Survey also finds two-thirds of people agree climate is biggest issue facing humankind

Greens say ALP voters should despair as four MPs tour Queensland mines with lobby groupLabor MPs have been accused of “sucking up to the coal lobby” as they embark on a three-day tour of Queensland mines hosted by the Minerals Council of Australia.Greens’ environment spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said the decision of a group of Labor MPs to embrace the coal lobby would cause despair among Labor voters. Continue reading...

Officers use capsicum spray to break up blockade and arrest a dozen climate protesters outside a mining conference in MelbourneVictoria Police have defended the actions of their officers over two days of protests at a mining conference in Melbourne, after one protester was hospitalised and reporters covering the event were pushed by police and pepper-sprayed.A dozen climate change protesters have been arrested on day two of action outside a global mining conference in Melbourne, where activists glued themselves to the ground. Continue reading...

New money for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation will go to projects such as pumped hydro, batteries and gasAn extra $1bn is being handed to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to invest in projects aimed at ensuring a reliable electricity supply.The new fund – separate to the corporation’s existing capital – will be earmarked for power generation, storage and transmission projects such as pumped hydro, batteries and gas. Continue reading...

Decision taken to reduce Paradise dam to 42% capacity amid concerns over its structural integrity in the event of a floodFour hundred million litres of fresh water is flowing out to sea from storage in drought-afflicted Queensland every day, sparking a fresh rift between Coalition MPs and the state’s Labor government.As the federal government considers a fresh round of drought measures to respond to the record dry spell, the Queensland government has angered federal MPs by releasing more than 100,000 megalitres of water from the Paradise dam over a 10-week period. Continue reading...

Force’s disability advisers lodge complaint about treatment of Extinction Rebellion protestersThe Metropolitan police’s advisers on disability have accused the force of “degrading and humiliating” treatment of disabled activists during the Extinction Rebellion (XR) protests in London this month.A formal complaint by the Met’s disability independent advisory group says members are “disappointed and angered” the force failed to engage with them over the policing of the protests, and the Met may have caused “irreparable damage” to relations with disabled people. Continue reading...

Figure based on new analysis of coastlines is more than three times previous estimateMore than three times more people are at risk from rising sea levels than previously believed, research suggests.Land that is currently home to 300 million people will flood at least once a year by 2050 unless carbon emissions are cut significantly and coastal defences strengthened, says the study, published in Nature Communications. This is far above the previous estimate of 80 million. Continue reading...

Blockage in Greenwich prompts Thames Water to reissue warning about waste disposalA 40-tonne fatberg the size of a double-decker bus has been cleared from a London sewer by Thames Water engineers who pulled out some of it by hand.The mass of fat, grease and other materials that weighed the same as three red buses, was discovered earlier this year clogging up a sewer in Greenwich, the water company said. Continue reading...

NFU says government has ignored call for tariffs on cheap US imports from caged hensEggs from battery hens will return to British supermarket shelves if the government fails to strike a new trading deal with the EU and crashes out of the bloc, the National Farmers’ Union has warned.The NFU says the government has ignored its pleas to put tariffs on eggs to protect against cheaper rivals from countries such as the US where caging hens is allowed. Continue reading...

Creek beds are bone dry and once-gushing springs are reduced to trickles as fights play out around the nation over control of nation’s freshwater supplyThe network of clear streams comprising California’s Strawberry Creek run down the side of a steep, rocky mountain in a national forest two hours east of Los Angeles. Last year Nestlé siphoned 45m gallons of pristine spring water from the creek and bottled it under the Arrowhead Water label.Though it’s on federal land, the Swiss bottled water giant paid the US Forest Service and state practically nothing, and it profited handsomely: Nestlé Waters’ 2018 worldwide sales exceeded $7.8bn. Continue reading...

