In brief | 21 September '26

AP: World leaders meet at UN as their planet grapples with war, division, runaway AI and climate shocks

Under a global cloud of wars and bitter divisions, world leaders meet at the United Nations this week facing new fears that runaway artificial intelligence could threaten humanity even as climate shocks and escalating prices are already making life much tougher for hundreds of millions of people.

The Guardian: Burning forests, emptying rivers, €180bn in damage: Europe’s politicians face reckoning after ‘summer of truth’

Positive developments outweighed by governments stalling on climate commitments, or pushing for more fossil fuels, campaigners note

Reuters: Germany's IW institute triples growth forecast for 2026 to 1.2 percent

IW warned that momentum would fade in the second half as high energy prices, weak private investment and job losses weigh on demand.

DW: Germany's electric car boom cuts fuel tax revenue

As EV sales surge, policymakers face growing pressure to find new ways to fund roads and transportation infrastructure.

FT: Fuel subsidies weigh on public finances as energy crisis deepens

The number of countries introducing fuel subsidies to protect consumers from surging prices has more than doubled over the past four months.

Reuters: EU to impose provisional safeguards to protect electrical steel from imports

The European Union will impose a set of import quotas and minimum prices for electrical steel and downstream products in a bid to shield the EU from cheap imports, principally from Asia.

Euractiv: Brussels should 'resist' U-turn on methane rules, lawmakers warn

Backtracking would disadvantage those US firms who have invested in compliance, US senators and MEPs write.

Reuters: INEOS says EU's first full-scale carbon storage project to start operating

The European Union's first full-scale carbon dioxide storage started operations.

FT: France calls G7 summit on releasing more oil reserves

Supply concerns have been worsened by an attack on a Saudi pipeline.

Climate Opinion Research Exchange: When climate hits home: Public attitudes to adaptation across six continents

A global consensus in public opinion supports climate adaptation measures, not viewing them as in contradiction to mitigation efforts, shows extensive public poll on climate adaptation.

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