Action group Market Forces urges shareholders to divest holdings in 22 ‘uninvestables’New analysis shows 22 of Australia’s largest companies are actively working to undermine the Paris agreement targets, betting shareholders’ money on strategies that assume global climate change action fails.Investor action group Market Forces says those companies – worth a combined $121bn and representing 7% of the ASX300 – are “out of line and out of time” and has called on shareholders to divest their holdings. Continue reading...

Campaigners say Custo’s development will spoil Sa Guarda in CadaquésThe Barcelona-based fashion business Custo is under fire for plans to build a hotel on a beauty spot in Cadaqués, a picturesque Costa Brava town that has long attracted artists and writers.Campaigners led by two groups – Salvem l’Empordà (Save Emporda, the region Cadaqués is in) and SOS Costa Brava – protested on Friday outside a Custo shop in Barcelona, demanding that work be stopped on the project to build the 4,000 sq m Hotel Custo and 104 houses on land in Sa Guarda in Cadaqués. Continue reading...

Labour study comes as UK government faces pressure from courts and councilsThe government’s fracking proposals would release the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as almost 300 million new cars, fatally undermining ministers’ obligation to tackle the escalating climate crisis, according to new research.Analysis by the Labour party shows that the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere if the government’s plans go ahead would be the same as the lifetime emissions of 286 million cars – or 29 new coal-fired power plants. Continue reading...

As city air becomes more toxic, sales of a new type of product are boomingDemand for anti-pollution beauty products is soaring as Londoners wake up to the impact of toxic air on their complexions. Microscopic particles are second only to the sun in terms of their ageing effect, and there is a growing trend toward skincare designed to combat them.At the department store Liberty online searches for anti-pollution skincare are up 73% since this time last year. “We’re right next to Oxford Circus” – one of the most polluted places in London – “so our customers are very attuned to the topic and definitely associate pollution with skin ageing,” said the store’s beauty buyer, Emily Bell, who predicts that in the future anti-pollution products will be as commonplace as sun protection creams. Continue reading...

Bill Shorten has given a further indication that Labor will not use the ‘accounting trick’ as part of its emissions policyBill Shorten has signalled Labor is highly unlikely to use carryover credits from the Kyoto protocol as part of its climate change policy, which will be unveiled over the coming weeks.In his strongest comments to date, the Labor leader said over the weekend he recognised that other countries had resolved not to use the accounting system that allows countries to count credits from exceeding their targets under the soon-to-be-obsolete Kyoto protocol periods against their Paris emissions reduction commitments for 2030. Continue reading...

Big retailers must back customers’ wishes and phase out microplastics, campaigners say as petition is launchedIt is a familiar adornment of both Mother’s Day and Easter gifts, and brings dustings of sparkle to everything from children’s craft projects to greetings cards and even flowers and pot plants. But campaigners are calling for a ban on glitter, branding it an environmental scourge that contains damaging microplastics.“Glitter might look lovely but, because it’s plastic, it sticks around long after the sparkle has gone – often in the stomachs of fish and birds,” said David Innes, from the campaign group 38 Degrees, which has launched a petition calling on environment secretary Michael Gove to outlaw the product. Innes cites a recent study showing that up to a third of fish caught in the North Sea contained microplastic particles – including glitter. Continue reading...

An influx of visitors, eager for Instagram fodder, prompted Lake Elsinore’s mayor to shut down access to a flower-covered canyonThe town of Lake Elsinore sits at the edge of a canyon newly bursting with color. Fields of poppies, lupins and other wildflowers spill across hillsides – usually covered with brown, scrubby plants – as though poured from a bucket of paint.In the last few weeks, large swaths of southern California have been transformed into a colorful canvas of flowers. This type of “super bloom” has happened before, but this year is especially intense – an unusually wet winter following years of drought, combined with the aftermath of a brutal wildfire season, has set the stage for what many predicted would be the best bloom in years. Continue reading...

Film forms part of Our Planet Matters, a season that launches on Sunday and will highlight environmental damageNatural history programming is one of the oldest and most sustainable forms of TV life. It is 50 years since David Attenborough made his first major TV documentary series, The Miracle of Bali, its title capturing the eyes-wide wonder of the genre at the time.But the climate of the BBC Natural History Unit, for which Attenborough has made most of his shows, has changed radically – because of climate change. Continue reading...

