Environment | The Guardian

Restaurateurs invited to discuss plant-based ‘faux gras’ ahead of expected ban on liver-based spreadIt is prized for its rich flavour and exclusive image by top restaurants and gourmands, but now foie gras is going vegan as the government meets chefs to discuss how to make alternatives out of nuts and mushrooms.Vegan restaurateurs have been invited to meet UK government advisers to discuss how to create plant-based “faux gras” in the event of an upcoming ban, the Guardian has learned. Sources said the government hoped to show that a gap in the market left by a restriction on the trade of the controversial product could be filled by high-end chefs who are willing to produce alternatives. Continue reading...

Federal government releases net zero modelling; Scott Morrison says ‘of course the French are upset’; Australia passes 90% first dose Covid vaccination milestone; Victoria records 1,115 cases and nine deaths; NSW records 286 cases and two deaths; state funeral for Bert Newton. This blog is now closed

Negotiators in Glasgow are working to come to an agreement as the conference enters its final dayCountries are being called on to accelerate the phaseout of coal power at the Cop26 summit, and to return to the negotiating table next year with improvements to their national plans on cutting greenhouse gases.The second draft of the key outcome from the Cop26 summit, now nearing its final hours in Glasgow after a fortnight of intense talks, showed a slight softening of language in some instances but retained the core demands for a return. Continue reading...

US declined to join promise to end coal mining and to compensate poor countries for climate damage. Critics ask, is that leadership?The crucial UN climate talks in Scotland have produced landmark commitments to phase out coalmining, to call time on the internal combustion engines and to compensate poorer countries for damage caused by the climate crisis.The United States, which has trumpeted its regained climate leadership at the summit, has not joined any these pledges as the talks draw to a close. Continue reading...

Barack Obama may have struck a gloomy tone, but that sense is amplified for those in imminent perilAfter an exhausting two weeks of speeches, protests, meetings and increasingly tortuous negotiations at the Glasgow climate summit, a sense of simmering frustration and anxiety has gripped many of the 25,000 attenders.Even former world leaders are not immune. “There are times where the future seems somewhat bleak,” said Barack Obama on Monday. “There are times where I am doubtful that humanity can get its act together before it’s too late, and images of dystopia start creeping into my dreams.” Continue reading...

Washington state is debating wether to grant a special waiver after the tribe fought a lengthy legal battle to try to resume the historic practiceHunting gray whales has long been a sacred tradition for the Makah Tribe, dating back thousands of years. But in recent decades, the practice has faced severe scrutiny from conservationists, and the tribe, located in Washington state, has fought a lengthy legal battle to try to resume the historic practice.Now, the situation could be finally gearing up to a resolution. Continue reading...

New walk covering parks’ most spectacular peaks opens to public on Saturday after construction delaysA 160km multi-day hiking trail running the length of the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park will open to the public on Saturday becoming one of the longest trails in Victoria.Connecting some of the parks’ most spectacular peaks, the Grampians Peaks Trail is a 13 day/12 night journey commencing at Mt Zero and travelling south over the ranges that make up Gariwerd and ending in the town of Dunkeld. Continue reading...

Chevron says it failed to meet Western Australia’s target of capturing at least 80% of the CO2 that would otherwise be released at its Gorgon LNG project

The ‘unusually large’ and deadly spider’s fangs – so big they could bite through a human fingernail – will be milked for venom

Analysis released at Cop26 climate summit shows Australia’s per capita emissions from coal power nearly double those of ChinaAustralia has the highest greenhouse gas emissions from coal power in the world on a per capita basis, nearly doubling those in China, according to a new analysis released at the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow.As the talks headed towards a fraught final day, there was disagreement over whether a closing declaration would commit countries to return with stronger short-term emissions reduction targets next year, and explicitly support an accelerated phaseout of coal. Continue reading...

