Taskforce study does not back Scott Morrison’s claim that Liddell coal plant needs urgent replacing with 1,000 megawatts of new dispatchable electricity generation capacityA Morrison government claim that new electricity generation is urgently needed to replace New South Wales’s Liddell coal plant is not backed by a taskforce report commissioned to assess the impact of its closure.In a speech on Tuesday, Scott Morrison said the government had estimated 1,000 megawatts of new dispatchable electricity generation capacity would be needed to replace Liddell, which owner AGL has announced will close in early 2023. Continue reading...
Andrew Liveris, one of the architects of Scott Morrison’s ‘gas-led recovery’, says the country burns ‘far too much coal’Corporate heavyweight Andrew Liveris, the Morrison government’s special adviser on manufacturing, has declared Australia and the world can hit net zero emissions by 2050 by significantly expanding the supply and domestic use of gas – despite gas being a fossil fuel with “roughly 60% of the emissions of coal”.Liveris, who is one of the business architects of the Coalition’s much vaunted “gas-led recovery” plan, told the National Press Club on Wednesday Australia burned “far too much coal” and “switching to gas will automatically bring [emissions] down”. Continue reading...
A complaint from Jeff McCloy, a prominent developer in the Hunter, was the only one the NSW National party leader took to the planning ministerThe only complaint John Barilaro has raised with the New South Wales planning minister about the state’s new koala protection laws is from a Newcastle property developer with multiple residential developments on the edges of towns including Maitland, Lismore and Armidale.Jeff McCloy, one of the Hunter region’s most prominent developers, told the Guardian he contacted Barilaro when the National party leader and deputy premier spoke out about the koala state environmental planning policy. He then sent Barilaro a lengthy briefing note he had written in May about it. Continue reading...
by Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent on (#585ZQ)
Wind and solar farms will produce the gas alongside Scottish Power, ITM Power and BOCScottish Power’s wind and solar farms will soon help produce green hydrogen to run buses, ferries and even trains as part of a pioneering strategic partnership to develop the UK’s nascent hydrogen economy.The renewable energy company, owned by Spain’s Iberdrola, will work alongside companies that specialise in producing and distributing the zero-carbon gas. Hydrogen is expected to play a major role in helping the UK to meet its climate targets. Continue reading...
by Vivian Ho in Oakland, Sam Levin in Los Angeles, an on (#585G7)
Fires in Oregon, Washington and California have killed more than 30, burned millions of acres and enveloped region in smokeFirefighters on the US west coast reported more progress in the battle against wildfires that have killed more than 30 people and destroyed entire communities. But much of the region is enveloped in a thick layer of smoke that has now affected large swaths of the country.Aided by better weather, fire crews in Oregon on Tuesday gained more ground against the massive blazes that have scorched 1m acres and destroyed hundreds of homes in the state. Continue reading...
Unprecedented fires have burned some 4.5m acres and smoke has made west coast air quality among the worst in the worldSmoke from wildfires in the western US has drifted as far east as New York and Washington DC, with residents there observing hazy skies and unusual sunrises.Skies above the US capital have taken on a hazy din. New York Metro Weather predicted that murky air seen in New York City this week would become more even pronounced throughout Tuesday. Continue reading...
Review of EPBC Act was delivered to government 11 days after process of drawing up legislation had begunThe Morrison government started preparing controversial legislation to amend Australia’s environmental laws before it had received a report from a formal review into whether the act was working.The environment department instructed the Office of Parliamentary Counsel to begin drafting the changes to the legislation on 19 June, 11 days before the government received the interim report of the review of Australia’s national environment laws. Continue reading...
Oil and gas companies make far more money churning out new plastic than reusing old. Meanwhile, the public gets the blamePlastic recycling is a scam. You diligently sort your rubbish, you dutifully wash your plastic containers, then everything gets tossed in a landfill or thrown in the ocean anyway. OK, maybe not everything – but the vast majority of it. According to one analysis, only 9% of all plastic ever made has likely been recycled. Here’s the kicker: the companies making all that plastic have spent millions on advertising campaigns lecturing us about recycling while knowing full well that most plastic will never be recycled.A new investigation by National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) reports that the large oil and gas companies that manufacture plastics have known for decades that recycling plastic was unlikely to ever happen on a broad scale because of the high costs involved. “They were not interested in putting any real money or effort into recycling because they wanted to sell virgin material,” Larry Thomas, former president of one of the plastic industry’s most powerful trade groups, told NPR. There is a lot more money to be made in selling new plastic than reusing the old stuff. But, in order to keep selling new plastic, the industry had to clean up its wasteful image. “If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they are not going to be as concerned about the environment,” Thomas noted. And so a huge amount of resources were diverted into intricate “sustainability theatre”. Continue reading...
