Grant Shapps hints scaling back of Northern Powerhouse Rail could be among cost-saving measuresAll capital spending is under review before Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement with a view to making billions in savings on infrastructure projects, with a senior cabinet minister hinting a key northern rail line could be scaled back.No 10 denied reports on Friday that plans for the new Sizewell C nuclear power station could be scrapped, but big energy projects along with every other major infrastructure plan such as HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail will have costs reviewed. Continue reading...

Statement comes after reports Suffolk reactor project could be delayed or axed amid spending cuts

Egypt has expressed frustration at leaders making positive statements that are abandoned in negotiationsGovernments meeting for vital climate talks have been accused of making positive commitments in public but denying them later in the privacy of the negotiating rooms by the Egyptian hosts of the summit.Wael Aboulmagd, the Egyptian diplomat in charge of running the negotiations at the Cop27 UN climate summit, said: “Political statements and pledges are made in front of the cameras, but in the negotiating rooms it’s back to the adversarial approach. These [publicly positive positions] will not be of value until translated into the negotiating rooms, and that has not been the case so far.” Continue reading...

About 70 people seized in protest at environmental damage from crude oil spillage into Cuninico RiverIndigenous people in the Amazon in Peru have detained a group of Peruvian and foreign tourists, including UK and US citizens, in protest at a lack of government aid following an oil spill in the area.“[We want] to call the government’s attention with this action, There are foreigners and Peruvians, there are about 70 people,” Watson Trujillo, the leader of the Cuninico community, told RPP radio. Continue reading...

Derelict dams crisscrossing the country’s rivers and tributaries disrupt the paths of migrating fish and pose a flood hazardOn a muggy day in late August, George Jackman, an aquatic ecologist who works on habitat restoration, stood at the edge of Quassaick Creek in upstate New York.The Quassaick, which flows through the small city of Newburgh, New York, and spills into the Hudson River, was unusually shallow after a summer with little rain. “It looks bucolic now,” Jackman said. “But it can be a raging torrent.” Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including jellyfish, wild ponies and a squadron of pelicans Continue reading...

Recent flooding is believed to have caused the pipeline outage in central-west NSW and is hampering repair

Scientists have long sought to farm the scarce seafood staple, but critics say animals are not suited to intensive methodsScientists in Japan say they have developed a groundbreaking method of farming squid that could solve shortages of the seafood staple, amid warnings from environmental groups that aquaculture is incompatible with the animal’s welfare.Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) say their system produced a reliable supply of squid and has the potential to be commercialised. Continue reading...

Queensland environment group had asked federal minister to revisit decisions made going back to 2011

Waverley Abbey’s 500-year-old ‘living legend’ wins contest, as experts seek greater protection for ancient treesA gnarled yew whose twisted trunk has been growing for more than half a millennium has been crowned tree of the year.The roots of the yew snake around the ruins of Waverley Abbey in Surrey, which was the first monastery founded in Britain by the Cistercian religious order in 1128. Continue reading...

Judge says VicForests’ actions posed ‘a threat of serious and irreversible harm’ to greater gliders and yellow-bellied gliders

The Lachlan River in Forbes is expected to exceed 10.8 metres by Friday night – a level not reached since 1952

Fund was paralysed when far-right president Jair Bolsonaro wound up two committees in 2019Brazilian environmentalists have celebrated a timely victory after the country’s supreme court ruled for the reactivation of the Amazon Fund, a major weapon in the country’s fight against deforestation.The fund was paralysed in 2019 when far-right president Jair Bolsonaro wound up two of its key committees, citing unspecified irregularities. Continue reading...

Teresa Ribera says she was ‘hugely surprised’ and saddened by PM’s initial refusal to go to Cop27 summitThe Spanish government has urged Rishi Sunak to demonstrate a clear commitment to fighting the climate emergency, describing the British government’s flip-flopping over the prime minister’s attendance of the forthcoming Cop27 summit as “sad” and “surprising”, given the UK’s global reputation and its current presidency of the conference.Spain’s environment minister, Teresa Ribera, also said the “absurd”, heel-dragging political debate over climate change in the UK was “surprising and disappointing”. Continue reading...

The last Quercus tardifolia was thought to have died in 2011 – until a team of researchers fanned out and combed through Big Bend national park in Texas“It was like when folks go searching for a lost child in the woods,” says Michael Eason, associate director of conservation and collections at San Antonio Botanical Garden. “Our team would spread out in a line, spaced about 30 metres apart, and comb through an area.”Rather than a scene from a TV crime series, this search and rescue team of nine botanical researchers was scouring Big Bend national park in Texas this May looking for Quercus tardifolia, also known as the Chisos Mountains oak or lateleaf oak. The tree was first described in the 1930s, but the last living specimen was believed to have perished in 2011. Continue reading...

