Environment | The Guardian

Megan Swann is first female Magic Circle president and has been conjuring since she was fiveThe first female president of the Magic Circle has said her dream gig would be to perform her environmental magic show in front of world leaders at the climate summit in Glasgow.Megan Swann, 28, is the youngest person ever to be elected to a society set up in 1905 to guard the secrets of magicians. She is determined to use the role as a platform to call for action on the climate emergency. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Francesca Tardioli says all G20 countries including Australia need to upgrade 2030 targets and make 2050 commitment

With just over a week until the city goes to the polls the animals may help to unseat Virginia RaggiA group of wild boar strutting along a traffic-filled road in Rome has catapulted the issue of the Italian capital’s state of decay to the top of the debate ahead of mayoral elections.Much to the bemusement of onlookers, about 13 boar, distinguished by their coarse hair, sturdy bodies and sharp tusks, walked among the traffic on Via Trionfale, a busy road in the northern suburb of Monte Mario. Continue reading...

Trek’s sustainability report appears to be the first of its kind in a sector that has had a free ride on the issueTrek, one of the world’s biggest bicycle brands, recently released its sustainability report for 2021. Remarkably, this appears to be the first time a major bike company has published such a document.While some other manufacturers make broad sustainability pledges or tout their success in reducing packaging waste, Trek’s report offers an ambitious array of concrete environmental commitments and a comprehensive analysis of the carbon footprint of its bikes. Continue reading...

The ASA will conduct a series of inquiries into environmental advertising claims and practicesAirline ads that encourage taking too many flights and carmakers that show SUVs tearing up the countryside are set to fall foul of a crackdown on marketing that encourages environmentally irresponsible behaviour.The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is to launch a series of inquiries into the environmental advertising claims and practices across a range of sectors – starting with energy, heating and transport – in a drive to support global efforts to reduce carbon emissions and battle the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Environment Victoria argues government agency did not consider climate change when renewing licences for three power stationsEnvironmental advocates are suing Victoria’s environment regulator in the supreme court for allegedly failing to limit carbon and toxic air pollution.The non-profit group Environment Victoria lodged the case – which also names energy companies AGL, Energy Australia and Alinta as defendants – on Thursday morning and said it would be the first test of climate laws passed in the state in 2017. Continue reading...

$3.5bn project sent to local council for approval, which company insists is ‘absolutely a normal process’

A cold winter, a windless summer, and boom in business have combined to create an energy crisis that is hitting particularly hard in the UK. The Guardian’s energy correspondent Jillian Ambrose explains how it happened – and what it will mean for peopleThe gas crisis that has plunged the UK’s energy system into chaos took everybody by surprise – but in retrospect, the chain of events that led us here started almost a year ago. First, a particularly cold winter meant many people turned the heating up. Then factories and businesses started to turn up production as the economy emerged from the pandemic. Russia reduced its supplies to Europe. A windless summer reduced renewable input to the grid. And on top of all that, a fire in Kent shut down a vital power cable connecting Britain to mainland Europe.The resulting crisis is likely to increase bills for months to come and put the wider economy under serious pressure – but most of us understand little about the system that gets power to our homes, or how changes in supply find their way to our bills. In this episode, Guardian energy correspondent Jillian Ambrose explains the origins of the crisis to Michael Safi and explores what it has revealed about the weaknesses in the UK’s power system, how they can be fixed – and how serious the impact will be on ordinary people. Continue reading...

Sadiq Khan to warn time is running out to tackle emergency as he puts pressure on UK government to actA fifth of London’s schools are now susceptible to flooding and millions of people living in the capital are at “high risk” of suffering from the effects of the climate crisis, according to analysis from City Hall, as Sadiq Khan warns time is running out to tackle the issue.In a speech on Thursday, the London mayor is due to pile pressure on the UK government to ensure bold action is taken when it hosts world leaders for Cop26 in Glasgow in two months’ time, and add that without a significant commitment there will be “catastrophic” impacts on the environment and air quality. Continue reading...

