First minister unveils legislative programme including referendum and policies agreed with GreensNicola Sturgeon has told civil servants to start making a new case for independence, which offers people “an informed choice on Scotland’s future” in the Scottish government’s first legislative programme since last month’s cooperation deal with the Scottish Greens.Bills to set up a national care service and reform the Gender Recognition Act, as well as proposals for private sector rent controls by the end of this year, all featured in Sturgeon’s plan for the year to come in Holyrood. Continue reading...

Award comes during booming year for nature books, with sales over the last two months reaching £2.8mJames Rebanks’s story of his family’s farm in the Cumbrian Fells, English Pastoral, has won the Wainwright nature writing prize, praised as a “seminal work which will still be celebrated in 50 years”.The follow-up to Rebanks’s memoir The Shepherd’s Life, English Pastoral tells of the home in the Lake District, where his family have lived and worked for more than 600 years, and how he began to farm in a more sustainable way. It was up against titles including Raynor Winn’s follow-up to The Salt Path, The Wild Silence, for the award, which is named after writer and fellwalker Alfred Wainwright and which goes to the book that “most successfully inspires readers to explore the outdoors and to nurture a respect for the natural world”. Continue reading...

Study finds 40% of resident and regular migrant dragonflies and damselflies have increased in number since 1970Six new species of dragonfly have colonised Britain in the last 25 years as dragonflies and damselflies boom in a warming climate.More than 40% of resident and regular migrant dragonflies and damselflies have increased in number since 1970 with just 11% declining, according to a study of 1.4m dragonfly records. Continue reading...

Study finds agriculture and pesticide use threaten relatives of world’s most important crops, considered crucial to food security

Archbishop of Canterbury, pope and leader of Orthodox church ask for people’s prayers ahead of Cop26Global Christian leaders have joined forces to warn that the world is facing a critical moment as the climate crisis threatens the future of the planet.In an unprecedented joint declaration, Pope Francis, the leader of the Roman Catholic church, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the Orthodox church, and the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who is the leader of the global Anglican communion, call on the world population – “whatever their beliefs or worldview” – to “listen to the cry of the Earth and of people who are poor”. Continue reading...

Event heralded as ‘a great contribution to conservation of threatened, high-profile species’A pair of squawking, thrashing, bald and violently pink twins arrived in the world in Madrid on Sunday, much to the relief of their mother and all those working to ensure the giant panda population continues to claw its way back from the brink.Madrid’s Zoo Aquarium announced the birth of the as-yet-unnamed cubs on Monday, describing their arrival as “a great contribution to the field of conservation of a threatened and high-profile species that is an icon among those who love and protect nature”. Continue reading...

Livestock companies with large emissions receive billions of dollars in funding, campaigners sayTwenty livestock companies are responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than either Germany, Britain or France – and are receiving billions of dollars in financial backing to do so, according to a new report by environmental campaigners.Raising livestock contributes significantly to carbon emissions, with animal agriculture accounting for 14.5% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Scientific reports have found that rich countries need huge reductions in meat and dairy consumption to tackle the climate emergency. Continue reading...

Coal power has been the foundation for much of what Europe is today. But what has been the cost? Since 2016, half of the continent’s coal plants have closed, or are scheduled to close, as markets shift and the race to save the climate gathers speed. NGOs and grassroots organisations are working with communities to ensure the transition from coal is rapid, focused on renewables, and, most importantly, fair.This increased attention on the people who have long lived with coal has revealed unsteadiness, illness and deep seams of injustice in communities across the continent. The photographer Dan Wilton joined the environmental law charity ClientEarth to investigate and document Europe’s journey beyond coal

Campaigners say support for building UK’s first deep coalmine in 30 years is diminishingThere is dwindling support for proposals to build the UK’s first deep coalmine in 30 years in Cumbria, say campaigners, as a public inquiry into the mining plans gets under way.The plans attracted opposition earlier this year and were cited as an example of a lack of joined-up thinking from a UK government that was simultaneously making big promises on the environment. They were seen as particularly problematic in the run-up to the crucial Cop26 climate change summit due to be hosted in Glasgow this November. Chris Stark, the chief executive of the Climate Change Committee, pointed out that the mine would “increase global emissions and make it harder to achieve the UK carbon budgets”. Continue reading...

