Joint project with EU involves more than 500 scientists and engineers and more than 70 companies
The world’s biggest operational experimental nuclear fusion reactor – a technology in its infancy but billed by some as the answer to humanity’s future energy needs – has been inaugurated in Naka, Japan.
Fusion differs from fission, the technique used in nuclear power plants, by fusing two atomic nuclei instead of splitting one.
Continue reading...Thousands of towns and villages in Moldova, Ukraine and Bulgaria left without electricity as cold snap bites
Heavy snowfall and blizzards across eastern European countries this week have resulted in a number of deaths, and left thousands of towns and villages without electricity, after the first major cold snap of the season.
In Moldova, four people were reported dead over the weekend, with two bodies being recovered from cars that had been buried in snowdrifts. In Ukraine, severe snowstorms left 10 people dead across the Odesa, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Kyiv regions. Fifteen hundred towns and villages were left without power, with one snowstorm in Odesa leaving 2,500 people in need of rescue and about 850 vehicles requiring towing. Southern Ukraine was the worst affected, as cars and buses slid off frozen roads, with local authorities battling strong winds to rescue vehicles. Bulgaria was also badly affected, declaring a state of emergency as winter storms left more than 1,000 villages without electricity.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak’s attendance comes after he scaled back pledges to help the UK reach net zero by 2050
King Charles will give a “call to arms” in his Cop28 climate summit opening statement, Rishi Sunak has said, expressing delight over the monarch’s record championing the issue.
Sunak said it was a “proud moment” for him to witness Charles deliver his speech on Friday, which “speaks volumes about our type of leadership as a country”.
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The NSW Australian Paramedics Association will take part in a 12-hour strike today, from 7am to 7pm, despite the threat of legal action.
Members will still attend emergency “lights and sirens” jobs as part of an ongoing pay dispute.
We want to assure the public that emergencies will still be attended to, with our focus intensifying on life-threatening cases.
Our decision to limit responses to non-emergency jobs enhances our capacity to manage critical cases.
Facing potential legal repercussions and a substantial fine of up to $20,000 per day, our commitment remains firm.
Continue reading...A new report argues that $12bn a year on average between now and 2050 will be required to transition to renewable energy
Industry super funds have warned the Albanese government that Australia’s energy transition risks falling behind as big funds chase more compelling investment opportunities in the US, UK and Europe.
AustralianSuper, cbus, HostPlus, CareSuper, HESTA and UniSuper have co-authored a new report with Australian fund IFM Investors calling for more favourable investment conditions underwritten by taxpayers to unlock private capital for the domestic transition to net zero emissions.
Continue reading...Border collie Jessie sniffs out elusive species last seen in 1937 among dunes of South Africa
An elusive, iridescent golden mole not recorded since before the second world war has been rediscovered “swimming” in the sand near the coastal town of Port Nolloth in north-west South Africa.
The De Winton’s golden mole (Cryptochloris wintoni), previously feared extinct, lives in underground burrows and had not been seen since 1937. It gets its “golden” name from oily secretions that lubricate its fur so it can “swim” through sand dunes. This means it does not create conventional tunnels, making it all the harder to detect.
Continue reading...Matthew Hedges, tortured in UAE in 2018, tells reporters and activists to take clean phones and watch who they deal with
Journalists and campaigners attending the Cop28 climate conference in Dubai should “not be naive” and take steps to protect their physical and digital security, a British academic who was tortured in the summit’s host country has warned.
Matthew Hedges, who was detained in the United Arab Emirates for seven months in 2018, advised reporters and activists to take new, clean phones, think carefully about who they deal with and how and where they protest.
Continue reading...Agreements have been struck with African states home to crucial biodiversity hotspots, for land representing billions of dollars in potential carbon offsetting revenue
• Who is the UAE sheikh behind deals to manage vast areas of African forest?
The rights over vast tracts of African forest are being sold off in a series of huge carbon offsetting deals that cover an area of land larger than the UK. The deals, made by a little-known member of Dubai’s ruling royal family, encompass up to 20% of the countries concerned – and have raised concerns about a new “scramble for Africa” and the continent’s carbon resources.
As chairman of the company Blue Carbon, which is barely a year old, Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook al-Maktoum has announced several exploratory deals with African states that are home to crucial wildlife havens and biodiversity hotspots, for land that represents billions of dollars in potential offsetting revenue. The sheikh has no previous experience in nature conservation projects.
Continue reading...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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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
Continue reading...Cause of mass stranding of 34 pilot whales on Freycinet Peninsula unclear as authorities say they are unable to remove carcasses
Thirty-four whales were found washed up across a beach on Tasmania’s east coast on Tuesday in what was described as a “confronting” and “devastating” scene.
While out training on a boat, local guide Chris Theobald came across an “overnight mass stranding” of more than 30 pilot whales at Bryans beach near the southern end of the Freycinet Peninsula.
Continue reading...Opposition vows to tackle rural connection delays to the grid while Conservatives call for offshore network to preserve landscapes
Labour is promising to “rewire Britain”, making its case to the UK’s rural communities that it will connect farmers and businesses to the National Grid at record-breaking speed.
The pledge comes as Rishi Sunak faces a battle over electricity pylons with the trade secretary, Kemi Badenoch, and former ministers urging him to pull the plug on crucial grid infrastructure.
Continue reading...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.
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
Continue reading...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”.
Continue reading...The report Our Land and Water looks at how waterways are polluted by four major contaminants in 650,000 river segments, 961 lakes and 419 estuaries
A new study of New Zealand’s freshwater quality has painted a sobering picture, showing that E coli is seeping through three-quarters of the land and into waterways at higher levels than national regulations allow.
The report, funded by the government-backed organisation Our Land and Water, looked at how rivers, lakes, and estuaries are polluted by four major contaminants, including E coli, a bacteria found in the intestines of many animals and humans that can cause serious illness.
Continue reading...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”.
Continue reading...Move builds on decisions by states like Oregon to fully or partially prohibit the use of M-44s used to kill predators and other wildlife
A campaign to end the use of so-called “cyanide bombs” within the United States has received a major boost after the country’s largest public land management agency banned the poison devices on hundreds of millions of acres across the nation.
The move builds on decisions by states such as Oregon to fully or partially prohibit the use of cyanide bombs, also known as M-44s, within their jurisdictions. The US Department of Agriculture uses these devices to kill predators and other wildlife.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Global energy watchdog says Russia cutting supplies has prompted efficiency upgrades and move to heat pumps
The Ukraine crisis has marked a turning point for Europe’s gas consumption, which is expected to fall again this year as homes and firms embrace efficiency upgrades and heat pumps, according to the global energy watchdog.
A report from the International Energy Agency found that the continent’s developed economies reduced their gas use by 15% in 2022 after Russia cut off flows after its invasion.
Continue reading...British PM to tell UN summit of plans for rainforests and new national park – but green groups remain sceptical
Rishi Sunak is to announce a new package of green measures as the Cop28 UN climate summit begins in Dubai, including a search for a national park, a strategy on British rainforests and landscape recovery projects with farmers.
But green groups have told the Guardian the package is greenwashing and an attempt by the UK prime minister to “reset” his reputation after previously opposing environmental measures.
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