FOI documents show Josh Frydenberg rejected department advice that developing the area was ‘unacceptable’Environment groups have called for an independent probe into the government’s assessment of an apartment and marina development on protected wetlands in Queensland.It comes after revelations the former environment minister Josh Frydenberg rejected advice from the environment department that the development was “clearly unacceptable”. Continue reading...

Government seeks to prioritise environment and end some of world’s worst traffic congestionLuxembourg is set to become the first country in the world to make all its public transport free.Fares on trains, trams and buses will be lifted next summer under the plans of the re-elected coalition government led by Xavier Bettel, who was sworn in for a second term as prime minister on Wednesday. Continue reading...

We are losing the war against climate change; the use of fossil fuels is driving higher carbon emissions when they need to be coming downOutside of the desperate and the deluded, everyone knows that the world is in the early stages of a truly catastrophic climate change. As Sir David Attenborough told the UN climate change conference in Poland, “the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon”. We have even worked out, with scrupulous care, what we must do to avoid this or to mitigate the effects of climate change. We know what to do. We can see how to do it. There’s only one problem: we do almost nothing.Figures released today by the University of East Anglia for the conference in Katowice show that global carbon emissions will be higher than ever before this year. In fact they will rise by nearly 3%, an astonishing and terrifying annual figure at a time when the need to diminish them has never been more urgent. The main driver of this growth has been the increased use of coal, which is rapidly approaching its previous peak level, from 2013. There is a particular irony in that this conference is being held in Poland, a country that still derives 80% of its electricity from coal, even if this is less grossly polluting than it was in the Communist era. In fact emissions there are down 30% from their peak in 1988. But far more must be done. To limit global warming to the Paris agreement goal of 1.5C, CO emissions would need to decline by 50% by 2030 and reach net zero by around 2050. Continue reading...

Run-off from vast ice sheet is increasing due to manmade global warming, says studyRising sea levels could become overwhelming sooner than previously believed, according to the authors of the most comprehensive study yet of the accelerating ice melt in Greenland.Run-off from this vast northern ice sheet – currently the biggest single source of meltwater adding to the volume of the world’s oceans – is 50% higher than pre-industrial levels and increasing exponentially as a result of manmade global warming, says the paper, published in Nature on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Rapid cuts needed to protect billions of people from rising emissions due to increase in use of cars and coalGlobal carbon emissions will jump to a record high in 2018, according to a report, dashing hopes a plateau of recent years would be maintained. It means emissions are heading in the opposite direction to the deep cuts urgently needed, say scientists, to fight climate change.The rise is due to the growing number of cars on the roads and a renaissance of coal use and means the world remains on the track to catastrophic global warming. However, the report’s authors said the emissions trend can still be turned around by 2020, if cuts are made in transport, industry and farming emissions. Continue reading...

Scientists call for species to be listed as critically endangered after finding range reduced by 70%Researchers are calling for urgent measures to save the northern bettong from extinction after a five-year study found just two remaining populations of the animal in the wild.The research, led by WWF Australia working with the Queensland government and scientists from James Cook University, has recommended state and federal governments look to establish insurance populations for the small marsupial known as the “rat kangaroo”. Continue reading...

Energy link covers 80-mile route along seabed between Richborough and ZeebruggeA £600m cable connecting the UK and Belgium’s energy systems is about to be switched on, becoming the first of a new generation of interconnectors that will deepen the UK’s ties to mainland Europe just as it prepares to leave the EU.The Nemo link is in the final stages of testing and from early 2019 is expected to transmit power over an 80-mile route along the seabed between Richborough in Kent and Zeebrugge, becoming the first new electricity interconnector to the continent since 2011 and the first to Belgium. Continue reading...

Global warming and fossil fuel pollution already killing many, UN climate summit toldTackling climate change would save at least a million lives a year, the World Health Organization has told the UN climate summit in Poland, making it a moral imperative.Cutting fossil fuel burning not only slows global warming but slashes air pollution, which causes millions of early deaths a year, the WHO says. In a report requested by UN climate summit leaders, the WHO says the economic benefits of improved health are more than double the costs of cutting emissions, and even higher in India and China, which are plagued by toxic air. Continue reading...

