Government urged to bring in successor but learn lessons from ‘botched implementation’

Prime minister calls on countries to come to Cop26 ‘armed with ambitious targets and plans’With just over six months to go until vital UN climate talks, Boris Johnson has urged world leaders at a virtual White House summit to step up with plans for cutting greenhouse gas emissions this decade.“It’s vital for all of us to show that this is not all about some expensive politically correct green act of ‘bunny hugging’ or however you want to put it,” the prime minister told the possibly slightly puzzled leaders. “Nothing wrong with ‘bunny hugging’ but you know what I’m driving at.” Continue reading...

US president tells virtual climate summit that ‘time is short’ to address dangerous global heating in a break from Trump eraJoe Biden has called upon the world to confront the climate crisis and “overcome the existential crisis of our time”, as he unveiled an ambitious new pledge to slash US planet-heating emissions in half by the end of the decade.Addressing a virtual gathering of more than 40 world leaders in an Earth Day climate summit on Thursday, Biden warned that “time is short” to address dangerous global heating and urged other countries to do more. Continue reading...

Joe Biden’s target is strongest contribution yet towards meeting 2015 Paris climate agreement, say scientistsThe US goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared with 2005 levels, will take the world closer to the reductions scientists say are necessary to hold global heating within scientifically advised limits, analysis has shown.The target, announced on Thursday before a virtual summit of more than 40 world leaders hosted by the US president, Joe Biden, would result in emissions reductions of between 1.5 and 2.4 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year by 2030, compared with the US’s current expected emissions, according to Climate Action Tracker. Continue reading...

The US will halve its carbon emissions by 2030, the White House announced before a climate summit later today. Plus, 200m coronavirus shots have been administered

What could go wrong with this idea? Well, quite a lot

Conservation organisations purchase 950 sq km biodiversity hotspot, helping to secure a vital wildlife corridor“These logs are historic,” says Elma Kay, standing in Belize Maya Forest, where she has been doing an inventory of felled trees. “These are the last logs that were cut here, for mahogany and other hardwoods, left behind by the previous logging company.”Trees will no longer be cut down in this 950 sq km (236,000-acre) area, after the land was bought by a coalition of conservation organisations to save one of the world’s last pristine rainforests from deforestation. “The forest will now be protected in perpetuity,” says Kay. Continue reading...

The legal battle over Byhalia pipeline has become a flashpoint in the conversation about environmental justice and the right of energy companies to take private landThis story is a collaboration between Southerly, MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, and the Guardian.The only things Karmen Johnson-Tutwiler has left to remind her of her mother are a few photographs and just under a quarter acre of land covered in bramble and wildflowers that backs up to a railroad track. When her mother, Sharon Watson, died in 2010, she and her sister inherited it. “She always told me it was important to have a piece of property as your own,” Johnson-Tutwiler said. Continue reading...

US president hopes prime minister Scott Morrison will commit to more climate change action echoing the global pushThe Biden administration says Australia needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions faster than planned and the US president hopes Scott Morrison will commit to doing more at a virtual summit on the climate crisis on Thursday night.Although the Morrison government has promoted a “technology not taxes” approach to emissions reduction to convince allies that Australia is serious about making the transition, a senior Biden administration official told reporters Australia could not rely on technology alone to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Continue reading...

Coalition is under pressure for lack of action on climate change and has pledged $565.8m to develop technologies including hydrogen and CCSScott Morrison will use a global climate action summit organised by the United States president Joe Biden to foreshadow a spend of $565.8m over the next eight years to build international collaboration to drive development of some low-emissions technologies.The Australian prime minister will tell the virtual summit during a contribution expected on Thursday night that he wants to build practical, project-based international partnerships to accelerate new energy technologies and drive down costs. The spending, to be confirmed in the May budget, will be accompanied by additional domestic investment in hydrogen hubs and carbon capture and storage projects. Continue reading...

Swedish retailer is set to build wind and solar farms, and make first steps into energy storageIkea plans to accelerate its investment in renewable energy by spending an extra €4bn (£3.4bn) by the end of the decade to build wind and solar farms, while fitting its stores with electric vehicle charge points.Ingka Group, the owner of most Ikea stores, spent €2.5bn over the last decade installing 935,000 solar panels on the roofs of its stores and warehouses, and investing in 547 wind turbines and 10 solar parks to more than cover its own electricity use. Continue reading...

President will unveil new emissions reduction target while much will hinge upon cooperation between China and USJoe Biden’s desire to re-establish US leadership on the climate crisis will face a severe test this week at a summit the president hopes will rebuild American credibility and kickstart a spluttering international effort to stave off the effects of global heating.Biden has invited 40 world leaders to a two-day virtual gathering starting on Earth Day, Thursday, as the opening salvo in negotiations leading to crunch United Nations talks in Scotland later this year. Scientists say the world is severely lagging in tackling the climate crisis and its heatwaves, storms and floods, with planet-heating emissions set to roar back following a dip due to coronavirus shutdowns. Continue reading...