A playful polar bear cub in Berlin, a hopaway wallaby in Texas and a roaming vicuna in Ecuador Continue reading...

Report looks at 16 conflict areas and calls for military to stop targeting water resourcesDiarrhoea and other diseases related to poor sanitation are bigger killers of children in areas of conflict than violence and war itself, a report has found, highlighting the need for improved infrastructure as a way of helping civilian populations afflicted by warfare.Children under five are more than 20 times more likely to die from diarrhoeal diseases than from direct violence, according to Unicef. Henrietta Fore, the organisation’s executive director, said: “The reality is there are more children who die from lack of access to safe water than by bullets.” Continue reading...

Failure to protect wildlife, cut pollution and increase funding have left nature in ‘deep crisis’The UK will miss almost all the 2020 nature targets it signed up to a decade ago, according to a report by the government’s official advisers.The nation is failing to protect threatened species; end the degradation of land; reduce agricultural pollution; and increase funding for green schemes, the assessment concludes. It also says the UK is not ending unsustainable fishing; stopping the arrival of invasive alien species; nor raising public awareness of the importance of biodiversity. Continue reading...

Grassroots group calls on party to commit to decarbonising UK economy within a decadeLabour members have launched a grassroots campaign to push the party to adopt a radical Green New Deal to transform the UK economy, tackle inequality and address the escalating climate crisis.The group, inspired by the success of the Sunrise Movement and the Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the US, is calling on Labour to commit to radical action to decarbonise the UK economy within a decade. Continue reading...

World Water Day study highlights lethal nature of unsafe sanitation and hygiene for children, especially under-fivesChildren under five who live in conflict zones are 20 times more likely to die from diarrhoeal diseases linked to unsafe water than from direct violence as a result of war, Unicef has found.Analysing mortality data from 16 countries beset by long-term conflict – including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen – the UN children’s agency also found that unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene kills nearly three times more children under 15 than war. Continue reading...

Texas’s eco-tourism industry is seeing a drop in visitors in what should be a blockbuster year – and locals think the push for a border wall is to blameIn the Alamo Inn’s gift shop, a whiteboard lists recent bird sightings in the valley: Morelet’s seedeater; ferruginous hawk; crimson-collared grosbeak; golden-crowned warbler.“We didn’t see these birds at all last year,” said Keith Hackland, who with his wife co-owns the inn, in the small Texan town of Alamo, which caters to birders and other nature tourists. Continue reading...

Ad campaigns hide investment in a huge expansion of oil and gas extraction, says InfluenceMapThe largest five stock market listed oil and gas companies spend nearly $200m (£153m) a year lobbying to delay, control or block policies to tackle climate change, according to a new report.Chevron, BP and ExxonMobil were the main companies leading the field in direct lobbying to push against a climate policy to tackle global warming, the report said. Continue reading...

Hold-ups reach southern ports as analysts warn that trade could dry up amid China restructuring and diplomatic tensionThe number of Chinese ports restricting or delaying Australian coal imports has continued to rise, threatening to end the export bonanza that is bloating federal coffers and signalling possible painful long-term structural change to the economy.In an ominous development for Australia’s trade balance and federal budget, traders and buyers in China reported on Thursday that the hold-ups for Australian shipments that began in February have spread from the northern port of Dalian to Fuzhou in the south-eastern Fujian province and Rizhao in Qingdao. Continue reading...

Two-thirds of the lower 48 US states will have a heightened risk until May, Noaa forecast says, after severe flooding in the midwestThe severe flooding in the American midwest is set to only be a prelude to “unprecedented” levels of flooding across the US in the coming months that will imperil 200 million people, federal government scientists have warned.Related: Nebraska floods: private pilots fly in to help city walled off by water Continue reading...

Bodies previously entombed in ice have been made accessible due to global warmingMelting glaciers on Mount Everest are exposing the dead bodies of climbers previously entombed in ice, as global warming causes temperatures to rise.Almost 300 climbers have been killed attempting to climb the mountain since the first attempt to scale it in 1922. Continue reading...

