Environment | The Guardian

ClientEarth calls for tobacco-like health warnings on advertisements from fossil fuel firmsSome of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies have used advertising to “greenwash” their ongoing contribution to the climate crisis, according to files published by the environmental lawyers ClientEarth. They describe the practice as “a great deception”.The files compare the adverts produced by ExxonMobil, Aramco, Chevron, Shell, Equinor and others with the companies’ operations and products, overall climate impact and progress toward climate-safe business models. Continue reading...

Study finds returns must repay four times the payoff from clean energy investment to justify escalating riskCoal financing costs have surged over the last decade as investors demand returns four times as high as the payoff required from renewable energy projects to justify the risk of investing in fossil fuels, as the world moves towards cleaner energy sources.A University of Oxford study found that over the same period the cost of investing in renewable energy sources, such as windfarms and solar arrays, has tumbled as the clean energy technologies prove they can be cost-effective and lucrative investments. Continue reading...

Understanding these tiny organisms could be crucial to tackling threats such as coronavirus, but new research shows how little we knowA new study has highlighted how little is known about microbes – the hidden majority of life on Earth.Life on the planet relies on an enormous quantity of bacteria, fungi and other tiny organisms. They generate oxygen, keep soils healthy and regulate the climate. Microbes play a crucial role in food production, such as cheese, beer, yoghurt and bread. Continue reading...

New mines won’t boost world demand for Australian coal — but they will cannibalise jobs from existing coalminesThe New South Wales government is simultaneously committed to a net-zero emissions target for 2050 at the same time as new coalmines in the Hunter Valley with the capacity to produce 10 times more coal than Adani’s Carmichael mine are being proposed by the industry. Welcome to the topsy turvy world of Australian climate policy.Australia is the third-largest exporter of fossil fuels, behind only Saudi Arabia and Russia. But because of the way that international accounting rules for greenhouse gas emissions work, the emissions from burning the enormous amounts of coal and gas we export do not “count” towards Australia’s emissions. When Australia exports iron ore and coal to be turned into steel, cars and fridges that are sent back to Australia, it’s China that gets blamed for the emissions, not Australia. Cool, huh? Continue reading...

Robert Habeck or Annalena Baerbock will be named as party’s candidate for chancellorshipFive months before national elections, a Green party that once styled itself as the rebel of German politics is finding itself in an unusually respectable position.The party’s standing in the polls – in second place at 21-23% of the vote – means it will on Monday, for the first time in its 41-year history, nominate a candidate for chancellor. Furthermore, that candidate will have a realistic chance of filling the top job in German politics by the end of the year. Continue reading...

Hydraulic pumps can collect a day’s worth of clams in minutes, but experts are concerned about how they affect the ecosystemAlong the beaches of northern California, and the past year has seen a boom in crowds on the hunt for one of the region’s favorite edible delights: clams.But among the buckets and shovels, clam hunters are increasingly coming armed with a powerful new tool: hand-operated, water-squirting pumps that allow them to take more clams, faster than ever before. Continue reading...

Johnny Gogan’s documentary highlights the misconceived plans of corporations that hoped to avoid protestersIn 2010, the American film-maker Josh Fox released something that in retrospect looks like one of the most influential and original documentaries of recent times: GasLand. It was about something new to many at the time: fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, under the earth to release natural gas from shale rock, at the risk of polluting the water table and turning areas of natural beauty into sludge dumps – and that is aside from the existing larger implications of gas consumption.The film alerted many to a new environmental menace, and it plays its historic role in this new film from Johnny Gogan about the anti-fracking campaign in Ireland, often by people who were energised by seeing GasLand and determined to resist what one campaigner calls the new way of “scraping the bottom of the fossil-fuel barrel”. Exactly so. The coronavirus pandemic has, understandably, diverted many people’s attention from the climate crisis. But there is no vaccination for climate change. Continue reading...

UK’s ‘bag for a week’ habit is no green alternative – rather, it has created more problems for the environmentGreen campaigners have urged higher prices for so-called bags for life after dramatic sales increases at some retailers since the ending of sales of single-use plastic carrier bags.Marks & Spencer sold six times as many bags for life in 2019 as the year before, up from 13.4m to 82.6m, according to figures from Greenpeace and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Iceland tripled its sales, to 107.3m from 34m the previous year. Continue reading...

