Environment news

• Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow will be delayed by a year, UN confirms

  28-05-2020 23:09 via theguardian.com
  
  Date moved for Covid-19 travel reasons, but fears raised over delay to green recovery plansGlobal talks aimed at staving off the threat of climate breakdown will be delayed by a year to November 2021 because of the coronavirus crisis, the UN has confirmed.The summit, known as Cop26, which 196 nations are expected to attend, will now take place in Glasgow from November 1 to 12 next year, as reports had anticipated, with the UK government acting as host and president. They were originally set to t
  
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• Boris Johnson confirms new COP26 date, urges nations to focus on green recoveries

  28-05-2020 21:32
  
  Prime Minister Boris Johnson has reiterated a desire for the UK to deliver a "sustainable" recovery from the coronavirus pandemic in a way that brings together key international nations to reach the ambitions of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
  
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• COP 26: New date agreed for UN climate summit in Glasgow

  28-05-2020 21:19 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The COP26 UN summit, which was postponed due to coronavirus, will now take place between 1 and 12 November 2021.
  
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• Climate crisis is making world’s forests shorter and younger – study

  28-05-2020 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Rising temperatures, natural disasters and deforestation taking heavy toll, say scientistsClimate breakdown and the mass felling of trees has made the world’s forests significantly shorter and younger overall, an analysis shows. The trend is expected to continue, scientists say, with worrying consequences for the ability of forests to store carbon and mitigate the climate emergency and for the endangered wildlife that depends on rich, ancient forests.  Continue reading...
  
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• EU green recovery package sets a marker for the world

  28-05-2020 18:52 via theguardian.com
  
  The bloc is showing the way in rebuilding coronavirus-ravaged economies to fight the climate emergency Coronavirus will not harm climate goals, EU promisesThe European Commission has put down a marker for the world with its green recovery package. It sets a high standard for other nations, using the rebuilding of coronavirus-ravaged economies to tackle the even greater threat of the climate emergency, in principle at least.With the world fast approaching the point when climate chaos becomes inev
  
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• Biggest UK solar plant approved

  28-05-2020 18:33 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Climate change: Go-ahead for controversial solar farm - the UK's biggest
  
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• Isle of Wight pterosaur species fossil hailed as UK first

  28-05-2020 17:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The University of Portsmouth identified it as a tapejarid, a flying pterosaur from the Cretaceous period.
  
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• John Elkington on Green Swans, Covid-19 and green market shifts

  28-05-2020 15:40
  
  In a viewpoint written exclusively for edie's Mission Possible 2020 report, Volans' chairman and chief pollinator John Elkington discusses a new "age of miracles" whereby the once impossible belief that sustainability could dictate market actions now becomes the core lever of an economic recovery.
  
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• EU pledges coronavirus recovery plan will not harm climate goals

  28-05-2020 14:18 via theguardian.com
  
  Commission argues it can raise €150bn to fund greener transport, cleaner industry and renovated homesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageSenior officials have pledged that the European Union’s recovery plan will “do no harm” to the bloc’s landmark goals to tackle the climate crisis and threats to the natural world.Following the unveiling of a €750bn (£671bn) recovery plan to pull EU economies out of the deep economic downturn
  
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• The world wasn't ready for a Green New Deal in 2009. Today, it may be | Larry Elliott

  28-05-2020 14:02 via theguardian.com
  
  There is no easy route to a greener global economy. But since coronavirus hit, politics and business are thinking againTiming matters. Early 2020 saw an economic collapse the likes of which have not been seen in living memory. Growth has collapsed, unemployment has soared, poverty has increased.Yet in different circumstances the past few months would have been dominated by calls for countries to do more to cut carbon emissions. As 2019 drew to an end, everybody from the managing director of the
  
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• National Infrastructure Commission calls for climate resiliency planning and stress tests

  28-05-2020 13:15
  
  The UK Government has been urged to set "clear resilience standards" that enables energy and water networks, transport, essential services and all infrastructure sectors to stress test and plan against hidden climate challenges on the horizon.
  
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• Evolution of the spacesuit

  28-05-2020 12:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  How SpaceX's stylish spacesuit differs from other attire flown by astronauts.
  
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• #SustyTalk: WSP UK's David Symons on net-zero pledges and a just recovery

  28-05-2020 12:49
  
  edie's #SustyTalk interview series continues with environmental services firm WSP's director of sustainability David Symons discussing sector-wide pledges to net-zero emissions and how to build back better from the coronavirus pandemic.
  
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• Zalando and Sustainable Apparel Coalition issue sustainable metrics for brands and retailers

  28-05-2020 12:04
  
  German online fashion retailer Zalando has confirmed it will be the first retailer signed up to the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) to use a new module that will make sustainability assessments mandatory for its private labels and partner brands sold on its platform.
  
