Environment | The Guardian

Clouds don’t act as a climate thermostat, and they’re not going to save us from global warming

International Energy Agency says burning of fossil fuel is falling fast, driven by drop-off in use by EU, China and USEvery major country in the world except India reduced its consumption of coal last year, with demand for the dirty fuel forecast to stagnate for the next half decade, according to official forecasts.The International Energy Agency said 5.3bn tonnes of coal equivalent were burnt in 2016, down 1.9% on the year before and 4.2% on 2014, the fastest decline since 1990-1992, when the global economy was in recession. Continue reading...

Authenticity of droppings and carcasses used as evidence for Tasmanian government-funded fox hunt was questionedA $40m Tasmanian fox eradication scheme that failed to find a single live fox has been cleared of misconduct over allegations droppings were planted to falsify the animal’s existence and secure funding.Independent upper house MP Ivan Dean lodged a complaint with Tasmania’s Integrity Commission last year over two controversial programs that ran from 2002 to 2014. Continue reading...

Exclusive: pension schemes will be free to dump fossil fuel investments after government drops ‘best returns’ legal rulesThe government is to allow Britain’s £2tn workplace pension schemes to dump their shares in oil, gas and coal companies more easily, empowering them to take investment decisions to fight climate change.Until now, pension schemes have been hamstrung by “fiduciary duties” that effectively require schemes to seek the best returns irrespective of the threat of climate change. Many have rebuffed calls by members for fossil fuel divestment, citing legal obligations.

Newby Head, Yorkshire Dales When heavy snow blocks the roads, farmer Rodney Beresford goes out to clear the wayTiny snow devil vortices dance across the scene outside Newby Head Farm, 1,400ft high in Yorkshire’s Three Peaks region. But the snow that tinsels the windbreak of Douglas firs does not stir. Neither does the mound of pink rock salt by the roadside; it is already half-frozen. Sheep farmer Rodney Beresford has to dig hard as he fills the hopper behind his 150hp Deutz tractor. Continue reading...

Decision to end Downer EDI agreement follows Palaszczuk government’s blocking of federal loan for the Queensland projectAdani has blamed the Queensland government’s decision to kill off a taxpayer-funded loan for its decision to ditch a $2 billion agreement with a major contractor.But the Indian miner says it remains committed to building its controversial Carmichael coalmine and the decision to part ways with Downer EDI has no bearing on that. Continue reading...

18 December 1917 Their greens may be dark or even dingy, but when the rains sweep over or the snow melts upon them they shine as if polishedThe sombre firs standing black against the leaden sky and the snow-sprinkled ground, the ivy clinging to the ancient bole, the big-leaved laurels and rhododendrons, and the hardy wayside hollies save the country from the monotony of leafless winter. Their greens may be dark or even dingy compared with those of spring, but they are really greens; when the rains sweep over, as they did yesterday, or the snow melts upon them they shine as if polished. The red berries are all the redder for the wet, and even the withered grass is invigorated by the showers which make us shiver.Related: Holly: the festive berry Continue reading...

The new chair of Newcastle Ports in Australia says there’s an urgent need to diversify the regional economy and the port’s businessNewcastle, the world’s largest coal export port, must “urgently” diversify its traffic, the port’s incoming chairman has said, warning that the “long-term outlook for coal is a threat to the port”.The move has been received as a significant sign of the transition away from fossil fuels. Continue reading...

Unclean air and run-off from agricultural fertilisers alter habitats while competitors threaten to overwhelm sensitive speciesNitrogen pollution in the air is devastating for many sensitive wild plants, which is why so much of the countryside is becoming a vast carpet of nettles, hogweed, hemlock and other rampant vegetation that feasts on nitrogen. In many places, these are running out of control.Much has been written about the damage to human health from nitrogen oxides given off by traffic, but the damage to sensitive plants has gone largely unnoticed. Excessive nitrogen also comes from ammonia from fertilisers and manures, with much of the countryside awash with nitrates running off farmland. Continue reading...

