Elections have consequences. Denying science has consequences. And we are reaping what we sow.

Hundreds of millions of pounds must be spent to achieve 80% cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, report showsHundreds of millions of pounds must be spent on the UK’s draughty housing stock to meet the government’s climate change targets, with progress so far too slow to make the difference needed.Repairing existing homes to a high standard, with insulation and renewable energy technology, would cut consumer bills and bring health improvements, a new report shows. Continue reading...

Study highlights ‘shocking contribution’ of domestic wood and coal fires to air pollution, which causes 40,000 early deaths a year in the UKPeople burning wet wood on inefficient stoves are poisoning themselves and their neighbours, according to a new report from a leading thinktank.The IPPR study highlights the “shocking contribution” domestic wood and coal fires make to the UK’s air pollution crisis, which causes 40,000 early deaths a year and devastating health problems for hundreds of thousands of others. Continue reading...

Similar challenges are sprouting up along the coast, and the golden sands and beach properties that define the state at riskOn a recent overcast October afternoon, yet another section of West Cliff Drive, the premier seafront street in Santa Cruz, California, was roped off as workers toiled to prevent it from crumbling into the Pacific Ocean.The erosion gnawing away at this prized road, and the famed surfing beaches it overlooks, is emblematic of the relentless threat that climate change poses to California’s coastline. As the sea level rises and storms of growing strength smash into the coast, the golden sands and beach properties that have come to define the state are at risk. Continue reading...

Minister says plan to coordinate climate response in absence of government policy interferes with democracy

Mandatory environmental labels would change how we produce and consume in three far-reaching ways.

Major study also finds huge changes to farming are needed to avoid destroying Earth’s ability to feed its population

Top climate adviser says UN warnings will force the government to act in ways that will be controversial and politically fraughtThe UK’s obligations in response to this week’s warnings from the UN over global warming will be controversial and politically fraught, taking the country into “uncharted territory” and testing the political consensus on climate change, its top climate adviser has warned.The government will have to regulate industry and intervene in the market in ways that will prove controversial in parliament, predicted Chris Stark, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). He is charged with advising ministers on how swift and how deep cuts in emissions should be and how they can be achieved, and his committee will start work on the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) advice shortly. Continue reading...

Several provinces unhappy with PM’s national carbon tax, while green groups oppose government investment in fossil fuelsWhen Justin Trudeau swept into power in 2015, he pledged to make fighting climate change a top priority for his government.Three years later, Canada’s prime minister is on the defensive, scrambling to both revive his party’s unravelling climate strategy as a growing number of provinces refuse to participate in national carbon tax – and to temper frustrations over his government’s continued investment in the fossil fuel industry. Continue reading...

While the Austin campus has a sustainability plan and promotes recycling, the university is also a major fracking landlord that leases millions of acres to oil and gas companiesThe dusty oilfields of west Texas can feel a world away from the bustling heart of Austin, the state’s eco-conscious capital.A common thread is the University of Texas: one of America’s biggest academic institutions and one of its largest landowners. University land managers control 2.1m acres in Texas, much of it leased to oil and gas companies who have installed 9,000 wells on its property. Continue reading...

Forest fires and air that seems to combust: thanks to climate change, more parts of the world will soon be ablaze. California shows us what will happen when it does Continue reading...

The Wentworth candidate rejects former leader’s view that party’s policy on emissions is inadequateThe Liberal candidate for Wentworth, Dave Sharma, said his party is “doing enough” and has “a good record” on climate change, after a blistering attack from former leader John Hewson, who said the party deserved a “drubbing” over its inaction on the issue.Hewson told Guardian Australia that Liberal voters have a unique opportunity: register a protest now and return to the party at the general election in six months’ time. Continue reading...

