Environment | The Guardian

Campaigners are increasingly concerned country lacks clear strategy for Glasgow summitDeveloping countries and climate campaigners are growing increasingly concerned that the UK lacks a clear strategy for hosting vital UN talks on the climate crisis, amid fears of a conflict of interest in government between seeking post-Brexit trade deals and a global climate settlement.Boris Johnson will lead prominent British figures from climate science, business and economics to launch the UK’s strategy for the conference, known as COP26, on Tuesday. The talks, to take place in Glasgow this November, are widely seen as the last realistic chance for countries to pledge the stiff cuts needed in greenhouse gases to stave off climate breakdown. Continue reading...

The ravenous creatures are destroying vast swaths of kelp forests, which are crucial for carbon storage. Is the answer staring us in the plate?Eating as much sushi as humanly possible seems an unlikely way to help save the planet. But one company is hoping fine diners from London to LA to Tokyo will devour enough uni sushi – sea urchin roe – to help restore the planet’s kelp forests.From the North Sea to Tasmania, large parts of these underwater carbon stores – crucial for biodiversity – have vanished, leaving vast “urchin barrens” on the sea floor in their place. In Norway, the expanses of bizarre, prickly orbs are green. In California, they are purple. But wherever the urchins linger, the problems are the same. Continue reading...

It has been promised that any wild space destroyed during HS2’s creation will be replaced. But green opposition is hardeningWhen Labour announced HS2 in 2010, the 153-page launch document contained one mention of wildlife. Only “a few” protected wildlife sites would be affected, it said. There would be a line of concrete and steel crossing middle England, but any wild space that was destroyed would be compensated for with new trees, woods and ponds – “no net loss of biodiversity”, in eco-speak.Related: Will HS2 really help cut the UK’s carbon footprint? Continue reading...

Strongly worded appeal comes as new energy market analysis predicts Australia will hit 50% renewable electricity by 2030A group of more than 200 scientists will on Monday urge returning parliamentarians to urgently reduce Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions, and work diplomatically to achieve coordinated global climate action, after a catastrophic summer of fires.In an open letter timed to coincide with the resumption of the parliamentary year in Canberra, the group says scientific evidence unequivocally links human-caused climate change to the increasing risk of frequent and severe bushfires in the Australian landscape. Continue reading...

Firms may cut prices on plug-in electric hybrids to escape new EU emissions finesCarmakers are bracing for a hybrid electric car price war this year as they try to avoid steep EU fines for carbon dioxide emissions.Related: 2020 set to be year of the electric car, say industry analysts Continue reading...

Animals worth £3m were stolen from Britain’s farms in 2019, but farmers are fighting backSheep farmer Mark Candy did not realise at first that he had been targeted by rustlers. His Romney ewes graze among trees and rough ground on a Wiltshire country estate, and it was not obvious at first that some were missing.“Then I sensed that something wasn’t quite right,” said Candy, whose family have farmed in the area for five generations. “I did a rough count and it became clear many of them had gone.” Continue reading...

Thirty tortoises partially descended from extinct species found, including one of same species as famed individualConservationists working around the largest volcano on the Galápagos Islands say they have found 30 giant tortoises partially descended from two extinct species, including that of the famed Lonesome George.The Galápagos national park and Galápagos Conservancy said one young female had a direct line of descent from the Chelonoidis abingdonii species of Pinta island. The last of those tortoises was Lonesome George, who died in June 2012 and was believed to be more than 100 years old. Continue reading...

Cruel or kind? Education and conservation are cited as reasons for keeping wild animals in captivity, but many critics say zoos are outdated relics of a less enlightened era. We hear what both sides sayIn a few days, a pair of two-year-old cheetahs, Saba and Nairo, will depart from the UK on a remarkable journey. The brothers will be taken from Howletts Wild Animal Park, in Kent, and flown to South Africa to begin a new life – in the wild.It will be the first time that cheetahs born in captivity have left the UK for rewilding in Africa, says Damian Aspinall, who runs Howletts. “There are only about 7,000 cheetahs left on the planet and they are listed as vulnerable,” he says. “This reintroduction – to a reserve in Mount Camdeboo, in south of the country – is important because it will help to support the small population of cheetahs we have left in the wild.” Continue reading...