Sarah-Jayne Clifton says countries such as Antigua and Barbuda need debt cancellation, and assistance to help them rebuild should be grants, not loans, while Ian Tysh tears into Theresa May’s domestic climate change policiesFor many countries impacted by the negative impacts of climate change, much more money is leaving in debt payments than they receive in grants to cope with climate impacts (Theresa May: It’s Britain’s duty to help nations hit by climate change, 12 December).Even before this autumn’s devastating hurricanes, Caribbean countries were suffering under unsustainable debts caused by the legacy of colonialism, unjust trade rules, harsh austerity measures imposed in return for bailouts, and past disasters. Now countries such as Antigua and Barbuda, and Dominica, are expected to keep paying debts while struggling to rebuild. Continue reading...

Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt has scrapped an Obama-era rule requiring mining operations to prove they can clean up future pollutionWhen the Zortman Landusky gold and silver mine, located upstream from Montana’s enormous Fort Belknap reservation, went bankrupt in 1998, the cost of the cleanup fell on the US taxpayer. The costs keep growing.

Waitrose and MSC defend eco credentials of Shetland king scallops as conservation group calls for sales to be suspendedWaitrose has been urged to suspend sales of one of its premium products, an eco-certified king scallop from Shetland, which can sell heavily at Christmas.The marine conservation campaign Open Seas challenged Waitrose after it raised concerns that the scallop fishery causes unjustifiable ecological damage because the shellfish are dredged from the seabed. Continue reading...

The climate is warming and the water is rising. In his new book, Jeff Goodell argues that sea-level rise will reshape our world in ways we can only begin to imagineAfter the hurricane hit Miami in 2037, a foot of sand covered the famous bow-tie floor in the lobby of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. A dead manatee floated in the pool where Elvis had once swum. Most of the damage came not from the hurricane’s 175-mile-an-hour winds, but from the twenty-foot storm surge that overwhelmed the low-lying city.In South Beach, historic Art Deco buildings were swept off their foundations. Mansions on Star Island were flooded up to their cut-glass doorknobs. A seventeen-mile stretch of Highway A1A that ran along the famous beaches up to Fort Lauderdale disappeared into the Atlantic. The storm knocked out the wastewater-treatment plant on Virginia Key, forcing the city to dump hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage into Biscayne Bay. Continue reading...

In an era of environmental deregulation, groups like the American Petroleum Institute are focusing resources on the courts – and ‘time is on industry’s side’In early October, 22 state and federal judges hailing from Honolulu to Albany got a crash course in scientific literacy and economics. The three-day symposium was billed as a way to help the judges better scrutinize evidence used to defend government regulations.But the all-expenses-paid event hosted by George Mason University’s Law & Economics Center in Arlington, Virginia, served another purpose: it was the first of several seminars designed to promote “skepticism” of scientific evidence among likely candidates for the 140-plus federal judgeships Donald Trump will fill over the next four years. Continue reading...

What do you give to the person who has everything? How about nothing?At the risk of undermining the work of a certain Mr S Claus, here’s a sobering thought: while the US contains just 3.1% of the world’s children, its citizens buy in excess of 40% of the world’s toys.Kids are effectively regarded as consumers in training and we know where that leads. According to US studies the average American home contains more than 300,000 items. Continue reading...

Abused and disadvantaged mothers and daughters are being honed into a squad of sharpshooters to save wildlife in the Zambezi valleyThe black metal of the AR-15 rifle has worn silvery and shiny in parts after years of use. More manageable than an AK-47 in close-quarter combat, the weapon is precise enough to bring down an enemy target at 500 metres. Used for decades by anti-poaching units throughout Africa, today this gun is not carried by a typical swaggering male field ranger; this one is cradled securely and proficiently by Vimbai Kumire. “This job is not meant just for men,” she says, “but for everyone who is fit and strong.”Kumire is a 32-year-old single mother whose husband ran off with a younger woman while she was pregnant with her second child. She is practising setting up an ambush in the early morning in Zimbabwe’s lower Zambezi Valley, nestling deep into the green undergrowth like a dappled shadow. Continue reading...

With UN funds being cut this month, conservationists call for last-ditch effort to save animal which clings on only in IranConservationists have warned that the Asiatic cheetah is on the threshold of extinction following a UN decision to pull funding from conservation efforts to protect it.Fewer than 50 of the critically endangered carnivores are thought to be left in the wild – all of them in Iran – and scientists fear that without urgent intervention there is little chance of saving one of the planet’s most distinctive and graceful hunters. Continue reading...