Munich Re, world’s largest reinsurance firm, warns premium rises could become social issueInsurers have warned that climate change could make cover for ordinary people unaffordable after the world’s largest reinsurance firm blamed global warming for $24bn (£18bn) of losses in the Californian wildfires.Ernst Rauch, Munich Re’s chief climatologist, told the Guardian that the costs could soon be widely felt, with premium rises already under discussion with clients holding asset concentrations in vulnerable parts of the state. Continue reading...

Exclusive: body parts of endangered animals among those imported through legal loopholeLion bones, leopard skulls and an ottoman chair’s elephant leather were among the body parts of endangered animals imported into the UK by trophy hunters through a loophole in international law in 2018, the Guardian can reveal.The government is facing renewed calls to ban trophy hunting imports of endangered species after 74 rare animal body parts were legally brought into the country by hunters last year, including hippopotamus teeth, elephant ears and crocodile skins. Continue reading...

Tens of thousands still trapped by flood waters as rescuers in Mozambique race against clockNew satellite images of the Mozambican port city of Beira have revealed the vast scale of flooding, as rescuers race to reach tens of thousands of people trapped by flood waters from Cyclone Idai.European Space Agency images show a huge new inland “lake” measuring about 80 miles by 15 miles (125km by 25km). Continue reading...

Vain promises and empty slogans have got us nowhere. Fossil-fuel extraction must end before more lives are lostAs Africa climate week unfurls in Ghana, the countries of Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe count the costs of Cyclone Idai, which ripped through villages and towns, taking hundreds of lives and leaving a trail of destruction.For a continent already racked by the effects of the climate crisis, Idai is another chilling reminder of the destructive power of the kind of storms that will become more common as the world warms up. Continue reading...

In a rebuke of the Trump administration’s ‘energy-first’ agenda, a judge rules greenhouse gas emissions must be consideredIn the first significant check on the Trump administration’s “energy-first” agenda, a US judge has temporarily halted hundreds of drilling projects for failing to take climate change into account.

Workers appeal for more helicopters as flood waters keep rising after Cyclone Idai

Craig Bennett, CEO of Friends of the Earth, says rich countries must act to make disasters such as the cyclone that hit Mozambique less likely. Meteorologist Bernadette Woods Placky describes how Climate Matters is helping to end the ‘TV news desert’ around global warming. Plus letters from Caroline Evans and Daniel ScharfThe disaster to hit Mozambique is reported as one of the worst tropical cyclones to visit the southern hemisphere, with hundreds dead and hundreds of thousands more needing urgent assistance. I note the Guardian was the only major newspaper to lead with this story on Wednesday (Race to find survivors after deadly cyclone, 20 March).People suffering in Mozambique and neighbouring countries didn’t create the climate crisis, but they are dying from more intense weather events like Cyclone Idai. Continue reading...

Australia has highest rate of mammal extinction in the world but government admits it ‘does not have data’ on plansThe federal environment department has admitted it does not know whether recovery plans meant to prevent extinctions of threatened species are actually being implemented.Related: Wombats, sharks, possums, frogs: Australia's animals at risk of extinction – interactive Continue reading...

Protest’s organisers say bank invested more $30bn in 15 fossil fuel projects from 2012-17A UK-wide campaign is being launched to persuade one of the country’s biggest high street banks to stop investing billions of pounds in the fossil fuel industry.Activists from the Labour-supporting Momentum group will team up with the environmental group People and Planet to stage more than 40 “creative direct actions” at Barclays branches in town and cities across the UK later this month. Continue reading...

Allegations that animals not fit for consumption are entering food chain raise doubts over Netherlands’ inspection regimeAn investigation into the Dutch food safety authority has been ordered by the minister of agriculture, Carola Schouten, following repeated allegations that sick cows are being slaughtered in the north of the Netherlands.A number of cases have been brought against cattle traders and slaughterhouses for transporting and offering sick cattle for slaughter in recent years, with several consequent convictions. Now the government is to review the Dutch food safety authority (Nederlandse Voedsel en Waren Autoriteit, NVWA). The NVWA is responsible for monitoring the slaughterhouses, but questions have been raised about its effectiveness since it was established in 2012. Continue reading...

Commission set up by Scottish government recommends new powers to split monopoliesScottish land ownership rules must be radically reformed to reverse the concentration of the countryside in the hands of a small number of ultra-wealthy individuals and public bodies, a major review has warned.The study by the Scottish Land Commission, a government quango, says that in extreme cases where landowners abuse their power they could face compulsory purchase or community buyouts. Continue reading...