Panel given less than a month to provide recommendations, despite government’s claims on meeting Paris targetThe Morrison government has quietly appointed an expert panel to come up with new ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions and given it less than a month to come up with recommendations.In what is being seen by observers as an acknowledgment that its main climate change policy, the $2.55bn emissions reduction fund, is failing to cut national pollution, the government has appointed a panel of four business leaders and policy experts to suggest options to expand it. Continue reading...

Environment minister says cutting delays in project approvals could save the economy $300m a yearThe Morrison government has promised a review of national environmental laws will “tackle green tape” and reduce delays in project approvals that it said costs the economy about $300m a year.Hundreds of scientists have asked the government to use a legally required review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) to strengthen the legislation so it could be used to stem a worsening extinction crisis. Continue reading...

More than 20 activists arrested amid violent scenes, with officers accused of being ‘incredibly hostile’A climate protester has been taken to hospital and more than 20 others have been arrested while blockading an international mining conference in Melbourne after violent clashes erupted between the group and police.From 6am on Tuesday, hundreds of activists from a dozen different groups began blocking entry to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Continue reading...

Even species we see every day are sliding towards endangerment due to habitat loss• Vote here in the Guardian/BirdLife Australia 2019 bird of the year poll

Ordinary citizens must be informed of the dramatic lifestyle changes and costs they face, says Geoffrey Hammond, and Tim Walker focuses on the area of new solar panels that will be requiredThe ambition in the Labour party’s new plans for achieving net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is, of course, welcome (Labour spells out 30-point plan in new green pledge, 24 October). But climate change is a global phenomenon, and the UK only emits 1% of annual world GHG emissions in contrast to China at 22%, the US 13%, the rest of the EU28 7%, and India 7%.In order to ensure that the average global atmospheric temperature is stabilised at around 1.5C-2C, thereby avoiding dramatic climate change in this century, the large emitter countries will need to significantly reduce their emissions going forward. Continue reading...

My riotous childhood confidante has, in adulthood, become my talisman. All I have to do is follow the pink and grey trail

Ban on 5p single-use plastic bags and replacement of bubble wrap with eco-wrap among measuresJohn Lewis has stopped selling 5p single-use plastic carrier bags at its Oxford store as part of a major trial to test and change shoppers’ behaviour.The sustainability initiatives, which were unveiled on Monday, are aimed at encouraging a “reduce, reuse and return” culture among customers and could provide a model for its other shops. Continue reading...

Midlands most affected as Environment Agency issues 82 flood warnings and 117 alerts

Anthony Albanese says scandal over doctored document shows minister is distracted from his job of reducing emissionsThe opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, has queried whether the energy minister, Angus Taylor, has misled parliament in his answers about an altered document that was used to attack the climate record of Sydney’s lord mayor, Clover Moore.Taylor has been under sustained pressure to explain how an altered page of the City of Sydney’s annual report was sent by his office to the Daily Telegraph, which wrote a critical story effectively accusing the lord mayor of being a hypocrite on climate change. Continue reading...

Expert fears for long-term viability of Ramsar-listed wetland after fire sweeps through crucial bird habitatA bushfire has burned through 3,000 hectares of the internationally significant Macquarie Marshes, placing a question mark over the long-term viability of a key section of the wetland, according to a leading expert.The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service has confirmed the fire hit the northern reed bed in the wetlands, which are listed under the Ramsar convention covering wetlands of international importance. Continue reading...

This year’s Australian bird of the year poll is going to a runoff. What does that mean for your favourite?• Cast your vote in bird of the year 2019 hereIn the 2002 French presidential election, voters on the left were lumped with an unpalatable choice: vote for their longtime conservative enemy, Jacques Chirac, or abstain but risk handing the election to the far-right candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen. Progressive voters did their duty and reluctantly lined up at ballot boxes to cast their vote for Chirac, who was re-elected with a record 82% of the vote.This turn of events doesn’t on face value seem an endorsement of the runoff system, especially when Le Pen had just 17% of the primary vote and Chirac just 20% in the first round. Together the pair had less than 50% of the vote. Continue reading...

