Environment news

• Can southern Brazil’s deadly floods spur the shift to green energy?

  14-11-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Months after devastating rains displaced 420,000 people in Rio Grande do Sul, an unusual consensus has formed around the need for a faster transition to renewablesBeside a narrow canal that runs through the outskirts of Porto Alegre in southern Brazil, a row of wooden houses with makeshift fences lean among piles of debris and power poles tangled in sagging wires. From the dirt road, Alexandra Marina Romero, 27, gazes at the aftermath of a disaster. “There used to be a church here,”
  
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• My moth hell has given me sympathy for all fellow sufferers – even the 1% | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

  14-11-2024 18:04 via theguardian.com
  When infestations affect Notting Hill billionaires, it reminds you that it’s the little winged bastards who truly own this cityWhile reading of the case of the super-rich couple suing the previous owners of their west London mansion over its moth infestation, one particularly detail prompted warm memories. Iya Patarkatsishvili and Yevhen Hunyak had to tip away glasses of wine after discovering moths floating in them, Hunyak told the court. Ah yes, I thought, I too have found a moth taking
  
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• Cop29 live: solidarity levy on cryptocurrency could raise billions for climate action, says report

  14-11-2024 16:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Charging $0.045 per kWh for energy used in intensive bitcoin mining could produce $5bn for the climate crisis, says Global Solidarity Levies taskforceJosh Gabbatiss, from Carbon Brief has published an update on social media about where negotiations at Cop29 have got to.You may have seen talk of new texts about the climate finance negotiations doing the rounds.These proposals have been produced by the co-chairs and circulated among negotiators and civil society observers, but for some reason they
  
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• World’s largest known coral discovered in Solomon Islands

  14-11-2024 14:09 via theguardian.com
  
  Gigantic multicoloured organism is visible from space and has grown for between 300 and 500 yearsThe world’s largest known coral, visible from space, has been discovered in the waters of the Solomon Islands.With a circumference of 183 metres, the gigantic multicoloured organism is an intricate network of individual coral polyps that have grown for between 300 and 500 years. Continue reading...
  
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• Washington state farm workers worry about boom in legal foreign workers

  14-11-2024 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The H-2A program will likely only grow under Trump and mass deportationsAgriculture rules in Quincy, Washington. Sprawling apple, cherry and peach orchards surround this rural city of about 8,000. Packing sheds dot the middle of downtown. Railroad tracks run close to the Columbia River, so produce can make its way to market by both train and waterway.Farm workers such as Alberto, who is only using his first name for privacy reasons, are the backbone of the industry. Once a migrant farm worker tr
  
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• As Trump promises deportation, US farm workers worry about boom in legal foreign laborers

  14-11-2024 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The H-2A program lets growers bring in guest workers. In a part of Washington, some say they’re getting squeezed outAgriculture rules in Quincy, Washington. Sprawling apple, cherry and peach orchards surround this rural city of about 8,000. Packing sheds dot the middle of downtown. Railroad tracks run close to the Columbia River, so produce can make its way to market by both train and waterway.Farm workers such as Alberto, who is only using his first name for privacy reasons, are the backb
  
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• ‘I had to fight the flames burning down my own house’ – This is climate breakdown

  14-11-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  I was part of the firefighting group. Then the fire overtook us. This is Panagiotis’ storyLocation Penteli, GreeceDisaster Attica Wildfires, 2024Panagiotis, a student and volunteer firefighter, ended up defending his own home when a wildfire broke out in the summer. The Attica wildfires killed one person and burned more than 8,000 hectares of forest and land, including many homes. Dozens of people were hospitalised due to smoke inhalation. Continue reading...
  
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• Cop29 live: Planet on course for 2.7C temperature rise, report warns, with ‘minimal progress’ in 2024

  14-11-2024 09:53 via theguardian.com
  Join us for all the latest developments from day 4 of the climate summit in AzerbaijanJosh Gabbatiss, from Carbon Brief has published an update on social media about where negotiations at Cop29 have got to.You may have seen talk of new texts about the climate finance negotiations doing the rounds.These proposals have been produced by the co-chairs and circulated among negotiators and civil society observers, but for some reason they are not being published on the UNFCCC website. Continue reading
  
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• Shell’s successful appeal will not end climate lawsuits against firms, say experts

  14-11-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Dutch appeal court ruled in favour of oil and gas company over judgment telling it to limit emissionsA court ruling in favour of Shell does not spell the end of climate litigation against companies, legal experts have said.The oil and gas company celebrated on Tuesday when it won an appeal against a landmark climate judgment by a Dutch court. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘A special place’: Guardian readers’ generosity helps to save rewilded farm

  14-11-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Bedfordshire farm was saved through public donations after a successful £1.5m crowdfunding campaignA unique farm that was “accidentally” rewilded 35 years ago and is now a haven for endangered nightingales and other rare wildlife has been saved, thanks in part to the generosity of Guardian readers.Strawberry Hill in Bedfordshire has been successfully bought by the Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs and Northants (BCN) after a crowdfunding appeal raised £1.5m. Continue reading
  
