Exclusive: Nike and H&M are among firms whose environmental scores suggest progress. But how are these calculated?Fashion accounts for 10% of the world’s carbon emissions and is the second-most polluting industry in the world. But in an increasingly climate-conscious society, it is increasingly trying to present itself as sustainable to appeal to customers.One big target is reducing greenhouse gas emissions and for the past two decades many brands have signed up to a scheme called the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an independent body that awards grades for environmental performance. Continue reading...
In 50 years, Canvey Island’s George Whatley has won five victories against oil and gas firms trying to expand operationsGeorge Whatley is probably Britain’s most successful anti-oil campaigner, but you won’t find him at Extinction Rebellion’s latest wave of protests or the Just Stop Oil campaign which has blocked fossil fuel infrastructure recently.At 80 years old and after a recent spell in hospital, he will be taking it easy at his bungalow on Canvey Island, Essex. But if anyone can claim a place in the annals of successful environmental protests, it is this former Bank of England security guard. Continue reading...
National event to mark organic dairy cattle’s release from winter barns has been online only since 2020Rural Denmark will come to a standstill on Sunday when for the first time in three years its inhabitants will be able to stand in a field in large numbers to watch the moment when Denmark’s 200,000 organic cows are let out of their barns for “summer” to graze on grass – an event so exciting that the creatures run, leap, buck and “dance” with joy.Økodag, or dancing cow day, as it is affectionately known, marks the start of the outdoor season for all organic cows in Denmark. Children scramble up hay bales to get a better view and parents hold camera phones poised to capture the magic at midday precisely when the cows are released nationwide. Continue reading...
Group plans most disruptive actions yet in the city over coming week, promising most roadblocks everExtinction Rebellion has said it will conduct its most disruptive protest yet on the streets of London over the coming week, calling for an end to the fossil fuel economy.The environmental activist group, which encourages supporters to cause disruption through non-violent civil disobedience, will return to the city from Saturday with new tactics it claims will “create the most roadblocks we ever have”. Continue reading...
Part urban legend, part DNA-tested reality, the coyote-wolf hybrid has adapted to dense human-built environmentsIt was a spring morning when Elise Rustad saw the creature loping down a Toronto sidewalk. At a distance, it looked like a dog, but no owner was nearby. As it drew closer, she was struck by its size and its thick black, white and grey coat.“It was big. I’ve seen a wolf before,” she said. “And that really looked like a wolf.” Continue reading...
Images of harp seals taken from hundreds of miles above show their plight. They should spur us to actionThis week, remarkable images were released of harp seals scattered across a fragmented and rapidly disintegrating ice sheet east of Greenland. With record high temperatures and early melting in the Arctic, great cracks create a deadly mosaic on the sheet, an icy crazy paving on which you can make out dark specks – each one a seal, peering out as if bemused by its fate. In such an inhospitable environment, viewed from such height, the marine mammals resemble alien life forms glimpsed on another planet.By 2035, it is estimated that the disappearance of Arctic sea ice will mean that around 7.5 million harp seals will lose their home. It is another cruel turn for animals that in the 20th century were extensively hunted for their fur – especially the flawless white pelts of their pups. They depend on the sea ice: it is the arena in which they rest after hunting for food, mate, and give birth. The ice is the centre of their lives.Philip Hoare is the author of several books, including Leviathan, The Sea Inside and Albert and the Whale Continue reading...
Ithaca Energy buys Siccar Point, which paused project when Shell pulled out after environmental oppositionThe Cambo oilfield off the Shetland Islands could now be developed after a $1.5bn (£1.1bn) takeover of the owner of the controversial site.Siccar Point Energy, which put the project on “pause” when its partner Shell pulled out late last year after fierce opposition from environmental activists, has been acquired by Ithaca Energy. Continue reading...
RSPB scientists say small increase in sightings points to first signs of recovery of beleaguered speciesGreenfinch populations, which were previously in steep decline in the UK, are showing the first signs of recovery, according to the latest annual RSPB big garden birdwatch results.The citizen science survey gives a good idea of how bird populations are faring in Britain. This year almost 700,000 people took part, counting more than 11 million birds. Continue reading...
