Environment | The Guardian

Moderate Liberal says if Anthony Albanese wants to end climate wars, he must tone down ‘inflammatory’ rhetoric

Temperatures of over 40C cause red alert in the city and test records as heatwave ravages parts of EuropeChina’s most populous city, Shanghai, has issued its highest alert for extreme heat for the third time this summer as sweltering temperatures repeatedly tested records this week.The commercial and industrial hub of 25 million people declared a red alert on Thursday, warning of expected temperatures of at least 40C (104F) in the next 24 hours. Temperatures soared as high as 40.6 C in the afternoon but fell short of Wednesday’s 40.9 C, which matched a 2017 record. Continue reading...

German pensioners seeking ‘asylum’ from soaring energy costs and rising inflation are welcome in Greece, says ministerGreece’s tourism minister has sent an invitation to German pensioners wanting to escape astronomical heating bills and other high living costs this coming winter, urging them to see his country as an attractive alternative.With gas bills already having doubled in Germany and expected to rise to around seven times the level they were a year ago, Vasilis Kikilias has said Greece offers the promise of warmth, hospitality and lower grocery and restaurant prices. Continue reading...

A Pew survey found more Americans favor stricter environmental laws and regulations – even at an economic costMore than 80% of Democrats think the government is not doing enough to tackle the climate crisis, according to a large nationwide survey that found younger voters across both parties are most frustrated with the pace of political action on green issues.Overall, Americans are largely split along party lines in how they view Joe Biden’s record on pressing climate and environmental challenges like clean water and air quality, according to the Pew Research Center survey of more than 10,000 adults. Continue reading...

Report shows English water and sewage firms’ performance on pollution has declined to worst in yearsWater company bosses must be jailed for serious pollution, the Environment Agency (EA) has said, as it revealed English water firms have overseen shocking levels of pollution in the last year.The agency said water firms’ performance on pollution had declined to the worst seen in years. It is calling for chief executives and board members to be jailed if they oversee serious, repeated pollution because they seemed undeterred by enforcement action and court fines for breaching environmental laws. Continue reading...

Greens call for moratorium on new oil and gas projects as some independents urge Labor not to rush major policy for political reasons

Federal government announces $2.7m package day before Norco’s workforce was to be stood down

The River Wye flows through Herefordshire where bird numbers – and their waste – surged in the year after the supermarket signed a deal with a local processor, Guardian investigation showsA major deal to supply chicken to Tesco from nearly a decade ago may be linked to the ecological demise of one of the UK’s favourite rivers, according to a Guardian investigation.As the River Wye flows through mid-Wales to the Severn estuary, it passes through the so-called chicken capital of the UK, where an estimated 20 million birds are farmed in the river’s catchment. Continue reading...

From trade unions to a bishop, activists are uniting to keep the UK government to its North Sea climate commitmentsWhen the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, tweeted on the eve of the long jubilee weekend that the government was giving the go-ahead to a new oil and gas project in the North Sea, ministers probably hoped the news would slip out without much fuss.But less than 24 hours later hundreds of protesters, furious that the government was planning to expand fossil fuel infrastructure in the midst of a climate crisis, took to the streets across the UK to voice their objections. Continue reading...

Agency to lead consortium in scheme targeting battery materials while conservationists say Australia on ‘wrong side of debate’

The green gas nirvana touted by industry is hydrogen made using renewable energy and biomethane produced from organic waste – and it’s decades away

Adam Bandt vows to push Albanese government ‘further and faster’ on emissions reduction

Governments will need to spend big to protect vulnerable people this winterEurope is sweltering during a prolonged summer heatwave. But the attention of political leaders is increasingly focused on the coming winter. As a succession of recent warnings from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and elsewhere has underlined, an energy crisis to rival the oil price shock in the 1970s could hit when the weather turns cold.As Vladimir Putin seeks to make the west pay for its support for Ukraine since February’s brutal invasion, Moscow has intensified its squeeze on gas exports to Europe. On Monday, Russia shut down its main pipeline to Germany – having previously reduced the flow of gas through it by 60%. Ostensibly, Nord Stream 1 has been closed to allow scheduled maintenance work, but its reopening later this month is far from certain. Gas supplies to Italy have been reduced by a further third; in all, a total of 12 EU countries have been either fully or partially cut off from Russian gas supplies. Supplies are accordingly dwindling before the period when they will be most needed. And, amid shortages and outages, European gas prices are almost 10 times higher than in the US. Continue reading...