South Oakley Inclosure, New Forest Others come here for exercise, we head off the track into a silence broken only by the scolding of blackbirdsThere’s a stillness in the air, though we share this Inclosure’s gravelled track near Burley with others. A runner passes us on his way out. We’ve not gone far before we have to stand aside to allow two riders to pass on ambling ponies.A cyclist speeds by, head down, and later we greet a family group enjoying a walk. Like so many of the people who come into the New Forest, their purpose is primarily exercise. Continue reading...

A new scheme aims to lighten the lives of millions who live without electricity, with the promise of a possible 6% returnHow would you like to earn a return of up to 6% on your cash while at the same time providing families in countries such as Kenya with “life-changing” access to clean, affordable solar energy?Energise Africa is a new ethical investment scheme which aims to raise £20m to provide a brighter future for more than 110,000 families and small businesses in sub-Saharan Africa over the next three years. Continue reading...

Move to adopt synthetic fibres comes six months after protesters heckle designer at New York speech

Tie-up with Europe’s biggest solar developer will focus on alternative energy projects in US, India and Middle EastBP has paid $200m (£149m) for a 43% stake in Europe’s biggest solar developer, marking its return to the sector from which it withdrew six years ago.The investment in the London-based Lightsource marks a turnaround for the British oil firm, which rebranded as Beyond Petroleum in 2000 but shut its alternative energy headquarters nine years later. Continue reading...

A great grey owl, a robin in the snow and a festive reindeer are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

New Chinese restrictions on imported waste could see millions of tonnes of cardboard being sent back, as the UK struggles to prepare for rapid rule changesImminent restrictions by the Chinese on importing cardboard from the rest of the world are likely to cause chaos in the UK in the coming weeks, according to a leading recycling expert.From 1 January, China will impose much stricter quality restrictions on imported cardboard as well as banning the importation of all plastic waste and mixed paper rubbish from all over the world. The move is part of president Xi Jinping’s drive to create a “beautiful China” with a clean environment. Continue reading...

After the Guardian and EHRP published a piece about the record number of farmers who are killing themselves, there were hundreds of responses

Foreign secretary drinks down gift from Japan’s foreign minister in attempt to show food and drink from region is safe after triple nuclear meltdown“Yum.” That was foreign secretary Boris Johnson’s verdict on a can of peach juice from Fukushima – a gift from his Japanese counterpart, Taro Kono – during their meeting in London this week.

Great Hucklow, Derbyshire At the derelict mine all is not quiet as the sound of birds cuts through the muffling snow and the ruins speak of a riotous noisy pastThe broad track down to Silence Mine was muffled with snow, the more slender boughs of its modest avenue bowed under inches of it, sporadic puffs of wind pushing drifts into the air. Perched halfway up Hucklow Edge, among the ruined mine structures, I could look across the broad, walled pastures above Foolow, dazzling in the bright sunshine, the sky a milky blue, a creamy knot of sheep standing to attention in a distant field.Sunlight pierced a thick stand of hawthorn just behind me, the haws blood-red against the brilliant white. Just below, the choked pit shaft, as so often in Derbyshire, had been plugged with an ash, the snow around it dotted with rabbit prints. Continue reading...

International arrivals must sign promise to children of Pacific nation that they will ‘tread lightly, act kindly’ during their stayThe tiny Pacific island nation of Palau has introduced a new law requiring visitors to sign a pledge not to harm the environment before entering the country.The pledge will be stamped into the passports of international arrivals from this month. Continue reading...

Indian government ordered to respond to claims energy firms conspired to siphon money from state and defraud consumersDelhi’s high court has taken up a lawsuit calling for an investigation into allegations that Adani Group and other energy companies engaged in fraud that raised power prices for Indian consumers.The court has ordered the Indian government and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) to respond before 7 February to the lawsuit, which claims that several mining groups inflated coal and equipment prices to siphon money from India. Continue reading...

Out of 3,500 entries from across the world, this year’s funny winners include a laughing dormouse, a shocked seal, and bears caught in the act Continue reading...