Climate scientists say plugging methane leaks and phasing out fossil fuels are necessary to avert catastrophic global heatingAtmospheric levels of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, increased by a record amount for the second year in a row in 2021, according to US government data.The concentration of methane in the Earth’s atmosphere jumped by 17 parts per billion (ppb) in 2021, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) monitoring found, the largest annual increase recorded since modern measurements began in 1983. The previous record increase, of 15.3ppb, was set in 2020. Continue reading...
by Calla Wahlquist and Australian Associated Press on (#5XYS6)
Wet weather and flooding continues, with schools closed and residents ordered to evacuate as torrential rain falls on Sydney and already saturated catchments
The government has failed to seize the moment and build on public enthusiasm for renewable energyA few weeks after the November Cop26 summit concluded in Glasgow, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy published a striking snapshot of public attitudes towards the climate emergency. It showed that popular support for renewable energy, including onshore wind farms, had reached record levels. Given a cost-of-living crunch caused by the rocketing price of fossil fuels, and the new priority of energy independence following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an imaginative and proactive government would move to harness this enthusiasm and seize the moment. Sadly, Britain is not blessed with such a government.The future energy strategy unveiled by Boris Johnson on Thursday instead carries some of the hallmarks of his flawed government: a prime ministerial penchant for grands projets that may or may not be deliverable; a tendency to be unduly influenced by vocal lobby groups on the right of the Conservative party; and a propensity to set targets without doing the necessary work to enable them to be met. The aspiration that 95% of the UK’s electricity should come from renewable sources by 2030 is admirable, and the commitment to hugely increase offshore wind and solar capacity is significant. But inexplicable lacunae and wrong priorities make this a tale of missed opportunities. Continue reading...
Prime minister claims he has delivered ‘clean, affordable, secure power for generations to come’Boris Johnson claimed on Thursday that his energy security strategy had delivered “clean, affordable, secure power to the people for generations to come”.In comments issued as he launched the policy at Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in Somerset and put atomic energy front and centre of his plan, the prime minister said his government was the first for years that had not “dodged the big decisions on energy”. Continue reading...
The female fox tested positive for rabies and health authorities are considering the fate of her kitsHealth officials in Washington DC have euthanized a red fox that was responsible for biting at least nine people on Capitol Hill, including a congressman, and which tested positive for rabies.The female fox was captured on Tuesday and by Wednesday, officials from the DC health department confirmed that she had been “humanely euthanized” so she could be tested for rabies. Continue reading...
This live blog has now closed, you can find our latest UK political coverage hereBoris Johnson said energy bills had been going up around the world and “absolutely soared” after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.“We just can’t carry on like this,” the prime minister said in a social media video promoting his new energy strategy.I think there are strong views on lots of sides here but I’ll give you my perspective on this. I think that trans people face incredible barriers and stigma in our society.I was talking to a trans person the other day about this. I think the way this debate has been conducted – these anatomical debates – I think it is really awful for so many trans people in our country.I think that is a decision for the sporting bodies though ... I think it’s different in different sports. I think the principle here is that we need fairness in sport. Continue reading...
This plan could have ended dependence on Russian gas and tackled the cost of living crisis. Thanks to Tory backbenchers, it did neitherAt last, the energy security strategy has been published, after weeks of hedging, briefing and delays. The original aims of the strategy, which was initially promised on 7 March, were worthy: to confront rocketing energy bills and transition away from Russian fossil fuels after the invasion of Ukraine.There was also hope in the climate world that the strategy would go further and faster in the transition to a zero-carbon economy. The cost of renewables has tumbled, and the UK’s leaky housing stock is crying out for retrofitting. This was an opportunity for an urgent response both to the climate and cost of living crises.Eleanor Salter writes about climate, culture and politics Continue reading...
Boris Johnson is to put nuclear energy at the heart of the UK’s new energy strategy, which could mean eight more nuclear reactors being approved on existing sites. The government’s plans are in defiance of its own net zero targets, but Johnson insists they will ‘reduce our dependence on power sources exposed to volatile international prices we cannot control, so we can enjoy greater energy self-sufficiency with cheaper bills’
Conservationists say the farms are a danger to sea lions and other marine mammals, who can become entangled in their netsDozens of thieving sea lions in western Canada have spent the last few weeks gorging on fish after brazenly slipping into an industrial salmon farm – and ignoring all attempts to make them move on.Cermaq, the aquaculture giant with operations in Norway, Chile and Canada, says the wily predators were able to evade netting and electric fences in late March as part of a “breach event” at the Rant Point farm near Tofino in British Columbia. Continue reading...
by Caitlin Cassidy and Matilda Boseley on (#5XXBZ)
Flood warnings and evacuation orders in place across NSW; Marise Payne announces fresh sanctions on 67 individuals over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; Melbourne’s Park Hotel empty of asylum seekers after release from detention granted; environment minister adopts long-awaited koala recovery plan; nation records 33 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed
Backflip comes a day after PM rejected the request, prompting the Insurance Council of Australia to accuse the federal government of shirking responsibility
On Wednesday, I risked arrest by locking myself onto an entrance to the JP Morgan Chase building in downtown LA. I can’t stand by – and nor should you“Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals, but the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels.” – United Nations Secretary General Antonio GuterresI’m a climate scientist and a desperate father. How can I plead any harder? What will it take? What can my colleagues and I do to stop this catastrophe unfolding now all around us with such excruciating clarity?Peter Kalmus is a climate scientist and author based in Los Angeles Continue reading...
