Find a tree, bush or hedge and emulate Japanese custom of hanami by savouring sights and scents of springLife may be getting busier as the long, hard lockdowns come to an end but people are being urged to pause for a few moments to savour the sights and scents of one of nature’s precious but fleeting glories – the blossom season.The National Trust is launching on Saturday what it bills as the UK’s first ever “blossom watch” day. The idea is that people will find a tree, bush or hedge bursting with blooms, perhaps meet friends and family there and – if so inclined – share images of the moment on social media using the hashtag #BlossomWatch. Continue reading...

President had promised to double budget for environmental enforcement at conference organised by Joe BidenBrazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has approved a 24% cut to the environment budget for 2021 from the previous year’s level, just one day after vowing to increase spending to fight deforestation.Speaking on Thursday to the summit organised by US President Joe Biden, Bolsonaro pledged to double the budget for environmental enforcement and end illegal deforestation by 2030. Continue reading...

Executive order is a reversal for Governor Gavin Newsom, who faced pressure from environmental groups for previously resisting a banCalifornia’s governor has moved to ban new fracking permits by 2024 and halt all oil extraction by 2045.California, the most populous US state, produces the third largest amount of oil in the country. It would be the first state to end all extraction. Continue reading...

Scott Morrison’s summit claim that Australia is taking significant action challenged by Investor Group on Climate Change analysis

Six activists cleared of causing criminal damage to Shell’s London headquarters in 2019Six Extinction Rebellion protesters have been cleared of causing criminal damage to Shell’s London headquarters despite the judge directing jurors that they had no defence in law.Two of the group’s co-founders, Simon Bramwell, 49, and Ian Bray, 53, were acquitted on Friday alongside Jane Augsburger, 55, Senan Clifford, 60, David Lambert, 62, and James “Sid” Saunders, 41, after a trial at Southwark crown court. Continue reading...

World leaders will be unable to halt climate breakdown without strong action from biggest emitterThe US, the world’s second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is now committed to halving emissions this decade.Joe Biden’s announcement, at a White House virtual climate summit, has thrown the spotlight clearly on the world’s biggest emitter: China. Continue reading...

Billionaires, CEOS and union executives to help sell president’s climate-friendly transformation of US economy at virtual summit

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including preening rabbits and fighting egrets Continue reading...

Rick Spinrad to head National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has key role in protecting environmentJoe Biden has tapped Rick Spinrad to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the federal agency at the vanguard of climate, weather and ocean science for the United States.Related: Joe Biden ‘looking forward’ to working with Russia on tackling climate crisis – live Continue reading...

New Mexico seeks to become an economy less reliant on oil and gas, but the extractive industries continue to exert their might on the state and its peopleAntoinette Sedillo Lopez quickly learned the harsh reality of New Mexico politics after she was appointed to fill an empty seat in the state senate two years ago. Continue reading...

The US, EU and UK are leading the race to cut emissions targets among the world’s biggest economiesWell, it’s complicated. The UK has committed to cut emissions at a faster rate than other developed nations, with a target of 68% cuts by 2030. That’s measured against its emissions in 1990; over the last few years emissions have been reduced, so measured against the 2018 baseline, for example, the cut needed is smaller. Continue reading...

Massive melting of glaciers has tilted the planet’s rotation, showing the impact of human activitiesThe massive melting of glaciers as a result of global heating has caused marked shifts in the Earth’s axis of rotation since the 1990s, research has shown. It demonstrates the profound impact humans are having on the planet, scientists said.The planet’s geographic north and south poles are the point where its axis of rotation intersects the surface, but they are not fixed. Changes in how the Earth’s mass is distributed around the planet cause the axis, and therefore the poles, to move. Continue reading...

One thing is clear: there is virtually no evidence that low-traffic neighbourhood schemes hold up emergency vehiclesIf you were to read certain newspapers for long enough, the message would seem clear: the main cause of traffic congestion is measures to boost walking and cycling – that is, separated cycle lanes, and so-called low-traffic neighbourhoods, or LTNs.LTNs, schemes to dissuade through traffic on smaller residential streets by filters permeable to people travelling by foot or cycle, but not by private motor vehicle – whether camera-enforced or in the physical form of planters or bollards – are at the centre of a particularly fierce transport-based culture war. Continue reading...

Activist changes Twitter bio after UK prime minister tells Biden climate summit there’s ‘nothing wrong with bunny-hugging’Greta Thunberg appeared to poke fun at Boris Johnson after he derisively used the phrase “bunny hugging” to describe climate activism – by changing her Twitter bio to read simply: “Bunny hugger.”The UK prime minister was taking part in Joe Biden’s virtual climate summit, which has brought together dozens of world leaders for a two-day event. Continue reading...

