by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#5G03F)
Small group taking most flights should face frequent flyer levy, says environmental charityAn “elite minority” of frequent flyers cause most of the climate damage resulting from aviation’s emissions, according to an environmental charity.The report, which collates data from the countries with the highest aviation emissions, shows a worldwide pattern of a small group taking a large proportion of flights, while many people do not fly at all. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#5G023)
Calls for forests to be high on Cop26 agenda after loss of 42,000 sq km of tree cover in key tropical regionsThe rate at which the world’s forests are being destroyed increased sharply last year, with at least 42,000 sq km of tree cover lost in key tropical regions.According to data from the University of Maryland and the online monitoring platform Global Forest Watch, the loss was well above the average for the last 20 years, with 2020 the third worst year for forest destruction since 2002 when comparable monitoring began. Continue reading...
Former PM says Upper Hunter Valley mines are devastating the landscape and shortening life expectancy, and jobs focus should be on clean energy, tourism and wineMalcolm Turnbull has backed calls for a moratorium on new coalmine approvals in New South Wales, warning they are devastating the landscape, shortening lives by reducing air quality and – given declining global coal demand – potentially leaving taxpayers with a huge remediation bill.The former prime minister, who owns a farm in New South Wales’ Upper Hunter Valley, supported the findings of a new report by the Australia Institute that found new coal developments proposed in that area had the capacity to produce 10 times more coal than Adani’s controversial Carmichael mine in Queensland. Continue reading...
Black Summer report finds south coast forests particularly hard hit and prompts call for urgent review of logging rulesThe Berejiklian government is facing calls to stop all logging in New South Wales native forests after a forestry agency review found the catastrophic 2019-20 bushfires reduced the amount of available timber by as much as 30%.The report, published by the NSW Forestry Corporation on Friday night, finds the effects of the disaster have dramatically reduced the amount of timber that can be sustainably harvested in some areas, particularly on the state’s south coast. Continue reading...
New study released after Guardian Seascape investigation shows drop in seafood mislabelling, but campaigners argue it uses less strict methodologyCanada’s food safety authority has announced improved monitoring to tackle seafood fraud, after a recent Guardian Seascape analysis found fish mislabelling to be widespread. However,environmental campaigners are concerned samples taken for a key report behind the announcement did not include restaurants and food services and used a less accurate methodology.In its latest report, released on 24 March, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said only 8% of the seafood it had sampled in the past two years was mislabelled, after new investments in food fraud reduction. It looked at 352 samples collected from domestic processors, importers and packaged fish at supermarkets in 2019 and 2020. Continue reading...
Drastic steps taken to protect the Sierra Nevada’s 600 bighorn sheep after another charismatic species developed a taste for themIn order to save one endangered species, California scientists are having to relocate another iconic creature that is, regrettably, eating it.The California department of fish and wildlife is in the process of moving mountain lions over 100 miles away from struggling populations of bighorn sheep, which are unique to the Sierra Nevada mountains. The herbivores were first listed as endangered in 1999, when their population was estimated at only 125 individuals, according to researchers. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#5FYJ5)
Exclusive: scientists write to ministers and supreme court over recent ruling in Heathrow caseProminent scientists and lawyers have said the UK government’s decision to ignore the Paris climate agreement when deciding on major infrastructure projects undermines its presidency of UN climate talks this year.The experts – including the former Nasa scientist Jim Hansen, the former UK government chief scientist Sir David King and the economist Prof Jeffrey Sachs – have written to ministers and the supreme court about a recent ruling that the government need not take the UK’s obligations under the treaty into account when setting policy, made in a case concerning the proposed expansion of Heathrow airport. Continue reading...
Tariq Fancy once oversaw the start of the biggest effort to turn Wall Street ‘green’ – but now believes the climate crisis can never be solved by today’s free marketsFrom his desk in midtown Manhattan Tariq Fancy once oversaw the beginning of arguably the biggest, most ambitious, effort ever to turn Wall Street “green”. Now, as environmentally friendly investing grows at an exponential rate, Fancy has come to a stark conclusion: “This is definitely not going to work.”As the former chief investment officer for sustainable investing at BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, Fancy was charged with embedding environmental, social and governance (ESG) corporate policies across the investment giant’s portfolio. Continue reading...
