Climate campaigners claim the government is giving billions of pounds in subsidies to oil and gas producersEnvironmental campaigners will this week ask the high court to rule that the government’s fossil fuel strategy is unlawful, in a case that could undermine the UK’s claim to be leading the fight against climate change.The campaigners will argue that the government is effectively subsidising oil and gas production with billions of pounds in handouts, which conflicts with its legal duty to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Continue reading...
Exxon and other fossil fuel companies are running podcast ads that suggest they are taking aggressive climate action. Climate experts call them greenwashingIf you’re a regular listener of the New York Times podcast The Daily, you would have heard an ad for ExxonMobil’s carbon capture investments more than once in November.The ad – which coincided with the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow – told listeners that carbon capture technology could remove more than 90% of CO emissions from “carbon-intensive industries” and that the company was working to “deploy this technology at scale”. It gave the sense of an oil company tackling the climate crisis with technology that could solve it – and quickly. Continue reading...
Grouse moors are not known for being friendly places for birds of prey – but the Swinton estate has a fresh attitudeIn the trees beside the heather-clad, snow-smattered moorland is an elusive creature that to some conservationists is as mythical as a unicorn: a gamekeeper looking after endangered birds of prey.“Two hen harriers coming in now,” said Gary Taylor, head keeper on the Swinton estate in North Yorkshire. Taylor is sitting in a hide he built himself overlooking one of the country’s best hen harrier roosting sites – in the middle of his boss’s grouse moor. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#5SNSW)
Researchers say conservative estimate shows importance of wooded areas to wellbeing, with street trees also beneficialWalks taken by people in UK woodlands save £185m a year in mental health costs, according to a report.Spending time in nature is known to boost mental health, but the report by Forest Research is the first to estimate the amount that woodlands save the NHS through fewer GP visits and prescriptions, reduced hospital and social service care, and the costs of lost days of work. The research also calculated that street trees in towns and cities cut an additional £16m a year from antidepressant costs. Continue reading...
Key Honolulu aquifer may also be at risk as residents say they face stomach pain and headachesCheri Burness’s dog was the first to signal something was wrong with their tap water. He stopped drinking it two weeks ago. Then Burness started feeling stomach cramps. Her 12-year-old daughter was nauseous.“It was just getting worse every day,” said Burness. Continue reading...
Britain won’t convince anyone else to ditch fossil fuels when it won’t do so itselfDoes the decision by oil giant Royal Dutch Shell to pull out of the Cambo oilfield mark the end of oil and gas investment in the North Sea? For the planet’s sake, one would hope so. However, it may be more realistic to see Shell’s act as a first victory in a longer war to keep hydrocarbons in the ground. Campaigners say that there are dozens more offshore oil and gas fields coming up for approval in the next three years. To keep the climate safe and limit global temperature rises to 1.5C, none ought to go ahead. Oil majors have lost the battle for public opinion in Scotland and this has dramatically altered the calculations for the ruling Scottish National party, which for decades ran on oil. Without supportive politics, and with the science against them, oil majors – this time – bowed out.Despite that, and despite brandishing its credentials as a climate champion at Cop26 in Glasgow last month, the UK government still wants extractive industries to suck the seabed dry. Rather than joining an alliance of nations – led by Denmark and Costa Rica, and including France and Ireland – which have set an end date for oil and gas production and exploration, Boris Johnson will allow companies to keep exploring the North Sea for new reserves. Continue reading...
Industry sources say Siccar Point will struggle to find new partner to take on Shell’s 30% stake in oilfieldShell’s decision to back out of plans to develop the Cambo oilfield could sound the “death knell” for new large-scale North Sea projects, industry figures say, as the UK’s tougher climate agenda prompts oil companies to retreat from the ageing oil basin.Sources said Shell’s project partner, the private equity-backed Siccar Point, would struggle to find another partner to take on Shell’s 30% stake in the new oilfield, which has provoked outrage among green campaigners. Continue reading...
by Lindsay Fendt for Searchlight New Mexico on (#5SMT2)
Court complaint outlines scheme to generate millions in wasteful equipment expenditures in New York, Connecticut and MaineA cybersecurity company filed a $110m lawsuit in New York this week, accusing the Spanish global energy company Iberdrola and its US subsidiary Avangrid of bid rigging and racketeering.The 72-page federal court complaint outlines an elaborate scheme by Iberdrola executives to generate millions of dollars in wasteful equipment expenditures in order to turn a profit from its utility customers in New York, Connecticut and Maine. Continue reading...