The government is under pressure to do more to tackle global heating but critics say the PM has instead employed ‘Trumpian misrepresentation’

Morrison tells Biden climate summit Australia on pathway to net-zero, but PM under pressure to increase scale of ambitions

Keir Starmer sets out scheme to bolster UK economy with secure jobs in clean industries

Climate activist asked to speak at hearing as part of push by Democrats to include fossil fuel subsidy elimination in billSubsidies given to fossil fuel companies are a “disgrace” and must be immediately ended, Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist, has told a US congressional committee.A sweeping $2tn infrastructure plan put forward by Joe Biden has proposed the rolling back of support and tax breaks for oil, gas and coal producers to help lower planet-heating emissions and pay for new investments. Eliminating such subsidies would bring in $35bn to the US government over a decade, according to the Biden administration. Continue reading...

Greta Thunberg appeared virtually before a House subcommittee Thursday to call on US officials to do more, saying it's 'not too late' to make real changes in the fight against climate change. 'The simple fact and uncomfortable fact is that if we are to live up to our promises and commitments in the Paris agreement, we have to end fossil fuel subsidies, stop new exploration and extraction, completely divest from fossil fuels and keep the carbon in the ground,' the climate activist said. Her comments came during the environment subcommittee remote hearing on 'The role of fossil fuel subsidies in preventing action on the climate crisis' and also Earth Day

Bob Ward says the museum is performing a vital public service in putting on the exhibition, sponsored by ShellGeorge Monbiot is wrong to dismiss the Science Museum’s new exhibition on carbon capture, on which I was an adviser, as “greenwash” (Why is the Science Museum still being contaminated by Shell’s dirty money?, 21 April). The museum is performing a vital public service by laying out clearly and instructively the details of this potentially critical technology, because citizens and consumers need to be fully engaged in the discussion about its risks and benefits. If this exhibition becomes collateral damage in the proxy war by activists against the oil industry, it could ultimately undermine the battle against climate change.Atmospheric carbon dioxide is already at a concentration that last occurred on Earth about 3 million years ago during the Pliocene epoch, when the polar ice caps were much smaller and the global sea level was 10 to 20 metres higher than today. Climate models suggest that it will be very difficult to limit global warming to well below 2C this century without significant amounts of carbon dioxide removal. It would be irresponsible and reckless not to accelerate efforts to develop technologies that could help us to capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while also cutting emissions as quickly as possible, in order to avoid dangerous climate change.

Government urged to bring in successor but learn lessons from ‘botched implementation’

Prime minister calls on countries to come to Cop26 ‘armed with ambitious targets and plans’With just over six months to go until vital UN climate talks, Boris Johnson has urged world leaders at a virtual White House summit to step up with plans for cutting greenhouse gas emissions this decade.“It’s vital for all of us to show that this is not all about some expensive politically correct green act of ‘bunny hugging’ or however you want to put it,” the prime minister told the possibly slightly puzzled leaders. “Nothing wrong with ‘bunny hugging’ but you know what I’m driving at.” Continue reading...

US president tells virtual climate summit that ‘time is short’ to address dangerous global heating in a break from Trump eraJoe Biden has called upon the world to confront the climate crisis and “overcome the existential crisis of our time”, as he unveiled an ambitious new pledge to slash US planet-heating emissions in half by the end of the decade.Addressing a virtual gathering of more than 40 world leaders in an Earth Day climate summit on Thursday, Biden warned that “time is short” to address dangerous global heating and urged other countries to do more. Continue reading...

Joe Biden’s target is strongest contribution yet towards meeting 2015 Paris climate agreement, say scientistsThe US goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared with 2005 levels, will take the world closer to the reductions scientists say are necessary to hold global heating within scientifically advised limits, analysis has shown.The target, announced on Thursday before a virtual summit of more than 40 world leaders hosted by the US president, Joe Biden, would result in emissions reductions of between 1.5 and 2.4 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year by 2030, compared with the US’s current expected emissions, according to Climate Action Tracker. Continue reading...