City of Nelson welcomes arrival of migratory bird after 10,000km of non-stop flight from the ArcticThousands of migrating birds have been welcomed back to New Zealand to the sound of cathedral bells, after making one of the longest avian migration flights in the world.Eastern bar-tail godwits, or kuaka in Māori, landed on Motueka sandspit at the top of the South Island on Tuesday, where they rested following the 10,000km (6,200 miles) non-stop flight from the Arctic, RNZ reported. Continue reading...

China was lender of last resort for overseas governments seeking finance for coal projectsXi Jinping’s announcement that China will stop funding overseas coal projects could buy the world about three more months in the race to keep global heating to a relatively safe level of 1.5C, experts say.Although the impact will depend on implementation, China’s declaration should also help to kill off coal, which has been humanity’s primary power source for most of the last 200 years. Continue reading...

Birds, and perhaps other animals too, benefitted from a respite in human activity in North America, research suggestsThe shutdown of traveling and socializing during the Covid-19 pandemic last year brought severe dislocation to many people, but if you were a bird during this time it was highly appealing, new research has found.The distribution of 80% of studied bird species in North America changed during pandemic lockdowns last year, the study found, with most of these species increasing in abundance in and around urban areas that fell unusually quiet due to a sudden drop in traffic. Continue reading...

George Eustice says government must give financial aid to fertiliser firm CF Industries for three weeksFood producers have warned a surge in the price of carbon dioxide will force up prices for shoppers despite the government agreeing to spend millions of pounds on bailing out a private US firm that supplies gas to the industry.George Eustice, the environment secretary, said financial support would be available for three weeks to restart production at the Teesside factory of CF Fertilisers, a company that supplies food-grade CO as a byproduct to food and packaging firms. Continue reading...

Gas projects must be halted if the Northern Territory government cannot meet promise to fully offset emissions, scientists say

Or you for 10, if you keep it as a petA garden snail is eating your roses. “Little snail / Dreaming you go / Weather and rose / Is all you know,” wrote Langston Hughes. It is night time, the snail’s time, after dew or rain – when the snail is happiest, because the conditions are optimal for slime-walkers.The snail is blind. It knows the rose only by its smell and soft petals. You think you can hear the rasping of tiny teeth: scraping, scraping away at your roses. The snail is deaf: it does not hear your complaints. It could terrorise you for five years – or 10, if you chose to keep it as a pet. Continue reading...

Former Coalition frontbencher says it would be madness to rule out a conversation when there could be opportunities for regional Australia

Analysis shows over 18.16m hectares were destroyed in 2021, an absolute record since satellite monitoring beganRussia has endured its worst forest fire season in the country’s modern history, according to recent data from the Russian Forestry Agency analysed by Greenpeace.Fires have destroyed more than 18.16m hectares of Russian forest in 2021, setting an absolute record since the country began monitoring forest fires using satellites in 2001. The previous record was set in 2012, when fires covered 18.11m hectares of forest. Continue reading...

Responding to high court injunction, Insulate Britain says protests will go on until government pledges to insulate homesEnvironmental activists who blocked the M25 have vowed to continue their campaign after National Highways was granted an injunction against their protests.The campaign group Insulate Britain, which has shut down parts of the M25 five times in just over a week, said “our campaign will go on” despite the threat of jail, or pre-emptive arrests from the police. Continue reading...

One-off levy is among options on the table, business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng tells MPsCompanies that stand to make significant profits from record energy market prices could face a windfall tax to help ease the burden on household bills, the business secretary has suggested.Kwasi Kwarteng told MPs on Wednesday the government was considering “all options”, including looking at the Spanish government’s plan for a €3bn (£2.58bn) windfall tax on generators and energy traders that stand to gain from the energy crisis while homes and suppliers struggle. Continue reading...

Xi Jinping’s promise reflects growing awareness of the climate crisis in China and falling renewable pricesThe pledge by China’s president, Xi Jinping, on Tuesday to cease building new coal-fired power projects outside the country will be welcome news to environmentalists around the world. It came on the anniversary of Xi’s unilateral pledge for China to reach carbon neutrality by 2060. Last year Xi also promised that Chinese emissions would peak by 2030.“China will step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy, and will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad,” Xi said in a pre-recorded video address at the annual UN general assembly. Continue reading...