Air pollution kills more than malaria, HIV/Aids and TB combined but receives only 1% of development aidGovernments around the world gave 20% more in overseas aid funding to fossil fuel projects in 2019 and 2020 than to programmes to cut the air pollution they cause.Dirty air is the world’s biggest environmental killer, responsible for at least 4m early deaths a year. But just 1% of global development aid is used to tackle this crisis, according to an analysis from the Clean Air Fund (CAF). Continue reading...

Minister Matt Kean also announces 221 further sites to join Wollemi pines as assets of intergenerational significance

Number of species of sharks, rays and chimaeras facing ‘global extinction crisis’ doubles in a decadeA third of shark and ray species have been overfished to near extinction, according to an eight-year scientific study.“Sharks and rays are the canary in the coalmine of overfishing. If I tell you that three-quarters of tropical and subtropical coastal species are threatened, just imagine a David Attenborough series with 75% of its predators gone. If sharks are declining, there’s a serious problem with fishing,” said the paper’s lead author, Prof Nicholas Dulvy, of Canada’s Simon Fraser University. Continue reading...

Measures at Holme-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, hailed a success after strong breading season and return of floraElectric fences to protect nesting birds from people walking their dogs have been hailed a success, as popular beaches work to reduce damage from trampling.The beach at Holme-next-the-Sea in north Norfolk has breathtaking views, making it incredibly popular with visitors and dog-walkers. Continue reading...

The SA plan comes as manufacturers issue warning over ‘fractured’ Australian EV policy and call for states to scrap stamp duty on new vehicles

ShareAction says lack of plans to tackle climate crisis and biodiversity loss casts doubts on banking’s sustainability pledgesEurope’s 25 largest banks are still failing to present comprehensive plans that address both the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, putting their sustainability pledges in doubt, campaigners have warned.While some lenders such as NatWest are demonstrating leadership on specific issues – such as net zero targets and policies restricting financing for new fossil fuel – research by investment campaign group ShareAction found none of the banks it reviewed were taking action across all key areas. Continue reading...

The figure for the three months to September was 1.3C above the long-term average and higher than the previous record set in 2020New Zealand has recorded its warmest ever winter, and scientists say that climate change is driving temperatures ever higher.For the three months through to the end of August 2021, the average temperature was 9.8C, according to New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. Continue reading...

Covid, climate breakdown, poverty and war threaten return to school after pandemic kept 1.5bn children out of classes

There could be choppy waters ahead for the PM, as potential rebels line up over social care, net zero and planningBoris Johnson has a significant inbox of spending, parliamentary rows and a likely reshuffle coming this autumn. As parliament returns and Whitehall prepares to take a tentative step towards “politics as usual”, we take a look at the biggest coming clashes of the session. Continue reading...

Coast Guard says potential slicks spotted in Gulf of Mexico after the powerful storm wreaked havoc in the region last weekDivers searching for the source of an oil spill spotted in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Hurricane Ida have identified a broken pipeline on the ocean floor as the possible cause.Talos Energy, the Houston-based company currently paying for the cleanup, said in a statement issued on Sunday evening that the broken pipeline, which is around 30cm (1ft) in diameter, did not belong to them. Continue reading...

Hundreds of dozing seals show how much cleaner the river is since it was declared dead in the 1950s“This is a sushi conveyor belt,” says the boat’s skipper, Stuart Barnes, as we watch the customers, dozens of harbour seals slumbering on sandbanks at the mouth of the Thames estuary, a 15-minute ride from Ramsgate marina.August is moulting season, when seals shed their coats and grow new ones, spending much of their day on the sandbanks as a result. This makes it a good time for scientists to count them, with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) running its three-day annual seal survey, using boats and a specially chartered light aircraft to get a view from above. Continue reading...

Social Market Foundation says more research could help people move ‘to more sustainable dietary habits’The UK should back the development and sale of artificial meat to tackle the climate crisis, a thinktank report says, calling for the government to encourage the consumption of “alternative proteins” that do not come from animals.The report, from the Social Market Foundation, also points to a wide array of benefits to supporting alternative proteins, including opening up a green export opportunity for British businesses, reducing the risk of zoonotic diseases and improving animal welfare. Continue reading...

Editorial in publications worldwide urges leaders to take measures to stop ‘greatest threat to public health’More than 200 health journals worldwide are publishing an editorial calling on leaders to take emergency action on climate change and to protect health.The British Medical Journal said it is the first time so many publications have come together to make the same statement, reflecting the severity of the situation. Continue reading...