Latest incident raises concerns about Brazil’s nuclear security in a state struggling with violent crimeA convoy of trucks carrying nuclear fuel came under armed attack on a highway in Rio de Janeiro state on Tuesday as it drove past a community controlled by a drug gang. Gang members armed with rifles opened fire on the convoy, Rio’s O Globo newspaper said.Armed police escorting the convoy exchanged fire with armed gang members as the trucks carrying uranium continued to a nearby nuclear plant. The attack is the latest of several violent incidents in the area where Brazil has two nuclear reactors and has raised concerns about its nuclear security in a state struggling with high levels of violent crime. Continue reading...

Environmental campaigners say backing for Woodhouse colliery cannot be justifiedBritain’s first new deep coal mine in 30 years has been given the go-ahead by Cumbria county council, sparking protests from climate change campaigners that the decision would harm the UK’s efforts to reduce CO2 emissions.The £165m Woodhouse colliery was backed by Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors, who said it would bring vital jobs to the area. Copeland’s Conservative MP Trudy Harrison has “wholeheartedly” endorsed the proposed undersea mine, saying the investment it would bring to the area was crucial. Continue reading...

Destructive power of storms likely to increase in future as world warms upThe climate crisis that is driving sea level rises and more extreme rainfall is making deadly storms like the one that hit southern Africa more severe, according to experts.Cyclone Idai, the tropical storm that ravaged Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, has been described as the worst weather-related disaster to hit the southern hemisphere, and the UN says more than 2 million people have been affected. Storm-surge floods of up to six metres have caused widespread devastation. Continue reading...

Former South Australian premier says NSW Coalition is a barrier to getting action among the statesThe New South Wales Labor party has wheeled out the former South Australian premier, Jay Weatherill, to help bolster its credentials on climate change in key seats where the issue could be the decider.Climate change is the top issue in Coogee, currently held by the Liberals on a margin of 2.9%, and Balmain, which Labor hopes to reclaim from the Greens, which holds it by 4.7%. Continue reading...

Bird of prey 10 times more likely to die on English grouse moors than other habitatsHen harriers are 10 times more likely to die or disappear from or near to English grouse moors than any other habitat, according to a long-term study which reveals the scale of the illegal persecution of the endangered raptor.An analysis of hen harriers over a decade found 72% of 58 satellite-tagged birds were confirmed or considered “very likely” to have been illegally killed. Just 17% of juvenile hen harriers survived beyond their first year around grouse moors in northern England and southern Scotland, compared with 36% across the Scottish mainland, where persecution has also been recorded, and between 37% and 54% on Orkney, where there are no grouse moors. Continue reading...

Images show marine biologist removing 88lb worth of plastic bags from stomach of whale that died in Philippines of ‘gastric shock’

Recycling of 500,000 bags is small fraction of 11m made daily, campaigners say

Scientists say AP study consistent with peer-reviewed literature and shows clear sign of human-caused climate changeOver the past 20 years, Americans have been twice as likely to sweat through record-breaking heat rather than shiver through record-setting cold, a new Associated Press data analysis shows.The AP looked at 424 weather stations throughout the US lower 48 states that had consistent temperature records since 1920 and counted how many times daily hot temperature records were tied or broken and how many daily cold records were set. In a stable climate, the numbers should be roughly equal. Continue reading...

Activist Greta Thunberg, 16, says action proved ‘no one is too small to make a difference’More than 1.4 million young people around the world took part in school strikes for climate action, according to environmental campaigners.Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish student whose solo protest last August prompted the global movement, said: “We proved that it does matter what you do and that no one is too small to make a difference.” Continue reading...

Carmaker to join with renewable energy agency to create $7.5m centre for commercial-grade hydrogenToyota and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) will kick in $7.4m to transform part of the carmaker’s decommissioned car manufacturing site in Altona into a commercial-grade hydrogen production and refuelling site.The new centre will demonstrate the processes required to produce hydrogen from renewable sources through electrolysis, and then the subsequent compression and storage. Continue reading...

