Environment | The Guardian

World’s biggest fund manager urged to invest in clean energy for good of the climate and its investorsBlackRock, the world’s biggest investor, has lost an estimated $90bn over the last decade by ignoring the serious financial risk of investing in fossil fuel companies, according to economists.A report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) has found that BlackRock has eroded the value of its $6.5tn funds by betting on oil companies that were falling in value and by missing out on growth in clean energy investments. Continue reading...

Bank of England governor says firms that ignore crisis ‘will go bankrupt without question’Capitalism is “very much part of the solution” to tackling the climate crisis, according to the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney.Challenged in an interview by the Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow over whether capitalism itself was fuelling the climate emergency, Carney gave a strident defence of the economic system predicated on private ownership and growth but said companies that ignored climate change would “go bankrupt without question”. Continue reading...

Godfrey Boyle, who has died aged 74, was founder-editor in 1972 of Undercurrents, a magazine of “radical science and people’s technology”, which inspired a variety of sustainable energy, housing, transport and community projects. In its founding year he led the editorial team of Undercurrents (known affectionately as Undies) to the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, where they distributed a special issue on energy and organised an exhibition on alternative technologies. The publication lasted 10 years before merging with Resurgence magazine.In 1975 Godfrey co-edited (with Peter Harper) Radical Technology, a book with contributions from many of the Undies stable that was perhaps best known for the series of Visions drawings by the anarchist artist Clifford Harper. In the same year Godfrey published his influential book Living on the Sun, which advanced the then novel idea that industrial countries could make a transition to renewable power. Continue reading...

Conservation and climate change policy ‘should be two sides of same coin’, says chair of Natural EnglandA new generation of national nature reserves are being created to help improve people’s health and mitigate the effects of climatic extremes, according to the chair of the government’s conservation watchdog.The South London Downs reserve is the first in a series of landscapes that will be designated a national nature reserve this year, said Tony Juniper of Natural England. Several more will follow this autumn, including what he described as one “very significant” newly protected area. Continue reading...

Punjab residents must plant 10 trees to get a firearms licence – and send photos to prove it

Relative nobodies like John Delaney and John Hickenlooper have taken up more airtime than the climate crisis during the debates. We deserve betterMillions of Americans don’t know who John Delaney or John Hickenlooper are. They probably wouldn’t be able to correctly identify them in a photo. And yet, at the Democratic debate on Tuesday night, Delaney got to speak for nearly 11 minutes, and John Hickenlooper for almost nine. In one night, those two relatively unknown men combined got more airtime than the climate crisis has in all three debates thus far. And that’s despite the fact that, if we don’t do anything to address rising temperatures now, we will see several US cities underwater in the coming decades.So here’s my pitch: if these and other candidates without a shot in hell at winning actually cared about the future of this country, they would drop out. Continue reading...

Met Office’s annual report on state of UK climate also says snowy days have become rarerElectric fans could soon be as indispensable in British weather as umbrellas: a report has revealed the UK is becoming hotter and wetter, while snow days have become rarer.The annual report into the state of the UK’s climate, the fifth of its kind, has been released by the Met Office and comes just days after meteorologists confirmed that Cambridge recently set a new record for the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK. Continue reading...

Southern white rhino calf at San Diego Zoo raises hopes for the future of wild rhinocerosesThe bumbling, sleepy rhino calf at San Diego Zoo is sure to delight animal lovers around the world. But for conservation scientists, his birth has additional meaning – it marks a significant step toward saving wild rhino populations from the edge of extinction.The newborn southern white rhino is the first in North America, and the third in the world, born as the result of artificial insemination. Continue reading...

Ben Lecomte is making a trans-Pacific journey to better understand how plastics pollution is affecting our oceansBen Lecomte is spending his summer swimming in trash – literally. So far, he’s found toothbrushes, laundry baskets, sandbox shovels and beer crates floating out in the open waters of the Pacific Ocean.The 52-year-old Frenchman is journeying from Hawaii to San Francisco via the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to better understand how plastic is affecting our oceans. He will swim a total of 300 nautical miles, intermittently travelling by sailboat with a crew of 10 the rest of the way. Continue reading...