Monday: The Greens want a 40% tax on ‘super profits’ of big firms if next election ends in hung parliament. Plus: Salman Rushdie talks about his newest bookGood morning. The national summit on women’s safety kicks off in Canberra today. The Greens pledged to push for a super profits tax in case of a hung parliament. Madison de Rozario took Australia’s 21st gold medal in the marathon on the closing day of the Tokyo Paralympics. And the author of the Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie, shared his plans to publish his newest book on … Substack.The Greens have announced they will push for a new 40% “tycoon tax” as a condition for sharing power if the next election results in a hung parliament. The party would push a Labor minority government to introduce a tax on the “super profits” of big corporations. The tax would raise $338bn in revenue over a decade, according to costings by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) to be released on Monday. Greens leader Adam Bandt said the next election would be closer than people think, and that the party would seek to use a balance-of-power position in a hung parliament to “make billionaire corporations pay their fair share of tax”. Continue reading...

Researchers say blue-tongues seem to have evolved a chemical resistance while goannas that feed on venomous snakes have notBlue-tongue lizards have developed a resistance to the venom of the red-bellied black snake, according to new research.The largest animals in the skink family, blue-tongues seem to have evolved a chemical resistance to the snake venom, while carnivorous monitor lizards – goannas – that feed on Australia’s venomous snakes have not. Continue reading...

With passenger numbers growing and time to slash emissions dwindling fast, the industry must tackle urgent stumbling blocks on fuel, frequent flyers and moreAviation tanked in 2020. The number of people taking flights fell by three quarters compared with 2019 levels and as a result there was a significant drop in greenhouse gas emissions from aviation. But as countries open up and people begin to fly again, aviation is expected to see a slow climb back to previous levels. The industry anticipates a return to 2019 passenger numbers globally by 2023 and to be back on track with previous growth projections within a couple of decades.All this is bad news for the planet. CO emissions from the industry are likely to triple by 2050. But if the world is to limit global heating to 1.5C, it needs to have hit net zero CO emissions by this time. Aviation is a complicated sector to decarbonise. It has some prickly ingredients: difficult technological solutions, hidden extra climate effects, an association with personal freedoms and a disproportionately wealthy and powerful customer base. Here are just a few of the big hurdles the sector will need to overcome if it is ever to be carbon neutral. Continue reading...

Senior UN official says it is in Australia’s interest to make the transition to renewables as investors increasingly abandon fossil fuels

Wildfires take a devastating toll on local animals. A Lake Tahoe refuge made sure its creatures didn’t suffer the same fateGreg Erfani watched the flames grow bigger and bigger as they crept toward Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, the animal refuge he helps run in South Lake Tahoe. He feared not only for himself but for the menagerie of raccoons, coyotes, owls and porcupines inside. Luckily, the staff had a plan.They coaxed animals into transport crates, sometimes with inventive methods. “The owl’s treat is a piece of salmon. You know the owl is going to go in the cage to get the piece of salmon,” Erfani said. Being prepared made all the difference. “Within an hour and a half we had evacuated all animals, all staff, and all volunteers from our facility.” Continue reading...

British manufacturers and the GMB are urging the government to ensure the huge investment in the sector benefits Britain tooAt the foot of the disused Fawley power station on the Hampshire coast, giant wind turbine blades lie on the sand like the fins of some strange beached sea mammal. The site of what was once one of the UK’s most polluting power plants is now a waiting area for turbine blades, before they join the growing number of windfarms off the British coast.More than 1,000 of these precision-designed aerodynamic structures, each about 80 metres long, have been shipped across the water from a factory on the Isle of Wight. Owned by Danish energy giant MHI Vestas, it employs almost 700 people on the island and usually produces seven blades a week. Continue reading...

World’s largest lizard moves from vulnerable to endangered on IUCN red list of threatened speciesThe komodo dragon, the world’s largest lizard, is threatened with extinction as rising water levels driven by the climate crisis shrink its habitat, according to the latest “red list” update.Endemic to a handful of Indonesian islands, the komodo dragon lives on the edge of forest or in open savannah, rarely venturing higher than 700 metres above sea level. Rising water levels are set to affect 30% of its habitat in the next 45 years, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which has changed its status from vulnerable to endangered. Continue reading...

