Raids targeting members of Letzte Generation are carried out at 15 properties in seven German statesNationwide raids against members of the German climate protest group Letzte Generation (Last Generation) have been carried out at the behest of authorities in Munich investigating charges that the group is a criminal organisation.Launched at 7am local time on Wednesday, 170 police officers took part in the raids, which targeted 15 properties in seven German states, including Bavaria and Berlin. Continue reading...
Exclusive: investigation finds energy giant’s efforts to offset its huge emissions rely on schemes with little impactA new investigation into Chevron’s climate pledge has found the fossil-fuel company relies on “junk” carbon offsets and “unviable” technologies, which do little to offset its vast greenhouse gas emissions and in some cases may actually be causing communities harm.Chevron, which reported $35.5bn in profits last year, is the US’s second-largest fossil fuel company with operations stretching from Canada and Brazil to the UK, Nigeria and Australia. Continue reading...
Decline worse in Britain than other countries, as conservationists blame agriculture and global heatingButterfly populations that live on grasslands across Europe have declined by more than a third in the past decade, according to a study.Seventeen species that were once commonly found in pastures and meadows across 22 countries, including the small copper, common blue and meadow brown, declined by 36% on average between 2011 and 2020. Continue reading...
Science-Based Targets Network says new schema will ‘get nature into the boardroom’ in the same way as climate footprintsBusinesses can now assess their impacts on nature loss using science-based targets as part of a move to “get nature into the boardroom”.Research shows that the biodiversity crisis is as serious as the climate crisis, yet there is less information about how companies drive nature loss, because this data is not being disclosed. The Science-Based Targets Network (SBTN) is providing the first framework for companies to report their impacts on nature as part a new frontier of corporate environmental reporting. Continue reading...
Campaign group says plastics are incompatible with circular economy as countries prepare for treaty talksRecycling plastic can make it more toxic and should not be considered a solution to the pollution crisis, Greenpeace has warned before the latest round of negotiations for an international plastics treaty.“Plastics are inherently incompatible with a circular economy,” the global environmental network said in a report that brings together research showing recycled plastics are more toxic than their virgin constituents. Continue reading...
by Graham Readfearn and Australian Associated Press on (#6BWCN)
Tech firm founded by Australians Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar says net zero must be achieved by cutting emissions by 90% and only offsetting the remainder
Toxic ‘forever chemicals’, concentrated in sludge, are extremely difficult to dispose of safely and also poison farmlandUtility officials in Maine and elsewhere around the country are developing first-of-their-kind plans to eliminate toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” from sewage sludge spread as fertilizer on farmland.Success would address a growing agricultural crisis and reshape how the nation handles its waste – the dangerous chemicals are thought to be contaminating all sludge at high levels, and poisoning food and water on around 20m acres (8m hectares) of farmland across the US. Continue reading...
Scientists find high levels of microplastics in wastewater from unnamed UK plant – and in air surrounding facilityRecycling has been promoted by the plastics industry as a key solution to the growing problem of plastic waste. But a study has found recycling itself could be releasing huge quantities of microplastics.An international team of scientists sampled wastewater from a state-of-the-art recycling plant at an undisclosed location in the UK. They found that the microplastics released in the water amounted to 13% of the plastic processed. Continue reading...
Prime minister’s spokesperson says he is gathering ‘all the facts’ before making a decision. This live blog is closedAnd here are some of the lines from what Rishi Sunak has been saying at the London defence conference.Sunak said the challenge posed by China should not lead to a “blanket descent into protectionism”. He said that China’s rise represented an “epoch-defining challenge”. He explained:It is a country that has both the means and the intent to reshape the global order.Its behaviour is increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad and in light of that we do need to take the steps to protect ourselves.There are a limited number of very sensitive sectors of our economy, or types of technology, where we want to take a particularly robust approach: semiconductors, for example, dual-use technologies, quantum, etc.But this is not an excuse for a blanket descent into protectionism.He said that G7 countries should not be engaged in subsidy competition. Asked whether the UK needed an industrial strategy, he replied:That means different things to different people. If that means we should just be focusing on who can subsidise industries the most, then my answer is no.We discussed that at the G7 and actually you will see in the G7 communique very specific language acknowledging that subsidy races that essentially just shift industrial capacity between allies in some kind of zero-sum competition are not appropriate. Continue reading...
