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Swedish minister Isabella Lövin found fame in a jibe aimed at the White House. Now she aims for change beyond Twitter

In February last year, a week after Donald Trump had signed an anti-abortion executive order surrounded by seven men, Isabella Lövin posted a photograph of herself on Twitter signing a climate change bill alongside seven other women.

Sweden’s then deputy prime minister remained enigmatic as the picture went viral and she was asked whether she had been “trolling” the US president. “It is up to the observer to interpret the photo,” she was quoted as saying. “We are a feminist government, which shows in this photo.”

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Demonstration organised by Extinction Rebellion aims to highlight government failure on the environment

Dozens of environmental campaigners blocked the roads around Parliament Square to highlight concerns about the environment on Saturday.

About 50 activists from Extinction Rebellion, a direct action group that has been coordinating a campaign of civil disobedience which has brought areas of the capital to a standstill in recent weeks, risked arrest by standing defiantly in roads in front of queueing traffic.

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The rate of deforestation has risen 13.7% in a year, amid concern about the new president's policies.

Schools introduce walk-to-school initiatives and stock up on asthma medicine

Schools across the UK are taking ever more drastic steps in an effort to mitigate the effects of air pollution on their pupils’ health.

Amid growing concern about the long-term implications of toxic air on young people’s development, the Guardian has found one London school is raising money for face masks for its pupils, while a growing number are installing air purifiers in classrooms and thousands more are trying to deter parents from using their cars on the school run.

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Nearly 8,000sq kms lost in the year to July amid alarm new president Jair Bolsonaro will make situation worse

Brazil has released its worst annual deforestation figures in a decade amid fears that the situation might worsen when the avowedly anti-environmentalist president-elect Jair Bolsonaro takes power.

Between August 2017 and July 2018, 7,900sq kms were deforested, according to preliminary figures from the environment ministry based on satellite monitoring – a 13.7% rise on the previous year and the biggest area of forest cleared since 2008. The area is equivalent to 987,000 football pitches.

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A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

Report points particularly to important habitats in Queensland and NSW where land clearing is prevalent

Australia is failing to meet international targets to protect nature in parts of the country where land clearing and habitat destruction are widespread, according to data in a major new United Nations report.

The UN report on protected areas, released at the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties in Egypt, examines progress by countries to meet global conservation targets.

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Climate change could cost the US hundreds of billions of dollars and damage health, a major report warns.

EU carbon prices fell back towards €20 from a fresh six-week high on Friday as crashing crude prices jolted markets.

• ‘Impacts of climate change are intensifying across the country’
• Draft outlines claim current response to crisis is insufficient

Climate change is already harming Americans’ lives with “substantial damages” set to occur as global temperatures threaten to surge beyond internationally agreed limits, a major US government report is set to warn.

The influence of climate change is being felt across the US with increases in disastrous wildfires in the west, flooding on the east coast, soil loss in the midwest and coastal erosion in Alaska, a draft of the US national climate assessment states.

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A few more weeks of wild volatility stand between EU carbon prices currently anchored around €20 and the resumption of the bull run that has been on pause since mid-September, analysts predict.

Prosecution based on secret footage obtained by rights charity Animal Equality at Fir Tree farm in Lincolnshire

Two men pleaded guilty today to charges of animal cruelty while employed at a pig farm, Fir Tree in Goxhill, Lincolnshire.

Artis Grogprkevs, 31, and Troy Wagstaff, 30, have appeared at Grimsby magistrates court charged with causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal between 2-27 April this year.

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A family of roe deer and the bignose unicornfish are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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Theresa May called on to commit to ambitious climate target

Fifty Conservative MPs have called on Theresa May to adopt an ambitious target of cutting carbon emissions to net zero before 2050, to show international leadership on climate change and protect British jobs.

Former ministers Damian Green, Oliver Letwin and Anna Soubry are among the signatories of the letter to the prime minister, which said that a stronger long-term goal would cut energy bills and improve air quality.

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ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst captures the launch of the Russian Progress MS-10 cargo spacecraft.

Record absence of ice after freak warm spells denies pregnant bears birthing dens and triggers ‘extirpation event’ warning

A record slow freeze of many regions of the Arctic this winter is making it harder for pregnant polar bears to find birthing dens.

The delayed formation of sea ice during autumn has worried biologists, who fear a first “extirpation event” – the local extinction of a species – may be approaching faster than forecast for the most affected populations.

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Closing prices, ranges and volumes for China's regional pilot carbon markets this week.

New Zealand carbon allowances this week halted their slide below the market's de facto price ceiling as compliance buyers emerged to provide support.

Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator this week issued just shy of 20,000 carbon credits, only a tenth of the recent weekly average, highlighting concerns over the market’s ability to meet potential increasing demand under a strengthened Safeguard Mechanism.

Extreme weather meteorologist Dean Narramore explains the weather systems causing chaos across parts of the country.