Exclusive: UN group responds to Scott Morrison’s statement that Australia won’t be ‘throwing money’ into fundAn official United Nations grouping of 47 of the world’s poorest countries has urged Australia to “honour its international commitments” after the prime minister, Scott Morrison, said the country would not be “throwing money” into a key international climate change fund.Australia has previously pledged $200m to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), set up through the UN’s climate convention to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change and cut their own greenhouse gas emissions. Continue reading...

‘This is not good news,’ Bureau of Meteorology says, warning drought conditions could get worseHeatwaves and bushfires are predicted in southern Australia thanks to a 70% chance of El Niño weather conditions, the Bureau of Meteorology has warned. Although cyclones may ease up in the north by the end of the year, the outlook for drought-hit areas is not good, according to the bureau.“Between the [above average] temperature and the lack of rainfall, this is not good news,” climatologist Robyn Duell said. “This outlook on the back of such little rainfall and dry conditions makes it such a worry for people.” Continue reading...

Seattle residents had hoped to use ‘necessity defense’ in Minnesota court, arguing threat to planet was so great they had no choiceA Minnesota judge abruptly dismissed charges against three climate change activists during their trial on Tuesday, saying prosecutors had failed to prove that the protesters’ attempt to shut down two Enbridge Energy oil pipelines caused any damage.The Clearwater county district judge Robert Tiffany threw the case out after prosecutors rested their case and before the protesters could use their defense: that the threat of climate change from using crude oil drilled from Canadian tar sands was so imminent that the activists’ actions were not only morally right, but necessary. Continue reading...

Policy Exchange report calls for steadily rising levy to help tackle climate changeCompanies selling fossil fuels in Britain should face a steadily rising carbon tax to tackle climate change after Brexit, according to the former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling and the Conservative party grandee Michael Howard.In a cross-party campaign to ensure the government sticks to its commitment to cut carbon emissions after Britain leaves the EU, the two politicians said a tax should be introduced as soon as reasonably possible. Continue reading...

President says he ‘will be looking at’ report warning ‘unprecedented’ changes needed to avoid extreme heat, floods and povertyFaced with a major UN report that warns of floods, drought, extreme heat and increased poverty should the world not take radical action to address climate change, Donald Trump has been uncharacteristically quiet.The US president was visiting Florida, a state particularly vulnerable to sea level rise and currently in the path of Hurricane Michael, when the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report warned on Monday that “unprecedented” changes were needed to stave off dire impacts if the world warms 1.5C beyond the pre-industrial period. Continue reading...

Ben van Beurden says ‘another Brazil in terms of rainforest’ will help achieve UN targetThe boss of Shell has said a huge tree-planting project the size of the Amazon rainforest would be needed to meet a tougher global warming target, as he argued more renewable energy alone would not be enough.Ben van Beurden said it would be a major challenge to limit temperature rises to 1.5C (equivalent to a rise of 2.7F), which a landmark report from the UN’s climate science panel has said will be necessary to avoid dangerous warming. Continue reading...

Readers including Fawzi Ibrahim and Caroline Lucas MP discuss ways to combat greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate changeThe “final tick box” to limit global warming is not just political (Global warming must not exceed 1.5C, landmark UN report warns, 8 October), it is also economic. Capitalism, the cause of global warming, cannot be its remedy. Industrial production came about when commodity production became dominant – an economic system in which commodities are produced for the sole purpose of being sold, upon which they return more money to the investors than their original outlay.The profit is then used to produce more commodities; a continually expanding process with expanding energy needs. New technology and sustainable sources of energy will help to contain global warming, but only if the rate of removing pollutants exceeds the rate of increase in energy needs. Evidence so far points to the contrary. Continue reading...

