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Restoring farmland is one of the best ways to tackle climate and environmental issues over the long-term. But this doesn’t appear to be part of the Nationals deal. Paul Martin, Director, Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law, University of New England Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The chancellor’s speech was all about the next election, stupid

Rishi Sunak’s budget and spending plans were about politics rather than economics. His Commons statement was designed to frame the arguments in the run-up to an election rather than dealing in a substantial way with a post-Covid, post-Brexit, transition to a net zero economy. However Mr Sunak knows that voters want a break with the recent past. The chancellor sought to insulate the government from politically toxic claims it is enacting austerity, by spending money to reduce waiting times for NHS patients and bringing up per-pupil education spending in England to levels last seen under a Labour government. He also signalled to “blue wall” voters that he has a heart, not just a head – by vowing eventually to restore the UK overseas aid budget to 0.7% of GDP. The hidden economics of the budget can be found in the small print: most of the extra money for public services disappears in two years’ time.

Increasing government expenditure is necessary, but this temporary hike won’t be enough. Local councils will see a sharp rise in funding next year, but this is inexplicably frozen in the following two years. Mr Sunak spoke to his own tribe by confidently cutting taxes for domestic flights, freezing fuel duty and splurging on roads – in breezy defiance of the prime minister’s green messaging ahead of climate talks at Cop26. Mr Sunak spent twice as much in tax cuts for bankers than Covid catch-up lessons for schoolchildren. While the economy has made a recovery from the pandemic, the Office for Budget Responsibility warned that the UK’s supply crisis has been made worse by post-Brexit immigration rules and trade barriers.

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Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) on Wednesday indicated he may not support the state’s participation in the Northeast US RGGI carbon market if elected as governor next November, representing a potential rift with his current administration’s plan to enter the power sector cap-and-trade scheme.

Host nations can do more to tap the voluntary carbon market (VCM) to help stimulate clean technology investments and help meet their Paris emissions pledges, a multi-stakeholder report published on Wednesday found.

EU proposals for applying international banking rules are likely to shield the bloc's carbon market from being impacted by higher capital costs for banks, a financial industry body said on Wednesday. 

A new chapter in physics is here, says a team that hunted for a key building block of the Universe.

Forty-nine members of Insulate Britain have been arrested after the climate activist group blocked three major junctions in defiance of a series of injunctions banning them from protesting anywhere on England’s strategic road network.

The group is calling on the government to commit to insulating all Britain’s homes by 2030 as a first step to tackling the climate crisis. 

According to the group’s estimates, 146 members have been arrested 690 times since 13 September

• Insulate Britain protests: 49 arrests as group defies injunctions

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The Guardian understands the funding is likely to be used to back the planned £20bn Sizewell C

The government will make its first direct investment in a large-scale nuclear reactor since 1995 after pledging to plough up to £1.7bn of taxpayers’ money into a new power plant.

Treasury documents published alongside the autumn statement did not name which nuclear project would be in line for the public funds, but the Guardian understands it is most likely to be the planned £20bn Sizewell C plant in Suffolk.

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The UK will maintain over fiscal 2023-24 its freeze on the rate of its Carbon Price Support tax on power sector CO2 emissions, the finance ministry said in its budget on Wednesday, while cutting fuel duty on domestic flights and cancelling a planned rate rise for cars.

The chancellor boosts science spending to £20bn a year by 2024 - £2bn less than previously pledged.

China’s carbon market was paralysed on Wednesday as traders stepped back to digest news that the government will allow all CCER types to be used for compliance in the national emissions trading scheme.

Members stage roadblock protests near M25 Dartford Crossing in Kent and on A40 in west London

Forty-nine members of Insulate Britain have been arrested after the climate activist group blocked three major junctions in defiance of a series of injunctions banning them from protesting anywhere on England’s strategic road network.

In their 15th day of action since starting their campaign in mid-September, members of the group staged roadblock protests near the M25 Dartford crossing in Kent and another on the A40 in West London.

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Figure of £150-660bn to cut raw sewage discharges into rivers was quoted by Tory MPs and environment minister

Government claims that cutting the millions of hours a year of raw sewage being discharged into rivers by water companies would cost up to £660bn have been challenged by experts.

On Tuesday night, peers kept the pressure on the government to enshrine a duty in law on water companies to reduce the dumping of raw sewage into rivers and seas.

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Despite the government’s injunction against us, we’re pressing on with our campaign to insulate all UK homes by 2030

• Cameron Ford is an Insulate Britain campaigner

I was lost for words when a radio presenter, someone responsible for informing the public, recently told me that you can grow concrete. I had been invited on to talkRadio to speak about being a part of Insulate Britain, and was instead asked about my job (I’m a carpenter), and whether cutting down trees is “sustainable” (I pointed out that, unlike concrete, trees grow back). The internet has erupted in laughter at the one-minute clip, but what’s not funny is the government’s pitiful support for home insulation.

Insulating homes is an essential part of our transition to net zero. This is why Insulate Britain is going ahead with protests despite the government’s nationwide injunction against our campaign. Today, campaigners blocked major roads connecting the M25. We have a simple demand: insulate all UK homes by 2030 to cut carbon emissions and end fuel poverty.

Cameron Ford is a carpenter and Insulate Britain campaigner

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Carbon prices lost touch with their recent highs on Wednesday morning, drifting in concert with energy markets amid a slowdown in trading activity.

With her brave book Silent Spring, Carson changed the course of US environmental history. We would do well to study her example

“Glasgow is our last chance” has become a climate crisis mantra.

World leaders scheduled to meet soon at the United Nations Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow to discuss – and act upon – our global climate crisis face a huge task, as do those here in the US as they fine-tune the climate measures in the Biden administration’s Build Back Better plan. All political measures up to now have been insufficient. The latest UN report on climate change issued a “code red for humanity”. And it’s only going to get worse and probably irreversible – larger fires, extended droughts, more intense storms, and more environmental refugees, destabilized regimes and unlivable parts of our planet – if our carbon-based economy continues unabated.

A frequent contributor to the Guardian, Kim Heacox is the author of many books, including The Only Kayak, a memoir, and Jimmy Bluefeather, a novel, both winners of the National Outdoor Book Award. He lives in Alaska

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Over 700 institutional investors representing $52 trillion in managed assets have called for governments to take ambitious policy action to avoid a “catastrophic” rise in global temperatures and to manage climate risk, according to a statement from the combined group of financial heavyweights released on Wednesday.

A digital currency protocol backed by carbon credits has purchased close to 7 million VCS units in the first week after its launch, while reaching a market cap of over $1.1 billion.

Some Chinese lenders have begun offering interest rates linked to emission levels, as the nation’s financial sector strive to develop new climate-related products.