Environment | The Guardian

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a singing robin, a swimming buck and a praying mantis Continue reading...

Lawyers for Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco, who stopped traffic for 25 minutes in April, say it is ‘outrageous’ their client was refused bail before an appeal next year

Ministers urged to act as study shows average block of cheese or loaf of bread makes farmers less than a pennyUK farmers are receiving negligible profits for many items as food prices rise and supermarkets boast record takings.An average block of cheese or loaf of bread produces less than a penny for farmers, and fruit producers do not fare much better, making just 3p from each kilo of apples. Continue reading...

Shayleen Thompson of the Clean Energy Regulator had ‘robust’ exchange with Wentworth Group director

Weeks before Cop15 in Montreal, leaked letter to EU shows host tried to water down deforestation regulationsThe Canadian government has been accused of putting its domestic timber industry ahead of the global environment, following a leaked attempt to water down the world’s most ambitious regulations on deforestation-free trade.Weeks before the United Nations biodiversity conference, Cop15 in Montreal, the host nation sent a letter to the European Commission asking for a reconsideration of “burdensome traceability requirements” within a proposed EU scheme that aims to eradicate unsustainably sourced wood products from the world’s biggest market. Continue reading...

Eleventh month in a row of above-average temperatures means 2022 almost certain to set new markThe UK remains on track for its warmest year since records began, after November became the 11th month in a row of above-average temperatures.In order not to break the record, temperatures in December would have to drop to almost unprecedented lows, after an average mean temperature of 8.2C over November, the Met Office said. Continue reading...

Criticism of past 12 years comes as minister admits fresh delay to post-Brexit farm payment schemesLandowners have told the environment secretary they are “running out of patience” with the Conservative government after 12 years of the rural economy being “stifled” and delays to nature-friendly farming payment schemes.At a conference organised by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), the largest rural landowner group in the country, Thérèse Coffey announced that the review into the new land payments schemes had concluded, but admitted that farmers and other land managers would remain in the dark with regards to detail on payment and standards until next year. Continue reading...

Tower Hamlets removes play space in long-running row with parents over traffic near primary schoolAn east London council has sent construction workers in the middle of the night to dismantle a wooden structure protecting a “school street”.Children at Chisenhale primary in Bow arrived on Thursday morning to find the structure and play space outside the school entrance gone. Continue reading...

One official says the commonwealth is ‘flailing around in the dark’ while seeking a way to lower bills

What flew under the radar during the election campaign is actually one of the most ambitious climate goals of any place in the worldDuring the final weeks of the Victorian election campaign, Daniel Andrews took to wearing a State Electricity Commission jacket at press conferences, using it to highlight Labor’s flagship policy of supplying publicly owned renewable energy through a revived SEC.It got a lot of airtime, that jacket, and the promise it represented – a return to an era when governments owned big energy assets and jobs were for life. The premier spruiked the idea in his victory speech, adding that greedy energy companies were leaving the industry and “goodbye to them”, while volunteers in red shirts chanted “S-E-C! S-E-C!” – surely one of the more obscure political chants in memory. Continue reading...

As participants arrive in Montreal to negotiate this decade’s targets for protecting biodiversity, two themes are getting the lion’s share of attentionAfter more than two years of delays, Cop15, the once-in-decade global biodiversity summit, is about to begin. More than 10,000 participants from across the planet will start arriving in Montreal at the weekend to negotiate crucial goals for protecting biodiversity.There has been a coordinated push behind some targets, namely from a group of countries that want to protect 30% of land and sea for nature (30x30) by the end of the decade. The idea of “nature positive” is another theme being promoted in the pre-Cop15 rhetoric from NGOs and governments. Continue reading...

Customers pay on average 20% of their bill towards servicing debt and rewarding shareholders, says CMA

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Rough, a 37-year-old Centrica facility off east Yorkshire, has been reopened to prop up the energy grid“Do you hear that?” asks Chris O’Shea, putting a finger in the air and looking out over a tangle of pipes and workers in orange hi-vis overalls.A deep whirr punctures the calm of the east Yorkshire coast, as a huge engine powers up and prepares to suck thousands of cubic metres of gas from deep beneath the North Sea. Continue reading...

