Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney likens oil company bosses’ responses to those of tobacco industry at historic hearingThe chief executive of ExxonMobil, Darren Woods, was accused of lying to Congress on Thursday after he denied that the company covered up its own research about oil’s contribution to the climate crisis.For the first time, Woods and the heads of three other major petroleum companies were questioned under oath at a congressional hearing into the industry’s long campaign to discredit and deny the evidence that burning fossil fuels drove global heating. When pressed to make specific pledges or to stop lobbying against climate initiatives, all four executives declined. Continue reading...

Newborns include leopards, bengal tigers, zebras, giraffes, antelopes and oxen, ‘more than 10 births of high-value species’Zookeepers at Cuba’s National Zoo say several species of exotic and endangered animals took advantage of the peace and quiet brought on by the coronavirus pandemic for romantic encounters that resulted in a bumper crop of baby animals.The newborns include leopards, bengal tigers, zebras, giraffes, antelopes and oxen, a rarity officials attribute to the many months the zoo was closed during the pandemic, said zoo veterinarian Rachel Ortiz. Continue reading...

World’s biggest carbon emitter makes little advance on targets set out in 2015 in announcement days before vital UN talksChina has published its long-awaited national plan on greenhouse gas emissions, just days before the opening of the Cop26 UN climate summit.However, the plan revealed on Thursday represents little progress on the previously announced ambitions of the world’s biggest carbon emitter, disappointing observers of the vital climate talks. Continue reading...

Melinda Pavey delivers more water to agriculture while ramping up campaign to change Murray-Darling Basin plan

Hundreds of billions to be given to clean energy, electric vehicles and flood defenses, officials say – but some key parts left outThe Biden administration has said a vast spending bill is set to result in the “largest effort to combat climate change in American history”, with hundreds of billions of dollars set to be funneled into supporting clean energy, electric vehicles and new defenses against extreme weather events. But some key parts of Joe Biden’s original plan were left out.Following negotiations with Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema, two centrist Democratic senators who have opposed large portions of the original Build Back Better bill, the White House said it was confident a reduced version of the legislation will be able to pass both houses of Congress and will “set the United States on course to meet its climate goals”. Continue reading...

The tools at Biden’s disposal to limit dangerous global heating are enormous. If he wants it, he can do it – but does he want it?After months of bullish rhetoric about the United States’ climate leadership, the US could still show up to COP 26 empty handed. That doesn’t have to be the case – whatever charismatic obstructionists like Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema have to say about it. The climate certainly isn’t waiting on them to change: the UN Emissions Gap Report released this week finds that the world is on track to warm by a catastrophic 2.7C degrees.The White House has pegged its Paris Agreement success on being able to pass an ambitious spending package, with plenty of money built in for key climate priorities. In recent weeks the administration pegged its audacious goal, of slashing emission by at least 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, to something called a Clean Electricity Payments Program (CEPP). That’s out. And even if the compromise $55bn a year of climate spending the White House promised on Thursday makes it through to legislation, carrots for green spending can only go so far. The US will still not have picked up critical sticks needed to go after the polluting industries driving up temperatures.Kate Aronoff is a staff writer at The New Republic. She is the co-author of A Planet To Win: Why We Need A Green New Deal (Verso) and the co-editor of We Own The Future: Democratic Socialism, American Style (The New Press) Continue reading...

Arnd Drossel one of many travelling to the summit attempting to raise awareness of the climate crisisArnd Drossel has spent the past three months rolling around inside a 160kg steel ball.The German environmental activist left his home in Paderborn on 30 July in the giant contraption resembling a hamster ball that he made with his son. Continue reading...

If leaders in Glasgow do not act to ratchet up carbon cutting, the alternative is a dialling up of calamitous global heatingCop26 may involve dozens of world leaders, cost billions of pounds, generate reams of technical jargon and be billed as the last chance to prevent calamitous global heating, but at its simplest the climate conference in Glasgow is a debate about dialling up or dialling down risk. Continue reading...