Matt Wheeler, Chris Osman, Pam Laurance and Bill White on the changes that need to be made to road regulations and driver habits in order to avoid climate catastropheFollowing the UN’s report concluding carbon emissions need to be reduced massively and rapidly to prevent an average increase in global temperatures of more than 1.5C (Global warming must not exceed 1.5C, landmark UN report warns, 8 October), one quick and simple way in which the UK could make a start is by cutting the top speed vehicles can travel on motorways from 70 to 60mph. All cars operate most efficiently at a speed between 50 and 60mph. At the stroke of a pen we could ensure all vehicles on motorways are running far closer to their most efficient levels. It won’t save the world on its own, but it’s a cost-free and easy step to take that gets us moving in the right direction.

We are calling for the adoption of a third pact, enshrining a new generation of fundamental commitments, write Yann Aguila, Antonio Herman Benjamin, Laurent Fabius and 128 othersOn 10 April 2018, the United Nations general assembly adopted a resolution that paved the way for negotiations on a global pact for the environment. This international treaty would combine the guiding legal principles for environmental action into one single and far-reaching text. In 2015, the adoption of the sustainable development goals and the Paris climate agreement represented major progress. However, environmental damage persists and is more serious than ever before. The years 2017 and 2018 have seen record-breaking temperatures. Biodiversity continues to decline at a rapid pace.With the global pact for the environment, the international community would be equipped for the first time with a treaty of a general nature that covers all environmental areas. It would be the cornerstone of international environmental law, therefore overseeing the different existing sectoral agreements (climate, biodiversity, waste, pollution, etc), filling the gaps and facilitating their implementation. Continue reading...

Feed-in tariff subsidies must not be abandoned, writes Sandra Walmsley, while Gaynor Adey says the UK government should look again at the Swansea Bay tidal projectNicholas Stern suggests that strong political will is needed if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change (All leaders must recognise the choice: act decisively now or suffer the consequences later, Analysis, 8 October). Unfortunately, there no evidence of such will, and the rollercoaster of policy for renewables means that potentially thriving industries have faced uncertainty.82% of UK citizens support renewables, yet the management of subsidies has already reduced the number of registered PV installers by more than 60%. Current proposals on abandoning feed-in tariff (FiT) subsidies will cause even more job and skills losses. Maintaining the current export tariff on FiTs is essential. Proposals for all suitable new buildings to have renewable energy systems would have a major effect on carbon emissions for a very small proportion of the costs. Continue reading...

Ecosystems | Fossil-fuel adverts | Brexit | Fracking | Compostable bagsIt is good to see that an appalling future awaiting the planet is being recognised (Huge risk if global warming exceeds 1.5C, warns landmark UN report, 8 October) and brought to light by the IPCC. Is there now any hope that the Convention on Biological Diversity can be jolted into comparable action that promotes the possibly more important and urgent demise facing biodiversity and ecosystems on our planet?

HGVs, buses and coaches would pay full fee with taxis and LGVs paying £12.50Drivers of the most polluting vehicles, could be charged up to £50 a day to enter Leeds under radical new plans to cut air pollution in the Yorkshire city.The Clean Air Zone (CAZ), which could be the first outside London, will cover more than half of Leeds and will see drivers monitored using a network of cameras from January 2020. Lorries, buses and coaches would all face the maximum charge. Continue reading...

Former leader says it might take losing the seat to get the party to do something on climateFormer Liberal leader John Hewson has called on voters in his former seat of Wentworth to use the byelection as a referendum on climate change and vote against the Liberals.He suggested it might take “a drubbing” in the byelection on 20 October to force the party he once led to respond to “the urgent challenge” of climate change, and that Liberal voters should consider voting for others before returning to vote Liberal at a general election in six months’ time. Continue reading...

Officials in India say Obsession cologne may help trap animal that has killed nine peopleWildlife authorities in India trying to catch a tiger thought to have killed at least nine people say they are considering the use of an unconventional weapon: Calvin Klein’s Obsession cologne.The six-year-old tiger, given the name T1, has been accused of preying on people in Pandharkawada, a town in Maharashtra state. Continue reading...