Exclusive: one university cites the industry as a ‘fundamental barrier to a more just and sustainable world’Three more UK universities have banned fossil fuel companies from recruiting students through their career services, with one citing the industry as a “fundamental barrier to a more just and sustainable world”.The University of the Arts London, University of Bedfordshire, and Wrexham Glyndwr University join Birkbeck, University of London, which was the first to adopt a fossil-free careers service policy in September. Continue reading...

And scientist Dr Peter Ridd from the IPA accuses the BoM and CSIRO of ignoring what he claims are the benefits of global heating

Jess Jeffery and family were looking for rentals when their belongings stored in Rochester were destroyed by floods, and have been excluded from relief as they lack fixed address

Australia has 18% of the world’s supply of vanadium, an element used in steelmaking and battery storage, but lacks the workforce to expand

City and Mississippi health department sign order agreeing to federal oversight of the failing water systemThe US justice department has taken drastic action regarding the crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, that has affected drinking water for its 150,000 residents for several months.On Tuesday, the city of Jackson and the Mississippi health department signed an order agreeing to federal oversight of the failing water system, in an attempt to restore clean and safe drinking water. Continue reading...

Tory backbenchers are among 40 parliamentarians who asked PM to ‘stand up for nature’ at talks

Guillaume Faury expresses concern at pace of investment in facilities producing alternatives to fossil fuelsThe launch of commercial flights of aircraft designed to reduce aviation’s damaging impact on the climate could be delayed by a shortage of net zero fuels, the chief executive of Airbus has warned.Speaking at a briefing about the European manufacturer’s emissions-cutting plans on Wednesday, Guillaume Faury said he had concerns about the pace of investment in facilities to produce “green” hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Continue reading...

Guardian unpicks complex web of investment firms, wealth funds and tax haven-based businesses that own most of sector

Guardian analysis reveals more than 70% of English water industry in foreign ownership

Minister confirms pollution penalties will be ringfenced for environment rather than going to TreasuryWater company fines for pollution are to be used to pay for environmental improvements in England rather than given to the Treasury, the government has said.Since 2015, the Environment Agency has concluded 56 prosecutions against water and sewerage companies, securing fines of more than £141m. Most of these were from one company, Southern Water, which received a record penalty of £90m last year. Continue reading...

Show omits massive challenges to the industry posed by climate crisis, bycatch and bottom trawling, claims Our Seas alliance of 135 organisationsShot in fishing vessels on the high seas, amid crashing waves that threaten to sweep all on deck overboard, the long-running BBC documentary programme Trawlermen offers viewers an insight into how a crew navigates one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.However, the new series, Trawlermen: Hunting the Catch, launched in October, fails to mention “even briefly” the environmental and climate crisis challenges or problems with bycatch faced by the fishing industry, according to the Our Seas coalition of 135 conservation and fishing organisations. Continue reading...

Apra finds country’s banks may be more vulnerable to economic downturns as they face threefold increase in lending losses

Exclusive: Fatih Birol says claims that limit is dead are ‘factually incorrect and politically very wrong’The world can still limit global heating to 1.5C, and to claim that the target is now out of reach is to play into the hands of fossil fuel proponents, the world’s leading energy economist has warned.Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, the global authority on energy, slammed scientists and activists who have claimed that the recent Cop27 UN climate summit killed off hopes for the crucial 1.5C limit. Continue reading...

Days later, Harry and Meghan will head to New York for human rights award, with no plans for brothers to meetThe Prince and Princess of Wales will fly to the US on Wednesday hoping to shine a light on the climate crisis against a media backdrop obsessed with sibling rivalry and turf war with the Sussexes.In their first US trip in eight years, Prince William and Princess Catherine are visiting Boston to promote the prince’s environmental Earthshot prize. Continue reading...

Uninhabited Widi Reserve is in a marine-protected zone and being promoted as ‘one of the most intact coral atoll ecosystems left on Earth’The development rights to an entire Indonesian archipelago with more than 100 tropical islands is set to be auctioned next week, sparking concerns for the environmental impact on what Sotheby’s described as “one of the most intact coral atoll ecosystems left on Earth”.The uninhabited Widi Reserve is based in a marine-protected zone in the “Coral Triangle” area of eastern Indonesia, and will go on sale via Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions in New York from 8-14 December. Continue reading...