Project is part of national plan to help the endangered species prosper after numbers plunge by halfFor the first time in 100 years, dormice have the freedom to roam among the rolling hills of the Yorkshire Dales, thanks to a project to restore their delicate natural habitat.Landowners and farmers in Wensleydale have grown a six-mile continuous stretch of woodland and hedgerows to provide a highway to join up two fledgeling populations of the charming native mammals. Continue reading...

World’s biggest polluters release joint commitment to climate action following John Kerry visit to ShanghaiThe US and China have “committed to cooperating” on the pressing issue of climate change, the two sides said in a joint statement on Saturday, following a visit to Shanghai by US climate envoy John Kerry.“The United States and China are committed to cooperating with each other and with other countries to tackle the climate crisis, which must be addressed with the seriousness and urgency that it demands,” said the statement from Kerry and China’s special envoy for climate change, Xie Zhenhua. Continue reading...

Federal-state deal will lower power prices, PM says, unlock gas supplies and start work on an interconnector between SA and NSWThe federal government has signed a $1bn deal with South Australia to reduce the cost and boost the reliability of energy supplies.The prime minister, Scott Morrison, announced the deal on Sunday. It will include a $660m commitment from the commonwealth and $422m from the state government. Continue reading...

While the climate-themed product seems attractive, it is not for the faint-heartedGreen-minded individuals with an appetite for risk are being targeted by a new investment paying an eye-catching 9% interest a year.This five-year green bond, launched this week by the crowdfunding platform Abundance Investment, seeks to raise £4m for a private company called Iduna to finance the installation of 50 new electric vehicle charging points in Greater Manchester, provided in partnership with Transport for Greater Manchester. Continue reading...

UK officials are exploring restrictions on product after minister described it as ‘unbearably barbaric’The head of France’s foie gras producers’ association has said she is “shocked and outraged” that the British government is considering banning imports of the product.And she has invited MPs to visit French farms producing foie gras to see the force feeding of ducks and geese and judge for themselves whether it is “cruel and torturous”, as animal rights campaigners claim. Continue reading...

Ley understood to have told state counterparts coordinating with them on climate mitigation beyond her portfolioThe environment minister, Sussan Ley, has rebuffed a push by her state counterparts to be kept in the loop about the Morrison government’s plans for climate action ahead of international talks in Glasgow in November – telling them she is not responsible for mitigation efforts.Several sources have confirmed to Guardian Australia there was a stoush in Thursday’s meeting between Ley and a number of state ministers, both Liberal and Labor. Continue reading...

Directors of company linked to firm that advised government on western Sydney development and claimed millions in offset credits deny any conflict of interestThere are calls for multiple investigations into the New South Wales government’s purchase of millions of dollars in conservation offset credits from a company linked to a firm that was advising the government on major road developments in western Sydney.Labor has called on the Berejiklian government to launch an independent investigation into the transactions, while the independent MLC Justin Field said the purchases and the state’s entire biodiversity offsetting regime should be reviewed by the NSW auditor general. Continue reading...

High street chain’s farm project could put pressure on wild pollinators, warn conservationistsAn attempt by Marks & Spencer to “do good for the environment” by releasing 30 million honeybees into the British countryside has backfired, with conservationists warning the initiative could damage ecosystems and deprive wild pollinators of valuable food sources.The UK retailer has placed up to 1,000 beehives on 25 farms to produce single-estate honey for customers as part of its five-year Farming with Nature programme. The bees are in cedar beehives, many made in the 1930s, with plenty of nectar nearby, according to a company blog. Continue reading...

Governments to hold three-week virtual meeting next month before climate summit in NovemberPreparations for vital UN climate talks to take place this year in Glasgow are set to intensify next month, after nations compromised over how to conduct virtual negotiations ahead of the summit.The climate talks, called Cop26, are set for November after being postponed for a year owing to the coronavirus pandemic. The summit is viewed as one of the last chances to put the world on track to fulfil the 2015 Paris climate agreement, and tackle the climate emergency. Continue reading...