Ecosia offers to buy remaining forest from energy firm RWE, which plans to fell most of the treesA non-profit Berlin tech startup has offered to buy the remaining 200 hectares of an ancient German forest to save it from being destroyed for coal surface mining.Ecosia, a search engine which donates the majority of its advertising revenue to conservation initiatives and funded the planting of almost 40m trees across the world, has approached the energy firm RWE with an offer of €1m (£877,000) to secure the final stretch of the 12,000-year-old Hambach forest in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Continue reading...

Netherlands ordered to increase emissions cuts in historic ruling that puts ‘all world governments on notice’A court in The Hague has upheld a historic legal order on the Dutch government to accelerate carbon emissions cuts, a day after the world’s climate scientists warned that time was running out to avoid dangerous warming.Appeal court judges ruled that the severity and scope of the climate crisis demanded greenhouse gas reductions of at least 25% by 2020 – measured against 1990 levels – higher than the 17% drop planned by Mark Rutte’s liberal administration. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Claire Perry says level at which operations must be halted could be raisedRules designed to halt fracking operations if they trigger minor earthquakes could be relaxed as the shale industry begins to expand, the UK energy minister, Claire Perry, has said.A series of small tremors seven years ago prompted tough regulations that mean even very low levels of seismic activity now require companies to suspend fracking. Continue reading...

Threats to the rainforest and its people and an end to the Paris agreement are among the promises of Brazil’s presidential hopeful, reports Climate HomeNo more Paris agreement. No more ministry of environment. A paved highway cutting through the Amazon.Not only that. Indigenous territories opened to mining. Relaxed environmental law enforcement and licensing. International NGOs, such as Greenpeace and WWF, banned from the country. A strong alliance with the beef lobby. Continue reading...

Whale was freed but marine charity says proposed new laws would have made it illegal to highlight the distress of the animalExtraordinary photographs that revealed a baby humpback whale caught in a shark net on the Gold Coast could not have been taken under new laws proposed by the Queensland government, two environmental groups have said.The baby whale is seen entangled in the shark net in photos and video released by the Humane Society International and the Australian Marine Conservation Society on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Iron Ox, based in California, aims to improve labor shortages and pressure to produce crops by using AI and heavy machineryAmerica’s first autonomous robot farm launched last week, in the hopes that artificial intelligence (AI) can remake an industry facing a serious labor shortage and pressure to produce more crops.Claiming an ability to “grow 30 times more produce than traditional farms” on the strength of AI software, year-round, soilless hydroponic processes, and moving plants as they grow to efficiently use space, the San Carlos, California-based company Iron Ox aims to address some of the agricultural industry’s biggest challenges. Continue reading...

IPCC report ‘underestimates potential of these key dangers to send Earth into spiral of runaway climate change’

Coastguard expresses shock after decades-old piece of debris ends up on UK beachA plastic washing-up bottle that is at least 47 years old has been found washed up on a beach in the UK with its lettering and messaging still clear, prompting warnings about the enduring problem of plastic waste.The item, found by a coastguard warden at a beach in Somerset, “still looks almost new”, said the organisation. “We were staggered yesterday by how much debris has washed up on the beach,” wrote the Burnham Coastguard on Facebook. “It’s shocking how long … rubbish can survive and ultimately harm nature.” Continue reading...

Deputy PM Michael McCormack says policy will not change based on ‘some sort of report’The Australian government has rejected the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report’s call to phase out coal power by 2050, claiming renewable energy cannot replace baseload coal power.The deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, said Australia should “absolutely” continue to use and exploit its coal reserves, despite the IPCC’s dire warnings the world has just 12 years to avoid climate change catastrophe. Continue reading...

Even half degree of extra warming will affect hundreds of millions of people, decimate corals and intensify heat extremes, report shows

IPCC authors suggest there is high agreement that injection of chemicals into stratosphere could help limit rises

2016 Kigali amendment on hydrofluorocarbons could reduce warming by a small but crucial 0.5CFrom the beginning of next year, a new global pact will take effect that could have a profound impact on climate change, cutting harmful greenhouse gas emissions by amounts that could help stave off some of the worst impacts predicted by the IPCC.This little-noticed treaty has nothing to do with the Paris accord, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations that have dragged on since 1992, or energy sector emissions, which have resumed their rise. Continue reading...