Japan’s prime minister is pushing for as many as 17 nuclear reactors to be switched back on, more than a decade on from the meltdown at FukushimaLook carefully through the trees, and it is just possible to catch sight of Onagawa nuclear power plant from its visitors’ centre, perched on a hill surrounded by thick woods.The plant’s supporters may have had its remote location, on a rugged peninsula in Japan’s north-east, in mind when they campaigned to bring nuclear power – and the promise of subsidies – to the town more than 40 years ago. Continue reading...

As flood waters surge into South Australia, ecologists say locals should give fleeing snakes a wide berth

Move could help restore drying lake, a former resort destination that has deteriorated into an environmental crisis amid droughtThe US government said on Monday it will spend up to $250m over four years to help mitigate an environmental health disaster that has been brewing in California’s Salton Sea for nearly two decades.The inland lake, which is fed by agricultural runoff and wastewater, has slowly been shrinking, exposing a powdery shoreline laced with arsenic, selenium and DDT. Dust from the drying lake has wafted into surrounding communities, exacerbating pollution and consequently respiratory conditions in one of California’s poorest and most environmentally burdened regions. Continue reading...

Lava, volcanic gas and smog are the main hazards from eruption of the world’s largest active volcanoHawaii’s Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, is erupting for the first time in nearly 40 years – causing spectacular scenes, casting an eerie red glow over the island and shooting lava up to 200ft (60 metres) in the air.Mauna Loa last erupted in 1984. Its smaller, more active neighbor, Kilauea volcano, has been erupting continuously for more than a year since September 2021. Continue reading...

The climate activists claim to have targeted 4x4 owners in eight European and US citiesGuerrilla climate activists Tyre Extinguishers have claimed their “largest ever night of action against SUVs”, with 900 of the vehicles targeted around the world.“Last night (the evening of Monday 28 November and early morning of Tuesday 29 November), citizens in eight countries deflated tyres on nearly 900 polluting SUVs,” the activist group said in a statement. Continue reading...

Half of free-range turkeys and geese grown for festive period have died or been culled due to bird flu, MPs toldHalf of the free-range poultry grown for Christmas in the UK have died or been culled because of the bird flu epidemic, an industry leader has told MPs.The British Poultry Council chief executive, Richard Griffiths, told the environment, food and rural affairs committee on Tuesday that free-range poultry had been hit “very, very hard”. Continue reading...

Magistrate reportedly speaks of using Jan Goodey’s case as a ‘deterrent’ during court proceedingsA climate activist who disrupted traffic on the M25 has been sentenced to six months in prison.Jan Goodey, 57, from Brighton, was jailed after pleading guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance after taking part in Just Stop Oil’s campaign of disruption on London’s orbital motorway earlier this month. Continue reading...

Chris O’Shea said the government handing energy companies money in advance presents a big riskThe chief executive of British Gas owner Centrica has warned that more energy suppliers could go bust this winter – with million of pounds of taxpayer cash on their balance sheets.Chris O’Shea said he believed that some suppliers were “poorly capitalised”, and risked going bust and “taking taxpayer money with them”. Continue reading...

First global analysis follows discovery of toxic pollution particles in lungs and brains of foetusesAlmost a million stillbirths a year can be attributed to air pollution, according to the first global study.The research estimated that almost half of stillbirths could be linked to exposure to pollution particles smaller than 2.5 microns (PM2.5), mostly produced from the burning of fossil fuels. Continue reading...

Free allowances ‘in direct contradiction with the polluter pays principle’, WWF report saysBig polluting industries have been given almost €100bn (£86bn) in free carbon permits by the EU in the last nine years, according to an analysis by the WWF. The free allowances are “in direct contradiction with the polluter pays principle”, the group said.Free pollution permits worth €98.5bn were given to energy-intensive sectors including steel, cement, chemicals and aviation from 2013-21. This is more than the €88.5bn that the EU’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) charged polluters, mostly coal and gas power stations, for their CO emissions. Continue reading...

