Environment | The Guardian

Report of participation in climate summit in Glasgow comes amid criticism of Beijing’s latest net zero plansChina’s president, Xi Jinping, will appear at the Cop26 UN climate summit in Glasgow next week via video link, the Associated Press has reported citing China’s foreign ministry, after weeks of speculation over what role Xi might play in the meeting, which opens on Sunday.Xi has not left China since last year, when his country was first engulfed in the deadly Covid outbreak. The foreign ministry separately said on Friday that Xi would take part in this weekend’s G20 leaders’ summit in Rome via video link. Continue reading...

Ten people detained in Essex and nine in Hertfordshire after group’s 16th action on UK roadsInsulate Britain protesters have been arrested walking on to the M25 in several locations, causing major disruption on London’s orbital motorway days before the start of the Cop26 climate summit.In driving rain just after 8am on Friday, two groups affiliated with the climate activist movement walked between lanes of oncoming traffic at junctions 28 and 29 of the M25 in Essex. Continue reading...

Carson residents say they’re unwell as canal’s decomposing vegetation sends off plumes of hydrogen sulfide gasLakesia Livingstone was driving back to her home in Carson, California, in early October after watching her son play football when she was hit with an overpowering stench. “It was like a rotten egg smell, horrible, very strong,” Livingstone says. “I thought, oh my God, something is going on.”That smell has now lasted four weeks, creating chaos for residents of Carson, a city in Los Angeles county. The extraordinary stink – which has been described as “the stench of death” – is coming from a nearby canal where authorities say decomposing vegetation is sending off plumes of hydrogen sulfide gas. Continue reading...

Pontiff calls for ‘rethink on future of our world’ in special message recorded on eve of global summitPope Francis has urged world leaders to take “radical decisions” at next week’s global environmental summit in a special message recorded for BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day.Leaders attending the Cop26 conference in Glasgow must offer “concrete hope to future generations”, the pontiff said. Continue reading...

Heavy downpours in Dumfries and Galloway cause evacuations, school closures and travel disruptionTorrential downpours overnight have caused flooding and disruption across the UK, from Scotland to down to Cornwall, with multiple flood warnings in place as heavy rain continues.The Met Office has issued yellow weather warnings across south-west Scotland, north-west England, north Wales and southern parts of England, with heavy rain in places and a risk of localised flooding. Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including shadowy horses, a visiting hippo and a released rare ring seal Continue reading...

The top oil executives claim they never approved a disinformation campaign. That is simply not trueFor the first time ever, the executives from four major oil companies and two of the industry’s most powerful front groups testified before Congress about their decades-long effort to spread climate disinformation and block legislation that would reduce US dependence on fossil fuels.Republicans vehemently opposed the premise of Thursday’s House oversight hearing. Yet within the first round of GOP questioning, led by one of the industry’s staunchest defenders, ranking committee member James Comer of Kentucky, the executives inadvertently proved why they were summoned to testify under oath in the first place.Jamie Henn is the founder and director of Fossil Free Media, home of the Clean Creatives campaign, which is pressuring advertising and PR firms to stop working with the fossil fuel industry. Continue reading...

Meddling with drivers guarantees a media storm, but mayors behind ambitious road reclamations are consistently rewardedEvery politician knows the word “bikelash”. From Milan to London, from Sydney to Vancouver, reallocating public space from motor vehicles for people to walk and cycle will inevitably send some residents into paroxysms of anger.But a persistent theme is that voters have time and again reelected the mayors responsible for ambitious road reclamations, often with overwhelming majorities. Although many presume these policies are toxic, projects that make cities more liveable have been shown to be good urban policy and good politics.Janette Sadik-Khan is a former commissioner of the New York Department of Transportation and a principal with Bloomberg Associates. Seth Solomonow is an adviser and strategist with Bloomberg Associates, specialising in public space and sustainable transport infrastructure. The authors provided pro bono advice to Sala and Duggan on their public space plans. Continue reading...

With the region warming twice as fast as the rest of the world but oil spoils keeping regimes in power, leaders are in a bindNorthern Oman has just been battered by Cyclone Shaheen, the first tropical cyclone to make it that far west into the Gulf. Around Basra in southern Iraq this summer, pressure on the grid owing to 50C heat led to constant blackouts, with residents driving around in their cars to stay cool.Kuwait broke the record for the hottest day ever in 2016 at 53.6, and its 10-day rolling average this summer was equally sweltering. Flash floods occurred in Jeddah, and more recently Mecca, while across Saudi Arabia average temperatures have increased by 2%, and the maximum temperatures by 2.5%, all just since the 1980s. In Qatar, the country with the highest per capita carbon emissions in the world and the biggest producer of liquid gas, the outdoors is already being air conditioned. Continue reading...

