One of the fundamental steps to achieving net zero is to increase home energy efficiency, writes Mike Thornton. Plus letters from Tony Jones, Dr Bruce McLeod, Daniel Scharf and Richard HaleWe will all benefit from a carbon-free future – so the Climate Change Committee’s new route map to address the climate emergency is a hugely exciting moment for the UK (Ending UK’s climate emissions ‘affordable’, say official advisers, 9 December).By setting out a comprehensive and positive vision to replace all the UK’s fossil-fuel infrastructure within 30 years, the committee provides the scale of ambition we need policymakers to commit to. We urge the government to adopt the recommendation for a target of a 78% reduction in emissions by 2035. Continue reading...

The use of lithium in rechargeable vehicle batteries is problematic but this shouldn’t derail attempts to decarbonise our environment, writes Jamie Adam, while Jim Grozier believes we need infrastructure that discourages car useOliver Balch’s article on lithium extraction (The long read, 8 December) is an important reminder that any sort of economic boom for a certain material, unfortunately, tends to result in a rush to the bottom for environmental and ethical standards. Absolutely, pressure should be placed on manufacturers to clean up and shorten their supply chains.However, given the urgency of decarbonising and cleaning up our air, it’s also important to flag up double standards. Yes, some of the processes used in lithium extraction at the moment are environmentally destructive, and better solutions are needed. But extraction of oil and gas has been environmentally horrific for over a century, going backwards in standards with tar sands and fracking. Continue reading...

Wide-ranging review finds whales, dolphins, turtles and seabirds at mortal risk from marine debrisPlastic bags and flexible packaging are the deadliest plastic items in the ocean, killing wildlife including whales, dolphins, turtles and seabirds around the globe, according to a review of hundreds of scientific articles.Discarded fishing line and nets as well as latex gloves and balloons were also found to be disproportionately lethal when compared with other ocean debris that animals mistakenly eat. Continue reading...

BP, Glencore, Rolls-Royce, Just Eat and B&M among last eight firms yet to provide investors with informationBP, Glencore and Rolls-Royce are among eight FTSE 100 companies who have refused to comply with investor demands to disclose their carbon dioxide emissions, as the UK government prepares to compel firms to report their climate impact.Companies are coming under increasing pressure from shareholders, campaigners and governments to report climate data, and show how they intend to reduce emissions to help tackle the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Heritage campaigners launch appeal to fund urgent works on the dramatic relics of industrial ironworks high on the North York MoorsThey can be seen for miles around, a monumental relic of Victorian industry amid the stunning beauty of the North York Moors. But almost 100 years since the Rosedale iron kilns were last fired, they are in danger of being lost.The 16 brick arches at the end of a 12-mile railway track, hand-built by navvies and cut into valley walls, are crumbling after decades of being battered by wind and rain. Now the North York Moors National Park Authority is preparing to launch a campaign to raise £1.6m to secure this piece of industrial heritage for generations to come. Continue reading...

The Committee on Climate Change has shown that decarbonising is not only affordable but highly desirableFew crises come with a users’ manual. The government’s official climate advisers, the Committee on Climate Change, have come close, however, with a new 1,000-page tome setting out a blueprint for how Britain can decarbonise its economy and cut emissions to virtually zero by 2050.The committee’s green manifesto, published last week, brings to heel the two most pervasive myths that climate deniers have set to stalk Britain’s climate ambitions. The first is a menacing right-wing imagining of economic hardship in which the “eye-watering costs” of green investment collide with a slowdown in productivity and growth. This is a fallacy easily disproved. Continue reading...

The British opposition has reportedly written to Boris Johnson demanding the UK oppose former finance minister’s nomination

East Africa’s Rift Valley lakes are expanding, endangering the communities that live on their shores and the animals that exist alongsideMarooned giraffes, fleeing flamingoes and stranded impalas: in recent years the rising water levels in east Africa’s Rift Valley lakes have become the norm, displacing people, threatening wildlife and submerging schools and hotels.The gradual rise was first noticed 10 years ago but was accelerated by heavy rains in 2019, according to Kenya’s principal secretary in the ministry of environment and forestry, Chris Kiptoo. Continue reading...