Level for the most damaging tiny particles is halved, reflecting new evidence of deadly harmThe World Health Organization has cut its recommended limits for air pollution and urged nations to tackle dirty air and save millions of lives.In the first update for 16 years, the guideline limit for the most damaging pollution – tiny particles from burning fossil fuels – has been halved. The new limit for nitrogen dioxide (NO), mainly produced by diesel engines, is now 75% lower. Continue reading...

Live updates: Deputy PM stands in for Boris Johnson to take questions in House of Commons

Reports of a ‘plague’ of crane flies after a cool, damp summer are untrue – and the gangly insects are harmlessThey skulk lankily in the corners of our living rooms at this time of year, and jitter disconcertingly about the bathroom when we are trying to brush our teeth. But are we really seeing a record daddy long legs explosion this year, as some tabloids are claiming?What is a daddy long legs? Continue reading...

A team at the University of Oregon has begun a three-year study looking at the effects of air quality and other stress factors on dairy cattleJuliana Ranches drove to work in eastern Oregon in early September through wildfire smoke so thick that, for a moment, she thought it was just a grey, foggy day and it would soon start to rain.Ranches is a livestock researcher relatively new to living in the area, and the conditions were unlike anything she had experienced before, leading her to ask questions about the animals that spend their summers in the smoke. Eastern Oregon has this year experienced regular wildfires since early July.

England is one of the last strongholds of this beautiful insect but it is at risk due to excessive pesticide useOrganic farming is probably the best hope for the survival of one of Britain’s least known but valuable wild creatures, the necklace ground beetle, Carabus monilis.Once widespread but now on the red list as endangered because of excessive pesticide use and changing farming practices, it needs help to survive. Since it eats many insects that feed on farm crops and the seeds of weeds that farmers want to control any help it gets to thrive will be richly rewarded. Continue reading...

Rest of G20 should follow Joe Biden’s lead on funding commitments, says climate envoyDeveloping countries and campaigners welcomed the offer of increased climate finance from the US president, Joe Biden, at the UN on Tuesday, but warned that rich countries needed to do more to ensure the poorest received the assistance they need.Biden, speaking to the UN general assembly in New York, said he would ask the US Congress to double to $11bn (£8m) a year by 2024 the financial assistance the US offers to developing countries to help them cut greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the impacts of extreme weather. Continue reading...

The Australian prime minister and US president also discussed repairing ties with Europe in their first one-on-one meetingScott Morrison insists Australia and the US are on the same page on climate policy after his first one-on-one meeting with Joe Biden, as the US president presses “every nation” to cut emissions faster.The Australian prime minister and Biden also spoke about repairing ties with Europe, after their new submarine deal – also involving the UK – infuriated France and put a cloud over EU free trade agreement negotiations. Continue reading...

Priti Patel and Grant Shapps want injunction this week, which could lead to protesters being jailedPriti Patel and Grant Shapps are seeking a court injunction to stop environmental protesters from targeting major motorways after five days of tailbacks and damaging headlines for the government.The home secretary and the transport secretary have asked National Highways and the Government Legal Service to submit an application later this week. Continue reading...

The ex-deputy PM tells Guardian Australia the next phase of climate policy must not ‘smash our regional economies’

‘Avoided deforestation’ projects do not represent genuine abatement, say researchers who liken the Coalition policy to ‘cheap tricks and hot air’

World’s energy watchdog intervenes after Russia decides not to increase exports despite record pricesThe world’s energy watchdog has called on Russia to send more gas to Europe as the energy supply crunch bleeds across the continent, in a rare public rebuke of the Kremlin.The International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises global governments on energy policy, called out the gas-rich country for refusing to increase exports even as fierce demand has driven market prices to successive record highs, appearing to support claims that Russia is withholding supplies. Continue reading...

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Cornish brand joins forces with rental service thelittleloop in attaempt to meet growing consumer appetiteEthical kids clothing company Frugi is the latest high street name to tap into consumer demand for rent rather than buy clothes.The upmarket Cornish brand has joined forces with new children’s clothing rental service thelittleloop – one of a growing number of firms serving growing consumer appetite for more sustainable wardrobe choices. Continue reading...

