by Khoroldorj Choijoovanchig Tessa Louise Salomé Cha on (#646E0)
On Mongolia’s coal highway to the Chinese border, truck driver Maikhuu dreams of a better life and financial security for her three children. However, the road from the mines to China is riddled with accidents, toxic pollution, poor hygiene and now, amid the Covid crisis, drivers face days of quarantine on the border. Trapped in a hazardous industry, Maikhuu’s journey reflects the human and environmental costs of Mongolia’s mining boom Continue reading...
by Khoroldorj Choijoovanchig Tessa Louise Salomé Cha on (#646E1)
On Mongolia’s coal highway to the Chinese border, truck driver Maikhuu dreams of a better life and financial security for her three children. However, the road from the mines to China is riddled with accidents, toxic pollution, poor hygiene and now, amid the Covid crisis, drivers face days of quarantine on the border. Trapped in a hazardous industry, Maikhuu's journey reflects the human and environmental costs of Mongolia’s mining boom Continue reading...
National Trust says dazzling display this year may be reversed if trees continue to face extreme summersAfter a year of extreme weather, a “unique” show of golden browns and buttery yellows could light up the UK’s trees in the next few weeks, a conservation charity has predicted, while warning that the impact of the climate emergency could threaten the show in autumns to come.The National Trust said that some stressed trees had shed leaves early during a “false autumn” because of the summer’s exceptional heat and dryness but said that it, nonetheless, believed a particularly vivid October and November could be on the way. Continue reading...
David Littleproud and Matt Canavan have turned the scare rhetoric up to 11, but the energy market operator has already accounted for much of their criticisms
Figures likely to be an underestimate, says Global Witness, as land defenders are killed by hitmen, crime groups and governmentsMore than 1,700 murders of environmental activists were recorded over the past decade, an average of a killing nearly every two days, according to a new report.Killed by hitmen, organised crime groups and their own governments, at least 1,733 land and environmental defenders were murdered between 2012 and 2021, figures from Global Witness show, with Brazil, Colombia, the Philippines, Mexico and Honduras the deadliest countries. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#645MZ)
Organisers call on nations to carry on crucial climate negotiations despite differences on geopolitical issuesThe Egyptian hosts of the next UN climate summit have issued a plea for countries to set aside tensions and animosity over the Ukraine war for the sake of focusing on the climate crisis.Egypt will host the Cop27 conference in Sharm El-Sheikh in November, intended as a forum for companies to fulfil the promises they made at the landmark Cop26 summit in Glasgow last year. Continue reading...
Hartlepool and Heysham 1, operational for four decades, are due to close in 2024 but EDF says that is under reviewFrance’s EDF is considering extending the life of two British nuclear power plants due to the severity of the energy crisis.EDF said on Wednesday that it would review whether there was a case to keep open the Hartlepool nuclear power plant in County Durham and Heysham 1 on the north-west coast of England near Lancaster. Both plants had been scheduled to close in March 2024. Continue reading...
‘Colossal amount’ of leaked methane, twice initial estimates, is equivalent to third of Denmark’s annual CO emissions or 1.3m carsScientists fear methane erupting from the burst Nord Stream pipelines into the Baltic Sea could be one of the worst natural gas leaks ever and pose significant climate risks.Neither of the two breached Nord Stream pipelines, which run between Russia and Germany, was operational, but both contained natural gas. This mostly consists of methane – a greenhouse gas that is the biggest cause of climate heating after carbon dioxide. Continue reading...
All 50 states, Puerto Rico and DC get approval as White House gives go-ahead to plans for access to federal funding for chargersElectric vehicle charging stations have received a green light across the US.All 50 states have been approved for EV charging stations covering 75,000 miles of highway, the US transportation department announced on Tuesday. The White House has approved plans that will give states access to $1.5bn in federal funding to build the chargers. Continue reading...
Green New Deal Rising says Starmer’s green policies prove its proposals and pressure on MPs bore fruitYouth climate activists have claimed a checklist of environmental policies proposed this week by Keir Starmer and his shadow cabinet is proof organising and movement pressure can still sway Labour.At a Labour conference under the banner of “a fairer, greener Britain”, Starmer on Tuesday announced a “green prosperity plan”, aimed at “tackling the climate head on, and using it to create the jobs, the industries and the opportunities of the future”. Continue reading...