Minister tells more than 80 world leaders that not enough is being doneThe world is still not on track to fulfil the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the UK’s business secretary Alok Sharma warned, after a summit of more than 70 world leaders on the climate crisis ended with few new commitments on greenhouse gas emissions.Sharma said: “[People] will ask ‘Have we done enough to put the world on track to limit warming to 1.5C and protect people and nature from the effects of climate change?’ We must be honest with ourselves – the answer to that is currently no.” Continue reading...

At the world’s biggest coal export port in Newcastle, no China-bound ships are waiting or scheduled to load before ChristmasThree years ago, pictures of bulk carriers queued off the coast of Mackay in central Queensland were framed as evidence of a “renaissance” in the coal industry.There were more than 70 coal ships in the offshore gridlock in December 2017. This year there are just 12 waiting – equalling a record low mark set at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading...

António Guterres tells Climate Ambition Summit more must be done to hit net zero emissions

Biologists hail ‘one of the great conservation successes’ but species’ fate uncertain as warming rapidly transforms ArcticIn some rare good news from the top of the world, bowhead whale populations have rebounded and are nearing pre-commercial whaling numbers in US waters.Related: US plans to protect thousands of miles of coral reefs in Pacific and Caribbean Continue reading...

Australia’s nut trees have been added to the IUCN’s red list of threatened species as numbers in the wild dwindleWhen Ian McConachie was growing up in postwar Queensland, his aunt had macadamia nut trees in her back yard. She told him that one day the trees would be famous. More than 70 years later she has been proved right – the Australian nut is a delicacy prized in kitchens around the world.But this week the macadamia came to the world’s attention for another reason: Macadamia integrifolia, or the Queensland nut tree, was listed as vulnerable on the IUCN red list of threatened species “on account of its population size, suspected at potentially fewer than 1,000 mature individuals”. Its endangered relative, Macadamia ternifolia, has previously been listed on the IUCN red list of threatened plants, as the four macadamia species indigenous to Australia come under significant environmental pressure. Continue reading...

Move follows EU member states’ agreement to 55% cut in carbon emissions by 2030 on verge of interim climate summitThe UK taxpayer is to stop funding fossil fuel projects overseas as part of the government’s push for international action on the climate ahead of a key summit on Saturday.Related: The Paris agreement five years on: is it strong enough to avert climate catastrophe? Continue reading...

The best of the week’s wildlife pictures from around the world, including a Sumatran tiger and rare storks Continue reading...

The country has set ambitious targets and everyone’s contribution will be needed. Tell us what you think needs doing firstNew Zealand and its prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, have garnered headlines around the world recently in praise of their stance on climate change. But experts have pointed out that ambition has not always translated into action.This month Ardern declared a climate emergency, with the PM calling it “one of the greatest challenges of our time” and pledging that government agencies would be carbon-neutral by 2025. Continue reading...

The Bureau of Land Management is moving from Washington to Colorado – but some see it as an attempt to undermine the agencyIn November 2017, less than a year after Donald Trump took office, Ryan Zinke proposed ejecting the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a federal agency that oversees 250m acres of federal land, from its longtime headquarters in Washington DC.The BLM’s key responsibilities include administering grazing permits for ranchers, mining, and oil and gas extraction permits; since the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, it has also had a mandate to oversee recreation and conservation on its lands. Continue reading...

Court hands firm largest ever wildlife crime fine after it admits demolishing site in WoolwichA building firm that carried out demolition work at a site known to be inhabited by bats has been handed a £600,000 fine, the largest ever issued by a court for a wildlife crime, according to police.Bellway, the housebuilders, admitted damaging or destroying a breeding site or resting place in Artillery Place, Greenwich, south-east London, in 2018, where soprano pipistrelle bats had been documented the previous year. Continue reading...

Inquest is considering whether London air pollution contributed to nine-year-old’s asthma deathThe mother of a girl who suffered a fatal asthma attack thought to have been triggered by air pollution has said she wants “justice” for her daughter.Nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah died in February 2013 having suffered numerous seizures and having made almost 30 hospital visits over the previous three years. Continue reading...

Regulator brought 19 charges against two subsidiaries, each with a maximum penalty of $1.1mWhitehaven Coal has pleaded guilty to 19 charges brought against it by the state’s resources regulator for breaches of mining laws that caused environmental damage that could last for decades.The regulator commenced prosecution in the NSW Land and Environment court in August against the mining company’s subsidiaries Narrabri Coal and Narrabri Coal Operations for breaches of exploration licences at an underground mine site in the Pilliga region of north-west New South Wales. Continue reading...

