Environment | The Guardian

River Chess Association say untreated sewage is causing untold harm to infant trout and other habitats

Kaja Kallas, 43, took power on Tuesday after the previous coalition collapsed due to a corruption scandalEstonia’s first female prime minister has promised to implement changes in both style and substance in the governance of the Baltic nation, as she takes charge after two years in which a far-right party was in the ruling coalition.Kaja Kallas, a 43-year-old lawyer and head of Estonia’s Reform party, was sworn into office on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Three-year-old boy among those missing in floodwaters in the country’s northern and western islandsOne person has died, and five, including a three-year-old boy, are still missing after Cyclone Ana pummelled Fiji on Sunday, just over a month after category 5 Cyclone Yasa tore through the country’s northern islands.Two more cyclones are already forming off Fiji’s coastline, and cyclone season still has three months left to run. Continue reading...

Preliminary meetings could have created world’s second biggest oil company amid crude price crisis during pandemicThe chief executives of American oil companies ExxonMobil and Chevron held preliminary talks in early 2020 to explore combining the two largest US oil producers in what would have been the biggest merger of all time, according to people familiar with the matter.The discussions, which are no longer ongoing, are being seen as having tested the waters for the huge corporate marriage after the coronavirus pandemic shook the world last year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Continue reading...

Ministers consulting about changes, which could include payments for making homes better protectedHomeowners in flood-hit areas could be entitled to discounted insurance premiums if they install protections against the elements under government proposals.Ministers on Monday launched a consultation into plans for insured householders to be able to claim money to cover the damage caused and receive funds to make their homes more resilient. Continue reading...

The spring lockdown brought butterflies and biodiversity to the Spanish city, and inspired a reimagining of its relationship with natureWhen Barcelona’s inhabitants emerged from a six-week lockdown at the end of April last year, they found that while the city had lain dormant, nature had been busy transforming the streets and parks into a bucolic wilderness.“The parks were shut, so there was no pressure on them from humans or dogs and no gardening was carried out,” says Margarita Parés, who heads the city’s biodiversity programme. Continue reading...

Sunday deadline for HSE to inform activists at Euston of steps being taken to ensure their safetyThe environmental activists in the network of tunnels in front of Euston station in central London have launched an emergency legal action against safety regulators.It has been confirmed that there are nine protesters in the tunnel constructed as a protest against the high speed rail link HS2, which is due to terminate at Euston when it is completed. Continue reading...

More electric vehicles, renewable energy and forests are among the steps recommended to help meet Paris accordsNew Zealand needs to urgently increase its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions if it is to meet its obligations under the Paris climate accords.The country’s climate change commission – an independent body – has delivered its draft advice to the prime minister, on the vital steps that must be taken if it wants to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate change. Continue reading...

Senator says government still hasn’t addressed concerns crossbenchers raised last year, while conservationists call for action on review’s recommendationsA key independent senator says he will not support a government plan to shift environmental approval powers to the states before the Coalition responds to a “scathing” review of conservation laws.Rex Patrick said the final report of the review into the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act was damning about the state of systems meant to protect Australia’s wildlife. Continue reading...

Committee on Climate Change says new mine in Cumbria gives ‘negative impression of UK’s climate priorities’Approved plans for a new coalmine in Cumbria will produce more emissions than any of the others open in the UK, a climate group has warned.The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) made the claim in a letter to communities secretary Robert Jenrick after he decided not to call in the plans for an inquiry earlier this month. Continue reading...

Analysis: The new president has framed the challenge of global heating as an opportunity for US jobs, saying: ‘We have to be bold’For a landmark moment in the global effort to stave off catastrophic climate change, Joe Biden’s “climate day” at the White House was rather low-key. The US president bumped elbows with his newly appointed climate tsar, John Kerry, who he called his “best buddy”, then gave a short speech before perfunctorily signing a small stack of executive orders, donning his mask and striding out without taking any questions. Continue reading...

Inquiry hears from business, conservationists, scientists and health professionals who urge the government to legislate a net zero targetThe Morrison government was urged by major industry groups and investors to give popular draft climate change legislation from the independent MP Zali Steggall a chance at becoming law during a parliamentary inquiry.Major business representatives gave evidence alongside conservationists, scientists and health professionals that broadly backed the proposed laws, which would legislate a 2050 net zero emissions target for Australia. Continue reading...

The best of the week’s wildlife pictures from around the world, including a Eurasian lynx and rescued caymans Continue reading...

