The environment minister talks flexibility in emissions targets as Coalition backbenchers mock international deal reached at Paris climate conferenceThe Turnbull government will “probably” allow emission reduction permits to be bought from overseas, giving Australia flexibility to increase the targets it pledged at the Paris climate conference, Greg Hunt has predicted.The environment minister signalled there was scope to tighten Australia’s international commitments to curb climate change, as some of his Coalition colleagues rubbished the significance of the deal reached in the French capital at the weekend. Continue reading...

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 14 December 1915Mud, thick and sticky, was pleasantly veiled by the beautiful snow; then came the partial thaw followed by sharp frost. In lanes between white fields, where young beasts lowed plaintively, lacking sense to clear the covering and reach the grass, my cycle tyres crunched through the sugary compound on the unswept surface. Here a lapwing stood thoughtfully, now and then bobbing with that spasmodic jerk so suggestive of hiccough; there a few fieldfares wandered restlessly, calling as they flew, and under the hedge a blackbird searched for the haws it had wastefully scattered when food was abundant. The starlings alone seemed to be finding plenty of food; they bustled after the sheep, feeding on the green patches where the patient animals had grazed. The hare, looking very leggy as it lolloped across the snow, left characteristic but deceptive spoor, two footmarks side by side and two behind, one in front of the other. If we watch the hare travelling we do not see the forelimbs straddled, nor the hind feet placed in line; they are not what they seem, these marks, for the two in front were left by the long hind limbs; the forefeet, from which the hare gets little or no spring, touch the ground in succession. The powerful hind legs, at each spring, shoot ahead, and the feet strike the ground on each side and well in front of the balancing forelimbs. Continue reading...

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Actions to help climate change do not always help air pollution.One conflict area is wood heating. This is becoming increasingly popular across Europe as a low carbon fuel but it produces a lot of air pollution. This is especially true of open fires where most of the heat is wasted too. Modern stoves and wood chip burners perform better but it is difficult for any wood burner to match the low pollution from gas heating. Continue reading...

Globalisation has been spinning into reverse. But the Paris talks illustrate the potential of determined diplomacy between jealously sovereign statesIn the late 20th century, those who stood against globalisation were charged with swimming against an unstoppable tide, caricatured as “Stop the world, I wanna get off!” But in the 21st century, history is running with the anti-globalisers. World trade talks have gone nowhere, immigration controls have shot up the agenda, and two post-national EU projects – the euro and Schengen – are under strain. Figures as diverse as Donald Trump, Nicola Sturgeon and Marine Le Pen – who failed to convert a remarkable first-round victory in French regional elections into any outright wins – are all peddling one form of nationalism or another. Rumours of the death of the nation state, then, have proved exaggerated: globalisation is spinning into reverse.Looking back on the future as it appeared in the 1990s – as a technocratic, transnational order – a democratic push-back was surely inevitable, in some senses even desirable. But when problems from the overuse of antibiotics to terrorism refuse to respect national borders, the retreat from the dream of global governance has some frightening consequences, especially in connection with climate change, the archetypal global problem. Saving the planet in a fracturing world is a daunting challenge indeed. Continue reading...

Conservatives’ attacks on wind, solar and other ‘clean’ technologies has undermined ability to meet CO targets, experts sayThe government has been warned that a major U-turn in energy policy is required if it is to avoid charges of blatant hypocrisy following the commitments it made in the Paris climate deal this weekend. Critics say that the first test for Amber Rudd, the energy and climate change secretary, will come later this week, when she announces whether or not she plans to go ahead with a proposed 90% cut in solar subsidies.Business leaders, academics and environmentalists all believe that a series of attacks on wind, solar and other “clean” technologies since the general election have undermined Britain’s ability to meet new CO targets. Continue reading...

Jim Yong Kim joins host of powerful figures lauding ‘extraordinary’ talks undertaken in French capitalThe president of the World Bank has hailed the deal struck in Paris on climate change as a “game changer” that will set the world on a new course of economic growth and cooperation.Jim Yong Kim told the Guardian the Paris accord would redefine what economic development means for the future, by ensuring that the need to invest in a low-carbon future was included in plans for economic growth and lifting people out of poverty. Continue reading...

