Category Archives: Environment

World’s biggest investment fund warns directors to tackle climate crisis or face sack

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Norway’s sovereign wealth titan threatens to vote against boards on firms it holds investments with over lax climate and social targets

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s single largest investor, has warned company directors it will vote against their re-election to the board if they don’t up their game on tackling the climate crisis, human rights abuses and boardroom diversity.

Carine Smith Ihenacho, chief governance and compliance officer of Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages more than 13tn Norwegian kroner (£1tn) on behalf of the Norwegian people, said the fund was preparing to vote against the re-election of at least 80 company boards for failing to set or hit environmental or social targets.

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Weather tracker: historic rainfall wreaks havoc in New Zealand

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Auckland has experienced its wettest January since records began, while temperatures plummet in southern US

Historic rainfall hit New Zealand in the past week with the worst flooding in at least 200 years in Auckland. Auckland airport reported 249mm of rainfall in a 24-hour period on 27 January, with a month’s worth of rainfall in less than an hour. At another station, Albert Park, there was 280mm in one day, with 211mm falling in less than six hours.

These totals are more than 8.5 times higher than a typical January, and more than 2.5 times higher than an entire typical summer. Overall, Auckland has had the wettest January since records began, with more than half a metre of rain falling in places. The rainfall has caused numerous landslips, flooding and damage to roads and properties with four people killed and 350 in need of emergency accommodation. More than 9,000 people are still stranded as flights in and out of Auckland experiencing delays and cancellations.

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The man in charge of how the US spends $400bn to shift away from fossil fuels

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The Department of Energy’s loan programs office was ‘essentially dormant’, says Jigar Shah, its head – but now it’s ready to bankroll clean energy projects

Deep in the confines of the hulking, brutalist headquarters of the US Department of Energy, down one of its long, starkly lit corridors, sits a small, unheralded office that is poised to play a pivotal role in America’s shift away from fossil fuels and help the world stave off disastrous global heating.

The department’s loan programs office (LPO) was “essentially dormant” under Donald Trump, according to its head, Jigar Shah, but has now come roaring back with a huge war chest to bankroll emerging clean energy projects and technology.

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Coles and Woolworths ordered to dump more than 5,200 tonnes of recycled soft plastic in landfill

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NSW environment officials alert Fire and Rescue over concerns plastic is being stored dangerously following suspension of the REDcycle scheme

Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths have been ordered to dump more than 5,200 tonnes of soft plastic – currently being stored at warehouses across New South Wales – into landfill.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority is concerned that huge amounts of soft plastic are being dangerously stored at 15 locations due to the suspension of botched recycling initiative REDcycle.

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Swallowed fishing gear and plastic most likely cause of Hawaii whale’s death

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Large volumes of traps, nets and marine debris in sperm whale’s intestinal tract highlight plastic pollution’s threat to wildlife

A sperm whale that washed ashore in Hawaii over the weekend probably died in part because it ate large volumes of fishing traps, fishing nets, plastic bags and other marine debris, scientists said on Thursday, highlighting the threat to wildlife from the millions of tons of plastic that ends up in oceans every year.

The body of the 56ft (17-meter) long, 120,000-pound (54,000kg) animal was first noticed on a reef off Kauai on Friday. High tide brought it ashore on Saturday.

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NSW irrigator hit with $350,000 fine for water theft offences

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Moree Plains company found guilty of knowingly taking water with faulty metering equipment for crops such as cotton

A Moree Plains irrigator has been ordered to pay a record $350,000 in fines after pleading guilty to knowingly taking water, using an under-recording meter system and constructing an unlawful dam.

It is the first time a “tier one” offence has been successfully prosecuted by the Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR).

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M&S joins calls for EU to restrict harmful tuna fishing methods in Indian Ocean

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Retailer and green groups warn of ‘high environmental cost’ of fish aggregating devices to tuna stocks and other endangered marine life

The EU is under pressure to significantly restrict its huge fleet of fishing vessels from using “fish aggregating devices” that make it easier to catch huge numbers of fish and contribute further to overfishing.

A letter signed by Marks & Spencer and more than 100 environmental groups, including the International Pole and Line Foundation, warns EU officials that the devices (FADs) are one of the main contributors to overfishing of yellowfin tuna in the Indian Ocean, because they catch high numbers of juveniles.

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Somerset estate offers rare peek into life of beavers with launch of online tour

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National Trust project shows family home of ‘nature’s engineers’ and how they have improved the environment for other wildlife

They can be seen chugging around their watery domain like small furry tugboats, gnawing away at saplings or nuzzling up to each other. The sound of babbling water and birdsong provides a pleasing soundtrack.

A new online tour is being launched on Thursday of an enclosure on the Holnicote estate in Somerset that is home to a family of five beavers. In what is billed as the first of its kind, the tour allows viewers to navigate through the 2.7-acre Exmoor enclosure where two adult beavers and their three offspring live and work.

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‘A serious threat’: calls grow for urgent review of damage done by wood burning stoves

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Government plan to educate owners and encourage fines not enough to effectively tackle air pollution

• Study links air pollution to mental ill-health

Politicians and campaigners have called for an urgent review of wood-burning stoves, which cause large amounts of pollution in urban areas.

The calls follow the admission by the environment secretary that the government had set weaker air pollution targets than it would like. The admission came as she announced a new environmental plan for England that held back from banning wood-burning stoves and settled instead for “educating” people on their use.

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Outrage as US government advances $8bn Alaska oil drilling plan

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Interior department report recommends scaled-back version of ConocoPhillips’ Willow project despite Biden campaign pledge

The Biden administration has advanced a $8bn drilling project on Alaska’s north slope. The ConocoPhillips Willow project, which would be one of the largest oil and gas developments on federal territory, has drawn fierce opposition from environmentalists, who say its approval runs counter to the president’s ambitious climate goals.