When the CEOs of four top oil firms testify before Congress Thursday, they’ll have two options: apologize for their decades of lies, or risk perjuryToday is a day of history-making climate drama in Washington. At the Capitol Hill end of Pennsylvania Avenue, an unprecedented event: the CEOs of four of the world’s biggest private oil companies are summoned to testify under oath to Congress about their companies’ decades of lying about the lethal dangers their products pose.There’s no mystery about who the villains are in this drama, only about how big oil will play this pivotal moment in the climate emergency: will these executives finally admit their companies’ lies and take responsibility for the havoc they’ve caused? Or will they keep lying, if only by proclaiming that they are now climate champions working to solve the crisis engulfing humanity? Continue reading...

Mathias Cormann, now head of the OECD, was instrumental in repealing the nation’s key climate policy in 2014

Labour accuses chancellor of going ‘headlong in wrong direction’ over tackling climate emergency

Thirteen investors including Universities Superannuation Scheme accused of hypocrisyInvestors funding bids to expand UK airports have been accused of hypocrisy after it emerged they are signatories to a UN green investment scheme.Members of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) scheme, who number more than 4,000, publicly commit to acting in “the best long-term interests of our beneficiaries”, including incorporating environmental issues into their investment analysis and decision-making. Continue reading...

Tony Smith to step down at next sitting; Labor MP Julie Owens announces retirement; Scott Morrison gives update confirming Covid booster shots approved from 8 November; Andrew Laming ‘withdraws’ apology made to constituents in parliament; Victoria’s new pandemic laws under scrutiny as state records 1,923 cases and 25 deaths; NSW records 293 cases and two deaths; confusion over Barnaby Joyce claims. This blog is now closed

Scott Morrison and his deputy prime minister disagree over key methane emissions target ahead of Cop26

The heads of top US oil companies will answer accusations that their firms have spent years lying about the climate crisisThe heads of major oil companies will make a historic appearance before Congress on Thursday to answer accusations that their firms have spent years lying about the climate crisis.For the first time, the top executives from the US’s largest oil company, ExxonMobil, as well as Shell, Chevron and BP will be questioned under oath about the industry’s long campaign to discredit and deny the evidence that burning fossil fuels drove global heating. Continue reading...

Achim Steiner says failure by UK hosts to recognise developing nations’ concerns could lead to breakdown of talksDeveloping countries, many of which are deeply indebted following the Covid-19 crisis, must be the focus of the Cop26 summit if the UK hopes to make it a success, the UN’s development chief has said.Achim Steiner, the executive director of the UN development programme, said: “For developing countries at this juncture, a sense of recognising their dilemmas is extremely important. They do not need to be told that climate change is important, that everybody has to do more. Continue reading...

Toymaker’s instructions for a better world target policy chiefs ahead of global climate summitLego is touting it as its most ambitious build to date, but rather than many pages of instructions, the toymaker’s latest handbook offers only 10 steps.The booklet is not for a physical model, however. Instead it offers “building instructions for a better world” ahead of the crucial Cop26 climate talks that start in Glasgow this Sunday. Continue reading...

To successfully emerge from Covid into a fairer, greener future we need to recognise nature as an essential piece of the puzzleNearly two years after the first reported case of Covid-19, the world is still facing the repercussions. At the same time, the extent of our planetary emergency – of climate crisis, biodiversity loss and inequality – has become evident. As we rebuild our societies and economies, we are faced with a unique opportunity to build a nature-positive future that we must not let slip away. It is time for all of us to chart a planetary response to our planetary crisis – a response that puts nature at the centre.Our shared global experience with Covid-19 has underlined the interconnectedness of our different systems. The science is clear: climate, biodiversity and human health are fully interdependent. Yet, within discussions around post-Covid recovery, nature is not yet recognised enough as an essential piece in the puzzle of a resilient future for all.Frans Timmermans is executive vice-president for the European Green Deal, Achim Steiner is administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and Sandrine Dixson-Declève is co-president of the Club of Rome Continue reading...

Pace of emissions reductions must be increased significantly to keep global heating to 1.5CEvery corner of society is failing to take the “transformational change” needed to avert the most disastrous consequences of the climate crisis, with trends either too slow or in some cases even regressing, according to a major new global analysis.Across 40 different areas spanning the power sector, heavy industry, agriculture, transportation, finance and technology, not one is changing quickly enough to avoid 1.5C in global heating beyond pre-industrial times, a critical target of the Paris climate agreement, according to the new Systems Change Lab report. Continue reading...

