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Updated 2024-11-25 21:46
Deadly Indian heatwave made 30 times more likely by climate crisis
Soaring temperatures in subcontinent, which have caused widespread suffering, would be extraordinarily rare without global heatingThe heatwave scorching India and Pakistan has been made 30 times more likely by the climate crisis, according to scientists. Extreme temperatures and low rainfall since mid-March have caused widespread suffering, including deaths, crop losses, forest fires, and cuts to power and water supplies.The study is the latest to show the already severe impacts of global heating on millions of people, even though the global average temperature has risen only 1.2C above pre-industrial levels to date. If it rises to 2C, heatwaves as intense as the current one would be expected as often as every five years in India and Pakistan, the scientists estimated. Continue reading...
Supply chain delays and steel costs are part of ‘perfect storm’ stalling renewable energy growth
Covid disruptions in China and rising costs are affecting supplies of solar panels and wind turbine parts, while domestic energy prices climb
‘Teal’ independents coming for state MPs next in Victoria and NSW
Guardian Australia understands Climate 200 is likely to back independents in upcoming state elections
‘They will often give you a wee nip’: rangers count puffins on Farne Islands
Annual survey is important for understanding health of the Atlantic puffin’s breeding colonies
Shell consultant quits, accusing firm of ‘extreme harms’ to environment
Caroline Dennett tells staff in video she made decision because of ‘double-talk on climate’A senior safety consultant has quit working with Shell after 11 years, accusing the fossil fuel producer in a bombshell public video of causing “extreme harms” to the environment.Caroline Dennett claimed Shell had a “disregard for climate change risks” and urged others in the oil and gas industry to “walk away while there’s still time”. Continue reading...
Reform cycle to work scheme so it can be used by lower-paid, Sunak urged
Business and cycling groups say bike-buying scheme is often out of reach to those who need it mostBusiness and cycling groups have urged the government to reform its cycle to work scheme so it can be used by lower-paid and self-employed workers, arguing they are often the people who need it the most.Introduced more than 20 years ago and since used by more than a million people, the scheme allows users to pay for a bicycle and accessories in instalments taken from their salary on a tax-free basis, thus saving them between 25% and 40%. Continue reading...
Tiny Texas community shaken by arrest of official over cattle rustling
Loving county judge and top official, Skeet Lee Jones, 71, is alleged to have taken stray cattle and sold themA senior official in west Texas has been arrested over cattle rustling in a case that has stirred up anger in the tiny county of Loving.Skeet Lee Jones, 71, a judge and chief elected official in the county, faces three counts of theft of livestock worth less than $150,000 and one of engaging in organised criminal activity after his arrest on Friday, the sheriff of neighbouring Winkler county, Darin Mitchell, said on Sunday. Continue reading...
Sinking Maldives plans to reclaim land from the ocean
Vulnerable island nation split over project to dredge millions of tonnes of sand to create land for resorts and industry on Unesco reserveA controversial project to reclaim land on an atoll threatened by rising sea levels has been announced in the Maldives, with hopes that it may boost tourism balanced against fears that it could “choke the ecosystem”.The low-lying island nation, one of the world’s most vulnerable to climate change, has commissioned a major shore protection and land reclamation scheme using sand dredged from a lagoon, despite concerns about the impact on this Unesco biosphere reserve. Continue reading...
Climate sceptic thinktank reported to charity commission over fossil fuel interest funding
Global Warming Policy Foundation is lobby group not charity and brings no public good, say signatoriesThe Global Warming Policy Foundation, a climate sceptic thinktank, has been reported to the Charity Commission by the Green MP Caroline Lucas and Extinction Rebellion.The move comes after the Guardian revealed that the group received funding from fossil fuel interests. Continue reading...
HSBC suspends head of responsible investing who called climate warnings ‘shrill’
Bank investigating Stuart Kirk’s conference speech deriding flooding risks and climate warnings from UN and Bank of EnglandHSBC has suspended a senior banker after he referred to climate crisis warnings as “unsubstantiated” and “shrill” during a conference speech that has since been denounced by the lender’s chief executive.Stuart Kirk, who has been HSBC’s head of responsible investing since last July, will remain suspended until the bank completes an internal investigation into the matter. Continue reading...
UK should expect high fuel bills for at least 18 months, E.ON boss says
Michael Lewis calls for substantial government intervention to help people deal with costsConsumers will have to cope with extraordinarily high fuel bills for at least another 18 months, the boss of Britain’s biggest energy supplier has said.Michael Lewis, the chief executive of E.ON UK, called for “very substantial” government intervention to help people with escalating fuel bills, one of the biggest factors in the cost-of-living crisis. Continue reading...
