Category Archives: Climate crisis

Climate crisis a ‘substantial risk’ to fight against malaria, says WHO

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New report says disease-carrying mosquitoes thrive in rising temperatures, leading to transmission in hitherto unaffected areas

The climate crisis poses a major threat to the fight against malaria, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), with evidence suggesting extreme weather events and rising temperatures have already led to spikes in cases.

Mosquitoes, the carriers of the disease, thrive in warm, damp and humid conditions, which are increasing with global heating.

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New push for debt relief to help developing world fund climate action

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Cop28 hears poorest nations spend at least 12 times as much to service debts than on tackling global heating

The fight against the climate emergency is being hampered by a debt crisis that involves the world’s poorest countries paying more than 12 times as much to their creditors as they are spending on measures to tackle the impact of global heating, a campaign group has warned.

As the Cop28 meeting opened in the United Arab Emirates, Development Finance International (DFI) said a new round of comprehensive and deep debt cancellation was needed to free up much-needed investment in climate emergency adaptation.

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Australia politics live: Albanese says Israel-Hamas war protest at Melbourne hotel ‘beyond contempt’

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Chalmers: ‘We are making some welcome progress in the fight against inflation’

Is Jim Chalmers confident that interest rates could fall from next year?

My job is to focus on this fight against inflation. And we saw overnight from the OECD, we saw from Deloitte Access Economics, we saw in the Bureau of Statistics data which came out yesterday, that we are making some welcome progress in the fight against inflation and that will determine the future directory trajectory of interest rates

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Time running out to make prosperous transition to net zero emissions, Australia warned

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Climate Change Authority tells Labor government rapid action is needed, including accelerating emissions cuts from oil and gas

Australia risks falling short of its 2030 climate target and time is running out for it to make a prosperous transition to net zero emissions on its own terms, the independent Climate Change Authority has warned.

The authority’s annual assessment of Australia’s progress on climate said the country still had time to take advantage of the opportunities a net zero world presented, but it risked the transition to a clean economy being “dictated to us by the actions of others around the world” the longer it delayed.

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Extending incentives for rooftop solar panels beyond 2030 and expanding them to include household batteries and private electric vehicle chargers

Accelerating emissions cuts from oil and gas by introducing international best practice measures to cut methane emissions and leaks, and requiring facilities to sequester all carbon dioxide pollution

Coordinating with state and territory governments to agree on timing for the retirement of fossil fuel generators

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The secret plan to ‘hook’ the developing world on oil – podcast

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As the Cop28 climate summit begins in Dubai today, a secret Saudi Arabian plan to get poorer countries ‘hooked on its harmful products’ has emerged. Damian Carrington reports

Delegates from every country in the world are meeting today at the beginning of the Cop28 climate talks in Dubai, hosted by the United Arab Emirates. The scale of the challenge ahead of them is immense: phasing out the fossil fuels that power the global economy before a planetary tipping point is reached.

As the Guardian’s environment editor, Damian Carrington, tells Michael Safi this week, that task has got even tougher. It has emerged that Saudi Arabia is driving a huge global investment plan to create demand for its oil and gas in developing countries. Critics say the plan is designed to get countries “hooked on its harmful products”.

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Chris Bowen warns global heating will fuel political instability in annual climate statement

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Parliament to hear increased ‘fragility’ of energy networks ‘could be used by hostile actors’ amid existential national security risk to Pacific neighbours

The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, will declare runaway global heating remains a national security threat and predict that countries vulnerable to sea level rise will look to Australia to provide “mobility with dignity” as the climate crisis deepens.

Bowen will tell parliament on Thursday that extreme weather events caused by climate change will also place increased strain on Australia’s energy networks, warning “this fragility could be used by hostile actors”.

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‘A biodiversity catastrophe’: how the world could look in 2050 – unless we act now

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The climate crisis, invasive species, overexploitation of resources and pollution could break down crucial ecosystems. We asked experts to lay out the risks and offer some solutions

The continued destruction of nature across the planet will result in major shocks to food supplies and safe water, the disappearance of unique species and the loss of landscapes central to human culture and leisure by the middle of this century, experts have warned.

By 2050, if humanity does not follow through on commitments to tackle the five main drivers of nature loss critical natural systems could break down just as the human population is projected to peak.

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Revealed: Saudi Arabia’s grand plan to ‘hook’ poor countries on oil

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Climate scientists say fossil fuel use needs to fall rapidly – but oil-rich kingdom is working to drive up demand

Saudi Arabia is driving a huge global investment plan to create demand for its oil and gas in developing countries, an undercover investigation has revealed. Critics said the plan was designed to get countries “hooked on its harmful products”.

Little was known about the oil demand sustainability programme (ODSP) but the investigation obtained detailed information on plans to drive up the use of fossil fuel-powered cars, buses and planes in Africa and elsewhere, as rich countries increasingly switch to clean energy.

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Climate crisis adds average £605 a year to UK household food bills, study finds

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Report quantifies UK food inflation caused by extreme weather reducing global crop yields since end of 2021

Food bills in the UK have risen by £605 a year for the average household because of the effects of climate breakdown, according to research.

Floods and droughts, which scientists have said were probably exacerbated by global heating, have reduced crop yields over the past two years, said the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), a nonprofit organisation.

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Success of Geert Wilders’ far-right PVV raises fears for Dutch climate policies

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The party has a hostile stance on attempts to cut carbon emissions but got more votes than any other in general election

The shocking success of Geert Wilders’ far-right PVV party in Dutch elections has left climate activists fearful of a drastic shift to fossil fuels and a rollback of climate policies if it manages to form a government.

