Senate inquiry hears how propagandised misinformation' is drowning out legitimate concerns in Australia's regions over renewable energy

Diane Wilson recognized Exxon's playbook - and showed how local people can take on even the most entrenched industriesWhen ExxonMobil announced it would slow the pace of development" on a $10bn plastics plant along the Texas Gulf coast, the company blamed market conditions. But it wasn't just the market applying pressure; it was a 77-year-old shrimper named Diane Wilson who refused to stay silent. Her fight exposes big oil's latest survival plan: ramping up oil and gas production to create plastic.I first met Wilson back in 2019 while tracking her historic lawsuit against Formosa Plastics, the Taiwanese petrochemical giant accused of dumping toxic plastic waste throughout coastal Texas. Billions of tiny plastic pellets were contaminating waterways, shorelines and even the soil itself.Shilpi Chhotray is the co-founder and president of Counterstream Media and Host of A People's Climate for the Nation Continue reading...

From deforestation to emissions trading, vital policies are being watered down in the name of competitiveness'. But Europe is shooting itself in the footClimate action has long been a flagship European policy. As negotiators gather in Brazil for Cop30, however, Europe's leadership risks faltering. Things were very different a decade ago in Paris, when a landmark deal to limit global heating to 1.5C was achieved at Cop21. That agreement relied on an understanding between the US and China - one that would be difficult to replicate today. Its ambition was elevated by Europe acting in concert with a broad coalition of global south countries.The Paris climate agreement paved the way for the European Green Deal in 2019, which enshrined into law the ambition of climate neutrality in the EU by 2050 and introduced the world's first comprehensive plan to achieve it, featuring a robust set of pricing, regulatory and funding measures.Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...

Charvet Drucker captures dramatic video and photos of seal being hunted by orcas in Salish Sea, north-west of SeattleA wildlife photographer on a whale-watching trip in waters off Seattle captured dramatic video and photos of a pod of killer whales hunting a seal that survived only by clambering on to the stern of her boat.Charvet Drucker was on a rented 20ft (6 metre) boat near her home on an island in the Salish Sea about 40 miles north-west of Seattle when she spotted a pod of at least eight killer whales, also known as orcas. Continue reading...

If the government cuts a deal with them, it risks repeating the mistakes of the Abbott era, sacrificing progress for politicsThis week the National Liberal Coalition has rewound the clock a decade. When Tony Abbott's government abolished the Climate Commission in 2013, I knew it was a political act of climate vandalism. Abbott simply didn't want to hear the facts: that pollution from coal, oil and gas were cooking our planet.For a decade after, denial evolved: from shouting that global heating wasn't real, to claiming it could be solved later. Continue reading...

Climate Action Tracker report finds pledges made in past year have not cut the forecast for global heatingMore than half of all delegation members at Cop30 have withheld or obscured details of their affiliations, potentially concealing conflicts of interest and undermining trust in the Cop process, warns Transparency International.According to the campaign group's examination of the UNFCCC's official list of registered participants, 54% of participants in national delegations either did not disclose the type of affiliation they have or selected a vague category such as Guest" or Other".Yet, at Cop30, thousands of delegates still do not share enough information, most from within national delegations. If Cop30 is indeed the Cop of truth, the lresidency and the UNFCCC Secretariat should now commit to reviewing and strengthening participant disclosure rules ahead of future summits, ensuring integrity and accountability at every level. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Supporters say grants largely going to middle-class households, but experts warn move will slow transition from gas boilersHundreds of thousands of homeowners will lose their right to subsidies for eco-friendly heat pumps as a result of government plans to bring down energy bills at the budget.Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is planning to announce a series of measures to bring down energy bills amid concerns the country's stubbornly high cost of living is driving millions of voters to Reform UK. Continue reading...

Figures show none of US big four' - CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox - appear to have sent teams to cover summit in BelemThousands of media professionals are at the United Nations climate talks in Brazil. Almost none of them appear to be from the four major US broadcasters.Nearly 4,000 members of the media registered to attend the global climate conference, known as Cop30, according to a preliminary list released by the United Nations climate body on Tuesday. But none of the big four" US broadcasters - CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox - appear to currently have teams present at the talks. Continue reading...