Peter P Edwards, responding to a report about Oxford University’s receipt of money from fossil fuel firms, writes in support of the KACST-Oxford Centre for Petrochemical ResearchRe your report (Oxford University receives £11m from fossil fuel firms, report finds, 20 April), the KACST-Oxford Centre for Petrochemical Research (KOPRC), has been located and supported at Oxford to the tune of £3m. In 2018, KOPRC, a joint research centre created by the University of Oxford and the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), was designated as a centre of excellence in petrochemicals by Saudi Arabia – the only such centre outside the Middle East.This recognition stems from two world-leading advances from KOPRC of pressing global concern: first, the discovery of an earth-abundant catalyst to produce sustainable aviation fuel directly from CO; and second, a process for producing high-purity hydrogen from plastic waste. Is it climate justice, therefore, that Oxford University should now “stand free from these ties” and disband this centre?

Dalai Lama among those to sign letter to world leaders calling for rapid shift to renewable energyA hundred and one Nobel laureates, including the Dalai Lama, are calling for governments around the world to sign up to a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to help tackle the climate crisis.In an open letter to world leaders published on Wednesday former presidents, scientists, novelists and religious leaders are urging governments to commit to a rapid and just transition away from fossil fuels, and a “transformational plan” to ensure everyone around the world has access to renewable energy. Continue reading...

Report following 2013 death of Ella Kissi-Debrah, 9, calls for Britain to follow WHO recommendationsLegally binding maximum levels of particulate air pollution should be lowered in the UK to be in line with World Health Organization limits, a coroner has said.UK levels for two particularly harmful kinds of pollution are currently twice as high as the WHO recommends. Continue reading...

As homelessness rises, climate-related disasters make matters worse. But Covid relief measures and Biden’s infrastructure proposal are providing cause for cautious optimismTerri Domer knows well what a brewing storm looks like.Domer, 62, an Iowa native, has spent her life watching thunderstorms gather and tornadoes dash across rolling hills. Last August, when the midday sky darkened over the riverside homeless encampment where Domer and four other people spent most nights – built on a sandy bank near downtown, under tall trees – she quickly set about covering up their supplies. Continue reading...

Watermark deal ends as NSW Nationals talk up coal industry before Upper Hunter byelectionThe NSW government will pay Chinese-owned mining company Shenhua $100m to withdraw from its Watermark coalmine project on the Liverpool Plains, ending a 13-year battle with the region’s farmers.The deputy premier and resources minister, John Barilaro, confirmed the deal on Wednesday that will see Shenhua withdraw its mining lease application and surrender its development consent for the mine. Continue reading...

Writer Elizabeth-Jane Burnett brings together 400 voices for optimistic riposte to events of past year

Barclays, HSBC and Axa among 160 firms in global alliance to hasten transition to net zero economiesBanks and financial institutions with more than $70tn assets have pledged to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and ensure their investment portfolios align with the science on the climate.In the initiative, chaired by Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, 160 companies, including 43 banks from 23 countries, will set targets to cut the carbon content of their assets by 2030, in line with an overall goal of net zero emissions by 2050. Continue reading...

Virtual summit on Thursday will be the first meeting between the two leaders since Biden took officeChina’s President Xi Jinping will attend a US-led climate change summit on Thursday at the invitation of President Joe Biden, in the first meeting between the two leaders since the advent of the new US administration.Biden has invited dozens of world leaders to join the two-day virtual summit starting on Thursday, after bringing the US back into the 2015 Paris agreement on cutting global carbon emissions. Continue reading...

Stanwell, which is Queensland’s largest power generator, says ‘energy market is shifting from fossil fuel generation’ at a ‘rapid pace’Australia’s third-largest greenhouse gas emitter and Queensland’s largest power generator, Stanwell Corporation, has revealed plans to transition its business from fossil fuels to renewables, including curtailing the output of its coal-fired power plants.The Queensland government-owned corporation operates three coal plants, including two – Tarong North and Stanwell – regularly touted as among the youngest in the country and not scheduled to close for several decades. Continue reading...

Treasury review will help determine whether UK meets climate goals, and experts say radical change is required

Many psychologists say they feel unequipped to handle a growing number of patients despairing over the state of the planet. A new contingent of mental health professionals aims to fix thatAndrew Bryant, a therapist based in Tacoma, Washington, felt helpless the first time climate change came up in his office. It was 2016, and a client was agonizing over whether to have a baby. His partner wanted one, but the young man couldn’t stop envisioning this hypothetical child growing up in an apocalyptic, climate-changed world.Related: ‘This is it. If we don’t amp up, we’re goners’: the last chance to confront the climate crisis? Continue reading...

