Around The Web

Syria’s decision means America will be the only country outside the landmark deal if it follows through with Donald Trump’s vow to leave

Syria has decided to sign the Paris agreement on climate change, the world’s final functioning state to do so. The surprise decision, taken amid a brutal civil war in the country, will leave the US as the only country outside the agreement if it follows through on President Donald Trump’s vow to leave.

The landmark 2015 agreement requires global governments to limit temperature rises to no more than 2C, which scientists say is the threshold of safety, beyond which the ravages of global warming are likely to become catastrophic and irreversible.

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Heavy smog has led doctors to declare a state of emergency in one of India’s largest cities

A public health emergency has been declared in Delhi as a choking blanket of smog descended on the world’s most polluted capital city.

“We have declared a state of public health emergency in Delhi since pollution is at an alarming level,” Krishan Kumar Aggarwal, head of the Indian Medical Association, told AFP.

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Ministers accused of ‘stubborn failure’ to tackle widespread and illegal levels of air pollution, which cause 40,000 early deaths every year

The UK government is being sued for a third time over the widespread illegal levels of air pollution, which cause 40,000 early deaths every year.

Environmental lawyers ClientEarth have already defeated ministers twice in court, forcing a new pollution plan to be drawn up in July. But ClientEarth believes even the latest strategy does not meet the legal requirement of banishing toxic air in the “shortest possible time”, as EU law requires.

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Plans to pedestrianise one of the capital’s busiest cycling roads send the troubling message that cyclists and pedestrians can’t co-exist in an 80ft-wide street

Sadiq Khan’s proposal to ban cyclists from Oxford Street, published on Monday, is an unqualified disaster for cycling in London, perhaps the single biggest blow it has suffered in years. And he’s sending an even more dangerous signal to the rest of the country.

More than 2,000 cyclists a day, according to Department for Transport figures, use the first section proposed for pedestrianisation next year, between Selfridges and Oxford Circus. More than 5,000 a day use the section between Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road, which is proposed to be pedestrianised in 2019.

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Daniel Trim’s airport-roosting pied wagtail has won the 2017 competition, which celebrates the work of amateur and professional photographers and the beauty and diversity of British wildlife. Winning images are chosen from thousands of entries, including film and junior categories.

More than 100 images are on show at the Mall Galleries in London, before touring nationally, and a book of the images is also available

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Anglican clergy, including five bishops, broadcaster Richard Coles and Olivia Graham, call on the church to support the aims of the Paris climate agreement by divesting from fossil fuel companies

As Church of England clergy, we have a strong interest in the ethics of investments made by the Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board on our behalf.

This week, governments from around the world will meet in Bonn for the next round of UN climate talks. The Paris climate change agreement, which was signed by 195 countries in December 2015, included a commitment to hold the increase in the global average temperature to “well below 2C … and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels”.

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Group says church should show ‘moral leadership’ in light of claims that the oil giant misled the public over the risks of global warming

The Church of England should “show moral leadership” and immediately sell its investments in the oil giant ExxonMobil, according to a group of bishops and other clergy.

ExxonMobil is accused of misleading the public for decades over the dangers of climate change – the oil company denies the allegations – and has funded climate change denial, making its presence in the church’s £7.9bn investment fund of particular concern, the group argues. Investment funds worth more than $5tn have already committed to divest from fossil fuels.

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Governments have been underestimating methane emissions from gas and must phase out the fossil fuel, along with coal and oil, by 2035 to keep within Paris climate targets, a major study shows

Governments have drastically underestimated methane emissions from natural gas and will miss the Paris agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 2C unless they urgently scale down its use, a major new study has found.

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Rockland St Mary, Norfolk The fisherman rewarded the well-fed and fearless heron – a regular at the angling spot – with a small perch

There were two catchers of fish at the water’s edge. There was the old boy who told me he had been coming here for 50 years and then there was the grey heron that has acquired a deep familiarity with people. I often it see as I drive through the neighbouring village of Bramerton, where it stands by the pond right at the roadside.

Today, it was on Rockland staithe, where it kept a companionable distance from its human neighbour. Both faced towards the tide-swollen water and, while both were fish-focused, only one was doing the catching. He told me that the heron had been a regular at the spot for about 10 years and, over that time, had acquired the courage to pace within touching distance of his pitch. On winter mornings, when the ground is frozen and pickings are slim, the bird stands on an adjacent telegraph pole and croaks his disapproval. Apparently, the fishermen have taken this as a sign of its hunger and they toss it parts of their unwanted catch.

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Tasmania itself doesn’t need more centralised energy storage. Tasmania’s problem is lack of renewable generation.

Chile energy auction attracts record low bid for solar, with average prices for renewables down 75% since its first auction in 2015.

All eyes are on Victoria and the corporate sector for the future of large-scale renewables in Australia. With the renewable energy target now largely met, there is little else on offer for the pipeline of 20GW of wind and solar projects.

Teeth of the oldest mammals related to humans have been discovered on the Jurassic coast of Dorset.

Multiple fault with multiple coal generators on Monday highlight the perils of relying on "baseload" coal to keep the lights on.

Five charts that help explain the 2017 emissions gap report from UNEP.

This year's climate talks in Bonn is not expected to be a deal-clinching, make-or-break one like Paris in 2015 or Copenhagen in 2009, but that doesn’t make it insignificant.

Rescued pet apes in Indonesia are being returned to the wild, but traders are still "flouting the law".

Carnegie Clean Energy has now commenced the Albany project design and development activities.

A gibbon is the first of its species born in the wild to parents rescued from the illegal pet trade.

Elephants are looking for food in villages in India's forests, with deadly consequences.