Environment | The Guardian

Deal reached that paves way for communities in England to authorise projects without unanimous support

Expected approval for coalmine opening could provoke backlash from party’s many opposing voicesMichael Gove could green light the first UK coalmine in a generation as soon as Wednesday, in a move likely to open up new dividing lines among Conservatives.A number of high-profile Tories have previously spoken out against the plans for a new mine outside Whitehaven in Cumbria, including former cabinet ministers Kwasi Kwarteng, Alok Sharma, Robert Buckland and Tobias Ellwood. Continue reading...

Activists and experts say green light for coal would show UK’s ‘posturing, double standards and broken promises’For the UK to open a new coalmine would be “hypocritical”, would “send the wrong message”, and makes “a mockery” of climate action, developing country activists and experts involved in global climate negotiations have said.A decision on whether to go ahead with a new coalmine in Cumbria is expected from the UK government as soon as Wednesday. Continue reading...

Just Stop Oil’s Hannah Hunt and Eden Lazarus found guilty after glueing themselves to Constable’s The Hay WainTwo climate protesters have been ordered to compensate the National Gallery after they were found guilty of causing more than £1,000 of damage to the Hay Wain, probably John Constable’s best-known painting.In July Just Stop Oil supporters Hannah Hunt, 23, and Eden Lazarus, 22, taped printed posters of a dystopian reimagining of the landscape over its canvas, before glueing their hands to its gilt frame. Continue reading...

Plans to redevelop 72 Upper Ground ignore material and climate impact, detractors sayDevelopers have been urged to “stop demolishing youthful concrete towers at whim” on the opening day of a planning inquiry which will examine plans to replace ITV’s former headquarters on London’s South Bank with a £400m office complex.Objectors say the plans for 72 Upper Ground, nicknamed “the Slab”, will generate more carbon emissions in its construction than if the 4,000 officer workers it is designed to house were to drive in from Surrey for 30 years. Continue reading...

Deutsche Bahn passengers will be able to opt for reusable cups, plates and bowls for their food and drink from next yearDeutsche Bahn passengers will be able to get their coffee in a porcelain cup from next year, the German rail operator has announced, as it seeks to cut waste.Travellers would be able to choose a “high-quality porcelain or glass” option when ordering food and drink on its intercity and high-speed services, the company said in a statement. Continue reading...

Modelled on the Climate Council, the body says it will be a ‘strong and trusted voice’ backed by science including First People’s knowledge

‘Reduce, reuse, recycle’ ethos has long been part of Alice Clanachan’s life, but now she avoids creating waste in any form

Treasury had initially predicted the new system would increase revenue by $765m this financial year

Regulator calls spending on network improvements ‘extremely disappointing’ after companies undershot budgetsOfwat has criticised water companies for failing to invest enough in treatment plants to stop the overuse of raw sewage discharges.The water regulator for England and Wales said on Tuesday that water and wastewater companies were falling behind on their investment plans, leaving promised service improvements behind schedule or undelivered. Continue reading...

Cattle on Ireland’s most south-westerly island face starvation and humans extreme isolation if aerial link does not run, warns farmerIf Ireland’s only island cable car is not quickly repaired, cattle on the Dursey face starvation and humans may abandon it for the first time in 420 years, locals have warned.Martin Sheehan, a third-generation farmer on Dursey, delivered the stark warning this week after a delay in fixing the cable car put a question mark over the habitability of Ireland’s most south-westerly island. Continue reading...

Nature is under threat as never before, but what does that actually mean? We explain what is at stake – and why action at Cop15 is more crucial than everDespite humanity’s many technological advances, we can only manage a well-informed guess at the true extent of life on Earth: 8.7 million species, according to the most commonly cited figure, with other estimates ranging between 5.3 million and one trillion.There is greater certainty about the decline of biodiversity that human behaviour is driving, with species dying off as much as 1,000 times more frequently than before the arrival of humans 60m years ago, as one study suggests. Continue reading...

Iata director general Willie Walsh calls for greater production of sustainable aviation fuelAirline passengers face higher ticket prices as the industry moves towards its target of reducing emissions to net zero by 2050, the head of a global trade association said on Tuesday.Willie Walsh, the director general of the International Air Transport Association, which includes most of the world’s big airlines, called for swifter action in Europe to drive up scarce production of greener sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Continue reading...

Lack of funding identified as biggest obstacle to planting and maintaining hedgerowsFarmers are urging the government to include hedge creation in its nature-friendly farming subsidy scheme in an attempt to increase biodiversity.Details about the post-Brexit replacement for the EU’s common agricultural policy have been scarce, with land managers simply told they would get payments for providing “public goods” such as protecting nature. Continue reading...