Kooyong resident says treasurer betrayed Australia on climate change as Gladys Liu also challenged over Chinese language signsJosh Frydenberg’s eligibility to sit in parliament has been challenged in the court of disputed returns by a constituent who says he feels “betrayed” by the Liberal party’s inaction on climate change.Michael Staindl, a resident of Kooyong, filed a petition on Wednesday alleging the treasurer and deputy Liberal leader is disqualified by section 44(1) of the constitution because he is a citizen of Hungary, which Frydenberg denies. Continue reading...

‘Insidious’ health-related impacts in Australia and Pacific include lowered cognitive capacity and spread of diseasesClimate change is “absolutely” already causing deaths, according to a new report on the health impacts of the climate crisis, which also predicts climate-related stunting, malnutrition and lower IQ in children within the coming decades.The report, From Townsville to Tuvalu, produced by Monash University in Melbourne, pulled together scientific research from roughly 120 peer-reviewed journal articles to paint a picture of the health-related impacts of the climate emergency in Australia and the Pacific region. Continue reading...

Nadi Bay declaration issues blunt warning: coral atoll nations could be uninhabitable as early as 2030Pacific leaders have called on Australia to abandon plans to use carry-over credits to meet Paris climate targets and to immediately stop new coalmining, warning some of their countries could be uninhabitable as soon as 2030.In a strongly worded statement issued at the end of a Pacific Islands development forum in Fiji, the leaders said they were deeply concerned about a lack of “comprehension, ambition or commitment” from developed nations despite the climate crisis posing grave consequences for their people. Continue reading...

Data also shows that none of Britain’s coldest years have happened since 1963The UK’s 10 hottest years on record have all occurred since 2002, the Met Office has said. Its statistics stretching back to 1884 reveal a worrying trend, as the planet as a whole deals with the climate crisis.In a further indication of how the climate is heating up, the records show that none of the UK’s 10 coldest years have occurred since 1963. Continue reading...

Calls for Mexico to crackdown on use of illegal fishing nets after further decline of speciesThere are fewer than 19 vaquita porpoises thought to be left, according to a study.In 2016, estimates of the vaquita population stood at just 30, but research published in Royal Society Open Science suggests the figure has fallen further. Continue reading...

North of Tyne aims to have UN-accredited climate change teacher in every state schoolA region of northern England plans to become the first place in the world to have a UN-accredited climate change teacher in every state primary and secondary school.Jamie Driscoll, the new mayor of the North of Tyne combined authority, said every school in the area would have the opportunity to train a member of staff to give lessons on global heating and the impact of the climate crisis. The region is working with the creators of EduCCate Global, a UN teacher training scheme. Continue reading...

Labour leader speaks after meeting Blackpool protesters and calling for fracking banBoris Johnson’s close relationship with Donald Trump could be dangerous for the environment with both leaders putting “short-term economic gains” ahead of longer-term climate issues, Jeremy Corbyn has said.The Labour leader made his comments after meeting with fracking protesters in Blackpool, where he called on the prime minister to impose an immediate ban on shale gas extraction. Continue reading...

The renewable boom will end without a national policy to encourage future clean investments, industry warnsClean energy will be providing 35% of Australia’s total electricity needs within two years, analysts say, as new data underlines the pace at which solar power is transforming the national energy market.A report by consultants Green Energy Markets found rooftop solar systems and new large-scale farms regularly pushed renewable energy to beyond 30% of generation at midday during June, one of the least sunny months. Continue reading...

InterContinental Hotels Group will switch to refillable bottles by 2021 to reduce plastic wasteInterContinental Hotels Group is ditching miniature shampoo, conditioner and body-wash bottles across its 5,000-plus sites worldwide to reduce plastic waste.The owner of the Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and InterContinental chains will switch to bulk dispensers, refillable bottles and ceramic containers by the end of 2021. Continue reading...

Oxfordshire farmers launch campaign against Home Office policy on hemp cultivationTwo hemp farmers say they have been left devastated after they were forced to destroy 40 acres of the crop – the end product of which can be bought legally in high street shops.Patrick Gillett and Ali Silk said they had to cut down their crop because the Home Office said they were no longer allowed to harvest it for cannabis oil, or CBD. Continue reading...

