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Volodymyr Zelenskiy appears at climate summit via video link; climate experts say US has acted ‘in bad faith’ for decadesI’ve been looking at what some climate scientists on Twitter have been saying about Cop27. Here is a small selection:Dr Chandni Singh has been checking out the displays at different country pavilions, including one from Pakistan. Continue reading...

Ukrainian president says Russia’s invasion has forced dozens of countries to resume coal-fired power to alleviate energy costs

Arrest of pair capturing images of M25 protest condemned by British Press Photographers’ AssociationThe British Press Photographers’ Association has condemned the arrest of a photographer and documentary film-maker as they captured images of a Just Stop Oil protest.Rich Felgate, a documentary maker, and Tom Bowles, a photographer, were arrested by a Hertfordshire constabulary officer as they caught the action on a footbridge over the M25 on Monday. Continue reading...

Reduced flock sizes and rising costs put pressure on supplies but retailers say they are working to minimise impactBritish egg producers are warning of possible shortages, as farmers leave the industry or reduce the size of their flocks in the face of spiralling costs and uncertainty sparked by the spread of bird flu.A third of farmers surveyed in recent days by the trade body the British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA) reported they had reduced the number of hens in their flock because egg prices meant they were unable to cover their costs. Continue reading...

President not expected to attend summit but critics cast doubt on veracity of pledges the country could make• Cop27 live – latest news updatesMexico, one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, is expected to announce a hotchpot of old, inadequate and undeliverable climate pledges that will leave its Paris pledges in tatters, experts have warned.Climate action has nosedived under the leadership of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had to be blocked from rolling back Mexico’s modest Paris greenhouse gas targets by the country’s supreme court, and emissions are rising.A reduction in methane emissions from the state-owned oil company, Pemex – an important but existing target for which Pemex has been fined for non-compliance.A 1,000MW state-opened solar plant – construction is already under way for a 180MW project, and the government had previously already ruled out further investment to expand the energy potential.A lithium commitment. Mexico has the ninth-largest identified deposits of lithium – a crucial mineral for electric vehicles and other green technologies – but there has been no government investment so far in advancing extraction, and none is currently being mined. Experts say the country is years away from producing its first gram of lithium. Continue reading...

Campaigners condemning ‘environmental vandalism’ say equivalent of five months of discharges made so far in NovemberSouthern Water has discharged raw sewage for more than 3,700 hours at 83 bathing water beaches during the first eight days of November alone, according to company data analysed by campaigners.Ed Acteson of SOS Whitstable, which has been monitoring the data, said in his experience the scale was equivalent to five months’ worth of discharges: “The Environment Act was supposed to herald a new era for the environment in Britain. But this is the worst I have ever seen sewage pollution in the south-east.” Continue reading...

High level group releases report at Cop27 saying policies should be ‘about cutting emissions, not corners’

Officials interested in deal that would allow two countries to bail each other out in event of shortagesGermany is keen to talk to Britain about a solidarity pact that would allow Europe’s largest consumers of natural gas to bail each other out if an extreme cold snap were to create shortages this winter, German officials have said.Such an agreement could be mutually beneficial for both London and Berlin, the German civil servant in charge of rationing in the case of a supply crisis told the Guardian in an interview. Continue reading...

More than 80 staff at £3bn Seagreen project, 27 km off Scotland’s Angus coastline, were forced to evacuateThe world’s “most potent greenhouse gas” escaped during work on Scotland’s largest offshore windfarm, forcing the evacuation of workers, it has emerged.More than 80 workers on a platform at the £3bn Seagreen project, which is 27km off Scotland’s Angus coastline in the North Sea, had to move to another platform after sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) escaped. Continue reading...

Police say 16 arrests made after activists scale gantries in Kent, Essex, Surrey and HertfordshireProtesters have caused widespread disruption on the M25 for a second day after several junctions were blocked.Just Stop Oil said “approximately 15” of its supporters climbed on to overhead gantries in “multiple locations” on the UK’s busiest motorway from 7am on Tuesday, causing police to halt traffic. Continue reading...

Pacific islands nation, which is acutely vulnerable to sea level rises, joins nearby Vanuatu in seeking phase-out of coal, oil and gasTuvalu has become the first country to use United Nations climate talks to demand an international fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, which would phase out the use of coal, oil and gas.The small Pacific islands nation, which is acutely vulnerable to sea level rises caused by global heating, becomes the second country to call for an agreement to end the era of burning fossil fuels, which is the primary cause of the rapidly escalating climate crisis, fellow Pacific nation Vanuatu being the first. Continue reading...