Andrea Leadsom and Michael Gove among senior figures touted to replace Claire O’Neill as talks leaderBritain needs to find a new high-level leader of its team preparing for this year’s crunch climate talks in Glasgow as a matter of extreme urgency.That is the clear message from politicians, senior scientists and climate experts following last week’s sacking of Claire O’Neill as president of the climate talks, known as COP26. Continue reading...

Warnings come after discovery of fire-ravaged Anaiwan panel on property in northern NSW that is at least 500 years oldAn important rock art site in northern New South Wales has been discovered after being irretrievably damaged by bushfire, with grave fears held for thousands of other sites.Some of the art at the site, which is on private property west of Armidale on the NSW northern tablelands, was known but had not been fully documented. Fire also destroyed a nearby site which had not been documented. The art is thought to be at least 500 years old. Continue reading...

The Guardian has become the first major global news organisation to institute an outright ban on taking money from companies that extract fossil fuels. Here, we hear from readers on their reaction, and our interim chief executive explains the policy changeIn a bid to reduce our carbon footprint, confront greenwashing and increase our focus on the climate crisis, the Guardian this week announced it will no longer run ads from fossil fuel extractors alongside any of its content in print or online. The move will come into immediate effect, and follows the announcement in October last year that we intend to reduce our net emissions to zero by 2030.Once upon a time, a newspaper was a rather straightforward business. You generated enough material of interest to attract a significant number of readers. You then ‘sold’ those readers to advertisers happy to pay to get their ideas, products or brands in front of consumers with cash to spend. Continue reading...

New study shows marine heat wave was causing marine life to cluster in an area that made feeding dangerousWhen humpback whales began to appear in large numbers off the California coast in 2015 and 2016, people celebrated the comeback of the whales after a near-miss with extinction.However, the excitement was quickly met with new worries – the whales increasingly got caught up in fishermen’s crab ropes. By 2016, there were more than 50 recorded entanglements that left whales injured or killed. Whales got ropes tangled around their mouths, making it difficult for them to eat. Crab lines cut through tissue and caused infections. Continue reading...

Plants provide key food source for pollinators as they come out of hibernationGardeners should avoid mowing over dandelions on their lawn if they want to help bees, according to the new president of the British Ecological Society.Dandelions – which will start flowering in the UK this month – provide a valuable food source for early pollinators coming out of hibernation, including solitary bees, honey bees and hoverflies. Continue reading...

Beavers can regenerate landscapes, encourage wildlife and prevent flooding – and they have friends in high placesThe must-have accessory for every English country estate was once a gothic folly, a ha-ha or a croquet lawn. Now it is a pair of beavers.Landowners and large estates are racing to acquire licences to reintroduce the water-loving rodents, which were hunted to extinction in Britain 400 years ago. Continue reading...

Farm on Eyre Peninsula volunteered by owner to house low and medium risk wasteA farming property on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula will become a nuclear waste dump, the federal government has announced, but opponents of the facility are making a last-bid ditch to stop it.On Saturday the federal resources minister, Matt Canavan, said 160 hectares of the Napandee property in Kimba would host Australia’s radioactive waste, the vast majority of which comes from the production of nuclear medicine and is held across more than 100 sites. Continue reading...

Source says officials in COP26 unit could not work with Claire O’Neill in run-up to Glasgow talksClaire O’Neill, the former UK energy minister who was to lead the UN climate talks this year in Glasgow, has been removed from the post.Her sacking comes as Boris Johnson prepares to launch the UK’s strategy for hosting November’s crunch climate talks, known as COP26. Continue reading...