The prime minister tells Pacific leaders Australia will reach net zero emissions ‘as soon as possible’, but declines to commit to a timelineAustralia has officially abandoned its plan to use Kyoto protocol carryover credits to meet its Paris agreement climate targets, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, has told a Pacific leaders’ summit, but he pointedly declined to commit to a timeline on reaching net zero emissions.As Pacific leaders said their islands and homes would not be the “sacrificial canaries” in the coalmine of climate change’s existential threat, Morrison said late on Friday that Australia would reach net zero “as soon as possible”. Continue reading...

Instead of implementing safer systems, activists say Smithfield Foods is seeking to profit from hog waste under the guise of ‘renewable energy’Elsie Herring of Duplin county, North Carolina, lives in the house her late mother grew up in, but for the past several decades her home has been subjected to pollution from nearby industrial hog farms.“We have to deal with whether it’s safe to go outside. It’s a terrible thing to open the door and face that waste. It makes you want to throw up. It takes your breath away, it makes your eyes run,” said Herring. Continue reading...

Scientists brand 7% decline a ‘drop in the ocean’ and call on governments to push ahead with structural changesGreenhouse gas emissions, which plunged by a record amount this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, are set to rebound next year as restrictions are lifted further and governments strive to return their economies to growth, according to a global study.The UK showed the second biggest fall in emissions globally, down 13% for the year compared with 2019, with only France showing a larger drop, of 15%. The plunge reflects the prolonged and severe lockdowns in both countries, with surface transport particularly affected. Continue reading...

Mayor of Paris praises ‘important milestone’ on fifth anniversary of the landmark agreementMore than 50 of the world’s leading cities are on track to help keep global heating below 1.5C and tackle the worst impacts of the climate crisis, according to a new report.From mass tree-planting in Buenos Aires to new public transport networks in Mexico City, 54 of the world’s leading cities are now rolling out plans that will cut their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris agreement, according to a new study by the C40 cities network. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Climate striker speaks before UN event marking five years since the Paris accordThe world is speeding in the wrong direction in tackling the climate emergency, Greta Thunberg has said, before a UN event at which national leaders have been asked to increase their pledges for emissions cuts.Thunberg, whose solo school strike in 2018 has snowballed into a global youth movement, said there was a state of complete denial when it came to the immediate action needed, with leaders giving only distant promises and empty words. Continue reading...

Three frog and one shark species have vanished, and Amazonian dolphin and oak trees are threatenedEurope’s biggest land mammal, the European bison, is beginning to recover in numbers thanks to conservation efforts and breeding programmes, according to an update on threatened species.By the early years of the last century, the once abundant European bison could be found only in captivity in a few places, and it was only after the second world war that animals were reintroduced into the wild in small numbers. By 2003 there were 1,800 in the wild, and by last year the number had more than tripled to a population of more than 6,200 in 47 free-ranging herds in Poland, Belarus and Russia. Continue reading...

Councillors say proposals will undermine local democracy and ignore the climate crisisThe government is facing a backlash from local councillors – including more than 350 Conservatives –over its proposals to shake up the planning system.More than 2,000 councillors from across England and campaigners have signed an open letter to the housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, calling on him to rethink the plans. Continue reading...

Australian PM ‘not troubled’ by snub after organisers criticised the country’s lack of ambition on climate change actionScott Morrison has signalled Australia will not be granted a speaking slot at a climate ambition summit this weekend, despite telling parliament a week ago he would attend to “correct mistruths” about the government’s heavily criticised record on emissions reduction.Morrison was asked on the final day of parliament by the independent Zali Stegall whether he’d been invited to the event which is being hosted by Britain, France and the UN in a bid to boost climate commitments ahead of a major conference in Glasgow next year. Continue reading...

Governments are pouring resources into economic recovery. It’s an opportunity for visionary climate policies

Supermarket support and rising use of sexed semen expected to help UK farmers meet new welfare rules by the end of 2021Dairy farmers have until the end of next year to prove they are no longer killing male calves on-farm under new rules which will apply to nearly all UK farms from January, the Guardian has learned.