The Morrison government released its net zero plan and Angus Taylor penned a scary piece about methane, but both lacked substance

Third largest emitter of greenhouse gases committed to ‘being part of the solution’ but calls on rich countries to acknowledge ‘historic responsibility’Setting net zero carbon emissions targets is not the solution to climate change, India’s federal environment minister said days before world leaders meet at the Cop26 climate summit.Instead, rich countries need to acknowledge their “historic responsibility“ for emissions and protect the interests of developing nations and those vulnerable to climate change, said the minister, Bhupender Yadav. Continue reading...

World heritage sites in US, Australia and Russia among those that have emitted more carbon than they absorbed since 2001Forests in at least 10 Unesco world heritage sites have become net sources of carbon since the turn of the millennium due to wildfires, deforestation and global heating, says a new report.Protected areas such as Yosemite national park in the US, the Greater Blue Mountains area in Australia and the tropical rainforests of Sumatra in Indonesia are among the sites that have emitted more carbon than they absorbed since 2001 as a result of human activities, according to research by the World Resources Institute, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Unesco. The analysis found more sites were expected to switch from sinks to sources of carbon in the coming decades. Continue reading...

Chancellor’s speech did not mention the climate crisis despite UK-hosted climate summit opening on Sunday

The Guardian understands the funding is likely to be used to back the planned £20bn Sizewell CThe government will make its first direct investment in a large-scale nuclear reactor since 1995 after pledging to plough up to £1.7bn of taxpayers’ money into a new power plant.Treasury documents published alongside the autumn statement did not name which nuclear project would be in line for the public funds, but the Guardian understands it is most likely to be the planned £20bn Sizewell C plant in Suffolk. Continue reading...

Budget offered little detail on UK response to climate crisis, but city will be key test of success on green economy and ‘levelling up’The UK’s energy revolution has a surprisingly artisanal feel. In the vast halls of a wind turbine blade factory in Hull, workers manually unroll layers of fibreglass and balsa wood into 81-metre moulds, before resins and paint are added. The blades are then shipped to the middle of the North Sea to generate clean electricity.They also generate jobs – 1,000 on the Siemens Gamesa site, plus another 200 to come after an investment of £186m to make bigger 108-metre blades. The site is the epitome of Boris Johnson’s claim that green jobs can help to “level up” Britain’s neglected regions. Continue reading...

‘Medicane’ storm with winds of 100km/h expected in Sicily, where two have died in floodingSouthern Italy was braced on Wednesday for the arrival of what forecasters have described as a Medicane – a rare Mediterranean hurricane bringing winds of more than 100kmh and producing 5-metre waves.Fierce storms have battered Sicily for days, leaving roads submerged in the eastern part of the island and claiming the lives of at least two people. Video footage shows flood waters engulfing the city of Palermo, turning streets into rivers and squares into lakes. Continue reading...

Members stage roadblock protests near M25 Dartford Crossing in Kent and on A40 in west LondonForty-nine members of Insulate Britain have been arrested after the climate activist group blocked three major junctions in defiance of a series of injunctions banning them from protesting anywhere on England’s strategic road network.In their 15th day of action since starting their campaign in mid-September, members of the group staged roadblock protests near the M25 Dartford crossing in Kent and another on the A40 in West London. Continue reading...

Figure of £150-660bn to cut raw sewage discharges into rivers was quoted by Tory MPs and environment ministerGovernment claims that cutting the millions of hours a year of raw sewage being discharged into rivers by water companies would cost up to £660bn have been challenged by experts.On Tuesday night, peers kept the pressure on the government to enshrine a duty in law on water companies to reduce the dumping of raw sewage into rivers and seas. Continue reading...

Boost for advocates’ group is step further in decades-long fight against mining pollutionRita Capitan has been worrying about her water since 1994. It was that autumn she read a local newspaper article about another uranium mine, the Crownpoint Uranium Project, getting under way near her home.Capitan has spent her entire life in Crownpoint, New Mexico, a small town on the eastern Navajo Nation, and is no stranger to the uranium mining that has persisted in the region for decades. But it was around the time the article was published that she began learning about the many risks associated with uranium mining. Continue reading...