Before Cop26 in Glasgow, draft document indicates leaders meeting in Rome will pledge to take urgent steps to limit global warmingA draft G20 communique says that world leaders who are gathering for talks in Rome will pledge to take urgent steps to reach the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C.The communique, which was seen by Reuters and is subject to negotiation and changes, indicates the world’s 20 richest countries are on track to commit this weekend to tackling the existential threat of climate change, paving the way for more detailed action at the UN Cop26 climate change summit next week. Continue reading...

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney likens oil company bosses’ responses to those of tobacco industry at historic hearingThe chief executive of ExxonMobil, Darren Woods, was accused of lying to Congress on Thursday after he denied that the company covered up its own research about oil’s contribution to the climate crisis.For the first time, Woods and the heads of three other major petroleum companies were questioned under oath at a congressional hearing into the industry’s long campaign to discredit and deny the evidence that burning fossil fuels drove global heating. When pressed to make specific pledges or to stop lobbying against climate initiatives, all four executives declined. Continue reading...

Newborns include leopards, bengal tigers, zebras, giraffes, antelopes and oxen, ‘more than 10 births of high-value species’Zookeepers at Cuba’s National Zoo say several species of exotic and endangered animals took advantage of the peace and quiet brought on by the coronavirus pandemic for romantic encounters that resulted in a bumper crop of baby animals.The newborns include leopards, bengal tigers, zebras, giraffes, antelopes and oxen, a rarity officials attribute to the many months the zoo was closed during the pandemic, said zoo veterinarian Rachel Ortiz. Continue reading...

World’s biggest carbon emitter makes little advance on targets set out in 2015 in announcement days before vital UN talksChina has published its long-awaited national plan on greenhouse gas emissions, just days before the opening of the Cop26 UN climate summit.However, the plan revealed on Thursday represents little progress on the previously announced ambitions of the world’s biggest carbon emitter, disappointing observers of the vital climate talks. Continue reading...

Melinda Pavey delivers more water to agriculture while ramping up campaign to change Murray-Darling Basin plan

Hundreds of billions to be given to clean energy, electric vehicles and flood defenses, officials say – but some key parts left outThe Biden administration has said a vast spending bill is set to result in the “largest effort to combat climate change in American history”, with hundreds of billions of dollars set to be funneled into supporting clean energy, electric vehicles and new defenses against extreme weather events. But some key parts of Joe Biden’s original plan were left out.Following negotiations with Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema, two centrist Democratic senators who have opposed large portions of the original Build Back Better bill, the White House said it was confident a reduced version of the legislation will be able to pass both houses of Congress and will “set the United States on course to meet its climate goals”. Continue reading...

The tools at Biden’s disposal to limit dangerous global heating are enormous. If he wants it, he can do it – but does he want it?After months of bullish rhetoric about the United States’ climate leadership, the US could still show up to COP 26 empty handed. That doesn’t have to be the case – whatever charismatic obstructionists like Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema have to say about it. The climate certainly isn’t waiting on them to change: the UN Emissions Gap Report released this week finds that the world is on track to warm by a catastrophic 2.7C degrees.The White House has pegged its Paris Agreement success on being able to pass an ambitious spending package, with plenty of money built in for key climate priorities. In recent weeks the administration pegged its audacious goal, of slashing emission by at least 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, to something called a Clean Electricity Payments Program (CEPP). That’s out. And even if the compromise $55bn a year of climate spending the White House promised on Thursday makes it through to legislation, carrots for green spending can only go so far. The US will still not have picked up critical sticks needed to go after the polluting industries driving up temperatures.Kate Aronoff is a staff writer at The New Republic. She is the co-author of A Planet To Win: Why We Need A Green New Deal (Verso) and the co-editor of We Own The Future: Democratic Socialism, American Style (The New Press) Continue reading...

Arnd Drossel one of many travelling to the summit attempting to raise awareness of the climate crisisArnd Drossel has spent the past three months rolling around inside a 160kg steel ball.The German environmental activist left his home in Paderborn on 30 July in the giant contraption resembling a hamster ball that he made with his son. Continue reading...

