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Orion: Nasa's Moon ship ready to be attached to rocket
Footage shows Insulate Britain protester being pushed by car – video
Footage has emerged of a protester being pushed by a Range Rover driven by a woman taking her son to school. Insulate Britain shared the video, which was taken last Wednesday at a protest on the A1090 in Thurrock, Essex. When asked afterwards if she was hurt, the activist said: 'I think so, but I feel quite a lot of adrenalin pumping'
Continue reading...‘Case closed’: 99.9% of scientists agree climate emergency caused by humans
Trawl of 90,000 studies finds consensus, leading to call for Facebook and Twitter to curb disinformation
The scientific consensus that humans are altering the climate has passed 99.9%, according to research that strengthens the case for global action at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow.
The degree of scientific certainty about the impact of greenhouse gases is now similar to the level of agreement on evolution and plate tectonics, the authors say, based on a survey of nearly 90,000 climate-related studies. This means there is practically no doubt among experts that burning fossil fuels, such as oil, gas, coal, peat and trees, is heating the planet and causing more extreme weather.
Continue reading...Net zero plan will 'unlock' £90bn in investment over a decade – video
Greg Hands, the minister of state at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, announced the government net zero strategy before this month's Cop26 conference. The plan aims to create 440,000 jobs and 'unlock' £90bn in investments from the private sector over the course of a decade
Continue reading...UK’s net zero plan falls short on ambition and funding, say critics
Government says strategy would create 440,000 jobs, but Treasury warns taxes may need to rise to fund changes
The UK government’s long-awaited strategy for reaching net zero emissions falls short on ambition and is not backed up with adequate funding, experts and campaigners have warned.
Ministers on Tuesday revealed a plan which they said would create up to 440,000 jobs and “unlock” £90bn in investment in the next decade, most of it from private sector companies.
Continue reading...Glasgow bin workers to strike during Cop26 climate summit
GMB union calls week-long strike from 1 November with rail staff also planning industrial action
Bin workers in Glasgow have confirmed that they will strike during the Cop26 climate conference, amid growing anxieties that the city’s summit arrangements are falling into chaos with threats of industrial action across services and transport.
Glasgow city council urged the workers to reconsider causing disruption during a “busy and difficult time”, as the GMB union confirmed a week-long strike from 1 November, the first full day of the UN conference.
Continue reading...Science Museum chooses fossil fuel company as new climate show sponsor
Campaigners say museum ‘doubling down’ on ‘reckless’ choices of funder with backing from arm of coal giant Adani
The UK’s Science Museum has “doubled down” on its sponsorship of climate exhibitions by fossil fuel companies, campaigners say, by taking funding from a subsidiary of the Adani Group.
Adani is a conglomerate with major holdings in coal, the most polluting fossil fuel. The Energy Revolution gallery, opening in 2023, will be sponsored by Adani’s Green Energy arm.
Continue reading...US trading house hires first China-based carbon trader
Heat pump grants worth £5,000 to help replace gas boilers
What is net zero and how are the UK and other countries doing?
What are heat pumps and why is the UK government pushing them?
Their use could help the UK meet its climate targets, but there are concerns over high installation and running costs
The government has set out plans to offer £5,000 grants to help 90,000 households install home heat pumps, and other low-carbon heating systems, over the next three years as part of its plan to cut Britain’s reliance on fossil fuel heating.
It includes a ban on installing gas boilers in new-build homes from 2025, and completely phasing out new gas boilers in all homes from 2035. As they are phased out, heat pump installations could reach up to 600,000 a year in the 2030s – but is Britain ready for a home heating revolution?
Continue reading...South Korea eyes bilateral carbon credit deals with four nations
To fight the climate crisis, banks must stop financing factory farming | Kari Hamerschlag and Christopher D Cook
Public development banks are directly undermining UN and Paris climate goals by channeling billions of taxpayer dollars into multinational meat corporations
As the climate crisis boils over, new research shows that reducing methane emissions is our best hope to rapidly stem the crisis. It’s time to turn up the heat on the industrial meat industry and dramatically curtail its climate harm, which includes 32% of global methane emissions. Yet instead development banks are using public funds to expand this sector that generates 16.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs).
On 19 and 20 October, hundreds of public development banks (PDBs) will gather for the second Finance in Common Summit to make pledges to advance Paris climate and UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). The summit – which will also focus on agriculture and agribusiness transformation – presents a vital opportunity for these banks to put their money where their mouth is and align their agriculture investments to meet these goals.
Continue reading...Huge sunfish weighing up to 200kg found off coast of Ceuta – video
A gigantic sunfish found tangled in tuna fishing nets in the Mediterranean could weigh up to 200kg, according to experts. The fish was measured at 3.2 metres long and 2.9 metres wide, a record find for Ceuta, a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. When the sunfish was weighed it almost broke a 100kg scale. Enrique Ostalé, a marine biologist, said he had heard of sunfish this size only in books
Continue reading...ANALYSIS: Airlines place bet on sustainable fuels in long haul net zero effort
Diver finds 900-year-old crusader sword off Israel's coast
Minister hints at gas boilers ban but says market should drive change
Anne-Marie Trevelyan urges firms to encourage shift to heat pumps, amid criticism of limited £5,000 grants
Gas boilers could be banned in future but the government believes the market should drive changes to home heating systems, the cabinet minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan has said, amid criticism of the limited grants system for heat pumps.
Ministers had been under pressure to set a date to ban the installation of new gas boilers in existing homes, but on Tuesday announced the installation of low-carbon heat pumps would be encouraged with a grant system of £5,000 for up to 90,000 homes in England and Wales.
Continue reading...The climate science behind flooding: why is it getting worse? – video explainer
The Guardian's environment editor, Damian Carrington, examines exactly how the climate crisis is fuelling devastating floods – and what we can do to help protect ourselves and our planet
Climate change: Is the UK on track to meet its targets?
How I switched from a career in coal to working in renewables | Paul Clarke
It’s vital that unions and employers join forces to ensure staff can transfer their skills into low-carbon businesses
• Paul Clarke is a former engineer in a coal-fired power station
In the past, industrial change was poorly managed, leading to skilled staff being made redundant, withdrawing from work or drifting into less skilled employment. Anyone who remembers the dole queues after the closure of our country’s coalmines in the 1980s may be rightly wary of promises of a “just transition” for fossil fuel workers as we move into a net-zero future. But, it doesn’t have to be this way, and I’d like to share my story as a testament to what is possible when we come together to properly prepare for the future.
Three years ago, I worked at Cottam, an EDF coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire, as a professional engineer. I was proud of my job. My skills kept the country’s lights on and kettles boiling. It was more than a career for me, it gave me a sense of purpose.
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