Sizewell C ‘may cost double government estimates and take five years longer to build’
Research into costs of proposed Suffolk power station could further inflame debate over UK nuclear powerThe proposed Sizewell C nuclear power station could cost UK taxpayers more than double government estimates and take an extra five years to build, according to research.Ministers will decide in July whether to approve the development of the Suffolk power station proposed by the French developer EDF. The business department has estimated that the government-backed scheme will add an extra £1 a month to household bills to aid construction costs. Continue reading...
Australia’s rightwing government weaponised climate change – now it has faced its reckoning
PM Scott Morrison has been dumped by electorate fed up with inaction on emissions and eager for changeWhen Scott Morrison won Australia’s federal election in 2019, it seemed like the country would never emerge from the climate wars that had begun a decade earlier.Morrison had taken the prime ministership late in 2018 after conservatives in the ruling Liberal-National Coalition deposed Malcolm Turnbull, in part, for his attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Australia’s energy sector. Continue reading...
US heatwave brings historically high temperatures to dozens of states
Temperatures between 20 and 30F above average in the mid-Atlantic and north-east, with Washington set to hit 96F (35.5C)Dozens of states across the US began the weekend grappling with historically high spring temperatures, as a blistering heatwave that has scorched the country’s south and west moves east.The early arrival of sweltering weather, before what’s expected to be another hot, dry summer, is forecast to break or tie roughly 130 heat records for this time of year, with temperatures between 20F and 30F above average in the mid-Atlantic and north-east. Continue reading...
‘Extremely active’ jumping worms that can leap a foot raise alarm in California
Earthworm native to east Asia and known for its large appetite poses threat to forest ecosystems, scientists sayAn invasive worm species known for its “voracious appetite” and ability to jump a foot (30cm) in the air is raising alarm in California, where scientists have expressed concerns about the threat the worms pose to forest ecosystems.The Amynthas agrestis, also known as the Asian jumping worm, Alabama jumper or crazy snake worm, have been spotted in California in recent months. The earthworm is native to east Asia, particularly to Japan and the Korean peninsula. However, in recent years the worms made their way to North America via various landscape plants that have been imported from the region. Continue reading...
How London’s new Elizabeth line has created a sanctuary for birds
Millions of tonnes of earth from the Crossrail project has been used to create a nature habitat on the Wallasea Island, Essex stretch of the linkLondon’s new Elizabeth line will allow commuters to start taking high-speed trains under the city this week, on part of a 73-mile route that stretches from Reading in the west to Shenfield in the east. They will not be the first travellers to enjoy the benefits of the new line, however.On Wallasea Island in Essex, thousands of birds have already taken advantage of the £19bn rail project – on a mosaic of lagoons, islands, and bays that have been created out of 3.5m tonnes of earth that were dug up during construction of its new stations and 13 miles of twin tunnels. Continue reading...
Temperatures in parts of Spain reach highest on record for May
‘Extraordinarily hot’ in central and southern areas, say meteorologists, with forecast of 40C in AndalucíaParts of Spain are experiencing their hottest May since records began, as a mass of hot, dry air blows in from Africa, bringing with it dusty skies and temperatures of more than 40C (104F).Spain’s state meteorological agency, Aemet, has warned of a weekend heatwave of an “extraordinary intensity”, with temperatures between 10C and 15C above the seasonal average and more akin to high summer than mid-May. Continue reading...
Life at 30: the EU project that has saved species from lynx to flying squirrels
The Life programme, which celebrates its birthday this weekend, has poured billions into saving Europe’s most vulnerable creatures“It has been a miracle,” whispers biologist Gabriel Llorens Folgado as he studies a tumble of granite boulders for any signs of movement. The miracle is that Spain’s lynx population has been saved. Today, in the wildflower-coated hills of the Sierra de Andújar in southern Spain, Folgado is looking for Magarza and her four cubs. “When I first saw a lynx, 20 years ago, there were fewer than 100 in just two places in Spain. I never stopped hoping, but I thought they might disappear,” he says.The Iberian lynx was the world’s most endangered cat 20 years ago, but after a number of EU Life projects, today there are more than 1,000 across Spain and Portugal. Carmen Rueda Rodriguez from the conservation group CBD Habitat, who has been working with the Iberian lynx since 2014, says the EU funding programme has been a gamechanger. Continue reading...
