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

Spider milk containing four times the protein of cow’s milk is secreted by mothers, scientists in China findThe ability of mothers to produce milk for their babies is commonly considered a unique feature of mammals, but now scientists have discovered a species of spider that also nurses its young.Spider mothers were observed feeding a milk-like substance to their spiderlings and continuing to look after them almost into adulthood. Continue reading...

Use of tropical plywood from Malaysia and Indonesia risks destruction of orangutan habitat, say NGOsWood from threatened south-east Asian rainforests has been used to build venues for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, according to complaints filed with organisers.At least 134,000 large sheets of tropical plywood from Malaysia and Indonesia have been used as concrete moulds to build stadiums, causing what campaigners say is irreversible harm to precious biodiversity reserves. Continue reading...

WWF rates Australia a zero due to the absence of biodiversity measures in our Paris climate change commitmentsAustralia has been named as one of the worst performers among a group of 100 nations due to the absence of biodiversity measures in our climate change commitments, according to a new report by WWF.The report, published this week during the conference of parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Egypt, examines whether climate commitments from countries under the Paris agreement also offer benefits for nature and biodiversity. Continue reading...

But many people still don’t agree with the consensus science that shows humans are the dominant cause of climate changeAmericans, including Republicans, are becoming more convinced that climate change is causing extreme weather and sea-level rise, according to a new poll from Monmouth University.Nearly two-thirds of Republicans, 64%, now think climate change is happening, compared to 49% three years ago. And more of the general population, 78% compared to 70% three years ago, acknowledge climate change. Continue reading...

Police have warned people not to approach the snake, which escaped from its owner’s home in BostonA boa constrictor has been reported missing from a house in Lincolnshire.Police have warned the public not to approach the snake, which has a white tail and grey, black and brown spots. Continue reading...

Charity warns against complacency as levels of plastic remain ‘shocking’Record numbers of volunteers turned out this year to help clear litter from the UK’s beaches, in the 25th annual Great British Beach Clean.But the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), which organises the event, warned there were still shocking amounts of plastic litter on UK beaches, despite a 16% decrease compared with last year. It said the average of 16 glass and plastic bottles and drinks cans retrieved on every 100-metre stretch of beach (330ft) surveyed strengthened the case for the urgent introduction of a deposit return system in all parts of the UK. Continue reading...

Designer aiming to make business case for why brands should tackle climate changeStella McCartney is to announce a United Nations fashion industry charter for climate action, which will be launched at next month’s climate talks in Poland.The designer hopes the charter will “ring some alarm bells” while making a business case for sustainable fashion, setting out a path for collective action to enable low-carbon production methods to be scaled up, improving economic viability. Other signatories to the charter, which will be launched in Katowice on 10 December, have yet to be announced but are known to include several major fast fashion brands.

Despite announcement construction is to begin within weeks, regulatory approvals are still neededThe Indian mining giant Adani has announced it will self-finance its controversial Queensland coalmine project and says major works are due to start “imminently”.Adani has made a string of announcements in recent months that indicated the company would scale back its mine, rail and port plans plans, having been unable to find an outside investor. Continue reading...

Work crews and police leave Hillingdon site as activists mount Extinction Rebellion-style blockadeFour environmental protesters have stopped work by shackling themselves on a nature reserve where a new phase of construction of the HS2 high-speed rail link had been due to start on Wednesday evening.The group locked themselves to a contraption made of chimney pieces in a field at the Colne Valley nature reserve in Hillingdon where HS2 operatives are currently working on the controversial rail project. Continue reading...

Bureau of Meteorology’s (BoM) forecast for the season warns an El Niño could bring dangerous, dry conditionsSummer temperatures are forecast to soar above their usual average, while the chances of more bushfires and an El Niño developing are on the rise.The Bureau of Meteorology’s latest outlook for summer warns that most of Australia has an 80% chance of higher-than-normal temperatures between December and February. Continue reading...

Deadly heatwaves and spread of diseases affect people’s health today – reportPeople’s health is being damaged today by climate change through effects ranging from deadly heatwaves in Europe to rising dengue fever in the tropics, according to a report.Billions of hours of farmwork has been lost during high temperatures and global warming has damaged the ability to grow crops, it said. Continue reading...

In the third part of our series looking at the climate report Trump tried to bury over Thanksgiving, we look at its alarming projections for our water supplies

Radical overhaul in farming and consumption, with less meat eating, needed to avoid hunger and climate catastropheThe global food system is broken, leaving billions of people either underfed or overweight and driving the planet towards climate catastrophe, according to 130 national academies of science and medicine across the world.Providing a healthy, affordable, and environmentally friendly diet for all people will require a radical transformation of the system, says the report by the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP). This will depend on better farming methods, wealthy nations consuming less meat and countries valuing food which is nutritious rather than cheap. Continue reading...