Dame Vivian Hunt warns of overproduction at summit attended by Tommy Hilfiger and Kris JennerThe fashion industry is facing a waste and overproduction crisis if it continues on its current trajectory, one of the UK’s leading economic experts has warned.Dame Vivian Hunt, a managing partner at the consulting firm McKinsey and Company, said “fashion has a long way to go to demonstrate its commitment to achieving net zero emissions”. Continue reading...
by Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent on (#5SMNK)
Judgment rules company can blast sound waves in search for oil along South Africa’s eastern coastlineRoyal Dutch Shell will move ahead with seismic tests to explore for oil in vital whale breeding grounds along South Africa’s eastern coastline after a court dismissed an 11th-hour legal challenge by environmental groups.The judgment, by a South African high court, allows Shell to begin firing within days extremely loud sound waves through the relatively untouched marine environment of the Wild Coast, which is home to whales, dolphins and seals. Continue reading...
Electric cars will make up just 4% of American sales in 2021, compared with 9% in China and 14% in EuropeThe Biden administration, in the midst of a major push to encourage the take-up of electric vehicles, has been provided a sobering reminder of how badly the US is lagging in the adoption of zero-emission cars.The White House has set a goal for electric vehicles to make up 50% of all new car sales by the end of this decade in order to slash planet-heating emissions and help avert disastrous climate change. Continue reading...
by Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent on (#5SKYS)
Airline signs deal with UK refinery but questions remain over sustainable aviation fuel’s net zero credentialsBritish Airways has signed a deal for aircraft fuel made from recycled cooking oils and other household waste to be produced at scale in the UK and to be in use as early as 2022 to help power its flights.The airline revealed on Thursday evening it had reached the agreement with a refinery in north Lincolnshire to purchase thousands of tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which it said would add up to the equivalent of 700 transatlantic flights on a Boeing 787 with net zero carbon emissions. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#5SKWG)
Green campaigners welcome oil giant’s decision not to go ahead with controversial project off ShetlandShell has pulled out of a controversial new oilfield off the Shetland Islands, plunging the future of oil exploration in the area into doubt.Shell, which was planning to exploit the field along with the private equity-backed fossil fuel explorer Siccar Point, cited a weak economic case as its reason for deciding not to go ahead with the project. Continue reading...
Landmark ruling says mining permits issued in Los Cedros protected area breach Ecuador’s constitutionEcuador’s highest court has ruled that plans to mine for copper and gold in a protected cloud forest are unconstitutional and violate the rights of nature.In a landmark ruling, the constitutional court of Ecuador decided that mining permits issued in Los Cedros, a protected area in the north-west of the country, would harm the biodiversity of the forest, which is home to spectacled bears, endangered frogs, dozens of rare orchid species and the brown-headed spider monkey, one of the world’s rarest primates. Continue reading...
Research adds to growing evidence of the health benefits associated with natural environmentsLiving near green space could reduce the physical and psychological symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), researchers have found.A first-of-its-kind study of more than 1,000 women aged 18 to 49 living in cities in Norway and Sweden found that women who across their lifetime live in neighbourhoods with more green space are less likely to experience PMS symptoms than those living in less green neighbourhoods. Continue reading...
Australian Energy Market Operator says risks of insufficient supply during summer peak load periods remain despite La Niña bringing cooler temperatures
Only water required for health and safety will be allowed as drought continues to grip the stateWater agencies in drought-stricken California that serve 27 million residents and 750,000 acres of farmland won’t get any of the water they have requested from the state heading into 2022 other than what’s needed for critical health and safety, state officials announced on Wednesday.It’s the earliest date the department of water resources has issued a 0% water allocation, a milestone that reflects the dire conditions in California as drought continues to grip the nation’s most populous state and reservoirs have dropped to historically low levels. Continue reading...
National Trust rangers predict record year as they begin count of grey seal pups“This is what it’s all about,” said Richard Bevan, beaming. “To see this many seals when 10 years ago there would not have been any.”Bevan is a zoologist surveying the shore of Inner Farne island off the coast of north Northumberland. As far as the eye can sea there are about 100 female grey seals and their dependant pups. In the water hopeful males splash about, none more obvious than a dominant bull with a roman nose and scar. “We’ve called him Pacino,” said a ranger. Continue reading...
Legal team faces daily threats as it works to protect displaced families from landowners, ecosystems from mining and indigenous groups from oil companiesJulia Figueroa never leaves her house without security. She travels with two bodyguards and an armoured vehicle. Her home and office are watched around the clock. She carefully monitors any devices that might contain compromising information about her clients.As the director of the Luis Carlos Pérez Lawyers Collective Corporation (CCALCP), threats to her life are a daily occurrence. The all-female group of lawyers provides legal representation to small-scale farmers and indigenous communities affected by the armed conflict in Colombia. Their work includes defending displaced peoples and victims of state crime, but also defending environmental rights, including fighting mining companies that seek to extract resources, often at the expense of the local water supply and the surrounding environment. Continue reading...