Using windfarms would be an easy, quick, cheap and actually popular way to solve the energy bill crisisAfter Friday’s huge jump in energy costs, millions of people across the UK face a frightening future. Urgent measures are needed but, instead of taking action, the cabinet is absorbed in a pointless argument that wrongly pits the energy bill crisis against our climate commitments. In reality, the best way of bringing down bills is to get off gas for good.We can take immediate steps to stop using gas because the UK has clean energy sources that can get going quickly, and are cheap and popular – wind and solar in particular. But at a time when they should be powering up the UK with renewables, ministers have other ideas: suggesting deepening our reliance on fossils fuels by opening up more drilling in the UK; or labouring under the misapprehension that people would rather live near a nuclear power plant than a wind turbine.Alethea Warrington is campaigns manager for the climate crisis charity Possible Continue reading...
‘I stayed in a tent nearby, waking up at 4am to begin the hour-long walk towards the pits. By the time we arrived, the miners had already been working for hours’I took this photograph last year in northern Malawi. It’s part of a project for Norwegian Church Aid, an NGO that documents modern slavery in the mining industry. It’s very hard to believe your own eyes when you see what this actually looks like. These miners work in dangerous conditions with very little protective gear. Their salaries are awful and their contracts are unstable, not to mention the terrible health and environmental impacts of such polluting work. But mining is the only option available to the local people: they have no other choice.I stayed in a tent nearby, waking up at 4am to begin the hour-long walk towards the pits. By the time we arrived, the miners had already been working for hours. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#5XWKA)
Pressured by Tory right, minister to announce gas-heavy energy strategy with little emphasis on insulationThe UK government is set to order more drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea in defiance of its own net zero targets, while neglecting alternative measures that experts say would provide much quicker relief from high energy bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions instead of raising them.The energy security strategy to be unveiled on Thursday will acknowledge the need to move away from fossil fuels, the Guardian understands, but still allow for licences to explore new oil and gas fields to be expedited and more production from existing North Sea fields.A review of the scientific advice on the safety of fracking. The Guardian understands that Kwarteng thinks fracking in the UK is unrealistic and uneconomic, but under pressure from the right will keep the option open.Doubling the target on the use of hydrogen, from 5GW to 10GW, of which half will come from “blue” hydrogen created from fossil fuels, despite evidence that it emits more carbon than coal. Ministers are expected to present blue hydrogen as a necessary bridge to future “green” hydrogen from renewable energy, but campaigners say it will lock in high emissions.A boost to offshore wind, with the expansion of existing coastal offshore windfarms and potential new floating platforms in deeper waters, but solar energy risks being missed.Investment in new nuclear reactors being made easier.Few new measures on ramping up heat pumps and no comprehensive national programme to insulate housing on the scale experts say is feasible and would make a real difference to the cost of living. Continue reading...
Just Stop Oil campaigners have blockaded the Navigator oil terminal in Essex in the aim of cutting off region’s fuel supplyActivists who aim to choke off the supply of petrol to south-east England have occupied the region’s busiest oil terminal.Supporters of the Just Stop Oil campaign used telescopic ladders to climb over the fence at Navigator oil terminal in Thurrock, Essex, at 3am on Wednesday morning after trekking along the banks of the Thames to reach the rear of the site. Continue reading...
Rise leads to suspicion that those who wish to kill birds of prey have cottoned on to impact of brodifacoumA highly toxic rat poison is killing increasing numbers of birds of prey, figures show, as wildlife campaigners call for its use to be banned outdoors.Most recently, a white-tailed eagle was found poisoned by the anticoagulant brodifacoum on an estate in Dorset. Police closed the investigation into the eagle death last week with no charges issued. Continue reading...
More products may need to be imported as Covid-19 and Brexit led to 500,000 vacancies in August 2021Chronic worker shortages in the food and farming sector as a result of Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic could push food prices even higher and lead to more food having to be imported, MPs have warned.Parliamentarians on the environment, food and rural affairs committee reported that the sector had half a million vacancies in August, representing an eighth of all roles. Continue reading...
