Environment | The Guardian

Rewilding Britain charity says natural dispersal of seeds is cost-effective and boosts biodiversityAllowing trees and woodland to regenerate through the natural dispersal of seeds should become the default way to restore Britain’s forest cover, according to a new report.Natural regeneration brings the most benefits for biodiversity, is cost-effective and may sequester more carbon than previously thought, argues Rewilding Britain. Continue reading...

Rare discovery of reef cooled by channels formed during creation of Kilimanjaro is ‘something to hope for’, say scientists

Warning of future dogged by crises if recovery entrenches environmental problems and inequalities

Our colleagues from the Age of Extinction project, Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield, are back with two new episodes asking whether birdsong might be beneficial to both our mental and physical health – and if nature is so good for us, why aren’t we taking better care of it? Continue reading...

Dashing ahead with a nuclear power station that’s modelled on Hinkley Point C would be rashThis is the government’s problem as it reopens talks on a proposed nuclear power station at Sizewell C in Suffolk: it is contemplating ordering a replica of Hinkley Point C before the Somerset original has produced a single megawatt of electricity.That is not a small point. Developer EDF’s pre-Hinkley version of its European pressurised reactor at Flamanville in Normandy is about a decade behind schedule. What’s more, EDF wants UK taxpayers or bill payers to bear more of the construction risks at Sizewell, a less-than-compelling offer when you remember that Flamanville is also €9bn (£8.2bn) over budget. Continue reading...

Talks with EDF could lead to energy customers being charged for construction costs

Review finds water use will need to be adapted further and managing basin will require responsiveness to ‘climate extremes in the future’The impact of climate change on the Murray-Darling Basin will require a major adaption of the plan in 2026 to allow for more frequent dry periods, which will likely occur on average every five years instead of every 10.The assessment of the climate risk facing the Murray-Darling Basin plan is included as part of the 2020 review of the progress on the plan, released on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Report says Coalition should lift ambition with existing target likely to be met due to renewables in NSW, Victoria and QueenslandClimate action by Australia’s states will put the country on track for a deeper cut in greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade than proposed by the Morrison government, according to a new report that calls for a review of how much more the country can do.A bulletin from Frontier Economics, a firm that has provided modelling on energy and climate policy for the government, found if the states delivered on their expected commitments, the country would make at least a 33% cut in emissions by 2030 compared with 2005 levels. Continue reading...

$28m grant was intended to help rural communities recover from oil drilling not help industry expand deeper into the state, suit claimsIn July 2019, a proposed railway intended to shuttle fossil fuels across a mountainous corner of eastern Utah received a $28m grant from a local, state-run community fund. The financing allowed the group behind the railway – the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition – to kick off a federally mandated environmental impact survey, that would need to be completed before construction could begin.There was just one problem: the grant came from a pot of money set aside to help Utahns recover from the state’s legacy of oil drilling, not help the industry expand deeper into the state. Continue reading...

Nationals MP Adam Marshall says it was ‘irresponsible’ to oppose investment in regional areasThe New South Wales agriculture minister Adam Marshall has described comments by fellow National Barnaby Joyce opposing the state government’s plan to build a renewable energy zone in the New England region as “prehistoric”.Joyce said last month he would lobby against the New England renewable energy zone – one of five included in landmark legislation that passed state parliament last month – claiming it would turn the electorate “into a sea of wind farms”. Continue reading...

Greg Hunt expects to have early assessment of two leading vaccines by end of January; New Zealand cabinet agrees to trans-Tasman travel bubble proposal; storms forecast to intensify in parts of Queensland and NSW. This blog is now closed

Action points for first 100 days of Joe Biden presidency seen as boost to international action currently falling behindThe US will hold a climate summit of the world’s major economies early next year, within 100 days of Joe Biden taking office, and seek to rejoin the Paris agreement on the first day of his presidency, in a boost to international climate action.Leaders from 75 countries met without the US in a virtual Climate Ambition Summit co-hosted by the UN, the UK and France at the weekend, marking the fifth anniversary of the Paris accord. The absence of the US underlined the need for more countries, including other major economies such as Brazil, Russia and Indonesia, to make fresh commitments on tackling the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Order made by Defra for the first time in four years, as thousands of birds have been culled in Great BritainMillions of free-range hens and other birds must be kept indoors from Monday under a national government crackdown to try to curtail the spread of a virulent strain of avian flu sweeping across Great Britain.Keepers have had 11 days to prepare for the strict new lockdown-style measures, including taking steps to safeguard animal welfare, consult their vet and where necessary erect additional housing or self-contained netted areas. Continue reading...

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...