Crews hope wet weather could be ‘turning point’ after worst start to fire season on record in which area the size of Wales has burnedHeavy rains have brought relief to western Canada, in what crews hope could be a “turning point” in a protracted fight against wildfires, but officials also warned the much-needed downpour could lead to catastrophic flooding – and fresh blazes from lightning strikes.Officials in Alberta said that cool, wet weather over the weekend – and more forecast for the coming days – promised a respite after the worst start to a fire season on record, in which 512 wildfires have already consumed more than 945,000 hectares – surpassing the previous record 615,00 hectares for the same period in 2019. Continue reading...
Bosses defend oil company against accusations it is not switching away from fossil fuels quickly enoughShell’s annual shareholder meeting in London descended into chaos with more than an hour of climate protests delaying the start of a meeting in which investors in the oil company rejected new targets for carbon emissions cuts.The FTSE 100 oil company faced a shareholder vote backed by big pension funds and investors to set carbon emission reduction targets for 2030, while dozens of protesters called for an immediate end to fossil fuel production. Continue reading...
More than £13m of subsidies mainly paid to tenants of Duchy of Cornwall have done little to restore nature in national parkKing Charles and Prince William could be dragged into a bitter fight over £13m of taxpayer funds paid over the past decade for nature restoration on Dartmoor national park.The funds have partly been paid to tenants farming land in the national park that is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, a land and property estate controlled by the heir to the throne. Continue reading...
David Antonioli to step down from Verra, which was accused of approving millions of worthless offsets used by major companiesThe head of the world’s leading carbon credit certifier has announced he will step down as CEO next month.It comes amid concerns that Verra, a Washington-based nonprofit, approved tens of millions of worthless offsets that are used by major companies for climate and biodiversity commitments, according to a joint Guardian investigation earlier this year. Continue reading...
Shares in owner Pennon Group fall as it says Ofwat has launched inquiry into South West WaterSouth West Water is being investigated by the industry regulator over whether it accurately reported leaks and figures showing how much water is used by its customers.Pennon Group, which owns South West Water and Bristol Water Group, told its shareholders Ofwat had announced an investigation into the company’s operational performance during 2021 and 2022. Continue reading...
Protesters from Greenpeace, Stay Grounded, Extinction Rebellion and others chain themselves to aircraft in GenevaDozens of climate activists have disrupted Europe’s largest private jet trade fair by chaining themselves to aircraft to protest against the sector’s carbon emissions.The demonstrators on behalf of Greenpeace, Stay Grounded, Extinction Rebellion and Scientist Rebellion also attached themselves to the entrance gates of the event at Geneva airport in the hope of preventing prospective buyers from entering the annual show. Continue reading...
Agreement between California, Arizona and Nevada will cut water consumption by 13% but experts warn river is still in serious perilA hard-fought agreement between California, Arizona and Nevada to slash the states’ use of the shrinking Colorado River is only a temporary salve to a long-term water crisis that continues to threaten the foundations of life in the American west, experts have warned.The deal, announced on Monday, between the three states that make up the lower portion of the sprawling Colorado basin will pare back 13% of water consumption from the beleaguered river over the next three years if adopted, averting the prospect of more stringent cuts imposed by the federal government. Backed by $1.2bn in federal funds, the bulk of the reductions are structured to encourage voluntary cuts taken by rights holders, in exchange for grant money. Continue reading...
Two hundred and ninety plants, 20 fishes, 24 amphibians, 46 reptiles and one mammal were among newly discovered in one of Asia’s biodiversity hotspots in 2021 and 2022. Many are already under threat of extinction from habitat loss, deforestation and the illegal wildlife trade. WWF is calling on governments to increase protection for these rare species and to commit to halting and reversing nature loss Continue reading...