The Guardian and BirdLife Australia spent weeks refining the list for the poll

More than 240 conservation scientists sign open letter warning PM that 17 Australian native species face extinction in next 20 yearsMore than 240 conservation scientists have called on Scott Morrison to drop his opposition to stronger environment laws and seize a “once-in-a-decade opportunity” to fix a system that is failing to stem a worsening extinction crisis.With the federal government due to this week announce a 10-yearly legislated review of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, the scientists have signed an open letter to the prime minister urging him to increase spending and back laws to help protect the natural world from further destruction. Continue reading...

Growth centred in US and China, with slowdown in Sweden attributed to Greta ThunbergAlmost 8,000 new private jets are expected to be bought by multinational companies and the super-rich over the next decade, each of which will burn 40 times as much carbon per passenger as regular commercial flights, according to a report by aviation firm Honeywell Aerospace.About 690 new business jets are expected to take to the skies in 2019, a 9% increase on 2018, as businesses and the wealthy refresh their fleets with new models released by three of the world’s biggest private jet manufacturers. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson’s gung-ho claims may be wide of the mark, but scientists pursuing the holy grail of energy generation are taking giant steps“They are on the verge of creating commercially viable miniature fusion reactors for sale around the world,” Boris Johnson told the Conservative party conference earlier this month – “they” apparently being UK scientists. It was, at best, a rash promise for how nuclear fusion might make the UK carbon-neutral by the middle of the century – the target recommended by the Committee on Climate Change, which advises the government. “I know they have been on the verge for some time,” Johnson hedged. “It is a pretty spacious kind of verge.” But now, he assured his audience, “we are on the verge of the verge”.It’s a familiar and bitter joke about nuclear fusion as an energy source that, ever since it was first mooted in the 1950s, it has been 30 years away. Johnson’s comments had the extra irony that Brexit could merely add to that distance. Continue reading...

They also urged the Vatican to re­open the debate on ordaining women as deaconsCatholic bishops from across the Amazon have called for the ordination of married men as priests to address a scarcity of clergy in the region, a challenge to the centuries-old tradition in the church.The majority of the 180 bishops from nine South American countries in the Amazon basin region on Saturday also called for the Vatican to re­open a debate on ordaining women as deacons, saying “it is urgent for the church in the Amazon to promote and confer ministries for men and women in an equitable manner”. Continue reading...

Whatever the result, the communities on South Australia’s Eyre peninsula are split over the issue – and will be for some timeAfter four years of speculation and three years of consultation, the small towns of Kimba and Hawker in South Australia have begun the final stage of a process that has divided neighbours and placed these otherwise forgotten communities on the national map.On 7 November, the Kimba district council will announce the result of a month-long vote on whether its residents support the construction of a nuclear waste facility at one of two proposed sites. On 11 November a similar vote will open for the Flinders Ranges council over a third proposed site at Wallerberdina. Continue reading...

Families looking for sustainable, affordable children’s clothing are saving time and money by hiring bundlesHow do you clothe your baby while avoiding piles of vests and playsuits that your child has outgrown within weeks? For more and more new parents, the answer is simple: rent.Families who seek an environmentally friendly alternative to fast fashion pay a monthly subscription to companies offering ethical-branded, age-appropriate clothes and receive new outfits in the post. The clothes, washed, ironed and ready to be worn again, are sent back when the child has outgrown them, with another bundle arriving soon after. The hire fee covers stains and lost items. Continue reading...

Actor is led away in handcuffs after winning Stanley Kubrick award for excellence in filmJane Fonda accepted a prestigious award from Bafta Los Angeles while being led away in handcuffs after being arrested during climate emergency protests.The actor and activist was honoured with the Stanley Kubrick award for excellence in film at the annual Bafta Britannia ceremony. However, she could not be at the Beverly Hilton in person to accept the prize and, as is customary, sent a video message instead. Continue reading...