Biodegradable potato-starch bags | Fossil fuel advertising | Marmalade | Sponges and loofahsI have just turned my “active” compost heap, which has received all the Guardian biodegradable bags since they were introduced last year. I am pleased to say the older bags are barely recognisable and are well on their way to forming nice new compost. By the time the “maturing” heap is emptied in the spring, I expect all the bags will have disappeared and will help grow the next crop of potatoes – a virtuous circle. Well done on your initiative.

The pick of the world’s best flora and fauna photos, including a plea for a crocodile trapped in a tyre Continue reading...

Ugandan activist says she hopes storm over Davos photo will help shift narrativeThe Ugandan climate activist who was cropped out of a press photo in Davos has said many African activists experience the same erasure but feel unable to speak up.The Associated Press apologised last week after it cropped Vanessa Nakate out of a photo she had posed for alongside fellow activists Greta Thunberg, Loukina Tille, Luisa Neubauer and Isabelle Axelsson. Continue reading...

NSW environment minister insists government will not ‘cut corners’ in assessing Santos’s controversial coal-seam gas project at NarrabriFarmers near the proposed Narrabri gas development in northern New South Wales fear they will be “sold out” by a federal-state energy deal that promises to dramatically increase supplies of the fossil fuel in the state.Announcing the $2bn deal alongside the prime minister, Scott Morrison, on Friday, the NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, nominated Santos’s long-promised Narrabri coal-seam gas project as a way to deliver 70 petajoules of new gas a year as promised under the agreement. Continue reading...

Hives that survived catastrophic Paris cathedral blaze are healthier than ever, says beekeeperIt is a crisp winter morning and the area around Notre Dame is sealed off as it has been since the fire last April that devastated the cathedral.Those in the know, however, especially those with the keenest of eyes, might spot some small movement high up to the south of the stricken and blackened structure. Continue reading...

Governments risk derailing global fossil fuel demand with ‘handbrake turns’ in futureThe oil industry is at risk of a global market shock that could halve the value of fossil fuel investments if governments delay setting policies to tackle the climate crisis, according to new analysis.A report by Carbon Tracker, a financial thinktank, warned that a “handbrake turn” in climate policy could have a “forceful, abrupt, and disorderly” impact on the global oil industry by derailing fossil fuel demand. Continue reading...

Agreement will underwrite grid interconnectors and cut emissions, Australian prime minister saysScott Morrison has struck a $2bn deal with the New South Wales government to increase gas supply and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector.The deal includes at least $450m of federal grants and $510m more of federal grants or loans for “NSW-based emissions reduction initiatives”, to be matched by $1.01bn in direct funding from Gladys Berejiklian’s government. Continue reading...

Annual challenge encourages the public to catch as many of the invasive giant snakes that decimate native wildlife as possibleMost visitors to the mosquito-infested swamps of the Florida Everglades are happy to leave again quickly: a half-hour airboat ride and photograph of a basking alligator is usually enough to satisfy the curiosity of any tourist keen to return to the theme parks and beaches – or sports events – of the sunshine state’s more traditional attractions.But Mike Kimmel wouldn’t be anywhere else. The professional wildlife trapper and self-styled python cowboy’s most recent excursion into the uninhabitable backwaters of the famed River of Grass region was rewarded with the grand prize in this year’s extra-special version of the annual Python Challenge encouraging the public to catch as many of the invasive giant snakes that decimate native wildlife as possible. Continue reading...

Companies to be banned from destroying clothes, cosmetics and other itemsFrance is to ban designer clothes and luxury goods companies from destroying unsold or returned items under a wide-ranging anti-waste law passed by parliament on Thursday.The groundbreaking law, which the French government claims is a world first, also covers electrical items, hygiene products and cosmetics, which must now be reused, redistributed or recycled. Continue reading...

Environment group says $4.5bn saving should be redirected to rural and regional renewal after bushfiresThe Australian Conservation Foundation is calling on the federal government to cap lucrative fuel tax credits for big business, with the $4.5bn annual saving to be redirected to rural and regional renewal in the wake of the summer bushfire crisis.The environment group’s pre-budget submission argues that reform of the fuel rebate – forecast to cost $34bn over the forward estimates – is urgently needed given the scale of devastation caused by the fires, which have seen more than 18 million hectares of land burned across the country. Continue reading...