Rejection comes as company criticised over plans to split its business in two as part of a move to clean up its emissions profileThe Victorian government has rejected on environmental grounds a proposal from energy giant AGL to build a gas import terminal at Crib Point in Western Port.It came as the company also came under criticism from climate campaigners over a plan to spin off its high-polluting coal power plants that would allow it to rebrand the clean part of its business as “new AGL”. Continue reading...
by Presented by Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on (#5FYCH)
Our colleagues from The age of extinction, Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield, are back with two new episodes. We often talk as if we know what species exist in the world – but we don’t. Could misclassifying the notoriously cryptic fungi have broader implications for what we know about the environment, and how we care for it? Continue reading...
‘The economics are going to drive EV adoption,’ company founder says, citing petrol costsAustralia may take another small step in the switch to electric cars if an ambitious $40m plan by the ride-hailing rental startup Splend to transition its fleet takes off.The company has said it will swap its petrol-driven cars in the UK for 1,000 electric vehicles by the end of the year, with half the 1,500 vehicles in Australia to follow by the end of 2022. Continue reading...
Biden administration’s effort to increase offshore wind energy is part of plan to generate power for more than 10m homes by 2030The Biden administration is moving to sharply increase offshore wind energy along the US east coast, saying on Monday it is taking steps toward approving a huge windfarm off New Jersey as part of an effort to generate electricity for more than 10m homes by 2030. Continue reading...
Czechs and Germans who live in the shadow of the vast Turów mine claim it is an environmental menace. Some in Poland want to weaponise its defenceWhen the Czech government announced it was taking Poland to Europe’s highest court it came as a surprise to Warsaw. After all, EU countries rarely sue one another. Prague’s demand is a politically explosive one. Not only is it challenging the extension of mining activity at Turów, a vast lignite mine that has been in operation for nearly 100 years, it also wants the European court of justice to order its immediate closure.Sandwiched between Germany and the Czech Republic in the Silesia region of south-west Poland, the open-pit mine is depleting the groundwater supplies of its neighbours and violates EU environmental law, the Czech government alleges. On the Czech and German sides of the border, communities blame Turów for draining their water and causing dangerous levels of air and noise pollution. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#5FXRQ)
Research links consumption of foods such as coffee and chocolate to global deforestationThe average western consumer of coffee, chocolate, beef, palm oil and other commodities is responsible for the felling of four trees every year, many in wildlife-rich tropical forests, research has calculated.Destruction of forests is a major cause of both the climate crisis and plunging wildlife populations, as natural ecosystems are razed for farming. The study is the first to fully link high-resolution maps of global deforestation to the wide range of commodities imported by each country across the world. Continue reading...
John Mappin, who chairs Dutch Green Business Group, has funded conservative political causesNigel Farage’s new employer is part-owned by a wealthy British businessman and Donald Trump supporter who has promoted the far-right QAnon conspiracy.Dutch Green Business (DGB) Group, which says it aims to offset carbon dioxide emissions by planting trees, announced its appointment of Farage as the first member of its advisory board on Sunday. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#5FXD4)
UN development chief says access to finance is vital if upcoming Cop26 climate talks are to be a successBoris Johnson’s government must take the lead in giving poor countries access to the finance they need to tackle the climate crisis, to make vital climate talks a success, the UN’s development chief has said.Ministers from around the world will meet virtually this week at a conference hosted by the UK to discuss the needs of developing nations struggling to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, as their economies have been left reeling by the Covid pandemic. Continue reading...
Labour’s leader on climate says Boris Johnson must face up to ‘terrifying’ challenge of stopping global warmingThe UK must tell the truth about the “terrifying and exacting” scale of the challenge the world faces to avoid climate breakdown as it prepares to host a make or break summit of world leaders later this year, Ed Miliband has warned.“A cosy consensus” between politicians, policymakers and some NGOs, focusing on long-term net zero targets rather than short-term action, could prove disastrous, he said. Instead, Boris Johnson’s government must focus on persuading countries to implement immediate far-reaching reductions in emissions and throw everything at making the conference in Glasgow in November a success, including enlisting the help of former prime ministers like Theresa May and Gordon Brown. Continue reading...