Advocates say conservative states' push to define gender as biological sex' would backslide on decade-old language within the UNA row over the definition of the term gender" threatens to bog down pivotal talks at the Cop30 climate summit.Before the UN talks in Brazil, hardline conservative states have pushed to define gender as biological sex" over their concerns trans and non-binary people could be included in a major plan to ensure climate action addresses gender inequality and empowers women. Continue reading...

Mining crew had hit unknown pocket of water last Saturday about three-quarters of a mile into the mineCrews have found the body of the coal miner missing since a West Virginia mine flooded on Saturday, said the state's governor, Patrick Morrisey, on Thursday.Crews found the body inside Alpha Metallurgical Resources Inc's Rolling Thunder Mine near Belva, about 50 miles east of the state capital of Charleston. Continue reading...

Sussan Ley appears to have given up trying to meet voters where they are, instead allowing conservative MPs to dictate policy to keep her job - and keep the Coalition together

Videos show schoolgirls fighting off animals, while others show people feeding bears, with some so realistic that users struggled to distinguish between fact and fictionIf a record number of fatal bear attacks wasn't terrifying enough, experts say a torrent of AI-generated videos in Japan purporting to show people in close encounters with the animals is only adding to public anxiety - and could put people at greater risk.While headlines about real attacks and disruption appear on a regular basis, monitors of online content are warning social media users not to be taken in by realistic videos on platforms such as TikTok of the animals attacking or interacting with humans. Continue reading...

Troubled waters over the world's longest suspension bridge are no surprise. The Italian government should be funding public servicesA dozen or so times each day, as Italy's southbound Intercity rail service arrives in the Calabrian town of Villa San Giovanni, the journey comes to a dramatic halt. The train is lifted from its tracks, carefully loaded on to the deck of a ferry, and secured in place. The entire cargo then eases out into the Strait of Messina en route to Sicily. Invariably, this 25-minute crossing becomes an impromptu community moment. Passengers abandon their carriages, flocking to the ship's top-deck snack bar to share freshly fried arancini, trade anecdotes, and admire the vista towards Mount Etna's distant peak, before returning to continue their journey by rail.For tourists and itinerant visitors like myself, the ferry crossing is a charming novelty. For local people, however, it has long been a defining part of their identity. In his 1941 novel, Conversations in Sicily, the writer Elio Vittorini describes a group of fruit pickers congregating on the boat's deck, feasting on large chunks of local cheese and enjoying the view. As the narrator joins them, he is transported to being a boy; feeling the wind devouring the sea", while gazing out at the ruins along the two coasts", separated, poetically, across the water.Jamie Mackay is a writer and translator based in Florence Continue reading...

If the government is committed to the energy transition and a future made in Australia, the choice that must be made is clear

Michael Miller tells Senate misinformation inquiry platforming climate deniers and net zero critics part of great democracy and healthy debate'

We cannot claim to be of the right of politics yet shy away from targets that hold us to account, especially ones that were once the Liberals' own

Fossil fuel emissions have hit a record high while many nations have done too little to avert deadly global heatingThe world is still on track for a catastrophic 2.6C increase in temperature as countries have not made sufficiently strong climate pledges, while emissions from fossil fuels have hit a record high, two major reports have found.Despite their promises, governments' new emission-cutting plans submitted for the Cop30 climate talks taking place in Brazil have done little to avert dangerous global heating for the fourth consecutive year, according to the Climate Action Tracker update. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. You can read the full Guardian coverage of the climate talks in Brazil hereHello comrades, this is Nina Lakhani in chilly New York City taking over the blog for the next few hours. Thanks very much to my colleague Matt Taylor in London Town who will be back in the hot seat on Friday morning.Leading climate activists and influencers have signed a letter criticising PR firm Edelman over its role at the Cop30 summit in Brazil. Continue reading...

