Environment news

• Net zero or not: will next Tory leader embrace green agenda or oppose it?

  27-09-2024 12:42 via theguardian.com
  Environment has barely figured in leadership campaign but soon the party must decide where it standsUK politics live – latest updatesWhen the Conservatives gather in Birmingham this weekend for their first party conference out of government in 15 years, the environment is not likely to be top of most members’ minds, amid the fever of a leadership campaign.That is probably a good thing, many green-tinged Tory insiders feel. The leadership campaign is dominated by the right wing of the
  
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• Valencia's president apologises for handling of floods – video

  15-11-2024 19:03 via theguardian.com
  
  The regional president of the Spanish province of Valencia, Carlos Mazón, rejected calls for his resignation amid growing public anger over his management of the recent devastating floods that killed more than 210 people in the area. He conceded mistakes were made but claimed the unprecedented and 'apocalyptic' scale of the disaster overwhelmed the system Valencia’s president admits mistakes in flood response but will not resignAlmost half of Valencia’s flood victims were aged
  
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• The Guardian view on UN climate talks: rich and poor nations can strike a win-win deal | Editorial

  15-11-2024 18:32 via theguardian.com
  
  At Cop29 the global south needs to unite for sustainable growth, leveraging resources and negotiating transformative climate finance pactsMore than a century of burning coal, oil and gas has fuelled intense heatwaves, prolonged droughts, heavier rains and devastating floods. To prevent even more severe impacts, the UN global climate summit, Cop29, must deliver tangible results to keep global temperature rises below 2C – the limit defined in the 2015 Paris agreement. Achieving this goal mea
  
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• Fears grow that Milei will withdraw Argentina from Paris climate accord

  15-11-2024 18:24 via theguardian.com
  Far-right president may announce country’s departure from agreement after meeting Donald TrumpThere is growing concern that Argentina’s far-right president, Javier Milei, is set to announce his country’s departure from the Paris climate accord.Earlier this week, negotiators from Milei’s government were ordered to leave the Cop29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, after just three days. Now, the Guardian understands that Milei is considering announcing a formal withdrawal
  
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• Cop29: oil bosses given red carpet treatment at climate summit – as it happened

  15-11-2024 17:26 via theguardian.com
  At least 123 oil and gas bosses and staff invited as ‘guests’ by Azerbaijani government and given host country badges, the Guardian has learnedAccording to an interesting piece in the Africa Report, African countries at Cop are wary of alienating China.But this year, the main issue at stake in the negotiations is the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). In the jargon of climate finance, this is the amount that developed countries will have to provide to vulnerable countries to help
  
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• Future of several RSPB nature reserves at risk as charity cuts costs

  15-11-2024 16:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Some cafes and visitor centres to close with job losses while reserves in Suffolk and Hertfordshire among those in perilThe future of several RSPB nature reserves is in doubt as the charity makes cuts, citing cost of living pressures.The bird charity told its workers at an all-staff meeting on Thursday that cafes and visitor centres across some of its sites would be closing, and staff would be made redundant. It also said it was in the process of transferring ownership of some of its sites to ot
  
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• Cop29 live: oil bosses given red carpet treatment at climate summit

  15-11-2024 15:41 via theguardian.com
  At least 123 oil and gas bosses and staff invited as ‘guests’ by Azerbaijani government and given host country badges, the Guardian has learneAccording to an interesting piece in the Africa Report, African countries at Cop are wary of alienating China.But this year, the main issue at stake in the negotiations is the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). In the jargon of climate finance, this is the amount that developed countries will have to provide to vulnerable countries to help
  
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• Route of the matter: your flight’s itinerary can dramatically change its carbon footprint

  15-11-2024 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Average passenger emissions between Sydney and London can vary widely depending on stopovers, plane models and even seating arrangementsSign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news emailFlying across the world but want to limit your emissions? Experts say the size of an economy passenger’s carbon footprint can vary dramatically depending on the route and model of plane. Even when flying on the same plane type between the same locations, average passenger emissions can vary widely d
  