The US will halve its carbon emissions by 2030, the White House announced before a climate summit later today. Plus, 200m coronavirus shots have been administered

What could go wrong with this idea? Well, quite a lot

Conservation organisations purchase 950 sq km biodiversity hotspot, helping to secure a vital wildlife corridor“These logs are historic,” says Elma Kay, standing in Belize Maya Forest, where she has been doing an inventory of felled trees. “These are the last logs that were cut here, for mahogany and other hardwoods, left behind by the previous logging company.”Trees will no longer be cut down in this 950 sq km (236,000-acre) area, after the land was bought by a coalition of conservation organisations to save one of the world’s last pristine rainforests from deforestation. “The forest will now be protected in perpetuity,” says Kay. Continue reading...

The legal battle over Byhalia pipeline has become a flashpoint in the conversation about environmental justice and the right of energy companies to take private landThis story is a collaboration between Southerly, MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, and the Guardian.The only things Karmen Johnson-Tutwiler has left to remind her of her mother are a few photographs and just under a quarter acre of land covered in bramble and wildflowers that backs up to a railroad track. When her mother, Sharon Watson, died in 2010, she and her sister inherited it. “She always told me it was important to have a piece of property as your own,” Johnson-Tutwiler said. Continue reading...

US president hopes prime minister Scott Morrison will commit to more climate change action echoing the global pushThe Biden administration says Australia needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions faster than planned and the US president hopes Scott Morrison will commit to doing more at a virtual summit on the climate crisis on Thursday night.Although the Morrison government has promoted a “technology not taxes” approach to emissions reduction to convince allies that Australia is serious about making the transition, a senior Biden administration official told reporters Australia could not rely on technology alone to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Continue reading...

Coalition is under pressure for lack of action on climate change and has pledged $565.8m to develop technologies including hydrogen and CCSScott Morrison will use a global climate action summit organised by the United States president Joe Biden to foreshadow a spend of $565.8m over the next eight years to build international collaboration to drive development of some low-emissions technologies.The Australian prime minister will tell the virtual summit during a contribution expected on Thursday night that he wants to build practical, project-based international partnerships to accelerate new energy technologies and drive down costs. The spending, to be confirmed in the May budget, will be accompanied by additional domestic investment in hydrogen hubs and carbon capture and storage projects. Continue reading...

Swedish retailer is set to build wind and solar farms, and make first steps into energy storageIkea plans to accelerate its investment in renewable energy by spending an extra €4bn (£3.4bn) by the end of the decade to build wind and solar farms, while fitting its stores with electric vehicle charge points.Ingka Group, the owner of most Ikea stores, spent €2.5bn over the last decade installing 935,000 solar panels on the roofs of its stores and warehouses, and investing in 547 wind turbines and 10 solar parks to more than cover its own electricity use. Continue reading...

President will unveil new emissions reduction target while much will hinge upon cooperation between China and USJoe Biden’s desire to re-establish US leadership on the climate crisis will face a severe test this week at a summit the president hopes will rebuild American credibility and kickstart a spluttering international effort to stave off the effects of global heating.Biden has invited 40 world leaders to a two-day virtual gathering starting on Earth Day, Thursday, as the opening salvo in negotiations leading to crunch United Nations talks in Scotland later this year. Scientists say the world is severely lagging in tackling the climate crisis and its heatwaves, storms and floods, with planet-heating emissions set to roar back following a dip due to coronavirus shutdowns. Continue reading...

Peter P Edwards, responding to a report about Oxford University’s receipt of money from fossil fuel firms, writes in support of the KACST-Oxford Centre for Petrochemical ResearchRe your report (Oxford University receives £11m from fossil fuel firms, report finds, 20 April), the KACST-Oxford Centre for Petrochemical Research (KOPRC), has been located and supported at Oxford to the tune of £3m. In 2018, KOPRC, a joint research centre created by the University of Oxford and the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), was designated as a centre of excellence in petrochemicals by Saudi Arabia – the only such centre outside the Middle East.This recognition stems from two world-leading advances from KOPRC of pressing global concern: first, the discovery of an earth-abundant catalyst to produce sustainable aviation fuel directly from CO; and second, a process for producing high-purity hydrogen from plastic waste. Is it climate justice, therefore, that Oxford University should now “stand free from these ties” and disband this centre?

Dalai Lama among those to sign letter to world leaders calling for rapid shift to renewable energyA hundred and one Nobel laureates, including the Dalai Lama, are calling for governments around the world to sign up to a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to help tackle the climate crisis.In an open letter to world leaders published on Wednesday former presidents, scientists, novelists and religious leaders are urging governments to commit to a rapid and just transition away from fossil fuels, and a “transformational plan” to ensure everyone around the world has access to renewable energy. Continue reading...