Exclusive interview with ex-US vice-president at Cop30 also reveals his hope around much-maligned climate summitFear of being bullied by Donald Trump may have prompted Bill Gates to row back on the climate crisis, Al Gore has speculated, as he slammed the billionaire's new position as silly", and the US president for his anti-climate stance.Trump, the most corrupt president in American history", was badly damaging the US economy" by pulling away from renewable energy and promoting fossil fuels, the former US vice-president warned. Continue reading...

Stakeholders have spent months ironing out disagreements over how to distribute water from the sprawling basinState negotiators embroiled in an impasse over how to manage the imperiled Colorado River were unable to agree on a plan before a federally set deadline on Tuesday, thrusting deliberations deeper into uncertain territory.Stakeholders have spent months working to iron out contentious disagreements over how to distribute water from this sprawling basin - which supplies roughly 40 million people in seven states, 5.5m acres (8.9m hectares) of farmland, dozens of tribes and parts of Mexico - as the resources grow increasingly scarce. Continue reading...

The party's imminent move to abandon the 2050 climate goal makes the environment the loser and Labor the biggest winner

Australia's richest person, Gina Rinehart has previously donated to Institute of Public Affairs but thinktank won't say if she remains a donor

Senior Liberal sources say 28 speakers wanted to jettison the 2050 net zero emissions target entirely, 17 expressed desire to retain it in some form, while four were on the fence

Exclusive: Deep-rooted injustices' affect billions of people due to location of wells, pipelines and other infrastructureA quarter of the world's population lives within three miles (5km) of operational fossil fuel projects, potentially threatening the health of more than 2 billion people as well as critical ecosystems, according to first-of-its-kind research.A damning new report by Amnesty International, shared exclusively with the Guardian, found that more than 18,300 oil, gas and coal sites are currently distributed across 170 countries worldwide, occupying a vast area of the Earth's surface. Continue reading...

Watchdog's flagship report says rise in low-carbon electricity will make transition inevitable', despite Trump's calls to carry on drillingRenewables will grow faster than any major energy source in the next decade, according to the world's energy watchdog, making the transition away from fossil fuels inevitable", despite a green backlash in the US and parts of Europe.The world is expected to build more renewable energy projects in the next five years than has been rolled out over the last 40, according to the flagship annual report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). Continue reading...

Gavin Newsom is most senior US politician at annual talks, heading alternate delegation in Trump's absence

Plan, which Gavin Newsom, the governor, has said would be dead on arrival', will allow six lease sales from 2027 to 2030The Trump administration is planning to allow oil and gas drilling off the California coast for the first time in decades, according to a draft plan shared with the Washington Post.The move is guaranteed to set up a battle with the state's governor, Gavin Newsom, a staunch opponent of offshore drilling. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. You can read the full Guardian coverage of the climate talks in Brazil hereIn the run-up to Cop30, the Guardian published a series of articles looking at the ten biggest polluters of greenhouse gas, and their plans to clean up. Here's a piece my colleague Jonathan Watts wrote in September about China, which according to an analysis published today has plateaued its emissions.Chinese power took on an old-fashioned hue in the past week with a huge military parade, a gathering of former allies Russia and North Korea, and President Xi Jinping's defiant vow not to be intimidated by bullies. Continue reading...

10bn tonnes must be captured from the air every year to limit global heating to 1.7C, says Johan Rockstrom

Armed forces and settlers used bombs, dogs, poison and machinery to attack people and infrastructure at key sitesIsraeli armed forces and settlers have attacked Palestinian water sources more than 250 times in the past five years, amounting to the most sustained assault on civilian water supplies in recent years, new research reveals.Bombs, dogs, poison and heavy machinery were among the weapons used to attack Palestinians and their infrastructure at drinking water, irrigation and sanitation sites in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip on at least 90 occasions between January 2024 and mid-2025, according to the Pacific Institute, a California-based nonpartisan thinktank tracking water conflicts. Continue reading...