In papers seen by the Guardian, government calls for carmakers to be allowed to far exceed the nitrogen oxides limit until 2021The UK is pushing for a weakening of air pollution limits and a delay to their introduction in response to lobbying from the motor industry, documents reveal.In revelations that will raise questions over the British government’s commitment to the climate change deal agreed in Paris at the weekend, papers obtained by ClientEarth, a firm of environmental legal experts, and seen by the Guardian, showed the UK had pushed for limits on pollution to be relaxed. Continue reading...

There can be no complacency after the Paris talks. Hitting even the 1.5C target will need drastic, rapid actionWith the climate talks in Paris now over, the world has set itself a serious goal: limit temperature rise to 1.5C. Or failing that, 2C. Hitting those targets is absolutely necessary: even the one-degree rise that we’ve already seen is wreaking havoc on everything from ice caps to ocean chemistry. But meeting it won’t be easy, given that we’re currently on track for between 4C and 5C. Our only hope is to decisively pick up the pace.Related: World leaders hail Paris climate deal as ‘major leap for mankind’ Continue reading...

White House officials at COP 21 helped craft a deal congressional Republicans would not be able to stop – and the effort required major political capitalAt 11.30pm Paris time, a small group of White House officials dashed into a temporary plywood hut in the exhibition hall where, a few hours earlier, a historic legal agreement to cut emissions causing climate change was secured. They were just in time to catch a live feed of Barack Obama declaring “a turning point for the world”.Related: How the historic Paris deal over climate change was finally agreed Continue reading...

The company co-founder, who died last week in a kayaking accident, was an outdoorsman and environmentalist who launched two billion-dollar businesses. Those close to him recall ‘a brilliant man with an absolute passion’ for natureThey were on the fourth day of what was supposed to be an easy five-day paddle around the north side of Lake General Carrera, the vast turquoise-watered glacial lake which straddles the border of Argentina and Chile.Doug Tompkins – millionaire philanthropist and co-founder of the clothing companies North Face and Esprit – shared a two-person kayak with Rick Ridgeway, 66, a veteran mountain climber and environmentalist who made the first American ascent of K2. Yvon Chouinard, 77, founder of clothing company Patagonia, was in a kayak with Jib Ellison, founder and CEO of sustainability consulting firm Blu Skye. With them were river conservation advocate Weston Boyles, 29, and Laurence Alvarez-Roos, 49, their guide and co-owner of Bio Bio Expeditions, an adventure travel outfitter based in Chile and California. Continue reading...

After impact of Storm Desmond in north of England environment secretary sets up group to look at flood-defence planningThe environment secretary, Elizabeth Truss, has set up a group to consider whether flood defences in Cumbria need to be strengthened after thousands of homes were affected by heavy rain and floods following Storm Desmond.The Cumbrian Floods Partnership group will look at options for slowing key rivers to reduce the intensity of water flows and build stronger links between local residents, community groups and flood-defence planning. Continue reading...

Clapping and cheering erupts as nearly 200 countries adopt a global climate agreement on Saturday that for the first time asks all countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. French foreign minister Laurent Fabius pounds his gavel to mark the agreements adoption, prompting jubilation in the Paris conference hall. Some delegates respond with tears of joy as others embrace. More than 190 countries had been negotiating the pact for four years after earlier attempts failed Continue reading...

Barack Obama makes a statement from the White House on Saturday on the new global climate agreement. Speaking after nearly 200 countries adopted a deal on climate change in Paris, the US president says the world can be more confident this planet is going to be in better shape for the next generation Continue reading...

Even as the UK commits to lower carbon emissions at UN talks, it is handing out huge subsidies to heavy polluters while discouraging renewables investorsEven a successful fiction writer would be unlikely to attempt to pull off an absurd conceit whereby the self-styled “greenest-ever” government hands out subsidies to the most heavily polluting companies just as it prepares to approve a global climate change treaty.And yet last week British ministers did just that as a scheme developed under their electricity market reform programme gave £170m to energy companies so that they could build new diesel generators to run for 15 years. Continue reading...