Cop27 summit in Egypt opened with warning countries could either sign ‘a climate solidarity pact, or a collective suicide pact’The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has blasted the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, for trying to “score a cheap domestic political point” after the Liberal leader used the opening day of the Cop27 UN climate summit to demand Australia not compensate other countries for accumulating climate disasters.After António Guterres opened the climate conference in Egypt with a stark warning that countries could either sign “a climate solidarity pact, or a collective suicide pact”, Dutton used the first parliamentary question on Tuesday to demand Albanese “rule out signing Australia up to compensating other countries as part of the deal being negotiated at Cop27 in Egypt”. Continue reading...

As the UN’s Cop27 summit begins in Egypt, there are warnings more must be done to avert climate breakdownLast year’s UN Cop26 climate talks in Scotland were framed by John Kerry, the US special presidential envoy on the climate crisis, as the “last best hope for the world to get its act together” and avert climate breakdown. As world leaders gather in Egypt for Cop27, evidence suggests they have yet to fully do so.The Glasgow conference drew collective promises by governments to “phase down” coal use, curb deforestation, advance remedial payments to developing countries hit hardest by floods, heatwaves and droughts, and to come back the following year with more ambitious emissions reduction targets. Continue reading...

Exclusive: charities say animal abusers are not being held to account as figures show small number of inspectionsJust one in 300 complaints about animal welfare at UK farms led to a prosecution over the last four years, with half of the accused holdings not even inspected, analysis has shown.A report by Animal Equality and the Animal Law Foundation also said that fewer than three in 100 of the UK’s estimated 291,000 farms had an annual inspection by a public body between 2018 and 2021. Continue reading...

Brussels’ plan to oppose a a total international ban on trade in hippopotamus products puts species at risk, says letter signed by states, including Mali, Niger and SenegalTen African countries have accused the EU of jeopardising the survival of the common hippopotamus by not supporting a proposed commercial trade ban, in documents seen by the Guardian.Illegal hunting for meat and ivory is thought to have wiped out hippo populations in five African states: Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Liberia and Mauritania. But Brussels is planning to oppose a bid to ban the global trade in hippo products at a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) conference in Panama from 14 November. Continue reading...

Microbes have made their way into water after heavy rain, raising risk of illnesses like gastro and diarrhoea, authorities say

Making rental properties more energy efficient (and liveable) will free up power for other users

Report co-written by Nicholas Stern says figure required to switch away from fossil fuels and cope with extreme weather impacts

Prime minister tells summit Britain will honour commitments but makes no mention of reparationsRishi Sunak has said it is “morally right” that Britain honours its climate change commitments in his speech at Cop27, but he made no mention of paying reparations after Boris Johnson said the country cannot afford to do so.The prime minister made a very short appearance on the world stage on Monday, after making a very public U-turn on his attendance in Egypt – the same reversal that may have left him living in Johnson’s shadow, as he was forced to speak hours after his rival. Continue reading...

António Guterres warns leaders of catastrophic consequences of failure to act as conference in Egypt openedThe US and China are showing the ‘can-do promethean’ spirit that can get us to net zero. We need to “put the electric throttle to the floor”.Glasgow was a high point, a moment at which the ‘clouds of despair’ momentarily parted. But then Putin invaded Ukraine and the fight against climate change was one of the most important collateral damages. Continue reading...

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Secretions of Sonoran desert toad have long had hallucinogenic reputation but authorities want you to keep your tongue awayThe US National Park Service is warning people to stop licking one of the largest toads in America, due to a toxin it secretes from its glands that can create a hallucinogenic experience.The Sonoran desert toad, which emits a quick, “weak low-pitched toot”, can make someone sick if they touch it or lick it, NPS said in a Facebook post on Tuesday. Continue reading...

‘We’re measuring for E.coli,’ says state’s chief environmental scientist who advises: ‘stay out of the water’

António Guterres told delegates gathered at the start of the conference in Egypt that humanity was 'on a highway to climate hell with our foot – still – on the accelerator'. The UN secretary general's speech set an urgent tone as government representatives assembled for two weeks of talks on how to avert the worst of climate breakdown

Some fear the outcome of the 8 November elections might derail US leadership on the global climate crisisFor Joe Biden, the United Nations climate summit in Egypt is the crowning stage to trumpet the US finally passing major legislation to slow dangerous global heating. But the thoughts of the US president and delegates from around the world are likely to nervously flit to events 6,000 miles (9,65km) away – knife-edge midterm elections back in America.The climate talks, known as Cop27, begin in earnest on Monday when more than 90 heads of state convene in Sharm el-Sheikh amid warnings from scientists that the world is heading towards disastrous climate breakdown without further, deeper cuts in planet-heating emissions. António Guterres, secretary general of the UN, has warned governments heading to Egypt that they face “economy-destroying levels of global heating” and that their efforts to stem this disaster were falling “pitifully short”. Continue reading...