Scientists believe new discovery to be the oldest crocodilian eggshells ever found in Australia

The public stoush is really about whether the party will drop the charade or maintain it while shuffling some words

How do you plan for an event whose timing is unknown? For residents of Tofino on Vancouver Island the threat is distant but signs of preparedness are everywhereJustin Goss was in the shower when he first heard the piercing wail of a nearby tsunami early-warning siren. Still dripping wet, he threw on clothes, grabbed his dog and rushed to the truck. The pair made it 3 metres and no further.The whole parking lot across the street was jammed up. It was complete gridlock within three minutes," he says. I thought, Oh shit, this is not good.'" Continue reading...

Company failed to effectively operate, maintain and upgrade its wastewater assets, Ofwat finds

Environmentalists seeking to end logging, smuggling and pollution in DRC's Mangrove Marine park faced threats, violence and rapePeople who have tried to expose unlawful ownership and profit-making from protected land in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have faced threats, violence and rape, an investigation has found.The DRC government hired the conservation worker Kim Rebholz in 2022 to safeguard the Mangrove Marine park, an internationally recognised nature reserve on the country's tiny coastline. The Congo basin rainforest, to the east, is the largest rainforest after the Amazon. Continue reading...

Rightwing lobby group's email blitz targets party ahead of Liberal shadow ministry meeting at 9am on Thursday

The failure by state governments to do anything about pollution means it has often been met with apathy. But at a rare protest anger and frustration were rifeAs a familiar smoky evening haze gathered over Delhi, the crowd began to assemble in their hundreds. Mothers and children, students, retirees and environmentalists were all united by a basic but desperate demand: the right to breathe safely in India's capital.Delhi is not a liveable city any more, it's a death trap," said Radhika Aggarwal, 33, an engineer who joined the protest on Sunday. Continue reading...

World's biggest polluter on track to hit peak emissions target early but miss goal for cutting carbon intensity

Ministers and high-ranking officials from nearly 200 countries have gathered in the Amazonian city of Belem, with Brazil insisting this will be the Cop of implementation'Hundreds lined up for Cop30 on opening morning, with some in Indigenous headdresses and others in trouser suits, writes Dharna Noor, fossil fuels and climate reporter for the Guardian US.The conference is being held in a massive temporary building in Belem's Parque da Cidade area. It was still under construction just days ago, but now seems to be ready to use. Continue reading...

Children may not understand politics of shutdown, but fear of future hunger can affect young brains, research revealsOn Halloween, neighbors in the downtown Las Vegas area of Huntridge gave out bags of nonperishable meal bags along with the usual trick-or-treat candy. The bag contained ingredients to make a quick chickpea curry: cans of garbanzo beans, coconut milk, crushed tomatoes, chicken, Thai seasoning and jasmine rice. Child-friendly bags held shelf-stable milk, cereals, cheese and crackers, cups of mac and cheese and meat sticks. A fancied-up ramen bag came with tinned BBQ pork, stir-fry vegetables and crunchy chow mein noodles. There were six different dinners in all.The neighbors knew that shelf-stable food wouldn't replace Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) benefits, commonly known as food stamps, or food bank supplies. Continue reading...

Marcus Decker was served with deportation order while in prison for unveiling Just Stop Oil banner over Dartford CrossingA climate activist who served one of the longest prison sentences in modern British history for a peaceful protest has won his appeal against deportation.Marcus Decker was jailed for two years and seven months for a protest in which he climbed the Queen Elizabeth Bridge over the Dartford Crossing and unveiled a Just Stop Oil banner in October 2022. He was served with an automatic deportation order while in prison. Continue reading...

Resulting pollution on Camber Sands beach poses threat to wildlife including dolphins and seals

Critics say that fifth Pfas Trump's EPA has proposed for approval this year would put food and water supply at riskThe Trump administration is poised to again approve a new Pfas forever chemical" pesticide ingredient, a move that is drawing criticism from public health advocates who say the nation's food and water supply is being put at more risk from the dangerous compounds.The substance would be sprayed on corn, soybeans and wheat, and it marks the fifth Pfas pesticide ingredient the US Environmental Protection Agency has proposed for approval under Donald Trump's second term as US president. Continue reading...