Local rangers and park authorities say wild creatures have become used to the absence of humans

Landmark case says thousands of birds including endangered eagles die needlessly each yearIn Leonard Cohen’s famous song, a bird on a wire is a symbol of freedom, but for thousands of birds it is the equivalent of being sent to the electric chair.Now, in a landmark case, a Spanish electricity company is being prosecuted over the deaths of hundreds of birds electrocuted on pylons and overhead cables and for failing to comply with regulations designed to protect wildlife. Continue reading...

Canada announced a more full-throated response to the potential extinction of the owl within its borders and boost the speciesThere are only three known northern spotted owls left in the wild in Canada, including just one breeding pair. Their chicks have on occasion been taken for a captive breeding program, to try and boost the species’ prospects. Continue reading...

A new initiative to turn glass bottles from New Orleans’ many drinking spots into tiny particles of sand has raised hopes of a green transformationDave Clements, owner of Snake and Jake’s Christmas Club Lounge, a beloved dive bar in New Orleans, has watched Louisiana’s coast shrink year after year.Related: Living near a US toxic waste site could shave a year off your life, study finds Continue reading...

Forests cover 70% of the country, but many argue the Swedish model of replacing old-growth forests with monoculture plantations is bad for biodiversity. By Marcus Westberg Continue reading...

Nearly 70% of Sweden is forested but many environmentalists and indigenous Sami reindeer herders argue that the Swedish model of clearing old-growth forests and planting monoculture plantations is bad for biodiversity. Photographer Marcus Westberg has captured the forestry industry’s impact on the landscape in the north of the country Continue reading...

The mysterious world under our feet is under threat. Protecting it is as vital as tackling the climate crisis, scientists warnHidden under our feet is a miniature landscape made up of tunnels, caves and decaying matter. Soil is where a quarter of the species on our planet are believed to live and in this dark, quiet, damp world, death feeds life. Rotting leaves, fruits, plants and organisms are folded into the soil and burped out as something new.Good soil structure provides many nooks and crannies that house organisms, which, in turn, create an environment that suits them, directly altering – and improving – the structure of soil. Like a collective of tiny chemists, they keep soils healthy and productive by passing nutrients between them, either by collaborating or killing each other. Continue reading...

National agreement on items covered by ban should provide businesses with certainty and ease consumer confusionPlastic cutlery and straws are among the types of single-use plastics to be phased out in Australia from 2025 under a plan to reduce plastic waste.A national meeting of environment ministers on Thursday confirmed the phase-out would cover eight types of “problematic and unnecessary” plastic waste: lightweight plastic bags; plastic misleadingly labelled “degradable”; plastic utensils and stirrers; plastic straws; polystyrene food containers; polystyrene consumer goods packaging; and microbeads in personal care products. Continue reading...

Jordan Gerbich, 30, will serve three months in federal prison and pay a $1,000 fine for killing the animalA man has been sentenced to three months in federal prison for shooting a protected northern elephant seal to death on the central California coast.Armed with a .45-caliber handgun and a flashlight, on the night of 2 September 2019 Jordan Gerbich, 30, opened fire on an elephant seal at a popular viewing area where the giant aquatic mammals haul out along the shore near the Monterey Bay national marine sanctuary. The elephant seal was discovered the following morning with a bullet wound to the head and its tail fins cut off, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Continue reading...

People urged to stay away from Dorset beach with council expecting more unstable cliff face to fallA huge section of a cliff on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset has collapsed on to a beach below and into the sea in the biggest UK rockfall in 60 years.The rockfall happened just west of the south coast seaside town of Weymouth and Dorset council said more cliff was expected to be lost, with people being urged to stay away from the area. Parts of the coastal path were cordoned off. Continue reading...

Shareholder activists say cleaner energy transition fails to meet Paris climate goals and they will put rival scheme to oil firm’s AGMRoyal Dutch Shell has urged investors to vote for its strategy to shift the business towards cleaner energy sources, despite warnings that the plan does not go far enough to meet the Paris climate agreement goals.The oil company set out its energy transition plan before its annual shareholder meeting in May, when investors will be able to take part in an advisory vote on Shell’s climate plans for the first time. The vote will not be binding. Continue reading...

