Environment | The Guardian

Many innovations aimed at reducing carbon dioxide have been put forward. Now, a California entrepreneur is proposing a more practical solutionHumanity has been trying to cut down on the estimated 40bn metric tons of carbon dioxide produced each year for decades. Some countries have imposed carbon taxes. Many businesses are looking at using alternatives to fossil fuels to make their products. For example, Coca-Cola invested millions of dollars in creating its PlantBottle, which gets its plastic from plants instead of petroleum, and saved 315,000 metric tons of CO2 between 2009 and 2015.Related: Donald Trump supports 'clean coal' – but does it really have a future? Continue reading...

Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil CEO and former Boy Scouts president, would be the first top US diplomat in modern history never to have held public officeDonald Trump named Rex Tillerson as his choice for the next secretary of state on Tuesday, potentially elevating an individual with no experience in public office to the position of America’s top diplomat for the first time in modern history.But beyond Tillerson’s role as the chief executive officer of oil giant ExxonMobil, a post he has held since 2006, little is known about the man poised to succeed John Kerry if confirmed by the US Senate early next year. Continue reading...

Costly failures show ‘urgent attention’ needed to improve how oil giant manages crucial engineering data at plantsAn internal report into how the oil giant BP monitors its refinery and chemical sites has revealed at least two near-miss accidents that could have caused deaths.The report, leaked to Greenpeace, concludes that “urgent attention” is required to improve how BP manages crucial engineering data across the world and that the company lags behind its competitors including Shell, Chevron, Petronas and ConocoPhillips. Continue reading...

Preparation is under way in China to bring in a ban on their domestic ivory trade, following a promise made with the US earlier this year

In the Noord district, residents are offered discounts at local shops in exchange for their plastic wasteLocated just behind Amsterdam Centraal station with views looking out across the river IJ, Al Ponte is a popular cafe serving a constant stream of commuters on their way to and from the nearby ferry port. Not all Al Ponte’s customers pay for their coffees, however. Not in the traditional sense anyway.Al Ponte is one of the businesses participating in Wasted, a pilot project running in Amsterdam’s Noord district which incentivises households to recycle their plastics by rewarding them with discounts at local businesses. Continue reading...

The value of investment funds committed to selling off fossil fuel assets has jumped to $5.2tn, doubling in just over a yearFive years ago, the idea that investments in fossil fuel companies were morally or financially problematic was all but unheard of. But an argument started to take shape on US university campuses — that with more coal, oil and gas in existing reserves than can ever be burned while keeping climate change under control, it is ethical and economic madness to spend billions looking for more.Fast forward to today and the argument has rocketed into mainstream financial thinking. It was revealed on Monday that investors worth more than $5tn have now committed to dump their fossil fuel stocks, and more than 80% of that is professional funds run for profit. Furthermore, this risk of a “carbon bubble” is now being taken seriously at the highest level, including by the Bank of England, World Bank and the G20’s financial stability board. Continue reading...

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon welcomes new total revealing concern over coal, oil and gas investments has entered financial mainstreamThe value of investment funds committed to selling off fossil fuel assets has jumped to $5.2tn, doubling in just over a year.The new total, published on Monday, was welcomed by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, who said: “It’s clear the transition to a clean energy future is inevitable, beneficial and well underway, and that investors have a key role to play.” Continue reading...

People are being urged not to tip cooking oil down drain to prevent post-Christmas buildup of congealed fat in sewersChristmas dinner with all the trimmings could lead to congealed cooking oil and grease blocking drains up and down the country, water companies have warned.Engineers from Severn Trent Water have been digging tons of fatty gunk, which sets as hard as concrete, out of sewers in the West Midlands after reports of flooding caused by fatbergs. Continue reading...

Food companies have a bad history of funding biased research to support their products. We took a look at a few egregious recent examplesRecently, evidence emerged that the sugar industry had paid scientists in the 1960s to implicate saturated fat, and not sugar, as a cause for heart disease. While the revelations are stunning, food industry funding of nutrition research is more common than consumers may realize.

With at least nine senior members of transition team denying basic scientific understanding, president-elect’s choices demonstrate pro-fossil fuels agendaThe heads of Donald Trump’s transition teams for Nasa, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Energy, as well as his nominees to lead the EPA and the Department of the Interior, all question the science of human-caused climate change, in a signal of the president-elect’s determination to embark upon an aggressively pro-fossil fuels agenda.Trump has assembled a transition team in which at least nine senior members deny basic scientific understanding that the planet is warming due to the burning of carbon and other human activity. These include the transition heads of all the key agencies responsible for either monitoring or dealing with climate change. None of these transition heads have any background in climate science.

Edinburgh University researchers say windfarm energy prevented 36m tonnes of harmful coal and gas emissions in six yearsWind power plays a key role in curbing greenhouse emissions from other energy sources such as coal and gas, a new study has shown.

