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Michael Gove admits to feeling guilt as young activist says: your fossil fuels policy is beyond absurd

Greta Thunberg took her climate message to the heart of power in Westminster on Tuesday, with a quiet but powerful message to MPs that prompted politicians to declare contrition for their failure to act.

After the noise of Brexit in parliament and the disruption of Extinction Rebellion outside, the 16-year-old Swedish activist cut an extraordinarily composed figure as she arrived with her trademark braids, hand-painted placard and a speech that forced politicians to reflect on a crisis that is growing steadily worse despite three decades of political promises.

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Shadow health secretary pledges to make climate change a central policy focus

Labour has backed the Extinction Rebellion protesters who have carried out a week of civil disobedience and occupations to highlight the ecological emergency, likening them to the Chartists, suffragettes and anti-apartheid activists.

Speaking in response to an urgent question in the Commons on Tuesday, the shadow energy minister, Barry Gardiner – who also holds the international trade role – said that alongside the school strikes, the protests organised by Extinction Rebellion were reminiscent of previous memorable struggles.

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The Canadian federal government’s plan to implement fuel-specific electricity benchmarks under its ‘backstop’ output-based pricing system (OBPS) will weaken the true carbon cost of coal-fired generation and diminish incentives for investing in renewable energy, according to a new study released Tuesday.

More than 1,000 people have been arrested in the past week while taking part in the biggest civil disobedience event in recent British history – a campaign of mass non-violent direct action orchestrated by the group Extinction Rebellion to highlight how little time the world has left to halt manmade environmental breakdown. The group started its protest on 15 April, stopping traffic at Oxford Circus, Marble Arch, Waterloo Bridge and the area around Parliament Square, and has continued to occupy sites across the capital alongside smaller protests around the UK

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More than 1,000 demonstrators have been arrested in London in the past nine days. Here, nine of the climate change protesters explain the extraordinary ends they will go to for the Earth

I have never been a campaigner or activist before, but I have been worrying about the environment for decades. For 20 years I have written letters, signed petitions, ridden a bike – I have done everything that is “polite” – but the situation has, if anything, gone backwards.

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From Extinction Rebellion to Greta Thunberg, the message about climate change is louder than ever before. Tell us how you feel about the movement

As the last Extinction Rebellion protesters were cleared from Waterloo Bridge on Sunday night, many moved on to sites at Marble Arch and Parliament Square, marking a week-long occupation in London mirrored in 33 other countries.

The protests have been met with both resounding support and disapproval. Still, millions of people have now heard their call for transformative and urgent change to avoid climate catastrophe.

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UK metals firm Liberty House is set to substantially increase its EU ETS footprint after Brussels cleared its purchase of ArcelorMittal steelmaking facilities that were allocated millions more EUAs than they needed.

Read the full text of the speech Greta Thunberg gave to MPs at the Houses of Parliament

My name is Greta Thunberg. I am 16 years old. I come from Sweden. And I speak on behalf of future generations.

I know many of you don’t want to listen to us – you say we are just children. But we’re only repeating the message of the united climate science.

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Teenager who sparked global youth movement hits out at airport expansion and support for fossil fuels

‘You did not act in time’ – Thunberg’s full speech

The UK government’s active support for fossil fuels and airport expansion is “beyond absurd”, Greta Thunberg has told MPs.

The 16-year-old Swedish student, who sparked a global youth-based movement when she began a “climate strike” outside Sweden’s parliament last year, gave a typically blunt speech. She told MPs: “This ongoing irresponsible behaviour will no doubt be remembered in history as one of the greatest failures of humankind.”

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The controversy over the water purchase is based on old story; the election has enabled it to be resurrected for a powerful fresh spin around the political circuit. Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Order targeting the protest is first to explicitly mention organisers could be detained

Police have warned Extinction Rebellion organisers that they face arrest if they incite protesters to block roads around Parliament Square.

The Metropolitan police said it was imposing pre-emptive conditions restricting any demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday to the lawn in the centre of the square, after hearing that activists with the group planned to gather there.

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The latest Murray-Darling Basin scandal calls into question whether the government is using public money wisely. Lin Crase, Professor of Economics and Head of School, University of South Australia Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Australia’s opposition Labor party on Tuesday announced a plan to spend A$1.5 billion ($1.07 bln) on natural gas extraction projects that critics say would balloon carbon output despite the government running on a platform to strengthen the nation’s emissions targets.

A technical analyst to join our newly established energy analytics team in Singapore, covering price developments in electricity, natural gas, coal, carbon and crude oil markets.

Study shows how destabilised natural systems will worsen man-made problem

The release of methane and carbon dioxide from thawing permafrost will accelerate global warming and add up to $70tn (£54tn) to the world’s climate bill, according to the most advanced study yet of the economic consequences of a melting Arctic.

If countries fail to improve on their Paris agreement commitments, this feedback mechanism, combined with a loss of heat-deflecting white ice, will cause a near 5% amplification of global warming and its associated costs, says the paper, which was published on Tuesday in Nature Communications.

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Teenage activist Greta Thunberg has an uncompromising message on climate change.

Labor had threatened to call for a Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, instead they'll focus solely on Barnaby Joyce's handling of the 2017 water buy backs.

As the state is swept by a super bloom, these flowers are popping up – a silver lining for areas hit hard by intense fires

When wildfires swept through southern California last year they left a trail of destruction: leveling houses, historic Hollywood sets and sites of biodiversity. Now a rare flower is proving that great destruction can give rise to something spectacular.

Park ranger Ana Beatriz Cholo has been on a mission to find fire poppies – a rare and elusive species that only grows on the heels of major fires – in the Santa Monica Mountains, which were especially hard hit. She knew they were unusual, and that the 2018 Woolsey fire, which scorched more than 96,000 acres, made this a good year to hunt.

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Teenage activist Greta Thunberg, who will meet UK politicians, also praises climate change protesters.