Increased human activity is driving excess phosphorus into Coeur d’Alene Lake – making a tribe’s vital resource vulnerable to a looming ecological catastropheIn Ernie Stensgar’s Plummer, Idaho, office sits an heirloom older than any human, a relic passed down from his great-great-grandparents: a set of four 150-year-old gathering baskets, handwoven from Inland north-west reeds.Built to last, the receptacles still haven’t frayed, despite age. They’re not museum exhibits, either. Stensgar uses them to collect mountain huckleberries, prairie plants and water potatoes from nearby Coeur d’Alene Lake, sacred water to his people. Like his ancestors, he plans to pass them along when it’s time. Continue reading...

Michelle Reynolds forced to enlist help after Mexican spicy tail iguana, which can grow up to 18in, ‘took up most of the toilet bowl’A Florida woman was surprised by an uninvited guest in her bathroom on Saturday night: an iguana in her toilet.Michelle Reynolds told WSVN that when she went to the bathroom, she “did a quick turnaround because I saw this thing in there and quickly shut the door!” Continue reading...

Firm’s president at time of disaster among four defendants found liable for £80bn in damage by Tokyo courtA court in Japan has ordered former executives of Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) to pay ¥13tn (£80bn) in damages for failing to prevent a triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011.The ruling by Tokyo district court centred on whether senior Tepco management could have predicted a serious nuclear accident striking the facility after a powerful tsunami. Continue reading...

Mahmoud Mohieldin tells Sydney audience Egypt talks will need to get from ‘summits to solutions’ amid increasing wild weather

RePlanet calls on EU to ditch organic targets and for governments to lift bans on genetically modified cropsGovernments should put a moratorium on the use of biofuels and lift bans on genetic modification of crops, a green campaigning group has urged, in the face of a growing global food crisis that threatens to engulf developing nations.Ending the EU’s requirement for biofuels alone would free up about a fifth of the potential wheat exports from Ukraine, and even more of its maize exports, enough to make a noticeable difference to stretched food supplies, according to analysis by the campaign group RePlanet. Continue reading...

Groups representing Unilever and Amazon say long-term targets will boost investment and provide jobsBusiness groups representing Amazon, Coca-Cola, Unilever and Lloyds Banking Group have all called on Conservative leadership contenders to protect the net zero target for the good of the economy.There have been fears that the leadership election could cause the UK’s climate commitments to be ditched, as at least two contenders have said they would pause the emissions targets. Continue reading...

Byron Fay says he supports government plan if it doesn’t benefit major parties while hindering political newcomers

After an outcry at last year’s killing of 1,480 white-sided dolphins, campaigners say new government hunt quotas are ‘farcical’Months after the much-criticised slaughter of more than 1,400 white-sided dolphins in the Faroe Islands, a provisional annual hunt quota of 500 has been set by the Faroese government in what campaigners call a “farcical” decision.The Faroese fisheries minister, Árni Skaale, said that the quota was meant to secure sustainability. “We have a right to hunt,” he told the Guardian, but added that there was an obligation to protect the country’s resources: “We have to utilise everything sustainably.” Continue reading...

How the fox arrived on the island south-east of Melbourne remains a mystery, but one theory is that it swam there

Eleven nations least responsible for global heating must spend up to 22% of GDP on dealing with effects of itAfrican countries that are the least responsible for the climate crisis will have to spend up to five times more on adapting to global heating than they do on healthcare.Analysis of 11 nations with a total population of more than 350 million lays bare the huge financial toll of taking action to avert the severe environmental consequences of global heating. Continue reading...

