Malibu fire evacuees start returning home

Climate Focus

By Edson Caldas, Newsletter Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello,

Over 4,000 acres of burned terrain, with 5,600 homes in the fire zone and about 22,000 people affected. These numbers illustrate the magnitude of this week's Franklin Fire in Malibu.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said some 3,700 evacuees returned home yesterday as firefighters made progress in battling the blaze that has destroyed at least six homes in the coastal city just northwest of Los Angeles.

"However, the work is not done" with another 1,600 people still out of their homes, said Dusty Martin, of the incident commanders for Cal Fire.

The cause of the fire, which began on Monday, has yet to be determined and no deaths or injuries were reported. Firefighters said increased humidity and lighter winds helped them make progress as containment increased to 30%.

One of those evacuated was actor Dick Van Dyke, who turns 99 today, and said on Facebook that he and his wife and animals had left the area and that he hoped "our community in Serra Retreat will survive these terrible fires."

As my colleague Sharon Kimathi covered in Tuesday's Sustainable Switch newsletter, this comes as 2024 is set to be the world's warmest year since records began.

"While 2025 might be slightly cooler than 2024, if a La Nina event develops, this does not mean temperatures will be 'safe' or 'normal'," said Friederike Otto, a senior lecturer at Imperial College London. "We will still experience high temperatures, resulting in dangerous heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and tropical cyclones."

Below, we look at other big stories from this week. Sharon is back running the Sustainable Switch on Tuesday.

Britain hopes the plan will help meet its climate targets and create jobs. The country has a target to largely decarbonise its power sector by 2030 which will mean reducing its reliance on gas-fired power plants and rapidly increasing its renewable power capacity.

Offshore wind farm seen from Walton-on-the-Naze, southern Britain. REUTERS/Toby Melville

The European Commission is not considering changing Europe's policies to cut CO2 emissions from cars, despite a push from the EU's biggest political group to weaken the laws, the bloc's climate policy chief told Reuters. The centre-right European People's Party launched a campaign this week to loosen the climate rules.

China will impose tougher curbs on the amount of methane released during coal extraction in an effort to reduce emissions of the powerful climate-warming gas, the environment ministry said. Under the new rules, mines releasing emissions with methane content of 8% or higher must capture the gas. 

Scientists said climate change is making the Philippines more vulnerable to tropical storms, with rising temperatures already putting the country at nearly double the risk of deadly typhoons. The unprecedented formation of four typhoons around the Philippines last month was made 70% more likely as a result of global temperature rises, according to them.

Venezuela's efforts to attract tourists and boost its economy by building infrastructure like runways and hotels are causing environmental damage to ecologically delicate areas. This is particularly affecting fragile Caribbean coral reefs, which are already threatened by climate change, according to conservationists, scientists, government sources and locals.

SwagBot is not your average cow. But researchers in Australia say this autonomous robot is on its way to becoming the world's first 'smart cow', able to make cattle farming more efficient and environmentally friendly.

Today's Climate Lens focuses on the electric car market. Global sales of fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles rose for a seventh consecutive month, jumping 32% year on year for a third consecutive record high, data from market research firm Rho Motion showed.

The electric car market is undergoing critical transformation as incremental demand and production in China threaten EV markets elsewhere. Europe, for instance, is struggling to contend with production costs, new emissions targets and the rising competition.

That's the chance of La Nina emerging by January, a U.S. government forecaster said this week, adding that the eventual onset of La Nina conditions would be weak and short-lived.

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