EDF’s Suffolk plant will create 10,000 highly skilled jobs and help ensure UK energy security, ministers sayThe government has confirmed the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk will go ahead, backing the scheme with an investment of nearly £700m that will end China’s controversial involvement.Ministers said the move to take a 50% stake in the project’s development, first announced in Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement, would create 10,000 highly skilled jobs, provide “reliable low-carbon power” to the equivalent of 6m homes for more than 50 years, and help boost UK energy security. The government also said it would set up an arm’s-length body, Great British Nuclear, to develop further nuclear projects. Continue reading...

Culture secretary says potential ‘tweaks’ to levelling up bill will be considered because of MPs’ concerns

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Number of homes at high risk likely to almost double by 2055, warns report by infrastructure commissionIn England more than 600,000 properties face flooding in the future without investment in drainage, a report from the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) has found.At the moment, 325,000 English properties have a 60% risk of flooding in the next decade, according to calculations by the NIC, due to a lack of investment in infrastructure. Continue reading...

National Highways has obtained an injunction to ‘prevent unlawful protests’ until November 2023A high court injunction has been granted that would impose fresh penalties on Just Stop Oil activists for demonstrating on the country’s busiest motorway until November next year.National Highways said it had secured the civil order to “prevent unlawful protests” on the M25, after a series of actions by the environmental group caused significant traffic disruption. Continue reading...

PM is stuck between two wings of party and at risk of Commons defeat on pro-renewables amendmentRishi Sunak is scrambling to find a compromise on permitting onshore wind amid a growing backbench Conservative rebellion, though No 10 remains fearful of a backlash from MPs who oppose windfarms.The U-turn on backing onshore wind projects would directly contradict a pledge by Sunak during his leadership campaign but Downing Street has sought to frame it as government policy. Continue reading...

A ‘certificate of origin’ scheme could counter concerns about renewables supply chains, says Clean Energy Council

The new Guardian US editor sets out some of our key priorities for 2023, including abortion rights, the climate crisis and investigations into the powers shaping American life

Immigration minister confirms 50 cases of diphtheria linked to Manston asylum accommodation. This live blog is closedA House of Lords committee has delivered a withering assessment of the measures in the autumn statement for adult social care.Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, announced a further £4.7bn for adult social care by 2024-25. But, in an open letter to Hunt and Steve Barclay, the health secretary, the Lords adult social care committee chair, Lady Andrews, said that this was less than the £7bn that Hunt himself said adult social care needed when he was chair of the Commons health committee.Increasing funding through council tax is a regressive solution, which will not allow for a properly and sustainably funded system. It does not translate as ring-fenced investment dedicated to adult social care. It is likely to create further inequalities from one locality to the next. In short, it is not a long-term plan for funding.Equally regressive is the government’s decision to delay the long overdue cap on care costs and extension to the means test. Although this is intended to unlock more funding for local authorities and provide them with breathing space, it also reflects the lack of a coherent strategy across adult social care. Delaying one policy to support another will ultimately compound problems; and it certainly does not allow for any priority to be given to choice, control and equality in the provision of adult social care.I suspect you may have identified a ninth [MP], although it hasn’t been announced, with my colleague, Matt Hancock. Continue reading...

Residents in largest city in Texas express anger at alert which came hours after power outage at purification facility on Sunday nightThe 2.2 million people in Texas’s largest city – and the US’s fourth most populous – have been placed under a boil water notice since Sunday night, after a power outage caused water pressure to drop at a purification facility earlier in the day.Some residents expressed anger at being alerted of water safety issues several hours after the outage while others complained about finding out through social media. Officials are testing whether the outage at the facility let bacteria contaminate the local drinking water supply, and results are not immediate. Continue reading...

Opposition to unveil plan to reverse biodiversity loss rather than simply halting it, which is government’s current targetThe government will not be able to achieve its nature targets by 2030, even though they are “embarrassingly poor”, the shadow environment minister and leading wildlife groups have said.Next week at the Cop15 biodiversity conference in Montreal, Alex Sobel will be discussing Labour’s “science-led, joined-up plan to tackle the climate and ecological emergency”. The plan will aim to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, rather than simply halting it, which is the government’s current target. Continue reading...