Farmers turning to forestry and the fall in the price of wool are being blamed for the ratio of sheep to people falling below five to oneNew Zealand’s ratio of sheep to people has dropped below five to one for the first time since national population records began in the late 1850s.The vast ovine herds that outnumber human New Zealanders are a long-running joke outside the country; one of a few nuggets of information about New Zealand – alongside its links to The Lord of the Rings and Jacinda Ardern – that is know by the rest of the world. Continue reading...
Global trade in chocolate, worth more than $1tn a year, is leading to widespread deforestation in Ivory Coast and GhanaThe world’s hunger for chocolate is a major cause of the destruction of protected forests in west Africa, scientists have said.Satellite maps of Ivory Coast and Ghana showed swathes of formerly dense forest had become cocoa plantations since 2000, according to a study. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#6BV9F)
World is on track for 2.7C and ‘phenomenal’ human suffering, scientists warnGlobal heating will drive billions of people out of the “climate niche” in which humanity has flourished for millennia, a study has estimated, exposing them to unprecedented temperatures and extreme weather.The world is on track for 2.7C of heating with current action plans and this would mean 2 billion people experiencing average annual temperatures above 29C by 2030, a level at which very few communities have lived in the past. Continue reading...
Exclusive: New documents also reveal federal government admitted Australia did not have policies to ensure project would meet key recommendation in fullNew documents reveal the Northern Territory government knew it could not meet a key recommendation to reduce the climate risk of its planned massive expansion of gas production, and asked the Albanese government for help.Federal climate change officials in turn admitted Australia did not have any existing policies that would meet the recommendation in full. Continue reading...
by Hannah Ellis-Petersen South Asia correspondent on (#6BV7X)
Three of the 20 big cats brought from Africa have died as critics of the plan say their new habitat is unsuitableA programme to reintroduce cheetahs in India after 75 years has been called into question after three of the animals died in recent weeks and concerns were raised that their new habitat was unsuitable.Since October, 20 cheetahs – which became extinct in the country in 1952 – have been brought over from South Africa and Namibia as part of a much-lauded government programme to house them in Kuno national park, Madhya Pradesh state. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Fossil fuel companies register drop in value after litigation or unfavourable judgmentsClimate litigation poses a financial risk to fossil fuel companies because it lowers the share price of big polluters, research has found.A study to be published on Tuesday by LSE’s Grantham Research Institute examines how the stock market reacts to news that a fresh climate lawsuit has been filed or a corporation has lost its case. Continue reading...
Asset managers told they have key role to play on climate crisis in open letter before Shell’s annual meetingA coalition of university investment funds has called on institutional investors to rebel against the boards of fossil fuel companies and their backers.As Shell prepares for its annual shareholder meeting this week, representatives from the Universities of Newcastle, Sussex, Bristol and from Trinity College, Cambridge, have written an open letter to the asset management industry urging “bold action” to stop new fossil fuel projects. Continue reading...
When scientists discovered tunnels on the bed of the Bering Sea, they were baffled. Now they think they have found the culpritDuring an expedition in the cold waters of the Bering Sea, between Russia and Alaska, last summer, a team of scientists spotted neat lines of holes poked into the seafloor. But they did not know who – or what – had created them.Scientists on the German research vessel Sonne set about hunting for clues. They sifted through several hundred images captured by a camera towed above the seafloor. Continue reading...
Ministers were warned about the risks of private equity entering the sector but did nothing. Now we’re paying the priceThe revelation should anger all who care about England’s rivers and beaches. Two decades ago, ministers were warned about private equity firms buying up water companies. In a briefing prepared for Britain’s competition regulator prior to the takeover of Southern Water, researchers raised the alarm that private equity-owned water companies would become “impossible” to regulate. Despite the 20-year transparency rule, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has not released the briefing. Its existence was uncovered by this newspaper. Though its full contents remain secret, its implications are clear: ministers were alerted to the devastating impact that this industry could have on England’s water supply, but they chose not to act.Since then, a tide of effluent has polluted England’s rivers. Following the privatisation of water companies in 1989, owners have enriched themselves while neglecting infrastructure and dumping vast quantities of untreated sewage. As investors have loaded water companies with debt, they have continued to pay dividends to their shareholders, which totalled £1.4bn last year. The public, meanwhile, have shouldered the costs. Water bills have risen. Last week, the industry apologised for these sewage spills and pledged to invest £10bn in infrastructure – to be paid for by increases in customer bills. Ruth Kelly, the former Labour cabinet minister who is head of the industry’s trade body, Water UK, said more should have been done to address the spillages. She was silent on the subject of dividend payments. Continue reading...