Wildfires, floods, heatwaves, hurricanes and drought are not waiting for politicians to act – the president must step inMillions of people across the United States have witnessed, often tragically, how the climate crisis is here and levying steep costs on communities. Black, Indigenous, and other frontline communities, including those in my home state of West Virginia, are experiencing these impacts – measured in lives lost, homes destroyed, and livelihoods upended – first and worst.Hurricane Fiona, which has washed away mothers and fathers from their children and left nearly all of Puerto Rico without power, and the remnants of Typhoon Merbok, which destroyed homes and inundated western Alaska with historic levels of water, underscored this reality more than a week ago. And Hurricane Ian, which is about to push into Tampa, Florida, will underscore it again as it leaves entire communities in Florida and the Southeast inundated with water and likely without power and access to essential services. Continue reading...
The proposals would ensure the power of our wind and waves is harnessed for everyone – not just foreign governments and multinationalsHow can Britain achieve 100% clean energy by 2030? Yesterday, Keir Starmer set out an answer: a new publicly owned clean energy generator. Great British Energy would own, run and invest in new, clean energy infrastructure, from offshore wind to tidal and solar. Operating as a generating company, not energy retailer, it would have the potential both to reduce our household fuel bills and create a future of clean, affordable, abundant energy.The full scale and details of Great British Energy are yet to be determined. But though Labour’s proposal may appear novel in Britain, public ownership of renewables is already commonplace. Indeed, nearly half of the UK’s offshore wind capacity is publicly owned – just not by the British public. Instead, it is owned by foreign governments.Mathew Lawrence is director of Common Wealth and co-author of Owning the Future with Adrienne Buller Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington and Pamela Duncan on (#64534)
Exclusive: A further 35,000 flights have operated almost empty, with climate campaigners calling the revelations ‘shocking’More than 5,000 completely empty passenger flights have flown to or from UK airports since 2019, the Guardian can reveal.A further 35,000 commercial flights have operated almost empty since 2019, with fewer than 10% of seats filled, according to analysis of data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). This makes a total of about 40,000 “ghost flights”. Continue reading...
Tony Juniper urges government to ‘foster both economic and environmental growth’Liz Truss has been issued a veiled warning over new government policies by the head of Natural England, who says “even bankers need to eat, drink and inhale clean air”.Tony Juniper, chair of the nature watchdog, has outlined the vital relationship between the economy and nature in Wednesday’s Guardian, as charities across the country revolt over government plans to slash nature protections and potentially remove environmental requirements from farming subsidies. Continue reading...
Corporate bonds intended to inject liquidity into markets profited companies engaged in deforestationSome of the world’s biggest central banks are unwittingly helping to finance agri-business giants engaged in the destruction of the Brazilian Amazon, according to a report published on Wednesday.The Bank of England, the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are among the institutions that have bought millions of dollars in bonds issued by companies linked to deforestation and land-grabbing, according to the report Bankrolling Destruction, published by the rights group Global Witness. Continue reading...
While there are questions about the pace of Labour’s proposals, criticism in rightwing newspapers is bizarrely wide of the markLabour’s ambitious plan for zero-carbon power by 2030 raises legitimate questions – which we’ll come to shortly – but the commentary in rightwing newspapers is bizarrely wide of the mark.Perhaps the strangest was a Daily Telegraph editorial that claimed Labour’s plan “would make the country more dependent on imported gas, not less”. As should be obvious, the opposite is true. Continue reading...
We paid a deposit for solar panels with Green Energy Together but all we’ve got is scaffoldingWe had solar panels fitted in 2019 as part of the Solar Together initiative, and this year wanted to add to them. We chose Green Energy Together as it had done Solar Together projects with our council. We paid a £1,340 deposit. There was then a rather odd silence, but finally scaffolding and two installers appeared. The installers hadn’t been told the panels had to be fitted in addition to those already there, so the kit they had brought was inappropriate. Since then, in spite of daily phone calls and promises from the company that someone would ring back, nothing has happened.We eventually cancelled our order by phone and email, and asked for the return of our deposit and the removal of the scaffolding. Again, there has been silence, even from the company director we emailed directly. We are concerned that this company has over-reached itself while holding on to our money (and that of a lot of other people, if Trustpilot is to be believed). We are also concerned that the scaffolding is still on our house and is a security risk. Continue reading...