NFU warns farmers are struggling with soaring cost of fuel, fertiliser and feedThe government risks “sleepwalking” into a food supply crisis unless it provides crucial support for British farmers struggling with the soaring cost of fuel, fertiliser and feed, the National Farmers’ Union has warned.Rising costs could result in supply problems for energy-intensive crops including tomatoes, cucumbers and pears – which are on track for their lowest yields since records began in 1985 – and rationing at supermarkets as recently experienced with eggs, the union said. Continue reading...

Inger Andersen spells out the challenges facing the planet as Cop15 delegates gather inMontrealThe UN’s environment chief has warned that “we are at war with nature” and must “make peace”, as countries gather at Cop15 in Montreal to agree a deal to protect the planet’s biodiversity.“We’ve just welcomed the 8 billionth member of the human race on this planet. That’s a wonderful birth of a baby, of course. But we need to understand that the more people there are, the more we put the Earth under heavy pressure,” said Inger Andersen, the executive director of the UN environment programme. Continue reading...

Campaign group calls for institutions to be accountable via short-term assessments after 59% missed goalsThe majority of UK universities have failed to meet their carbon reduction targets, figures reveal.The sector had a goal to reduce emissions directly controlled by institutions by 43% between 2005-06 and 2020-21. Continue reading...

Hybrid vehicles so popular they account for one in every three cars sold by Toyota

Also under fire for sewage discharges and executive pay, company makes first-half profits of almost £500mThames Water has reported a boom in first-half profits to almost £500m, despite a surge in the number of burst pipes during the drought across the UK over the summer.The company, which instituted a hosepipe ban from August to September amid the summer heatwave, said the rise in leakage and supply interruptions due to mains bursting was the result of “hot weather and dry ground”. Continue reading...

Dairy Australia’s Hay report has predicted ‘supply shortfalls’ and downgrades in quality of hay and fodder across eastern Australia

Increase for fourth consecutive month, with almost 143,000 new vehicles registered in NovemberSales of new cars in the UK have risen for the fourth month running, with purely electric vehicles accounting for a fifth of the total.In the best November for the industry since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, almost 143,000 new vehicles were registered. Continue reading...

Protests against oil and mining have been planned, as thousands of delegates arrive for UN biodiversity summitPolice in Montreal are bracing for their biggest operation in two decades, as thousands of visitors – including frustrated demonstrators – begin to arrive for the Cop15 global biodiversity summit.Officials are expecting more than 10,000 people, including scientists and senior bureaucrats, to attend Cop15 in the Canadian city. Continue reading...

Birdwatchers Mya, Arjun and Kabir have grown up seeing the effects of wildlife decline. They talk about what inspires them, their hopes for future action and how everyone can connect with the nature on their doorstep• Watch Mya and Arjun in Skyward, a Guardian Documentaries filmMore than 300 young people from around the world are gathering in Montreal for a two-day youth summit ahead of the Cop15 UN biodiversity conference. Here, three young naturalists in the UK tell the Guardian about their favourite wildlife experiences, as well as their hopes – and concerns – for Cop15 and beyond. Mya and Arjun, who feature in a new Guardian documentary, Skyward, which follows the daily life of the two young birdwatchers, and Kabir, another young naturalist from the UK, are fascinated by the natural world but are also alarmed at its decline. Continue reading...

Everything you need to know about the once-in-a-decade chance to stop the loss of biodiversity – and how you can helpPlanet Earth is enduring the largest loss of life since the time of the dinosaurs, according to scientists. This loss is being driven by human behaviour, and governments are split on how to respond. At Cop15 in Montreal, many of these divisions will come to a head as they negotiate this decade’s UN biodiversity targets, known as the global biodiversity framework – or “GBF” if you are an insider. From the key players to what’s on the table, here’s what you need to know to make sense of the summit. Continue reading...

President’s predecessor Bolsonaro unleashed record destruction and emboldened loggers, land grabbers and illegal minersLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s narrow victory over President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil’s October elections was hailed as the potential salvation of the Amazon, after four years of unbridled destruction which have brought the rainforest close to a tipping point, threatening the very survival of the Indigenous populations whose lives depend upon it.Lula has vowed to reverse the environmental destruction wreaked under his far-right predecessor and work towards zero deforestation by tackling crime in the Amazon and guaranteeing the protection of Indigenous rights. But the president-elect, who takes office on 1 January 2023, faces an uphill battle to meet these big promises he has made to the Brazilian people and the international community. Continue reading...