An environmental assessment released by the interior department on Wednesday recommends a scaled-back version of the project ConocoPhillips originally proposed, and would produce about 600m barrels of oil over 30 years, with a peak of 180,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

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Costa Rican farmer handed 22 years for murder of Indigenous land defender

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Brörán leader Yehry Rivera, 45, was shot and killed by Juan Varela during conflict in Terraba community in February 2020

A Costa Rican court has sentenced a man to 22 years behind bars for the murder of an Indigenous land rights defender in 2020, in a case which stoked decades-old tensions between native communities and farmers over disputed territory.

Yehry Rivera, a leader of the Brörán people, was shot from behind and killed by farmer Juan Varela during a land conflict in the Terraba community, 80 miles (130 km) south-east of the capital San Jose in Puntarenas province.

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Thérèse Coffey admits UK can’t achieve air pollution target advised by experts

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Environment secretary sets lower 10-year objective for cleaner air but researchers say their goal is reachable with stronger action

The government cannot achieve the air quality improvements advised by medical experts, so has set its targets lower for the next 10 years, the environment secretary has admitted as she unveiled a new environmental plan.

Thérèse Coffey said on Tuesday: “We have cleaner air. I want it to be even cleaner. Now, I would have loved to have made our target to achieve 10 micrograms [of fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, per cubic metre of air] by 2030, not 2040. Many parts of the country already enjoy this, but the evidence shows us that with the best will in the world we cannot achieve that everywhere by the end of the decade, particularly in London.”

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Water firms in England urged to upgrade sewage works for new homes

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Campaigners in Oxfordshire, Cotwolds and Cumbria say houses should not be occupied until system can cope

Campaigners are intervening to prevent new houses being occupied in several areas of the country until sewage treatment works are upgraded to cope.

In Oxfordshire, the Cotswolds and in Cumbria, the failure of water companies to invest in sewage infrastructure means new homes would just add more sewage into treatment works that are at or beyond capacity, and increase pollution into rivers, they say.

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Leaked EU plan reveals response to US and Chinese green subsidies

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Draft plan to loosen state aid rules follows Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and Chinese subsidies

The EU executive will loosen state aid rules and propose a new “European sovereignty fund” later this year, in response to the controversial US Inflation Reduction Act and China’s “unfair” green subsidies.

A leaked European Commission plan underscores the global green subsidy race is under way, although EU member states remain divided on how to respond.

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Farmers will be key to plan to restore England’s green spaces and wildlife

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Environmental improvement plan includes many ambitious pledges but hard-pressed agricultural sector will need effective support

It has taken years of campaigns and mass trespasses for the government to put access to green space in England at the top of its agenda, as it has today in the environmental improvement plan.

During the pandemic, the importance of nature for our physical and mental wellbeing became ever more apparent – as did the inequality in access, with the poorest in society less able to access green space.

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Every household in England ‘to be within 15 minutes of green space or water’

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Major environmental plan includes tackling sewage spills and restoring wildlife habitats but critics question lack of funding

Every household will be within a 15-minute walk of a green space or water, under a major environmental improvement plan for England set out by the government on Tuesday.

The long-awaited measures will include commitments to restore at least 500,000 hectares (1.2m acres) of wildlife habitat, and 400 miles of river. This will include 25 new or expanded national nature reserves and 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of new woodland along England’s rivers. A new species survival fund will target some of the most threatened wildlife, including hedgehogs and red squirrels.

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Peers deliver several blows to government’s anti-protest bill

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House of Lords votes against flagship public order bill on day when Extinction Rebellion protesters disrupted proceedings in chamber

A government bill aimed at cracking down on protest has suffered a number of setbacks in the House of Lords, setting the stage for a tense showdown between parliament’s two chambers.

Peers inflicted a number of defeats on the wide-ranging public order bill, which is aimed at curbing guerrilla tactics used by protest groups.

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EU plans to loosen state aid rules to boost renewables investment

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Proposed use of tax credits follows pressure to respond to Biden’s $369bn green subsidy scheme in US

The EU is stepping up its green subsidy race with the US through plans to loosen state aid rules on tax credits for renewable energy projects.

European policymakers have been under pressure to respond to the US president Joe Biden’s $369bn (£298bn) Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to encourage renewables investment in everything from electric cars to wind turbines.

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Death in the marshes: environmental calamity hits Iraq’s unique wetlands

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Rivers and lakes that have nurtured communities since civilisation’s dawn are drying up, as drought leads to hunger, displacement and simmering conflict

Small gangs of buffaloes sat submerged in green and muddy waters. Their back ridges rose over the surface like a chain of black islets, spanning the Toos River, a tributary of the Tigris that flows into the Huwaiza marshes in southern Iraq.

With their melancholic eyes, they gazed with defiance at an approaching boat, refusing to budge. Only when the boatman shrieked “heyy, heyy, heyy” did one or two reluctantly raise their haunches. Towering over the boat, they moved a few steps away, giving the boatmen barely enough space to steer between a cluster of large, curved horns.

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Australian period underwear makers deny using ‘forever chemicals’ after Thinx settles suit in US

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Modibodi and Bonds say they avoid using PFAS chemicals, which break down slowly over time and have unclear health impacts

Australian manufacturers of period underwear have denied using “forever chemicals” in their products following a class-action lawsuit in the US, while experts say more research is needed into the compounds and their potential health impacts.

Thinx, a US manufacturer of menstrual hygiene products, announced last week that it had reached a settlement in a class-action lawsuit over allegations “regarding the presence of short chain per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (‘PFAS’)” in its underwear.

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