Thacker Pass is rich in lithium deposits but is also a place of historical and cultural significance to the Paiute peopleOn a windy afternoon in northern Nevada, where her family has lived for generations, Daranda Hinkey stood before one of the largest lithium deposits in the world – the place where, as she puts it, “there’s so much lithium it makes people foam at the mouth,” she says.The area is known as Peehee Mu’huh – or Thacker Pass – and while it could be a lucrative resource for companies hoping to cash in on the electric vehicle revolution (lithium can be used to power rechargeable batteries), Hinkey and her peers say large-scale mining operations could irreversibly damage one of her community’s most sacred sites. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#5SK19)
As Cop26 president, UK must act on meat, fossil fuels and overseas aid, says Climate Change CommitteeThe UK must “walk the talk” on climate action over the next 12 months, which will be critical in tackling the climate emergency, according to an assessment of the Cop26 summit by the Climate Change Committee.The UK has one of the most ambitious 2030 emissions targets in the world, according to the government’s official advisers, but it does not have all the policies in place to deliver it. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#5SJZ8)
Environmental groups say scheme falls far short of farming reforms promised after BrexitFarmers will be paid for looking after England’s soils for the first time from next year, when the first stage of the government’s new support payments begins.Environmental groups criticised the measures as puny and accused ministers of failing in their promises to use the UK’s departure from the EU to strengthen environmental protections and reduce the damaging impacts of farming. Continue reading...
A landmark study has found one in six Australian birds are now threatened. Here are some of the species most likely to be headed to a museum, unless more is doneThere seems to be a perversity to human nature, in that we don’t really care about wild creatures until there are so few left that we can put a name to them. Think Martha, the last passenger pigeon, or the haunting images of Benjamin the last thylacine, pacing around its cage at Hobart zoo in 1936.The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020 (released this week by CSIRO Publishing) bandies a lot of names of birds you may never have heard of, which are now classified as on the path to extinction – 214 to be exact, around one in six of Australia’s bird species and subspecies. It can all be too much to take in. So here is a guide to six birds of which there are so few left in the wild that we could easily remember them all if they had individual names. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#5SJP5)
But scientists say ‘moral imperative’ remains to prepare vulnerable populations for increasingly extreme weatherPoverty and a heavy reliance on annual rains are the key factors behind the devastating food crisis in southern Madagascar not climate breakdown, a new study finds.A million people in the region are struggling for food following the worst drought in 30 years. But the scientific analysis did not show a convincing link to global heating, despite the World Food Programme describing it as the “world’s first climate-induced famine”. Continue reading...
At 42m metric tons of plastic waste a year, the US generates more waste than all EU countries combinedThe US is the world’s biggest culprit in generating plastic waste and the country urgently needs a new strategy to curb the vast amount of plastic that ends up in the oceans, a new report submitted to the federal government has found.The advent of cheap, versatile plastics has created “a global scale deluge of plastic waste seemingly everywhere we look”, the report states, with the US a leading contributor of disposable plastics that ends up entangling and choking marine life, harming ecosystems and bringing harmful pollution up through the food chain. Continue reading...
by Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent on (#5SJ25)
Company’s shares hit seven-year high after revealing plans to invest £3bn despite questions over biomassThe owner of the Drax power station is expected to profit from Britain’s energy crisis until 2023 and will plough billions into doubling its production of wood pellets for burning by 2030 despite mounting opposition from environmentalists.The FTSE 250 energy company’s shares hit seven-year highs on Wednesday after it told investors it aimed to invest £3bn by 2030. Part of that investment would be directed towards doubling production and sales of biomass pellets, which Drax uses at its North Yorkshire power plant as an alternative to burning coal. Continue reading...
Industries gazing out to sea for more space, more cold, clean water and more wind offer a glimpse of the future and its risksIn September 2017, a giant, floating fish farm capable of raising 1.5 million salmon was installed in central Norway. Besides its vast size – the circular structure is roughly the equivalent of two baseball fields – what set SalMar’s Ocean Farm 1 apart was its location three miles off the coast. It was hailed as the world’s first offshore salmon farm.Four years later, there have been two production cycles with better growth and survival of salmon compared with inshore farms, according to the company, hence less food waste and a lower carbon footprint. Energy demand was also reduced compared with traditional inshore farms because seawater naturally flows through the nets, oxygenating salmon with no need for the pumps used on traditional inshore farms. Continue reading...