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• Survival of the richest: Trump, climate and the logic of the doomsday bunker | Jonathan Watts

  14-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The climate crisis created the setting for Trump’s economy-first win and it’s the global south that will suffer mostDonald Trump’s election is a triumph for the politics of the doomsday bunker, which is bad news for the world’s environment.This is the idea that in an age of climate disruption, nature extinction and ever wider social inequality, the best chance of survival for those who can afford it is to construct a personal shelter, where they can keep the desperate mas
  
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• Poorer nations need $1tn a year by 2030 in climate finance, top economists find

  14-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Study says funding to cope with climate breakdown needed five years earlier than expectedPoor countries need $1tn a year in climate finance by 2030, five years earlier than rich countries are likely to agree to at UN climate talks, a new study has found.Waiting until 2035 to receive the funding, which is to help them cut greenhouse gas emissions and cope with extreme weather, would place damaging burdens on vulnerable countries, warned the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance,
  
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• ‘Minimal progress’ made this year on curbing global heating, report finds

  14-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Analysis by Climate Action Tracker puts median temperature rise by 2100 at 2.7C if current policies continueWorld leaders have promised to try to stop the planet heating by more than 1.5C (2.7F). But current policies put the temperature rise on track for 2.7C, a report has found.The expected level of global heating by the end of the century has not changed since 2021, with “minimal progress” made this year, according to the Climate Action Tracker project. The consortium’s estim
  
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• Barbados PM asks Donald Trump for face-to-face meeting on climate

  13-11-2024 19:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Mia Mottley, who has championed climate action, says she would seek common ground with US president-electMia Mottley, the climate-championing prime minister of Barbados, has invited Donald Trump to a face-to-face meeting where she would seek “common ground” and persuade him that climate action was in his own interests.“Let us find a common purpose in saving the planet and saving livelihoods,” she told the Guardian at the UN’s Cop29 climate summit in Azerb
  
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• Cop 29: Argentina’s negotiators ordered to withdraw from climate summit; French minister cancels trip – as it happened

  13-11-2024 18:52 via theguardian.com
  
  France’s ecology minister cancels after Azerbaijan’s president attacks French actions in overseas territoriesMian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, has joined a chorus of leaders using their speeches to call for more money to reach their climate goals - and specifying that they need grants rather than loans that saddle them with more debt.
  “Without climate justice, there can be no real resilience,” he said. “I wouldn’t want other countries t
  
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• Argentina withdraws negotiators from Cop29 summit

  13-11-2024 18:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Move adds to concerns about the stability of the Paris agreement after the election in the US of Donald TrumpArgentinian negotiators representing the government of the climate science denier Javier Milei have been ordered to withdraw from the Cop29 summit after only three days, adding to concerns about the stability of the Paris agreement.More than 80 representatives from the South American country are in Baku, Azerbaijan, for two weeks of negotiations about climate finance for the energy transi
  
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• Cop 29 live: Argentina’s negotiators ordered to withdraw from climate summit; French minister cancels trip

  13-11-2024 18:03 via theguardian.com
  France’s ecology minister cancels after Azerbaijan’s president attacks French actions in overseas territoriesMian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, has joined a chorus of leaders using their speeches to call for more money to reach their climate goals - and specifying that they need grants rather than loans that saddle them with more debt.
  “Without climate justice, there can be no real resilience,” he said. “I wouldn’t want other countries t
  
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• Cop 29 live: Argentina’s negotiators ordered to withdraw from climate summit

  13-11-2024 16:42 via theguardian.com
  Ana Lamas, undersecretary for the environment, says ‘we have instructions to no longer participate’Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, has joined a chorus of leaders using their speeches to call for more money to reach their climate goals - and specifying that they need grants rather than loans that saddle them with more debt.
  “Without climate justice, there can be no real resilience,” he said. “I wouldn’t want other countries to face the
  
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• Trump victory raises risk of investing in offshore wind projects, says RWE

  13-11-2024 15:44 via theguardian.com
  
  German energy firm shaves €3bn from spending plans for next financial year to €7bnA German energy firm has said that Donald Trump’s election victory has increased the risks of investing in offshore wind projects – but his return to the White House could help bolster Britain’s renewables sector, according to UK developer SSE.Germany’s RWE has cut its spending plans and warned that, as a result of the US election, “the risks for offshore wind projects have i
  
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• Schools closed and people evacuated as torrential rain returns in Spain

  13-11-2024 15:39 via theguardian.com
  
  Large parts of east and south under alerts as schools are shut and riverside neighbourhoods evacuated in AndalucíaAuthorities in eastern and southern Spain have closed schools and begun evacuating some residents as the country is pounded by further torrential rains two weeks after the catastrophic floods that killed at least 215 people and unleashed a bitter political blame game.By Wednesday morning, the state meteorological agency, Aemet, had put large parts of eastern and southern Spain
  