Project championed by Egypt’s powerful military will slice across world heritage siteEgypt is building two highways across the pyramids plateau outside Cairo, reviving and expanding a project that was suspended in the 1990s after an international outcry.The Great Pyramids, Egypt’s top tourist destination, are the sole survivor of the seven wonders of the ancient world and the plateau is a Unesco world heritage site. Continue reading...
‘Humanity at a crossroads’ after a decade in which all of the 2010 Aichi goals to protect wildlife and ecosystems have been missedThe world has failed to meet a single target to stem the destruction of wildlife and life-sustaining ecosystems in the last decade, according to a devastating new report from the UN on the state of nature.From tackling pollution to protecting coral reefs, the international community did not fully achieve any of the 20 Aichi biodiversity targets agreed in Japan in 2010 to slow the loss of the natural world. It is the second consecutive decade that governments have failed to meet targets. Continue reading...
Deformities point to unsettling sign of extremely low genetic diversity in isolated population in the Santa Monica mountainsMountain lions with crooked tails have been spotted in the Santa Monica mountains, an unsettling sign of extremely low genetic diversity within an isolated population of less than two dozen individuals roaming the rugged canyonlands just north of Los Angeles.In early March, biologists examined a young sedated male mountain lion. The cougar, designated P-81, had a kinked tail shaped like the letter L and only one descended testicle, a condition known as cryptorchidism. Continue reading...
Ageing infrastructure, legacy pollution and emerging contaminants across the US are driving a growing urgency to do something about America’s water crisis
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#58486)
Mock Cop26 set up in frustration at lack of progress due to coronavirus crisisYoung climate activists have begun a parallel process to the UN climate crisis talks, in frustration at the lack of progress they perceive in world governments’ efforts to address the emergency.Crunch negotiations aimed at fulfilling the Paris climate agreement, called Cop26, were to be hosted by the UK this November, but have been delayed by the coronavirus crisis. Activists, participants and observers have told the Guardian they are concerned at a lack of progress so far. Continue reading...
by Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent on (#5846M)
Exclusive: congestion climbed above 2019 levels in August as people went back to using cars after lockdownRoad traffic congestion in outer London is now far higher than it was last year as people have gone back into their cars after lockdown, according to new data.Congestion climbed above 2019 levels in August, and has increased to nearly a fifth on average above last year, in roads outside the capital’s central congestion charging zone, even while it has dropped sharply in the centre of the city. Continue reading...
Aboriginal authority alleges the federal organisation built a walking track near Gunlom Falls in the Northern Territory ‘without permission’Parks Australia, which manages the world-heritage listed Kakadu national park, has been charged under the Northern Territory’s Sacred Sites Act with damaging an area near the spectacular Gunlom Falls, one of Kakadu’s most popular attractions.The Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority alleges that Parks Australia built a walking track on a sacred site at Gunlom “without permission, close to a ceremonial feature of the sacred site that is restricted according to Aboriginal tradition”. Continue reading...
by Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington on (#5843J)
Green party makes electoral pledge that would make it mandatory for large financial institutions to reveal exposure to climate-related risksNew Zealand’s left-leaning Green party said it would require the financial sector to make annual disclosures about the impact of the climate crisis on their business, if it once again formed a government after October’s election. The policy would be a world-first, said James Shaw, the climate change minister and co-leader of the party.“Australia, Canada, [the] UK, France, Japan, and the European Union are all working towards some form of climate risk reporting for companies,” said Shaw in a statement. “But New Zealand is moving ahead of them by making disclosures about climate risk mandatory across the financial system.” Continue reading...
Create more sustainable fabrics and boost textile recycling facilities, says all-party groupThe government is being urged by a cross-party group of MPs to take urgent steps to fix throwaway ‘‘fast fashion’’ by supporting the development of fabrics with a lower environmental impact and boosting clothing recycling facilities.After Covid-19 exposed its “faultlines”, the industry needs to follow a more sustainable route to survive, recommends the report from the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for ethics and sustainability in fashion. Continue reading...
Leaked proposal includes carbon sinks provided by trees, soils and oceans in targetThe EU executive has been accused of “cheating” on its 2030 climate plans by proposing to include carbon sinks provided by trees, soils and oceans in its emissions reduction goal.The European commission will this week call for an EU emissions reduction target of “at least 55%” by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, according to a leaked draft seen by the Guardian. The proposal sets the stage for an intense political battle over the autumn to agree the target, intended to set the EU on track to meet a landmark pledge of net-zero emissions by the middle of the century. Continue reading...