Met Office warns of severe weather across large parts of UK on Tuesday and Wednesday

Labour says fracking for gas will prevent Britain meeting carbon emissions targetJeremy Corbyn has urged Boris Johnson to ban fracking for gas as research by Labour shows it will stop the UK meeting a net zero target for carbon emissions this century.The analysis was published ahead of a visit by the Labour leader to join anti-fracking protesters at Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road site in Lancashire. Continue reading...

Messages appear to be a ruse to get people to sign up to unnecessary servicesWe have had solar panels on our roof for some years and all is working well. Last week we received a letter from the British Trading Solar Association warning us that the five-year warranty on our inverter was due to expire. It invited us to book a free health check and service. I have never heard of the BTSA and it did not install our system. Can you shed any light on this?

Comparable death toll has been recorded only once before, says Norwegian Polar InstituteAbout 200 reindeer have been found dead from starvation in the Arctic archipelago Svalbard, an unusually high number, the Norwegian Polar Institute has said, pointing the finger at climate crisis.During an annual census of the wild reindeer population on the group of islands about 1,200km (746 miles) from the north pole, three researchers from the institute identified the carcasses of about 200 deer believed to have starved to death last winter. Continue reading...

Nation replaces Brazil for first time in annual list of murders compiled by Global WitnessThe Philippines has replaced Brazil as the most murderous country in the world for people defending their land and environment, according to research that puts a spotlight on the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.More than three defenders were killed across the world every week in 2018, according to the annual toll by the independent watchdog Global Witness, highlighting the continued dangers facing those who stand up to miners, loggers, farmers, poachers and other extractive industries. Continue reading...

John Williams pushed for review after hearing Richard Taylor talk on radio about clearing of grasslandsA national review of how conservation laws affect the agriculture industry was prompted by a complaint on the radio from Richard Taylor – the brother of Angus Taylor – the former Nationals senator John Williams has said.Williams says he pushed for the farm-focused review after he heard Richard Taylor speaking about state and federal investigations into alleged illegal clearing of grasslands on land he and the energy minister part-own in New South Wales. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Queensland authorities believed penalty – a 20th of the maximum for a single infringement – would serve as a deterrentOne of Australia’s most contentious coalmines, New Acland, was caught drilling 27 illegal bores last year and fined $3,152 by the Queensland government, a figure an environment group has labelled “paltry”.Documents obtained under Queensland freedom of information laws show the state Department of Environment and Science believed the Darling Downs miner had committed a “major” breach of environmental laws. Continue reading...

Countries asked to flag plans for net zero emissions by 2050, but so far Australia is only talking about its 2030 targetThe United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, has written to all heads of state asking countries to outline their plans to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, but at this stage the Australian government is only engaging on commitments to 2030.Ahead of a climate action summit in New York on 23 September, Guterres has reportedly asked leaders to flag plans they will set next year for 2030 emissions reduction commitments, and their plans to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Continue reading...

Narendra Modi claims the programme will showcase India’s ‘beautiful mountains and mighty rivers’, in the latest in a string of choreographed media appearancesIndia’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, will appear with Bear Grylls in a wilderness survival television programme, the latest in a series of Putin-style media appearances in which the 68-year-old leader projects himself as a man of action and a champion of the environment.A trailer for the programme, Man vs Wild, which will air in India on 12 August, shows the two men cutting through forests, sniffing animal dung and floating down a river on a makeshift raft. In one scene, Modi holds an improvised spear and tells Grylls: “I’ll hold this for you.” Continue reading...

No 10 says inquiry into Mark Field’s conduct was a matter for the previous PMBoris Johnson has dropped the Whitehall investigation into Mark Field, the Tory MP who was caught on camera manhandling a Greenpeace activist out of a black-tie dinner.Johnson has sacked Field from his role as a Foreign Office minister since taking over as prime minister and decided that the investigation was no longer needed. Continue reading...