Less than 1% of products certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council were mislabelledDNA barcoding of more than 1,400 seafood products certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has revealed that less than 1% were mislabelled, compared with an average of 30% across the sector as a whole.The MSC is the international NGO that sets the standard for sustainable fishing around the world and its blue label – on products in store, on fresh fish counters and on restaurant menus – indicates that seafood has been sustainably caught and traced back to its source. More than 300 fisheries in over 34 countries are certified to the MSC’s standard and more than 35,000 seafood products worldwide carry the label. Continue reading...

Some are offering free flights to shuttle stranded residents to and from Fremont, and bringing in suppliesA Nebraska city walled off by massive flooding is getting a big lift from private pilots who are offering free flights to shuttle stranded residents to and from their hometown.Flooding from the Platte River and other waterways is so bad that just one highway lane into Fremont remains uncovered, authorities said Monday. Emergency responders have restricted access for safety reasons, leaving residents in the city of 26,000 stuck on an island in the middle of Nebraska farm country, about 40 miles north-west of Omaha. The flooding in Fremont comes as communities in several midwestern states grapple with swollen rivers and breached or overtopped levees following heavy rain and snowmelt. Continue reading...

California town bars access to site as stunning flowers draw at least 50,000 visitorsRelated: Super bloom: can this tiny California town avoid another 'flowergeddon'?This weekend thousands of tourists frolicked through fields of poppies in southern California, posting photos tagged #superbloom. But for the town of Lake Elsinore, the influx of visitors quickly became a #poppynightmare. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Environment Agency chief calls for use to be cut by a third

Cost of offshore wind has fallen as turbines have improved, along with energy storage schemesIt is hard to keep up with how quickly offshore wind technology is developing. Turbines standing in shallow seas will soon cover hundreds of square miles of the UK’s coasts, providing one-third of Britain’s electricity.Next it will be the turn of floating turbines. Admittedly, it took 15 years for Statoil to develop the first floating windfarm off Aberdeen, but its output has exceeded expectations. The Norwegian state oil company, renamed Equinor to make its image greener, has said more than half of the North Sea is suitable for deploying floating wind power. Electricity produced from these turbines anchored in deep water could provide all the EU’s electricity four times over. Continue reading...

White Hart Lane | A hug that said it all | Car-free rambles | Solar power | Breakup songs | Brexit BrelI’m a long-term Tottenham resident and lifelong Spurs fan living just a few minutes’ walk from the stadium. There is no need to waste public money on renaming White Hart Lane rail station as Tottenham Hotspur (Report, 18 March). Spurs are known for playing at “The Lane”. The effort by the current owners of Spurs to get the name changed is another attempt by corporate interests to makeover and rebrand Tottenham. It is a vibrant multicultural working-class area with a strong sense of community. Neoliberalism can’t stand that.

Environment Agency says flooding expected early this week for rivers Dee and SevernFlood warnings have remained in place across parts of England after torrential rain over the weekend.On Monday there were 16 flood warnings in force, meaning flooding is expected, down from 20 earlier, and 25 flood alerts, meaning flooding is possible. Most were in Yorkshire and the Midlands. None were in the most severe category. Continue reading...

BAEconomics modelling had been used by energy minister to claim workers face a pay cut of $9,000 under LaborLifting Australia’s emissions reduction target from 27% to 45% by 2030 would increase the implicit carbon price by as little as $24 a tonne, according to new modelling.The BAEconomics modelling, released on Tuesday, was leaked to the Australian and then used by the energy minister, Angus Taylor, to claim workers face a pay cut of $9,000 under Labor. Continue reading...

Hundreds of people have been forced to evacuate as a statewide emergency was declared after rivers overflowed their banks and multiple levees failed Continue reading...

Labour peer Robert Winston has asked about regulating cyclists. An imagined transport minister respondsOn Monday, the scientist and Labour peer Robert Winston is to formally ask a question in the House of Lords about what assessments ministers have made “for requiring adults riding bicycles in city centres to have a licence and third-party insurance”.Below is the entirely imagined response I would like the government to make to him. Continue reading...

Racing pigeon Armando goes for huge sum after bidding war between Chinese enthusiastsA racing pigeon has been sold for a world record €1.25m (£1.1m) as a result of prices being driven sky-high by a craze for bird racing among an elite group of Chinese enthusiasts.Related: The rebirth of coo: reconsidering the pigeon – in pictures Continue reading...