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• ‘There are days when the school closes because children don’t have water to drink’ – This is climate breakdown

  15-11-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Until the 1960s it rained a lot. We ate wild game, fish, there were plenty of rivers, but since then they’ve been drying up. This is José’s storyLocation São João das Missões, BrazilDisaster Xakriabá Indigenous territory drought, 2013-24José Fiuza Xakriabá grew up in the Xakriabá Indigenous territory and is now an influential Xakriabá leader. That region was previously watered by an extensive network of rivers. But the on
  
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• Cop29 live: calls grow to ban fossil fuel lobbyists at summit as numbers soar

  15-11-2024 12:53 via theguardian.com
  
  UK Greens say climate measures ‘being derailed by the fossil fuel lobby’ and that Trump’s victory underlines the need to reform COPAccording to an interesting piece in the Africa Report, African countries at Cop are wary of alienating China.But this year, the main issue at stake in the negotiations is the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). In the jargon of climate finance, this is the amount that developed countries will have to provide to vulnerable countries to help them
  
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• Cop29 live: call for summits only to be held in countries that support climate action

  15-11-2024 10:29 via theguardian.com
  
  The negotiations continue with plenty of disagreement about the way forward, as we approach the halfway mark in Baku, AzerbaijanAccording to an interesting piece in the Africa Report, African countries at Cop are wary of alienating China.But this year, the main issue at stake in the negotiations is the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). In the jargon of climate finance, this is the amount that developed countries will have to provide to vulnerable countries to help them adapt to climate chan
  
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• Week in wildlife in pictures: a very lost penguin, cloned baby lemurs and a mystery mollusc

  15-11-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Week in wildlife in pictures: a very lost penguin, cloned baby ferrets and a mystery mollusc

  15-11-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Picture an all-seeing eye scanning the dying Earth – and then lighting on our ‘solutions’ at Cop29 | George Monbiot

  15-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  What would it witness in Azerbaijan? A species that knows it is destroying itself but is too greedy to change courseImagine, as many people do, an all-seeing eye in the sky, looking down on planet Earth. Imagine seeing what it sees. It watches, over the course of decades, ice caps shrinking, rainforests retreating, deserts expanding, ocean circulation slowing, freshwater dwindling and sea levels rising, and it thinks – for it has been there since the beginning – “this is famili
  
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• How particle pollution from fireworks harms UK air and rivers

  15-11-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Across Yorkshire, the air pollution measured on 5 November reached level seven on thegovernment’s 10-point scaleThe colours, bangs and excitement of fireworks thrill many of us but what looks pretty comes with a pollution penalty, harming air and rivers.A network of three UK university research observatories have revealed the complexity of the unique air pollution that fireworks create. Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: The last leaves are giving way to the first catkins | Phil Gates

  15-11-2024 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Wolsingham, Weardale: The day is fading fast and last night’s frost is still in the air. A stretch of hazel hedge provides a brief reminder that we don’t just live one season at a timeOld single-species hedges are usually hawthorn or blackthorn: prickly, dense, stockproof. This one, beside the footpath, is almost pure hazel, planted along a 200‑yard boundary embankment of rocks cleared from the field, long ago. More than a hundred multi‑stemmed trees, regularly space
  
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• UN climate talks 'no longer fit for purpose' say key experts

  15-11-2024 01:11 via bbc.com
  
  Call for change comes after host country Azerbaijan's president calls oil and gas a 'gift of God'
  
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• Cop summits ‘no longer fit for purpose’, say leading climate policy experts

  15-11-2024 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Future UN conferences should only be held in countries that show support for climate action, urge influential groupOver 1,700 coal, oil and gas lobbyists granted access to Cop29, says reportFuture UN climate summits should be held only in countries that can show clear support for climate action and have stricter rules on fossil fuel lobbying, according to a group of influential climate policy experts.The group includes former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, the former president of Ireland Mary
  
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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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• 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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• 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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