Smoke from the fires, which have burned millions of acres across the west, has nearly reached Hawaii and MichiganFour west coast cities in the US currently rank in the top 10 for worst air quality in the world, as wildfires rage up and down the western seaboard, cloaking the entire region in smoke.Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, hold the No 1 and No 2 spots, while San Francisco and Los Angeles sit at four and six. Collectively, with the smoke from the wildfires, these four cities have knocked every city in China out of the top 10 for worst air quality. Continue reading...
Swimmers and pleasure boats gather as Dutch city celebrates reopening of CatharijnesingelIt is being viewed as the correction of a historic mistake. More than 40 years after parts of the canal that encircled Utrecht’s old town were concreted over to accommodate a 12-lane motorway, the Dutch city is celebrating the restoration of its 900-year-old moat.In an attempt to recast its residents’ relationship with the car, Utrecht’s inner city is again surrounded by water and greenery rather than asphalt and exhaust fumes. Continue reading...
Adept at catching salmon because they blend into the daylight, the white bears are small in number – yet First Nations are stepping in to helpWhen Marven Robinson was a kid, any mention of spirit bears was met with hushed dismissal from the elders in his community, the Gitga’at First Nation of Hartley Bay, British Columbia. Since the 19th century, Indigenous peoples in the area learned to keep the bears with ghostly coats a secret to protect them from fur traders.As the ancient legend goes, the Wee’get (meaning the “raven,” known as the creator of the world) turned every 10th black bear white to remind people of the pristine conditions of the Ice Age. Continue reading...
Climate Action 100+ group put 161 fossil fuel, mining, transport and other big-emitting companies on notice in latest campaign by shareholdersA group representing investors that collectively manage more than US$47tn in assets has demanded the world’s biggest corporate polluters back strategies to reach net-zero emissions and promised to hold them to public account.Climate Action 100+, an initiative supported by 518 institutional investor organisations across the globe, has written to 161 fossil fuel, mining, transport and other big-emitting companies to set 30 climate measures and targets against which they will be analysed in a report to be released early next year. Continue reading...
UK government said it failed on two-thirds of targets, but RSPB analysis is bleaker – and suggests UK is moving backwards in some areasThe UK has failed to reach 17 out of 20 UN biodiversity targets agreed on 10 years ago, according to an analysis from conservation charity RSPB that says the gap between rhetoric and reality has resulted in a “lost decade for nature”.The UK government’s self-assessment said it failed on two-thirds of targets (14 out of 20) agreed at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya, Japan, in 2010, but the RSPB analysis suggests the reality is worse. On six of the 20 targets the UK has actually gone backwards. The government’s assessment published last year said it was not regressing on any target. Continue reading...
From the Strait of Gibraltar to Galicia, orcas have been harassing yachts, damaging vessels and injuring crewFull story: ‘I’ve never seen or heard of attacks’ – scientists baffled by orcas harassing boatsScientists have been left baffled by incidents of orcas ramming sailing boats along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts.In the last two months, from southern to northern Spain, sailors have sent distress calls after worrying encounters. Two boats lost part of their rudders, at least one crew member suffered bruising from the impact of the ramming, and several boats sustained serious damage. Continue reading...
The climate crisis is upon us all but the president pursues more rollbacks. This election offers an existential choiceThe air outside my window is yellow today. It was orange yesterday. The Air Quality Index is over 200. The Environmental Protection Agency defines this as a “health alert” in which “everyone may experience more serious health effects if they are exposed for 24 hours”. Unfortunately, the index has been over 200 for several days.Related: Wildfires are striking closer and closer to cities. We know how this will end | Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano Continue reading...
Letter signed by 150 public figures hits back at move to scapegoat protestersStephen Fry, Mark Rylance and a former Archbishop of Canterbury are among 150 public figures to hit back at government moves to classify the climate protesters of Extinction Rebellion as an “organised crime group”. In a letter to be published in the Observer on Sunday, XR is described as “a group of people who are holding the powerful to account” – who should not become targets of “vitriol and anti-democratic posturing”.It comes in response to the prime minister and home secretary’s reported move to review how the group is classified in law after it disrupted the distribution of four national newspapers, including the Sun and the Daily Mail, last Saturday. Continue reading...
by Emily Holden in Washington and agencies on (#581W9)
Nancy Pelosi has been notably tepid on green legislation – so are the Democrats serious about fighting climate change?With hundreds of thousands of Americans forced to evacuate their homes in the western US, Donald Trump hasn’t said a word about the wildfires blazing across multiple states in nearly three weeks.Related: Oregon fires force hundreds of thousands to flee as deaths rise Continue reading...