Until now, I’d hung on to an irrational childhood fear of the exploding pressure cooker, but I’ve recently rediscovered just how fast and efficient they areThis column ends well, with an ideal pan of beans, cooked in a third of the usual time, using less than a third of the usual energy. This column began decades ago, when I decided I was afraid of pressure cookers. Raking back though unreliable memories, it isn’t clear why, exactly, I was afraid. We didn’t have one at home, and relatives who did weren’t using them any more by the time we were growing up. There was no incident in the house next door, no scaremongering public-information film that had lodged itself in my mind. Unexplained fear became a quiet hang-up to which I clung even as pressure cookers evolved dramatically. Some of the best cooks I know told me to get over it.Actually, this column began with a French physicist, Denis Papin. Born near Blois in 1647, he studied medicine before moving to Paris, where he assisted the Dutch physicist Christian Huygens in building vacuum pumps. Later, in England, Papin worked with the physicist Robert Boyle – whose pressure and volume of gas theory is known as Boyle’s Law – and built air pumps for the Royal Society of London. Papin’s research explored the relationship between boiling temperature and the surrounding pressure. When you cook in an ordinary pot at atmospheric pressure, water boils at 100C until it escapes as steam. Inside a sealed vessel, however, the trapped steam molecules move faster, increasing the surrounding pressure, which means the water boils at 121C. In 1679, Papin demonstrated a sensational invention: a closed vessel with a tight-fitting lid in which steam under pressure was used to cook food and soften bones; his “digesting engine”. One featurewas a small, weighted piston that moved up and released steam; a pressure-relief valve – and the original model for all modern pressure-cookers. Continue reading...

Developing countries hope to make progress on this problem because we are already suffering the effectsCop27 had not even officially opened, and already we delegates found ourselves staying up all night wrangling over important issues. In this case, it was loss and damage – and there may be many more late nights to come on that issue.At the official start of the conference of the parties to the UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC), the conference must first of all achieve consensus on the agenda.The Secret Negotiators are representatives of developing countries involved in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations, and who will be attending the Cop27 climate conference. Continue reading...

Rich countries ‘not living up to obligations’, says Andrew Steer, in charge of $10bn environmental fundBillionaires can not be expected to make up for climate finance gaps left by rich countries that fail to deliver on promises to the developing world, the head of the Bezos Earth Fund has said.The Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, created a $10bn (£8.8m) grant to protect the Earth’s environment in 2020. Andrew Steer, the president and CEO of the Bezos Earth Fund, oversees this alongside the billionaire, his partner Lauren Sanchez and the fund’s board. Continue reading...

World leaders, climate groups and activists are meeting in Egypt to thrash out plans on how to safeguard the future of the planetFor almost three decades, world governments have met nearly every year to forge a global response to the climate emergency. Under the 1992 UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC), every country is treaty-bound to “avoid dangerous climate change” and find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally in an equitable way. Continue reading...

Walgett, Collarenebri and Lightning Ridge isolated as more than 140 flood warnings remain in place across New South Wales and Victoria

Analysis examining carbon impact of billionaires’ investments published as Cop27 talks get under wayThe super-rich emit greenhouse gases at a level equivalent to the whole of France from their investments in carbon intensive businesses, according to analysis published on the opening of the Cop27 UN climate talks in Egypt.Examining the carbon impact of the investments of 125 billionaires, the research found they had a collective $2.4tn stake in 183 companies. On average each billionaire’s investment emissions produced 3m tonnes of CO2 a year; a million times more than the average emissions of 2.76 tonnes of CO2 for those living in the bottom 90% of earners. In total the 125 members of the super-rich emitted 393m tonnes of CO2 a year – equivalent to the emissions of France, which has a population of 67 million. Continue reading...

Ex-PM to contrast optimism at Cop26 last year with failures of governments – including UK – to follow throughBoris Johnson will attack the “corrosive cynicism” on net zero that is hampering UK, and global, efforts to tackle the climate crisis, in a speech at the UN Cop27 climate summit on Monday.In a swipe at members of his own Conservative party, the former UK prime minister will contrast the success and spirit of optimism at Cop26 in Glasgow last November with the failures of governments – including the UK – to follow through on promises since. Continue reading...