Studies highlight risk to health of humans and wildlife from toxic particles in meat• Letter: Use safe alternative to toxic lead gunshotWaitrose, Britain’s largest retailer of game, is to ban the sale of birds shot with lead, as experts call on the government to ban its use.The move has been welcomed by the government’s independent expert group, which concluded that there was no way to reduce the risk to human health and wildlife from lead shot other than by using alternative, non-toxic ammunition instead. Continue reading...

Teenage activist to travel to US on racing yacht to cut environmental impact of travel

Prime minister describes 30% surge after conservation efforts as ‘historic achievement’India’s wild tiger population has increased by more than 30% in four years, raising hopes for the survival of the endangered species.A census found 2,967 tigers, up from 2,226 four years ago, in what the prime minister called a “historic achievement”. Continue reading...

Minister tells parliament he requested briefings because of constituents’ concerns, not family business interestsA conversation with an unnamed Yass farmer, not the interests of his farming family, had spurred the minister for energy, Angus Taylor, to seek briefings from the environment department about a listing to protect native grasslands, he told parliament on Monday.In a personal explanation to the House of Representatives, Taylor sought to deflect further questions and a possible Senate inquiry into meetings he had with bureaucrats on the grasslands laws in 2017. Continue reading...

MSC may have to remove sustainable certification from cod as report calls for catches to be cut by two-thirdsNorth Sea cod could soon be coming off the menu for environmentally conscious diners as a decision is expected by the end of this month on whether fish populations are too low to support sustainable fishing.Cod from the North Sea is designated as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which examines fish stocks and certifies those that can support more fishing without significant harm. But that designation is now in serious doubt, as the world’s leading body on the health of fish stocks has warned that the North Sea populations of cod have fallen to critical levels. Continue reading...

IFM Investors calls for focus on long-term revenue growth, and supports BHP’s pledge to curb carbon emissionsThe head of IFM Investors says the $140bn investment powerhouse will be pushing Australian company bosses to work on growing their businesses instead of focusing on cutting costs.The chief executive, Brett Himbury, said IFM, which invests on behalf of Australian industry super funds and like-minded international pension outfits, also supports mining giant BHP’s new pledge to do more to curb carbon emissions. Continue reading...

When a fellow protester against a dam that was polluting our water was killed, I left with my young son on a migrant caravanI am seeking asylum in the US because of a hydroelectric dam. I fled Honduras fearing for my life after being teargassed and arrested by police when our community resisted a dam which contaminated the water we rely on for drinking, cooking and washing.Related: Mexican man feared dead after falling into mass of polluted suds Continue reading...

Press Council says News Corp paper’s article ‘Mega-mine’s future in hands of greenies’ failed to meet standardsThe Courier-Mail breached the press watchdog’s standards for accuracy, fairness and balance in a report headlined “Mega-mine’s future in hands of greenies” about Adani’s Carmichael mine in Queensland.The News Corp paper claimed that the Threatened Species Recovery Hub was an “anti-coal group” made up of “greenies” who had been “hand-picked by the Palaszczuk government to review one of the mine’s environmental management plans”. Continue reading...

There are fewer than 200 Devils Hole pupfish on Earth, so it’s a good thing they employed some survival tacticsDevils Hole pupfish – among the rarest fish on earth – know a thing or two about earthquake safety. After all, they managed to ride out a huge wave triggered by the recent tremors in California.Found only inside an inconceivably deep, sweltering geothermal pool called Devils Hole near Death Valley, and numbering fewer than 200, Devils Hole pupfish are endangered, but not helpless. Continue reading...

I have spent five years investigating state efforts to roll back clean energy laws. Ohio just passed the worst legislation yet

Our vulnerability to global heating could signal even hotter spells than witnessed last weekThe blistering heat that last week brought travel chaos and record temperatures to Britain reveal the nation’s vulnerability to changes in weather patterns in regions far from our shores.That was a key message outlined by climate experts after the nation recorded its hottest ever July – thanks to the arrival of heated air carried on atmospheric currents from Africa to the British Isles. Continue reading...

Moral movement leader travels to Reserve, Louisiana, town with America’s highest risk of cancer due to airborne toxinsThe social justice and moral revival campaigner Rev William Barber has called on 2020 presidential candidates to visit Reserve, Louisiana, the town with America’s highest risk of cancer due to airborne toxins. Continue reading...