Air quality found to be worse than before pandemic in 80% of cities and large towns analysed

Labor senator Pat Dodson says mining companies who continue to destroy Aboriginal heritage are committing ‘incremental genocide’Mining companies in the Pilbara need to “wake up” to the recommendations of the parliamentary inquiry into Rio Tinto’s destruction of Juukan Gorge or they will be in “serious trouble” from their shareholders and the public, who will not tolerate another disaster of its kind, the Labor senator Pat Dodson said.Speaking on the release of the interim report on Wednesday, Dodson repeated his comments that mining companies who continue to destroy Aboriginal heritage in the Pilbara were committing a form of “incremental genocide”. Continue reading...

Group suggests 10 policies to reduce ‘night blight’, including commission to regulate excess lightingMPs have called for urgent action to reduce light pollution, promote “dark towns” and restore a sense of wonder in the night sky.Supported by the astronomer royal, a cross-party group urged the government to designate a “minister for the dark sky” and to establish a statutory commission to regulate excess lighting. Continue reading...

Expert says Ella Kissi-Debrah, nine, faced ‘exquisite’ risk and criticises lack of efforts to tackle toxic airA young girl who suffered a fatal asthma attack thought to have been triggered by dangerous levels of air pollutants was a “canary” signalling the risk to other Londoners, an inquest has heard.Ella Kissi-Debrah died aged nine in February 2013 having suffered numerous seizures and being taken to hospital almost 30 times in the previous three years. Continue reading...

This year’s spring temperatures would be ‘virtually impossible’ without human greenhouse emissions, according to new reportAustralia’s hottest spring on record, which saw temperatures more than 2C above average, would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change, new analysis has found.A spring as hot as the one Australians just experienced would come along only once every half a million years without the extra greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, climate scientist Dr David Karoly told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Locals complain the mining magnate has allegedly built an unauthorised concrete wall around his estate in Brisbane’s Fig Tree PocketBrisbane neighbours of the mining magnate Clive Palmer have complained to the local council about an allegedly unauthorised concrete fence built around his extensive riverfront estate, which they say has blocked a family of ducks from reaching a nearby pond.Palmer recently paid $5m for a property at Jesmond Road, Fig Tree Pocket. The purchase consolidated three separate blocks of land into a single 3.6 hectare property fronting the Brisbane River. Continue reading...

Production of concrete, metal, plastic, bricks and asphalt greater than mass of living matter on planet, paper saysThe giant human footprint stamped across the world in 2020 is greater than the impact on the planet of all other living things, research suggests.The amount of plastic alone is greater in mass than all land animals and marine creatures combined, the study estimates. Continue reading...

Officials say coastal dunes should no longer be part of site of special scientific interestConservation officials in Scotland have said the coastal sand dunes at Donald Trump’s Aberdeenshire golf resort have lost their special status as a protected environmental site.NatureScot, Scotland’s nature agency, said that following construction of the Trump International Golf Links course at Menie, north of Aberdeen, the dunes no longer “merit being retained as part of the site of special scientific interest”. Continue reading...

Prime minister Scott Morrison wanted to announce the policy shift at a weekend summit but he’s not yet secured a speaking spotThe Morrison government will release updated national greenhouse gas emissions projections that claim Australia is nearly on track to meet the target for 2030 it set under the Paris agreement.An annual emissions projection report to be released on Thursday shows the government now estimates emissions in 2030 will fall just short – by 56m tonnes – of meeting its target of a 26-28% cut compared to 2005 levels if Australia doesn’t deploy Kyoto credits to hit the target. Continue reading...

Exclusive: António Guterres says key promise of $100bn funding will be missed, damaging trust in Paris dealRich countries will miss a key promise they made to the poor world on the climate crisis by failing to provide the money necessary for them to cope with its effects, damaging the prospects for global action, the UN secretary general has said.Developing countries were supposed to receive at least $100bn (£75bn) in financial assistance from public and private sources this year and in future years to help them cut greenhouse gas emissions and deal with the ravages of extreme weather. The promise was one of the cornerstones of the 2015 Paris agreement and will be a key element of next year’s Cop26 climate talks. Continue reading...