UN chief calls for an end to the trillions in subsidies given to the fossil fuel industry as discussions over the final text contine

The London mayor and chair of a global alliance of cities announces $1bn for electric buses

The 2,750 gigalitres to be returned to river will be lost to evaporation from heating climate, CSIRO says

Locals frustrated at distraction of Tory sleaze scandals when focus should be on climate talks

Scottish ministers fear raft of measures could be undermined by delay to parallel action in EnglandThe sale of plastic straws, cutlery and polystyrene cups and food boxes is to be banned in Scotland next year as part of measures to reduce waste and pollution.The Scottish government said the ban would cover all single-use polystyrene food containers and their lids, as well as plastic stirrers, balloon sticks, plates and coffee stirrers, and would come into force on 1 June. Continue reading...

Recipients felt ‘threatened’ by letter from Mears, which is contracted to house asylum seekers in Glasgow

Seafood company looks for aquarium to take in lobster, which is one of one in 100m with unusual purple and blue coloringA lobster fisherman in Maine has caught an incredibly rare, one in a 100m “cotton candy” lobster that he has called Haddie and has now saved from being put in a cooking pot.In a Facebook post, Get Maine Lobster, a seafood company, said Bill Coppersmith found the rare cotton candy lobster during a recent day of fishing. Continue reading...

Reducing emissions for cargo ships and planes isn’t as simple as sticking a huge battery in them Continue reading...

Fuel made from waste and synthetic ‘e-fuels’ could reduce emissions significantly but scaling up quickly will be an immense challenge• Why it’s so hard to electrify shipping and aviation – interactiveA powder blue airplane flew from London to Glasgow in September to deliver on a promise. Airlines around the world have committed to decarbonizing the industry – the British Airways flight was meant to demonstrate a decade of progress toward that goal.Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), made partly from recycled cooking oil, along with more efficient engines, a sleeker design and improved air traffic management helped reduce the flight’s carbon emissions by 62% compared with a similar trip in 2010, according to BA. The airline was able to bill the trip as “carbon neutral” because it bought carbon credits to offset the remaining 38% of emissions. Continue reading...

Organisers of Glasgow march claim police risked ‘chaos’ by failing to adhere to agreed arrangements

Plan to transform 130 hectares of Allestree Park could see reintroduction of species such as red kite and harvest mouse“I’m excited about the potential for large wildflower-rich grassland areas mixed with naturally regenerating scrub,” said Prof Alastair Driver, director at Rewilding Britain. “It won’t be long before these areas are ringing with warbler song and sizzling with grasshoppers and crickets.”The source of Driver’s excitement is Allestree Park, the largest open space in Derby, to which Derby city council has given the green light this week to become what Rewilding Britain believes to be the UK’s largest urban rewilding project. Continue reading...

Countries do not have to include armed forces’ emissions in their targets despite estimates sector creates 6% of greenhouse gases

BoM has issued storm warnings for NSW and Queensland; court approves extradition of Mostafa Baluch on drug charges. This blog is now closed

UN and EU say the agreement could help pave the way to wider breakthrough, though concerns remain over ‘patchy details’An unexpected agreement between the US and China to work together on cutting emissions has been broadly welcomed by leaders and climate experts.The world’s two biggest emitters appeared to put aside their differences at the Cop26 climate summit and on Wednesday unveiled a joint declaration that would see close cooperation on emissions cuts that scientists say are needed in the next 10 years to stay within 1.5C. Continue reading...

Pulp frontman weighs in on Cop26, Brexit and arts cuts as Let’s Stick Around is released

On day 10 of the conference China’s climate spokesman said the countries would work together to ‘enhance climate action’

In a surprise press conference, the two superpowers promised to cooperate more and hoped for the success of Cop26China and the US announced a surprise plan to work together on cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the crucial next decade, in a strong boost to the Cop26 summit, as negotiators wrangled over a draft outcome.The world’s two biggest emitters had been trading insults for the first week of the conference, but on Wednesday evening unveiled a joint declaration that would see the world’s two biggest economies cooperate closely on the emissions cuts scientists say are needed in the next 10 years to stay within 1.5C. Continue reading...

