La secretaria de la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático está segura de que la cumbre de París puede hacer historia y generar un acuerdo crucial para limitar las futuras emisiones de carbono. Pero el éxito depende de su función clave

Rival international negotiations in Geneva could outlaw subsidies for solar or wind power in ‘great climate change swindle’Secret trade talks in Geneva could outlaw subsidies for renewable energy, undermining climate discussions in Paris that aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions, anti-poverty campaigners have warned.The Geneva summit involving 22 countries including the US, Mexico, Australia and the 28 EU member states, aim to create a “level playing field”, with the possible consequence that fracking companies could dispute subsidies for solar or wind power. Continue reading...

The US-Senegalese rapper best known for filling dancefloors answers your questions about electricity, music and his love of the continent5.01pm GMTThat’s all we’ve got time for i’m afraid, but here’s a parting note from Akon:Thank you very much for joining the conversation. With your help the commitments can turn into actions - we’re doing our part by launching the Solektra Solar Academy on 15 December in Bamako, Mali.We have a great time at COP 21, we’re meeting potential partners, we’ve seen interesting commitments being madeRelated: UN on wrong track with plans to limit global warming to 2C, says top scientistRelated: Uruguay makes dramatic shift to nearly 95% electricity from clean energyRelated: Paris climate summit: hackers leak login details of more than 1,000 officials4.54pm GMTBy email Tom Moore asks:Akon, love the work you’re doing. I believe there is still a place in this sector for aid agencies. Many use the term loosely and still promote business and enterprise. SolarAid for example use grants to help them catalyse markets and reach the very last mile while still selling light and building sustainable markets. There is definitely room for partnerships.Can I ask what you’re doing to ensure the very poorest aren’t overlooked? Many still can’t afford the cost of a home system and need help getting on the energy ladder. Continue reading...

The danger with the Liberal’s climate plan is the same as the emerging UN climate pact: a hugely insufficient agenda sold as positive change

Himalayan kingdom’s forests absorb three times more CO2 emissions than its population create, helping to make it the world’s most ‘carbon negative’ country, new analysis showsThe Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has made the world’s most far-reaching climate promise to the Paris climate summit, according to new analysis from a respected climate change thinktank.Almost three quarters of the mountainous nation is covered in forests, often watered by snowmelt rivers, and Bhutan has pledged to reforest its land even further. Last summer, it set a world record for the most trees planted in one hour – nearly 50,000. Continue reading...

Our guide to the newly launched EU circular economy package: what is it, what are the targets and why are the critics so disappointed?The EU circular economy package that has been in the works for a year was finally launched yesterday. Promising to be a “more ambitious” set of proposals than the original plans that were controversially scrapped by the European commission a year ago, the new package has received a mixed reception.Here we take a look at what the new package looks like, what the experts think and why we need a circular economy to start with. Continue reading...

Army moves thousands of stranded residents in Tamil Nadu after heaviest rains in more than a century as death toll reaches 269Indian soldiers are moving thousands of residents from their homes in the southern city of Chennai as the number dead from flooding rose to 269.More than 3 million people have been cut off from basic services. The floods have also hampered rescue efforts by the army, which has picked up 18,000 people from rooftops and outlying villages. Continue reading...

Manchester Airports Group says surge in passenger demand means London’s third-biggest hub is likely to reach maximum number of flights in six yearsThe owner of Stansted has called on the government to raise the flight cap at the Essex airport, warning that otherwise passenger demand in the south-east will not be met until the completion of a new London runway, potentially a decade away.Almost 5 million more passengers used Stansted this year than in 2013, when Manchester Airports Group (MAG) bought the hub from Heathrow.

World Health Organisation tells Paris climate summit that tackling air pollution and global warming in tandem will reduce mortality in developing countriesWorld governments have been urged to tackle air pollution in poorer countries by greening cities, reducing traffic and adopting better diets, and told that this will also rein in climate change, which global health specialists estimate will cause at least 250,000 additional deaths a year by 2030.“It makes complete sense to tackle air pollution and climate change together,” said Maria Neira, director of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) department of public health. “The solutions are the same. The major risk to health at the moment is air pollution. If we address this, the causes of air pollution will overlap and we will reduce climate change. It’s logical. It’s a win-win situation … The real costs of fossil fuels is seen in your lungs and your cardiovascular systems.” Continue reading...