The summit had been at risk of stalling before the US and the EU sprung a surprise move. Then, after three all-night sessions, decades of failure were reversed and a historic agreement reached“I see no objections,” said the expressionless French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, barely glancing at the rows of country delegates then sharply banging his gavel. There was a moment’s silence as if no one could quite believe it, and then the cheers rang out, the tears of relief flowed and in scenes of high emotion, the anonymous conference hall in a northern suburb of Paris erupted. Thousands of delegates started to applaud each other. They had done it.Al Gore embraced UN climate chief Christina Figueres, who clutched UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, who radiated relief to everyone. Lawyers slapped diplomats on the back, NGOs high-fived security guards, who shook hands with the world’s media, who whistled and cheered. Continue reading...

Thinktank data shows that 55% of CO emitted in 2030 will be produced by states that have reached peak levels

A huge effect of climate change is mass migration. But amid the thrust to cut emissions, it was entirely overlookedWhile the United Nations climate change talks in Paris struggled to elicit credible commitments, notably missing from the debate was “environmental displacement” – people fleeing their homes on account of natural disaster. As temperatures and sea levels rise, and land-use patterns change, there will be significant consequences for human mobility within and across borders.However, public and media debate scarcely discussed the issue, and the only references in the Paris summit’s negotiated outcome document are vague to the point of meaninglessness. This absence is especially striking in a year in which refugees and migration have otherwise been so high on the political agenda. Continue reading...

Clean Energy Finance Corporation to remain able to back wind projects as Coalition reverses ban that never came into forceRelated: Paris climate talks: Bishop hails 'historic' day as nearly 200 countries sign dealMalcolm Turnbull has lifted the ban imposed by Tony Abbott on wind investment by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) before it was officially enacted, even though it remains Coalition policy to abolish the green bank. Continue reading...

Britain’s status as the de facto capital of Europe depends on our international hub airport. But Cameron has funked itBritain is not as good at making things as it could and should be. Nor is it very good, despite the hype, at financial services. Its widely trumpeted “success” is built on turning a blind eye to quasi-criminality in investment banking and to systemic fleecing of ignorant customers in the asset management industry through an opaque and self-serving fee structure.But Britain does have one trump card. It is the location capital of the world. Britain is the European or world headquarters of 469 global companies, according to the EY Inward Investment Monitor. No other European country comes close: Germany is home to 86 global companies, Switzerland 84 and France 77. The resulting dense concentration of high-end business decision-making spawns whole industries to service it. These include IT, law, accounting, insurance, lawful banking, design and advertising. It represents the unspoken and dynamic core of the British economy worth many millions of jobs. Continue reading...

Former US vice-president Al Gore joins business leaders in welcoming ‘a transformation of our global economy’Governments may have signalled an end to the fossil fuel era, with massive consequences for industry, global security, financial markets and public health, Al Gore and other business leaders have said.“This universal and ambitious agreement sends a clear signal to governments, businesses, and investors everywhere: the transformation of our global economy from one fuelled by dirty energy to one fuelled by sustainable economic growth is now firmly and inevitably under way,” the former senator said in a statement. Continue reading...

MPs say a privatised Green Investment Bank won’t be obliged to fund eco-friendly projectsControversial plans to privatise the government’s Green Investment Bank (GIB) have run into serious trouble in parliament amid fears among MPs and peers that the sale will strip it of any legal requirement to back exclusively green projects and promote a low-carbon economy.Key figures in government have admitted that the sell-off has become hugely problematic, because ministers have been told the switch to the private sector has to include rule changes that will release the privatised bank from any duty to invest solely in green businesses or causes. Continue reading...

Foreign minister, who led Australia’s negotiating team, says 31-page plan setting ambitious goals to limit temperature rise offers ‘comfort’ to countryRelated: Paris climate deal might just be enough to start turning the tide on global warming | Lenore TaylorGovernments have signalled an end to the fossil fuel era, committing for the first time to a universal agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change at crunch United Nations talks in Paris.

