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Organisations including RSPB, National Trust and RSPCA urge prime minister to honour green promises

Environmental groups claiming to represent 20 million people will mobilise their members should ministers water down climate commitments, they have warned.

Groups including the RSPB, National Trust and the RSPCA have written to the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who has signalled his willingness to back away from green policies should the Conservatives stand to benefit from it electorally.

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The International Seabed Authority (ISA) wrapped up three weeks of negotiations in Jamaica Friday with no decision on deep seabed mining, denying the mining industry the green light to go ahead for at least another two years.

Amid record-breaking heat, increased access to air conditioning could save lives – but AC units are damaging the environment. Are there other options?

Much of the Earth sweltered under record-topping temperatures this month. Phoenix, Arizona, broke its record for most 110F (43.3C) days. California’s Death Valley had its highest temperature ever. An airport in coastal Iran saw a heat index of 152F, while Beijing saw a record stretch of 95F days.

Oppressive heatwaves have become more frequent and more severe as a result of the climate crisis – a trend that’s expected to continue, and could worsen in proportion to how quickly we can transition from fossil fuels.

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Two major Japanese companies have signed MoUs with a carbon project developer in Kenya to fund the expansion of its business and market a share of the resulting carbon credits to buyers in Japan and elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific.

Focus group for the Guardian made up of Chipping Barnet and Don Valley residents backs net zero policies

For all the fanfare about UK political parties facing pressure to re-examine their climate policies given the cost of living crisis, voters in two areas near clean air zones support measures to ensure net zero targets are met.

Wrangling in the aftermath of last Thursday’s byelection, when Labour narrowly lost out on winning Uxbridge and South Ruislip, has pushed briefings by some MPs into overdrive about what policies should be reconsidered.

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Eleni Myrivili, whose job is to help cities prepare for extreme heat, says many people do not understand how deadly it can be

It is “shocking” how little people know about the danger of hot weather, the United Nations global chief heat officer has said, as high temperatures bake cities across the northern hemisphere and politicians backslide on climate promises.

A study this month found that extreme heat in Europe last summer killed 61,000 people, most of whom were women and older people. As well as killing people through heatstroke, hot weather can push the bodies of people with heart and lung disease into deadly overdrive.

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"Tech-bro libertarians:" Former nuclear regulatory chief questions hype around new nuclear power technologies that largely don’t exist and will likely be very costly.

The post The end of Oppenheimer’s nuclear energy dream: Modular reactors supported by ideology alone appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

Emitters favoured this year's California Carbon Allowance (CCA) vintage contract as prices stalled prior to a workshop-fuelled rally, while financial players went in the opposite direction on the V24 contract and also picked up a significant amount of RGGI Allowances (RGAs), data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed Friday.

This role involves the development and management of the KliK portfolio of Article 6.2 greenhouse gas mitigation programmes globally.

The candidate will be responsible for leading the structuring of initiatives associated with climate change, advising internal stakeholders on project development, and evaluating international investment opportunities in global voluntary carbon markets. They will also be responsible for structuring and modelling international carbon offset projects, evaluating funding options, negotiating project documentation, and conducting day-to-day interactions with business units in different jurisdictions.

A meeting of G20 environment ministers ended late on Friday without agreement on major climate issues, though the politicians were keen to stress the potential of emissions trade to enhance climate action despite being divided on whether to discuss the EU’s carbon border measures.

Leading scientists and medics back London and other clean air schemes and urge politicians to keep their nerve

Leading doctors and scientists have warned politicians against watering down plans to expand city-wide schemes aimed at reducing traffic pollution levels linked to thousands of deaths each year.

They urged politicians not to lose their nerve over plans to improve poor air quality, such as the expansion of the ultra low emission zone (Ulez) in London, which they said were central to tackling “unacceptably high” levels of illness and child deaths, and called for more ambitious policies to reduce toxic air.

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London mayor to expand charging zone for drivers after high court win and rejects pressure from Labour leadership to think again

Sadiq Khan has vowed to press ahead with the expansion of London’s low emissions zone saying tackling the climate emergency and air pollution are “bigger than party politics”, despite the Labour leadership urging a rethink of the policy.

After the high court dismissed a legal challenge brought by five Conservative councils, the Labour mayor said he understood concerns of some Londoners but it was right to charge the most polluting vehicles £12.50 a day to drive in the capital’s outer boroughs from the end of August.

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Advisory firm Finance Earth is launching the first nature-based solutions blended finance fund in the UK, a venture it co-designed with investment manager Federated Hermes and with proposed seed funding from the UK's environment agency.

Arguments between and within parties have been inflamed by the apparent ‘Ulez effect’ in the Uxbridge byelection

• UK politics live – latest updates

Since the Conservatives narrowly won a shock byelection victory by campaigning against a key low-emissions zone known as Ulez in London, there have been seven days of turmoil for climate policy in the UK.

Support for a net zero UK by 2050 is expressed among all ages and types of political voter, according to the pollsters. But nevertheless, Rishi Sunak’s government scented in Uxbridge a possible “wedge” issue that could put Tories on the side of swing voters and pit them against Labour.

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Plus, my plan to live for ever by standing on one leg, and Nigel Farage lives his best life despite debanking ‘shame’

You would have thought the sight of wildfires in many parts of southern Europe would have given Rishi Sunak pause for thought. Instead it has inspired his pyromaniac tendencies. After the byelection in Uxbridge last week, which Labour lost principally because of Sadiq Khan’s ultra-low emission zone policy, Sunak has declared a binfire of the Tories’ green agenda. He had never really believed in it – despite most of the country supporting climate crisis measures – and had now declared it to be just a woke indulgence. Another arm of the culture wars.

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The European Commission published on Friday its new “closer to nature” guidelines as well as providing guidance on ecosystem payment schemes as part of its strategy for improved management of forests across the 27-nation bloc.

Is that fire?

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Courts have quashed a decision to store water in Kimbra, meaning there is still no centralised repository in the country

More than 20 tonnes of reprocessed nuclear fuel will stay at Australia’s only reactor in southern Sydney, while nuclear waste will remain scattered in “cupboards and filing cabinets” around the country, after the federal court blocked plans for a long-term storage site in outback South Australia.

The site in Kimba was selected more than 40 years after Australia started planning for a centralised repository. But this month, that decision was quashed by the courts.

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