Government accused of reneging on environmental pledges with plan to build on old airfield near BraintreeCampaigners have criticised plans to develop two mega-prisons on the site of a rare bird and amphibian habitat in England.The government has been accused of reneging on commitments in the Environment Act to stop the decline of wildlife by proposing the development on the old Wethersfield airfield, which has become an important space for nature near Braintree, Essex. Continue reading...
RSPB warns wildlife is in freefall with 70 of Britain’s 245 bird species now seriously at riskThe red list of Britain’s most endangered birds has increased to 70 species with the swift, house martin, greenfinch and Bewick’s swan added to the latest assessment.The red list now accounts for more than a quarter of Britain’s 245 bird species, almost double the 36 species given the status of “highest conservation concern” in the first review 25 years ago. Continue reading...
Dame Meg Hillier says scheme cost £50m and delivered only a fraction of objectivesThe government’s green homes grant scheme underperformed badly and risks damaging future efforts to deliver net zero, the public accounts committee (PAC) said.Hailed by the prime minister, Boris Johnson, as a key plank in his green industrial revolution, the grants only upgraded about 47,500 homes out of the 600,000 originally planned. They also delivered a small fraction of the expected jobs. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#5SHH3)
Renewables will account for about 95% of growth in global power-generation capacity up to the end of 2026, finds energy agencyIt has been another record year for renewable energy, despite the Covid-19 pandemic and rising costs for raw materials around the world, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).About 290GW of new renewable energy generation capacity, mostly in the form of wind turbines and solar panels, has been installed around the world this year, beating the previous record last year. On current trends, renewable energy generating capacity will exceed that of fossil fuels and nuclear energy combined by 2026. Continue reading...
The levy will raise $NZ574m over 10 years and will pay for 15,000 mature trees, 4,000 saplings, electric ferries, and new cycle pathsHomeowners in New Zealand’s largest city will have to chip in around a dollar a week to plant urban forests, pave cycle lanes and reduce Auckland’s emissions, under the city’s proposal for one of the world’s first climate-targeted rates.Auckland’s mayor, Phil Goff, announced plans on Wednesday for a billion-dollar climate package to reshape the city’s infrastructure and reduce its carbon emissions, investing in electric ferries, cycling and walkways, and urban forests. Continue reading...
by Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent on (#5SGYA)
Turbine sites paid to switch off on windy days because there was no way to transmit power to south of UKTwo energy companies will pay a record £158m fine after delays to a major subsea power cable bringing renewable energy from Scotland to England and Wales caused home energy bills to rise.National Grid and Scottish Power agreed to pay the penalty after an investigation by the industry regulator found many of Scotland’s windfarms were paid to turn off on windy days because there was no way to transmit the clean electricity to areas of high energy demand in the south of the UK. Continue reading...
Type of whale immortalised in Moby-Dick has only been spotted handful of times this centuryIt is the most mythic animal in the ocean: a white sperm whale, filmed on Monday by Leo van Toly, watching from a Dutch merchant ship off Jamaica. Moving gracefully, outrageously pale against the blue waters of the Caribbean, for any fans of Moby-Dick, Herman Melville’s book of 1851, this vision is a CGI animation come to life.Sperm whales are generally grey, black or even brown in appearance. Hal Whitehead, an expert on the species, told the Guardian: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fully white sperm whale. I have seen ones with quite a lot of white on them, usually in patches on and near the belly.” Continue reading...
Tiny bridge in Lancashire will connect two wild populations of the tree-dwelling hazel dormouseMeasuring 12 metres long and just 30cm wide, it’s a bridge of miniature proportions.But it is hoped that the square metal tube – set to become the first “dormouse bridge” across a UK railway – could help to save Britain’s endangered wild hazel dormouse population from extinction. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#5SGQB)
Climate models show switch will happen decades faster than previously thought, with ‘profound’ implicationsRain will replace snow as the Arctic’s most common precipitation as the climate crisis heats up the planet’s northern ice cap, according to research.Today, more snow falls in the Arctic than rain. But this will reverse, the study suggests, with all the region’s land and almost all its seas receiving more rain than snow before the end of the century if the world warms by 3C. Pledges made by nations at the recent Cop26 summit could keep the temperature rise to a still disastrous 2.4C, but only if these promises are met. Continue reading...
The noxious Cross Bronx Expressway could get an upgrade thanks to new federal fundingIt’s an appalling freeway. It’s loud, congested, and contributes to some of the nation’s highest asthma rates.But now, after years of organizing from community groups and state lawmakers, there’s federal funding to develop a plan: cover portions of the highway with green space and reconnect neighborhoods separated by the structure. Continue reading...
Overload of chicken and dairy cow manure has left some catchments critical, says author of book on issueUK farmers may have to reduce the number of animals they keep because of the critical state of some river catchments, a pollution expert from the government’s environment watchdog has said.