Environment news

• Cop29 delegates told to ‘cut the theatrics’ and tackle climate crisis

  18-11-2024 17:21
  UN climate chief addresses climate summit with no agreement in sight on how to help developing countriesCountries meeting in Azerbaijan to discuss a new global financial settlement for tackling the climate crisis must “cut the theatrics” and get down to serious business, the UN has said.The UK and Brazil have been drafted in to try to break a logjam at the Cop29 climate summit, which entered its second week on Monday with no agreement in sight on the key issue of how to channel at le
  
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• ‘It will be much harder to reverse’: how Trump 2.0 might affect the wildfire crisis

  18-11-2024 17:00
  As the US grapples with smokey skies, Trump is solidifying an anti-science agenda – here are the challenges aheadIn the days that followed Donald Trump’s election win, flames roared through southern California neighborhoods. On the other side of the country, wildfire smoke clouded the skies in New York and New Jersey.They were haunting reminders of a stark reality: while Trump prepares to take office for a second term, the complicated, and escalating, wildfire crisis will be waiting.
  
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• How Trump 2.0 might affect the wildfire crisis: ‘The harms will be more lasting’

  18-11-2024 17:00
  As the US grapples with smoky skies, Trump is solidifying an anti-science agenda – here are the challenges aheadIn the days that followed Donald Trump’s election win, flames roared through southern California neighborhoods. On the other side of the country, wildfire smoke clouded the skies in New York and New Jersey.They were haunting reminders of a stark reality: while Trump prepares to take office for a second term, the complicated, and escalating, wildfire crisis will be waiting.
  
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• Countries could use nature to ‘cheat’ on net zero targets, scientists warn

  18-11-2024 17:00
  
  By relying on natural carbon sinks such as forests and peatlands to offset emissions, governments can appear closer to goals than they actually are Relying on natural carbon sinks such as forests and oceans to offset continued fossil fuel emissions will not stop global heating, the scientists who developed net zero have warned.Each year, the planet’s oceans, forests, soils and other natural carbon sinks absorb about half of all human emissions, forming part of government plans to limit glo
  
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• Cop29 live: ministers told to ‘cut theatrics’, ‘move faster’ and ‘get down to business’ amid growing frustration at slow progress

  18-11-2024 15:42
  Cop29 president calls for faster action as progress to agree a climate finance deal slowsClimate crisis to blame for dozens of ‘impossible’ heatwavesHow usual is it to have G20 happening at the same time as Cop? According to Jen Iris Allan, a senior lecturer at Cardiff University who also writes the Regular Earth Negotiations Bulletin, commenting on Bluesky, it’s not normal at all.Cop29 happening at the same time as the G20 is a rare opportunity. It gets the leaders of the big
  
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• Thames Water’s IT ‘falling apart’ and is hit by cyber-attacks, sources claim

  18-11-2024 15:33
  
  Exclusive: Company relies on obsolete tech and there are troubling security gaps, Guardian investigation suggestsThames Water supply ‘on knife-edge’Floods, explosions, asbestos: Thames faces problems on all fronts“The software we use is older than me, and some of the hardware is older than my dad,” says Siddharth*. He is one of a team fighting a daily battle to sustain ancient IT infrastructure at Thames Water.Sometimes the defences are breached. Thames, the UK’s la
  
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• A kookaburra: ‘They think they are waking the world’

  18-11-2024 15:00
  A kingfisher with a long, dagger-shaped beak. Soft white feathers on its belly, iridescent blue opal spots on its wingsI walked out of my kitchen on an overcast morning last week, feeling depressed, trying to think my way around the US election result somehow towards acceptance – or a totally different reality.I walked to the garden, carrying a load of laundry. And perched on the top edge of a chair was a fat, fluffy laughing kookaburra. It looked at me, I looked at it. A large kingfisher
  
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• Yorkshire town may bring first ‘forever chemicals’ legal case in UK

  18-11-2024 14:00
  Residents claim contamination from Angus Fire factory has left them trapped and unable to sell their homesResidents in the UK town with the country’s highest identified concentration of “forever chemicals” have instructed lawyers to investigate the possibility of a first-of-its-kind legal claim against the firefighting foam manufacturer located in the centre of Bentham.In May this year, an investigation by the Ends Report and the Guardian revealed that the rural North Yorkshire
  
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• Heat pump scheme for Edwardian social housing aims to bust low-carbon myths

  18-11-2024 13:57
  
  The Sutton Dwellings estate in London may offer councils a ‘blueprint’ for ground source heatingSome of the earliest examples of purpose-built social housing in the UK can still be found tucked away along central London’s more affluent streets. Built in Edwardian baroque style, the Sutton Dwellings in Chelsea are perhaps an unlikely site for an innovative scheme at the new frontier of Britain’s low-carbon journey.This winter more than 80 of the estate’s flats will b
  