Arthur Bouvart and Jules Giraudat took up assignment after Indian journalists threatenedTwo French journalists have been labelled spies and are the subject of a criminal investigation after they tried to report on sand mining in south India – an assignment they took up because Indian journalists had been threatened for reporting on the issue.Arthur Bouvart and Jules Giraudat arrived in Tamil Nadu state in November to investigate the environmental impact of mining sand, a resource that has become scarce and increasingly lucrative amid a decades-long Asian construction boom. Continue reading...

Rail operator said ‘safety aspect’ was involved in giving those on board disposable cupsA rail operator has done a U-turn and agreed to let passengers use their own reusable cups for hot drinks bought on board its trains after criticism by environmental campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.South Western Railway changed its policy after the chef complained on Twitter during a journey that buffet car staff – employed by catering company Rail Gourmet – had “refused” to pour tea into his refillable cup. Continue reading...

Up to 30,000 account holders sign petition against pipeline projects in US and CanadaThousands of Barclays customers have threatened to switch to another bank unless it promises not to invest in pipelines for oil from tar sands, dubbed the “dirtiest fuel on the planet”.Greenpeace, which occupied a branch of Barclays on Wednesday morning and erected signs branding it “The Dirty Bank”, said 30,000 customers signed a petition calling on the lender to pledge never to fund controversial tar sands projects. Continue reading...

Carolyn McCall said it was ‘ludicrous’ ad seen 65m times online could not run on TVThe chief executive of ITV has said she believes Iceland’s controversial anti-palm oil festive campaign should have been allowed to air on TV.As part of its festive campaign the discount supermarket struck a deal with Greenpeace to rebadge an animated short film featuring an orangutan and the destruction of its rainforest habitat at the hands of palm-oil growers. Continue reading...

Exclusive: a new study reveals the vast extent of public lands being opened up to the energy industry. The Guardian heard from three communities on the frontlines

Current food habits will lead to destruction of all forests and catastrophic climate change by 2050, report findsPeople in rich nations will have to make big cuts to the amount of beef and lamb they eat if the world is to be able to feed 10 billion people, according to a new report. These cuts and a series of other measures are also needed to prevent catastrophic climate change, it says.More than 50% more food will be needed by 2050, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI) report, but greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture will have to fall by two-thirds at the same time. The extra food will have to be produced without creating new farmland, it says, otherwise the world’s remaining forests face destruction. Meat and dairy production use 83% of farmland and produce 60% of agriculture’s emissions. Continue reading...

Prospects for species look dire as federal science body finds that only one of the country’s 16 populations is believed to be stableHalf of Canada’s chinook salmon are endangered, with nearly all other populations in precarious decline, according to a new report, confirming fears that prospects for the species remain dire.The report by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada concluded that eight of the country’s 16 populations are considered endangered, four are threatened, one is of special concern and the health of two remain unknown. Continue reading...

With continent’s population set to soar, agriculture chief Gilbert Houngbo stresses need to make rural life profitableEconomic migration from Africa to Europe driven by poverty could double in the next decade unless urgent investment is made in job creation for young people in rural areas, the head of a UN financial body has warned.The global population is forecast to reach 9.9 billion by 2050 – a 29% increase – with most of that growth in Africa, where the population is expected to double to 2.6 billion. Continue reading...

Group rallies outside Parliament House after being told they needed to have a prearranged meeting organisedHigh school students from across Australia calling for emergency action on climate change have travelled to Canberra to confront the prime minister after he criticised them for skipping school to stage national strikes.Students from Scott Morrison’s southern Sydney electorate of Cook – as well as Townsville, Melbourne and Brisbane – arrived at Parliament House on Wednesday morning to meet with him. Continue reading...

Investor group finds most companies dismissing climate as a financial risk to their business, in breach of legal requirementsMore than a dozen of Australia’s largest mining and infrastructure companies may be in breach of their legal duties by refusing to consider the financial risks posed by climate change, an investor action group says.In September, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission published a report that said “the law requires” relevant companies to “include a discussion of climate risk” in their annual report. Continue reading...

