Environment news

• The Guardian view on Covid-19 and the climate: take back control | Editorial

  25-06-2020 19:54
  
  Government advisers have set a course through the pandemic to net zero. Is Boris Johnson capable of following it?The colossal challenge facing human civilisation, of ending our reliance on fossil fuels in short order, has almost certainly been made harder by the pandemic. Ever since scientists discovered that the Earth was warming as a result of human activity, it has been a struggle to get people, governments and businesses to do anything about it. Even in those countries least resistant to the
  
  Read more

• The Arctic heatwave: here's what we know | Tamsin Edwards

  25-06-2020 17:18
  
  It’s 38C in Siberia. The science may be complicated – but the need for action now couldn’t be clearer
  There’s an Arctic heatwave: it’s 38C in Siberia. Arctic sea ice is the second lowest on record, and 2020 may be on course to be the hottest year since records began.For many people, such news induces a lurch of fear, or avoidance – closing the webpage because they don’t want to hear yet more bad news. A few might think “It’s just weather,&rdq
  
  Read more

• Extinction Rebellion activists launch UK Beyond Politics party by stealing food

  25-06-2020 16:39
  
  Robin Hood-style shoplifting session at London supermarket ‘because poverty sucks’A new political party was launched in London on Thursday by a group of activists from Extinction Rebellion, who marked the event by shoplifting a haul of supermarket goods to highlight the instability of global food distribution.The stunt involved five members of the nascent Beyond Politics party walking out of Sainsbury’s in Camden with shopping trolleys filled with food but without paying. Conti
  
  Read more

• Kimberly-Clark vows to halve emissions by 2030

  25-06-2020 15:41
  
  Kimberly-Clark has pledged to halve its direct, power-related and supply chain emissions by 2030, as part of a string of new climate targets approved by the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• ‘Urban nature’: pandemic reveals wildlife outside our windows and stoops

  25-06-2020 14:47
  
  Staying home during the pandemic presents a unique opportunity to become better acquainted with wilderness in all its formsIn May, my partner and I had a daily ritual: he would send me a photo of the robin’s nest taking shape above the front door of his parents’ house, where he was sheltering in place. At first, it was more a pile of twigs than a structure, but slowly, it transformed into a woven bowl. Blue eggs appeared, and then chirping baby birds. A robin nested in that same spot
  
  Read more

• 'Revel in the grubby wilderness': how to spot nature from lockdown

  25-06-2020 14:47
  
  Staying home during the pandemic presents a unique opportunity to become better acquainted with wilderness in all its formsIn May, my partner and I had a daily ritual: he would send me a photo of the robin’s nest taking shape above the front door of his parents’ house, where he was sheltering in place. At first, it was more a pile of twigs than a structure, but slowly, it transformed into a woven bowl. Blue eggs appeared, and then chirping baby birds. A robin nested in that same spot
  
  Read more

• How America’s city-dwellers are still experiencing the joys of nature

  25-06-2020 14:47
  
  Staying home during the pandemic presents a unique opportunity to become better acquainted with wilderness in all its formsIn May, my partner and I had a daily ritual: he would send me a photo of the robin’s nest taking shape above the front door of his parents’ house, where he was sheltering in place. At first, it was more a pile of twigs than a structure, but slowly, it transformed into a woven bowl. Blue eggs appeared, and then chirping baby birds. A robin nested in that same spot
  
  Read more

• UK weather: What is the UV Index and why could it break UK records?

  25-06-2020 14:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The UK could experience some of the highest UV levels ever recorded, on Thursday.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Report: Most oil majors' net-zero strategies are greenwash, with US firms faring the worst

  25-06-2020 13:47
  
  Despite a major trend towards strengthening climate commitments in recent months, oil and gas majors are broadly failing to take responsibility for their entire emissions footprint, with some on track to deliver just a 3% cut in absolute emissions by 2050.
  
  Read more

• Britain beyond lockdown: can UK become cleaner?

