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California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) posted a credit surplus during the second quarter of 2021, according to state data posted Friday, bucking traders’ expectations of a deficit as renewable diesel (RD), renewable natural gas (RNG), and electricity volumes shot up.

The PM should be taking a higher 2030 emissions reduction target to Cop26. No ifs, buts or maybes. Yet he squibbed it

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When Scott Morrison strode into his press conference room on Tuesday to confirm Australia would be taking a net zero emissions target to the Cop26 in Glasgow, the prime minister was running on high revs.

Possibly this was an excess of adrenalin. Big parliamentary day and all that. But he looked nervous. Morrison rarely looks nervous, so this presentation was memorable.

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Foraging bees keep away from centre of colony when infested with mites, find researchers

In the past 18 months humans have become all too familiar with the term “social distancing”. But it turns out we are not the only ones to give our peers a wide berth when our health may be at risk: research suggests honeybees do it too.

Scientists have found that when a hive of honeybees is under threat from the mite Varroa destructor – a parasite linked to the collapse of honeybee colonies – the bees respond by changing the way they interact with one another.

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Switzerland's recent bilateral crediting deals send no signal for decarbonisation at home, while for the countries hosting the emission reductions the agreements close some of their best available options to implement their NDCs and raise ambition in the future, according to researchers at NewClimate Institute.

Nations are set to gather in Glasgow next week as the UNFCCC convenes its 26th Conference of the Parties, with pressure building on negotiators to agree a set of rules governing international emissions trading as private sector initiatives threaten to bypass the UN process.

Prime minister on way to Italy says our civilisation could mimic the decline of the Roman empire ‘unless we get this right’

Boris Johnson has likened the globe’s battle against the climate emergency to a football team losing 5-1 at half-time, as he flew to Rome for a world leaders’ gathering seen as crucial for setting the tone for next week’s Cop26 climate summit.

Speaking to reporters on the flight to Italy for the G20 meeting, Johnson conceded that he had not always been convinced about climate change, and that his mind had been changed in part by a briefing given by government scientific advisers soon after he became prime minister.

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Yes, there have been compromises. But this is the biggest ever plan to curb emissions and, ahead of Cop26, will send a signal to the world

Move aside, Donald Trump: there’s a new American for the world’s progressives to hate. What’s more, he’s not even a Republican, but rather a member of Joe Biden’s Democratic party. He’s Joe Manchin, who represents West Virginia in the US Senate – the body that’s split 50-50, and which Democrats only control if every single senator stays onside. It’s thanks to him – aided and abetted by the Arizona’ Democrat senator Kyrsten Sinema – that Biden cannot take his place at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow proudly pointing to a raft of measures, signed and sealed, by which the US government will tackle the climate crisis.

Biden had a whole plan worked out, and most Democrats backed him. But Manchin refused to say yes. He insisted that Biden drop perhaps the most powerful element of his climate programme: rewards for energy companies that shift to renewable sources, and fines for those that stick with fossil fuels. Manchin killed that off, perhaps because he represents a state that still has some coal mining, perhaps because he has big personal investments in coal, perhaps because he has received fat donations from the fossil fuel industry. Or maybe just because West Virginia voted by an almost 40-point margin for Trump last year and so, to keep winning, Manchin has to look more like a Republican than a Democrat.

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Swedish activist says she has not officially been invited to Glasgow climate summit

Greta Thunberg has joined protesters at a “climate justice memorial” in the City of London to protest against the financing of fossil fuel industries ahead of the Cop26 summit.

Activists from environmental groups including Pacific Climate Warriors, Coal Action Network and Extinction Rebellion laid wreaths and flowers at the entrance of the Lloyd’s headquarters.

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Ten people detained in Essex and nine in Hertfordshire after group’s 16th action on UK roads

Insulate Britain protesters have been arrested walking on to the M25 in several locations, causing major disruption on London’s orbital motorway days before the start of the Cop26 climate summit.

In driving rain just after 8am on Friday, two groups affiliated with the climate activist movement walked between lanes of oncoming traffic at junctions 28 and 29 of the M25 in Essex.

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Pope Francis has urged world leaders to offer 'concrete hope' to future generations. In a special message for BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day, before the Cop26 summit in Glasgow next week, the pontiff said climate change and Covid-19 had 'raised numerous doubts and concerns about ... the way we organise our societies'. These global crises could only be overcome through 'a renewed sense of shared responsibility for our world', he added 

• Pope Francis urges leaders to take ‘radical’ climate action at Cop26

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EUAs traded moderately firmer on Friday morning as bargain-hunting traders bought in response to Thursday's price decline, while energy markets continued to fall across the board.

Australian carbon credits traded at yet another record high on Friday amid limited spot supply, but 90% of the half a million units minted this week are already destined for the government coffers.

Rapidly growing carbon markets can be an effective tool for investors to manage climate-related risks and support companies in their transition journeys while also boosting portfolio values, provided there is greater scale and more robust governance standards, according to a report released on Friday.

Brenda the Civil Disobedience Penguin says it’s time to crush the net zero con that puts cash over people’s future

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The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including shadowy horses, a visiting hippo and a released rare ring seal

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The top oil executives claim they never approved a disinformation campaign. That is simply not true

For the first time ever, the executives from four major oil companies and two of the industry’s most powerful front groups testified before Congress about their decades-long effort to spread climate disinformation and block legislation that would reduce US dependence on fossil fuels.

Republicans vehemently opposed the premise of Thursday’s House oversight hearing. Yet within the first round of GOP questioning, led by one of the industry’s staunchest defenders, ranking committee member James Comer of Kentucky, the executives inadvertently proved why they were summoned to testify under oath in the first place.

Jamie Henn is the founder and director of Fossil Free Media, home of the Clean Creatives campaign, which is pressuring advertising and PR firms to stop working with the fossil fuel industry.

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Meddling with drivers guarantees a media storm, but mayors behind ambitious road reclamations are consistently rewarded

Every politician knows the word “bikelash”. From Milan to London, from Sydney to Vancouver, reallocating public space from motor vehicles for people to walk and cycle will inevitably send some residents into paroxysms of anger.

But a persistent theme is that voters have time and again reelected the mayors responsible for ambitious road reclamations, often with overwhelming majorities. Although many presume these policies are toxic, projects that make cities more liveable have been shown to be good urban policy and good politics.

Janette Sadik-Khan is a former commissioner of the New York Department of Transportation and a principal with Bloomberg Associates. Seth Solomonow is an adviser and strategist with Bloomberg Associates, specialising in public space and sustainable transport infrastructure. The authors provided pro bono advice to Sala and Duggan on their public space plans.

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Pacific nations look to New Zealand for climate leadership. It has enshrined carbon neutrality by 2050 and a 1.5℃ target in law, but, so far, emissions have continued to rise. Nathan Cooper, Associate Professor of Law, University of Waikato Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

How to save the world, by counting to zero: the Guardian's Phoebe Weston breaks down all the climate jargon we have been hearing in the run-up to Cop26, the make-or-break climate summit starting on Sunday, and explains what we – and most importantly, our governments – need to do to help protect our planet and its future

• Why are wildfires getting worse? – video explainer
• Climate change is making floods worse: here's how – video explainer
  

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Category 3 offsets in China’s carbon market double their value overnight after Tuesday’s government announcement that all CCERs will be eligible for ETS compliance use, with analysts saying the decision will likely soon start weighing on allowance prices.