Murray Watt says Canberra is funding disaster mitigation infrastructure and ‘expects the insurance industry to fulfil its end of the bargain’

Action comes after social media video shows wolf strolling past family in Hoge Veluwe national parkDutch provincial authorities have authorised the use of paintballs to scare wolves they say have grown so unafraid of humans that they could become a serious danger.“We’re dealing with wolves that have become too tame,” a spokesperson for Gelderland province in the eastern Netherlands told the broadcaster Omroep Gelderland. “We have to make them frightened of people again.” Continue reading...

Environment Agency’s James Bevan says he wants to change law that provides tough water testing regimeThe head of the Environment Agency has signalled he wants to change a key regulation on water quality which repeatedly exposes how English rivers are being choked in a cocktail of sewage and agricultural pollution.James Bevan, the chief executive of the Environment Agency, said he wanted to change the water framework directive, the law that provides a tough testing regime for English rivers. It provides a legal requirement that 75% of English rivers be in good health under its testing regime by 2027. Continue reading...

Researchers recommend that displays do not take place in areas with large wildlife populationsThough fireworks on bonfire night bring joy to many people, it is likely to be a night of terror and distress for the UK’s geese.Research by Anglia Ruskin University has found that firework displays cause wild birds to suffer significant distress, and researchers have recommended that displays do not take place in areas with large wildlife populations. Continue reading...

Latest attempt to dismantle primary ‘school street’ in Tower Hamlets disrupted amid pollution concernsA group of pupils in east London have seen off – temporarily at least – the workers who had come to dismantle their school street.Parents gathered outside Chisenhale primary school in Mile End on Thursday morning to show support for the area, which includes a play space protected by a wooden fence, trellised with plants and painted in bright colours. Continue reading...

From senate and governor races to industry-regulating board contests, outcomes could influence policy for years to comeClimate is on the ballot in a big way this November, despite the fact that it is not front and center in any of the campaigns. Even when it comes to voter turnout, the mood of climate voters has been a topic of conversation among political consultants for months.“Several months ago I was very concerned about the apathy we were seeing in young climate voters because of Democrats’ failure to even talk about the successes they have had,” Rania Batrice, political strategist and founder of Batrice & Associates, says. “But I do feel like there’s been a little bit of a renewed sense of urgency. In Georgia, for example, early voting just started and it’s already breaking all kinds of records.” Continue reading...

Secretary general warns effects of global heating are outstripping the ability to adapt to themA dramatic increase in funding for climate adaptation is needed to save millions of lives from “climate carnage”, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said.Climate adaptation includes preparing defences against rising floods, shelters against intensifying cyclones and emergency plans to protect people during worsening heatwaves and droughts. Guterres said only a small fraction of the required finance was given by rich nations to protect vulnerable people. Continue reading...

Office for Environmental Protection chair expresses concern over delays to legislative deadlinesThe head of the independent environmental watchdog is holding talks with the environment secretary over delays in meeting key targets to tackle water and air pollution and halt the decline in nature.Dame Glenys Stacey, the chair of the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), has told Thérèse Coffey, the new secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, that the possibility of taking formal enforcement action against the government over multiple missed targets was being kept under active review. The OEP can launch an investigation and take legal action if it deems it necessary. Continue reading...

Materials put into domestic compost are failing to disintegrate after six months – the only solution is to use lessMost plastics marketed as “home compostable” don’t actually work, with as much as 60% failing to disintegrate after six months, according to research.An estimated 10% of people can effectively compost at home, but for the remaining 90% of the population the best place to dispose of compostable plastics is in landfill, where they slowly break down, releasing methane, researchers say. If compostable plastic ends up among food waste, it contaminates it and blocks the recycling process, the study finds. The only solution is to use less plastic. Continue reading...

British-Egyptian activist says he will cease drinking, raising fears he may die while officials attend summitA British-Egyptian pro-democracy activist has said he will escalate his hunger strike inside a desert prison, raising concerns he could die while British officials attend the Cop27 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh.Alaa Abd El-Fattah, a figurehead of Egypt’s 2011 uprising and one of the Middle East’s best-known political prisoners, has spent most of the past decade behind bars. Shortly after gaining British citizenship while in detention last year, he was sentenced to a further five years in a high-security prison on charges of “spreading false news” for sharing a social media post about torture. Continue reading...