President tells UN general assembly that US will become the world’s leading provider of climate finance

Secretary general describes ‘moral indictment’ of global distribution of vaccines, ‘military coups’ and the climate emergency

Analysis: As governments shield consumers against soaring prices, Russia and renewables are coming under scrutinyThe UK is far from alone in its energy crisis. Across Europe, governments are acting to shield consumers from soaring bills, with nerves growing about the coming winter. EU energy ministers will meet this week at an Alpine castle in Slovenia, where they will discuss global gas shortages and the union’s energy policy.Since the start of the year, wholesale gas prices in Europe have risen by 250%, the result of a complex cocktail of economic, natural and political forces. Globally, demand for energy has shot up, as China and other major economies bounce back from the pandemic. In Europe, a cold winter and frigid spring depleted gas reserves, while a long spell of still days reduced wind power supply to the grid. Meanwhile, CO2 prices hit a record €62 this month and Russia, a big exporter, has declined to increase gas supplies. Now, across the continent, energy prices are only going in one direction: up. Continue reading...

Donation from $10bn Bezos Earth Fund will go towards biodiversity hotspots in Congo Basin and AndesJeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, has said he realised just how fragile the Earth was when he looked back down at it from space, while committing $1bn to conservation projects around the world.The money , made through the $10bn Bezos Earth Fund that he formed last year, will go towards the conservation of nature in biodiversity hotspots such as the Congo Basin, the tropical Andes and the Pacific Ocean. It will help finance a goal to protect 30% of the world’s oceans and land by the end of the decade, a draft target in Paris-style UN agreement on nature being negotiated. Continue reading...

Analysts predict a further 14% jump for spring 2022 on top of next month’s scheduled £139 riseMillions of households could face a second record jump in energy bills next spring, on top of the £139 increase due next month, as the global gas crisis continues to drive market prices to new highs.An even larger energy bill rise is expected from next April after the steady increase in gas and electricity market prices, which could add between £178 and £294 to the typical price of a default dual-fuel energy deal. Continue reading...

Green lawns are terrible for the environment. They’re also embarrassingly old-fashioned and out of styleAmericans love front yards with big, carefully manicured lawns. In fact, homeowners spent a record $47.8bn in lawn and garden retail purchases in 2018 alone. Then there’s the water usage: 9tn gallons a year nationwide just on gardening. We consume this water even as parts of the American west are in the grip of a horrific drought that has paralyzed farmers, triggered huge wildfires, and has some states considering water cutbacks.The reason we spend so much time, money and natural resources on our lawns, as Kristen Radtke recently noted in the Los Angeles Times, is that decades of television and popular culture have cemented in our brains a certain image of the American dream: house in the suburbs, white picket fence, two-car garage, glossy green lawn. The problem isn’t just that that image is difficult to attain for a lot of Americans. It’s that it’s embarrassingly dated. Continue reading...

Policy experts warn new proposals to plug abandoned oil and gas wells amount to huge subsidy for the fossil fuel industryOil and gas companies have a century-old bad habit of drilling wells and ditching them. And while Congress finally has a plan to plug some abandoned wells, new proposals effectively pass the fossil fuel industry’s cleanup costs on to taxpayers and may even enable more drilling.Concerned parties seem to agree on the scale of the crisis: millions of wells sit untended across the US, leaking toxins that pose public health problems along with the potent greenhouse gas methane, which contributes to the climate emergency. Continue reading...

Activists in Benton Harbor say it’s been an uphill battle getting the city, county and state to take actionBobbie Clay first realized something was wrong a few years ago.The water at her Benton Harbor, Michigan, home had started coming out of the tap looking “bubbly and whitish”. When she filled a glass with it, she could see matter floating around inside. “I became very concerned,” she recalled in a recent interview. Continue reading...

Dozens of discoveries in recent years have shown the country to be a treasure trove of amphibiansIt is barely the size of a thumbnail, so it may not come as a surprise that it took so long to spot the starry dwarf frog. It was discovered sitting next to some leaf litter by eagle-eyed researchers on a joint US-Indian expedition in thick shola forest in the Western Ghats in Kerala, south India, during a nocturnal hunt.The starry dwarf frog, or Astrobatrachus kurichiyana, named after a tribe in Wayanad, Kerala, where the frog was found in 2019, is just one of dozens of new species found in recent years that have revealed India to be a frog paradise. Continue reading...

