China's transition bonds and other environment stories you need to read this week

China is rolling out so-called low-carbon transition bonds to help companies become greener, the country's interbank bond market regulator said on 6 June, as Beijing strives toward carbon neutrality. Under the pilot scheme, companies in eight sectors including electric power, steelmaking, petrochemicals and civil aviation will issue bonds to fund decarbonization efforts, the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors said.

It comes after China's state planning agency unveiled a new "five-year plan" for the renewable sector on 1 June, with the aim of ensuring that its grids source about 33% of power from renewable sources by 2025, up from 28.8% in 2020.

Meanwhile, record green energy output reduced Indian dependence on coal in May, despite 23.5% growth in power demand, contributing to a rise in utilities' coal inventories, a Reuters analysis of government data showed.

Brazil is testing a variety of drought resistant, genetically modified wheat in a bid to become more self-sufficient in the staple crop as global supplies tighten. The move is the latest sign of increasing interest worldwide in planting wheat that can withstand drought, as more extreme weather linked to climate change increases the risk of global famine.

Three South Korean companies have signed an agreement to build a $1 billion green hydrogen and ammonia production plant in the United Arab Emirates, their UAE partner said on 3 June. Green hydrogen - obtained by passing renewably-produced electricity through water to split the element from oxygen - has been touted by some as a key fuel for energy users looking to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The Biden administration on 31 May said it would substantially reduce the cost of building wind and solar energy projects on federal lands to help spur renewable energy development and address climate change.

Most European Union countries have boosted their renewable plans since 2020, putting them on course to cut fossil fuel use this decade as the energy and COVID-19 crises have spurred, not derailed their green transition, researchers said on 2 June.

Outbreaks of endemic diseases such as monkeypox and lassa fever are becoming more persistent and frequent, the World Health Organization's emergencies director, Mike Ryan, warned on 1 June. As the climate change contributes to rapidly changing weather conditions like drought, animals and humans are changing their food-seeking behaviour. As a result, diseases that typically circulate in animals are increasingly jumping into humans, he said.

Just under half of Americans support nuclear power to generate electricity, a waning industry the Biden administration has been trying to revitalize with billions of dollars in public spending as part of a plan to cut US greenhouse gas emissions, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.

The poll found 45% of Americans support nuclear power, 33% oppose it, and 22% are not sure how they feel about it. Of those supporting it, 48% cited energy reliability, 43% cited lower overall pollution, and only 39% said they favor it as a low-carbon energy source.

Of opponents, 69% cited the risk of nuclear meltdowns, while 64% worried about nuclear waste.

President Joe Biden's administration believes nuclear power, which generates power virtually free of greenhouse gas emissions, is essential to fighting climate change and boosting the reliability of the US power grid.

The administration is also pushing to expand solar and wind power to help decarbonize the grid. The Reuters/Ipsos poll showed 76% of Americans back solar power, while 74% supported wind power and 68% backed hydro-electric.

French President Emmanuel Macron and UN Special Climate Envoy Michael Bloomberg on 3 June announced creation of a new committee as part of efforts to enhance transparency to monitor business climate actions through an open data platform.

International leaders and more investors have been agreeing on the need to improve transparency about climate action, with activists accusing companies of "greenwashing" with splashy announcements of programmes that do little to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions.

This lack of standardized, accessible data is limiting the power of markets and the public to fight climate change," the French presidency said in a statement.

"Private sector leaders have made bold commitments to tackle climate change, but often find their hands tied by a lack of accurate data," Bloomberg, a billionaire entrepreneur and former mayor of New York, was cited as saying.

The proposed new committee will bring together international organisations, regulators, policy makers and data service providers charged with designing an open-data public platform that will collect and standardize net-zero transition data in the private sector.