The British Museum’s Sunken Cities exhibition is a reminder of our future. If we accept that climate change will flood our cities, we can begin to save themHumans have long sought to understand catastrophes that are sudden and senseless. Faced with ships sailing through tsunami-stricken streets or buildings collapsing in earthquakes, we might take some small bitter comfort from scientific explanations. Irrespective of whether we blame nature, God or the victims, the abrupt cataclysm is at least tangible. How we deal with incremental disaster is less clear. With global warming and rising sea levels, battles between doom-sayers and deniers are, especially at this stage, exercises in futility and inaction.Related: Sunken treasures from ancient Egypt heading to British Museum Continue reading...

During the heaviest rainfall in more than a century in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, strangers form a human chain to save a drowning man on Tuesday in the state capital, Chennai. The prime minister, Narenda Modi, has blamed climate change for the flooding that has shut factories, paralysed air travel and force thousands to flee their homes

In less than 10 years the country has slashed its carbon footprint and lowered electricity costs, without government subsidies. Delegates at the Paris summit can learn much from its successAs the world gathers in Paris for the daunting task of switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy, one small country on the other side of the Atlantic is making that transition look childishly simple and affordable.In less than 10 years, Uruguay has slashed its carbon footprint without government subsidies or higher consumer costs, according to the national director of energy, Ramón Méndez . Continue reading...

Popular puffin and curlew are among 15 species added to ‘red list’ of birds at risk of extinction locally, says a new reportMore than a quarter of the UK’s birds including much-loved species such as the curlew and puffin are now fighting for survival, a new report warns.

Minister predicts there is no chance developing countries will achieve aim of amending agreement’s purpose to keep global warming under 1.5 degreesGreg Hunt says Australia is acting as a “broker” between competing country blocs on one of the most contentious issues in the Paris climate talks but has also clarified remarks that had the potential to damage the delicate negotiations.

Even if one were to accept David Cameron’s belief that the shrinking of local government could mean the so-called “big society” of voluntary effort would step into the gap, the increasing privatisation or removal from direct council control of local services like our public parks (Will the rot stop when even the parks are flogged off?, 27 November) actually makes it less likely that this will happen.Within our local park are some gardens, used for horticultural training courses. For years the friends of the park have arranged for them to be open to the public on Sundays. But no more. The city council – because of the cuts – has had to hand them over to a charity which is unable to let this continue. Continue reading...

A year ago Opec decided to maintain market share to battle competition from North America and the strategy worked, but not without some short-term painWhen the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) meets Friday in Vienna, the cartel will be celebrating a victory of sorts, one that has cost its members dearly.A year ago Opec, whose members include Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela, was facing increasing competition from North America. Alarmed by the growing supply of oil from non-traditional producers using fracking to access oil in shale deposits like the Bakken field in North Dakota, Opec was determined to stop this competition. Instead of trying to support prices, it decided to maintain market share. Continue reading...

Under proposed new law, European countries must recycle 65% of their trash, 75% of their product packaging and slash landfill dumpingEurope has put recycling on the agenda of the Paris climate talks with a raft of new waste targets to cut emissions, with its environment commissioner calling on other countries to follow the EU’s lead.Under the new goals, by 2030 European countries will have to recycle 65% of their municipal rubbish and 75% of their product packaging, as well as reducing landfill dumping to a maximum of 10% of overall waste disposal. The targets, some of which are binding, are expected to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2-4% within 15 years. Continue reading...