There are many reasons to suggest a deal to save the natural world is possible in Montreal, if division can be overcome and the Brazilian president doesn’t cause problemsWe are at the beginning of a busy end to the year. The summer holidays are over in the northern hemisphere, the world economy is creaking into recession, war is raging in Ukraine and there is the small matter of the most important biodiversity conference in more than a decade: Cop15.Money will ultimately decide the fate of the summit and the ambition of the final text in Montreal this December, as will the mood after the climate Cop27, which ends two weeks earlier.In a series of dispatches ahead of the Cop15 UN biodiversity conference in Montreal in December, we will be hearing from a secret negotiator who is from a developing country involved in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework negotiations. Continue reading...
by Waseem Mohamed and Damian Carrington on (#644RB)
Exclusive: Birkbeck, University of London, is first institution to blacklist firms ‘most responsible for destroying the planet’Fossil fuel companies have been banned from recruiting students through a university careers service for the first time. The new policy from Birkbeck, University of London, states its careers service “will not hold relationships of any kind with oil, gas or mining companies”.The decision follows a campaign, supported by the student-led group People & Planet, to cut off recruitment pathways to fossil fuel companies. The campaign is now active in dozens of UK universities. Continue reading...
State of the World’s Birds report warns human actions and climate crisis putting 49% in decline, with one in eight bird species under threat of extinctionNearly half of the planet’s bird species are in decline, according to a definitive report that paints the grimmest picture yet of the destruction of avian life.The State of the World’s Birds report, which is released every four years by BirdLife International, shows that the expansion and intensification of agriculture is putting pressure on 73% of species. Logging, invasive species, exploitation of natural resources and climate breakdown are the other main threats. Continue reading...
Both parties opposed the measure on energy permits, which critics said would gut environmental protectionsThe US Senate has voted to advance a funding bill to avert a federal government shutdown, after a tense standoff over a controversial energy-permitting provision proposed by the West Virginia senator Joe Manchin ended with its withdrawal.A procedural vote on Tuesday to move forward with the funding bill succeeded easily, 72-23, after Democrats announced that the West Virginia senator’s proposal, which faced opposition from both parties, would be stripped from the final legislation. It was clear that, with Manchin’s plan included, Democrats were falling far short of the 60 votes needed to proceed, as most Republicans objected to it. Continue reading...
by Philip Oltermann in Berlin, Peter Beaumont in Kyiv on (#643QZ)
Ursula Von der Leyen warns of ‘strongest possible response’ to attacks on European energy infrastructureSabotage is the most likely cause of leaks in two Baltic Sea gas pipelines between Russia and Europe, European leaders have said, after seismologists reported explosions around the Nord Stream pipelines.A seismograph on the Danish island of Bornholm, near where the leaks occurred, twice recorded spikes on Monday, the day on which the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines underwent dramatic falls in pressure, the German geological research centre GFZ said. Continue reading...
Two nuclear plants’ lives extended as country copes with loss of Russian gas and shortage of French electricityGermany’s planned exit from nuclear power by the end of this year has been officially delayed in order to shore up energy supplies during an expected shortfall this winter, the economic minister, Robert Habeck, announced on Tuesday.The decision follows a shortage in supplies of electricity coming from France due to the fact that more than half of its nuclear power stations are offline, Habeck told journalists in Berlin. Continue reading...
The details behind Keir Starmer’s proposed publicly owned energy company when Labour take powerThe key pledge of Keir Starmer’s Labour conference speech was the proposed launch of Great British Energy, a publicly owned energy company to invest in clean UK power as part of the party’s commitment to “fight the Tories on economic growth”. But how does it work, and is it the same as renationalising energy? Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#64401)
Too many technical difficulties to overcome to make it a viable low-carbon heating fuel, say researchersHydrogen is unsuitable for use in home heating, and likely to remain so, despite the hopes of the UK government and plumbing industry, a comprehensive review of scientific papers has concluded.Hydrogen lobbyists are out in force at the Labour party conference this week, sponsoring several events in Liverpool, and will be plentiful at the Conservative party conference that begins this weekend. Continue reading...
Keir Starmer used his speech on the third day of the Labour conference in Liverpool to outline the party's plans for clean power in the UK. He said that within a year of being elected, Labour would set up Great British Energy, a new publicly owned company that would supply the UK with clean power.The Labour leader said it was time for the party to start a new chapter 'about how we build a fairer, greener, more dynamic Britain by tackling the climate emergency head on, and using it to create the jobs, the industries and the opportunities of the future'
Producers warn that unless crabs are curbed, mussel production in Normandy and Brittany may end within a decadeFrench mussel farmers have said voracious spider crabs that have infested the country’s western coast are destroying their shellfish and livelihoods as warming seas allow the migratory animals to spend more of the year offshore.Angry producers in Normandy and Brittany are demanding to be allowed to control crab numbers by killing them or using dredging nets to drag those ravaging their mussel “parks” further out to sea. Continue reading...