Port Moresby nature park may not survive the impact of pandemic shutdownsFrom the heat and dust of the city’s noisy, crowded streets, the Port Moresby Nature Park is an oasis, for the city’s residents as well as the animals it keeps.Home to more than 500 creatures and spread over 30 verdant acres, the park has spent years rescuing injured, orphaned or trafficked animals from across the country, and protected and nurtured native species, including the endangered pig-nosed turtle, and the magnificent riflebird. Continue reading...
by Lorena Allam, Ben Butler and Calla Wahlquist on (#581D5)
Australia’s biggest superannuation funds also demand the miner guarantee the protection of culturally important sitesRio Tinto has sacked three senior executives, including the global CEO, as penance for destroying a 46,000-year-old archaeological and sacred site in Western Australia’s Pilbara, but shareholder and Indigenous groups insist the move must signal the start of a major overhaul of the way all mining companies operate in the region.One of Australia’s biggest superannuation funds says the departure of CEO Jean-Sébastien Jacques, head of iron ore Chris Salisbury, and corporate affairs chief Simone Niven won’t be enough to restore investor confidence. Continue reading...
Final blast of summer expected after weekend downpours in parts of ScotlandThe UK can look forward to “one last blast of summer” next week, with temperatures forecast to climb above 30C (86F).The mercury could hit 31C in southern England on Tuesday, however parts of Scotland can expect torrential downpours this weekend that could bring almost a month’s worth of rain in just one day. Continue reading...
Citroën’s ‘urban mobility object’ is classed as a light quadricyle and can be driven without a full licenceThe vehicle is cheap and the reactions from the pavement are a bonus, from the disbelieving double-take or uncontrolled giggle to the frankly envious where-do-I-get-one-of-those (plus the odd pitying stare, but then this is Paris).At first glance, Citroën’s new Ami, a playful polypropylene cube on wheels with an unashamedly Toytown aesthetic, seems hardly the kind of car to excite the passions of France’s drivers. But, perhaps because it is not a car, that is just what it is doing. Continue reading...
Competing teams have both completed trips to the summit but plans have been disrupted by the pandemicSome time in the near future – after a wait of a decade – the world will learn the new height of Mount Everest.China and Nepal have teamed up to measure the world’s highest mountain which straddles their border and, under a 2019 memorandum of understanding, they must announce their findings together. The announcement was reportedly delayed because of the pandemic. Continue reading...
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian offers to hold further talks over state’s koala protections policy at cabinet on 6 OctoberThe NSW Nationals leader, John Barilaro, has backed off from his threat to pull his party out of the Coalition and has instead agreed to a compromise offered by Gladys Berejiklian to hold further talks over the state’s new koala protections in cabinet on 6 October.The Nationals had earlier resolved to push for early talks in September and had compiled a list of changes that they wanted. But the premier insisted on normal processes and declined to offer concessions. Continue reading...
Over 600 people were arrested during the environmental demonstrations in LondonTen days of Extinction Rebellion demonstrations in London ended with naked protests and an arrest over graffiti daubed on a statue of Winston Churchill.At least 648 people have been arrested during the environmental action, including one man on Thursday on suspicion of causing criminal damage to the statue in Parliament Square. Continue reading...
By early June, emissions had mostly returned to the levels of the same period in 2019, a UN report foundThe Covid-19 pandemic will deliver an unprecedented annual drop in global greenhouse gas emissions of up to 7% by the end of 2020, but the slowdown’s impact on the atmosphere will be almost imperceptible, according to a major report led by the United Nations.Analysis of fossil fuel burning found emissions hit their lowest daily rate in April but by June – as economies began to open up again – emissions were returning to the same levels seen the previous year. Continue reading...
NSW premier tells deputy he cannot sit on crossbench and remain in cabinet after dispute sparked by koala protectionThe New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has given her deputy, John Barilaro, until Friday morning to reverse his threat to have the Nationals sit on the crossbenches or he and his fellow Nationals ministers will be stripped of their portfolios.The crisis in the Coalition has been prompted by National party demands over koala policy which passed through cabinet and became law earlier this year but which the Nationals now want to be changed. Continue reading...
Retailers say they don’t have enough time to adjust to law, which is likely to come into force in early 2021South Australia has become the first Australian state to introduce laws banning some single-use plastics including cutlery, straws and stirrers.Environmental campaigners say the laws, likely to come into force in early 2021, are historic and will help protect wildlife on land and in the oceans. Continue reading...