If leaders in Glasgow do not act to ratchet up carbon cutting, the alternative is a dialling up of calamitous global heatingCop26 may involve dozens of world leaders, cost billions of pounds, generate reams of technical jargon and be billed as the last chance to prevent calamitous global heating, but at its simplest the climate conference in Glasgow is a debate about dialling up or dialling down risk. Continue reading...

When the CEOs of four top oil firms testify before Congress Thursday, they’ll have two options: apologize for their decades of lies, or risk perjuryToday is a day of history-making climate drama in Washington. At the Capitol Hill end of Pennsylvania Avenue, an unprecedented event: the CEOs of four of the world’s biggest private oil companies are summoned to testify under oath to Congress about their companies’ decades of lying about the lethal dangers their products pose.There’s no mystery about who the villains are in this drama, only about how big oil will play this pivotal moment in the climate emergency: will these executives finally admit their companies’ lies and take responsibility for the havoc they’ve caused? Or will they keep lying, if only by proclaiming that they are now climate champions working to solve the crisis engulfing humanity? Continue reading...

Mathias Cormann, now head of the OECD, was instrumental in repealing the nation’s key climate policy in 2014

Labour accuses chancellor of going ‘headlong in wrong direction’ over tackling climate emergency

Thirteen investors including Universities Superannuation Scheme accused of hypocrisyInvestors funding bids to expand UK airports have been accused of hypocrisy after it emerged they are signatories to a UN green investment scheme.Members of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) scheme, who number more than 4,000, publicly commit to acting in “the best long-term interests of our beneficiaries”, including incorporating environmental issues into their investment analysis and decision-making. Continue reading...

Tony Smith to step down at next sitting; Labor MP Julie Owens announces retirement; Scott Morrison gives update confirming Covid booster shots approved from 8 November; Andrew Laming ‘withdraws’ apology made to constituents in parliament; Victoria’s new pandemic laws under scrutiny as state records 1,923 cases and 25 deaths; NSW records 293 cases and two deaths; confusion over Barnaby Joyce claims. This blog is now closed

Scott Morrison and his deputy prime minister disagree over key methane emissions target ahead of Cop26

The heads of top US oil companies will answer accusations that their firms have spent years lying about the climate crisisThe heads of major oil companies will make a historic appearance before Congress on Thursday to answer accusations that their firms have spent years lying about the climate crisis.For the first time, the top executives from the US’s largest oil company, ExxonMobil, as well as Shell, Chevron and BP will be questioned under oath about the industry’s long campaign to discredit and deny the evidence that burning fossil fuels drove global heating. Continue reading...

Achim Steiner says failure by UK hosts to recognise developing nations’ concerns could lead to breakdown of talksDeveloping countries, many of which are deeply indebted following the Covid-19 crisis, must be the focus of the Cop26 summit if the UK hopes to make it a success, the UN’s development chief has said.Achim Steiner, the executive director of the UN development programme, said: “For developing countries at this juncture, a sense of recognising their dilemmas is extremely important. They do not need to be told that climate change is important, that everybody has to do more. Continue reading...

Toymaker’s instructions for a better world target policy chiefs ahead of global climate summitLego is touting it as its most ambitious build to date, but rather than many pages of instructions, the toymaker’s latest handbook offers only 10 steps.The booklet is not for a physical model, however. Instead it offers “building instructions for a better world” ahead of the crucial Cop26 climate talks that start in Glasgow this Sunday. Continue reading...

To successfully emerge from Covid into a fairer, greener future we need to recognise nature as an essential piece of the puzzleNearly two years after the first reported case of Covid-19, the world is still facing the repercussions. At the same time, the extent of our planetary emergency – of climate crisis, biodiversity loss and inequality – has become evident. As we rebuild our societies and economies, we are faced with a unique opportunity to build a nature-positive future that we must not let slip away. It is time for all of us to chart a planetary response to our planetary crisis – a response that puts nature at the centre.Our shared global experience with Covid-19 has underlined the interconnectedness of our different systems. The science is clear: climate, biodiversity and human health are fully interdependent. Yet, within discussions around post-Covid recovery, nature is not yet recognised enough as an essential piece in the puzzle of a resilient future for all.Frans Timmermans is executive vice-president for the European Green Deal, Achim Steiner is administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and Sandrine Dixson-Declève is co-president of the Club of Rome Continue reading...

