Energy firm once labelled western Europe’s top polluter sets ambitious 10-year targetAn energy company once labelled western Europe’s biggest polluter is planning to become the world’s first carbon-negative business within 10 years.The owner of the Drax power plant, once a coal-fired behemoth, is the first company in the world to set out plans to absorb more carbon emissions from the air than it creates by 2030. Continue reading...

‘This is an issue that needs leadership,’ Malcolm Turnbull tells ABC panel showMalcolm Turnbull has called on Scott Morrison to step up his response to catastrophic bushfires fuelled by climate change, declaring that emergency management in Australia needs to be restructured because the threat is now a “national security issue”.Before a speech to an energy conference on Tuesday where he is expected to lament that climate change has become “a political battlefield”, Turnbull told the ABC on Monday night the Morrison government had to provide hands-on leadership and coordinate a national response to a bushfire emergency, which has claimed six lives and destroyed more than 680 homes, and is expected to intensify in coming days as summer temperatures breach 40C. Continue reading...

Young activists including Greta Thunberg put pressure on negotiators to break deadlock

UK homes using new smart-energy tariffs urged to take advantage of record windfarm powerThousands of households were paid to use extra renewable electricity over the weekend as windfarms generated unprecedented levels of clean power.Homes using a new type of smart-energy tariff were urged to plug in their electric vehicles overnight and set their dishwasher on a timer to take advantage of the record renewables in the early hours of the morning. Continue reading...

Analysis shows ‘staggering’ 40% reduction in government spending in a decadePublic funding for environment bodies in Scotland has plummeted by 40% in a decade, placing already declining wildlife at risk, according to analysis of government budgets.Scottish Environment Link, a coalition of more than 35 wildlife, environment and countryside charities, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, WWF and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, estimates almost £100m has been slashed from the budgets of public agencies in Scotland between 2010-11 and 2019-20. Continue reading...

Rising demand and climate crisis threaten entire mountain ecosystem, say scientistsA quarter of the world’s population are at risk of water supply problems as mountain glaciers, snow-packs and alpine lakes are run down by global heating and rising demand, according to an international study.The first inventory of high-altitude sources finds the Indus is the most important and vulnerable “water tower” due to run-off from the Karakoram, Hindu Kush, Ladakh, and Himalayan mountain ranges, which flow downstream to a densely populated and intensively irrigated basin in Pakistan, India, China and Afghanistan. Continue reading...

Activists were left frustrated by the lack of urgency inside negotiating rooms in MadridWhat happened in week one?The COP25 climate talks in Madrid may have officially opened on Monday 2 December, but they only really started on Friday evening. That was when Greta Thunberg arrived to join a 500,000-strong march through the centre of Madrid, demanding that world leaders listen. Continue reading...

Demonstrators target key roads to demand government action to tackle deadly issueClimate change activists wearing gas masks have blocked a central London road to demand the next government tackles “deadly levels of air pollution” in the capital.Six Extinction Rebellion protesters dressed in hi-vis suits glued their hands to yellow breeze-blocks in the middle of Cranbourn Street, outside Leicester Square tube station. Continue reading...

Report says greenhouse gas emissions equal carbon footprint of a quarter of passenger carsGreenhouse gas emissions from shipping equal the carbon footprint of a quarter of passenger cars in Europe and stand in the way of countries reducing emissions and limiting runaway global heating, analysis reveals.Despite the scale of shipping emissions from both container and cruise ships, they are not part of emissions reduction targets made by countries as part of the Paris agreement on climate change. Continue reading...

US technology allows fruits to stay ripe for twice as long and reduces plastic packagingAvocados that stay ripe for twice as long as usual thanks to an edible coating on their skin made from plant materials will go on sale in Europe for the first time this week.Large supermarket chains in Germany and Denmark will stock the fruit, which is treated with a tasteless coating that has the potential to reduce fresh fruit and vegetable waste throughout the supply chain and cut the use of plastic packaging. Continue reading...