Members of Ultima Generazione fossil fuel group climbed in and poured diluted charcoal into waterSeven activists protesting against climate change climbed into the Trevi fountain in Rome and poured diluted charcoal into the water to turn it black.The protesters from the Ultima Generazione (Last Generation) group held up banners saying “We won’t pay for fossil [fuels]” and shouted “Our country is dying.” Continue reading...
by Oliver Wainwright in Desert Center, California on (#6BTTJ)
Residents feel trapped and choked by dust, while experts warn environmental damage is ‘solving one problem by creating others’Deep in the Mojave desert, about halfway between Los Angeles and Phoenix, a sparkling blue sea shimmers on the horizon. Visible from the I-10 highway, amid the parched plains and sun-baked mountains, it is an improbable sight: a deep blue slick stretching for miles across the Chuckwalla Valley, forming an endless glistening mirror.
With cost of cleanup to be passed on to bill payers, analysis shows they will also pay £624 more by 2030 to fund investor payoutsEnglish water companies will pay an estimated £14.7bn in dividends by the end of this decade, while making customers pay for new investment to stem the tide of sewage pollution in seas and rivers, analysis for the Observer has revealed.Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron denounced the billions going to shareholders as “absolutely scandalous” while families struggling with the cost of living would be facing increases in bills to pay for the sewage cleanup. Continue reading...
Just 192 hectares of ‘natural colonisation’ have been established in England under woodland creation offerA government scheme to support the natural regeneration of trees has in two years created an area of new woodland smaller than Regent’s Park in London.Just 192 hectares (474 acres) of “natural colonisation” have been established in England through the woodland creation offer, a financial support package launched by the government in May 2021 after natural regeneration was hailed as one of the cheapest, efficient and most wildlife-friendly ways of increasing tree cover and capturing carbon. Continue reading...
Wildlife and environment groups condemn plan promising renewable energy for 600,000 homesPlans for a renewable energy tidal barrier linking Norfolk and Lincolnshire have sparked fierce debate between scientists, wildlife charities and a port company CEO who is leading the project.Entrepreneur James Sutcliffe, who has managed and advised port companies in Sierra Leone and Bangladesh, has now set his sights on the Wash, which is the sea, mudflats and salt marsh between the two counties. Continue reading...
by Nina Lakhani Climate justice reporter on (#6BT7H)
Groundbreaking analysis by One Earth is first to quantify economic burden caused by individual companiesThe world’s top fossil fuel companies owe at least $209bn in annual climate reparations to compensate communities most damaged by their polluting business and decades of lies, a new study calculates.BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Total, Saudi Arabia’s state oil company and Chevron are among the largest 21 polluters responsible for $5.4tn (£4.3tn) in drought, wildfires, sea level rise, and melting glaciers among other climate catastrophes expected between 2025 and 2050, according to groundbreaking analysis published in the journal One Earth. Continue reading...
A man has been filmed pushing Just Stop Oil protesters to the ground as they marched down Mansell Street in east London. In the footage shared on social media, the man can be seen shoving protesters, ripping away banners and grabbing one person's phone before throwing it away. The activist group held two slow marches in Cannon Street and Tower Hill on Friday morning. A Met spokesperson said the force was 'aware of an incident in which a member of the public appears to have remonstrated' with protesters before police arrived. A spokesperson for Just Stop Oil said: 'The disruption we are seeing on British streets is nothing compared to what's coming if we do not stop licensing new oil, gas and coal' Continue reading...