Poorer nations say the rich must come forward with more money to help them cope with global heating

How such catastrophes occur remains mysterious. But research suggests that Earth may experience a cascade of disruptions when stressedFive times in the last 500m years, more than three-fourths of marine animal species perished in mass extinctions. Each of these events is associated with a major disruption of Earth’s carbon cycle. How such catastrophes occur remains mysterious. But recent research increasingly points to the possibility that the Earth system – that is, life and the environment – may experience a cascade of disruptions when stressed beyond a tipping point.As world leaders gather at Cop26 in Glasgow, it makes sense to rally behind concrete goals such as limiting warming to 1.5C. If we don’t meet such a goal, we’ll know it soon. Mass extinctions, on the other hand, may require tens of thousands of years or more to reach their peak. But if they are indeed the result of a disruptive cascade, we must act now to prevent such a runaway process from starting.Daniel H Rothman is a professor of geophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He co-directs MIT’s Lorenz Center, which is devoted to learning how climate works Continue reading...

The Guardian’s anonymous insiders respond to the publication of a draft deal at the climate conference

Official projectionists hit back with animations and ‘go away’ after activists beam climate slogans

Even the industry’s own data suggests its impact on emissions is extraordinarily marginal

Environment campaigners say the Morrison government’s attempt to remove the reference to 1.5C is ‘hugely significant’ and ‘bewildering’

Nearly three years after draft bill was published, activists say Environment Act must lead to real actionAfter 1,056 days, three Queen’s speeches, countless hours of drafting, campaigning, protest and debate, the first environment bill for 26 years has passed into law.Environmental activists at the heart of first pressing for the bill and then attempting to make it the best it could be, said its enactment was momentous. Continue reading...

Activists tell of how extractive industries are intertwined with violence against women and girls

Council in suburb of Carabanchel Alto urged to do more amid fears parasitic disease could spread to humansThe people of Carabanchel Alto haven’t always hated the interlopers. Once upon a time, they welcomed them, thrilling to their wildness and exoticism.Five years on, however, curiosity has given way to exasperation and the signs of one of Madrid’s most intractable turf wars are all too evident in the schoolyards, parks and gardens of this south-western corner of the Spanish capital. Continue reading...

After forcing the closure of an oilwell that was making her family and community sick, Cobo seemed about to become a household name – but then she fell seriously illAt the age of nine, Nalleli Cobo started getting nosebleeds so severe that she had to sleep sitting up so as not to choke on the blood. Then there were the stomach cramps, nausea, headaches and body spasms, which made walking difficult. For a time she wore a heart monitor as doctors struggled to understand what was wrong.But it wasn’t just Cobo. The nine-year-old was growing up in University Park, a low-income, majority-Latino neighborhood in Los Angeles, the smoggiest city in the US, which ranks highest in the country for deaths linked to air pollution. She and her three older siblings were raised by her Mexican mother, grandmother and two great-grandparents. (Her father was deported to Colombia when she was three.) And suddenly, almost her entire family was ill – including her mother, who developed asthma at 40, as did her grandmother at 70. Continue reading...

Net zero is popular among polluters for good reason – it’s toothless compared to emissions restrictions and a carbon tax“Make no mistake, the money is here, if the world wants to use it,” said Mark Carney, the former Bank of England governor who today serves as UN climate envoy, while also representing an alliance of financiers sitting on a pile of $130tn worth of assets. So, what does the world want? If only humanity had the power to organise a global poll based on one-human-one-vote, such a species-wide referendum would undoubtedly deliver a clear answer: “Do whatever it takes to stop emitting carbon now!” Instead, we have a decision-making process culminating in the colossal fiasco currently unfolding in Glasgow.The failure of Cop26 reflects our failed democracies on both sides of the Atlantic. President Biden arrived in Glasgow as his people back in Washington were pushing his infrastructure bill through Congress – an exercise that decoupled the bill from any serious investment in renewables and funded an array of carbon-emitting infrastructure such as expanded roads and airports. Meanwhile in the European Union, the rhetoric may be painted in bright green, but the reality is dark brown – with even Germany looking forward to copious amounts of Russian natural gas in exchange of green-lighting the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The EU should be creating a pan-European Renewable Energy Union, but alas our leaders are not even debating this idea. Continue reading...