Ocean species endangered as black market trade devastates marine life across Puglia regionEvery night, dozens of wooden boats loaded with fishing equipment pass under the Punta Penna bridge and into the protected waters of the Mar Piccolo, a unique saltwater lagoon in the southern Italian port city of Taranto.Trawling nets, cage traps and even homemade bombs are deployed into the moonlit waters by those in search of lucrative prey. “It’s like my father picking lemons and making limoncello at home,” says Luciano Manna, a local activist who has been monitoring the illegal activity for five years. “It’s too easy.” Continue reading...

Intensively managed estates have created treeless landscapes with few animals and plantsConservation groups have called for Scotland’s grouse moors to be closed down and replaced by woodland to protect the country from the impacts of the climate emergency.A report for Revive, a coalition of environmental and animal rights groups, has found grouse moors cause significant ecological damage by burning heather, allowing heavy grazing by deer and sheep, and using intensive predator control. Continue reading...

Calls for ECT to be scrapped to stop fossil fuel firms using it to take governments to courtThe international energy treaty that threatens Labour’s energy nationalisation plans may also risk undermining the EU’s green new deal, according to Friends of the Earth.The environmental organisation is calling for parts of the energy charter treaty (ECT) to be scrapped to prevent fossil fuel companies from using the multilateral agreement to take governments to court over green policies. Continue reading...

Australian Energy Market Commission says prices will begin to fall next year and by 2022 will be $97 a year lowerThe price of residential electricity is estimated to start falling next year and continue to fall until 2022, the Australian Energy Market Commission says.The AEMC’s annual report on electricity price trends shows an overall falling price outlook over the next few years, mostly due to decreases in the wholesale cost from increased generation capacity, particularly from windfarms. Continue reading...

COP25 in Madrid criticised for focusing on details instead of agreeing deep cuts to emissionsUrgent UN talks on tackling the climate emergency are still not addressing the true scale of the crisis, one of the world’s leading climate scientists has warned, as high-ranking ministers from governments around the world began to arrive in Madrid for the final days of negotiations.Talks are focusing on some of the rules for implementing the 2015 Paris agreement, but the overriding issue of how fast the world needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions has received little official attention. Continue reading...

Ahead of the election, we challenge the parties on the climate emergency, flying, rewilding, red meat and more

Conservatives, Greens, Labour, Lib Dems and SNP tackle the biggest climate and environmental issues

Conditions eased on Sunday morning but bureau forecasts heatwave as fire authorities say dozens of fires will burn across Australia for weeks

Gunmen opened fire on a group from the Guajajara tribe on a highway in Maranhão state, killing two and wounding othersTwo indigenous leaders have been shot dead and two others wounded in Brazil’s Maranhão state, in an attack not far from where a prominent tribesman who defended the Amazon rainforest was killed last month, authorities said.The attack on the members of the Guajajara tribe, which is known for the forest guardians who protect their territory against illegal deforestation, occurred on the margins of a federal highway near El-Betel village in the country’s north-east on Saturday. Continue reading...

Practice Architecture’s house is built from the plant growing in the fields around it. The project addresses a vital issue – the energy consumed and carbon emitted during constructionHere’s today’s fun fact: the word “canvas” is derived from “cannabis”. (And imagine if the two words had still been identical this past century or so: literature would speak of cannabis-covered deck shoes, of boy scouts enjoying their life under cannabis, of going cannabissing for your parliamentary candidate.) There is a simple reason for this etymology. Among the many uses of hemp, the plant from which the drug comes – uses that include ropes, clothes, food and medicine – was the fabric for the sails of ships.Once commonplace and useful, and hailed in the 1930s as a “billion-dollar crop”, hemp’s modern promise was cut short by its association with narcotics, which led its production to be taxed and outlawed across the western world. Call it paranoia, call it realism, but there’s a theory that billionaires with interests in plastics and paper pulp successfully lobbied the US government to have their rival product suppressed. A war on drugs, in this account, was whipped up in order to deepen the public’s dependency on petrochemicals. Continue reading...