Scott Morrison softened his defiant language on climate change action amid UK trade deal
Documents indicate PM’s changes to foreign policy speech coincided with environment agreement in trade talks
India’s wheat farmers count cost of 40C heat that evokes ‘deserts of Rajasthan’
The ban on wheat exports highlights the effect a rapidly warming planet has on food security – and livelihoodsIt was his buffaloes that he was first worried about. As temperatures in the small village of Baras, deep in the Indian state of Punjab, began to soar to unseasonably hot levels in April, farmer Hardeep Singh Uppal noticed that his two buffaloes, essential for his family’s livelihood, became feverish and unwell.A few weeks later and the buffaloes now seem fine, flicking their tails leisurely as an icy breeze blows down from an air conditioning unit, a luxury that once sat in Uppal’s parents house but now has been installed in an otherwise run-down cowshed, running all day at great expense. “The vet told me I need to keep them cool in this heatwave otherwise they will die so this is the only way,” said Uppal. Continue reading...
More than $1bn of Coalition’s climate funding could go to fossil fuel projects, analysis finds
‘Clean’ hydrogen and carbon capture and storage head list of funding pledges since net zero promise
Historic heatwave poised to hit dozens of US states this weekend
Temperatures expected to be 20F to 30F above average for this time of year, breaking records and raising health fearsDozens of states across the US are bracing for historically high spring temperatures this weekend, as a scorching heatwave moves east.The early onslaught of sweltering weather, before what’s expected to be another hot, dry summer, is forecast to break or tie roughly 130 heat records for this time of year, with temperatures between 20F and 30F above average in the mid-Atlantic and north-east. Continue reading...
Boss of Hinkley Point C blames pandemic disruption for £3bn delay
EDF says plant will begin operating a year later than planned in June 2027 at an estimated cost of £25bnThe boss of Hinkley Point C has blamed pandemic disruption after admitting the new nuclear power station will start operating a year later than planned and will cost an extra £3bn.French energy company EDF said the first reactor unit at the Somerset site is now scheduled to start operating in June 2027, a year later than planned, with costs estimated between £25bn and £26bn. Continue reading...
Global heating is cutting sleep across the world, study finds
Data shows people finding it harder to sleep, especially women and older people, with serious health impactsRising temperatures driven by the climate crisis are cutting the sleep of people across the world, the largest study to date has found.Good sleep is critical to health and wellbeing. But global heating is increasing night-time temperatures, even faster than in the day, making it harder to sleep. The analysis revealed that the average global citizen is already losing 44 hours of sleep a year, leading to 11 nights with less than seven hours’ sleep, a standard benchmark of sufficient sleep. Continue reading...
HSBC pressured to sack banker who discredited climate crisis warnings
Speech by head of responsible investing Stuart Kirk dismissed global heating and joked about flooding risksHSBC is under pressure to fire a senior banker in charge of responsible investing after a speech in which he described warnings about the climate crisis as “unsubstantiated” and “shrill”, made light of major flooding risks, and complained about having to spend time “looking at something that’s going to happen in 20 or 30 years”.The bank has since been forced to denounce comments made by Stuart Kirk at a London conference on Thursday, after he gave a speech entitled “why investors need not worry about climate risk”, which appeared to discredit efforts to raise the alarm over global heating. Continue reading...
Baby formula crisis: Abbott enriched shareholders as factory needed repairs, records show
Economists condemn ‘rot’ in system after manufacturer issued billions in stock buybacks despite problems at Michigan factoryA deadly bacteria outbreak in baby formula and an ongoing formula shortage stem from issues some economists characterize as “rot” in the nation’s economic system: prioritization of shareholder wealth and consolidation.The embattled baby formula producer Abbott used windfall profits to enrich investors instead of replacing failing equipment that was likely injecting the dangerous bacteria into its infant nutritional products, financial records and whistleblower documents show. Continue reading...
Space to grow: wilderness therapy could help abuse survivors
University of Essex pilot study suggests being outdoors can help self-esteem and wellbeingWilderness therapy and access to green space may help domestic abuse survivors heal while improving therapy outcomes, a study has found.Scientists from the University of Essex worked with the Wilderness Foundation, a charity that offers outdoor therapy programmes, to see if treatment in the natural world could work better, or alongside, traditional methods. Continue reading...
‘Sleepwalking through extinction’: China urged to end delays to Cop15 summit
Covid lockdowns in host country frustrate scientists as no date in sight for key UN conservation conference after two years of delays
Cigarette butt recycling scheme aims to stub out waste in Catalonia
Move could provide income for homeless and clean up Barcelona’s streets and beaches, says governmentIn a move that could provide some income for homeless people and clean up the streets, the Catalan government is looking at paying €4 to anyone who hands in a pack’s-worth of cigarette ends at a recycling point.The cost of the proposal would be covered by a 20-cent levy on each cigarette, its proponents say, which would nearly double the price of a pack of Marlboro Red from about €5 (£4.25), compared with about £13 in the UK. Continue reading...