Power outages from the storm have left air quality tracking systems out of commission, making public health concern hard to gaugeBehind a playground littered with downed tree branches, Shell’s refinery in Norco, Louisiana spewed black smoke from its stacks. The smell of rotten eggs, the signature scent of sulphur emissions, lingered in the air. In an effort to burn off toxic chemicals before and after Hurricane Ida, many industrial facilities sent the gases through smoke stacks topped with flares.But the hurricane blew out some of those flares like candles, allowing harmful pollution into the air. Continue reading...

Guardian investigation finds 17 MPs, candidates or associations took out 50 ads criticising a clean air zoneConservative councillors, MPs and local associations have vocally opposed measures to clean up air pollution, often in opposition to government policy, a Guardian investigation has found.Transport decarbonisation is one of the government’s “priority action areas” at the upcoming Cop26 global climate talks. However, cities in the UK have been slow to adopt clean air zones, schemes that deter the use of older, more polluting vehicles and incentivise cleaner forms of transport. Only three cities currently operate a CAZ. Continue reading...

Organisers say showing people they are not alone in their fears is key to instigating climate actionKathy Kilmer tried bringing up the climate crisis twice at a recent dinner party, but it didn’t go well. Guests quickly turned the conversation to other topics.“I just feel awful bringing it up,” said Kilmer, a retired conservation group communications director from Denver, Colorado. “And yet, I feel like talking about it is absolutely key to getting people to understand it.” Continue reading...

Proposal by Great Britain’s regulator is to help make the switch from fossil fuel cars more affordableOfgem plans to make it easier for electric vehicle drivers to sell the energy stored in their car batteries back to power grid as part of a move to help make the switch away from fossil fuel cars more affordable.Under the plan put forward by Great Britain’s energy regulator, electric vehicle drivers could earn money by effectively transforming their cars into mobile power plants by releasing power back to the energy network when demand on the electricity grid reaches a peak. Continue reading...

Geoff Cousins says head of WWFA made the comments privately, despite the organisation having certified a major operator in the pastThe head of World Wide Fund for Nature Australia admitted in private that Tasmanian salmon farming was “not sustainable”, despite WWFA having endorsed the industry’s practice through its certification program until 2019, environmentalist Geoff Cousins has said.Cousins said the chief executive of WWFA, Dermot O’Gorman, made the comments last month after Cousins challenged the organisation over whether its former certification program had worked to protect the marine environment or wildlife.

Deaths and damage spanned huge areas in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and MarylandPolice were going door to door in search of more possible victims and drawing up lists of the missing in the US north-east on Friday, as the death toll rose to 49 across eight states in the region after the catastrophic flooding set off by the remnants of Hurricane Ida after it roared up from Gulf coast.Ida struck Louisiana last Sunday, knocking out power to the city of New Orleans and causing deaths in that state and Mississippi. Continue reading...

Thousands of scientists and conservation experts gather in Marseille for the world’s biggest biodiversity summit since the pandemicThe world’s biggest biodiversity summit since the start of the pandemic has opened in the French port city of Marseille with a warning from Emmanuel Macron that “there is no vaccine for a sick planet”.Speaking at the opening of the IUCN World Conservation Congress, the president echoed warnings from leading scientists that humanity must solve ongoing crises with climate and nature together or solve neither, urging the world to catch up on preventing the loss of biodiversity. Continue reading...

The president warned that ‘we need to act now’ as trail of destruction blighted west, south and north-eastThe widespread destruction caused by extreme weather coast to coast, with Hurricane Ida spreading devastation from Louisiana to New York while record wildfires scorch California, prompted Joe Biden to level with America this week, saying it was “yet another reminder that … the climate crisis is here”.“We need to be much better prepared. We need to act,” Biden said in a speech on Thursday at the White House. Continue reading...

Critics pillory big oil companies for cynical expressions of sympathy while continuing to block climate solutionsMajor oil companies are being pilloried on social media for sending “thoughts and prayers” to victims of Hurricane Ida while sidestepping their role in the ongoing climate disaster.At least two ExxonMobil outposts – from Beaumont and Baytown, Texas – tweeted the message on Monday, using the hashtag #LouisianaStrong. It didn’t take long for Twitter users to call out the company for its tone-deaf response, noting that Exxon’s own internal research program predicted catastrophic climate change decades ago. Continue reading...

Sixty doctors, nurses and other health professionals have staged a die-in protest outside JP Morgan’s Canary Wharf headquarters in London to highlight the bank’s investment in fossil fuels.The demonstration on Friday was organised by Doctors for Extinction Rebellion and was part of a two-week series of XR protests against organisations supporting fossil fuels

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a Hermann’s tortoise, some award-winning cheetahs and an airlifted cow Continue reading...