Save the Children urges people taking part in its charity event to source sweaters through clothes swaps and vintage shopsSave the Children is calling on people to hold clothes swaps and scour vintage shops rather than buy new Christmas jumpers, after research found that 95% of the novelty items for sale contained plastic.The appeal for consumer “sustainability” comes ahead of the charity’s annual Christmas jumper day on Friday, when it encourages supporters to buy and wear festive pullovers. Research by the environmental charity Hubbub estimates that 12m jumpers will be bought this year, triggering huge amounts of plastic waste. Continue reading...

App equips players with skills to identify misinformation in real world and onlineA new game promises to act as a “vaccination” against climate crisis denial and fake news by teaching users about misinformation tactics.The Cranky Uncle app explains common science denial techniques, such as the use of fake experts, logical fallacies, impossible expectations and cherry-picking data, equipping users with the skills needed to spot inaccuracies in the real world and online. Continue reading...

The state – which leads the way as US output of oil and gas is forecast to rise 25% in the next decade – is intensifying its production pipeline by pipelineIn the same month that Greta Thunberg addressed a UN summit and millions of people took part in a global climate strike, lawmakers in America’s leading oil- and gas-producing state of Texas made a statement of their own.Texas’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Act went into effect on 1 September, stiffening civil and criminal penalties specifically for protesters who interrupt operations or damage oil and gas pipelines and other energy facilities. Continue reading...

A judge has said the US-Mexico barrier, partially funded by an anti-migrant group, could damage a sanctuary and ecosystemThe construction of a private border wall partially funded by rightwing allies of Donald Trump continued with vigor in south Texas this week, seemingly in blatant violation of a court injunction ordering work to be suspended.On Thursday and Friday, within three days of a temporary restraining order being issued, the Guardian found construction crews with at least 10 heavy machinery vehicles moving soil, digging trenches and positioning tall metal posts along the US bank of the Rio Grande in Hidalgo county, which forms the border with Mexico. A 3.5-mile, privately-funded concrete barrier is planned on the site, near Mission, Texas. Continue reading...

One of southern Africa’s biggest tourist attractions has seen an unprecedented decline this dry season, fuelling climate change fearsFor decades Victoria Falls, where southern Africa’s Zambezi river cascades down 100 metres into a gash in the earth, have drawn millions of holidaymakers to Zimbabwe and Zambia for their stunning views.But the worst drought in a century has slowed the waterfalls to a trickle, fuelling fears that climate change could kill one of the region’s biggest tourist attractions. Continue reading...

The president announced he had issued an order to review water-saving regulations for bathroom facilitiesAmericans are in the midst of a toilet-flushing epidemic, according to the president.Speaking to the press on Friday, with the hammer of impeachment poised to fall and countless domestic and international crises to consider, Donald Trump took on a pressing enemy: poor water pressure caused by conservation laws. Continue reading...

Emissions expected to be 13% lower than 2005 by 2030 but government plans to use ‘carryover credits’ from Kyoto protocolThe federal government has released new data that suggests the Morrison government is on track to meet the emissions reduction target it set at the Paris climate conference, but only by including an accounting loophole.The emissions projections report suggests Australia will better its 2030 emissions target, a 26%-28% cut below 2005 levels, by 16 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Continue reading...

Jeremy Corbyn says Tories have left people ‘isolated and stuck at home’

Exclusive: Department of Environment and Science and Adani have attempted to block report’s releaseThe Queensland information commissioner has ordered the state government to publicly release an independent report it commissioned – then largely ignored – into Adani’s black-throated finch conservation efforts.Both the state Department of Environment and Science and Adani had attempted to block the release of the report, which was compiled by an independent panel of experts “to obtain the best scientific advice”, arguing it should remain secret. Continue reading...