Activists tell of oxygen shortage, five internal collapses and an influx of liquid mud at London siteEnvironmental protesters inside the tunnel close to Euston station in London say conditions are deteriorating with a shortage of oxygen, five internal tunnel collapses and an influx of liquid mud.One activist issued an urgent appeal for help just after 4pm on Friday from inside the tunnel, saying things were getting worse very quickly. Continue reading...

Rules will prevent some burning and could help UK reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050Regulations are to be brought in to prevent the burning of heather and other vegetation in a move to better protect England’s peatlands.The protection for blanket bog habitats has been welcomed as vital for globally important land, but criticised by some environmental groups. Continue reading...

Incidents such as killing of 50 pregnant ewes caused by owners unaware of threat posed by pets

Indigenous groups, businesses and activists condemn company’s effort to drill for gold at source of Skagit RiverAn international coalition of over 200 Indigenous groups, businesses and environmentalists have announced opposition to a Canadian mining plan that could have far-reaching impacts in the US.Imperial Metals has applied to the British Columbia government for a five-year exploratory permit to drill for gold around the source waters of the Skagit River, near the US border. Continue reading...

‘Escalator to extinction’ means aggressive species will eventually take over, threatening the entire mountain ecosystem

Largest US automaker says it aims to be carbon neutral by 2040 as Biden pushes for electric vehiclesGeneral Motors has announced it plans to phase out gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles globally by 2035, a dramatic shift by the largest US automaker away from fossil-fuel-powered engines.GM, which also said it plans to become carbon neutral by 2040, made its announcement just over a week after Joe Biden took office pledging to tackle greenhouse gas emissions and dramatically boost the sales of electric vehicles. Continue reading...

HS2 protesters describe how they built tunnel, as officials warn of danger from gas and water pipesEnvironmental activists have held out for their second night in the Euston tunnel, but eviction officers have said the tunnel is close to gas and water pipes and that the activists are putting their own lives at risk.The tunnellers described how they constructed what is thought to be one of the largest tunnel networks to be occupied by protesters in one of the busiest parts of London without being detected. Continue reading...

Failure to pay for work on green scheme is leading to debt and job losses, say businessesThe industry standards body for renewable energy installers is calling on the government to immediately rectify the failure to pay businesses for work on the green homes grant, which is leading, according to some companies, to rising debts and job losses.Installers of renewable energy systems have been left unpaid for several months by the government, the Guardian reported this week, while long delays were putting members of the public off the scheme. Ian Rippin, who leads the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), said he had since spoken to the government about the “numerous issues” that have come to light relating to the flagship £2bn green homes grant. Continue reading...

Democrats’ climate record is mixed – and it’s largely pressure from Indigenous and environmental groups that’s pushed them to act

The idea of being able to put a price on nature is dividing opinion, but the financial value of ‘ecosystem services’ is increasingly guiding policyIn 1996, Prof Shahid Naeem was part of a team of researchers who set out to value the Earth. Specifically, they were trying to establish the dollar value of all of the “ecosystem services” the planet provides to humans every year. Around $33tn, they concluded, nearly double global GDP at the time.“The team was half ecologists and half economists. The ecologists found the exercise really scary but understood the utility of it. The economists felt nature could be valued but they disagreed about how it could be done,” Naeem says. Continue reading...

Border communities, Native Americans and experts want the president to reverse damage done by construction under TrumpBorder communities and environmentalists are urging Joe Biden to take immediate steps to remediate the environmental and cultural destruction caused by construction of the border wall during the previous administration.Donald Trump sequestered $15bn – most of it from military funds – to partially fulfill an anti-immigration campaign promise to build a “big beautiful wall” along the southern border with Mexico. Continue reading...

Robert Jenrick accused of ‘massive intervention’ on scheme incompatible with commitment to climate crisisA plan to build more than 20,000 homes in rural Oxfordshire, championed by secretary of state for housing Robert Jenrick, is facing a legal challenge from residents who say it is incompatible with the government’s legally binding commitments to tackle the climate emergency.Campaigners have issued a legal claim against South Oxfordshire district council’s decision to go ahead with the local plan – which sets out proposals to build 24,000 new homes in the area by 2035. Continue reading...

Dozens of villagers, including children, claim they suffered severe burns and sickness after contact with contaminated waterThe UK government has accepted a human rights complaint against mining and commodities giant Glencore regarding a toxic wastewater spill in Chad, where dozens of villagers – among them children – claim they suffered severe burns, skin lesions and sickness after contact with contaminated water.The complaint, brought by three human rights groups on behalf of affected communities, alleges environmental abuses and social engagement failures by the FTSE-100 company in relation to two spillages, the wastewater spill and an alleged oil spill, both in 2018. Continue reading...