Religious leaders, who know how to relate to communities on an emotional level, may be best positioned to convince people to support climate activism, experts sayThe Rev Scott Hardin-Nieri regularly revisits the story of Noah’s ark. “People look at that story fondly, because they focus on all the animals that were saved,” the pastor says. But for Hardin-Nieri, Noah’s ark isn’t a simple story of hope; it is principally a story about human suffering amid widespread ecological devastation. “We forget how many people were killed in this apocalyptic world where the environment was ruined,” he says. Continue reading...

Every job lost to Covid pandemic could be replaced in upcoming recovery years, Green New Deal UK finds

Figures from oil, gas and petrochemical companies does not include £100m from Ineos in 2021Oxford University has received more than £11m from oil, gas and petrochemical companies since 2015, according to a new report by students and alumni of the elite university who are calling for it to cut its ties to the fossil fuel industry.Oxford recently announced plans to eliminate the carbon footprint of its site and supply chain by 2035 to help tackle the climate crisis but, according to the report, departments within the university continue to take funding from and work closely with fossil fuel extraction giants such as Schlumberger, ExxonMobil and BP. Continue reading...

Global economies forecast to pour stimulus money into fossil fuels as part of Covid recovery

Women have been deeply embedded in the movement for clean water and sanitation for decades, which has become even more pressing amid the pandemic

Ex-diplomat Dean Bialek says as other countries take ‘massive steps forward’ from Paris any attempt by Canberra to ‘fly under the radar’ will fail

Charles Mock, 40, died of scalp and facial wounds after managing to call 911 for help

Antony Blinken says Biden administration will challenge those failing to cut reliance on coal as Scott Morrison emphasises costs of actionThe Biden administration is ready to challenge countries whose inaction on the climate crisis is setting the world back, including those that fail to cut their reliance on coal, the top American diplomat has warned.The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, called for much stronger action to address global heating over the course of this decade, hours after Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, continued to emphasise the costs of acting on climate change. Continue reading...

If successful project will allow water to be injected down borehole to be superheated by rocks beneathA drilling rig is about to arrive at the Eden Project in Cornwall to bore almost three miles down into the granite crust in search of “hot rocks” that will be used to warm the attraction’s biomes and other buildings.The first of the lorries carrying a 450-tonne, 55-metre-high drilling rig will arrive on the outer edge of the site next week, and if all goes well the geothermal scheme will begin operating by Christmas or early next year. Continue reading...

Labor leader in lead-up to US-organised summit says domestic clean-energy debate can no longer be ‘bogged down by negative partisan politics’

Bloc has come under fire for hiring manager of oil shares to work on environmental controls for banks

Last Brood X event for 15 states including New York, Ohio, Illinois and Georgia occurred in 2004 while insects to surface in mid-MayAs New Yorkers nervously await the emergence of billions of cicada bugs set to swarm through their city and the north-east of the US, researchers are seeking to enlist citizen scientists to track the coming plague.The so-called Brood X of cicadas are set to emerge after 17 years underground. This particular cohort of the periodic insects will swarm in several large areas in the eastern US, as they prepare for one enormous mate fest, including New York’s Central Park and parts of the Bronx and Staten Island. Continue reading...

Pandemic had no effect on emissions but made impacts of global heating even worse for millions of people, report saysThere was a “relentless” intensification of the climate crisis in 2020, according to the UN’s World Meteorological Organization.The coronavirus pandemic made the accelerating impacts of global heating even worse for millions of people. But the temporary dip in carbon emissions due to lockdowns had no discernible impact on atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, the WMO report said. Continue reading...

There were professionals and parents, tears and eloquence, as the courtrooms filled to overflowing

Suez vessel’s crew said to be ‘relaxed but apprehensive’, while 50 miles away a cautionary tale plays out on another shipFor two years Mohammad Aisha has been the lone resident of an abandoned container ship marooned off Egypt in the Gulf of Suez. If he needs to charge his phone, get drinking water or buy food, he has to row to shore, although he can only stay for two hours at most as the area is a restricted military zone. According to one doctor who examined him, the malnourished sailor has started to exhibit similar symptoms to prisoners held in poor conditions.Aisha has been the custodian of the 4,000-tonne MV Aman, trapped onboard as a prolonged legal battle to sell the vessel and pay the crew plays out thousands of miles away. Less than 50 miles north, the crew of the Ever Given, now immersed in its own legal struggles, are hoping to avoid anything close to the same fate. On Sunday, representatives from the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), an umbrella union that represents seafarers, boarded the ship to check on the crew’s wellbeing. Continue reading...

Energy conglomerates have recourse to special courts and legal regimes that they helped design – and they won’t go down without a fight

President will also call on major economies to join him in bold action at virtual summit of 40 world leaders

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...