Activists interrupt party conference debate to criticise company’s wood-burning biomass operationsAn environmental campaigner has been ejected from an event sponsored by the power station operator Drax at the Labour party conference after criticising the company’s use of biomass.The owner of the North Yorkshire power station sponsored a debate on Tuesday on Britain’s net zero climate goals on the fringes of the political party’s conference in Liverpool. The company’s group director of corporate affairs, Clare Harbord, was on the panel. Continue reading...
UK government criticised for reviewing plan to pay farmers for environmental protectionOne of Liz Truss’s favourite rightwing thinktanks has criticised the government for considering ditching a much-vaunted new funding structure for farmers, calling the existing subsidy system “a massive transfer of wealth from taxpayers to landowners”.Truss has announced plans to review the environmental land management scheme (Elms), where farmers would be paid for environmental protection, in order, potentially, to go back to largely area-based payments. The plans were criticised as being “deeply economically inefficient” and for encouraging “laziness” by the Institute of Economic Affairs. Continue reading...
Zoologists say they have never seen this low a number, after unprecedented hot weatherAs dewy dawns break across the UK’s pumpkin patches and allotments, gardeners across the land are waking up to the absence of at least one slippery pest. Slug numbers appear to have shrivelled as a result of the ongoing drought.“I went to survey a woodland site last week and it took me over 30 minutes to locate a slug. Usually, I would expect to find them under almost every log in that habitat,” said Jake Stone, a zoologist at the University of Cambridge. “I thought that there would be fewer around, but I’ve never seen this low a number. But I suppose that’s to be expected, because it’s rarely been this hot and dry.” Continue reading...
Matt Wrack of Fire Brigades Union says ‘historic cuts’ have angered and demoralised his membersA “horrible complacency” about the impact of the climate emergency on the fire service has left it under-funded and ill-prepared, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union has warned.Matt Wrack said firefighters were at the sharp end of tackling the impact of climate change and warned that this summer’s wildfires had to act as a “wake-up call” to the UK government to engage with those on the frontline. Continue reading...
Exclusive: report on species recovery shows how effective legal protection, habitat restoration and reintroductions can be• Back from the brink: how bison, bears and beavers returned to EuropeWolves, brown bears and white-tailed eagles are among the top predators making a comeback across Europe, according to a major report that looks at how some wildlife is rebounding.Researchers analysed data on 50 wildlife species whose population size and geographical distribution have expanded over the past 40 years to show how effective legal protection, habitat restoration and reintroductions can drive species recovery. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#643BM)
More than 24,000km of pipelines planned around world, showing ‘an almost deliberate failure to meet climate goals’More than 24,000km of new oil pipelines are under development around the world, a distance equivalent to almost twice the Earth’s diameter, a report has revealed. The projects, led by the US, Russia, China and India, are “dramatically at odds with plans to limit global warming to 1.5C or 2C”, the researchers said.The oil pumped through the pipelines would produce at least 5bn tonnes of CO a year if completed, equivalent to the emissions of the US, the world’s second largest polluter. About 40% of the pipelines are already under construction, with the rest in planning. Global carbon emissions must drop by 50% by 2030 to keep on track with internationally agreed targets for limiting global heating. Continue reading...
After centuries of hunting and habitat loss, wolves, whales, elk and other key species have made a comeback across the continent, a new report says• Wildlife making ‘exciting’ comeback in EuropeTop predators are making a comeback across Europe, according to a new report compiled by the Zoological Society of London, BirdLife International and the European Bird Census Council for Rewilding Europe. These are some of the top species making an “exciting” recovery: Continue reading...
Farm just minutes from centre of Wellington estimates it has lost about 60 kid goats in past few monthsMarauding feral pigs have blighted a central suburb in New Zealand’s capital, killing kid goats at an urban farm, intimidating dogs and turning up in residents’ gardens.The owners of a goat milk farm in the hills of the suburb of Brooklyn, 10 minutes from the centre of Wellington, has lost about 60 kid goats to pigs in the past few months. Often, all that is left of them are gnawed bone fragments and parts of the hooves or head. Continue reading...
German authorities have ‘no clarity’ as they try to establish if Russian-owned undersea gas line has leakAuthorities in Germany are trying to establish what caused a sudden drop in pressure in the defunct Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, with a spokesperson for its operator saying it could have been caused by a leak.The pipeline has been one of the flashpoints in an escalating energy war between Europe and Moscow since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February that has pummelled western economies and sent gas prices soaring. Continue reading...