President of surrounding Lazio region says pine tortoise scale problem requires immediate actionThe battle is on to save Rome’s umbrella pine trees – as much a part of the landscape of the Italian capital as its ancient monuments – from a deadly parasite.The trees, which offer respite from Rome’s summer heat, have become infested with pine tortoise scale, insects originally from North America that are capable of killing pines in two to three years. Continue reading...

Thousands of abandoned oil wells dot the Permian Basin in west Texas and New Mexico, endangering humans and wildlife. With oil costs plummeting, they’re likely to proliferate. Who is going to cover the cleanup costs?When Laura Briggs and her husband finally found their dream home in west Texas, they knew they’d be sharing space with the oil industry. The Pecos county ranch’s previous owner, local attorney Windel “Hoot” Gibson, died there when a rickety old pumpjack teetered over and fell on top of him.But sharing 900 acres with a handful of old oil wells seemed like a fair trade for a spacious ranch where the Briggs family could raise four kids and a mess of farm animals. The property is smack dab in the middle of the Permian Basin, an ancient, dried-up sea that streaks across Texas and New Mexico and is the most productive oil field in the United States. Approximately 3m barrels of the Permian’s monthly crude production happens in Pecos county; there is an oil or gas well for roughly every two people here. Continue reading...

Research shows warehouses, which have proliferated in California’s Inland Empire, bring pollution that disproportionately affects people of colorAmazon has dramatically expanded its warehouses in southern California in the past year, part of an effort to speed up deliveries during the pandemic’s online shopping boom. Continue reading...

‘Little Mr Tritium’ was meant to help win support for release of contaminated water into seaThe Japanese government has been forced to quickly retire an animated character it had hoped would win support for its decision this week to release more than 1m tonnes of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea.Although the water will be treated before being discharged, it will still contain tritium, a radioactive hydrogen isotope represented on a government website by a cute fish-like creature with rosy cheeks. Continue reading...

One large shareholder has said it is not happy with the company’s greenhouse gas targets and would vote against the re-election of a director

Environmental group warns UK’s £750m funding for fossil fuel project could worsen Isis-led insurgencyThe UK government is facing fresh calls to abandon its £750m plan to support a gas export terminal in Mozambique over fears the fossil fuel project is stoking the insurgency in the north of the country, which has left thousands of people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands.In a letter to the government, seen by the Guardian, lawyers for the environmental group Friends of the Earth have warned that the huge natural gas project has worsened the conflict in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, and called on the UK government to withdraw its financial support. Continue reading...

Pristine areas in the Amazon and Siberia may expand with animal reintroductions, scientists sayJust 3% of the world’s land remains ecologically intact with healthy populations of all its original animals and undisturbed habitat, a study suggests.These fragments of wilderness undamaged by human activities are mainly in parts of the Amazon and Congo tropical forests, east Siberian and northern Canadian forests and tundra, and the Sahara. Invasive alien species including cats, foxes, rabbits, goats and camels have had a major impact on native species in Australia, with the study finding no intact areas left. Continue reading...

Lucrative pay and share options linked to continued extraction of fossil fuels by ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BPLucrative pay and share options have created an incentive for oil company executives to resist climate action, according to a study that casts doubt on recent net-zero commitments by BP and Shell.Compensation packages for CEOs, often in excess of $10m (£7.2m), are linked to continued extraction of fossil fuels, exploration of new fields and the promotion of strong market demand through advertising, lobbying and government subsidies, the report says. Continue reading...

Move towards renewables to hit net zero by 2060 would also pay off with saving of $1.6tn, analysis findsChina must shut down nearly 600 of its coal-fired power plants in the next 10 years, replacing them with renewable electricity generation, to meet its goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2060, a report has said.But replacing the 364GW of coal generation with renewable power would achieve a net saving of $1.6tn (£1.2tn) over the period, since wind and solar power are now much cheaper than coal, according to the analysis company TransitionZero. Continue reading...

An urban wildlife refuge is meant to alleviate generations of environmental racism that has beset the historic neighborhood of Mountain View. That’s assuming it can meet the community’s needsAlbuquerque’s South Valley was once a thriving oasis of food production watered by a network of historic irrigation canals, or acequias. Today, it’s home to several historic neighborhoods along the Rio Grande, including Mountain View.Related: The climate emergency is here. The media needs to act like it Continue reading...