Letter says bioenergy is wrongly deemed ‘carbon neutral’ and contributes to wildlife lossMore than 650 scientists are urging world leaders to stop burning trees to make energy because it destroys valuable habitats for wildlife.In the buildup to Cop15, the UN biodiversity summit, they say countries urgently need to stop using forest bioenergy to create heat and electricity as it undermines international climate and nature targets. Instead, renewable energy sources such as wind and solar should be used, they say. Continue reading...

It is not fair for people to be paying such wildly varied prices for the same level of gas consumption – equity must be central to any market interventionThe treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is set to intervene in the gas market to push down high bills, likely through capping wholesale gas prices and also the price of coal.Various regulators and energy bodies will be providing advice about the best measures to take. But governments also needs to listen to those that are doing it tough paying their energy bills. Continue reading...

Dominic Perrottet welcomes minimum eight-month jail sentence given to Sydney Harbour Bridge protester

Deaths of endangered species probably happened a couple weeks ago, with the cause as yet unknownAbout 2,500 seals have been found dead on the Caspian Sea coast in southern Russia, officials said on Sunday.Regional officials initially reported on Saturday that 700 dead seals had been found on the coast, but the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment later raised the figure to about 2,500. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Dave Lewis, chair of startup hoping to provide 8% of Britain’s energy, tells how political turmoil has delayed undersea cable projectAn £18bn project to connect Britain with a huge wind and solar farm in the Sahara through an undersea cable has been delayed by at least a year because of political ructions in Westminster.The energy startup Xlinks hopes to provide 8% of Britain’s electricity supplies through a 3,800km (2,360-mile) cable linking Morocco with the UK, powering 7m homes by 2030. Continue reading...

The 2022 Climate Check international survey also found support in Australia for a crackdown on ‘greenwashing’

Laws across Australia have shifted significantly to limit protest and are being used to restrain or intimidate those who speak upYou don’t have to believe that Deanna Coco’s climate protest blocking traffic on the Sydney Harbour Bridge was a good idea, or helped her cause. But being sent to prison until July and denied bail while she lodges an appeal against the sentence was a bad day for democratic expression in Australia.Coco, 32 years old and known as Violet, was part of a group of four protesters from the activist group Fireproof Australia who blocked a southbound lane on the bridge just before 8.30am on 13 April this year. While others held a banner and glued themselves to the road, Coco climbed on to the roof of a hired van and set off a flare. When police arrived, she resisted arrest. Continue reading...

‘The conference for nature this month in Montreal could be what Paris was for climate,’ Tanya Plibersek says

Security footage shows animal drag child across lawn and sidewalk before father intervenesA coyote grabbed and injured a two-year old girl outside her Los Angeles home in a daytime attack before her father chased the animal off, her family said.Home security video obtained by KTLA-TV showed the animal grab and drag the toddler across her lawn and sidewalk, seconds after her father took her out of a car seat, set her down and turned back inside the vehicle to gather her toys. They had just arrived home from preschool. Continue reading...

Ministers and experts say disputes between co-hosts unlikely to disrupt efforts to reach deal on protecting natural worldMore than 10,000 scientists, government officials and activists will gather in Montreal this week for the world’s most important biodiversity conference, eager to hammer out a deal to stem habitat loss around the world and preserve sensitive ecosystems.The UN Cop15 biodiversity summit opens on Tuesday, and will see countries negotiate this decade’s targets for protecting nature after more than two years of pandemic-related delays and just over two weeks since the end of the Cop27 climate meeting in Egypt. Continue reading...

The variety is a cross between commercial and wild wheats – bred in a bid to develop crops that are more resilient to the climate crisisA new drought-tolerant variety of durum wheat has been created as part of an international breeding programme to boost climate resilience in the food system by increasing crop diversity.Durum wheat is used to make pasta, pizza crusts, and flatbreads such as pitta and chapatis, as well as for couscous, bulgur and pastry for desserts such as baklava. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Ted O’Brien’s Time to Talk Nuclear website was registered by business that helps US reactor company

Protesters take to luxury beds and sofas in London store to call for action on ‘sky-rocketing’ energy billsJust Stop Oil activists tucked themselves into a Harrods display bed as part of a national day of action on fuel poverty in the UK on Saturday.Footage of the “warm up” demonstrations also showed security guards confronting protesters lying on sofas inside the shop in Knightsbridge, London. Continue reading...

Tory party’s most respected figure on climate says mine will damage UK’s international reputation as well as environmentTory division over green policy deepened last night when the party’s climate change champion said a proposed new coalmine on the outskirts of Whitehaven in Cumbria would send “completely the wrong signal” about the fight against climate breakdown.Before an imminent decision on the mine’s future, expected this week, Alok Sharma, whose presidency of Cop26 ended last month, made clear his opposition to any move to approve the venture. Continue reading...