Climate experts ‘bewildered’ by government ‘burying their heads in the sand’, and say bushfires on Australia’s east coast should be a ‘wake-up call’Leading scientists have expressed concern about the lack of focus on the climate crisis as bushfires rage across New South Wales and Queensland, saying it should be a “wake-up call” for the government.Climate experts who spoke to Guardian Australia said they were “bewildered” the emergency had grabbed little attention during the final parliamentary sitting week for the year, which was instead taken up by the repeal of medevac laws, a restructure of the public service, and energy minister Angus Taylor’s run-in with the American author Naomi Wolf. Continue reading...

Activist says 4% greenhouse gas emissions rise since 2015 shows action is insufficientThe global wave of school strikes for the climate over the past year has “achieved nothing” because greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise, Greta Thunberg has told activists at UN climate talks in Madrid.Thousands of young people were expected to gather at the UN climate conference and in the streets of the Spanish capital on Friday to protest against the lack of progress in tackling the climate emergency, as officials from more than 190 countries wrangled over the niceties of wording in documents related to the Paris accord. Continue reading...

The pick of the best flora and fauna photos from around the world, including a howling coyote and a baby alligator Continue reading...

Sharp rise in wholesale pork prices prompts warnings over cost of bratwurst, chorizo and other seasonal fare

Visiting Prague is not just for Christmas – and nor is the act of planting trees

Veteran actor and activist has been arrested four times after being inspired by Greta Thunberg and disgusted by TrumpJane Fonda has unusual plans for her 82nd birthday: she wants to spend the night in jail.The American actor and political activist – who has been protesting about inaction over the climate crisis at the US Capitol every Friday – has been arrested four times and kept overnight once. Her lawyers have helped her avoid serious charges. But she says the acts of civil disobedience have pulled her out of a depression she sunk into after Donald Trump took office. Continue reading...

Key architect of party’s plan for a green industrial revolution says there is no time to wasteLooking up from his cup of tea in a central London cafe, Tom Bailey stops mid-sentence, exasperated. One of the key architects behind Labour’s plan for a green industrial revolution, Bailey wants to make clear that the work to which he and a team of academics, engineers and economists have dedicated their spare time over the past 18 months is “a no-brainer”.“Most of this stuff was already out there,” says the 35-year-old. “If we had written this 10 or 15 years ago it would have looked very similar. The curves on the graphs would be slightly less steep because at that stage we had not wasted a decade or more. Now we just need to get on with it.” Continue reading...

Report finds a third of young adults buy new festive sweater every yearBritons’ love of novelty Christmas jumpers is helping to fuel the world’s plastic pollution crisis, a report has warned.Whether emblazoned with flashing lights or alpine motifs, 12m jumpers are set to be snapped up this year, despite 65m already languishing in UK wardrobes. Continue reading...

Asthma and heart attacks fall rapidly and babies born healthier, review findsCutting air pollution can prevent deaths within weeks, according to scientists. They found the health benefits of clean air were “almost immediate and substantial” and stretched into the long term, saving billions of dollars.The review examined the evidence for the reduction of illness after levels of toxic air were reduced. It showed dramatic reductions in asthma and children missing school, heart attacks and the number of small and premature babies. Continue reading...

Alert comes as Indigenous group issues plea for states to stick with basin plan or risk marginalising vulnerable communities and endangering river healthThe Murray-Darling Basin Authority has warned of more mass fish deaths and blue-green algae events throughout the Murray-Darling River system as the peak group representing First Nations issued a plea for the states to stick with the plan.The MDBA issued a communique on Friday saying the summer outlook from the Bureau of Meteorology was “dire”, and there was a greater than average chance of drier, warmer conditions and an elevated fire danger across the basin. Continue reading...

Miniature schnauzer was killed and its owner suffered a minor cut in attack in Simi ValleyA southern California woman punched a mountain lion and tried to pry its jaws open to save her dog from an attack in her backyard, but the pet was killed, officials said.The woman suffered a minor cut after the mountain lion attacked her miniature schnauzer on Thursday in the city of Simi Valley, the police Sgt Keith Eisenhour told KNBC-TV. Continue reading...