Prince Harry visits Kruger national park in South Africa and talks to rangers about rhino poaching. He is shown a recently slaughtered female rhino and her calf. The 31-year-old has released videos from his three-month trip to the country, where he worked as a wildlife conservation volunteer. Photograph: Pool/Getty Images

Head of reserve in Sussex describes its mysterious disappearance from Google’s mapping service for the fourth time as ‘very frustrating’The South Downs national park authority has pleaded with Google to reinstate it on the internet giant’s mapping service, after Britain’s newest national park disappeared from Google Maps for the fourth time.

Whatever happens at the Paris climate talks, we need to be able to translate the techno-babble into a language that ordinary people can understandThe ancient art of “moving the goalposts” has always played a central role in public communication around climate change and sustainability.

With the dark and cold winter months facing the northern hemisphere, we’d like to see your photographs of the season wherever you areYou recently shared the fantastic colours of Autumn from around the world with us. With December signalling the start of Winter, we’d like you to share your photographs of the season wherever you are in the world. Continue reading...

As Paris climate talks enter negotiation phase and smog blankets Beijing, China says it will cut CO2 emissions from coal power by 180m tonnes by 2020China will reduce emissions of major pollutants in the power sector by 60% by 2020, the cabinet announced on Wednesday, after world leaders met in Paris to address climate change.

The 31-year-old, who spent three months working as a wildlife conservation volunteer in the summer, releases selection of his own picturesLying face down with his arms stretched across a sedated elephant, Prince Harry is pictured on a recent trip to Africa where he worked on frontline conservation projects.The 31-year-old, who spent three months in the summer working as a wildlife conservation volunteer, released a selection of his own photographs and videos to highlight the threat to elephants and rhinos from poachers. Continue reading...

American Energy Alliance scorecard ranks 2016 candidates in one of several tactics to test hopefuls on issues of concern to the billionaire industrialistsA conservative group backed by the billionaire Koch brothers and their wealthy allies boasts a scorecard on its website that rates the presidential candidates based on their opposition to policies meant to tackle climate change, such as EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, a renewable fuels standard, and a tax credit that benefits wind energy.Texas senator Ted Cruz scored the highest rating on the American Energy Alliance site, which labelled him a “hero” due in part to his opposition to regulation and taxes. Cruz was followed on the scorecard by four other Republican candidates – Florida senator Marco Rubio, ex-Florida governor Jeb Bush, ex-Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and Kentucky senator Rand Paul, who were named as “defenders”. Continue reading...

Economic ministry paper says OECD claims about the amount of money mobilised to help developing nations adapt to climate change are ‘deeply flawed’A row has broken out at the Paris climate talks as Indian officials accused one of the world’s leading thinktanks of exaggerating the amount of money given to poor countries to help them cope with global warming.In a recent report, the OECD said that developed countries had mobilised $57bn of climate aid in 2013-14. Continue reading...

Resilient people: Can local community cooperation be scaled up to create a participatory city? Neighbourhood-led pilot project the Open Works thinks soIn February 2014, a pilot project was launched in West Norwood, south London, mobilising 1,000 people to reconfigure their neighbourhood for everyday benefit. In partnership with Lambeth Council, the Open Works united residents of the neighbourhood to create 20 new, community-led initiatives – from orchards and gardens to a youth ideas incubator; from craft groups to communal kitchens.“The idea was to test whether high-density, mass community participation can be scaled up to create a participatory city. And we believe it can,” says Laura Billings and Tessy Britton, co-founders of the Open Works. “Community participation should be the starting point in any community development, not an afterthought.” Continue reading...

On the frontline of climate change, effects are real and measurable. Paris talks must make most vulnerable countries top priority and cap warming at 1.5CThe world has often been reminded over the past year that we must leave no one behind as we strive to cement our plans for a sustainable future. The COP 21 Paris talks give the international community the chance to demonstrate that it is indeed leaving no one behind, that all voices are heard and understood. It is a sad reality that while the world’s most vulnerable countries have contributed the least to climate change, they are most at risk from its negative effects and the least equipped to withstand and adapt to it.