President hails agreement reached by nearly 200 countries as key step to protect planet’s future and signal that clean energy is economically viablePresident Obama on Saturday hailed the agreement to combat climate change and carbon emissions reached by nearly 200 countries in Paris as “a tribute to strong, principled American leadership” and a vital step in ensuring the future of the planet.Related: Paris climate deal: nearly 200 nations sign in end of fossil fuel era Continue reading...

Despite the dysfunctional international process and the imperfect national promises and the arguments over detail, the Paris agreement – setting solid expectations for the world to limit temperature rise – gives even a cynic cause for optimismNo superlative was left unused as the French president François Hollande, the foreign minister Laurent Fabius and the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon lined up on Saturday to maximise pressure on negotiators in Paris to accept the final draft of the climate agreement.Related: Paris climate talks: Bishop hails 'historic' day as nearly 200 countries sign deal Continue reading...

Live coverage from COP21 in Paris, as nearly 200 governments prepare to officially adopt a climate change deal on how to cut carbon emissions post-20208.32pm GMTI’m calling it a night for live coverage here in Paris, where 195 governments have agreed the world’s first universal climate deal. It’s been hailed as historic, transformative, momentous.“Today we celebrate, tomorrow we have to act,” says the EU climate chief, Miguel Arias Cañete.8.14pm GMTMiguel Arias Canete, the EU’s climate commissioner, said: “This is a success for the high ambition coalition”, referring to a group of more than 100 developed and developing nations pulled together by the EU and the leaders of some of the small island states, and those most vulnerable to climate change.“This was the last chance [for the UN process],” he added, “and we have taken it.”He said that, with the agreement in place, the most important work now needed to be done. “Now it is about implementation. We need to have the policies. The EU has policies, and everyone needs to have policies [to put the agreement into practice].” Continue reading...

The half a degree difference between the target of 1.5C – included in the draft text with the agreed goal of 2C – is critical for small, low-lying coastal statesEach time the Seychelles’ roving ambassador for climate change returns home to the islands, he notices new clumsy piles of rocks disfiguring the beaches. Local people are blowing up the mountains inland, using the rocks to protect the sand from being swept out to sea by storm surges.“I will be in New York three or four months, go home and see the beach and will ask people: ‘What happened?’”, said Ronald Jumeau, the ambassador for climate change who is based at the United Nations mission. “And they will say: ‘Well, we had a storm, and the storm surge swept away the beach, so we had to put rocks down to protect it.” Continue reading...

Climate policy is no longer something that can be papered over, or worked around, or ignored, or used as a political attack weaponSurely Australia can use this Paris climate agreement to finally end the barren, wasted years of climate policy war.There’s already an uneasy ceasefire, a letup in the mind-numbing slogans. Labor is promising some kind of emissions trading scheme and a relatively ambitious renewable energy target – but no details yet lest it once again feel the barrage of a full bore axe-the-tax scare campaign. Under the sceptical gaze of his party’s hard right, Malcolm Turnbull is also unwilling to even hint at the policy changes he and his minister Greg Hunt appear to be planning when they revise Australia’s policy after the election. Continue reading...

Former Labour leader will lead cross-party campaign on issue in 2016 for Britain to put its own commitment on statute booksEd Miliband has vowed to use the landmark international agreement on climate change to push the British government into being the first in the world to put a zero carbon emissions target into law.The former Labour leader said a global agreement on achieving zero emissions by the end of the century would make it logical for Britain to put its own commitment on the statute books. Continue reading...

Two decades of talks have come to this: an ambitious agreement to hold states to emissions targets – but already low-lying countries are worriedGovernments have signalled an end to the fossil fuel era, committing for the first time to a universal agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change.After 20 years of fraught meetings, including the past two weeks spent in an exhibition hall on the outskirts of Paris, negotiators from nearly 200 countries signed on to a legal agreement on Saturday evening that set ambitious goals to limit temperature rises and to hold governments to account for reaching those targets. Continue reading...