Underground greenhouses are helping people to take back control of their nutrition and ease farming amid the climate crisisNear the southern border of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, a curved translucent roof peeks out a few feet above the dusty plains. It’s a blustery November afternoon and the last remaining greens outside are fading fast. But below ground, at the bottom of a short flight of stairs, the inside of this 80ft-long sleek structure is bursting with life – pallets of vivid microgreens, potato plants growing from hay bales and planters full of thick heads of Swiss chard and pak choi. Two people bend over the pallets, using scissors to harvest delicate sprouts of microgreens.This is an underground greenhouse, or walipini, and the harvesters are members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. It is one of at least eight underground greenhouses that, over the past decade, have been built or are being constructed on the reservation – which has one of the highest poverty rates in the US. Some hope they can help solve the interconnected problems of the lack of affordable, nutritious food and the difficulties of farming in the climate crisis. Continue reading...

The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would provide $1.3bn annually for wildlife and could speed up completion of a crucial wildlife corridor in one US stateBeyond the dirt tracks and swamps of the Florida Everglades lies a narrow, unremarkable strip of land that has taken on outsize importance in the battle to save the state’s critically endangered panthers. Barely 11 miles (18km) long and a mile wide, Chaparral Slough occupies a forgotten corner of south-west Florida, where cattle roam, cowboys still ride the prairie and birds of prey soar overhead.This tract of ranchland and wilderness was recently acquired as part of the Florida Forever state conservation programme, which buys, or pays landowners to preserve, parcels of land rich in natural resources or habitat critical to the survival of threatened wildlife species. It is a small but crucial piece in the Florida Wildlife Corridor, a 17.7m-acre network of interconnecting landscapes that allows many of the state’s 131 imperilled animals, including panthers and bears, to roam freely. Continue reading...

Once common in England and Wales, the species was hunted to local extinction about 300 years agoWith their striking long beaks and elegant white plumage, the spoonbill looks like it belongs somewhere far more exotic than the windswept saltmarshes of the UK.But the large wading bird is enjoying a boom in numbers as landowners across the country improve wetland habitats and tree cover. Continue reading...

Human rights groups around the world express outrage over ‘disproportionate’ punishment of Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco

The group was awarded $1.8m and praised as an ‘inspiring women led program’ using First Nations knowledge to protect land and sea

London mayor’s demand comes as civil rights campaigners criticise PM’s promise to increase police powersThe London mayor has demanded the state response to Just Stop Oil remain “within the law”, as civil rights campaigners warned over the prime minister’s suggestion he would grant police new powers to contain the group’s protests.After a meeting of police leaders and ministers in Downing Street on Thursday, Rishi Sunak promised police whatever powers they need to “clamp down” on the “completely unacceptable” disruptions by the climate activist group. Continue reading...

Nicknamed ‘Green Jesus’, Canada’s environment minister once scaled the CN Tower in a climate protest. Ahead of efforts at Cop15 in Montreal to stop the destruction of nature, he explains why he approved a controversial oil projectA young boy in rural Canada learns the forest he loves will be chopped down, so he scales one of the trees and refuses to leave. He fails in his mission – but the destruction resonates deeply. In his adolescence, he studies politics and theology, fascinated by questions of power and moral obligation. As an adult, he scales the world’s tallest building – which was then the CN Tower in Toronto – to protest the destruction of the climate, only leaving when he’s escorted down in handcuffs. He rejects owning a car, cycling through the pounding rain, sleet and ice of a Quebec winter. A local newspaper calls him “Green Jesus”.Fast forward to April 2022 and that same man, Steven Guilbeault, greenlights a controversial oil-drilling project off the coast of Newfoundland in his role as Canada’s minister of environment and climate change. Continue reading...

Fears of shortages early next year as farmers say they are having to ‘tear up’ sowing and harvesting timelinesThe mild autumn has caused much of the UK’s green vegetable and potato crops to grow early, leading to a glut and a large amount of waste, and fears of shortages early next year.Cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli that were supposed to be ready later in December or in January are ready to harvest now, with some having grown to huge sizes because of the exceptionally mild autumn. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Trees standing alone and in small groups worth billions to UK, which researchers say justifies spending to protect them

Local people call for rethink on £12.7m city centre project, and dismiss saplings plan as a ‘greenwash’

Campaigners cite previous court rulings against shareholders, such as in the case of Northern Rock bankParliament could renationalise the water industry in England without being obliged to compensate shareholders, according to previous UK court judgments cited by campaigners.Activists are putting mounting pressure on the government and opposition parties to look again at the privatised water system after criticism that the industry is not acting in the public interest. Continue reading...