William Nordhaus and Paul Romer honoured over two of most ‘basic and pressing’ issuesTwo American economists at the forefront of work on climate change and the role of governments in boosting growth have been jointly awarded the prestigious Nobel Memorial prize for economics.The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said William Nordhaus and Paul Romer were being honoured for their research into two of the most “basic and pressing” economic issues of the age. Continue reading...

UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says coal-fired electricity must end by 2050 if we are to limit global warming rises to 1.5C

The UN’s climate change report shows every fraction of a degree matters but world governments now have the chance to deliver a safer futureThe new 1.5C report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a sophisticated intelligence briefing on the fate of our planet. Its message is relevant to every human being on Earth.Based on more than 6,000 scientific studies, the report was compiled by more than 80 of the world’s top climate scientists from nearly 40 countries, and calibrates 40,000 peer-review comments. It is a robust and outstanding example of international cooperation, and an extraordinary source of shared intelligence. Continue reading...

If we’re already doomed to disastrous climate change, then there’s no reason to cut carbon pollution, argues the Trump administration

Environment groups tell Senate inquiry there’s ‘massive and pervasive non-compliance with legislation’Australia’s environment laws have been “white-anted with loopholes” and non-compliance takes place on a “scandalously huge scale”, a Senate inquiry into threatened species has heard.The inquiry into the rate of faunal extinctions was established after a Guardian Australia investigation found that Australia’s 1,800 threatened plants, animals and ecological communities were poorly monitored and conservation efforts inadequately funded. Continue reading...

Queensland government move branded ‘another special deal’ for Carmichael mineThe Queensland government has quietly granted the Adani mining company a year-long extension to pay $18.5m for a water extraction licence, citing Carmichael coalmine “project timetable delays”.The extension was branded “another special deal” by environmental groups, who said the government had consistently defended granting water access to Adani in the middle of a drought by stating the company would be made to abide by strict conditions. Continue reading...

Distinct difference in amount of coral that would remain under two climate change scenarios

The world heating up by even 1.5C would have a brutal impact on future generationsThe authoritative new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sets the world a clear target: we must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to net zero by the middle of this century to have a reasonable chance of limiting global warming to 1.5C.Every government should read this report and recognise the clear choice we now have. Continue reading...

IEA head says growth in renewables needs to be paired with coal plant closuresCarbon emissions from the energy sector are on track to grow for the second year running, in a major blow to hopes the world might have turned the corner on tackling climate change.Preliminary analysis by the world’s energy watchdog shows the industry’s emissions have continued to rise in 2018, suggesting that an increase last year was not a one-off. Continue reading...

Five reports and an agreement: the IPCC has been raising the climate alarm for 30 yearsThe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is set up by the UN and the World Meteorological Organisation, bringing together the world’s leading climate scientists to assess knowledge of climate change and provide scientific advice to policymakers. Continue reading...

PM says Australia won’t be providing more money to the global climate fundScott Morrison has resisted conservatives’ calls to withdraw Australia from the Paris climate agreement but ruled out providing more money to the global climate fund.The prime minister made the comments on 2GB Radio on Monday, before the release of a Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which is expected to call for a phaseout of coal power generation to help limit temperature rises to 1.5C. Continue reading...

Plans to expand program are on hold as gag-inducing pong and vermin are holding back residents, foodies and hipsters from saving food scrapsIt was meant to be an ambitious environmental program but efforts at composting in New York are breaking down amid rats, roaches and rank smells.New Yorkers are relatively good at recycling but an “ick factor” is holding them back from saving food scraps for reprocessing, the authorities admitted. Continue reading...