Earth still on course for catastrophic 3.2C of warming by end of century, but green recovery plans could put world back on course for Paris goalsThe direct climate impact of the coronavirus lockdown has lowered 2050 temperature projections by a “negligible” 0.01C, the UN has revealed.A green economic recovery from the pandemic could, however, make a substantial difference, according to the UN Environment Programme (Unep) annual emissions gap report, potentially reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25% over the next decade and putting the world on track to meeting the Paris agreement’s goal of keeping temperatures within 2C of pre-industrial levels. Continue reading...

Multiple sources say summit organisers have told Australia the PM won’t get to speak on the weekendScott Morrison is unlikely to win a last-minute speaking slot at a global leaders’ climate ambition summit as his government has failed to meet the demands set by the event organisers, a long-time advisor at international talks says.As Guardian Australia revealed on Monday, the prime minister has not yet been confirmed to give a speech at the weekend summit, which is being hosted by Britain, France and the UN in a bid to boost climate commitments ahead of a major conference in Glasgow next year. Continue reading...

I had resigned myself to brief glimpses but he landed, and lingered, nearbyI don’t usually take binoculars on my early-morning bike ride; if I did, I would stop too often to get any benefit. But after a swift circuit around the levels, I picked them up and headed down the lane behind my home to look for a stonechat I’d seen the day before.The stonechat had moved on; possibly because of the presence of a male merlin – the first I’d seen here in Somerset for a decade. I first noticed the bird as he flew away from me, and resigned myself to the usual brief views. But moments later, he landed on top of a tall hedgerow. Continue reading...

CCC recommendation includes half of cars being electric by 2030, gas boilers phased out and 10,000 wind turbines

Greenpeace report warns against granting licences to ‘deeply destructive’ industry with opaque oversight, and calls for global ocean treatyPrivate mining firms and arms companies are exerting a hidden and unhealthy influence on the fate of the deep-sea bed, according to a new report highlighting the threats facing the world’s biggest intact ecosystem.An investigation by Greenpeace found a handful of corporations in Europe and North America are increasingly dominating exploration contracts, and have at times taken the place of government representatives at meetings of the oversight body, the UN’s International Seabed Authority (ISA). Continue reading...

Analysis shows invertebrates are overlooked in favour of mammals and birds despite vital role in healthy ecosystemsMoney made available for wildlife conservation by the EU is based on a popularity contest, with vertebrates getting nearly 500 times more funding for each species than invertebrates, according to a new report.Brown bears, wolves, bitterns and Eurasian lynxes are the Hollywood stars of European conservation and receive almost the same amount as all invertebrates put together, according to analysis of funding under the EU’s Habitats Directive. This leaves little for less charismatic creatures such as spiders and crustaceans, many of which are crucial to ecosystem health and at greater risk of extinction, the study found. Continue reading...

Leaked report says tax would slow emissions cuts, with South Australia and Victoria warned before they announced plan to introduce chargeAustralian state governments were warned a road user tax on clean cars introduced without other support for the technology could discourage its uptake and impede greenhouse gas cuts. The advice was received before South Australia and Victoria announced plans to introduce a charge on driving electric vehicles (EVs).A leaked report to the Board of Treasurers – a states and territories forum – shows it jointly commissioned advice on how to best introduce road-user charging on zero and low-emissions vehicles after agreeing to “high-level principles” earlier this year. Continue reading...

Flood barriers were not activated after forecasts predicted high tide of only 1.2 metresVenice has been hit by high tides of up to 1.5 metres (5ft) after its flood barrier system was not activated as a result of mistaken forecasts.Weather bulletins had predicted high tide, or acqua alta, rising to 1.2 metres – lower than the 1.3 metres level at which the 78 mobile barriers of the defensive system, called Mose, would usually be activated. Continue reading...

Warmest temperatures since 1900 have all occurred within the past seven years, according to Noaa’s annual Arctic report cardThe Arctic’s rapid transformation into a less frozen, hotter and biologically altered place has been further exacerbated by a year of wildfires, soaring temperatures and loss of ice, US scientists have reported. Continue reading...

RBA says contract with Sunset Power International Pty Ltd, trading as Delta Electricity, is commercial in confidenceThe Greens have issued a please explain to the Reserve Bank of Australia after it entered a $10.9m contract with Trevor St Baker’s power company to provide electricity services for RBA properties.The RBA has declined to comment on the decision to engage Sunset Power International Pty Ltd, trading as Delta Electricity, telling Guardian Australia the contract and tender process are both commercial in confidence. Continue reading...