GRID PRESSURES: Iraq suffered a “near nationwide blackout” as elevated power demand – due to extreme temperatures of around 50C – triggered a transmission line failure, Bloomberg reported.

Carbon Brief handpicks and explains the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight.

Climate change drove record levels of humidity around the world last year, according to the latest “state of the climate” report from the American Meteorological Society ...

An uptick in heat extremes has caused tropical bird populations to decline by up to 38% since the 1950s, according to new analysis.

Deadly rainfall and flooding struck across China and the government issued policies on clean-energy “price wars”.

Wildfires “fanned by a heatwave and strong winds wreaked destruction across southern Europe”, burning homes and forcing evacuations, reports Reuters.

There is widespread coverage of the Canyon Fire north of Los Angeles, which forced thousands of people to evacuate at the end of last week.

China’s power sector is both the world’s largest emitter and the largest source of clean-energy growth, making it essential to global climate efforts.

Nations are meeting at a UN conference in Geneva, in a bid to develop a legally binding global treaty to curb plastic pollution, BBC News reports.

Expert analysis direct to your inbox. Get a round-up of all the important articles and papers selected by Carbon Brief by email. Find out more about our newsletters here. Get a round-up of all the ...

Expert analysis direct to your inbox. Every weekday morning, in time for your morning coffee, Carbon Brief sends out a free email known as the “Daily Briefing” to thousands of subscribers around the ...