Category Archives: Climate change

G7 leaders face make-or-break moment in climate crisis

Posted on by

Analysis: message in Cornwall is clear – leaders must act now or go down in history as the ones who threw away last-ditch chance

Global leaders arriving in Cornwall for the G7 summit have already found themselves in a changed world: masks and social distancing have replaced the usual hugs, handshakes and cheek-pecking, the entourages have slimmed down, and the usual media circus has been muted, with protesters having to content themselves with writing sand messages on the beach.

Boris Johnson has faced ridicule and accusations of hypocrisy for travelling to Carbis Bay by private jet. Some of the other leaders have been more concerned about the extent to which quarantine rules apply to them.

Continue reading...

Polish government faces court action over failure to tackle climate crisis

Posted on by

Five citizens accuse government of failing to protect them from impacts of global heating

Five Polish citizens are taking their government to court over its failure to protect them from the impacts of the climate crisis.

They say the state has breached their rights to life, health and family life by delaying action to cut national carbon emissions and propping up the coal industry.

Continue reading...

Republican congressman suggests changing moon’s orbit to fight climate change – video

Posted on by

Texas Republican congressman Louie Gohmert asked a senior US government official if changing the moon’s orbit around the Earth, or the Earth’s orbit around the sun, might be a solution for climate change. The question was not posed to anyone from Nasa, but a senior forestry service official during a House natural resources committee hearing on Tuesday. Jennifer Eberlien, associate deputy chief of the National Forest Service, said she would have to 'follow up with you on that one, Mr Gohmert'

Continue reading...

Texas Republican asks: can we fix the moon’s orbit to fight climate change?

Posted on by

‘I’d have to follow up with you on that one,’ says forestry official Jennifer Eberlien to bizarre question from Louie Gohmert

The Texas Republican congressman Louie Gohmert has asked a senior US government official if changing the moon’s orbit around the Earth, or the Earth’s orbit around the sun, might be a solution for climate change.

Bizarrely, the question was not posed to anyone from Nasa or even the Pentagon. Instead it was asked of a senior forestry service official during a House natural resources committee hearing on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Ardern says climate crisis is ‘life or death’ as New Zealand landmark report calls for sweeping changes

Posted on by

Climate Commission recommends shift to electric cars, large-scale agricultural reform and an end to reliance on gas in homes

New Zealand has been handed a new vision for dramatic reduction of its greenhouse gas emissions – including reduced animal numbers on farms, no new household gas connections by 2025, and a dramatic shift to electric cars in the next decade.

The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said the climate crisis was a matter of “life or death” as she spoke at the release of a new roadmap for the government’s response to global heating.

Continue reading...

Scott Morrison digs in against deeper cuts to emissions ahead of G7 summit

Posted on by

Prime minister to say it should be up to sovereign nations to chart their own course and Australia does not support ‘setting false deadlines’

Scott Morrison is resisting international pressure to lock in more ambitious climate commitments, declaring Australia opposes setting targets for certain parts of the economy or “false deadlines for phasing out specific energy sources”.

Before he sets off for the G7 summit in the UK later this week, the prime minister will use a foreign policy speech to say that “ambition alone won’t solve the problem of actually reducing emissions”.

Continue reading...

We are running out of time to reach deal to save natural world, says UN talks chair

Posted on by

Warning comes amid fears of further delays to Kunming summit, which aims to agree on curbing destruction of ecosystems

The world is running out of time to reach an ambitious deal to stem the destruction of the natural world, the co-chair of negotiations for a crucial UN wildlife summit has warned, amid fears of a third delay to the talks.

Negotiators are scheduled to meet in Kunming, China, in October for Cop15, the biggest biodiversity summit in a decade, to reach a hoped-for Paris-style agreement on preventing wildlife extinctions and the human-driven destruction of the planet’s ecosystems.

Continue reading...

Climate crisis to shrink G7 economies twice as much as Covid-19, says research

Posted on by

G7 countries will lose $5tn a year by 2050 if temperatures rise by 2.6C

The economies of rich countries will shrink by twice as much as they did in the Covid-19 crisis if they fail to tackle rising greenhouse gas emissions, according to research.

The G7 countries – the world’s biggest industrialised economies – will lose 8.5% of GDP a year, or nearly $5tn wiped off their economies, within 30 years if temperatures rise by 2.6C, as they are likely to on the basis of government pledges and policies around the world, according to research from Oxfam and the Swiss Re Institute.

Continue reading...

Pressure on UK as Germany backs ending free carbon permits for airlines

Posted on by

Boris Johnson has pledged to give details of how UK will meet its climate targets before Cop26

The German government is backing an extension of EU carbon pricing that will end free carbon permits for airlines, putting pressure on the UK to put in place a similar package to meet climate targets.

The European Commission will propose a dozen climate policies on 14 July, each designed to slash greenhouse gases faster in line with an EU goal to cut net emissions by 55% by 2030 from 1990 levels.

Continue reading...

100 richest UK families urged to commit £1bn to tackle climate crisis

Posted on by

As UK prepares for environment push at G7 summit, letter asks richest to make climate charitable focus

The UK’s 100 richest families are being urged to commit £1bn over the next five years to tackle the climate emergency and halt the destruction of the natural world, as the world prepares for a big push on environmental issues at the G7 summit.

Each of the 100 richest families in the UK, and the 100 biggest charitable foundations, will receive a letter on Saturday asking them to make the climate and biodiversity crises a focus of their philanthropic efforts, in order to stave off pending disasters that would imperil all their other charitable efforts.

Continue reading...