Best known abroad for its rhetoric against Muslims, the PVV, which came first in Wednesday’s election but may struggle to find coalition partners, has taken a hard line on policies to stop the planet getting hotter.

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Newcastle port: more than 80 arrested after climate protesters continue blockade past agreed deadline

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Groups of protesters took turns paddling out into Port of Newcastle’s shipping lane to maintain a 30-hour blockage

New South Wales police have made more than 80 arrests in Newcastle after protesters blocked a major coal port beyond an agreed deadline.

In a statement Sunday, NSW police said they would allege in court that protesters had entered the harbour channel at the Port of Newcastle after the 30-hour blockage was due to finish “despite appropriate warnings and directions”.

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Climate protesters arrested at Port of Newcastle blockade – as it happened

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‘The biggest transformation in our country’s history’

Chris Bowen has been talking about Labor’s plans for reducing emissions, but he’s pressed on the fact that the government has been approving new coalmines and gas projects, which add to global emissions.

The way I see this, David, you can enter into a discussion with your international counterparts which we are doing which is us saying to them, “We will continue to be a reliable energy supplier but we want to work with you on your decarbonisation because we have advantages that you don’t have. We can provide renewable energy.” That is an important conversation to have.

Frankly the approach of others is more a slogan than a policy. We are making the biggest transformation in our country’s history and that involves both domestic policies and strong international engagements, as I will be doing over the next couple of weeks and we have been doing all the way through.

It will be treated in the budget statement of risks and liabilities in the normal fashion. But this is the right policy for the right times to ensure emissions come down and reliability goes up.

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Cop28: Australia to bring evidence it can meet 2030 climate target but pressure builds over fossil fuels

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Chris Bowen says country ‘reaping the economic opportunities’ of clean energy as emissions projection improves

The Albanese government will head to a major UN climate summit in Dubai furnishing new evidence that Australia is all but on track to meet its 2030 emissions target, but facing calls that it must do more to limit the country’s fossil fuel exports.

A snapshot of an upcoming emissions projections report released by the climate change minister, Chris Bowen, suggests Australia will likely cut its CO2 pollution to 42% below 2005 levels by 2030 – nearly in line with the government’s 43% reduction target.

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How the climate credentials of Australia’s big banks stack up

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ANZ stands out as ‘laggard’ while Commonwealth Bank and Westpac have restrictions on facilitating bonds for fossil fuel clients

There is a growing gulf between the climate policies of Australia’s big banks, with some pledging to severely limit future financing for fossil fuel projects, while others have left the door open, according to an analysis of updated lending policies.

Part of the discrepancy lies in the banks’ approach to arranging bonds, which are used by companies to access financing along with, and sometimes instead of, a direct loan.

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Canada oil and gas firms to drill 8% more wells next year as emissions target slips

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Producers take advantage of new shipping options, including government-owned Trans Mountain pipeline, to boost exports

Oil and gas producers say they will drill 8% more wells in Canada next year as they look to take advantage of new shipping options, including a controversial government-owned pipeline.

Amid forecasts that Canada is not on target to reach its emissions reductions goals, on Friday the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors (CAOEC) predicted nearly 500 more wells next year, to 6,229 projects.

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Man found dead after statewide search – as it happened

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Hostage release essential if truce to last, Paterson says

Rewinding to Liberal MP James Paterson’s appearance on RN Breakfast this morning, wheN he said more needs to be done to free the hostages Hamas is holding in Gaza.

We don’t know how many of them are still alive, and their continued release would be essential for any continuing ceasefire because otherwise Israel continues to have a legitimate military objective.

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Madagascan heatwave ‘virtually impossible’ without human-caused global heating

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Study finds impact of heat on millions of people went unrecorded, highlighting limitations many African countries face

A record-breaking heatwave in Madagascar in October would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused global heating, a study has shown.

The extreme temperatures affected millions of very poor people but the damage to their lives was not recorded by officials or the media. Many governments in Africa lack the capabilities to record climate impacts. The scientists behind the report said this lack of information made implementing measures to avoid deaths very difficult.

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Companies still investing too much in fossil fuels, global energy watchdog says

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Head of International Energy Agency says the industry faces a ‘moment of truth’ as Cop28 talks approach

Fossil fuel companies are investing twice as much in oil and gas as they should if the world hopes to limit rising global temperatures to avert a climate catastrophe, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The world’s energy watchdog said that the sector still had “minimal” engagement with the global clean energy transition, and continued to contribute just 1% of clean energy investment globally.

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Toowoomba council votes for moratorium on coal seam gas projects

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Council becomes sixth in Queensland to oppose development of new wells after farmer concerns about sinking soil and water contamination

The largest council in Queensland’s Darling Downs region has called on the state government to put a moratorium on new coal seam gas projects, after local farmers raised concerns about subsidence.

The Toowoomba regional council on Tuesday unanimously passed the motion that requested a temporary prohibition, after discussing a submission to the state government’s proposed amendments to the Regional Planning Interests Act.

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Greens could sink Labor’s gas industry scheme over concerns it supports fossil fuel expansion

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Exclusive: Adam Bandt says party cannot endorse $12 a gigajoule price cap due to exemptions allowing new ‘climate bomb’ gasfields

The Albanese government’s mandatory code for the gas industry could be at risk, with the Greens vowing to disallow the scheme because it supports new gasfields even as the climate crisis worsens.

The Greens will move a disallowance vote in the Senate next Monday, saying the code with its $12 a gigajoule price cap had benefited big gas users. Uncontracted supplies of the fossil fuel had also been diverted to the domestic market.

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