First deal for 15 years seen as gamechanger by analysts who forecast oil price to rise further from $57 a barrel with Saudi Arabia pledging even greater cutsOil prices have surged to a 17-month high after a group of the world’s largest producers, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed to reduce output.The weekend deal between Opec and a number of non-Opec members, notably Russia, has pushed Brent crude up 5% to $57.04 a barrel, its highest level since mid-July 2015. Continue reading...

Levels of airborne pollution across north Indian plains routinely higher than in the capital, Delhi, researchers warnAir quality in the Indian holy city of Varanasi is “the most toxic in the country” according to research that reveals the extent of the pollution crisis across northern India.There has been a growing awareness of the dangers of the smog that envelopes Delhi in the winter months, but a report released on Monday by three environmental groups highlights the extent of the problem across the north Indian plains, where levels of harmful airborne particles are routinely higher than in the capital. Continue reading...

Great British cod supper is under threat as cold-water fish are replaced by warm-water species, says researcherIt is the meal most associated with the UK, along with slurping tea and moaning about the weather. But the great British fish supper could be on the way out, replaced by more continental variations such as squid and chips, as seas continue to warm, the British Ecological Society will be told this week.Britons may have to adopt a more continental diet when it comes to fish, as climate change sees cold-water fish such as cod gradually replaced by squid and other warm-water species, according to research led by Dr John Pinnegar of Cefas, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science.

Airedale, West Yorkshire All of these birds – none weighing more than an ounce, and the smallest of them barely tipping the scales against a 10p piece – have a crisp, spruce lookAt this time of year, it can sometimes seem as though the bare trees have been decked out with toy birds. The broad-spreading alder across the river is tinged purple-pink (the fuchsia-coloured catkins persist deep into the winter) and the branches are busy with tinkling finches: green siskins, bright motley goldfinches, chaffinches in pink and soft greys.I pause on the riverbank as a detachment of long-tailed tits, perhaps a dozen or so, makes its shuttling way through the willows. For a few moments I’m surrounded by them, a cloud of them; beneath the familiar hubbub of zinging tsees and tsirrups, I can hear their soft chut, chut contact-calls. Dinkiest of all are the two tiny goldcrests that pick over a low-hanging ash branch while working through a programme of deft variations on the theme “upside-down”. Continue reading...

Warmer summers boost numbers but average weight falls by 7kg because winter snow turns to rain, which then freezes and locks away its foodReindeer are shrinking on an Arctic island near the north pole as a result of climate change that has curbed the amount of winter food available to the animals, scientists said on Monday.

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 14 December 1916Passing through the Severn Tunnel one got a strange contrast in weather. On the Welsh side mist, clinging, cold, dreary; on the English side hoar frost over the grass, a blue sky and hot sun overhead. The trees are bare now and showing their clean anatomy. Never are they more lovely than when one can see every finest twig outlined with characteristic gesture against the sky. Elms especially show to advantage when bare; where they have to be lopped for safety it is indeed a sore sight, for their habit of ending in a fine spreading plume is so individual and so beautiful. Along the banks of a canal the rows of pollard willows make quaint reflections in the still water. Farther on, by the river, the beech woods are grey, with scarcely a shade of brown from the tightly packed scrolls of buds. But the chestnut tips are thick and sticky, and it will be worthwhile cutting a few branches to put into water. Sprays of birch also may be treated in the same way, and it is a great joy to watch them unfold. Continue reading...

We think of wood burning as natural, but experiments show that wood smoke contains shocking levels of harmful particlesWalk round many suburbs on a winter’s night and your nose will tell you that wood burning is being used for home heating. A recent UK government survey found that 7.5% of UK homes now burn wood. The vast majority use it for supplementary heating or decoration. Wood burning is most popular in the south-east where it is used by around 16% of households and it is least popular in northern England and Scotland where it is used by less than 5%.We think of wood burning as being natural and therefore less harmful to the environment when compared with fossil fuels. However, particle pollution from UK wood burning is now estimated to be more than double diesel exhaust.

This week EU fisheries ministers meet to decide the north-east Atlantic fishing quotas for 2017 at their annual December conference. Let’s hope our minister, George Eustice, does not repeat his performance of last year, when – in the face of a desperate need to end overfishing – he acquired for the UK a 2016 quota that exceeded scientific advice by more than any other EU country and proclaimed this as a good deal. Overfishing is “a good deal” only for the short-term interests of the smallest but wealthiest sector of the fishing industry, whose mega-trawlers hoover up the stocks, destroy their habitats and exacerbate their chronic over-exploitation. It is to be hoped that Eustice will also conform to another requirement of the common fisheries policy – the provision of a greater share of the quota to the small, under 10-metre, boats that constitute the largest part of the fleet, fish more sustainably, employ more fishermen, provide real benefits for their communities and enhance their prospects of both survival and a renewed prosperity. While representing about 80% of the Welsh and English fleet, they have just 6% of the quota.