‘Visitors vote and other species don’t,’ says researcher, who found park managers are being pressured to prioritise infrastructure

Dubbo looks to climate-proof water supply as council says backup groundwater couldn’t be accessed

A lack of recent rainfall forces part of the Leeds-Liverpool canal to shut while 5 million face a hosepipe banBoat owners on the UK’s longest canal will not be able to move their boats next week, due to a water shortage, while 5 million people have been warned they may be soon facing a hosepipe ban.Stretches of the Leeds-Liverpool canal will be closed during periods next week after a lack of rainfall has led to low levels in some Yorkshire and Lancashire reservoirs, leaving canal locks unable to be filled. Continue reading...

At least 86 Chinese cities issue alerts, while temperatures soar in south-west and central US and Iberian peninsulaDangerous heatwaves are engulfing parts of China, Europe, south-west and central US this week, as dozens of cities have found themselves dealing with soaring summer temperatures.By Tuesday afternoon, at least 86 Chinese cities in eastern and southern parts of the country had issued heat alerts. Chinese meteorologists forecast temperatures in some cities would top 40C (104F) in the next 24 hours. Continue reading...

The WHO declared it a probable human carcinogen in 2015 and 70-80 UK councils have turned to chemical-free optionsYellow grass and unnaturally bare soil around public trees and paths is increasingly a vision of the past, as indiscriminate use of the controversial weedkiller glyphosate is phased out by councils. But changing the way the public realm looks is not without controversy, with some complaining so-called weeds make urban spaces unsightly.Heavily used in farming, glyphosate’s non-agricultural use extends to parks and green spaces, pavements and playgrounds, hospitals and shopping centres. Since the WHO declared it a “probable human carcinogen” in 2015, after research found “strong” evidence for its toxicity, 70 to 80 UK councils have turned to chemical-free options or simply letting plants grow, from Bath & North East Somerset council, to Highland council in Scotland. Continue reading...

George Eustice reassures public as he announces 50 landowners have applied to rewilding programmeFifty landowners have applied to a government scheme to rewild their land, the environment secretary has said, as he reassured green Tories that the net-zero target will be protected by the next administration.Speaking at the Conservative Environment Network’s summer party, George Eustice acknowledged that people who care about the environment feel “apprehensive and anxious” about the Conservative leadership election. Continue reading...

Exposure to harmful PFAS remains almost impossible to escape – particularly for the people of the Cape Fear River basinIn Wilmington, 50-year-old Tom Kennedy thinks it might be time to stop fighting the cancer that started in his breast and now grips his spine. He’s endured 85 chemotherapy treatments since an inverted nipple sent him to the doctor five years ago, and he fears the endless struggle to keep him alive is more than his daughters can bear. He wonders if it’s time to let death take him so his family can move on.A deadly cancer has already taken 43-year-old Amy Nordberg away from her family, also of Wilmington. Nordberg died in January after a three-year battle with a vicious cancer that followed the development of multiple sclerosis. The cancer moved through her body faster than doctors expected, enveloping her colon and invading her bone marrow. Continue reading...

A lifeguard tower was left teetering on a cliff edge and had to be relocated, after constant huge swells battered the shoreline

New agreement to fast-track climate solutions signed as countries underscore need for diversified supply chains

Payments extended to eight more local government areas and sped up to prioritise victims over auditing; free Covid rapid tests for concession card holders to end this month. This blog is now closed

Research puts US ahead of China, Russia, India and Brazil in terms of global damage as climate expert says numbers ‘very stark’The US has inflicted more than $1.9tn in damage to other countries from the effects of its greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new analysis that has provided the first measurement of nations’ liability in stoking the climate crisis.The huge volume of planet-heating gases pumped out by the US, the largest historical emitter, has caused such harm to other, mostly poor, countries through heatwaves, crop failures and other consequences that the US is responsible for $1.91tn in lost global income since 1990, the study found. Continue reading...

Pacific leaders optimistic about Albanese government’s climate action and willingness to engage, but major sticking point remains

UK households recycle just 12% of single-use plastic, says GreenpeaceUK households throw away nearly 100bn pieces of plastic packaging a year, according to a survey by Greenpeace.The results of one of the largest voluntary research projects into the scale of plastic waste show that only 12% of the single-use packaging used by households is sent for recycling. Continue reading...