  25-06-2020 13:31
  
  As Covid-19 accelerates the shift towards renewable energy, Jonathan Watts hears how this change risks causing intergenerational injustice in AberdeenLike many young people in Aberdeen, Mike Scotland dreamed of a well-paid job on a rig in the North Sea, in the oil and gas field that has made his home town a boom town for most of the past 40 years.In February the 28-year-old landed the position he had wanted with Shell, and he was due to take a helicopter to the Shearwater platform in July once h
  
  Read more

• 'We're still walking when we should run': Green economy leaders urge Ministers to implement latest CCC recommendations

  25-06-2020 12:43
  
  Key organisations and individuals from across the UK's green economy have backed the Committee on Climate Change's (CCC) latest progress report to Parliament, urging Ministers to seize the "once-in-a-lifetime" chance to create a green Covid-19 recovery.
  
  Read more

• ArcelorMittal Europe and Atos launch net-zero carbon roadmaps

  25-06-2020 12:43
  
  Europe's largest steelmaker has vowed to reduce its carbon emissions by 30% by 2030 and bring them to net-zero by 2050, in the same week that ICT services giant Atos set a 2035 net-zero deadline.
  
  Read more

• Mary Jackson: Nasa to name HQ after first black female engineer

  25-06-2020 11:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Mary Jackson was among the African-American women whose story was told in the film Hidden Figures.
  
  Read more

• L'Oréal targets carbon neutrality by 2025 under new sustainability strategy

  25-06-2020 10:20
  
  Global cosmetic firm L'Oréal has unveiled a new sweeping set of sustainability targets, pledging to reach carbon neutrality by 2025, halve carbon emissions, use 100% renewables and ensure all plastic packaging comes from recycled or bio-based sources.
  
  Read more

• ‘Murder hornets’: race to protect North America's honeybees from giant invader

  25-06-2020 07:30
  
  Amateur beekeepers and scientists do ‘the whole CSI thing’ to stem the feared onslaught It took Moufida and John Holubeshen just a day of tracing alleged sightings and studying map coordinates before the two amateur detectives found their target.“We did the whole CSI thing,” says Moufida. “Plotting points and drawing lines, searching for where the middle of the circle – the nest – would be.” Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• It got to 38 degrees in the Arctic! Civilisation is burning down | First Dog on the Moon

  25-06-2020 03:37
  
  New research proves what we already knew, the main problem with climate change is... the super wealthy! Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• CCC: Covid-19 recovery a 'once-in-a-lifetime opportunity' to spur net-zero transition

  25-06-2020 02:01
  
  Producing a Covid-19 recovery plan which is fully aligned with the UK's 2050 net-zero climate target is "absolutely necessary and entirely possible" with strong coordination across Whitehall, Ministers have been told by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC).
  
  Read more

• Increase car taxes to help climate, advisers say

  25-06-2020 01:45 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Car taxes should be raised to help fund the battle against climate change, the government is urged.
  
  Read more

• Britain's 'blindingly cool' engineering innovation

  25-06-2020 01:43 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Conceptual still-life photographer Ted Humble-Smith celebrates 50 years of world-beating technology.
  
  Read more

• Road to net zero: what the Committee on Climate Change recommends

  25-06-2020 01:01
  
  The government adviser publishes its progress report today. Here are the areas it says require urgent attentionAct fast to stop UK carbon emission rebound, climate advisers urge The government’s statutory adviser, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), publishes its progress report on Thursday on efforts to cut emissions. This is what it says needs to happen urgently if the UK is to reach its target of hitting net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Act fast to stop UK carbon emission rebound, climate advisers urge

  25-06-2020 01:01
  
  Report says Boris Johnson’s lack of climate leadership risks missing target and embarrassing UK at Cop26Road to net zero: what the Committee on Climate Change recommends
  The UK is falling behind on its target to cut greenhouse gas emissions and risks a surge in carbon emissions as lockdown eases, the government’s climate advisers warn.Ministers must act fast if the UK is to avoid a massive rebound in carbon emissions after the coronavirus crisis eases, Lord Deben, chair of the commit
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Environment on Twitter!