Move comes after environment group identified six areas on east coast it says need more protection in wake of fires

Climate Council report says most emissions cuts need to occur in the next decade to keep global heating below 2C

Activists say the ‘heart of Africa’ line shipping crude from Uganda to Tanzania is unnecessary and poses a huge environmental risk

Report author calls for thorough clean-up of political donations, directorships and embedded internsBoris Johnson’s government is “too cosy” with vested interests in business to take strong action on the climate crisis, the author of a report on “the polluting elite” has warned.Peter Newell, a professor of international relations at the University of Sussex, said: “We are never going to have change while these actors are so close to government. The government is not willing to take on these interests as it has close ties to big industries, including fossil fuels. There is a definite reluctance to take them on.” Continue reading...

Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, says the US food system is built on injustices but there is hope where people are prioritizing the right to foodThe Covid-19 pandemic has not only been a public health crisis, it has also been a hunger crisis. When millions of Americans lost their jobs, they no longer had enough money to feed themselves and their families. Hunger predictably struck people who were already marginalized. As was evidenced by long lines at food banks, it also struck middle-class families and exacerbated inequality. Even with vaccines, people continue getting weak and sick during the pandemic and the burden is disproportionately landing on women to work harder to ensure everyone stays healthy and alive.To add injury upon injury, parts of the food system are also a public health hazard. For example, meatpacking plants in the US and around the world have fostered the pandemic, spreading the virus to nearby communities due to poor working conditions and environmental abuses. Continue reading...

Leaders condemn ‘unsolicited involvement by others in our territory’ as activists seek to protect old-growth treesTwo chiefs of a First Nation in western Canada have told anti-old growth logging protesters camped out on their traditional lands to pack up and go home.Operating under the banner of the Rainforest Flying Squad, a group of predominantly non-Indigenous activists have been blocking logging roads across a swath of southern Vancouver Island and calling for an immediate halt to old-growth logging since last August. Continue reading...

Fukushima plant operator Tepco suffers blow to plans to resume at its only operable atomic facilityThe operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant has been prevented from restarting its only operable atomic facility after a series of safety breaches, dealing a significant blow to Japanese attempts to resume nuclear power generation.Japan’s nuclear regulator is to issue a “corrective action order” on Wednesday that would ban Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) from transporting new uranium fuel to its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata prefecture or loading fuel rods into its reactors. Continue reading...

National Weather Service station in Massachusetts evacuated on 31 March with a demolition crew set to raze the site this monthTwice a day for the past half a century, a weather balloon to measure atmospheric conditions was released from a research station situated on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Faced with advancing seas that are set to devour it, the outpost has now been abandoned.On 31 March, the handful of workers who operated the National Weather Service station in Chatham were evacuated due to fears the property could fall into the Atlantic Ocean. A final weather balloon was released before they left, with a demolition crew set to raze the empty site this month. Continue reading...

Drive to plant more trees will count for little if existing woods are lost, says Woodland TrustThe UK’s native woodlands are reaching a crisis point, with just 7% in good condition, according to the first comprehensive assessment of their health.The Woodland Trust’s report found the woods facing a barrage of threats, including destruction by development, imported pests and diseases, the impacts of the climate crisis and pollution. Woodland specialist birds and butterflies have declined by almost half since 1970, it said. Continue reading...

Conservationists hope the return of the near-extinct herbivore – ‘a living strimmer’ – will clear the undergrowth that fuels fires

Persistent noise from natural gas wells in New Mexico disrupted birds that feed on and distribute pinyon seedsAs humans proliferate, we have penetrated deeper into wildlife habitats, creating a pervasive rise in environmental sound with our gadgets, traffic and industry. A growing body of research has shown how noise pollution adversely affects animal behaviour – but a study suggests the detrimental effects have trickled down to plants as well.To investigate the long-term ecological effects of persistent noise, researchers chose the Rattlesnake Canyon habitat management area in New Mexico. Dominated by woodland plants, the area in the US south-west contains a high density of natural gas wells, some of which are coupled with compressors that run continuously and generate chronic noise at up to 100 decibels. That is as loud “as being next to the speakers at a Black Sabbath concert or standing right next to the train tracks as the train goes by”, said Dr Jenny Phillips, who was lead author of the study while at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. Other wells are devoid of compressors. Continue reading...