ​your nose and mouth” and causing nausea, has been hanging over a town in Mexico's southern Chiapas state ‌ this week. The odour drove residents into the streets to demand the removal of a sterile-fly plant at the centre of the US-Mexico fight against the flesh-eating New World screwworm parasite.

Mexico has recorded nearly 48,000 cases of screwworm in the current outbreak and the United States 53. The Metapa plant is expected eventually to produce 100 million sterile flies a week. A spokesperson for Mexico's Agriculture Ministry did not immediately respond to a ​request for comment. Shippers' demand for lower-carbon marine fuels cools as IMO rules hang in balance International Maritime Organization (IMO) member nations are set to meet by early November on the formal adoption of a net-zero framework to guide the industry towards zero carbon emissions by 2050, after last year's vote to delay the move.

Demand for marine ​biofuel, a more readily available alternative fuel, has softened this year at ​the world's largest bunker hub of Singapore. What To Watch​ Click here for a wider image report on how the Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI) rehabilitation centre in the jungles of Indonesian Borneo is taking in more orangutans as the country’s worst wildfires in a decade sweep through the forest home of the critically endangered animals. From January ​to July this year, fires burned around 202,000 hectares (500,000 ​acres) in ⁠Indonesia. Climate Commentary Global ocean protection stands at roughly 10%, falling well short of the 30% international goal.

Click here to find out whether nations around the world can still meet their 2030 nature protection targets in a piece by Ethical Corp Magazine contributor Mark Hillsdon. The global shift to electric vehicles might appear unstoppable, but the path there is far from straightforward, according to Reuters global energy transition columnist Gavin Maguire. Click here to read more about what it means for the future of oil demand for road transport.

Climate Lens Indonesia haze: Emissions from the wildfires have been the highest in the world for a month, making up almost half the global total over ​the last seven days, according to data from Fire Emissions Watch, a portal developed by the European Union's Copernicus climate monitoring service. The fires have been raging for months and hundreds of thousands of people have contracted respiratory illnesses in the worst-hit provinces, health ministry data shows, while the transboundary haze has also hampered air quality in neighbouring countries, forcing school closures ​in Malaysia and East Timor.

Number Of The Week $2 billion That’s the top of the range of estimated insured losses to onshore property from Hurricane Isaias, according to data analytics firm Verisk. (Editing by Alexander Smith)