Graeme Samuel makes 38 recommendations to transform the EPBC Act, including new independent oversight bodiesThe Morrison government must overhaul Australia’s environmental laws, including establishing new independent bodies to take on responsibility for monitoring the environment and enforcing compliance with the law, a once-in-a-decade independent review has found.The final report from the review of the laws finds the environment is suffering from two decades of failure by governments to improve protection systems meant to ensure the survival of the country’s unique wildlife. Continue reading...

The man escaped with minor injuries after feeling the ‘sudden impact’ of the crocodile bite to the top of his head during a swim in Lake PlacidA man has escaped with minor injuries after reportedly prising the jaws of a crocodile off his head during an attack in far north Queensland.Paramedics say the 44-year-old man was bitten by a crocodile near Lake Placid Road, in the Cairns suburb of Caravonica, about 12.45pm on Thursday. Continue reading...

Rangers are investigating mystery deaths at Djoudj bird sanctuary, a migratory pitstop for hundreds of bird speciesSeven hundred and fifty pelicans have been found dead in a Unesco world heritage site in northern Senegal that provides refuge for millions of migratory birds, the country’s parks director has said.Rangers found the pelicans on Saturday in the Djoudj bird sanctuary, a remote pocket of wetland near the border with Mauritania and a resting place for birds that cross the Sahara into west Africa each year. Continue reading...

In 2020 wind turbines provided almost a quarter of electricity, and in EU renewable energy outperformed fossil fuelsThe UK’s renewable electricity outpaced its fossil fuel generation for the first time in 2020 and could remain the largest source of electricity in the future, according to an independent climate thinktank.The thinktank behind the report, Ember, revealed that renewable energy generated by wind, sunlight, water and wood made up 42% of the UK’s electricity last year compared with 41% generated from gas and coal plants together. Continue reading...

His comments come as Mark Butler is set to be bumped out of the climate portfolio in the reshuffleVeteran rightwinger Joel Fitzgibbon says Labor needs to consider changing the rules governing the selection of federal party leaders because the current system is “very untidy” – but he says his observation isn’t connected to “media hype about current leadership issues”.Fitzgibbon told Guardian Australia on Thursday there was a case for overhauling the rules imposed by the former prime minister Kevin Rudd in an effort to stabilise the party’s “coup” culture. He characterised the current leadership selection process as “flawed”. Continue reading...

‘We need to be bold,’ Biden says, signing orders to halt fossil fuel activity on public lands and transform the government’s fleet of cars into electric vehicles

Campaigners say system risks becoming greenwashing exercise unless loopholes closedThe leaders of two UK environmental charities have written to Mark Carney, the UN climate envoy and former governor of the Bank of England, to raise concerns over a blueprint for carbon offsetting that could result in billions of new carbon credits being sold around the world.Carney presented plans at the virtual Davos meeting of global business and political leaders on Wednesday evening for vast increases in the number of carbon offsets sold, aiming to expand the market from about $300m at present to between $50bn and $100bn a year. Continue reading...

As HS2 protesters dig down in London, veteran activists explain why the tactic can be so effective

Drive to eradicate TB in cattle will instead focus on vaccination and limiting livestock movementsNo new mass culls of badgers will be allowed in England after 2022, under government plans announced on Wednesday.Since 2013 more than 100,000 badgers have been killed in culls that are intended to reduce tuberculosis infections in cattle. About 30,000 cattle are slaughtered each year at a cost of £150m. Continue reading...

A 2030 target of between 50% and 74% is needed to limit global heating to 2C and 1.5C respectively, the Climate Targets Panel saysAustralia will effectively be abandoning the Paris agreement unless it makes at least a 50% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and reaches net zero well before 2050, according to an analysis by policymakers and scientists.A report by a new group calling itself the Climate Targets Panel found the Morrison government should be setting a 2030 emissions reduction target of between 50% and 74% if Australia was to comply with goals of limiting global heating to 2C and 1.5C respectively. Continue reading...

Increase in fishing since the 1970s has ravaged abundance of sharks and rays in oceansThe global population of sharks and rays has crashed by more than 70% in the past 50 years, researchers have determined for the first time, with massive ongoing losses pushing many species towards extinction.A huge increase in fishing since 1970 has ravaged the abundance of sharks and rays in our oceans, with previously widespread species such as hammerhead sharks now facing the threat of being wiped out, the study found. Half of the world’s 31 oceanic shark species are now listed as either endangered or critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The giant manta ray is also endangered. Continue reading...