Licences for more than half of the Kgalagadi transfrontier park, one of Africa’s largest conservation areas, have been granted to drill for shale gas

But poorest half of world’s people contribute to just 10% of emissions, says British charity as negotiators work on UN climate change deal in ParisThe richest 10% of people produce half of Earth’s climate-harming fossil-fuel emissions, while the poorest half contribute a mere 10%, British charity Oxfam said in a report released Wednesday.

Outdoor air pollution kills 3.3 million people, mostly in cities, every year. That’s more than HIV, malaria and influenza combined – yet the sparse coverage of official data means many cities are not even monitoredEvery day, hundreds of millions of people step outside into an environment that has become unsafe for human survival. Outdoor air pollution kills 3.3 million people every year, mostly in cities; more than HIV, malaria and influenza combined. But the search for this insidious mass killer reveals something astonishing. As the governments of more than 190 nations gather in Paris to discuss a possible new global agreement on climate change, not only don’t we know where it kills the most, in many places we aren’t even looking.As November’s cold winds sweep down from Mongolia, the coal burning season begins in northern China. At the time of publication, Chinese maps on the World Air Quality Index website were awash with red, purple and maroon flags, indicating dangerous levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) – the world’s primary air pollutant. Continue reading...

Tropical forests provide a bargain climate service, cheaply reducing emissions. The Paris summit should agree payments for anti-deforestation programmesWe need to come up with innovative solutions to look after our planet, and the Paris climate change conference is the place to do it. By innovative we don’t only mean new energy technology and new green financing mechanisms. We need to reimagine tropical forests as a public utility like electricity, producing a service people and governments, including in the rich world, want to buy.

David Cameron is sure he wants to bomb Syria yet lacks all conviction on global warming. Blame the Churchill syndromeWhere you would expect to see caution and circumspection, instead there is a rush to action. Where you would expect to see determination and resolve, there is only vacillation and delay.The contrast between the government’s handling of the Syrian crisis and its handling of the climate change crisis could not be greater. It responds to these issues with an equal and opposite recklessness. Continue reading...

Prime minister Narendra Modi announces $30m solar investment, but also pins historical blame on rich countries asking them to do more on emissions and aidIndia has emerged as a pivotal player in the climate talks, championing developing country demands that the rich take the lead in cutting emissions and providing more money for poor countries. But desperate for a strong deal to protect it from the ravages of climate change, it is also backing the US-led principle that all countries should act.Narendra Modi, prime minister of the country of 1.2 billion and the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has so far taken the strongest line of all the developing country leaders in the talks. Continue reading...

A fisherman films an echidna he spots swimming about 150 metres from the shores of Lake Echo. He later rescued the animal and accompanied it safely back to land. Echidnas are known to swim but not usually for long distances. The discovery comes a week after two other anglers found a wombat swimming 250 metres from shore in Woods Lake, a short distance away Continue reading...

Experts warn of crisis in the making in some provinces where extreme El Niño climate conditions have devastated cropsPeople in drought-ravaged villages in Papua New Guinea are eating toxic mushrooms and clay to stave off hunger pangs as crops fail, vanishing water sources become contaminated and food, medical and fuel supplies are exhausted.Leprosy and severe, potentially fatal, gastrointestinal cases have spiked in some villages in one province, including suspected cholera or typhoid, international experts working in the area reported.

Biologist reports discovery made in June during observation flight over Patagonia region, as cause of whales’ death remains unknownThe coast of southern Chile has become a grave for 337 sei whales that were found beached in what scientists say is one of the biggest whale strandings ever recorded.Biologist Vreni Haussermann told the Associated Press Tuesday that she made the discovery along with other scientists in June during an observation flight over fjords in Chile’s southern Patagonia region. Continue reading...

Inside the climate talks, even the complimentary chocolate bars carry messages of climate justice. Given Malcolm Turnbull’s challenges, it might be better to be handing them out to his ‘friends’ in the CoalitionIn Paris it’s a sea of pillars, decorated for each participating nation. There’s always a grand entry to these climate summits – or conferences of the parties (COP) to the UN climate convention – as if to remind the thousands of delegates traipsing in each day that they are entering Planet COP.