In 1995, as one of the Ogoni Nine, he was hanged after protesting against Shell's oil pollution. With education and a move towards renewable energy, we can honour his legacyEarlier this year, my father, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and his eight colleagues, known collectively as the Ogoni Nine, were pardoned for a crime they never committed. After peacefully campaigning against environmental degradation of Ogoniland in Nigeria at the hands of the oil industry, they were imprisoned by the military dictatorship on false charges of treason and incitement to murder, following a trial condemned by the international community as a sham.On 10 November 1995, the men were executed by hanging. Continue reading...

After bully-like behavior last month over a small emissions levy, diplomats will be relieved if the US stays away from climate talksFor years, countries around the world pressed the US to engage with them in addressing the climate crisis and to show it was serious about taking action. Now, with key United Nations climate talks under way in Brazil this week, other nations have been quietly hoping the US stays well away.Under Donald Trump, who has called the climate crisis the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world", the US has not only pulled back from climate action but openly agitated for greater global fossil fuel use and for other countries to tear down their own climate policies. Continue reading...

Two decades ago, the city's council chose to prioritise playgrounds and youth clubs to help its poorer families - and the benefits are plain to see Read more: Last youth centre in one of England's most deprived coastal areas faces closureThree schoolboys in black sweatshirts dart from a wooden fort across a sandpit, weaving and jostling past prams, scooters and bystanders, after a pink football. A pony-tailed girl launches herself on to a moving roundabout, while a young man wrestles a half-naked toddler into a pair of training pants before she scampers off back to the sandpit in the autumn sunshine.This is Buckland adventure playground in Portsmouth, surrounded by trees and a mix of two-storey flats, terrace houses and tower blocks, mostly social housing built to replace the city's demolished slums.Buckland adventure playground has now had three generations of children enjoying its facilities Continue reading...

The spread of African swine flu among the wild boars the animals eat has led to the deadliest winter for attacks on people in the Russian region for decades - and a spike in tiger killingsThe attacks seemed to come from nowhere. At first, the tigers snatched guard dogs on the edge of villages in Russia's far east, emerging from the forest at night to prey. Others went for livestock, going after horses and cattle.Then the attacks on people began. In January, an ice fisher was mauled at night and dragged away by a big cat, just weeks after a forester had been killed. In March, another man was attacked and partly eaten by a tiger. It was the deadliest winter for tiger attacks in Siberia for decades. Continue reading...

In today's newsletter: As the world's leaders gather in Brazil, the urgency of the climate crisis collides with political inertia. The Guardian's journalists will be following all the stories from BelemGood morning. I was warned when I agreed to sit in on First Edition that sometimes your early Monday morning could get derailed by a big breaking news story. So imagine my face yesterday when it happened on my very first weekend, as the BBC's director general, Tim Davie, and the head of BBC News, Deborah Turness, both resigned.The decisions come in the wake of Donald Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, describing the BBC as 100% fake news" over the way a speech by the US president was edited. A week of hostile rightwing media headlines - very clearly set out by Jamie Grierson in this piece - seems to have taken its toll at the top of the corporation. Culture secretary Lisa Nandy's judgement will also no doubt be in the spotlight, having said, prior to his resignation, that she retained confidence" in how Davie was handling the situation. Davie himself clearly didn't agree.UK news | Tim Davie, the BBC's director general, and Deborah Turness, head of BBC News have resigned after a former adviser to the corporation accused it of serious and systemic" bias in its coverage of issues including Donald Trump, Gaza and trans rights.Remembrance day | Veterans of the second world war were applauded as they arrived at the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall to honour those who have died in conflict.US news | More than 2,500 flights were cancelled as US transportation secretary Sean Duffy said flight reductions could reach 20% if the federal government shutdown persisted.The Philippines | More than a million people were evacuated from their homes in the Philippines and at least two people were killed as Typhoon Fung-wong - the second big storm to hit in the space of a few days - made landfall on the east coast.Business news | The Barclay family is set to lose control of another part of their former business empire with a US private equity firm taking control of online retailer the Very Group. Continue reading...

Brazil's Andre Correa do Lago says countries should follow China's lead on clean energy as conference begins