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Climate change: Pledge of $100bn annual aid slips to 2023
Boris Johnson says chances of Cop26 success are ‘touch and go’
PM urges firms to reduce use of single-use plastics and dismisses recycling as ‘a red herring’
Boris Johnson has admitted Britain could fail to broker adequate enough deals to curb irreversible and devastating climate change at the global summit of world leaders beginning in Scotland later this month.
The prime minister said it was “touch and go” whether the Cop26 event would be a success, as he told businesses it was their job to significantly reduce the amount of single-use plastic they produce and described placing too much responsibility on people to recycle as a “red herring”.
Continue reading...Climate finance for poor countries to hit $100bn target by 2023, says report
Annual target going unmet has endangered developing nations’ trust in Paris deal, say experts
The longstanding target for providing climate finance to the developing world will be met within two years, according to a report ahead of the UN Cop26 climate summit.
But experts said it was “shameful” that developed countries were not doing more to help the poorest in the world, who were struggling with a climate crisis not of their making.
Continue reading...As it happened: our experts answered your questions about crucial climate summit Cop26
Fiona Harvey, Professor Saleemul Huq, Lucy Siegle, Hannah Martin, Professor Mary Gagen and Damian Carrington answered your questions on Cop26
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- Greenhouse gas levels hit new high despite lockdowns, report finds
Q: Does ending the manufacturing of plastic products enter into the Climate Change discussion? Amanda Bliss Taylor, Los Angeles, US.
Damian Carrington replies: The short answer is not really at the moment. Today, the overwhelming majority of climate-heating emissions comes from the burning of fossil fuels. But in coming decades plastic production is likely to account for most oil use and as that nears there will be more focus on the issue. In the meantime, plastic pollution of the planet is the key driver of plans to cut plastic production.
‘Natural infrastructure’ could save billions a year in climate crisis response
Planting trees and preserving mangrove swamps and wetlands are cheap and effective but overlooked, report says
Tree-planting, wetland restoration, mangrove swamps and other natural ways of protecting the environment from the impacts of the climate crisis could save hundreds of billions of dollars a year and replace high-carbon infrastructure, research has found.
Planting trees helps to protect land from flooding and landslips, mangrove swamps buffer against sea level rises and storm surges, and wetlands act like sponges to absorb excess water. These forms of “natural infrastructure”, or nature-based solutions, have the added benefit of taking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, acting as natural carbon sinks.
Continue reading...Sewage vote outcry prompts Tory MPs to defend decision on social media
Conservative politicians release almost identical statements following anger over rejection of environment bill amendment
The government has launched a defensive social media campaign after MPs faced anger from their constituents over last week’s sewage vote, in which an amendment to the environment bill that would have placed a legal duty on water companies not to pump waste into rivers was voted down.
Many Conservative MPs posted almost identical statements on Monday morning after a weekend of anger over the vote. Government sources confirmed to the Guardian that the information in these posts had been supplied by No 10.
Continue reading...Euro Markets: Midday Update
Insulate Britain: Protesters block east London roads
The next chapter of Britain’s climate policy story will take place in your kitchen | Max Wakefield
The transition to heat pumps will affect almost every household in the UK, but it won’t work without public support
The government has finally handed in its climate homework. Less than a fortnight before hosting the Cop26 climate summit – arguably the most important meeting in human history – the new net zero strategy is supposed to tell us how the UK will go from long-term hand-waving to now-term problem-solving.
There is both a lot in there, and not enough. Until the government’s official advisers give their assessment we won’t know for sure if the plan stands a good chance of achieving legal carbon targets through to 2037. If you want a simple headline for now, I’d offer this: we’re pointing in the right direction, but setting off at a jog. Physics demands we sprint.