With her brave book Silent Spring, Carson changed the course of US environmental history. We would do well to study her example“Glasgow is our last chance” has become a climate crisis mantra.World leaders scheduled to meet soon at the United Nations Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow to discuss – and act upon – our global climate crisis face a huge task, as do those here in the US as they fine-tune the climate measures in the Biden administration’s Build Back Better plan. All political measures up to now have been insufficient. The latest UN report on climate change issued a “code red for humanity”. And it’s only going to get worse and probably irreversible – larger fires, extended droughts, more intense storms, and more environmental refugees, destabilized regimes and unlivable parts of our planet – if our carbon-based economy continues unabated.A frequent contributor to the Guardian, Kim Heacox is the author of many books, including The Only Kayak, a memoir, and Jimmy Bluefeather, a novel, both winners of the National Outdoor Book Award. He lives in Alaska Continue reading...

Few are household names, yet these 12 enablers and profiteers have an unimaginable sway over the fate of humanityFor too long, Americans were fed a false narrative that they should feel individually guilty about the climate crisis. The reality is that only a handful of powerful individuals bear the personal responsibility.The nation’s worst polluters managed to evade accountability and scrutiny for decades as they helped the fossil fuel industry destroy our planet. The actions of these climate supervillains have affected millions of people, disproportionately hurting the vulnerable who have done the least to contribute to global emissions. Continue reading...

ICAP-Speedwell Climate Index will use stats from 50 independent weather stations globallyThe City broker TP ICAP has launched a weather data-backed index that it says will allow business risks tied to the pace of the climate crisis to be traded on financial markets for the first time.The creation of an index allows financial firms to form a view on the rate of temperature change and build financial products to hedge the risks. Continue reading...

International travel exemption scrapped for vaccinated Australians; 16 Covid deaths in Victoria and NSW; national child abuse prevention strategy announced. This blog is now closed

The conservative Democrat is busy trying to strip out many of the policies to tackle the problems his home state is facingThe rise of Joe Manchin as a key power player for Democratic policymaking in 2021 is the result of a perfect storm for the US senator from West Virginia.His position as the Senate’s most conservative Democrat means he often has final say in what his party is able to push through, especially when it comes to Joe Biden’s ambitious domestic agenda on infrastructure, far-reaching social policies and a powerful attempt to tackle the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Some of the harshest criticism came from CNN, which labelled Australia ‘the rich world’s weakest link at Cop26’

Protesters hold candlelight vigil inside London landmark for ‘victims of museum’s sponsors’Youth climate activists have “occupied” London’s Science Museum in protest at its sponsorship deals with fossil fuel companies.Members of the London branch of the UK Student Climate Network (UKSCN London) said they were holding a candlelight vigil at the famous landmark on Tuesday evening for “the victims of the museum’s fossil fuel sponsors: Shell, BP, Equinor and Adani”. Continue reading...

Report says countries must strengthen climate ambitions after wasting chance to build back better after CovidThe world is squandering the opportunity to “build back better” from the Covid-19 pandemic, and faces disastrous temperature rises of at least 2.7C if countries fail to strengthen their climate pledges, according to a report from the UN.Tuesday’s publication warns that countries’ current pledges would reduce carbon by only about 7.5% by 2030, far less than the 45% cut scientists say is needed to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C, the aim of the Cop26 summit that opens in Glasgow this Sunday. Continue reading...

Water companies will have duty to reduce impact of sewage discharges from storm overflowsThe government has announced a partial U-turn over the sewage amendment after Tory rebels threatened to scupper an upcoming vote in the Commons.Under new rules, there will be a duty on water companies to reduce the impact of sewage discharges from storm overflows. This means the organisations will be required by law to show a reduction in sewage overspills over the next five years. Continue reading...

Legislation paves way for firms building nuclear plants to charge households long before completionThe government plans to resuscitate the UK’s nuclear energy ambitions by creating a financing model that could pile part of the upfront cost of the £20bn Sizewell C power plant on to householders’ energy bills before it starts generating electricity.The energy secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, set out legislation on Tuesday that would share the early construction costs with consumers, with the aim of reducing the UK’s reliance on overseas funding for nuclear projects by making them more attractive to domestic investors. Continue reading...