The week in wildlife – in pictures
The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including an injured bird, hungry jackals and a rescued dolphin Continue reading...
‘Ella’s law’ bill seeks to establish right to clean air in UK
Jenny Jones says bill, named after girl who died of asthma, treats pollution as matter of social justiceA new clean air law is starting out in parliament after the Green party peer Jenny Jones won first place in the House of Lords ballot for private members’ bills.Named Ella’s law, as a tribute to nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah who died from asthma induced by air pollution, the bill would establish a right to clean air and set up a commission to oversee government actions and progress. It would also join policies on indoor and outdoor air pollution with actions to combat our climate emergency, and include annual reviews of the latest science. Continue reading...
UK nuclear power stations’ decommissioning cost soars to £23.5bn
Failures in government’s investment strategy mean taxpayer has contributed £10.7bn in just two yearsThe cost of decommissioning the UK’s seven ageing nuclear power stations has nearly doubled to £23.5bn and is likely to rise further, the public accounts committee has said.The soaring costs of safely decommissioning the advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs), including Dungeness B, Hunterston B and Hinkley B, are being loaded on to the taxpayer, their report said. Continue reading...
Australia’s greenhouse pollution from coal higher per person than any other developed country, data shows
Despite the growth of renewable energy, Australia’s per capita coal emissions of 4.04 tonnes a year is nearly four times the global average
Labor to set up independent environmental protection agency and restore ‘trust and confidence’
Proposed EPA to collect data on the plight of the country’s wildlife as Labor commits to global biodiversity targets
‘Carbon bomb’ makers are putting all our lives at risk | Letters
Peter Muchlinski, Robert Cooper and Andy Bradley respond to the Guardian’s exposé of big oil’s fossil fuel projects that are a colossal threat to the climate and human lifeYour exposé on the dangers of fossil fuel “carbon bombs” (Revealed: the ‘carbon bombs’ set to trigger catastrophic climate breakdown, 11 May) gives us much to worry about. I would like to offer a small ray of hope. Last year, The Hague’s district court held that Royal Dutch Shell was obliged to reduce the group’s CO emissions by a net 45% by the end of 2030 relative to 2019. Shell was found to have a legal duty of care to do so, based on the relevant facts of the case, the best available science on climate change and how to manage it, and “the widespread international consensus that human rights offer protection against the impacts of dangerous climate change and that companies must respect human rights”.This linkage between climate change and human rights is a major step towards acknowledging that fossil-fuel-based industries are a significant threat to human rights. It offers a basis for mass legal challenges against the purveyors of carbon bombs. Sadly, the UK and other governments don’t see it this way and continue to subsidise such projects. In this, they may well be complicit in mass violations of human rights. Uncontrolled fossil fuel investment should be seen as a direct threat to the human right to life, and the law should impose severe financial penalties on firms and governments that continue to invest in carbon bomb projects. Continue reading...
Fishers hold River Tees protest over mass crab and lobster deaths
Demonstrators rejecting algal bloom explanation for wash-ups on England’s north-east coast call for investigation to be reopenedAbout 25 fishing boats have sailed into the mouth of the River Tees while setting off flares and fireworks in a protest over mass marine deaths that are ruining livelihoods as well as being a “huge ecological disaster”.More than 200 well-wishers, many representing conservation and environmental campaigns, cheered from the shore, chanted “Stop the sludge” and sang protest songs. Continue reading...
Egg prices could rise for UK consumers as farmers cut flock numbers
Fewer laying birds are being placed on farms as producers respond to poor retail profit marginsConsumers could be hit with higher egg prices as UK farmers reduce their flock numbers, in response to escalating costs and insufficient profit margins.The numbers of chicks being placed by egg producers in April was down 15% year on year, according to the latest government figures. Continue reading...
Environmental toxins are worsening obesity pandemic, say scientists
Exclusive: Pollutants can upset body’s metabolic thermostat with some even causing obesity to be passed on to childrenChemical pollution in the environment is supersizing the global obesity epidemic, according to a major scientific review.The idea that the toxins called “obesogens” can affect how the body controls weight is not yet part of mainstream medicine. But the dozens of scientists behind the review argue that the evidence is now so strong that it should be. “This is critical because the current clinical management of obese patients is woefully inadequate,” they said. Continue reading...