‘This isn’t ideological’: reluctant ‘green hero’ behind Exxon coup

Posted on by

Tiny hedge fund Engine No 1 says a strong climate strategy simply makes good business sense

The activist hedge fund behind ExxonMobil’s boardroom coup last week has claimed another seat from the oil giant’s board, to take the number of new directors who will push for climate action from within the company to three.

The result of last week’s shareholder vote has installed the hedge fund, named Engine No 1 after a San Francisco fire station, as a reluctant hero of the climate movement.

Continue reading...

New David Attenborough film looks at Australia’s bushfires and the climate crisis – video trailer

Posted on by

Breaking Boundaries: the Science of our Planet is a new Netflix documentary from Sir David Attenborough that visits scientists working on melting ice, the degradation of the Amazon, and the loss of biodiversity, and looks at the 2019-2020 'summer from hell' black summer bushfires that destroyed large swathes of Kangaroo Island

• David Attenborough Netflix documentary: Australian scientists break down in tears over climate crisis

Continue reading...

Climate tipping points could topple like dominoes, warn scientists

Posted on by

Analysis shows significant risk of cascading events even at 2C of heating, with severe long-term effects

Ice sheets and ocean currents at risk of climate tipping points can destabilise each other as the world heats up, leading to a domino effect with severe consequences for humanity, according to a risk analysis.

Tipping points occur when global heating pushes temperatures beyond a critical threshold, leading to accelerated and irreversible impacts. Some large ice sheets in Antarctica are thought to already have passed their tipping points, meaning large sea-level rises in coming centuries.

Continue reading...

‘So many revolutions to lead’: Europe’s Gen Z on their post-Covid future

Posted on by

As part of the Guardian’s 200th anniversary, we asked young people how the worst global pandemic in a century has affected their lives, hopes and dreams. Fifty from Europe’s Generation Z tell us how they see their future

Continue reading...

G7 nations committing billions more to fossil fuel than green energy

Posted on by

In spite of green rhetoric, money has piled into aviation and car industries since start of pandemic, report finds

The nations that make up the G7 have pumped billions of dollars more into fossil fuels than they have into clean energy since the Covid-19 pandemic, despite their promises of a green recovery.

As the UK prepares to host the G7 summit, new analysis reveals that the countries attending committed $189bn to support oil, coal and gas between January 2020 and March 2021. In comparison, the same countries – the UK, US, Canada, Italy, France, Germany and Japan – spent $147bn on clean forms of energy.

Continue reading...

Human-induced global heating ‘causes over a third of heat deaths’

Posted on by

Between 1991 and 2018, human activity contributed to 37% of all heat-related deaths in locations studied

More than a third of all heat-related deaths around the world between 1991 and 2018 can be attributed to human-induced global heating, research has found.

Climate breakdown has a range of effects ranging from wildfires to extreme weather. As the temperatures rise, more intense and frequent heatwaves disproportionately affect elderly people and those with underlying chronic conditions such as asthma, making them more vulnerable to disease and premature death.

Continue reading...

‘Cataclysmic day’ for oil companies sparks climate hope

Posted on by

Court and investor defeats over carbon emissions a historic turning point, say campaigners and lawyers

A “cataclysmic day” for three major oil companies in which investors rebelled over climate fears and a court ordered fossil fuel emissions to be slashed has sparked hope among campaigners, investors, lawyers and academics who said the historic decisions marked a turning point in efforts to tackle the climate crisis.

A Dutch court on Wednesday ordered Shell to cut carbon emissions from its oil and gas by 45% by 2030. A tiny activist investor group simultaneously won two places on ExxonMobil’s board and Chevron’s management was defeated when investors voted in favour of forcing the group to cut its carbon emissions.

Continue reading...

Turkey struck by ‘sea snot’ because of global heating

Posted on by

Increasing blanket of mucus-like substance in water threatens coral and fishing industry

When seen from above, it looks like a brush of beige swirled across the dark blue waters of the Sea of Marmara. Up close, it resembles a creamy, gelatinous blanket of quicksand. Now scientists are warning that the substance, known as sea snot, is on the rise as a result of global heating.

The gloopy, mucus-like substance had not been recorded in Turkish waters before 2007. It is created as a result of prolonged warm temperatures and calm weather and in areas with abundant nutrients in the water.

Continue reading...

Green growth: the save-the-mangrove scheme reaping rewards for women in Kenya

Posted on by

A community project on the Lamu archipelago trains women in preserving this vital ecosystem and provides business loans

Kenya’s mangroves have been harvested for centuries, the timber used in shipbuilding and for ornate doors and furniture as well as shipped across the Indian Ocean and around the world.

The Lamu archipelago accounts for more than half of Kenya’s mangrove forests. But across the country an estimated 40% of this precious commodity has been degraded, as more mangroves have been cut to provide construction materials and charcoal for cooking, and oil leakages from cruise liners and ships that pass along the coast kill off young saplings. The area has become one of the most degraded marine ecosystems in east Africa.

Continue reading...

Richest nations agree to end support for coal production overseas

Posted on by

G7 countries reaffirm commitment to limit global heating to 1.5C after nearly two days of wrangling

The world’s richest nations have agreed to end their financial support for coal development overseas, in a major step towards phasing out the dirtiest fossil fuel.

After nearly two days of wrangling at a meeting of the G7 environment and energy ministers, hosted virtually by the UK on Thursday and Friday, all reaffirmed their commitment to limiting global heating to 1.5C, and committed to phasing out coal and fully decarbonising their energy sectors in the 2030s.

Continue reading...