More than 15,000 buildings were built in coastal areas at significant risk of coastal flooding in the UK between 2005 and 2014, write Tom Spencer and Gerd Masselink. Meanwhile Alastair Edwards says the Irish shouldn’t be bashed too much over their carbon emissions, but Dr John Doherty warns against erecting wind turbines on boglandThe UK Climate Projections 2018 study predicts significant sea level rise around the UK coastline by 2100 (Climate change ‘may force people to quit flood areas’, 27 November) and, in announcing the report, the secretary of state for the environment says “we will be looking at ways we can encourage every local area to strive for greater overall resilience”.Yet only a month ago, the government’s own advisers, the Committee on Climate Change, argued strongly that current methods being used to protect England’s coastal communities are not fit for purpose. Their report showed that between 2005 and 2014, over 15,000 buildings were built in coastal areas at significant risk of coastal flooding and/or erosion. Continue reading...

42.6C temperature in Cairns broke a November record that has stood since 1900 by 5.4CA record-breaking heatwave in north Queensland will further increase above-average marine temperatures, heightening the risk of another coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef next year, scientists say.Dozens of record November temperatures have been recorded in the region, most along the reef coastline, this week. Continue reading...

The nuclear disaster site is being marketed as a tourist destination with novelty gas masks, radioactive ice cream and - now - a multimedia art show with the militaryIt is a two-hour drive from the centre of Kiev, following the banks of the Dnieper river into the woods. It is minus six degrees outside. Wild dogs scavenge at the side of the road.Our bus comes to a stop and military men in uniform tell us to disembark and ready our passports. We’re at the main check point of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. From here, signs warn us, everything is contaminated. Continue reading...

Specialist diving group teams up with British conservation charity to lower impact of scuba tourism on threatened reefsThe threat posed to coral reefs by scuba diving in Egypt and Thailand is so serious that officials have banned certain operators or suspended the sport altogether, but now moves are afoot to make diving tourism more sustainable.A partnership between the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (Padi), the world’s largest training group, and the UN-backed Reef-World Foundation, a British conservation charity, will encourage the industry to sign up to the Green Fins scheme, which helps dive centres to reduce their environmental impact and mitigate the damage the burgeoning sport causes to coral reefs worldwide. Continue reading...

An SES volunteer collapsed and died while attending a job in the Illawarra, and another person died in a crash at ThornleighA second person has died during the Sydney storms which have lashed the city and surrounding regions on Wednesday, delivering a month’s worth of rain in two hours.On Wednesday afternoon a State Emergency Services volunteer collapsed and died while attending a job in the Illawarra. Continue reading...

Migratory shorebirds populations down by average of 70% from 1985 to 2015Populations of threatened bird species in Australia halved in the past 30 years, according to a new national Threatened Bird Index.The index is the first part of a large data consolidation project being undertaken by the Threatened Species Recovery Hub, along with the University of Queensland and Birdlife Australia. Continue reading...

Analysis suggests 116m tonnes of dairy products are wasted globally, with almost half lost before they even reach a storeOne in six pints of milk produced around the world is lost or wasted, according to research conducted at Edinburgh University for the Guardian.Sixteen percent of dairy products – 116m tonnes – is lost or discarded globally each year, according to Prof Peter Alexander, a member of the newly formed Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Security. He calculated that retailers, distributors and consumers are responsible for half of this waste, throwing away roughly 60m tonnes of dairy a year. Continue reading...

Government scrapped £1bn plan in 2015 but now aims to build project within a decadeThe UK wants to build its first project to capture and store carbon emissions from industry within the next decade, as part of a rebooted push by ministers to support the technology.The government scrapped a £1bn carbon capture and storage (CCS) competition in 2015, with the then-chancellor George Osborne saying it was too costly. Earlier efforts had also collapsed. Continue reading...

Interior secretary Ryan Zinke says he hopes new laws will end environmental reviews and allow ‘thinning’ of forestsThe Trump administration has been accused of using the deadly wildfires in California to push for weakened environmental rules in forests, opening them up for more logging.Ryan Zinke, the interior secretary, said that he hoped new legislation would allow for the “thinning” of forests to help prevent wildfires. He said he was confident Congress would soon pass a new farm bill that would remove environmental reviews for the removal of trees and brush, as well as the building of roads through federal forests. Continue reading...

Students miss school to call on MPs to take emergency action ‘because this is our future’School students protesting climate change have arrived in Canberra after the prime minister told them to be less activist and go back to school.Hundreds of students lined up outside Parliament House on Wednesday wanting to speak to Scott Morrison and government ministers about taking emergency action against climate change. Continue reading...

Management of UK rail lines fails to take environmental best practice into accountAn independent review into the scale of tree felling by Network Rail is calling for a complete cultural change by the company to focus on valuing nature and the environment.The review, published on Wednesday, was sparked after Guardian articles highlighted a threat to millions of line-side trees from Network Rail’s approach to managing the environment around its tracks and the scale of tree felling taking place in nesting season. Continue reading...