I know this seems like a terrible time to argue that anything should be more expensive. But for the sake of farmers, cows and the planet, this is one price that needs to riseHere is just a small list of things I think should be prohibitively expensive: imported flowers, leaf blowers, portable speakers, Frank Sinatra albums and bleach. Here is a list of things I think should be free: childcare, access to woodland, water in pubs, healthcare, ketchup at chip shops and lateral flow tests. And somewhere between the two sits milk.Michael Oakes, chair of the national dairy board of the National Farmers’ Union, told the Today programme this week that rising costs in fuel, fertilisers and animal feed have made dairy farming unsustainable for many people in the UK. Farmers are leaving the sector, getting into terrible debt and worse. As a result of these rising costs, we are likely to see an increase in the price of milk, as well as butter, cheese, yoghurt and everything else that would make up about 85% of my four-year-old son’s diet if he had his way. While this is obviously going to be a huge issue for people on low incomes – especially parents and older people with mid-century appetites – it is also perhaps time. I don’t want to walk into a bear fight covered in honey here but, like many people, I believe that farmers should be paid fairly, supermarkets shouldn’t be able to squeeze every drop of profit out of food producers and more of us should start to see milk – all dairy – as a luxury.Nell Frizzell is the author of The Panic Years, out now through Bantam Press. Arwa Mahdawi is away Continue reading...
Rating given over threat to whales, with worrying declines for other fish, warns Marine Conservation Society’s Good Fish GuideCrab and lobster have been classed as “fish to avoid” by the Marine Conservation Society in its new UK guide to sustainable seafood, due to concern over whales getting entangled in Scottish fishing gear.Monkfish from the North Sea and the west of Scotland, where populations have declined to their lowest since 2013, have also joined the guide’s list of “fish to avoid”, alongside most skates and rays. Skates and rays are in decline globally, with a third of species facing extinction due to overfishing. Continue reading...
On top of targeting net zero and high energy bills, UK aims to reduce exposure to Russian oil and gasThe way in which Britain is powered and heated could be dramatically reshaped by the government’s energy strategy, set to be published this week.Against the backdrop of Russia’s brutality in Ukraine, the landmark policy proposals have been rendered all the more poignant. Continue reading...
by Rowena Mason Deputy political editor on (#5XWAF)
The party hopes to win over Tory voters at the local elections disgusted with inaction over sewage dumping in riversSewage has become a major battleground in the local elections in so-called “blue wall” seats, where the Liberal Democrats are challenging the Conservatives, from Guildford to Cambridgeshire.The Lib Dems have put eliminating sewage dumps at the heart of their campaign, with the party leader, Ed Davey, planning to launch their fight at the River Wandle in Wimbledon on Wednesday. He is calling for a tax on sewage companies to fund the clean up of local rivers, which can see waste pumped out into the environment when there is heavy rainfall. Continue reading...
by Aubrey Allegretti, Helena Horton and Nadeem Badsha on (#5XVJH)
Conservatives seek to examine latest techniques, citing rising energy costsMinisters have paved the way for a reconsideration of the moratorium on fracking in England by commissioning a new study to examine safety concerns about the controversial practice.In an effort to decrease Britain’s reliance on imported energy given spiralling costs, the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said it was “absolutely right that we explore all possible domestic energy sources”. Continue reading...
If you think wind turbines are ugly, try living near a power station, writes Dr Michael Symonds, while Terry Leary wonders why tidal power is being overlookedSince when has something being an “eyesore” been a good reason for not constructing more wind turbines (Boris Johnson blows cold on onshore wind faced with 100-plus rebel MPs, 5 April)? Living close to the second largest emitter of CO in the country – the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station – I can testify to what an eyesore it is. Not to mention the knowledge that every time plumes of vapour are emitted from its vast cooling towers, yet more carbon is being released from burning coal. The regular flooding of local properties due to the frequent torrential rain that we now experience is another eyesore.
Experts say criticism of oil and gas’s ‘climate-blocking activities’ cut from final draft, reflective of industry’s power and influenceThe fossil fuel industry and its influence over policy was the major elephant in the room looming over the release of the third and final report, out this week, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading climate authority. The major source of contention: how do you talk about mitigating climate change without confronting the fossil fuel industry? “It’s like Star Wars without Darth Vader,” says environmental sociologist Robert Brulle, of Brown University.The first two reports, both released over the last year, highlighted the physical science on climate effects and countries’ vulnerability to further warming. But this third report deals more with the potential solutions, which have been a focal point of controversy in recent years for both the fossil fuel industry and the governments of oil-rich nations.This story is published as part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of news outlets strengthening coverage of the climate story Continue reading...
Environment | The Guardian