Removal and rehoming of rare species is likely to hamper project already beset by delaysFor over a decade attempts to build a monument to German unity have been hampered by technical problems, spiralling costs and huge disagreement over its purpose.The latest hurdle is a colony of 60 rare bats that took up residence in the pedestal of the planned 50-metre-long seesaw steel bowl, which will rock from side to side when people climb on to it. Continue reading...

Guitarist rules out 50th anniversary headline slot because of rift with festival founderBrian May has said Queen will not play Glastonbury next year after clashing with the festival’s founder over the controversial badger cull.The 72-year-old guitarist and animal rights campaigner rubbished claims that his band had been booked to headline Glastonbury’s 50th anniversary event next year. Continue reading...

Cuddling foxes, venomous sea snakes and a 1,000-year-old oak tree Continue reading...

Prince says private sector needs to lead with green investments towards sustainable economyPrince Charles has called on the City of London to help protect the environment by investing trillions of pounds into green investments which help create a sustainable economy.In an interview with the Evening Standard the heir to the British throne said big businesses and City investors must drive a rapid decarbonisation of the economy before the environmental crisis becomes “a total catastrophe”. Continue reading...

Supplies from turbines will prove to be the next great energy revolution, IEA predictsErecting wind turbines on the world’s best offshore sites could provide more than enough clean energy to meet global electricity demand, according to a report.A detailed study of the world’s coastlines has found that offshore windfarms alone could provide more electricity than the world needs – even if they are only built in windy regions in shallow waters near the shore. Continue reading...

Environmental committee says government funding ‘fails to match scale of threat’A citizen army is needed to help tackle invasive species that threaten the natural environment and in some cases human health, MPs have said.The cost to the economy of non-native species taking hold in the UK is estimated to be £1.8bn a year, a report from the environmental audit committee says. Continue reading...

Surfside’s postcard beach is experiencing a disappearing act amid hurricanes. rising sea levels – and a worldwide sand shortageThe sun is out, as usual, in the town of Surfside. Less than 10 miles north of Miami’s world-famous South Beach, just a square mile in size with a population near 6,000, it’s a typically prosperous American seaside community.Kite surfers zip along the azure waves as locals in flip-flops walk their toy-size dogs – just another south Florida day. Continue reading...

Federal, state and territory ministers agreed to meet twice a year and adopt Victorian plan to improve adaptations to agricultureAgriculture ministers have agreed to a national framework to address the impact of climate change on the sector, as well as to develop plans to help the industry grow to $100bn by 2030.At a meeting in Melbourne on Friday federal, state and territory agriculture ministers – and federal water resources minister David Littleproud – agreed to Victoria’s plan to improve adaptation of agriculture for climate change. Continue reading...

We can’t assume the renewable energy boom will simply continue. Only clear, coordinated policy will ensure it does

Rivers across region burst their banks after days of heavy rain causing ‘significant damage’Three people, including a British woman, have died after several days of heavy rain sent rivers flooding over their banks across southern France.The rains have caused “significant damage” requiring rescue workers to carry out nearly 1,800 operations since Sunday, an interior ministry statement said on Thursday, after eight departments were placed on high alert for flash floods. Continue reading...

Voracious purple urchins in waters of California and Oregon pose threat to kelp forests and risk upending delicate ecosystemsTens of millions of voracious purple sea urchins that have already chomped their way through towering underwater kelp forests in California are spreading north to Oregon, sending the delicate marine ecosystem off the shore into such disarray that other critical species are starving to death.A recent count found 350m purple sea urchins on one Oregon reef alone – more than a 10,000% increase since 2014. And in northern California, 90% of the giant bull kelp forests have been devoured by the urchins, perhaps never to return. Continue reading...

• Mercedes driver aims to be carbon neutral by end of year

Scientists shocked by data showing loss of hard corals at 100 locations across Whitsundays, Magnetic Island, Keppel Islands and Palm IslandsCoral coverage around some of the most popular tourist islands on the Great Barrier Reef has dropped by almost half in the last 18 years, according to a new study.Scientists said they were “shocked” after analysing data from monitoring dives between 1999 and 2017 at 100 different locations across the Whitsunday Islands, Magnetic Island, Keppel Islands and Palm Islands. Continue reading...