In Washington last week, Alec, a group that links lobbyists with state lawmakers, approved measures to boost Donald Trump’s pro-fossil fuel agendaInside a little-known bulwark of conservative state policy, in a hotel conference room in Washington DC, state lawmakers and corporate lobbyists last week voted for a slate of anti-environment measures.Related: Progressive lawmakers call for climate change revolution Continue reading...

Defeat by gilets jaunes will make others think twice before taking similar steps to cut emissionsEmmanuel Macron’s defeat by the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) movement over a proposed eco-tax rise is likely to come as a painful lesson for environmental policymakers at this week’s UN climate talks in Katowice.After the most violent protests in Paris for half a century, the French president has been forced to postpone a planned eco-tax rise on fuel, showing how ecological measures can have explosive consequences if there is any suggestion they are being used to “greenwash” austerity. Continue reading...

Shortage of female swift parrots caused by sugar gliders wreaking ‘havoc’ on matingTasmania’s critically endangered swift parrots are facing a new threat to survival – polyamory.A study by researchers at the Australian National University, published in the Journal of Animal Ecology, has found that a chronic shortage of female swift parrots caused by intensive predation by sugar gliders has wreaked havoc on the bird’s usually monogamous breeding habits and lowered the survival rate for young hatchlings. Continue reading...

Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez emphasized need to ‘transform our energy system’ but did not discuss how to pursue itA star-studded progressive town hall on climate change drew thousands of viewers online and hundreds in person – but offered little insight into how the US left might overcome Republican opposition and lay the groundwork to limit rising temperatures.Related: David Attenborough: collapse of civilisation is on the horizon Continue reading...

Greta Thunberg, 15, told UN summit that students are acting in absence of global leadershipAction to fight global warming is coming whether world leaders like it or not, school student Greta Thunberg has told the UN climate change summit, accusing them of behaving like irresponsible children.Thunberg began a solo climate protest by striking from school in Sweden in August. But more than 20,000 students around the world have now joined her. The school strikes have spread to at least 270 towns and cities in countries across the world, including Australia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the US and Japan. Continue reading...

Melissa Price made an error of law in assessing pipeline plan, Australian Conservation Foundation will argueThe Australian Conservation Foundation has launched a federal court challenge to the environment minister Melissa Price’s decision not to apply the water trigger in assessing water infrastructure for Adani’s Carmichael coalmine.The court action, lodged on Tuesday, relates to the federal government’s assessment of Adani’s north Galilee water scheme, which would see a 100km pipeline constructed to transport 12.5bn litres of water a year from the Suttor River and Burdekin basin. The project would also expand an existing 2.2bn-litre dam to 10bn litres. Continue reading...

About 100 schools under blockade while prime minister meets opposition leadersThe French prime minister, Edouard Philippe, has met opposition party leaders as nationwide protests continue to spread across France, with students blockading about 100 schools.Related: Who are the gilets jaunes and what do they want? Continue reading...

UN climate summit in Poland will hear public money available is not enough to provide clean energy for those living off-gridThe world’s 1 billion people who live without electricity are not benefiting from climate change money promised by governments to help them develop.In theory, there has never been a better time for developing countries to install renewable energy such as solar or wind to combat climate change. The UN’s Green Climate Fund (GCF), along with the World Bank and regional development banks, have all said they intend to significantly increase their green energy financing, offering developing countries cheap loans and grants. Many donor countries like Britain and Japan have also pledged to help poorer nations switch to clean energy. Continue reading...

Naturalist tells leaders at UN climate summit that fate of world is in their handsThe collapse of civilisation and the natural world is on the horizon, Sir David Attenborough has told the UN climate change summit in Poland.The naturalist was chosen to represent the world’s people in addressing delegates of almost 200 nations who are in Katowice to negotiate how to turn pledges made in the 2015 Paris climate deal into reality. Continue reading...

Five cygnets and their parents were shot, wrapped in plastic bags and thrown down bank of a streamA family of swans has been shot and killed in what has been called a “senseless” attack.The bodies of five cygnets and both of their parents were found wrapped in plastic bags after they were thrown down the bank of a stream in the village of Benenden, in Kent. Continue reading...