Pace of emissions reductions must be increased significantly to keep global heating to 1.5CEvery corner of society is failing to take the “transformational change” needed to avert the most disastrous consequences of the climate crisis, with trends either too slow or in some cases even regressing, according to a major new global analysis.Across 40 different areas spanning the power sector, heavy industry, agriculture, transportation, finance and technology, not one is changing quickly enough to avoid 1.5C in global heating beyond pre-industrial times, a critical target of the Paris climate agreement, according to the new Systems Change Lab report. Continue reading...

The Morrison government released its net zero plan and Angus Taylor penned a scary piece about methane, but both lacked substance

Third largest emitter of greenhouse gases committed to ‘being part of the solution’ but calls on rich countries to acknowledge ‘historic responsibility’Setting net zero carbon emissions targets is not the solution to climate change, India’s federal environment minister said days before world leaders meet at the Cop26 climate summit.Instead, rich countries need to acknowledge their “historic responsibility“ for emissions and protect the interests of developing nations and those vulnerable to climate change, said the minister, Bhupender Yadav. Continue reading...

World heritage sites in US, Australia and Russia among those that have emitted more carbon than they absorbed since 2001Forests in at least 10 Unesco world heritage sites have become net sources of carbon since the turn of the millennium due to wildfires, deforestation and global heating, says a new report.Protected areas such as Yosemite national park in the US, the Greater Blue Mountains area in Australia and the tropical rainforests of Sumatra in Indonesia are among the sites that have emitted more carbon than they absorbed since 2001 as a result of human activities, according to research by the World Resources Institute, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Unesco. The analysis found more sites were expected to switch from sinks to sources of carbon in the coming decades. Continue reading...

Chancellor’s speech did not mention the climate crisis despite UK-hosted climate summit opening on Sunday

The Guardian understands the funding is likely to be used to back the planned £20bn Sizewell CThe government will make its first direct investment in a large-scale nuclear reactor since 1995 after pledging to plough up to £1.7bn of taxpayers’ money into a new power plant.Treasury documents published alongside the autumn statement did not name which nuclear project would be in line for the public funds, but the Guardian understands it is most likely to be the planned £20bn Sizewell C plant in Suffolk. Continue reading...

Budget offered little detail on UK response to climate crisis, but city will be key test of success on green economy and ‘levelling up’The UK’s energy revolution has a surprisingly artisanal feel. In the vast halls of a wind turbine blade factory in Hull, workers manually unroll layers of fibreglass and balsa wood into 81-metre moulds, before resins and paint are added. The blades are then shipped to the middle of the North Sea to generate clean electricity.They also generate jobs – 1,000 on the Siemens Gamesa site, plus another 200 to come after an investment of £186m to make bigger 108-metre blades. The site is the epitome of Boris Johnson’s claim that green jobs can help to “level up” Britain’s neglected regions. Continue reading...

‘Medicane’ storm with winds of 100km/h expected in Sicily, where two have died in floodingSouthern Italy was braced on Wednesday for the arrival of what forecasters have described as a Medicane – a rare Mediterranean hurricane bringing winds of more than 100kmh and producing 5-metre waves.Fierce storms have battered Sicily for days, leaving roads submerged in the eastern part of the island and claiming the lives of at least two people. Video footage shows flood waters engulfing the city of Palermo, turning streets into rivers and squares into lakes. Continue reading...

Members stage roadblock protests near M25 Dartford Crossing in Kent and on A40 in west LondonForty-nine members of Insulate Britain have been arrested after the climate activist group blocked three major junctions in defiance of a series of injunctions banning them from protesting anywhere on England’s strategic road network.In their 15th day of action since starting their campaign in mid-September, members of the group staged roadblock protests near the M25 Dartford crossing in Kent and another on the A40 in West London. Continue reading...

Figure of £150-660bn to cut raw sewage discharges into rivers was quoted by Tory MPs and environment ministerGovernment claims that cutting the millions of hours a year of raw sewage being discharged into rivers by water companies would cost up to £660bn have been challenged by experts.On Tuesday night, peers kept the pressure on the government to enshrine a duty in law on water companies to reduce the dumping of raw sewage into rivers and seas. Continue reading...

Boost for advocates’ group is step further in decades-long fight against mining pollutionRita Capitan has been worrying about her water since 1994. It was that autumn she read a local newspaper article about another uranium mine, the Crownpoint Uranium Project, getting under way near her home.Capitan has spent her entire life in Crownpoint, New Mexico, a small town on the eastern Navajo Nation, and is no stranger to the uranium mining that has persisted in the region for decades. But it was around the time the article was published that she began learning about the many risks associated with uranium mining. Continue reading...