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• Animal feedlots are a likely threat to drinking water in Minnesota, says report

  28-05-2020 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Manure from the state’s 80 million farm animals risks overloading its rivers and lakes with nitrogen and phosphorusMillions of tons of manure from Minnesota’s animal feedlots is a risk to consumer health as it threatens to raise nitrate and phosphorus levels in the state’s rivers, lakes and drinking water, a study has found.Meat and dairy production in the US is dominated by the use of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) where animals are raised or fattened in close
  
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• India's first 'green' village adapts to life without tourists

  28-05-2020 11:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Khonoma’s residents are sanguine about the Covid-19-enforced loss of visitor income – and it’s all thanks to their sustainable lifestyleCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAs he looks to the future, Kezhaseria Meyase, a 37-year-old resident of Khonoma, expresses confidence in the youth of the village. “They are well aware of the importance of conserving our forests and wildlife,” he says.For the first time since the creation of the Khon
  
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• 'Use it or lose it': Pandemic recovery a decisive moment for climate action

  28-05-2020 11:16
  
  A new report from global analyst firm McKinsey has found that recovery packages from the coronavirus pandemic will be decisive in putting the world on course to meeting the Paris Agreement, calling for low-carbon technologies and solutions to be prioritised.
  
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• UK's gas networks call for £900m investment into zero-carbon infrastructure

  28-05-2020 10:46
  
  Britain's five gas networks companies have today outlined plans to spend more than £900m on zero-carbon energy infrastructure and hydrogen deployment across the UK, subject to Government approval on funding.
  
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• UK infrastructure 'under threat from climate breakdown'

  28-05-2020 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Utilities, communications and transport at risk, government advisers warn Britain’s vital infrastructure is under threat from the ravages of extreme weather and climate breakdown, unless ministers take swift action to protect against flooding, heatwaves and drought, government advisers have warned.Energy networks and water utilities, communications, transport and other essential services are all at risk, said Sir John Armitt, chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, which has publi
  
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• My community loved dad until he retired from football and needed a job | Sorrell Ashby for IndigenousX

  28-05-2020 08:25 via theguardian.com
  
  The role colonisation has played in the exclusion of Aboriginal people shows why we need economic reformMy dad and his family grew up in a tin humpy on the banks of the Namoi River in Walgett, New South Wales. My grandmother worked on a station, raising the station manager’s children, and never received her pay during her lifetime.Growing up my father was denied an education and instead given a football; he left school at 15 and later in life was drafted with five other Aboriginal men to p
  
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• UK urged to tie green recovery from Covid-19 crisis to Cop26 summit

  28-05-2020 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Climate experts push Britain, as talks host, to work on ‘zero carbon’ route from pandemicThe UK government must urgently set out clear plans on a green recovery from the coronavirus crisis if the delayed UN climate summit is to be a success, say leading experts.The climate talks known as Cop26 and scheduled to be held in Glasgow, are expected to be postponed by a year from their original date this November, dashing hopes that the summit would be swiftly reconvened. A formal decision
  
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• ‘Things have to change’: tourism businesses look to a greener future

  28-05-2020 07:20 via theguardian.com
  
  While the pandemic has dealt travel a severe blow, some hope it can be an opportunity to introduce slower, fairer, more sustainable holidays No planes in the sky, empty hotels and deserted attractions: with the world at a standstill, the tourism industry has been one of the industries worst-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. International arrivals this year could be down by 80% compared with 2019, according to the World Tourism Organization, and more than 100 million jobs are under threat.But as dest
  
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• Studies add to alarm over deforestation in Brazil under Bolsonaro

  28-05-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Research published after video shows environment minister calling for deregulation while public distracted by Covid-19Two studies have raised further alarm about deforestation in Brazil during the first year of the far-right president Jair Bolsonaro’s government.One study showed the country lost 12,000 km2 (4,633 sq miles) of forest last year and also provided important information about those behind deforestation. The other research flagged a 27% increase in the destruction of tropical fo
  
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• Adidas and Allbirds to develop sports shoes with 'lowest recorded' carbon footprint

  28-05-2020 06:18
  
  Sporting giant Adidas has teamed up with shoe brand Allbirds to develop solutions that would create one of the lowest carbon footprints ever recorded for a sports shoe.
  
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• New Zealand's plan for action on seabirds is strong on rhetoric but light on action | Jessica Desmond

  28-05-2020 02:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Vision for commercial fishing to reduce deaths to zero is right, but implementation will fall shortFrom our hotly contested Bird of the Year competition, to the constant updates from backyard bird watchers during lockdown, it’s safe to say New Zealand is a nation of avian obsessives.It’s hardly surprising given our history. This small island nation has been shaped by bird life like no other, with endemic species part of our national identity. From the Kākāpō to the Kiw
  
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