Office for Nuclear Regulation approves design for new reactor at Horizon Nuclear Power’s plant at Wylfa, AngleseyPlans for a major new nuclear power station in Wales have taken a crucial step forward as UK regulators approved the project.The Office for Nuclear Regulation and two other government bodies gave the green light on Thursday for the Japanese reactor design for Horizon Nuclear Power’s plant at Wylfa, marking the end of a five-year regulatory process. Continue reading...

A flaw in Europe’s clean energy plan allows fuel from felled trees to qualify as renewable energy when in fact this would accelerate climate change and devastate forestsThe European Union is moving to enact a directive to double Europe’s current renewable energy by 2030. This is admirable, but a critical flaw in the present version would accelerate climate change, allowing countries, power plants and factories to claim that cutting down trees and burning them for energy fully qualifies as renewable energy.Even a small part of Europe’s energy requires a large quantity of trees and to avoid profound harm to the climate and forests worldwide the European council and parliament must fix this flaw. Continue reading...

A new book commissioned by David Attenborough’s charity, The World Land Trust, documents life on the small and important elephant corridor which allows the animals to cross safely between ranges in Kerala, India

But it’s political corruption, not public opinion that’s blocking American climate policyThere’s a debate between social scientists about whether climate change facts can change peoples’ minds or just polarize them further. For example, conservatives who are more scientifically literate are less worried about global warming. In essence, education arms them with the tools to more easily reject evidence and information that conflicts with their ideological beliefs. This has been called the “smart idiot” effect and it isn’t limited to climate change; it’s also something we’re seeing with the Republican tax plan.However, other research has shown that conservatives with higher climate-specific knowledge are more likely to accept climate change – a result that holds in many different countries. For example, when people understand how the greenhouse effect works, across the political spectrum they’re more likely to accept human-caused global warming. Continue reading...

Campaigners condemn move to chop down tribute to local soldiers in long-running row over £2bn renovationCouncillors in Sheffield have voted to fell dozens of trees planted 98 years ago in honour of fallen soldiers in a move attacked by critics as “the first publicly sanctioned desecrations of a war memorial”.Campaigners have fought a long battle with Sheffield city council over the fate of the trees, planted in 1919 as a “living memorial” to soldiers killed in the first world war. Continue reading...

Fidel Sandi’s Achuar community has been plagued with oil contamination for decades – but he is now able to collect and gather evidence for his claimsArmed with territorial knowledge, rubber boots, smartphones and drones, indigenous Amazonians in Peru are doing what state and private oil companies have long failed to do: report oil spills that have been polluting their corner of the rainforest for decades.Fidel Sandi, 33, a leader in the indigenous Achuar community of San Cristobal, plunges a stick into the spongy soil of a palm swamp and watches as sticky crude bubbles to the surface leaving an oily sheen on the water. Continue reading...

After casting doubt on climate change for decades, skeptic consultants have turned their attention to air pollution

Sandy, Bedfordshire Up in the crown of the tree, a mistle thrush gave a rattling call, as if exerting its planter’s rightsUnder the unkind umbrella of a spreading oak, a stunted horse chestnut tree had received a white feather. Dropped from a dove, it had landed on a big brown bud as sticky as a toffee apple. The winter elements had then set to work, soaking and battering the kiss-curl of down into limpness, laying it out in the bud’s protective goo and soiling it with dust, seeds and shards of leaves. But still the feather refused to dim its light.This tree had caught not one falling star but two. I spotted another white feather at waist height, glued fast to another terminal bud. The chances of one feather snagging must have been small. The chances of two… Continue reading...

Move makes NAB the first major Australian bank to phase out support for industry but it will continue to finance projects already on its booksNational Australia Bank says it will halt all lending for new thermal coal mining projects, becoming the first major Australian bank to phase out support of thermal coal mining.While the bank will continue providing finance for coal projects already on its books, NAB said an orderly transition to a low-carbon Australia was critical for the economy and for continued access to secure and affordable energy.

Green groups’ case against logging in central highlands mountain ash forests could have repercussions for NSW and WAGreen groups are challenging the validity of a Victorian forestry agreement in the federal court in a case that could have repercussions for the Australian logging industry as a whole.Environmental Justice Australia, acting on behalf of Friends of the Leadbeater’s Possum, has argued that the regional forest agreement covering Victoria’s central highlands region, which is home to the critically endangered possum, is invalid because the Victorian government failed to perform the requisite reviews. Continue reading...