More than 3,000 potentially harmful chemicals found in food packaging
International experts who analyzed more than 1,200 scientific studies warn chemicals are being consumed with unknown long-term impacts
Suicides indicate wave of ‘doomerism’ over escalating climate crisis
While alarm over wildfires, droughts, flooding and societal unrest is on the rise, not many of us talk about climate angst
Dolphins can recognise each other by taste of their urine, study finds
Aquatic mammals can recognise friends and family members without seeing or hearing themDolphins are able to recognise one another by the taste of their urine, a study has found.Researchers at the University of St Andrews have discovered that the mammals can recognise friends and family members without seeing or hearing them. Continue reading...
French dijon mustard supply hit by climate and rising costs, say producers
Poor seed harvests have led to empty shelves at supermarkets in France and global shortagesClimate change and rising costs are causing supermarkets in France to run out of dijon mustard, raising questions over whether the shortage could spread to other countries.French mustard producers said seed production in 2021 was down 50% after poor harvests, which they said had been brought on by the changing climate in France’s Burgundy region and Canada, the second largest mustard seed producer in the world. Continue reading...
The case of the disappearing deer – and how a new corridor could save it
Only 1,500 huemul remain in the world, but a parks corridor is being created to save the deer that features on Chile’s coat of armsIt is twilight in Las Horquetas valley in Patagonia’s northern Aysén region. Several cars have pulled over beneath sandy cliffs on a wide paved road. Just metres away, three deer graze unperturbed in the glow of the car lights.The Patagonian huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus), or South Andean deer, is the most endangered hoofed animal in South America. It has deep inset eyes, furry antlers and is no bigger than a toddler. Fewer than 1,500 survive today – two-thirds are found in Chile and the remainder in Argentina, where the huemul’s principal habitat is lenga forest and scrubland. They exist in severely fragmented groups of 101 known sub-populations, with 60% of these comprising only 10-20 individuals, making them susceptible to freak weather events. They also suffer from poor genetic diversity. Continue reading...
Australia’s oil and gas regulator criticised after chief hands out environmental ‘excellence’ awards at industry dinner
Regulator says outgoing boss Stuart Smith had no role in selecting winners and was invited to acknowledge his work over eight years
UK has approved several fossil fuel projects since Cop26, analysis finds
About 50 schemes are thought to be in pipeline between now and 2025 despite climate pledgesSeveral major UK fossil fuel projects have been approved since Cop26 concluded, an analysis has found, while about 50 schemes are thought to be in the pipeline between now and 2025.Three separate schemes have received some form of approval from government bodies during the six-month period since Boris Johnson’s administration hosted the UN climate summit in Glasgow. Continue reading...
Somerset ‘super nature reserve’ will benefit UK’s rarest wildlife
Environmental organisations partner to create 15,000-acre protected wetland from Glastonbury to Bridgwater BayAt this time of year the booming call of the bitterns resonates across the Avalon Marshes in Somerset while hawks skim over the reed beds and great white egrets nest in the shallows. The pools and ditches are alive with rare reptiles, mammals, insects and spiders.Plans to improve the habitat for flora and fauna that live in one of the UK’s most extraordinary landscapes by creating a “super nature reserve” stretching from these marshes around Glastonbury to the edge of Bridgwater Bay were announced on Thursday. Continue reading...
Bee’s knees: pollinators are stars of Chelsea flower show
Exclusive: this year’s show promotes the trend of digging up lawns and planting wildlife-friendly flowersBees and other pollinators will be the stars of this year’s Chelsea flower show, with many gardens demonstrating how to attract and protect them.Scientists have also developed a planter specifically designed with flowers that appeal to bees. Its designers say that if 50,000 gardeners planted just one container each, it would provide enough flower power to fuel 1m bumblebee miles every day, equivalent to an estimated 2m foraging trips. Bumblebees must fly from and to the nest multiple times each day to supply their colony with nectar and pollen. Continue reading...
Gas industry and Coalition reach for a get-out-of-catastrophe-free card in climate crisis Monopoly | Temperature Check
Carbon capture and storage isn’t working close to a scale that would significantly lower emissions – despite billions in taxpayers’ cash thrown at it
Australia’s climate data to UN questioned as study finds land clearing in Queensland underreported
If national emissions data is incorrect then Australia less likely to be on track to meet Coalition’s target of a 26-28% cut by 2030
Australia’s tropical rainforests have been dying faster for decades in ‘clear and stark climate warning’
Scientists compare findings of tree study to mass coral bleaching in Great Barrier Reef
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