Heavy rain has led to rivers bursting their banks, forcing the closure of shops and restaurantsStreets in the South Island tourist towns of Wanaka and Queenstown were slowly going under water on Friday, after Lake Wanaka and Lake Wakatipu burst their banks earlier in the week, flooding businesses and sewerage systems.Water and large debris closed the main street of Wanaka, a popular spot with Instagrammers thanks to its famous tree that appears to have grown out of the lake. On Friday businesses were sandbagging as heavy rain continued to fall. Continue reading...

Oil and gas firm will buy new shares from startup Lighthouse BP for undisclosed priceBP has increased its stake in the British solar venture Lightsource BP as it prepares to strike a deal to power its offices with renewable energy from next year.The companies announced plans to set up a 50:50 joint venture almost two years after BP made its return to the solar market by snapping up a 43% stake in Lightsource for £200m. Continue reading...

Report also recommends protections for front gardens and rewilding hospital groundsAn hour a day of outdoor learning for primary school children and tighter restrictions on paving over front gardens are two of 80 nature policies proposed in a report commissioned by the Green party.The recommendations set out in A New Deal for Nature are designed to protect wildlife and put biodiversity at the centre of government policy. Other suggestions include turning 20% of Britain into national parks and helping farmers devote 15% of their land to nature. Continue reading...

Pontiff calls on COP 25 leaders to show political will to safeguard healthy planet

Cartel may cut up to 800,000 barrels a day from market as global economy faltersThe Opec oil cartel is considering deeper cuts to production next year to avert a price slump in the market as the global economy falters.Ministers from some of the world’s biggest “petro-nations” are expected to cut an extra 400,000 barrels of oil a day from the global market and may consider even deeper cuts of up to 800,000 barrels, according to reports. Continue reading...

Scientists and conservation professionals predict mosquito-killing fungi and a kelp crisis could be among the trends affecting living things next yearWhat are the biggest emerging opportunities and threats the coming year holds for efforts to conserve biodiversity? Nearly two dozen scientists, conservation professionals and future scanners recently came together to answer that question as part of an annual “horizon scan” led by Cambridge University conservation biologist William Sutherland.The group narrowed a list of 89 issues to 15 emerging or anticipated trends that have a strong potential to benefit or harm living things but are not yet on the radar for most conservationists. Here are their top picks, published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution. Continue reading...

Port Neches issued voluntary order after elevated levels of chemical butadiene were detected following pair of blastsAuthorities in the Texas city of Port Neches have issued an order encouraging its 50,000 residents to evacuate due to concerns over air quality after a pair of chemical plant explosions occurred last week.Port Neches issued the voluntary evacuation order late on Wednesday after elevated levels of the chemical butadiene were detected. Jefferson county emergency management officials said the elevated levels did not pose a serious health risk, but could cause dizziness, nausea, headaches or irritation to the eyes and throat. Continue reading...

Hybrid and electric models reach 10% market share, while diesel cars account for 23.6%Sales of new cars in the UK continued to fall last month as demand for diesel vehicles declined sharply, while hybrid and electric vehicles reached a new record market share.Weak business and consumer confidence, economic uncertainty and confusion over diesel and clean air zones dragged down demand for new cars, said the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the industry body. Continue reading...

Michigan’s second-highest court rules in favor of township in case that could damage company’s effort to privatize waterMichigan’s second-highest court has dealt a legal blow to Nestlé’s Ice Mountain water brand, ruling that the company’s commercial water-bottling operation is “not an essential public service” or a public water supply.The court of appeals ruling is a victory for Osceola township, a small mid-Michigan town that blocked Nestlé from building a pumping station that doesn’t comply with its zoning laws. But the case could also throw a wrench in Nestlé’s attempts to privatize water around the country. Continue reading...