There is enough food for everyone, says Chrissie Hynde – if everyone takes only their fair share and stops eating animals. Others suggest improving farming production methods, tackling population growth and taxing meatAlthough I strongly agree with and appreciate George Monbiot’s efforts to shed light on the destructive nature of industrialised farming and its effects on animals and environment (We can’t go on eating like this, 11 December), I do not see the wisdom of tarring the entire farming community with the same brush.Small family farms, where the profits are just enough to sustain the running of the farm, actually replenish the environment and provide for local communities. A non-slaughter farm is humane, realistic and beneficial all around. We need farmers. There is enough food for everyone if everyone takes only their fair share and stops killing and eating the animals. Continue reading...

Charity accuses UK supermarkets of misleading customers with fake farm branding and claims Tesco is damaging the reputation of a real farm with the same nameMajor UK supermarkets including Tesco, Aldi, Asda and Lidl are being urged to stop using controversial “fake farm” branding on own-brand meat products, with a food charity claiming they are misleading shoppers.The Feedback charity is backing the owner of a genuine farm called Woodside Farm – a name Tesco has also used on its value pork range since 2016 – and is threatening legal proceedings if the retail giant does not drop the name Woodside Farms.

As annual fisheries negotiations conclude, fishermen’s federation says ‘entrenched views’ in EU could affect future talksScottish fishermen have raised concerns that the EU is adopting a hardline stance over quotas as a prelude to Brexit negotiations.Annual negotiations over fishing quotas – expected to be the penultimate talks the UK participates in before leaving the EU – were concluded in Brussels early on Wednesday. Continue reading...

As America is battered by climate-intensified weather disasters, Republican politicians are trying to slash climate research funding

Ian the Climate Denialist Potato surprises his loved ones with a festive report on climate emissions. Or would they rather get an inflatable Greg Hunt doll?

Charity urges people to rewear last year’s jumper to reduce the waste impact of the throwaway festive fashionOne in four Christmas jumpers bought last year was thrown away or is unlikely to be worn again, according to new research which reveals that most novelty sweaters will only ever be worn once.Emblazoned with flashing lights or more tasteful alpine motifs, the festive apparel is so popular that about £220m will be spent on them in the run up to Christmas this year. Continue reading...

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire Suddenly the familiar had been enchanted, even the bull and the blackbird in the blizzardBlack-white-black-white: the bull watches the bird through the snow. This is the first flurry for years, long enough to have forgotten how snow changes everything the other side of the doorstep. It began with the supermoon, a silver florin in a halo of limelight. Then came Storm Caroline – “good times never seemed so good,” sang Neil Diamond – and although not such good times elsewhere, it was easy going here.Weather presenters spread long fingers over maps and warned that the departing storm would pull down Arctic air, leading to snow at low levels. No one warned the dogs, they felt the excitement of a world changed around them, a duty to redraw their scent maps, a camaraderie with humans daft enough to roam abroad in a blizzard. Continue reading...

Draft report from hydraulic fracking inquiry has found the practice can be safe if risks are better mitigatedThe Northern Territory government will wait until next year to make a decision on lifting its moratorium on fracking, despite federal calls for it to “get on with the job” after a long-running inquiry found it could be safe if risks were better mitigated.The inquiry into hydraulic fracturing in the NT released its draft final report on Tuesday with 120 recommendations, which it said must be implemented in full to “reduce the risk to an acceptable level”. Continue reading...

Upper house committee says nets damage other marine wildlife and recommends replacement of lethal drum linesShark nets in place across Australia to protect beachgoers should be phased out as they cause more harm than good, a Senate inquiry has found.An upper house committee examined shark mitigation and deterrent measures in Australia, and specifically the use of mesh nets in New South Wales and Queensland. Continue reading...

Celebration of the ruling by environmentalist has been tempered by expectations that the Trump administration will side with mining interests to end the banA powerful court ruled on Tuesday that an Obama-era ban on new uranium mines around the Grand Canyon should stay in place, though celebration on the environment side was tempered by expectations the government itself will now side with mining interests to end the ban. A separate, but linked, ruling on an older mine was a defeat for a Native American tribe.