Sixty medical professionals including nurses hold protest to highlight fossil fuel investmentsSixty doctors, nurses and other health professionals have staged a die-in protest outside JP Morgan’s Canary Wharf headquarters in London to highlight the bank’s investment in fossil fuels.The protest on Friday was organised by one of Extinction Rebellion’s groups, Doctors for Extinction Rebellion. The climate activist medics said this was their biggest protest so far and that JP Morgan was the biggest funder of coal, oil and gas extraction. Continue reading...

• ‘Planet cannot handle more stress from oil and gas production’• Announcement came as Gulf states battered by Hurricane IdaOutrage and at least one lawsuit has followed the Joe Biden administration’s announcement this week that it would open tens of millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas exploration in an effort to comply with a court order.Earthjustice, a non-profit public interest organization, has filed a lawsuit on behalf of four environmental groups in Washington DC federal court challenging the move. They alleged that the environmental analysis behind the auction is flawed and violated federal law. Continue reading...

Warming sea and shifting food sources drive whales into areas where they risk ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gearClimate change-induced warming in the Gulf of Maine has resulted in the population of the North Atlantic right whale to plummet, leaving the species critically endangered and conservationists desperate for safeguards, according to a study published this week in the journal Oceanography.Related: Cape Cod: eight great white sharks seen feeding on humpback whale carcass Continue reading...

Infrastructure Australia calls for policy certainty to kickstart investment and prevent taxpayers being saddled with stranded assets

Chris Stark urges Treasury to speed up pace of decarbonisation strategy ahead of Cop26 summitThe UK’s top climate adviser has pushed back strongly against “defeatist” criticism that the country’s net zero target is expensive, and urged the Treasury to pick up the currently “incremental” pace of decarbonisation.Chris Stark, the chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), urged the debate over net zero to be framed in a more positive light: “It can be done,” he said. “It is worth it … I hope we can move away from thinking about the cost and see it as a mission to modernise the economy.” Continue reading...

Environmental demonstrators disobey orders to stay away from London financial districtDozens of Extinction Rebellion activists have carried out a mass act of non-violent civil disobedience by breaking bail conditions ordering them to stay away from the City of London financial district.The activists joined with hundreds of supporters in a low-key rally outside the Bank of England on Thursday afternoon, listening to speeches from a mobile sound system. Continue reading...

It shuddersThe writer Jenny Diski is on her way to Antarctica. At Grytviken, an abandoned whaling station on South Georgia, she spots a “grey, jellied mountain”.“Elephant seal is one of those euphemistic names humans give creatures who remind them of what they don’t want to be reminded of,” she writes. But her fellow travellers want to be reminded: they take pictures. Maybe the elephant seal will get a spot on someone’s wall. It will be the first time in history that a person has chosen to decorate using that face. Continue reading...

Residents in Alcanar say they feel fortunate no lives were lost after intense rain caused heavy floodingPeople in the town of Alcanar in north-east Spain have been assessing the damage caused to homes and businesses by flooding produced by intense rain that fell over large areas of the country.Residents said they were fortunate no lives had been lost when more than 250 litres of water per sq metre was dumped on the town between 12am and 6pm on Wednesday. Continue reading...

It’s media malpractice not to mention that burning fossil fuels drives extreme weather events like Hurricane IdaThe climate emergency is exploding in various parts of the world this week, but climate silence inexcusably continues to rein in much of the United States media.Hurricane Ida has left more than a million people in Louisiana without running water, electricity or air conditioning amid a heat index topping 100F. The Caldor fire destroyed hundreds of houses and forced mass evacuations around Lake Tahoe in California. Abroad, vast swaths of Siberia were ablaze while drought-parched Madagascar suffered what a United Nations official called the first famine caused entirely by climate change. Continue reading...

There’s a century of toxic sludge hiding in the Gowanus Canal, but it may not be enough to stop a mega-developer from building on itIn November, gigantic yellow excavators began scooping up the poisonous sludge colloquially known as “black mayonnaise” from the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, New York – a momentous step in a prolonged cleanup effort, 10 years after the waterway’s designation as a Superfund site.But the mood is bittersweet. Longtime residents who campaigned for the Superfund label say they are now facing another environmental battle: a proposed mega-development in the neighborhood that would sit on top of a century’s worth of toxic chemicals. Continue reading...