Johnson’s promised cash only for those flooded from 8-18 November and where at least 25 houses affectedHundreds of flooded households will not receive a penny of the thousands of pounds in compensation announced by Boris Johnson because of an “obscene postcode lottery” being applied by the government.The prime minister promised that grants of up to £5,000 would be made available for victims of flooding, after visiting Fishlake in Yorkshire last November in the run-up to the general election. Another set of payouts of £500 for households and £2,500 for businesses was also announced. Continue reading...

I shut down an oil pipeline as part of a peaceful protest. The government thinks this is violent extremism

Agriculture and forestry union says up to 90% of saplings they have looked at so far have diedUp to 90% of the millions of saplings planted in Turkey as part of a record-breaking mass planting project may have died after just a few months, according to the country’s agriculture and forestry trade union.On 11 November last year, which the government declared National Forestation Day, 11 million trees were planted by volunteers in more than 2,000 sites across the country, including by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the parliament Speaker, Mustafa Şentop. Continue reading...

Three survivors joined Friends of the Earth to accuse ANZ of misleading consumers by investing in fossil fuel projectsThree bushfire survivors have joined environment group Friends of the Earth in a claim against ANZ, accusing it of financing the climate crisis by funding fossil fuel projects.The case, lodged under international guidelines agreed by members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), demands the bank disclose its greenhouse gas emissions, including “scope three” emissions resulting from its business lending and investment portfolio, and set ambitious targets that align with the Paris climate agreement. Continue reading...

Temporary ban to curb coronavirus is not enough, says environmental leader Jinfeng ZhouA temporary ban on wildlife markets in China to curb the spread of coronavirus is “not enough” and should be made permanent, a prominent Chinese environmental leader has told the Guardian.Echoing calls from experts worldwide who have denounced the trade for its damaging impact on biodiversity as well as the spread of disease, Jinfeng Zhou, secretary general of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF), said the ban failed to address the root cause of the outbreak, which was poor regulation and high levels of illegal trade. Continue reading...

Andrea Leadsom overruled climate aims of government’s own planning authorityThe UK government is being sued for approving a large new gas-fired power plant, overruling the climate change objections of its own planning authority.The plant, being developed by Drax in north Yorkshire, would become the biggest gas power station in Europe and could produce 75% of the UK’s power sector emissions when fully operational, according to the environmental lawyers ClientEarth, who have brought the judicial review. Continue reading...

Conservation group wins case against VicForests to protect threatened species habitat after unprecedented bushfiresVicForests has been forced to immediately stop logging in parts of Victoria’s central highlands after the supreme court granted an injunction to a citizen science group pushing for a stop to logging of unburnt areas in the wake of bushfires.Wildlife of the Central Highlands (Wotch) has launched a fresh case against VicForests in a bid to stop logging of threatened species habitat after the country’s unprecedented fire season. Continue reading...

Binding targets on air, water quality and wildlife proposed to replace EU rulesPowers to prevent the export of plastic waste to developing countries, binding targets on air and water quality and the protection of wildlife will be enshrined in law under the environment bill due to be introduced in parliament on Thursday.The commitments will replace the UK’s current obligations on environmental protection under EU law, and the UK will be able to diverge in future from new requirements in EU regulations. Continue reading...

Whitehall’s spending watchdog says energy regulator not tough enough on companiesElectricity bills sent to UK homes are higher than they should be because the energy regulator has allowed electricity network companies to rake in bigger than expected profits, according to Whitehall’s spending watchdog.Households have paid at least £1bn more than necessary over recent years, according to the National Audit Office, because the regulator, Ofgem, was not tough enough on the electricity network companies. Continue reading...

Climate activist also applied to register name of climate movement Fridays for FutureThe climate activist Greta Thunberg has said she has applied to register her name and that of the Fridays For Future movement she founded in 2018, which has gone global and catapulted her to international fame.The move would allow legal action against persons or companies trying to use her name which are not in line with her values or that of her movement, she said. Continue reading...