Rebecca Pow says government will have to report on efforts to reduce discharge from storm overflowsThe environment minister, Rebecca Pow, has promised to bring in legislation to reduce discharge of raw sewage into rivers. Pow said that she would be placing a legal duty on government to come up with a plan to cut dumping by water companies by September 2022.Pressure has been growing on water companies and ministers as evidence grows of the scale of the issue and amid increasing evidence of the poor state of rivers. Continue reading...
by Helen Sullivan and Michael Standaert on (#5FX5J)
Thick dust carrying extremely high levels of hazardous particles blows in from drought-hit MongoliaThe second sandstorm to hit China in less than a fortnight has reversed the colours of the sky, turning the sun blue and the heavens yellow.Beijing woke on Sunday morning shrouded in thick dust carrying extremely high levels of hazardous particles. Continue reading...
As soon as you’re sure you imagined them, on they go again“Thou aeronautical boll weevil / Illuminate yon woods primeval,” the Mills Brothers sang in 1952, imploring glow-worms to “Light the path below, above / And lead us on to love”. John Keats, comparing the fairness of goddess Psyche with the bright white moon and the evening star (spoiler: she is fairer than both), refers to the star as an “amorous glow-worm of the sky”. Seamus Heaney poked a glow-worm with a blunt stick and “a tiny brightening den lit the eye” – turning the stick into a wand.Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo. I’m in Mozambique, it is dark, and there is a wedding tomorrow. I have just had my first – and I don’t know it yet, but only – drink in a coconut. I chose Fanta Grape. Outside at the restaurant, I see my first glow-worms. It is possible that they are fireflies, but they’re still: on the branches of what I hope are hibiscus trees, but then again, I would happily plant a hibiscus in every memory I have. Continue reading...
Australia Institute calls for rule change to allow renewables to replace fossil fuels in underpinning grid reliabilityRenewable energy and batteries can secure Australia’s electricity grid as effectively as coal and gas, new research suggests.The research, commissioned by the Australia Institute thinktank and released on Monday, found clean technologies provided the fast frequency response service and voltage control needed to secure the energy grid and reduce cost. But the report says regulatory barriers currently limit the ability of renewable energy and batteries to provide system security. Continue reading...
Steven Donziger has been detained at home since August 2019, the result of a Kafkaesque legal battle stemming from his crusade on behalf of Indigenous AmazoniansMany of us will have felt the grip of claustrophobic isolation over the past year, but the lawyer Steven Donziger has experienced an extreme, very personal confinement as a pandemic arrived and then raged around him in New York City.On Sunday, Donziger reached his 600th day of an unprecedented house arrest that has resulted from a sprawling, Kafkaesque legal battle with the oil giant Chevron. Donziger spearheaded a lengthy crusade against the company on behalf of tens of thousands of Indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest whose homes and health were devastated by oil pollution, only to himself become, as he describes it, the victim of a “planned targeting by a corporation to destroy my life”. Continue reading...
Lifesaving research on fighting drought and climate change at risk after snap decision to halt crucial fundingFor two years, the Rwandan-born scientist Anita Etale has been leading efforts to develop cheap methods to clean contaminated water supplies, a widespread problem in Africa.Based at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, South Africa, Etale had a £300,000 grant from Britain’s Royal Society in 2019 to build a team of researchers, who went on to develop cleaning filters using maize and sugarcane stubble. “Finding cheap source materials is crucial to make affordable filters,” Etale said Continue reading...
Outlawing the sale of the controversial delicacy will now be easier because of Brexit but could still be challenged by the WTOFoie gras has been served in one form or another at the banquets of the pharaohs and the court of Louis XIV.But present-day fans are losing the battle to keep foie gras on the menu in Britain, after years of campaigning by opponents appalled at its production by force-feeding ducks and geese. Continue reading...
