Environment news

• 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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• Martin Rowson on Keir Starmer’s appearance at Cop29 – cartoon

  12-11-2024 17:50 via theguardian.com
  
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• Spain braces for new storms as flooding disaster’s political fallout continues

  12-11-2024 17:43 via theguardian.com
  King Felipe VI reportedly plans to revisit Valencia amid alerts for heavy rain, high waves and strong windsPeople in flood-hit Spain stacked sandbags and braced for new storms on Tuesday as the political repercussions from last month’s deadly climate disaster rumbled on.Amid fresh weather warnings, local media reported that King Felipe VI would soon return to the site of the flash floods, after he was pelted with mud and eggs on his first visit last week owing to local fury at the poor pre
  
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• Cancel drilling of untapped oilfield, activists urge Scottish court

  12-11-2024 17:27 via theguardian.com
  
  Greenpeace and Uplift say Rosebank and Jackdaw licences were granted unlawfully by former Tory governmentClimate campaigners have urged a Scottish court to cancel the licence to drill the UK’s largest untapped oilfield, arguing it will cause “sizeable” and unjustified damage to the planet.Greenpeace and Uplift accuse the former Conservative government of having unlawfully given the Norwegian oil giant Equinor a licence to exploit the Rosebank oilfield, which sits 80 miles (130k
  
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• Cancel drilling of Rosebank oilfield, activists urge Scottish court

  12-11-2024 17:27 via theguardian.com
  
  Greenpeace and Uplift say Rosebank and Jackdaw licences were granted unlawfully by former Tory governmentClimate campaigners have urged a Scottish court to cancel the licence to drill the UK’s largest untapped oilfield, arguing it will cause “sizeable” and unjustified damage to the planet.Greenpeace and Uplift accuse the former Conservative government of having unlawfully given the Norwegian oil giant Equinor a licence to exploit the Rosebank oilfield, which sits 80 miles (130k
  
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• Starmer confirms that the UK has committed to an 81% cut to emissions by 2035 – video

  12-11-2024 17:23 via theguardian.com
  
  Keir Starmer has confirmed that the UK has committed to an 81% cut to emissions by 2035. The prime minister also said the British government was due to launch the CIF Capital Markets Mechanism, a climate finance scheme on the London Stock Exchange to help developing countriesUK has ‘huge opportunity’ to lead on green investment, Starmer saysCop29 – live updates Continue reading...
  
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• UK commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions must be ‘starting point, not finish line’, climate advisers say – Cop29 day two, as it happened

  12-11-2024 17:09 via theguardian.com
  
  This live blog is closedIn the halls of Cop29, activists from Oil Change International gathered around a computer to watch a Dutch court’s ruling on a major ruling.In this morning’s verdict, the Dutch appeals court struck down a 2021 ruling ordering oil and gas giant Shell to cut emissions by 45% by 2030 from 2019 levels. The activists were devastated. Continue reading...
  
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• Cop29: UK commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions must be ‘starting point, not finish line’, climate advisers say – live updates

  12-11-2024 16:43 via theguardian.com
  Climate scientists and advisers back new UK commitment but warn that there is still work to be doneIn the halls of Cop29, activists from Oil Change International gathered around a computer to watch a Dutch court’s ruling on a major ruling.In this morning’s verdict, the Dutch appeals court struck down a 2021 ruling ordering oil and gas giant Shell to cut emissions by 45% by 2030 from 2019 levels. The activists were devastated. Continue reading...
  
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• US oil and gas firms to face federal fee for methane emissions in new EPA rule

  12-11-2024 16:25 via theguardian.com
  Environmental Protection Agency rule seeks to curb ‘super pollutant’ more potent than carbon dioxide in short termOil and natural gas companies for the first time will have to pay a federal fee if they emit dangerous methane above certain levels under a rule being made final by the Biden administration.The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule follows through on a directive from Congress included in the 2022 climate law. The new fee is intended to encourage industry to adopt bes
  
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• Big oil firms knew of dire effects of fossil fuels as early as 1950s, memos show

  12-11-2024 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Newly unearthed documents contain warning from head Air Pollution Foundation, founded in 1953 by oil interestsMajor oil companies, including Shell and precursors to energy giants Chevron, ExxonMobil and BP, were alerted about the planet-warming effects of fossil fuels as early as 1954, newly unearthed documents show.The warning, from the head of an industry-created group known as the Air Pollution Foundation, was revealed by Climate Investigations Center and published Tuesday by the climate webs
  
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• ‘We need to show what we’re trying to do is worth it’: voice of the UK energy industry steps down

  12-11-2024 15:47 via theguardian.com
  
  After five years making Energy UK ‘noisier’ on green issues, Emma Pinchbeck has been picked to lead the UK’s fight against global heating‘I was a risk when they hired me,” smiles Emma Pinchbeck. The chief executive of Energy UK, the voice of the industry, is hours away from a black-tie awards event that will serve as her unofficial leaving do. After almost five years in the role, she will join the government’s climate watchdog, the Climate Change Committee, in
  
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• Wild bird numbers continue ‘alarming’ decline in UK, Defra figures show

  12-11-2024 15:34 via theguardian.com
  
  All bird species have declined in number, after suffering habitat loss, pesticide use, climate breakdown and bird fluWild bird numbers in the UK are continuing to fall despite government promises to halt nature decline by 2030.Data released by the government on Tuesday shows that over the past five years, all bird species have faced population decline after suffering from habitat loss, pesticide use, climate breakdown and bird flu. Overall, bird species have declined in number UK-wide by 2% and
  