Chris Bowen says CCS technology ‘not the answer to all our problems’ but leaves door open to backing changes to allow investment

Prime minister spruiks ‘can do capitalism’ during speech in Victoria; TGA has invited Moderna to apply for approval to give its Covid vaccine to children aged six to 11. This blog is now closed

As Romanian mines close, some cannot afford the EU-funded ‘Just Transition’ retrainingThree hundred metres below ground, Sebastian Tirintică operates an elevator at the Livezeni mine in Romania’s Jiu valley. His eyes widen with concentration as he guides the lever to lower the cage, ferrying the iron, wood, and other materials his co-workers need to extract coal. His focus keeps his fellow miners alive, which could be said for everyone working at Livezeni. Most of the equipment is more than 30 years old. Miners go underground knowing that a ceiling support could collapse or that a conveyor belt could snap. In seven years working inside the mine, Tirintică has been buried in coal three times. Each time, his co-workers pulled him out.“Danger unites us,” he said. “The brotherhood of the underground. You know that your colleague behind you can save your life.” Continue reading...

Ending unsustainable commercial exploitation of the Earth’s ‘blue heart’ is as vital as curbing fossil fuel use, says pioneering biologistWorld leaders gathered for Cop26 must ban industrial fishing on the high seas to have a chance of preserving the ocean, the Earth’s “largest carbon-capturing and oxygen-generating system”, the deep-sea explorer and oceanographer Sylvia Earle has said.Earle, 86, has clocked up more than 7,000 hours underwater and holds several records, including in 1979 for the deepest untethered dive by a woman. Continue reading...

Zoological Society of London carries out most comprehensive survey since 1950sSeahorses, eels, seals and sharks are living in the tidal Thames, according to the most comprehensive analysis of the waterway since it was declared biologically dead in the 1950s.But scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), who carried out the work, warn that the 95 miles of the tidal Thames is suffering from rising nitrate levels as a result of industrial runoff and sewage discharges. Water levels and temperature are also rising as a result of global heating. Continue reading...

Greta Thunberg among young people filing legal suit for climate crisis to be declared a global level 3 emergencyGreta Thunberg and youth climate activists from around the world are filing a legal petition to the UN secretary-general urging him to declare a “system-wide climate emergency”.As Cop26 enters its final days, climate campaigners were due to file a legal document on Wednesday calling on António Guterres to use emergency powers to match the level of response adopted for the coronavirus pandemic by pronouncing the climate crisis a global level 3 emergency – the UN’s highest category. Continue reading...

Interconnectors – linking areas rich in hydro, wind or solar power – can help to even out fluctuations in weatherWhen the weather is calm, wind turbines stop turning. That’s obvious, but as the UK increasingly relies on wind power generation, so an energy crunch looms if the wind doesn’t blow.

Co-author Prof Jacek Jasieniak says city’s CBD could be a photovoltaic ‘powerhouse’

Matt Kean urges the Coalition government to ‘go a lot further’ to help drive EV uptake

The Dixie fire grew most explosively on nine of 10 such days, finds analysis of weather station and fire dataOn late summer and autumn days, when the hot, howling winds sting the skin and chap the lips, Holly Fisher starts to feel a bit unsettled. So do many of her neighbors in the town of Paradise, a name that evokes bitter irony in northern California.“It feels eerie,” she said. Three years ago, this arid, blustery weather portended the Camp fire. It consumed the town, killed more than 80 people, and burned down Fisher’s home. As the region reeled in the aftermath, the same potent convergence of weather conditions – known as “fire weather” – helped fuel the North Complex fire in 2019, and the Caldor and Dixie fires this year. Continue reading...

PM will travel to Glasgow by train following criticism for flying back to London by private jet last weekBoris Johnson will make a day trip to the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow on Wednesday to urge climate negotiators to “pull out all the stops” – travelling by train, after he was criticised for flying back by private jet last week.The prime minister attended the opening days of the summit with scores of other world leaders before returning to Westminster and leaving the Cop president, Alok Sharma, to oversee the complex negotiations. He will attend on Wednesday but is not set to be in Glasgow at the end of the summit this weekend, as some had expected. Continue reading...

Country was down four places on greenhouse gas index and was the only one to score zero on policy