Max Wakefield is the director of campaigns for the climate action group Possible
Continue reading...Climate change: Greenhouse gas build-up reached new high in 2020
2050: what happens if we ignore the climate crisis – video explainer
We envision two scenarios: what life could look like in 2050 if we do nothing, and what life could look like if we take action now. Watch this video to take a glimpse into the future and find out what you can do to prevent global climate catastrophe. There is still hope
Continue reading...Climate crisis: greenhouse gas levels hit new record despite lockdowns, UN reports
The data send a ‘stark’ message to the nations tasked with increasing action at the Cop26 climate summit, UN meteorology chief says
Levels of climate-heating gases in the atmosphere hit record levels in 2020, despite coronavirus-related lockdowns, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization has announced.
The concentration of carbon dioxide, the most important greenhouse gas, is now 50% higher than before the Industrial Revolution sparked the mass burning of fossil fuels. Methane levels have more than doubled since 1750. All key greenhouse gases (GHG) rose faster in 2020 than the average for the previous decade and this trend has continued in 2021, the WMO report found.
Continue reading...Transforming care must be central to any bold vision of a greener future | Emily Kenway
Care work – paid and unpaid – has huge knock-on effects for the climate that can no longer be ignored
It is no coincidence that both care and our climate are in crisis. Addressing each requires us to recognise that we are vulnerable and interdependent, as a species and individually. This will only become more apparent, because – as the world gets hotter and consequently more dangerous – we are going to need to care for each other more than ever before. As initiatives including Naomi Klein’s The Leap and the Feminist Green New Deal have explained, we need a care-centred approach to meet the demands of a future that looks very different to our past.
First, we must broaden our understanding of what constitutes a “green job”. Research by the Feminist Green New Deal has found that a majority of people identify solar panel installers as green workers, but far fewer consider care workers to be in the same camp. This shows us something important about our mindset. So far, we have thought in terms of greening highly polluting industries – turning from fossil fuels to renewables – rather than identifying what is simply green, ie what is low-carbon by nature. This is the difference between tweaking our current system and stepping into a new approach that makes different kinds of work central to our economy. From this perspective, care work becomes a core component of our future, as those calling for its inclusion in a green new deal have advocated.
Emily Kenway is a writer and author of The Truth About Modern Slavery
Continue reading...Modeller used to attack Labor policies hired to “verify” Taylor’s net zero modelling
Consultant who produced modelling used to attack Labor Party climate policies hired to "validate" Morrison government's net zero modelling.
The post Modeller used to attack Labor policies hired to “verify” Taylor’s net zero modelling appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Insulate Britain targets Canary Wharf in renewed roadblock campaign
Dozens of environmental activists obstruct traffic across financial district in east London
Insulate Britain has targeted Canary Wharf in London as the environmental group renews its roadblock campaign after a pause.
Demonstrators obstructed Limehouse Causeway at the junction with the A1206 at 8.20am on Monday. Others targeted Liverpool Street, Bishopsgate and Upper Thames Street.
Continue reading...Saudi Arabia targets net zero emissions by 2060, joins global methane pledge
The Guardian’s climate pledge
Six things the Guardian is doing to confront the climate emergency
In 2019, the Guardian made a pledge in service of the planet. We declared that the escalating climate crisis was the defining issue of our lifetime, and that quality, trustworthy reporting on the environment was a vital tool to confront it. We promised to provide journalism that showed leadership, urgency, authority and give the climate emergency the sustained attention and prominence it demanded.
Two years later, we are updating our readers and supporters on our work – journalism that puts pressure on the decision-makers who hold our fate in their hands, and institutional commitments designed to ensure that we practice what we preach.
Continue reading...From now on every cartoon will only ever be about the gracious sea potato | First Dog on the Moon
No more cartoons about climate change or genocidal cruelty or dead-eyed greed or global disinformation cults
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Britain’s migratory birds ‘may stop flying south for winter’
Study finds species stay longer in European breeding grounds and spend less time in Africa
Migratory birds including the willow warbler, the garden warbler and the nightingale may eventually stop flying south for the winter as they spend longer in their European breeding grounds.
Analysis of more than 50 years of bird records from the Gambia and Gibraltar has found that some migratory species that cross the Sahara are spending between 50 and 60 fewer days on average in Africa each winter.
Continue reading...No changes as China releases climate plan, but details to be hammered out
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