Sum available for 2021-25 represents doubling of current five-year planThe World Bank is to make about $200bn (£157bn) available to fund action on climate change from 2021-25, helping countries adapt to the effects of warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.The sum represents a doubling of the five-year investment plan put in place after the landmark Paris agreement of 2015. Continue reading...

European firms are making faster progress in refusing to insure polluting firms, says campaign group Unfriend CoalUK and US insurers are lagging far behind European firms when it comes to divesting from coal-heavy businesses and refusing to insure them, campaigners have warned.At least 19 major insurers holding more than $6tn in assets – a fifth of the industry’s global assets – have now divested from coal, according to a report from the Unfriend Coal campaign, which represents a coalition of a dozen environmental groups including Greenpeace, 350.org and the Sierra Club. Continue reading...

Buybacks also recommended for those affected by PFAS contamination from defence bases across AustraliaA group of MPs from across the political divide has urged the commonwealth to consider compensation and property buybacks for people affected by contamination from toxic firefighting chemicals which leached off defence bases and into soil and waterways across Australia.On Monday a joint parliamentary committee, which for months has been investigating the defence department’s firefighting foam contamination scandal, handed down its long-awaited report, recommending the government “assist property owners and businesses in affected areas for demonstrated, quantifiable financial losses associated with PFAS contamination that has emanated from defence bases”. Continue reading...

Indian mining giant Adani has announced it will scale back its proposed Carmichael mine in Queensland's Galilee Basin, but begin construction 'imminently', using its own funds. But the company still faces numerous obstacles including groundwater approval and native title. Most of all, it has its eyes on the impending federal election and the uncertain position of a potential incoming Labor government on the mine. Ben Smee breaks down the state of play

Big cuts in carbon emissions and a rise in protection from extreme weather urgently neededThe UN climate change summit begins on Monday with a warning that today’s generation is the last that can prevent catastrophic global warming, as well as the first to be suffering its impacts.Almost 200 nations were set to meet in Poland for two weeks, aiming to hammer out a vital agreement to turn the carbon-cutting vision set in Paris in 2015 into reality. Moves to rapidly ramp up action would be another key goal, with current pledges leaving the world on track for a disastrous 3C of warming. Continue reading...

Environment secretary launches consultation into ‘biodiversity net gain’ requirementDevelopers could be obliged to enhance wildlife habitats when building houses or commercial property, under new government proposals.A mandatory “biodiversity net gain” requirement could be put in place, meaning developers would have to leave habitats better off for wildlife than before any construction work. Continue reading...

Some of Australia’s highest solar takeup is occurring in the electorates of some of the Coalition’s strongest coal supporters, new analysis showsAustralia’s biggest energy and business groups have banded together to urge the government to abandon its “big stick” approach to energy legislation, warning the divestiture powers the government craves will impede investment and create genuine sovereign risk.Scott Morrison and Angus Taylor threatened to break up Australia’s energy companies if power prices didn’t come down – by utilising commonwealth divestment powers never used before in Australia – through legislation due to be introduced to parliament this week. Continue reading...

National Grid using artificial intelligence to check drone footage of 7,000 miles of wires and pylonsNational Grid has turned to artificial intelligence to help it maintain the wires and pylons that transmit electricity from power stations to homes and businesses across the UK.The firm has been using six drones for the past two years to help inspect its 7,200 miles of overhead lines around England and Wales. Continue reading...

If you’re running a business, I hope you’re thinking of the future. Not doing so will put you in the same tight spot our farmers faceWhen you drive from Minneapolis to West Okoboji Lake, Iowa – as I did early last summer – you pretty much see just one thing: farmland. And those farms are pretty much just growing one thing too: soybeans. The state of Iowa is the second largest producer of soybeans in the US – and can you guess their biggest customer? An estimated one out of every three rows of soybeans grown there are shipped to China. I didn’t see any pork farms from my car, but I’ve also learned that Iowa is the largest exporter of pork to China as well.Related: The Iowa farmers on the frontline of Trump's trade war with China Continue reading...

Trump in power; the farce of Brexit; dire warnings of power shortages – welcome to dystopia nowFilm reviewers often reach for a clutch of well-thumbed words and phrases to convey a sense of time and place quickly. This is not a criticism. These reviewers are rarely given sufficient space to explore often complicated themes of several films at a time.A familiar locution, understood by all readers, allows them to cut to the action, as it were. “Dystopian nightmare” is one of them and when I see this deployed by my favourite reviewers my interest is piqued. Continue reading...