With her brave book Silent Spring, Carson changed the course of US environmental history. We would do well to study her example“Glasgow is our last chance” has become a climate crisis mantra.World leaders scheduled to meet soon at the United Nations Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow to discuss – and act upon – our global climate crisis face a huge task, as do those here in the US as they fine-tune the climate measures in the Biden administration’s Build Back Better plan. All political measures up to now have been insufficient. The latest UN report on climate change issued a “code red for humanity”. And it’s only going to get worse and probably irreversible – larger fires, extended droughts, more intense storms, and more environmental refugees, destabilized regimes and unlivable parts of our planet – if our carbon-based economy continues unabated.A frequent contributor to the Guardian, Kim Heacox is the author of many books, including The Only Kayak, a memoir, and Jimmy Bluefeather, a novel, both winners of the National Outdoor Book Award. He lives in Alaska Continue reading...

Few are household names, yet these 12 enablers and profiteers have an unimaginable sway over the fate of humanityFor too long, Americans were fed a false narrative that they should feel individually guilty about the climate crisis. The reality is that only a handful of powerful individuals bear the personal responsibility.The nation’s worst polluters managed to evade accountability and scrutiny for decades as they helped the fossil fuel industry destroy our planet. The actions of these climate supervillains have affected millions of people, disproportionately hurting the vulnerable who have done the least to contribute to global emissions. Continue reading...

ICAP-Speedwell Climate Index will use stats from 50 independent weather stations globallyThe City broker TP ICAP has launched a weather data-backed index that it says will allow business risks tied to the pace of the climate crisis to be traded on financial markets for the first time.The creation of an index allows financial firms to form a view on the rate of temperature change and build financial products to hedge the risks. Continue reading...

International travel exemption scrapped for vaccinated Australians; 16 Covid deaths in Victoria and NSW; national child abuse prevention strategy announced. This blog is now closed

The conservative Democrat is busy trying to strip out many of the policies to tackle the problems his home state is facingThe rise of Joe Manchin as a key power player for Democratic policymaking in 2021 is the result of a perfect storm for the US senator from West Virginia.His position as the Senate’s most conservative Democrat means he often has final say in what his party is able to push through, especially when it comes to Joe Biden’s ambitious domestic agenda on infrastructure, far-reaching social policies and a powerful attempt to tackle the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Some of the harshest criticism came from CNN, which labelled Australia ‘the rich world’s weakest link at Cop26’

Protesters hold candlelight vigil inside London landmark for ‘victims of museum’s sponsors’Youth climate activists have “occupied” London’s Science Museum in protest at its sponsorship deals with fossil fuel companies.Members of the London branch of the UK Student Climate Network (UKSCN London) said they were holding a candlelight vigil at the famous landmark on Tuesday evening for “the victims of the museum’s fossil fuel sponsors: Shell, BP, Equinor and Adani”. Continue reading...

Report says countries must strengthen climate ambitions after wasting chance to build back better after CovidThe world is squandering the opportunity to “build back better” from the Covid-19 pandemic, and faces disastrous temperature rises of at least 2.7C if countries fail to strengthen their climate pledges, according to a report from the UN.Tuesday’s publication warns that countries’ current pledges would reduce carbon by only about 7.5% by 2030, far less than the 45% cut scientists say is needed to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C, the aim of the Cop26 summit that opens in Glasgow this Sunday. Continue reading...

Water companies will have duty to reduce impact of sewage discharges from storm overflowsThe government has announced a partial U-turn over the sewage amendment after Tory rebels threatened to scupper an upcoming vote in the Commons.Under new rules, there will be a duty on water companies to reduce the impact of sewage discharges from storm overflows. This means the organisations will be required by law to show a reduction in sewage overspills over the next five years. Continue reading...

Legislation paves way for firms building nuclear plants to charge households long before completionThe government plans to resuscitate the UK’s nuclear energy ambitions by creating a financing model that could pile part of the upfront cost of the £20bn Sizewell C power plant on to householders’ energy bills before it starts generating electricity.The energy secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, set out legislation on Tuesday that would share the early construction costs with consumers, with the aim of reducing the UK’s reliance on overseas funding for nuclear projects by making them more attractive to domestic investors. Continue reading...