A valuable if somewhat conventional reminder of how our reliance on oil developed and the threats it now poses to life on EarthAs protests against the fossil fuel industry continue to go viral in the news media, Emma Davie’s documentary makes for a valuable resource on the historical background as well as the environmental ramifications of oil drilling in the North Sea. Featuring interviews with those from both sides of the issue, who include environmental experts, executives of oil corporations as well as student activists, the film captures how the black gold permeates every aspect of our daily life.The expert voices here describe how Britain’s dependence on the oil industry is a relatively new phenomenon, escalated in the 1970s by the discovery of oil reserves in the Forties field off the coast of Aberdeen, Scotland. Following the mass privatisation of these assets under Margaret Thatcher’s government, this natural resource became the lifeblood behind the functioning of Britain as a nation, providing employment, enabling the production of consumer goods, and much more. The film moves on to discuss the bigger picture: how the environmental changes resulting from this ceaseless, industrial extraction of oil lead to increased flooding and natural disasters in countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam. As millions of barrels of oil are produced every day, individual responsibility is simply not enough to make a difference. Continue reading...

Restore Trust blamed new voting system for defeat of all its candidates at annual general meeting in BathA right-leaning campaign aiming to wrest control of the National Trust from an alleged “political” takeover has criticised a new voting system, after all of its candidates for council seats were defeated at the trust’s annual general meeting.Restore Trust failed to secure a single win and immediately attacked the soundness of the charity’s democratic system after results were announced at the National Trust’s Grade I-listed Bath Assembly Rooms. Continue reading...

Winner of government tender was unveiled at Cop26 as one that would ‘stand the test of time’It was meant to join the red phone box, the London bus and the black cab as a symbol of modern Britain. Yet a so-called iconic design for a UK electric car charger commissioned by Grant Shapps, then transport minister, is likely to remain on the drawing board after the government admitted it may never be made.The government put out the tender for the contract in June last year and revealed the winning design, by the Royal College of Art and PA Consulting, at the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow a few months later. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Claim by academics, including former integrity chair of Australia’s carbon credit scheme, raises further doubts about system

Martinsgans – or martin goose – is eaten around 11 November, but restaurants are dropping dish to save cashSoaring inflation threatens to cast a shadow over one of Germany’s most popular cultural festivities, which culminates in eating roast goose.A Martinsgans – or martin goose – is eaten on or around 11 November – St Martin’s Day – when the 4th-century Roman soldier turned saint for sharing his cloak with a poor man is remembered in lantern parades, song, bonfires and theatrical reenactments of his life throughout the country. Continue reading...

Contentious opening to UN climate conference as delegates struggle to reach agreement on discussion of loss and damageThe Cop27 UN climate summit has made a delayed start after delegates tussled late into Saturday night and on into Sunday morning over what should be discussed at the conference.At the heart of the disagreement was the vexed question of loss and damage, which refers to the devastating consequences of climate breakdown suffered by the poorest and most vulnerable countries, and how to help them. Continue reading...

Report at Cop27 shows the world is now deep into the climate emergency, with the 1.5C heating limit ‘barely within reach’The past eight years were the eight hottest ever recorded, a new UN report has found, indicating the world is now deep into the climate crisis. The internationally agreed 1.5C limit for global heating is now “barely within reach”, it said.The report, by the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO), sets out how record high greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are driving sea level and ice melting to new highs and supercharging extreme weather from Pakistan to Puerto Rico.Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are at record levels in the atmosphere as emissions continue. The annual increase in methane, a potent greenhouse gas, was the highest on record.The sea level is now rising twice as fast as 30 years ago and the oceans are hotter than ever.Records for glacier melting in the Alps were shattered in 2022, with an average of 13ft (4 metres) in height lost.Rain – not snow – was recorded on the 3,200m-high summit of the Greenland ice sheet for the first time.The Antarctic sea-ice area fell to its lowest level on record, almost 1m km below the long-term average. Continue reading...

Cybersecurity experts warn that official Cop27 climate app requires access to a user’s location, photos and even emailsThere are mounting fears over the surveillance of delegates at the Cop27 climate talks in Egypt, with cybersecurity experts warning that the official app for the talks requires access to a user’s location, photos and even emails upon downloading it.The revelation, as more than 25,000 heads of state, diplomats, negotiators, journalists and activists from around the world gather at the climate summit that starts in Sharm El-Sheikh on Sunday, has raised concerns that Egypt’s authoritarian regime will be able to use an official platform for a United Nations event to track and harass attendees and critical domestic voices. Continue reading...