Trying to reuse plastic is hopelessly inefficientWe have been going the wrong way with plastics for the last 30 or more years (“Waste no more? Plan to turn plastic into fuel for homes”, News). The effort of collecting, transporting and cleaning them for possible recycling has largely failed, created much more pollution and contributed massively to climate change. The idea of burning plastics and using the energy to heat our homes was proposed by the plastics company Dow more than 30 years ago: it suggested treating all plastics as “borrowed oil”. At that time, ordinary domestic waste had a calorific value of low-grade coal, so the suggestion was that this waste should be burned in efficient plants with heat recovery and treatment of the gases produced, perhaps even trapping the carbon dioxide produced, rather than trying to recycle the complex (and dirty) mix of plastics.Today, with higher use of more complex plastics, this makes even more sense. Mixed plastics cannot really be recycled: they are long-chain molecules, like spaghetti, so if you reheat and reprocess them, you inevitably end up with something of lower performance; it’s called down-cycling. Newsprint is what happens when you recycle paper: low strength is inevitable. Of course, this idea doesn’t deal with all the plastic already in our environment, even in our purified drinking water. Quite simply, this cannot be removed and, apart from some distressing images of trapped animals, seems to be causing little impact on human or animal life. Continue reading...

Senator says it became ‘an area of concern’ after reading reports by the Guardian of FOI documents into the matterSenator Rex Patrick has announced Centre Alliance will support an inquiry into controversial meetings between Angus Taylor and the environment department over endangered grasslands.The reversal ups pressure on the energy minister after a week of Labor and the Greens targeting Taylor in parliament over whether he stood to personally benefit from lobbying to water down environmental protections for the grasslands. Continue reading...

Taxpayers are still on the hook, and renewable options are still being overlookedThe government’s new funding model at the heart of its plan for a nuclear renaissance is an improvement since it struck a deal three years ago to support Hinkley Point C in Somerset. This is the best that can be said for the new strategy, outlined by officials in a consultation last week. It is also very faint praise.EDF Energy’s deal to build Hinkley Point C, Britain’s first new nuclear power plant in a generation, has been dubbed the world’s most expensive power plant of all time, a “white elephant” in a changing energy landscape, and a risky and expensive gamble with taxpayers’ money. Continue reading...

‘All-in’ model would mean charge added to plastic, glass, aluminium and steel containersAlmost three-quarters of Britons would support a nationwide deposit return system for plastic and glass drinks bottles and aluminium cans, a survey has found.The results follow the announcement last week during a speech at London’s Kew Gardens by Michael Gove, then environment secretary, in which he expressed support for a comprehensive deposit return system. In his speech, Gove suggested that “an ‘all-in’ model will give consumers the greatest possible incentive to recycle”. Continue reading...

Stuart Burge, who gave the go-ahead for Angus Taylor’s company to spray pesticides, also wrote a report now being used to head off an inquiry into the sprayingAn expert who gave the go-ahead for a company owned by Angus Taylor to spray pesticide on fields containing critically endangered grasslands wrote a report for NSW Farmers Association about how the environmental listing of the same species was impeding agriculture.Stuart Burge, a board member of the Local Land Services South East, conducted the paddock assessment for the company Jam Land, in which energy minister Angus Taylor has an interest, in 2016 just before it was sprayed. Continue reading...

Excess detergents from homes that drain into streams feeding the Valsequillo reservoir caused suds to accumulate, authorities sayA Mexican man is feared dead after he posed for a photograph alongside a 6m-high (19.7ft) mass of soap suds on a heavily polluted stream – and apparently fell into the quivering mass.Emergency teams in the central state of Puebla are still looking for the man, who fell into the mass of suds earlier this week. Continue reading...

Party calls for heat-free leave for workers to cope with record high temperaturesGermany’s Green party has proposed stay-at-home working to help the nation cope with record temperatures.Just as other Europeans have found themselves struggling to deal with unprecedented heat levels, Germans have also been trying to find ways to cool off. “Heat-free home office days” are the latest suggestion. Continue reading...