Coles and Woolworths have prevented an estimated 1.5 billion bags being introduced into the environmentThe ban on single-use plastic bags by Australia’s two largest supermarkets prevented the introduction of an estimated 1.5 billion bags into the environment, and the retail industry is hopeful this is only the beginning.Coles and Woolworths’ decision to stop offering single-use disposable plastic bags midway through the year was initially met with swift public backlash. Continue reading...

Residents insulted by red, sad-face emoji placed on rubbish bins in botched campaignPeterborough city council has apologised for offending residents after thousands of stickers reading “waster” were put on bins as part of a recycling campaign.Dozens of households said they were insulted by the stickers depicting a red sad-face emoji on their black wheelie bins. Continue reading...

Brexit and heatwave drive up prices of sprouts, turkey and Christmas puddingShoppers who scour the high street for the best possible deals will still face the most expensive Christmas dinner in a decade.The UK’s cheapest traditional festive spread will cost nearly 6% more than last year after the hot summer combined with uncertainty about Brexit to drive up the price of turkey, sprouts and Christmas pudding, according to the latest annual survey by Good Housekeeping magazine. Continue reading...

Adani’s plans to get started quickly on a scaled-down version of its Queensland mega-mine still face numerous obstaclesThe Indian mining giant Adani could be left in limbo until September – well after the federal election – before learning whether its controversial Carmichael coal project will be allowed to access the Queensland freight rail network.Adani announced on Thursday it would self-finance the Carmichael mine and that construction would begin “imminently”. But the company still has to gain several regulatory approvals and negotiate access for its coal trains to use the Aurizon network. Continue reading...

Airgun testing in search for oil and gas could harm hundreds of mammals such as dolphins and whales off the Atlantic coastThe Trump administration is to allow marine creatures such as whales and dolphins to be harmed by companies as they search for potential oil and gas reserves off the Atlantic coast.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) has granted five operators permission to “incidentally but not intentionally harass marine mammals” while conducting surveys for fossil fuels in the seabed. Continue reading...

In the final part of our series looking at the climate report Trump tried to bury over Thanksgiving, we examine how regions will experience climate change

This week’s Upside digest on images sent back from Mars, and other scientific breakthroughsAs technology advances at a seemingly exponential rate, it can be hard to keep up – and journalists don’t always get it right.A report from 2017 found that over half of newspaper articles surveyed on scientific studies were factually incorrect. This was mainly due to journalists writing on initial findings without checking back for follow-ups or meta-studies, which could put a new spin on those first results. Continue reading...

‘Strike 4 Climate Action’ brings thousands of students together in defiance of prime minister’s warningThe best banners from the strike dayThousands of schoolchildren across Australia walked out of class on Friday to demand action by the federal government on climate change.The “Strike 4 Climate Action”, inspired by 15-year-old Swedish student Greta Thunberg, brought together children in capital cities and 20 regional centres such as Ballarat, Newcastle, Townsville and Cairns. A large protest was also held in Hobart on Thursday. Continue reading...

I’m six years out of school, nearly graduated from university, and I’ve never seen a protest like thisThe kids couldn’t believe it. The adults couldn’t believe it.

A new group supported by the Canary Wharf Group property company and lorry, coach and taxi drivers is attacking one of the city’s most popular routesEven on a wet, cold November night, London’s flagship cycle superhighway along the Embankment is thronged. Across the whole 24 hours, it is used by 10,329 cyclists, an average of seven a minute. But at this time of day, it is one every three seconds. In the rush hour, the bike track – which takes up one lane of this four-lane road – carries more traffic than the other three lanes put together.It’s an extraordinary success, and it looks like a permanent fixture. But it might not be. Behind the scenes, a powerful property company, Canary Wharf Group, is working with a political lobbying firm and major road organisations on a campaign to get it ripped out. Continue reading...

In the fourth part of our series looking at the climate report Trump tried to bury over Thanksgiving, we examine how sea-level rise will reshape the population