Report following 2013 death of Ella Kissi-Debrah, 9, calls for Britain to follow WHO recommendationsLegally binding maximum levels of particulate air pollution should be lowered in the UK to be in line with World Health Organization limits, a coroner has said.UK levels for two particularly harmful kinds of pollution are currently twice as high as the WHO recommends. Continue reading...

As homelessness rises, climate-related disasters make matters worse. But Covid relief measures and Biden’s infrastructure proposal are providing cause for cautious optimismTerri Domer knows well what a brewing storm looks like.Domer, 62, an Iowa native, has spent her life watching thunderstorms gather and tornadoes dash across rolling hills. Last August, when the midday sky darkened over the riverside homeless encampment where Domer and four other people spent most nights – built on a sandy bank near downtown, under tall trees – she quickly set about covering up their supplies. Continue reading...

Watermark deal ends as NSW Nationals talk up coal industry before Upper Hunter byelectionThe NSW government will pay Chinese-owned mining company Shenhua $100m to withdraw from its Watermark coalmine project on the Liverpool Plains, ending a 13-year battle with the region’s farmers.The deputy premier and resources minister, John Barilaro, confirmed the deal on Wednesday that will see Shenhua withdraw its mining lease application and surrender its development consent for the mine. Continue reading...

Writer Elizabeth-Jane Burnett brings together 400 voices for optimistic riposte to events of past year

Barclays, HSBC and Axa among 160 firms in global alliance to hasten transition to net zero economiesBanks and financial institutions with more than $70tn assets have pledged to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and ensure their investment portfolios align with the science on the climate.In the initiative, chaired by Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, 160 companies, including 43 banks from 23 countries, will set targets to cut the carbon content of their assets by 2030, in line with an overall goal of net zero emissions by 2050. Continue reading...

Virtual summit on Thursday will be the first meeting between the two leaders since Biden took officeChina’s President Xi Jinping will attend a US-led climate change summit on Thursday at the invitation of President Joe Biden, in the first meeting between the two leaders since the advent of the new US administration.Biden has invited dozens of world leaders to join the two-day virtual summit starting on Thursday, after bringing the US back into the 2015 Paris agreement on cutting global carbon emissions. Continue reading...

Stanwell, which is Queensland’s largest power generator, says ‘energy market is shifting from fossil fuel generation’ at a ‘rapid pace’Australia’s third-largest greenhouse gas emitter and Queensland’s largest power generator, Stanwell Corporation, has revealed plans to transition its business from fossil fuels to renewables, including curtailing the output of its coal-fired power plants.The Queensland government-owned corporation operates three coal plants, including two – Tarong North and Stanwell – regularly touted as among the youngest in the country and not scheduled to close for several decades. Continue reading...

Treasury review will help determine whether UK meets climate goals, and experts say radical change is required

Many psychologists say they feel unequipped to handle a growing number of patients despairing over the state of the planet. A new contingent of mental health professionals aims to fix thatAndrew Bryant, a therapist based in Tacoma, Washington, felt helpless the first time climate change came up in his office. It was 2016, and a client was agonizing over whether to have a baby. His partner wanted one, but the young man couldn’t stop envisioning this hypothetical child growing up in an apocalyptic, climate-changed world.Related: ‘This is it. If we don’t amp up, we’re goners’: the last chance to confront the climate crisis? Continue reading...

Religious leaders, who know how to relate to communities on an emotional level, may be best positioned to convince people to support climate activism, experts sayThe Rev Scott Hardin-Nieri regularly revisits the story of Noah’s ark. “People look at that story fondly, because they focus on all the animals that were saved,” the pastor says. But for Hardin-Nieri, Noah’s ark isn’t a simple story of hope; it is principally a story about human suffering amid widespread ecological devastation. “We forget how many people were killed in this apocalyptic world where the environment was ruined,” he says. Continue reading...

Every job lost to Covid pandemic could be replaced in upcoming recovery years, Green New Deal UK finds

Figures from oil, gas and petrochemical companies does not include £100m from Ineos in 2021Oxford University has received more than £11m from oil, gas and petrochemical companies since 2015, according to a new report by students and alumni of the elite university who are calling for it to cut its ties to the fossil fuel industry.Oxford recently announced plans to eliminate the carbon footprint of its site and supply chain by 2035 to help tackle the climate crisis but, according to the report, departments within the university continue to take funding from and work closely with fossil fuel extraction giants such as Schlumberger, ExxonMobil and BP. Continue reading...

Global economies forecast to pour stimulus money into fossil fuels as part of Covid recovery