Activist joined demonstrators in St James parish as they rallied against facility that would double the amount of toxic emissionsFor the second time in two months the moral revival campaigner and civil rights leader the Rev William Barber has visited an area of toxic pollution in Louisiana known colloquially as “Cancer Alley” as he places the fight for clean air there at the centre of a national protest movement.The North Carolina-based activist, thrust on to the national stage after the success of the Moral Mondays protests in his home state, joined a group of local demonstrators in St James parish, between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, on Wednesday as they rallied against a proposed plastics manufacturing facility nearby. Continue reading...

Green light clears way for payments of £990m to gas, coal and nuclear power firmsThe UK’s largest fossil fuel generators may be back in line for almost £1bn in backup power subsidies this winter after the European commission approved the UK’s flagship energy scheme, which was ruled illegal last year.A shock European court ruling brought the government’s “capacity market” to a standstill last November, triggering an in-depth investigation into whether the UK’s plan to pay power plants to stay open was compatible with EU state aid law. Continue reading...

Lawyers for climate group in high court to fight police order stopping London protestsAn order attempting to ban Extinction rebellion protests in London was unlawful, the high court has heard, as lawyers for the group challenged what they described as an abuse of power by police.Seven prominent supporters of XR brought judicial review proceedings against the Metropolitan police after the force last Monday issued the order under section 14 of the Public Order Act to demand that that the group’s activists “cease their protest(s) within London”. Continue reading...

MPs vote 86 to one in support of the controversial measures after voting down more extreme LNP amendmentsThe Queensland parliament has passed new laws that will criminalise “dangerous” locking devices used by climate protesters, and give police expanded powers to search suspected activists.The state parliament gave its near-unanimous support – 86 votes to one – for the controversial measures. Continue reading...

Council to gradually get rid of ubiquitous trees from CBD to plant Moreton Bay figs, jacarandas and sweet gumsThe London plane tree, a divisive staple of many Australian city streetscapes, will be gradually removed from Melbourne’s central business district and replaced with species resistant to climate change such as Moreton Bay figs, jacarandas and sweet gums.London plane trees make up 70% of the tree population in Melbourne’s inner city. While admired by some for their hardiness and environmental benefits such as providing extensive cooling and shade, the trees are also unpopular for shedding leaf and shoot hairs, known as trichomes, during the same period that grass pollen levels are at their highest. Continue reading...

Minister says he rejects ‘bizarre’ assertion that he created false documents relating to City of Sydney. This blog is now closed7.35am BSTEstimates is continuing but alas I cannot.The blog will be back for the Senate-only week on 11 November (Senate-palooza is back bbs!) but the House won’t return until 25 November, when the parliament sits for the final fortnight of the year.The last #QT of this sitting fortnight has concluded. Don’t forget, the House Procedure Committee is running a survey to get your feedback on the rules that govern #QT. To get involved, click here: https://t.co/8I1vFV9t467.05am BSTThe House is adjourned until 25 November. Continue reading...

Report comes amid calls for set up of firewall to protect politics from industry influenceThe five biggest oil and gas companies, and their industry groups, have spent at least €251m (£217m) lobbying the European Union over climate policies since 2010, research has revealed.The data on the scale of lobbying by oil companies and their representatives comes as 200 organisations demand the setting up of a firewall around democratic politics to protect it from the influence of the fossil fuel industry. Continue reading...

Farmers given until 2022 to make changes or pay higher taxes as part of plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050New Zealand farmers have five years to reduce their carbon emissions before the government introduces financial penalties, prime minister Jacinda Ardern has announced.Ardern’s Labour coalition government has committed to making New Zealand carbon net-zero by 2050, with the PM likening the climate change battle to the previous generations’ struggle against the rise of nuclear power. Continue reading...