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Police say 16 arrests made after activists scale gantries in Kent, Essex, Surrey and Hertfordshire

Protesters have caused widespread disruption on the M25 for a second day after several junctions were blocked.

Just Stop Oil said “approximately 15” of its supporters climbed on to overhead gantries in “multiple locations” on the UK’s busiest motorway from 7am on Tuesday, causing police to halt traffic.

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Pacific islands nation, which is acutely vulnerable to sea level rises, joins nearby Vanuatu in seeking phase-out of coal, oil and gas

Tuvalu has become the first country to use United Nations climate talks to demand an international fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, which would phase out the use of coal, oil and gas.

The small Pacific islands nation, which is acutely vulnerable to sea level rises caused by global heating, becomes the second country to call for an agreement to end the era of burning fossil fuels, which is the primary cause of the rapidly escalating climate crisis, fellow Pacific nation Vanuatu being the first.

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It’s Tuesday - Finance Day - at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, and Carbon Pulse will keep you updated with developments throughout the day. Timestamps in local time (EEST, GMT+2).

The First Movers Coalition, a global initiative launched last year to spur the decarbonisation of heavy industry and the long-distance transport sector, has expanded its coverage into two new energy-intensive sectors and will allocate $12 billion in green technology purchase commitments, US climate envoy John Kerry and the World Economic Forum announced on Tuesday.

The World Bank has launched an a umbrella fund at COP27 that will help countries to access carbon markets by providing results-based grant payments via pooled cash from donor countries, the private sector, and foundations for projects that reduce emissions, including the monetising of credits from the acceleration of coal phaseouts, a senior member behind the project told Carbon Pulse.

China’s cabinet has released an implementation plan for the country’s building materials sector, with a special focus on cement production, as part of a broader commitment to peaking carbon dioxide emissions by 2030.

The UN climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, opens for another day of talks

Cop27 has been termed the African Cop – but we have reported on the difficulties some African activists have faced in attending the summit. And yesterday our video reporter in Sharm el-Sheikh, Nikhita Chulani, spoke to the Ugandan activist Nyombi Morris who was turned away from the talks.

When 24-year-old Ugandan activist Nyombi Morris arrived in Egypt for the Cop27 climate summit he was turned away from the high-level talks because he did not have the right accreditation. Only country delegates and some members of the press were allowed in the events for heads of states and government officials.

“Why are we here?”, asked Nyombi, adding that the world leaders and negotiators who are currently deciding how far to push climate action need to quickly change the way they work and who they listen to, saying right now he doesn’t think it is right to truly call this an African Cop.

“You have to frontline the voices of African youth activists, because these are the innovators. These are the ones implementing actions, not our leaders, our leaders are just always in the office, but you are excluding us. So it is time to understand that this event is in Africa. We need to give African voices a chance ... We cannot lead without knowledge.”

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The total number of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) issues has now surpassed 120 million despite consistent criticism over some methodologies, while the Labor government has signed up to international forestry and shipping climate initiatives at COP27 in Egypt.

As the UN’s Cop27 summit begins in Egypt, there are warnings more must be done to avert climate breakdown

Last year’s UN Cop26 climate talks in Scotland were framed by John Kerry, the US special presidential envoy on the climate crisis, as the “last best hope for the world to get its act together” and avert climate breakdown. As world leaders gather in Egypt for Cop27, evidence suggests they have yet to fully do so.

The Glasgow conference drew collective promises by governments to “phase down” coal use, curb deforestation, advance remedial payments to developing countries hit hardest by floods, heatwaves and droughts, and to come back the following year with more ambitious emissions reduction targets.

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37 million people are facing starvation in the Horn of Africa. Time for wealthier countries to adopt ‘loss and damage finance’

In September, I travelled from my home country, Uganda, to Turkana County in Kenya, which is suffering from a historic drought. One morning, I met a boy in a hospital where doctors see patients with the worst cases of severe acute malnutrition. His family had not been able to access the treatment he needed in time. By the time the sun set that evening, he had died.

The boy was one of 37 million people facing starvation in the Horn of Africa. After four failed rainy seasons, Kenya faces the acute risk of widespread famine. This suffering is set to get worse; experts predict that drought-stricken areas in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia will receive significantly below normal rainfall for the rest of the year.

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The most widely used climate-related disclosure platform said on Tuesday that it will apply an upcoming international standard to its reporting requirements, including Scope 1-3 emissions reporting and carbon offset use by corporates.

A carbon credits trading firm based in Massachusetts has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a regional government in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that aims to attract revenue locally to develop agricultural projects and implement regenerative farming practices.

For almost a decade, a desert community struggled to maintain their drought-stricken gardens and farms. Then the rains returned

• All photographs by Rehab Eldalil

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Latest figures suggest the 10 park authorities will have to make cuts of £16m between them over the next three years

England’s national parks are facing a funding crisis that is forcing them to make plans to close visitors centres, make park rangers redundant, stop maintaining paths and introduce other cuts, in an effort to balance their budgets, according to the latest figures.

Funding has fallen by 40% in real terms over the last decade, and grants are expected to flatline until 2025 despite rising wage bills and costs. Government funding for national parks has been frozen since last year. Data compiled by National Parks England suggests the country’s 10 park authorities will have to make cuts of £16m over the next three years.

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Brussels’ plan to oppose a a total international ban on trade in hippopotamus products puts species at risk, says letter signed by states, including Mali, Niger and Senegal

Ten African countries have accused the EU of jeopardising the survival of the common hippopotamus by not supporting a proposed commercial trade ban, in documents seen by the Guardian.

Illegal hunting for meat and ivory is thought to have wiped out hippo populations in five African states: Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Liberia and Mauritania. But Brussels is planning to oppose a bid to ban the global trade in hippo products at a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) conference in Panama from 14 November.

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Singapore bank DBS launched has launched with a host of partners the second cycle of the Sustaintech Xcelerator initiative, a funding programme kickstarted last year that aims to accelerate the development of climate tech solutions to help businesses reduce their GHG emissions, it was announced on Tuesday.

There are fears the Northern Territory government will allow gas and other industries to extract substantially more water from the environment than is currently allowed. Sue Jackson, Professor, Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University Matthew Currell, Professor of Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, RMIT University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Australian clean energy software provider exits stealth mode, with $1.1 million in funding to help expand its team and hit the market.

The post Australian energy software start-up lands $1.1 million in funding appeared first on RenewEconomy.

For all the talk of climate catastrophe and state government targets, some coal companies still think they are going to be burning coal for power in 2050.

The post Some power stations still believe they will be burning coal and polluting in 2050 appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Microbes have made their way into water after heavy rain, raising risk of illnesses like gastro and diarrhoea, authorities say

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Melbourne residents are being urged to hit the swimming pool instead of the beach as Victoria’s ongoing floods continue to contaminate waterways.

Victoria’s chief environmental scientist, Mark Taylor, said microbes had made their way into waterways after heavy rains, bringing the risk of pollution, mosquitoes and water-borne diseases.

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