Court rules not enough evidence provided to prove defendants failed to comply with section 14 order at anti-fossil fuel rally
Greta Thunberg and four others charged with public order offences over a protest in London have been cleared after a judge ruled that they had no case to answer.
Thunberg was charged alongside Christofer Kebbon, Joshua James Unwin, Jeff Rice and Peter Barker with “failing to comply with a condition imposed under section 14 of the Public Order Act”.
Continue reading...Senior adviser will take over responsibilities, but not title, of John Kerry, who stepped down to work on Biden’s re-election campaign
The White House senior adviser John Podesta will add international climate policy to his job responsibilities, replacing the special climate envoy, John Kerry, as the top US official on international climate issues, the White House said on Wednesday.
Kerry announced in mid-January that he would step down from the climate job to work on Joe Biden’s re-election campaign. Podesta will take over Kerry’s responsibilities, though not his title, when he departs, probably this spring, the White House said.
Continue reading...Under pressure from the far right in upcoming elections, environmental concessions being made across continent
Exhausted by an energy crisis, burdened by bureaucracy and angry at efforts to curb their pollution, Europe’s farmers say people are not listening to their plight.
“Over the last few years we’ve spoken out vigorously, but we haven’t been heard,” Europe’s biggest farming lobby, Copa Cogeca, said on Wednesday in an open letter to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. “The survival of European family farming as it is known today is in danger.”
Continue reading...Three new levels added by US Coral Reef Watch after ‘extreme’ unprecedented heat, with highest alert warning of ‘near complete mortality’
The world’s main system for warning about heat stress on the planet’s coral reefs has been forced to add three new alert categories to represent ever-increasing temperature extremes.
The changes introduced by the US government’s Coral Reef Watch program come after reefs across the Americas were hit by unprecedented levels of heat stress last year that bleached and killed corals en masse.
Continue reading...Committee urges UK to set ‘powerful example’ of tackling climate change after ‘mixed messages’ of Cop28
The UK must act urgently to meet its international climate commitments, the independent climate watchdog has warned, after sending “mixed messages” to other countries at the Cop28 UN climate summit in December.
While carbon reduction from electricity generation has shown progress, the rate at which all other sources of emissions are being cut must quadruple to meet the UK’s target under the Paris agreement of 68% reductions in emissions by 2030, according to the Climate Change Committee.
Continue reading...Strong waves and sediment-laden freshwater pushed out from river catchments may have damaged parts of reef system, experts say
Back-to-back cyclones crossing the Great Barrier Reef have experts concerned vast flood plumes and heavy waves may have damaged parts of the world’s biggest coral reef system.
Reef scientists and conservationists went into the summer worried that an El Niño weather pattern would elevate the risk of mass coral bleaching.
Continue reading...Climate activists cheer decision to pause all pending liquified natural gas export licenses, but is it just a delay till after November elections?
Joe Biden has, at least for a while, defused a ticking carbon bomb. Climate activists and the fossil fuel industry are now left wondering how long it will last.
The decision on Friday by the Biden administration to pause all pending export licenses for liquified national gas (LNG) to consider the climate impact of the projects has been hailed as a momentous shift in the status quo by those concerned by the unfolding climate crisis.
Continue reading...Lobbying group spent nearly $30m on ads touting the ‘clean energy’ potential of propane – and downplaying its full climate impacts
This story is co-published with Heated
Members of a propane industry lobbying group strategized to downplay the full climate impacts of propane and market it as renewable or “clean energy”, recordings reviewed by the climate newsletter Heated and the Guardian reveal.
Continue reading...Kirrily downgraded to category-one storm by BoM after heading inland on Thursday night
Tropical Cyclone Kirrily has crossed the coast of Queensland bringing heavy rain and very strong wind gusts.
The cyclone had been updated to a category-three storm on Thursday afternoon and crossed the Queensland coast at Townsville at 10pm. But it was then downgraded first to a category-two storm and then category one as it made its way inland, the Queensland Bureau of Meteorology said.
Continue reading...Former Cop26 president abstains from vote saying bill breaks UK’s promise to phase out fossil fuels
Alok Sharma has said the government’s oil and gas bill going through the Commons will not cut household energy costs or create jobs and instead will break the UK’s promise to phase out fossil fuels.
The government’s offshore petroleum licensing bill passed its second reading on Monday night with 293 votes to 211 against. No Conservative MPs voted against it, and Sharma – the former business secretary who served as president of the Cop26 climate talks – abstained. The legislation would place the North Sea Transition Authority under a duty to run annual applications for new offshore oil and gas licences.
Continue reading...Jonathan Reynolds calls for version of US Inflation Reduction Act amid row over future of Labour policy
Britain needs its own ambitious green investment plan to keep up with its allies, a Labour frontbencher has said, amid an increasingly bitter row over whether Keir Starmer should stick to his £28bn pledge.
Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, said the UK should come up with a version of Joe Biden’s $369bn (£290bn) Inflation Reduction Act, which has provided support to a range of technologies including electric cars and renewable power.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Prof Matt King says accelerated melting could transform country and affect viability of some agricultural industries
A leading Antarctic scientist has urged the Albanese government to pay closer attention to abrupt changes under way in the southern continent, warning they will affect Australians in ways that are little understood and research into them is drastically underfunded.
The head of the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science, Prof Matt King, said he found it embarrassing how little was known about the local and global ramifications of changes including a historic drop in floating sea ice cover, the accelerating melting of giant ice sheets and the slowing of a deep ocean current known as the Southern Ocean overturning circulation.
Continue reading...Heat warnings have been issued to residents in NSW, South Australia and Western Australia about rising temperatures this weekend
A withering heatwave has spread across three states with temperatures in parts of northern Western Australia reaching towards 50C, and the goldmining town of Kalgoorlie still without power after a rare super-cell storm.
Heat warnings have been issued to residents in New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia about rising temperatures on Sunday, with the Pilbara in northern WA a hotspot.
Continue reading...MEPs react to ‘tragic’ findings revealing UK falling behind EU in key environmental policies since Brexit
European lawmakers have lamented the UK’s decision to weaken environmental rules since leaving the EU, after the Guardian revealed it is falling behind in almost every policy area.
One Green group MEP said the findings were “tragic” while a centre-right MEP said the divergences were “particularly bad” for companies that want to do business on both sides of the Channel.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Britain is falling behind the bloc on almost every area of green regulation, analysis reveals
Vital legal protections for the environment and human health are being destroyed in post-Brexit departures from European legislation, a detailed analysis by the Guardian reveals.
The UK is falling behind the EU on almost every area of environmental regulation, as the bloc strengthens its legislation while the UK weakens it. In some cases, ministers are removing EU-derived environmental protections from the statute book entirely.
Water in the UK will be dirtier than in the EU.
There will be more pesticides in Britain’s soil.
Companies will be allowed to produce products containing chemicals that the EU has restricted for being dangerous.
EU-derived air pollution laws that will be removed under the retained EU law bill.
Dozens of chemicals banned in the EU are still available for use in the UK.
Thirty-six pesticides banned in the EU have not been outlawed in the UK.
The UK is falling behind on reducing carbon emissions as the EU implements carbon pricing.
The EU is compensating those who are struggling to afford the costs of the green transition, while the UK is not.
The EU is implementing stricter regulations on battery recycling, while the UK is not.
Deforestation is being removed from the EU supply chain, while the UK’s proposed scheme is more lax and does not come in until a year later.
Continue reading...Panel was originally composed of 28 men, a move condemned as ‘regressive’ and ‘shocking’
The president of Azerbaijan has added 12 women to the previously all-male organising committee for the Cop29 global climate summit, which the country will host in December.
The move follows a backlash after the Guardian reported the initial 28-man composition of the committee, which was called “regressive” by the She Changes Climate campaign group. “Climate change affects the whole world, not half of it,” the group said.
Continue reading...G77 president Pedro Pedroso warns deal risks failing if polluters like UK, US and Canada don’t rethink plans to expand oil and gas
The credibility of the Cop28 agreement to “transition away” from fossil fuels rides on the world’s biggest historical polluters like the US, UK and Canada rethinking current plans to expand oil and gas production, according to the climate negotiator representing 135 developing countries.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Pedro Pedroso, the outgoing president of the G77 plus China bloc of developing countries, warned that the landmark deal made at last year’s climate talks in Dubai risked failing.
Continue reading...Scientists say sea level rises, flooding and extreme weather will accelerate release of arsenic into water supply
Climate breakdown will put tens of millions of people in Bangladesh at heightened risk of cancer from contaminated well water, according to research.
Sea level rises, unpredictable flooding and extreme weather caused by the climate heating up will accelerate the release of dangerous levels of arsenic into the country’s drinking water, say scientists.
Continue reading...Drought in Hwange national park was the cause of most of the deaths, and wildlife experts fear the climate crisis could make such events look normal
At least 160 elephants have died as drought conditions hit Zimbabwe, and with hot, dry weather likely to continue, conservationists fear there could be more deaths to come.
The elephants died between August and December last year in the 14,651 sq km Hwange national park, which is home to endangered elephants, buffalo, lions, cheetahs, giraffes and other species. At least six other elephants have recently been discovered dead outside the park in suspected poaching incidents.
Continue reading...No successor has been named for Lord Deben – and now the independent watchdog’s chief executive has resigned
Rishi Sunak has been accused of trying to avoid scrutiny of his green policies after details surfaced about his government’s failure, over more than 18 months, to appoint a new chair of the independent climate change committee.
Senior environmentalists said they believed Sunak may be deliberately trying to avoid appointing a successor to Lord Deben – who first announced that he was stepping down in July 2022 – until after a general election, so he does not face criticism for his U-turns on green issues.
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