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• Subsea cables to help Britain meet green energy goal get green light

  12-11-2024 13:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Ofgem gives green light to five interconnectors capable of powering millions of homesBusiness live – latest updatesProjects to lay five subsea power cables capable of powering millions of homes have been given the green light as Great Britain prepares to use its giant offshore windfarms to become a net exporter of green electricity in the 2030s.The energy regulator, Ofgem, has approved three subsea cable projects linking Great Britain to power grids in Germany, Ireland and Northern Ireland
  
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• The sea was coming closer, it was so painful to see my house being destroyed – This is climate breakdown

  12-11-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  When we built the house in 1978 we couldn’t see the sea. We never imagined that one day it would reach us. This is Sônia’s storyLocation Atafona, BrazilDisaster Rio de Janeiro coastal erosion, 2019 -23Born in Campos dos Goytacazes, Sônia Ferreira spent her childhood vacations in the seaside town of Atafona. After she and her husband married, they built a summer house there and in the late 1990s, she moved there permanently. Now 79, retired and widowed, Sônia still l
  
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• British farming is in a grim state and Labour’s new measures will only make it worse | Tom Fairfax

  12-11-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Brexit, the cost of living and the climate crisis are all making farmers’ lives much more difficult. Taxing us is not the answerTom Fairfax farms Mindrum Farm in NorthumberlandLast year, Keir Starmer looked farmers in the eye at the annual National Farmers’ Union (NFU) conference and said he knew what it meant to lose a farm. It is “not like losing any other business”, he said. “It can’t come back.” Since then, Labour has announced a number of new measur
  
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• 2024 has been ‘masterclass in climate destruction’, says UN chief – video

  12-11-2024 10:23 via theguardian.com
  '2024 – a masterclass in climate destruction.' That is how UN secretary general António Guterres started his address to world leaders at Cop29 on Tuesday. 'Families running for their lives before the next hurricane strikes; workers and pilgrims collapsing in insufferable heat; floods tearing through communities, and tearing down infrastructure; children going to bed hungry as droughts ravage crops. All these disasters, and more, are being supercharged by human-made climate change,'
  
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• Shell defeats landmark climate ruling ordering cut in carbon emissions

  12-11-2024 10:09 via theguardian.com
  Oil and gas company had challenged 2021 ruling that it must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030Shell has won its appeal against a landmark climate judgment by a Dutch court, which in 2021 ordered the fossil fuel company to sharply reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.A court of appeal ruled on Tuesday that, while Shell does have a “special responsibility” to cut its emissions as a big oil company, this would not be achieved by imposing a specific legal goal. Continue readin
  
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• Cop29: 2024 has been ‘masterclass in climate destruction’, says UN chief – live updates

  12-11-2024 09:39 via theguardian.com
  Keir Starmer and Viktor Orbán among world leaders expected to address the UN climate conference on day twoIn the halls of Cop29, activists from Oil Change International gathered around a computer to watch a Dutch court’s ruling on a major ruling.In this morning’s verdict, the Dutch appeals court struck down a 2021 ruling ordering oil and gas giant Shell to cut emissions by 45% by 2030 from 2019 levels. The activists were devastated. Continue reading...
  
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• Shell wins appeal against court ruling ordering cut in carbon emissions

  12-11-2024 08:56 via theguardian.com
  
  Oil and gas company had challenged 2021 ruling that it must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030Shell has won its appeal against a landmark climate ruling in the Netherlands, which in 2021 ordered the oil and gas company to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions.Shell had appealed against a lower court ruling in 2021 that it must cut its global carbon emissions by 45% by the end of 2030 compared with 2019 levels. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘It should not taste marine-like’: Would you eat a burger made from processed sea squirts?

  12-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Odd-looking creatures called ciona are naturally rich in protein and one company aims to farm and process them for the tableAt a seaside restaurant near the docks in Fredrikstad, Norway, there’s a selection of delicious looking entrees sitting in front of me. There is a cheesy lasagne, a savoury Mexican casserole, and a spicy chilli con carne. Biting in to each one in turn, I savour the familiar taste of ground beef. Or is it?The dishes come from Pronofa Asa, a Scandinavian company whose p
  
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• Government proposes testing bathing waters in England and Wales all year round

  12-11-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Sites currently only tested for dangerous pollution during ‘bathing season’ from May to SeptemberBathing waters in England and Wales could be tested all year round in a government shake-up to water pollution rules.At the moment, designated bathing sites are only tested for dangerous pollution that could make swimmers sick during the “bathing season”, which runs from May to September. Continue reading...
  
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• UK has ‘huge opportunity’ to lead on green investment, Starmer says

  12-11-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  PM says Britain can ‘win the race’ as Trump’s election casts doubt on global efforts to tackle climate changeBritain has a “huge opportunity” to get ahead of other countries in the race for green investment after the election of Donald Trump as US president, Keir Starmer has said, as he arrives in Azerbaijan for the Cop29 summit.Trump’s election victory last week has cast doubt on global efforts to tackle climate change, which the president-elect has called a
  
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• 'A horrific smell': Geelong's corpse flower blooms – video

  12-11-2024 03:13 via theguardian.com
  
  The so-called corpse plant takes a decade to flower – and when it does, the blossom lasts just 24-48 hours and smells of rotting flesh. Guardian Australia's Henry Belot went along to take whiff‘I can hear dry-retching from inside’: queuing for hours to smell Geelong’s corpse plant Continue reading...
  
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