Two decades of talks have come to this: an ambitious agreement to hold states to emissions targets – but already low-lying countries are worriedGovernments have signalled an end to the fossil fuel era, committing for the first time to a universal agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change at crunch UN talks in Paris.After 20 years of fraught meetings, including the past two weeks spent in an exhibition hall on the outskirts of Paris, negotiators from nearly 200 countries signed on to a deal on Saturday evening that set ambitious goals to limit temperature rise and to hold governments to account for reaching those targets. Continue reading...

The goal of 1.5C is a big leap below the 2C agreed six years ago in Copenhagen. Here’s what the agreement means for global emissions and the future of the planetGovernments have agreed to limit warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels: something that would have seemed unthinkable just a few months ago. Continue reading...

Until governments undertake to keep fossil fuels in the ground, they will continue to undermine agreement they have just madeBy comparison to what it could have been, it’s a miracle. By comparison to what it should have been, it’s a disaster.

Climate change activists express their disappointment on Saturday at the final draft of the COP21 climate deal saying that it was too little, too late. Guillaume Durin, an activist from French environmental collective Alternatiba,says people are already affected by climate change and that the agreement is a way of delaying meaningful action

Key delegates give their thoughts on the final text of the COP21 draft climate deal after it was revealed by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Saturday morning. Some delegates had yet to see the text, which now needs to be approved by nearly 200 participating countries

Sierra Nevada peaks get a foot of snow as low-lying streets are hit by surging waves: ‘This is the kind of storm we’ve been missing for the last four years’

Thousands of protesters gather in central Paris on Saturday for what was dubbed a ‘red line protest’, while in the suburbs of the French capital a draft climate deal was announced. Groups of climate activists at the demonstration carried giant red banners to symbolise ‘the red lines’ that they don’t want negotiators to cross in trying to reach an international accord to fight global warming

François Hollande, France’s president speaks to the assembled delegation in Paris for the COP 21 climate change talks. Hollande says the ultimate question is whether delegations want a global agreement on climate change. Hollande says the deal, if agreed upon, would be a major leap forward for mankind. He adds that delegates have the opportunity to change the world and asks them to support the agreement

Ban Ki-Mon, the UN secretary general, speaks following Laurent Fabius’s speech outlining the Paris global warming accord. The UN secretary general says this agreement is a defining moment in a long journey that has lasted decades and urges delegations to finish the job and help billions of people around the world

Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, outlines the final draft agreement of the international accord on global warming at the COP21 in Paris. The draft was produced late on Friday night and Fabius says the accord is historic, urging all delegation present to support the bill.The motion seeks to restrict global warming to 2C with the goal of bringing this down to 1.5C, in order to protect nation struggling with the effects of global warming and enable sustainable development world-wide

François Hollande urges delegates to adopt agreement set to provide strong push towards curbing global warming

Trees in winter reflect the deepest connections between humans and nature, writes Robert PennA few years ago my father died suddenly, at the beginning of winter. For a while after his death I hated being inside: I could feel the shock reverberating within the walls. Working in the woods through that winter near my home in the Black Mountains, south Wales, gave me the space and time to grieve. I spent days among the trees, waiting for the stirrings of spring. I savoured the solitude, though I never felt truly alone: “Trees Be Company”, as the title of William Barnes’s poem puts it. Trees also mark the passing of time in their seasonal change. This reminds us that life passes too, which encourages us to live it as well as we can.Ever since then, I have looked forward to the arrival of winter in a way I never did before. It is, of course, the busiest season in the woods: it is the best time of year to both plant and fell broadleaf trees. After several months of inactivity, the community woodland group I help run has just started work again in the 4.5 hectares (11 acres) of mixed broadleaf of Court Wood. Over the next 12 to 15 weeks, we will coppice – the ancient woodland-management practice of cutting trees back to ground level to stimulate regrowth – and thin out the poorest trees. We will create small glades where wild flowers – wood anemones, celandines, stitchwort, yellow archangel, lords and ladies, woodland violets, foxgloves and bluebells – will hopefully appear next spring. We will leave standing dead timber and tidy the brash into hedges. We’ll cut firewood and make charcoal. We’ll also plant trees. Continue reading...