Experts call for controversial measures to control numbers, estimated at up to 1 millionAn expert report has called for hundreds of thousands of deer to be culled in Scotland to deal with an unsustainable surge in numbers.The report estimates that up to 1 million wild deer could be roaming Scotland, nearly double some previous estimates, causing significant damage to the landscape and hampering calls to increase tree cover to tackle the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Scientists find increasing levels of harmful chemicals, causing health issues and links to mass mortality events

Exclusive: attempts to tackle crisis fail because gender issues are not addressed, report findsClimate breakdown and the global crisis of environmental degradation are increasing violence against women and girls, while gender-based exploitation is in turn hampering our ability to tackle the crises, a major report has concluded.Attempts to repair environmental degradation and adapt to climate breakdown, particularly in poorer countries, are failing, and resources are being wasted because they do not take gender inequality and the effects on women and girls into account. Continue reading...

Scientists say lions and rhinos among species at risk from breeding of trophy animalsLions, rhinos and cheetahs are among the wild species at risk of irreversible “genetic pollution” from breeding experiments, scientists have warned.South African game farmers have increasingly been breeding novel trophy animals, including some freakishly-coloured varieties such as the black impala, golden wildebeest or pure-white springboks. Continue reading...

Move follows efforts to reduce carbon footprint and increase reporting on climate crisis

This is the single largest loss of clean water protections that America has ever seen – and the timing couldn’t be worseIt may be hard to remember these days, but the nation that led the world on to the stage of modern environmental protection was the United States.Starting in the early 70s, the US Congress enacted bold bipartisan laws to protect America’s wildlife, air and water. America’s skies cleared. Waterfronts across the nation went from blighted dumping grounds into vital civic hearts. Continue reading...

Most analysts expect the Reserve Bank will delay a rate cut next week with inflation just below its preferred rangeInflation figures for the December quarter have nudged higher and most analysts expect the Reserve Bank will delay a rate cut.Annual inflation climbed 0.1% to 1.8%, which the RBA board may consider when it meets on Tuesday. The 1.8% figure is just below the Reserve’s preferred 2.0% to 3.0% range. Continue reading...

Carl Lis OBE, chair of National Parks England, warns young people being priced out of scenic areasMore affordable housing should be built in England’s national parks to help communities excluded by spiralling prices driven by second homes, the new chair for the authorities has said.Carl Lis OBE, chair of National Parks England, has warned that young people and national parks staff are being forced out of some of the most scenic parts of the country by high prices, driven in part by exclusive holiday homes. Continue reading...

A glass of dairy milk produces almost three times more greenhouse gas than any plant-based milk. But vegan options have drawbacks of their own

Iceland, Asda and Aldi lag behind but other major retailers make good progress

Scott Morrison says ‘we are playing our part’, and given climate change cannot be stopped, Australia needs to focus on bushfire resilience and adaptationThe prime minister, Scott Morrison, has rejected suggestions Australia could increase its international advocacy on climate change, saying the country is already “carrying its load” and must adapt to a warmer climate regardless of emissions policy.After indicating that the government would “evolve” its climate change policies to address heightened concerns about the role of global warming in Australia’s ongoing bushfire crisis, Morrison used a keynote speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday to talk up the government’s current policies, including its emission reduction targets. Continue reading...

Damage caused by industrial development could undermine efforts to achieve recognition for WA’s Murujuga cultural landscape, the country’s largest collection of rock artThe decades-long campaign to secure world heritage listing for Australia’s largest collection of rock art has finally been taken to Unesco.The federal government on Friday lodged a submission for the Murujuga cultural landscape on Western Australia’s Burrup Peninsula to be included on Australia’s world heritage tentative list, the first formal step toward achieving global recognition for the 50,000-year-old gallery of more than one million petroglyphs. Continue reading...

Acidity is making shells of crab larvae more vulnerable to predators and limiting effectiveness in supporting muscle growth