Women’s Institute supports initiative, urging manufacturers to take action on plastic microfibresWashing machines should be fitted with filters to prevent microplastic fibres from clothes reaching waterways and the sea, the Women’s Institute, campaigners and MPs have urged.Filters are cheap and can catch almost all of the plastic microfibres produced from washing clothes made from artificial fabrics such as nylon, but there is no obligation in the UK for washing machines to be fitted with the simple devices. Continue reading...

Meat and dairy groups threaten to stop contributing to international summit on food sustainability after critical voices invitedLivestock groups have been lobbying the UN to support more meat and dairy production before a high-profile summit on food sustainability, documents reveal.

Energy crisis could have been lessened if more had been done to shift UK market towards renewablesRenewable energy and low-carbon heating could do much more to alleviate the gas supply problems of the future – and could have done much to reduce the impact of this winter’s soaring gas prices, if the government had done more to shift the UK’s energy market sooner, industry experts have said.The gas supply crunch has prompted a flurry of government meetings with industry, and reassurances in parliament on Monday from the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, that “there is no question of the lights going out” and that the UK is “highly resilient”. Continue reading...

PM’s warning to world’s richest countries comes amid suggestions US could commit more fundsBoris Johnson has warned the world’s rich countries that “history will judge”, if they fail to act now to tackle the climate crisis, as US climate envoy John Kerry suggested President Biden was poised to commit more funds to the fight.At the UN general assembly in New York, the prime minister urged other developed countries to increase their contributions, to help meet the target of $100bn (£73bn) in climate financing set more than a decade ago. Continue reading...

Hopes for recyclable fashion are far from mass market reality, warns a new documentary at London Fashion WeekCircularity – a concept drawing on principles such as “designing out” waste and ensuring clothing can be remade again and again – is the buzzword at London fashion week.At Preen by Thornton Bregazzi, the designers Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi spliced together clashing rolls of floral fabric “that had been hanging around in the studio, left over from different seasons” and designed one entirely new look. Continue reading...

Record energy prices forced shutdown of two fertiliser plants last week, with knock-on effect on food supply chainsFood producers have called on the government to subsidise the fertiliser plants that produce the CO essential to much of the sector – including for packaging, fizzy drinks and animal slaughter – amid fears over shortages in supermarkets.The Food & Drink Federation (FDF), which represents hundreds of food processors and manufacturers, joined retailers and meat producers in calling for urgent action as they warned of serious disruption in food supply chains. Continue reading...

Rising gas prices in a climate emergency is not the time for the rigid application of free-market principlesThere is a level of government complacency about energy price shocks. Ministers think the best course of action is to just accept them. Wholesale gas prices are now more than five times their level two years ago, raising the prospect that household bills will rise by 12% next month. Shoppers could also face empty supermarket shelves as it becomes unprofitable to produce the dry ice and carbon dioxide needed to store meat products. If the energy crunch continues, industry warns, a 1970s-style three-day week might have to be introduced.The government response has been familiar: deny the problem, deflect responsibility for failure and delay taking action. This strategy is a reminder of the importance of perceptions in a crisis. If something feels like a crisis, it is effectively a crisis. That is why perhaps Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, says there is “no question of the lights going out, of people being unable to heat their homes”. But what if people cannot afford the energy costs to heat and light their homes? About 85% of the UK’s domestic heating comes from natural gas. Fuel poverty is a real issue, especially when millions of workers are facing cuts to universal credit and a hike in national insurance. Price caps help poorer people afford necessities of life such as gas – but there’s no sign that ministers think the hardship merits more generous help. Continue reading...

Warsaw argues suspension of operations at Turów on Czech border would put its energy security at riskPoland’s rightwing government has said it will continue to mine coal on its border with the Czech Republic despite being ordered to pay €500,000 for every day that it defies a European court of justice order to stop.The fine was issued by the EU’s highest court on Monday after four months of Warsaw ignoring an earlier order to suspend extraction of lignite, a low-quality brown coal, at the Turów opencast mine in south-west Poland. Continue reading...