Report also finds employment benefits from Fortune Agribusiness’s Singleton station venture were ‘largely illusory’• Get our free news app, morning email briefing and daily news podcastThe Northern Territory government’s decision to grant its biggest ever water licence to a private business is an “extraordinary” giveaway of a public asset worth up to $300m for employment benefits that are “largely illusory”, a new report commissioned by the Central Land Council claims.Last year the NT government granted Fortune Agribusiness a free 30-year licence to extract up to 40,000 megalitres of groundwater a year from aquifers under Singleton station, near Tennant Creek. The NT does not currently have a water pricing regime and does not charge developers for water.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

Electricity demand expected to surpass supply as temperatures hit triple digits, shattering recordsTexans sweltering under record temperatures and high humidity have been urged to conserve energy as the power grid struggles to cope with a surge in demand.An extreme heatwave across the south-west and central US has led to searing temperatures since Friday, with heat warnings in place for millions of Americans until at least midweek. Continue reading...

From Friday to Sunday, the blaze expanded from 250 acres to roughly 1,600 acres as over 400 firefighters have tried to contain itA grove containing some of the world’s oldest giant sequoia trees is under threat from a rapidly growing wildfire at California’s Yosemite national park.From Friday to Monday, the blaze expanded from 250 acres to roughly 2,340 acres, with the terrain of timber and brush fueling the flames, officials said. Visitors on the Washburn trail of the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias first reported the blaze on 7 July, and 545 firefighters and other personnel were currently working to contain it as of Monday. Continue reading...

Prime minister will open international forum in Sydney, saying the Indo-Pacific faces ‘enormous’ challenges but also opportunities

Baseline increase for Anglo American’s Grosvenor mine prompts calls for Labor to overhaul safeguard mechanism

Global Feedback seeks judicial review of plan for not suggesting less meat and dairy consumptionFood campaigners are taking legal action against the government for failing to support the transition to a low-carbon diet by encouraging people to eat less meat.Global Feedback, which campaigns for regenerative food production, says the government’s food strategy does not take into account advice that cutting levels of meat and dairy consumption is crucial to achieving the country’s net zero goals. Continue reading...

Focus on market has led to climate crises, with spiritual, cultural and emotional benefits of nature ignoredTaking into account all the benefits nature provides to humans and redefining what it means to have a “good quality of life” is key to living sustainably on Earth, a four-year assessment by 82 leading scientists has found.A market-based focus on short-term profits and economic growth means the wider benefits of nature have been ignored, which has led to bad decisions that have reduced people’s wellbeing and contributed to climate and nature crises, according to a UN report. To achieve sustainable development, qualitative approaches need to be incorporated into decision making. Continue reading...

Infrastructure NSW says buybacks on Sydney’s fringe could cost $5.2bn but expert argues price would be ‘nowhere near’ that

An SA farmer was praised for returning a young seal to the water, but experts highlight dangers for both parties in handling animals

British scientists say trial shows the nonlethal method could help eradicate the invasive species and allow red squirrels to recoverOral contraceptives for squirrels are working, research has found, and the government hopes they can be used to keep populations down in the UK.Grey squirrels are an invasive species in the UK, introduced from North America in the 1870s. They pose a problem for wildlife including endangered red squirrels, which they outcompete. They also carry a disease called squirrelpox that does not affect them but can kill reds. Continue reading...

At least 27,000 hectares of Cerrado have allegedly been destroyed by suppliers to major soya traders that supply UK meat industrySupermarkets and retailers have been asked to end relationships with soya traders who allegedly continue to buy soya from suppliers contributing to deforestation in Brazil.It comes as an investigation by campaign group Mighty Earth alleges that suppliers selling to leading soya traders have deforested at least 27,000 hectares (67,000 acres) across 10 farms in the Cerrado region of Brazil since August 2020. Continue reading...

Investigation launched after bodies of 13 koalas found on 14 June, with another three since discovered• Get our free news app, morning email briefing and daily news podcastSixteen koalas have died at a Victorian tree plantation and investigators don’t know why.Victoria’s conservation regulator launched an investigation after the bodies of 13 koalas were found at a plantation on 14 June. The regulator has said it was alerted to the deaths by the plantation’s operator.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

Environment minister Tanya Plibersek says she would be ‘carefully considering’ projects referred under EPBC Act