London mayor urges government to take action, saying pledged settlement in emissions cheating scandal is far too lowSadiq Khan has called on the government to secure proper compensation from Volkswagen for the “dieselgate” scandal, saying the £1.1m pledged so far was outrageous.The London mayor said the settlement was far too low compared with the £12bn payout achieved by US authorities for VW’s use of sophisticated “defeat devices” to cheat emissions tests. Continue reading...

Clean Energy Finance Corporation loan comes three months after minister slammed SA’s over-reliance on wind powerThe Clean Energy Finance Corporation has made a multi-million dollar loan for a new windfarm in Barnaby Joyce’s electorate.It comes three months after Joyce slammed the South Australian government’s over-reliance on wind power, and linked SA’s damaging September blackout on the state’s lack of coal-fired baseload power. Continue reading...

Vehicles failing to display Crit’Air stickers will be banned from low-emission zones in Paris and other cities in bid to combat smogFrench motorists in high pollution areas will be required to display a “clean sticker” on their vehicle from January to combat pollution that has created a cloud of noxious smog in Paris and other cities.

General Mills is co-funding a project with the federal government to restore the habitat of pollinators such as bees and butterflies on North American farmsOn the 33-acre Prairie Drifter Farm in central Minnesota, farmers Joan and Nick Olson are cultivating more than just organic vegetables. Alongside their seven acres of crops – including tomatoes, cucumbers and onions – they’ve also planted flowering plants, dogwood and elderberry hedgerows to accommodate species of bees and butterflies essential for the health of the crops.The Olsons are not beekeepers, but they are part of a movement to reconnect sustainable farming to a healthy environment. As part of a 2013 project by Xerces Society, a nonprofit that specializes in wildlife preservation, the Olsons worked with a biologist to figure out what types of flowers and shrubs to plant to attract bees, butterflies and other insects that pollinate plants. With seeds and plants they received from Xerxes, and those bought with federal grants, the couple also planted strips of grasses and flowers to attract beetles, which help to defend the vegetables against pests. Continue reading...

Some protesters plan to lend solidarity to campaigns, including fight against meth addiction, a proposed telescope in Hawaii and other oil pipelinesFor months, Julie Richards has been planning for the battles that would come the moment that she was no longer needed at the Standing Rock encampments. When that day came, the 43-year-old Oglala Lakota woman knew that she needed to take the fight back home.“I have a crew ready to go back to my homeland, to set up a camp like this, and move against meth,” she said in November. Continue reading...

Demand for charcoal in sub-Saharan Africa is surging. While foreign investors focus on renewables, domestic companies are findings ways to make it cleaner and more efficient. Photographs and words by Nathan Siegal

We humans have polluted our world into a new geological epochIf you’re feeling unsettled by the Brexit/Trump future, consider this: since the 1950s humans have ramped up the pressure on the planet to such an extent that we have very likely propelled ourselves into a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene. Now that’s what geologists call change. The thing that freaks me out is that it’s rarely mentioned.To unwrap that: for the past 10,000 years or so, we have hung out comfortably in what we call the Holocene epoch. During this period we have been able to rely on the Earth’s systems to dampen the effects of “forcings”. These are different factors that affect the Earth’s climate, such as volcanic eruptions and solar variations. Continue reading...

Minister says Direct Action review just ‘housekeeping’ after chief scientist casts doubt on ability to meet emissions targetMathias Cormann has refused to say if the Turnbull government still has confidence in Dr Alan Finkel after the chief scientist warned Australia would not meet its emissions reduction target under the Paris agreement with current federal policy settings.“Look at our track record,” Cormann told Sky News on Sunday. “People thought that we couldn’t meet the 2020 emissions reduction target based on our policy settings and indeed we are exceeding those targets. Continue reading...

The shrieks of horror that follow mentions of pricing carbon show politics remains wedded to the belief that economic growth trumps concerns of climate changeThis week was a prime example of how economics and, by extension, politics doesn’t cope very well with the issue of climate change.The news that Australia economy went backwards in the September quarter was greeted with alarm by politicians and then used as a reason to push their policy barrow. And most of the barrows were piled high with coal. Continue reading...

Government steps in after council and school identify campaigners as key risks under controversial Prevent programmeThe Home Office has been forced to make it clear that anti-fracking campaigners should not be considered extremists after a council and a school in North Yorkshire used the government’s counter-terrorism programme to target environmental protesters.City of York council included anti-fracking activists in its Prevent programme, the controversial centrepiece of the government’s strategy to tackle extremism and thwart terrorism. In response, the Home Office on Saturday issued a statement saying “support for anti-fracking is not an indicator of vulnerability” to extremism. Continue reading...

But environmentalists raise concerns about measure in bill reducing protections on California’s Bay-Delta estuary amid ‘partisan games’In some of its last business of the year, the Senate on Friday passed a bill that included $170m in funding to remove lead-tainted pipes from the water supply in Flint, Michigan.Environmentalists were concerned, however, about a “poison pill” in the legislation which rolled back environmental protections in California’s Bay-Delta estuary. Continue reading...