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• Schools closed and people evacuated as Spain faces further flood warnings

  13-11-2024 15:39 via theguardian.com
  Schools closed in Málaga and Granada regions, with 3,000 people evacuated from areas near Guadalhorce river in MálagaAuthorities in eastern and southern Spain have closed schools and begun evacuating some residents as the country is pounded by further torrential rains two weeks after the catastrophic floods that killed at least 215 people and unleashed a bitter political blame game.By Wednesday morning, the state meteorological agency, Aemet, had put large parts of eastern and sout
  
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• Soaring grocery prices helped Trump to victory. The climate crisis is only going to make this worse | James Meadway

  13-11-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From olive oil to butter, extreme weather is pushing up the cost of living and having a dramatic political impact. Economists need a solutionIn the US, where Donald Trump swept the board last week, it was the experience of sharply increasing essentials prices, from food to energy, that glued together the Republicans’ new electoral coalition. About 75% of those voting Republican reported that they had faced “hardship” or “severe hardship” as a result of price rises;
  
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• ‘It was my first pregnancy so I didn’t know what was normal’ – This is climate breakdown

  13-11-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  I’d been taking care of myself and the baby. Then the heat came. This is Mariama’s storyLocation Burkina FasoDisaster Heatwave, 2024Mariama, not her real name, is a Burkinabé musician who lives in Ouagadougou. During the heatwaves earlier this year she went into early labour, and lost her baby. Continue reading...
  
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• Cop 29 live: Trump vow to ditch Paris agreement ‘of grave concern’ to small island states

  13-11-2024 12:32 via theguardian.com
  ‘Our survival is very much at risk,’ Alliance of Small Island States tells the GuardianMian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, has joined a chorus of leaders using their speeches to call for more money to reach their climate goals - and specifying that they need grants rather than loans that saddle them with more debt.
  “Without climate justice, there can be no real resilience,” he said. “I wouldn’t want other countries to face the fight Pakis
  
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• Cop 29 live: Albanian PM questions point of summit ‘if biggest polluters continue as usual’

  13-11-2024 11:04 via theguardian.com
  Edi Rama goes off-script, saying speeches ‘change nothing’ and calling for ‘common political will’Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, has joined a chorus of leaders using their speeches to call for more money to reach their climate goals - and specifying that they need grants rather than loans that saddle them with more debt.
  “Without climate justice, there can be no real resilience,” he said. “I wouldn’t want other countries
  
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• Cop 29: Albanian PM questions point of summit ‘if biggest polluters continue as usual’ – live updates

  13-11-2024 09:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Edi Rama goes off-script, saying speeches ‘change nothing’ and calling for ‘common political will’Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, has joined a chorus of leaders using their speeches to call for more money to reach their climate goals - and specifying that they need grants rather than loans that saddle them with more debt.
  “Without climate justice, there can be no real resilience,” he said. “I wouldn’t want other countries
  
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• Birdwatch: a close encounter with a flying rhino in Borneo

  13-11-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Even among other sightings including orangutans, the rhinoceros hornbill was the highlight of the trip I’d never seen a flying rhino before. Then again, I’d never visited the lowland rainforest of Borneo. This is the main stronghold of the rhinoceros hornbill, one of the largest and most imposing of its bizarre family.So when a huge black-and-white bird flew out of the forest canopy, I was suitably impressed. I was most struck by its huge and prominent bill, topped with the orange-ti
  
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• Meat, oil and pesticide industry lobbyists turned out in record numbers at Cop16

  13-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Questions raised over influence after 1,261 business and industry delegates registered for biodiversity summit in ColombiaRecord numbers of business representatives and lobbyists had access to the UN’s latest biodiversity talks, analysis shows.In total 1,261 business and industry delegates registered for Cop16 in Cali, Colombia, which ended in disarray and without significant progress on a number of key issues including nature funding, monitoring biodiversity loss and work on reducing envi
  
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• Donald Trump is a blow to Australia on climate and trade. Here’s how we minimise the damage | Ross Garnaut

  13-11-2024 00:56 via theguardian.com
  During the US time out, Australia and its allies must remain steady and seek to deepen cooperation among themselvesThe idea of open international exchange that framed the Australian reforms of the late 20th century and its subsequent economic success are being challenged in the 21st century. The challenge is intensified by the restoration of Donald Trump as president of the United States. He is committed to higher protection, tax cuts that will set record highs for budget deficits, a trade war w
  
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• The Guardian view on Cop29: 1.5C has been passed – so speed up the green transition | Editorial

  12-11-2024 19:26 via theguardian.com
  Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge on emissions is an encouraging step at a frightening momentPredictions that this will be the first calendar year in which the 1.5C warming limit enshrined in the Paris agreement is surpassed provide a stark backdrop to the UN’s 29th climate conference. This year – 2024 – has already seen the hottest-ever day and month, and is expected by experts to be the hottest year too. Addressing delegates on Tuesday, the UN chief, António Guterres, re
  
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