Summit is designed to revive a US-convened forum of the world’s major economies that previous administrations had allowed to lapseJoe Biden is doubling down on his reset of his predecessor’s environmental policies by inviting the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jinping of China to the first big climate talks of his administration next month aimed at increasing cooperation to fight global heating.The Leaders Summit on Climate talks, scheduled to be held virtually on 22 and 23 April, are an opportunity for the US to shape, hasten and deepen global efforts to cut climate-wrecking fossil fuel pollution, administration officials told the Associated Press. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#5FW60)
£1.5bn scheme at heart of Boris Johnson’s ‘build back better’ promise has struggled since launchThe government has scrapped its flagship green homes grant scheme, the centrepiece of Boris Johnson’s promise to “build back greener” from the Covid-19 pandemic, just over six months after its launch.The abandonment of the £1.5bn programme, which offered households grants of up to £5,000 or £10,000 to put in insulation or low-carbon heating, leaves the UK without a plan for tackling one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Continue reading...
Relentless student pressure and the cold facts of the bottom line forced an institution with close ties to the car industry to reverse course in just six yearsIf you want proof of how decisively the climate zeitgeist has begun to shift, you could look to Washington and the transition between the Trump and Biden eras.But you could also look further west, to Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan, which routinely tops the rankings of America’s best public universities. It’s a massive institution whose faculty and graduates have collected scores of Nobel, Pulitzer and MacArthur prizes; somewhere on the surface of the moon there’s a plaque marking its first extraterrestrial alumni chapter, because all the astronauts on Apollo 15 had studied there. It couldn’t be more middle-American, with deep ties to, among other things, the state’s world-leading automotive industry. Continue reading...
Conservationists build 400-tonne structure to tempt migrating birds back to nature reserve after 25 yearsA giant “sandcastle” has been constructed to encourage sand martins to nest at a nature reserve for the first time in 25 years, Surrey Wildlife Trust has said.The 400-tonne sand installation at Spynes Mere, near Merstham, Surrey, was built by professional sand sculptors who used a “giant bucket mould” made from wooden boards, as well as the help of diggers and dumper trucks. Continue reading...
Yurok Tribe will create a captive breeding facility in Redwood national park for birds that could be released as early as this fallAfter a century of absence, the endangered California condor is set to return to the skies of the Pacific north-west.The condor once soared from British Columbia to Mexico, but habitat loss, overhunting and, most significantly, poisoning from hunting ammunition drove the birds to near extinction. Continue reading...
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin among invitees as US heralds return to forefront of climate fightJoe Biden has invited 40 world leaders to a virtual summit on the climate crisis, the White House said in a statement on Friday.Heads of state, including Xi Jinping of China and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, have been asked to attend the two-day meeting meant to mark Washington’s return to the front lines of the fight against human-caused climate change, after Donald Trump disengaged from the process. Continue reading...
Cairns event sees 120 traditional owners and scientists share insights on tackling heatwaves, rising seas and species deathsMore than 100 traditional owners and leading scientists from across Australia met this week to build a national First Nations voice on climate change.From marine heatwaves and rising seas to bushfires and mass species deaths, climate change is having a major impact on First Peoples, their country, health and culture. Continue reading...
Many believe the South Island kōkako to be extinct – but the recovery of its North Island relative has given conservationists hopeThere are few good news stories in conservation, but one group of committed volunteers in New Zealand is hoping for something better – a miracle.Spurred on by the successful recovery of the North Island kōkako – a large, long-legged songbird with a blue wattle and haunting call – they are searching the South Island for its close relative, though many already believe it to be lost. Continue reading...
Sighting in Primorye region said to show success of fight against poachers and steps to boost species populationRussian conservationists have hailed a rare sighting of an Amur leopard mother with three cubs in the far-eastern region of Primorye as proof of the efficiency of the country’s efforts to boost the population of the endangered species.Scientists in a Russian national park in Primorye on the border with China obtained the images using a remote camera trap. The video footage shows the feline family standing on top of a hill in the Land of the Leopard national park. Continue reading...