By 2030, project will help conserve wide range of threatened wildlife in south-west EnglandA network of flower-filled grasslands sweeping from the fringes of sandy beaches to moorland edges is being created by the National Trust in the south-west of England.Designed to boost flora and fauna – and be a balm for human visitors – the new grassland is due to cover more than 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of land in north Devon by 2030. Continue reading...

Report sponsored by some of the largest food and farming businesses finds pace of shift to sustainable practices too slowFood companies and governments must come together immediately to change the world’s agricultural practices or risk “destroying the planet”, according to the sponsors of a report by some of the largest food and farming businesses released on Thursday.The report, from a task force within the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI), a network of global CEOs focused on climate issues established by King Charles III, is being released days before the start of the United Nation’s Cop27 climate summit in Egypt. Continue reading...

Chemicals are likely used in food bags to make them repel grease, creating a potentially dangerous exposure for cats and dogsMuch of America’s pet food packaging could be contaminated with PFAS “forever chemicals”, creating a potentially dangerous exposure to the toxic compounds for cats and dogs.In a recent study public health advocate the Environmental Working Group (EWG) checked 11 bags of pet food and found that all of them contained the substance, including several at extremely high levels. Continue reading...

The International Energy Agency has laid to rest the persistent myth that net zero policies are responsible for soaring energy prices

Marine Conservation Society reports sightings of species normally found in warmer watersBritain’s seas are becoming populated with large groups of unusual jellyfish owing to climate breakdown, a survey by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has found.In its first marine sightings report, which builds on 20 years of citizen science, the society has found an increased abundance of jellyfish types, including those normally found in warmer climes. Thousands of volunteers take part in the MCS report, telling the conservation group which species of jellyfish and turtles they have seen. Continue reading...

Two activists from Just Stop Oil Belgium each sentenced to two months in prison with one month suspendedTwo Belgian climate change activists who last week targeted the Johannes Vermeer painting Girl with a Pearl Earring have been sentenced to two months in prison by a Dutch court, of which one month was suspended.One activist glued his head to glass covering the painting at a museum in The Hague. The artwork was not damaged, gallery staff said. Continue reading...

Global mapping reveals hotspots for untracked vessels in west Africa, the coast of Argentina and the north-west PacificUp to 6% of global fishing activity is hidden because commercial vessels disable their tracking systems, a practice that can be used to hide illegal fishing, according to a new study.Ships use automatic identification systems (AIS), tracking beacons that enable them to be located on global shipping maps. Researchers applied a machine learning algorithm to a dataset of fishing vessel activity compiled by the non-profit Global Fishing Watch, which included more than 3.7bn AIS messages from fishing vessels between 2017 and 2019. Continue reading...

Vast carbon store may be close to point where it could flip from absorbing CO to releasing it, research showsThe Congo peatlands are a huge carbon “timebomb” that could be triggered by the climate crisis, research has shown.The peatlands flipped from storing carbon to releasing it into the atmosphere when the climate became drier 5,000 years ago, the study showed, before returning to accumulating carbon 2,000 years ago. Continue reading...

Research comes as treasurer acknowledges ‘an appetite in the community’ to strengthen petroleum resource rent tax

Trend of faster warming over last 30 years likely to cause exceptional heat, wildfires and floods, warn scientistsTemperatures in Europe have increased at more than twice the global average in the last 30 years, according to a report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).The effects of this warming are already being seen, with droughts, wildfires and ice melts taking place across the continent. The European State of the Climate report, produced with the EU’s Copernicus service, warns that as the warming trend continues, exceptional heat, wildfires, floods and other climate breakdown outcomes will affect society, economies and ecosystems. Continue reading...

UK prime minister says he will now attend talks in Egypt next week

Alaa Abd El-Fattah has been on hunger strike for six months and will refuse water from 6 November, the first day of the climate summitThe majority of living Nobel prize for literature laureates have called on world leaders attending the Cop27 climate conference in Egypt this week to help free thousands of political prisoners in the country, including the writer Alaa Abd El-Fattah who is six months into a hunger strike and “at risk of death”.The letter, organised by Abd El-Fattah’s UK publishers Fitzcarraldo Editions and Seven Stories Press, has been signed by 13 Nobel prize for literature winners: Svetlana Alexievich, JM Coetzee, Annie Ernaux, Louise Glück, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Kazuo Ishiguro, Elfriede Jelinek, Mario Vargas Llosa, Patrick Modiano, Herta Müller, Orhan Pamuk, Wole Soyinka and Olga Tokarczuk. Continue reading...