City is sinking approximately 1-2mm each year on average, worsening effects of sea level rise and flooding threatNew York City is sinking in part due to the extraordinary weight of its vertiginous buildings, worsening the flooding threat posed to the metropolis from the rising seas, new research has found.The Big Apple may be the city that never sleeps but it is a city that certainly sinks, subsiding by approximately 1-2mm each year on average, with some areas of New York City plunging at double this rate, according to researchers. Continue reading...
The category-5 storm brought 160mph winds and torrential rain to parts of Bangladesh and Myanmar on Sunday, leaving at least five dead and causing half a million people to be evacuated Continue reading...
Torrential rain, coming on top of the country’s worst drought in four decades, has forced 250,000 people to leave their homesJamal Ali Abdi has seen flooding in Beledweyne before but never on the scale witnessed earlier this month when the Shabelle River burst its banks, causing devastation to the central Somali town and displacing almost the entire population.As water gushed through the streets, Ali’s home was soon surrounded by murky brown flood water. Continue reading...
The last of the world’s Asiatic lions live in Gujarat state, but as the apex predators outgrow their forest reserve, they are moving to the seasideIt was one morning, while walking on the beach in Gujarat, that wildlife expert Meena Venkataraman spotted a pair of paw prints. But this was no dog or fox that had visited. The footprints belonged to an Asiatic lion, the king of the jungle – and, increasingly, the beach.Once found throughout Mesopotamia, Persia and the Indian subcontinent, the Asiatic lion was almost driven to extinction by the early 1900s due to hunting and habitat loss, before a nawab in the western Indian state of Gujarat intervened. Today, the state is the only home of the Asiatic lion. Continue reading...
Lakes and reservoirs have lost 22 gigatonnes a year since 1992, driven by factors including global heating and human consumptionMore than half of the world’s large lakes and reservoirs have shrunk since the early 1990s – chiefly because of the climate crisis and human consumption – intensifying concerns about water supply for agriculture, hydropower and human consumption, a study has found.A team of international researchers reported that some of the world’s most important freshwater sources – from the Caspian Sea between Europe and Asia, to South America’s Lake Titicaca – lost water at a cumulative rate of about 22 gigatonnes a year for nearly three decades, equivalent to the total water use in the US for the entire year of 2015. Continue reading...
Devastating floods in Emilia-Romagna region have left several dead and thousands homeless after torrential rains triggered landslides and caused rivers to burst their banks Continue reading...
Staffers raise concerns about inclusivity and accountability after US environmental organization says it needs to cut costsThe Sierra Club, one of the US’s oldest and largest environmental advocacy groups, is going through a turbulent restructuring, which a union has issued two formal complaints about and warned could lead to more than 100 job losses.Some staff also raised questions about how the changes might affect its recent efforts to improve workplace culture following allegations of misconduct, and boost inclusivity in the aftermath of scrutiny over the racial views of its founder, the conservationist John Muir. Continue reading...
Biden officials consider whether symbol, created for first Earth Day in 1970, is misleading because of use on non-recyclable materialThe triangular loop of arrows that has been the universal symbol of recycling for the past five decades could itself end up being binned in the US, with Joe Biden’s administration mulling whether it is misleading to the public.The “chasing arrows” logo, designed by a college student for the first Earth Day in 1970, has become ubiquitous on everything from cartons of milk to shampoo bottles as a way to nudge users to recycle packaging rather than discard it. Continue reading...
Older and disabled people trapped in homes as rescuers battle harsh conditions in Emilia-Romagna regionOlder and disabled people were trapped in their homes as rescuers worked under pounding rain throughout the night to save people in the most catastrophic flooding to affect Italy in 100 years.The floods in the northern Emilia-Romagna region have claimed 13 lives as of Thursday evening. An estimated 20,000 have been left homeless in a disaster that caused 23 rivers to burst their banks and 280 landslides, engulfing 41 cities and towns. Continue reading...
Clean water activists say industry’s promise to reduce pollution should not be taken on trustThe water industry’s promise to triple investment in the sewage system in England to reduce pollution and quell public anger should not be taken on trust, campaigners have said.Clean water activists including surfers, swimmers and anglers criticised water companies for passing the £10bn bill for investment, which should have been carried out years ago, on to customers. Continue reading...