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• Cop29 live: frustration at slow progress on climate finance agreement

  18-11-2024 13:04
  Campaign group WWF says there’s a ‘need for parties to get together and work through this’ as experts call for $1tn to reach developing countries each yearClimate crisis to blame for dozens of ‘impossible’ heatwaves, studies revealHow usual is it to have G20 happening at the same time as Cop? According to Jen Iris Allan, a senior lecturer at Cardiff University who also writes the Regular Earth Negotiations Bulletin, commenting on Bluesky, it’s not normal at al
  
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• ‘When the water subsided, I saw our house was gone’ – This is climate breakdown

  18-11-2024 13:00
  We were shocked by how quickly the water rose. My children panicked and I didn’t know what to save first. This is Leoncia’s storyLocation Sitio Gipit, PhilippinesDisaster Typhoon Carina, 2024Leoncia Ibanez lived in Sitio Gipit, a small settlement on the outskirts of Antipolo. In August 2024, Super Typhoon Carina, also called Gaemi, hit the Philippines; combined with monsoon rains, it caused widespread flooding. The torrential rain and high winds were made worse by the climate crisis,
  
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• World’s 1.5C climate target ‘deader than a doornail’, experts say

  18-11-2024 12:00
  
  Scientists say goal to keep world’s temperature rise below 1.5C is not going to happen despite talks at Cop29 in BakuThe internationally agreed goal to keep the world’s temperature rise below 1.5C is now “deader than a doornail”, with 2024 almost certain to be the first individual year above this threshold, climate scientists have gloomily concluded – even as world leaders gather for climate talks on how to remain within this boundary.Three of the five leading resea
  
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• Cop29 live: UN secretary general calls on G20 leaders to rescue stalled climate talks

  18-11-2024 08:52
  
  António Guterres says succesful outcome at Cop29 is still ‘within reach’ but only with ‘leadership’ from world’s most powerful countriesClimate crisis to blame for dozens of ‘impossible’ heatwaves, studies revealThe Loss and Damage collaboration have published an open letter to the Cop presidency, about the negotiations for a new collective quantified goal on climate finance (NCQG). They explaining their reasoning here.The letter is, essentially,
  
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• Weather tracker: Tropical Storm Sara and Super Typhoon Man-yi wreak havoc

  18-11-2024 08:36
  Powerful storm systems bring heavy rainfall, widespread flooding and landslides to Central America and AsiaTropical Storm Sara has caused significant disruption across Central America in recent days after forming in the Caribbean Sea on Thursday afternoon. It is the 18th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season and the third this month. The large number of tropical storm and hurricane formations this season can be attributed to the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico being warmer than avera
  
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• The bee project helping to tackle elephant-human conflict in Kenya – in pictures

  18-11-2024 08:00
  Loved by tourists, elephants are, however, often loathed by farmers. Elephant conservation has been a been a success in Tsavo in Kenya, with their number increasing by about 6,000 in the mid-1990s to almost 15,000 in 2021. The human population has also grown, encroaching on grazing and migration routes for the herds, with resulting clashes becoming the No 1 cause of elephant deaths. But a long-running project by the charity Save the Elephants offered an unlikely solution: deterring some of natur
  
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• How do we know that the climate crisis is to blame for extreme weather?

  18-11-2024 07:00
  
  Scientific techniques known as climate attribution can help us discern whether the rise in severe weather events is due to global heatingClimate crisis to blame for dozens of ‘impossible’ heatwaves, studies revealIt is a crucial question: is the climate crisis to blame for the extreme weather disasters taking lives and destroying homes around the world. But it has not been an easy one to answer. How much is due to global heating, how much is just the severe weather that has always ha
  
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• Climate crisis to blame for dozens of ‘impossible’ heatwaves, studies reveal

  18-11-2024 07:00
  
  Exclusive: Analyses are stark evidence of how global heating is already supercharging deadly weather beyond anything ever experienced by humanityHow do we know that the climate crisis is to blame for extreme weather?At least 24 previously impossible heatwaves have struck communities across the planet, a new assessment has shown, providing stark evidence of how severely human-caused global heating is supercharging extreme weather.The impossible heatwaves have taken lives across North America, Eur
  
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• Country diary: The night-time farm is alive with unseen wildlife | Kate Blincoe

  18-11-2024 06:30
  
  Caister St Edmund, Norfolk: Dozens of deer and hares are out in the fields, grazing in relative safety, and Dad is especially excited to see mating slugsWe leave the farm track, the truck bumping into the open field. The headlights scan the dark expanse of grassland. For a moment, I’m 10 years old again – transported back to a night-time safari with Dad.This evening, I’m helping with his podcast. And by helping, I mean saying as little as I can get away with, while he talk
  
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