ABP says it will no longer invest in sector and will sell €15bn of holdings by first quarter of 2023One of the world’s largest pension funds, ABP, is selling its €15bn-worth of holdings in fossil fuel companies, including Royal Dutch Shell, claiming it had been unable to persuade the sector to transition quickly enough towards decarbonisation.Corien Wortmann-Kool, the chair of ABP, the Dutch pension fund for civil servants and teachers, said it would no longer invest in producers of oil, gas and coal, and that it would dispense with its current investments in those sectors by the first quarter of 2023. Continue reading...

Climate Change Committee head Chris Stark explains what needs to happen for Britain to meet its targets

Climate group makes declaration after transport secretary obtains injunctionInsulate Britain has declared the M25 a “site of non-violent civil resistance” and called for motorists to keep to 20mph on the motorway or avoid it altogether, after a new injunction banned the group from major roads across England.It comes after Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, announced that England’s roads agency, National Highways, had obtained an injunction banning the group from protesting across England’s “entire strategic road network”. Continue reading...

Government to retain resistance to tougher action against water companies despite backlashPlans to take tougher action against water companies for pumping sewage into rivers and the sea will once again be opposed by the government tonight, Downing Street has announced.The prime minister’s spokesperson confirmed the government would retain its resistance to adopting an amendment to the environment bill tabled by the Duke of Wellington, which was passed by the Lords earlier this month but subsequently rejected by the Commons. Continue reading...

New polling data shows two-thirds of Republicans do not want to hold oil and gas companies accountable for the climate crisisNearly two in three Republicans believe oil and gas companies are at least somewhat responsible for the climate crisis – but they don’t want to keep these companies accountable.In fact, even when they were told that oil and gas companies knowingly misled the public about their products driving climate change, most Republicans said the public and the government should not hold those companies accountable. Continue reading...

While a strong majority of Americans believe global heating is happening, a new Guardian poll shows sharp partisan dividesA majority of Americans want to see oil and gas companies held to account for lying about the climate crisis and contributing to global heating, according to a new YouGov poll commissioned by the Guardian, Vice News, and Covering Climate Now.Released today, the poll reveals that the US remains sharply divided over the causes of the deepening environmental emergency following the fossil fuel industry’s long campaign to downplay and deny climate science. That division falls largely along political lines, with Democrats and Republicans at odds over the source of climate disinformation. Continue reading...

Advisers say strategy boosts UK credibility before Cop26 summit, but more needed to protect low paidThe UK strategy to reach net zero emissions by 2050 is achievable and affordable, according to the government’s official climate advisers. The Climate Change Committee said the plan was the most comprehensive in the G20 and strengthened the position of the UK as it prepares to preside over the Cop26 summit.The CCC, which is independent, said the strategy was a big step forward from setting targets to planning their delivery, but implementation would be a huge task. Continue reading...

Prime minister Scott Morrison says ‘technology breakthroughs’ will help country meet reductions targets but Labor calls plan a ‘scam’ based on a ‘vibe’

State environment minister, Matt Kean, has launched internal review after Guardian investigation revealed major problems with offsets schemes

Torres Strait communities have filed a class action, arguing Australia must cut emissions by 74% by 2030 to save the islands from sea level incursion and inhabitability“This island is me, and I am this island,” Wadhuam Pabai Pabai says of the homeland he’s known all his life.“I can’t imagine being forced to leave Boigu … there are 65,000 years of wealth and experience here,” the father of seven says. Losing Boigu, his home in the Torres Strait, will mean losing all of it. Continue reading...

The number of nesting sites on the archipelago has risen dramatically, but global heating sees male population plummetIt’s nearly midnight as Delvis Semedo strolls along an empty beach on the Cape Verdean island of Maio. Overhead, the dense Milky Way pierces the darkness. A sea turtle emerges from the crashing waves and lumbers up the shore. Then another. And another.Semedo is one of about 100 local people who patrol Maio’s beaches each night during nesting season to collect data on the turtles and protect them from poachers. This year has been busier than usual. Sea turtle nests on the islands of Sal, Maio and Boa Vista – the primary nesting grounds for loggerheads in Cape Verde – have soared in the last five years. Cape Verde’s environment ministry puts nest numbers in 2020 across all 10 islands at almost 200,000, up from 10,725 in 2015. Continue reading...