Search continued for two people swept off ute near Boorowa as prime minister said he hoped for positive news

Exclusive: Peter Hain to table amendment in House of Lords to protect single energy marketA Labour peer is launching a bid to avert a fresh energy crisis with potential power cuts and drastic electricity price rises in Northern Ireland as a result of proposed Brexit legislation.The former Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain will table an amendment to the Northern Ireland protocol bill in the House of Lords on Wednesday to protect the so-called single energy market (SEM), which allows power to be traded with the island of Ireland as one economic unit. Continue reading...

Committee says vague guidance and lack of follow-up make it hard for public to hold government to accountThe UK government is failing to lead by example on taking action to cut greenhouse gas emissions and meet a legally binding target of reaching net zero by 2050, a watchdog has said.Across Whitehall departments the rules for reporting, gathering data and taking action are vague, there is a free-for-all on reporting emissions reductions or the lack of them, and oversight is fragmented and ineffective, the public accounts committee said on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Effort to end fossil fuels may bring rapid industry expansion and chance to stop workers leaving ‘in droves’, EITI chair Helen Clark says

Berlin urges International Seabed Authority to prioritise nature as it debates rules and warns seabed mining may ‘destroy ecosystems’Germany has called for a pause in the controversial deep-sea mining industry, saying not enough is known about the likely impacts of digging up the ocean floor for metals.While other nations, including Spain and New Zealand, have previously called for a temporary halt to any exploitation of deep-sea metals, Germany, the world’s fourth biggest economy, is the most significant nation to voice its opposition to date. The country holds two of the 22 licences for exploration of the seabed. Continue reading...

Concern over country’s human rights record after Indian Ajit Rajagopal arrested on walk to raise awareness about climate crisisThe arrest of an Indian climate activist by Egyptian security forces has renewed alarm about the regime’s dire human rights record as it prepares to host the Cop27 UN climate summit.Ajit Rajagopal, an architect and activist from Kerala in south India, was arrested on Sunday afternoon shortly after setting off on an eight-day walk from Cairo to Sharm el-Sheikh as part of a global campaign to raise awareness about the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Green Alliance lists measures that could cut emissions of gas that has 80 times global heating power of COMethane emissions in the UK could be cut by more than 40% by 2030 with a raft of inexpensive policies, according to an environmental thinktank.The government has pledged to cut emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that has more than 80 times the global heating power of CO, by at least 30% by 2030. The move was trumpeted by Boris Johnson when he was prime minister after the UK joined more than 100 other countries to make the pledge at Cop26 in Glasgow. Continue reading...

People can seem immune to the news of catastrophic climate breakdown, but that’s a very human response. There is hopeLast Friday the Guardian published a story under the headline “World close to ‘irreversible’ climate breakdown”. This was not a quote from Greta Thunberg or Extinction Rebellion, but the central message from three United Nations agencies.They found there was “no credible pathway to 1.5C in place” and current pledges for action, even if honoured, would result in global heating of around 2.5C – in other words, a catastrophic climate breakdown, with devastating consequences for societies around the globe. Continue reading...

Environment committee chair says crab die-offs in north-east having ‘profound impact on fishing communities’The chair of the House of Commons environment select committee has called for an urgent investigation into whether dredging around a freeport development in Teesside has caused mass die-offs of crabs on the north-east coast.In a letter sent on Tuesday, Sir Robert Goodwill told Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary, his committee had heard evidence that the repeated mass deaths were having a “profound and long-lasting impact … on fishing communities”. Continue reading...

Fewer than 2,000 farms have applied to sustainable farming scheme replacing EU system in EnglandFarmers may miss out on thousands of pounds after government chaos over the post-Brexit nature-friendly farming schemes caused them not to apply.These schemes were developed to replace the EU’s old subsidy system for farmers, which paid according how much land they managed. The new English system would instead pay for public goods such as improving the environment and enriching biodiversity. Continue reading...

Blue whales consume up to 1bn particles over a feeding season with as-yet-unknown impacts on healthFilter-feeding whales are consuming millions of particles of microplastic pollution a day, according to a study, making them the largest consumers of plastic waste on the planet.The central estimate for blue whales was 10m pieces a day, meaning more than 1bn pieces could be ingested over a three- to four-month feeding season. The weight of plastic consumed over the season was estimated at between 230kg and 4 tonnes. Continue reading...