Researchers say half a million infections might have been stopped if more states had suspended disconnections during pandemicA national moratorium on water shutoffs could have prevented almost half a million Covid infections and saved at least 9,000 lives, according to new research.Related: Make it rain: US states embrace 'cloud seeding' to conquer drought Continue reading...
Officials warn residents to be on the watch for flood water runoff containing sewage, chemicals and debrisSome New South Wales beaches will close and towns put on tight water restrictions after this week’s wild weather saw flood water runoff containing sewage, chemicals and debris dumped into major waterways.Guardian Australia understands that all Central Coast beaches will be closed over the weekend. There will also be widespread closures on the mid- and lower-north coast, with water quality and debris posing safety concerns for beachgoers and surf lifesavers. Continue reading...
The UK’s cycling infrastructure is hostile to women – and smart new measures in Paris and Lisbon show that change is overdueIt was enraging and exhausting to read comments on social media in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder from men suggesting she had made a “poor decision” to walk home alone in the dark. Every day, women and gender non-conforming people reflexively make calculations about their safety in a way that most men do not have to – and yet sometimes, tragically, it still is not enough.We have normalised a society in which men can move around as they please while the rest of us fear for our lives for the simple act of travelling home. Continue reading...
As world shifts to green energy, Iraq and Nigeria among those vulnerable to ‘wave of instability’Oil-dependent countries that are not preparing to adapt to the global shift away from fossil fuels risk their own stability, warns a new report.Algeria, Iraq and Nigeria are the most vulnerable to “a slow-motion wave of political instability”, according to the risk analysts Verisk Maplecroft. Continue reading...
Plan to create 50 million customers after takeover of Octopus Renewables hands UK supplier 300 projects in six countriesThe UK’s fastest growing energy supplier will soon become one of Europe’s biggest renewable energy investors in a deal worth more than £3bn, which could bring green energy to 50 million homes in six years.Octopus Energy will snap up its sister company Octopus Renewables in a move that will hand the startup a portfolio of about 300 renewable energy projects, across six different countries, enough to power more than 1.2 million homes. Continue reading...
Much of net-zero target could be met if JBS ended deforestation by Amazon suppliers, say campaignersThe Brazilian company JBS, the world’s biggest meat processor, has announced record profits a day after it pledged to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 – the first global meat and poultry company to do so.Surging exports to China and Hong Kong fed its record profit of 4bn Brazilian reais (£516m) for the last quarter of 2020 – up a staggering 65% on the previous year – the company said on Wednesday night. Sales to China and Hong Kong from Brazil grew by about 60%, it said. Continue reading...
Species has more than quadrupled since 2009 thanks to the Endangered Species Act, according to a recent reportThe number of American bald eagles has more than quadrupled since 2009, according to a recent report by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.The species, once on the brink of extinction, has grown to 316,700 birds and 71,400 nesting pairs in the 2019 breeding season. US officials say the “strong return” of American bald eagles is a reminder of the importance of federal conservation efforts and protections, such as banning the pesticide DDT. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#5FSA6)
All options to fight climate crisis must be explored, says national academy, but critics fear side-effectsThe US should establish a multimillion-dollar research programme on solar geoengineering, according to the country’s national science academy.In a report it recommends funding of $100m (£73m) to $200m over five years to better understand the feasibility of interventions to dim the sun, the risk of harmful unintended consequences and how such technology could be governed in an ethical way. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#5FS7K)
Preserving Latin America’s forests is vital to fight the climate crisis and deforestation is lower in indigenous territoriesThe embattled indigenous peoples of Latin America are by far the best guardians of the regions’ forests, according to a UN report, with deforestation rates up to 50% lower in their territories than elsewhere.Protecting the vast forests is vital to tackling the climate crisis and plummeting populations of wildlife, and the report found that recognising the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples to their land is one of the most cost-effective actions. The report also calls for the peoples to be paid for the environmental benefits their stewardship provides, and for funding for the revitalisation of their ancestral knowledge of living in harmony with nature. Continue reading...