Tunnel was secretly constructed to prevent next phase of work on HS2 high speed rail linkThe activists who secretly built a tunnel under a busy London square by Euston station have said they believe they can withstand eviction attempts and occupy it for weeks.Despite a number of police evictions from the protest site, at least at least four protesters remain inside the long tunnel which was constructed in order to try to prevent the next phase of work on the HS2 high speed rail link from taking place. Continue reading...

Scientists say decline in calves born in past 15 years due to diminishing herring stocks in warming north AtlanticHumpback whales could be struggling to breed due to rapid environmental change in the ocean caused by the climate crisis, a study suggests.Scientists have confirmed a significant decline in the number of calves born to female humpbacks over the past 15 years in the Gulf of St Lawrence, Canada, an important summer feeding ground for migrating whales. They said the climate crisis has led to rapid sea temperature and sea level rise in this area of the north Atlantic, with knock-on effects for the ecosystem that include decreasing numbers of herring, a vital food source for humpback whales. Continue reading...

Environmental groups in Canada applaud decision, but country’s western provinces left in disbeliefJoe Biden’s move to cancel a controversial pipeline project has hit Canada like “like a gut punch”, according to one political leader, and left the country to weigh the future prospects of its ailing oil and gas industry.On 20 January, one of the US president’s first executive orders was to reverse approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, making good on a campaign promise to kill the project as part of a broader strategy to address the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Cross-party group sign joint letter after inquest into death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-DebrahCity mayors representing more than 17 million people across the UK are urging Boris Johnson to commit to tougher air pollution targets after the inquest into the death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah.The cross-party group, including the Labour mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the Conservative mayor of the West of England combined authority, Tim Bowles, have signed a joint letter along with city leaders from Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and the North of Tyne to urge Boris Johnson to enshrine in law a commitment to achieve World Health Organization air pollution guidelines by 2030. Continue reading...

These hardy animals, a third the size of a Friesian, are popular in conservation projectsDexters are the smallest breed of cattle in Europe and among the hardiest, which makes them popular in conservation and rewilding projects. They are a third the size of a Friesian milking cow and other European commercial breeds of cattle. All these varieties go by the same Latin name, Bos taurus taurus, to distinguish them from Asiatic and African species.Although they are now bred all over the world, dexters originated in the west of Ireland and are believed to be the domesticated cattle of the Celts. Curiously, about half have a genetic trait that gives them short legs, making them seem even smaller. Continue reading...

Biggest ever survey finds two-thirds of people think climate change is a global emergencyThe biggest ever opinion poll on climate change has found two-thirds of people think it is a “global emergency”.The survey shows people across the world support climate action and gives politicians a clear mandate to take the major action needed, according to the UN organisation that carried out the poll. Continue reading...

Firms including Woodside, Chevron, Shell and Exxon Mobil, told they could be downgraded within weeksRating agency S&P has warned 13 oil and gas companies, including the some of the world’s biggest, that it may downgrade them within weeks because of increasing competition from renewable energy.On notice of a possible downgrade are Australia’s Woodside Petroleum as well as multinationals Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Imperial Oil, Royal Dutch Shell, Shell Energy North America, Canadian Natural Resources, ConocoPhillips and French group Total. Continue reading...

International report attributes spike in deaths in Australia to ‘chance’, saying the country’s 18 unprovoked attacks in 2020 was only slightly above averageUnprovoked shark bites killed 10 people around the world in 2020 with six of the deaths in Australian waters, according to international figures.The number of unprovoked shark bites and encounters in Australia was only slightly above average, with 18 incidents recorded by the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File (Isaf). The average over the last five years is 16. Continue reading...

New Drive Anytime rate bids to mirror rivals’ off-peak tariff with savings of 60% a year, supplier claimsOvo Energy plans to launch an electric vehicle charging tariff, at half the usual price, to compete with typical off-peak rates even when electricity demand is at its highest.The UK’s second-largest energy supplier will set the tariff at a flat rate of 6p per kilowatt-hour no matter what time of day their customers choose to charge their vehicle, in direct competition with suppliers which offer cut-price charging during set hours overnight. Continue reading...

World’s biggest investor vows to support net zero carbon pledge amid pressure to divest from fossil fuelsBlackRock, the world’s biggest investment fund manager, has threatened to sell shares in the worst corporate pollutersin a bid to support the goal of net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.Larry Fink, BlackRock’s chief executive, said the investor would ask companies whose shares it holds to disclose their plans to achieve net zero emissions. The new approach is set out in Fink’s annual letter to CEOs around the world. BlackRock could then divest from polluting companies in its actively managed funds – which represent about a tenth of its assets – if they did not improve. Continue reading...

Virginia-based ICF has been awarded more than 80 government contracts in the last five years