The climate summits do serve a purpose even while avoiding facing up to some awkward realitiesThe Cop is a strange beast – an annual event that everyone claims to hate but no one wants to miss. This year’s Cop is even weirder: it’s in a famous Red Sea seaside resort renowned for its warm blue seas and coral reefs, but the diving centres are closed for security reasons and in any case few of us will have time to so much as dip a toe in the sea.We will spend all our hours inside a conference centre with little daylight, and only see the sun as we try to dash in our formal clothes from air-conditioned hotel to air-conditioned conference hall without getting covered in sweat.The Secret Negotiators are representatives of developing countries involved in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations, and who will be attending the Cop27 climate conference. Continue reading...

Implementing the $369bn Inflation Reduction Act amid tight deadlines and high-stakes midterm will be a challengeThe bitter fight to deliver a climate change bill to Joe Biden’s desk this summer pitted the White House and its Democratic allies against some of America’s most powerful industry lobbies and every Republican in Congress. It may prove to have been the easy part.At the heart of the hard-won Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is a $369bn package of climate investments that Biden called the “most significant legislation in history” to tackle the climate crisis. Estimates suggest it could cut US greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030.Coordinating across dozens of different departments and agencies.Minimizing waste and fraud.Investing in risky and uncertain technologies.Smoothing diplomatic wrinkles with international allies who object to the law’s manufacturing and sourcing requirements.Meeting the expectations of climate organizations and advocacy groups whose support for the IRA was contingent on promoting environmental justice and protecting workers.Seeking to head off the inevitable attacks and investigations of congressional Republicans. Continue reading...

Floods crisis continues across NSW and Victoria although waters are subsiding in parts of the country including Forbes and Wagga Wagga

The government denied wavering over the future of Sizewell C, but it needs to come up with an energy plan – and quicklyFor a moment last week, our cash-strapped government seemed ready to abandon a project that many experts believe is central to our plans of achieving energy independence and net zero emissions. According to the BBC, the Treasury had indicated the proposed new nuclear reactor Sizewell C was on a list of major construction projects that were under review for possible cancellation. Its days could be numbered, it was suggested.The threat has since been denied by Number 10. The new atom plant in Suffolk will go ahead, it has insisted. For a nation that hopes to wean itself off its fossil fuel addiction and its dependence on natural gas imports, this is good news. The UK’s future prosperity depends on its ability to generate electricity, independently and at low cost and nuclear power is expected to play a critical role in ensuring this happens. The trouble is that these plans have very shaky foundations, as was revealed last week when uncertainties about Sizewell C first surfaced. Continue reading...

Latest incident at coal-fired power station Callide reignites debate about their future and transition to renewable energy

Environment minister visited Tasmania for two days and insists she’s taking mine decision seriously but Brown wanted her to visit rainforest with him

Only Labour grasps the challenges of the climate crisis and why we must become a clean energy giantRishi Sunak will go on his day trip to Cop27 tomorrow, having been dragged kicking and screaming. His eventual decision to attend was an embarrassing U-turn. But his initial snub, one of his first decisions as prime minister, was the act heard around the world.It said that Britain is not in the business of showing climate leadership on the world stage. That, because of his weak position, the prime minister’s first priority will always be the basest instincts of the Conservative party. For the Tories, it’s always party first. What is best for the country – and for the planet – comes a distant second. Continue reading...

Scepticism from summit attendees as PM adopts Labour leader’s stated aim of making UK a green ‘superpower’Rishi Sunak attempted an extraordinary volte-face on green policy on the eve of the Cop27 climate summit on Saturday, saying he would attend in order to “galvanise” world leaders to save the planet.The prime minister – who had been criticised for saying he was too busy with domestic commitments to attend – also adopted precisely the same language on renewable energy that Labour leader Keir Starmer has been using for months, declaring that he now wanted to turn the UK into a “clean energy superpower”. Continue reading...

The two protesters did not damage the works but ‘caused their frames slight blemishes’ the Prado museum saysTwo climate activists have glued their hands to the frames of two paintings by Spanish master Francisco Goya at a museum in Madrid.The protest at the Prado museum, in which both protesters each glued a hand to the frames, did not damage either painting but caused their frames slight blemishes, the museum said. Continue reading...