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Among sweeping rightwing electoral victories across the globe, the ‘big loser of the elections has been climate’

An unprecedented year of elections around the world has underscored a sobering trend – in many countries the commitment to act on the climate crisis has either stalled or is eroding, even as disasters and record temperatures continue to mount.

So far 2024, called the “biggest election year in human history” by the United Nations with around half the world’s population heading to the polls, there have been major wins for Donald Trump, the US president-elect who calls the climate crisis “a big hoax”; the climate-skeptic right in European Union elections; and Vladimir Putin, who won another term and has endured sanctions to maintain Russia’s robust oil and gas exports.

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Fourth consecutive year that seals have bred at Orford Ness, where more than 130 pups were born last season

The first grey seal pup of the season has been born at a remote shingle spit that was once a cold war weapons-testing site.

The birth at Orford Ness on the Suffolk coast marks the fourth consecutive year of seals breeding there, which began in 2021 after a reduction in visitor access because of the Covid pandemic.

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The talks in Azerbaijan have seen nations at odds over how much money developed countries should provide to poorer ones

Negotiators have told our reporters on-the-ground that rich countries have agreed to up their offer on the crucial issue of climate finance. Read the full story from Adam Morton, Fiona Harvey and the rest of the team here.

Major rich countries at UN climate talks in Azerbaijan have agreed to lift a global financial offer to help developing nations tackle the climate crisis to $300bn a year, as ministers met through the night in a bid to salvage a deal.

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EU and nations including the UK, US and Australia indicate they will make the increase in exchange for changes to a draft text, sources say

Major rich countries at UN climate talks in Azerbaijan have agreed to lift a global financial offer to help developing nations tackle the climate crisis to $300bn a year, as ministers met through the night in a bid to salvage a deal.

The Guardian understands the Azeri hosts brokered a lengthy closed-door meeting with a small group of ministers and delegation heads, including China, the EU, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, the UK, US and Australia, on key areas of dispute on climate finance and the transition away from fossil fuels.

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Conservationists failed to capture elusive insects this summer, so Kristina Kenda offered to step in

When British conservationists flew to Slovenia this summer hoping to catch enough singing cicadas to reintroduce the species to the New Forest, the grasshopper-sized insects proved impossible to locate, flying elusively at great height between trees.

Now a 12-year-old girl has offered to save the Species Recovery Trust’s reintroduction project. Kristina Kenda, the daughter of the Airbnb hosts who accommodated the trust’s director, Dom Price, and conservation officer Holly Stanworth in the summer summer, will put out special nets to hopefully catch enough cicadas to re-establish a British population.

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Advocates and officials argue that consequences of Israeli siege are inextricably linked to tackling the climate crisis

As countries negotiate over climate finance, Palestinian officials and advocates have come to Cop29 in Baku to highlight global heating’s intersection with another crisis: Israel’s siege on Gaza.

“The Cop [meetings] are very keen to protect the environment, but for whom?” said Ahmed Abu Thaher, director of projects and international relations at Palestine’s Environment Quality Authority, who had travelled to Cop29 from Ramallah. “If you are killing the people there, for whom are you keen to protect the environment and to minimise the effects of climate change?”

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RGGI compliance entities hold a permit shortfall in Q3 from an earlier surplus through the prior quarter, while RGGI credit prices in the secondary market rose to new records, according to the latest market monitor report.

Massachusetts this week published final GHG reporting requirements for entities to be regulated under the Clean Heat Standard (CHS) with minor changes, but nevertheless extended the registration deadline for enrollment.

Magnesium hydroxide (MgOH2) is one of the most effective materials for capturing and storing atmospheric CO2, according to a new study that evaluated the potential for commonly-used hydrated rock, mineral powders, and industrial cement waste in enhanced rock weathering (ERW).

These caves were unexplored for thousands of years, protected by swirling mists and terrifying tales.

Financial entities continued to trim V24 California Carbon Allowance (CCA) exposure and build V25 length this week as futures prices spiralled lower into the Q4 WCI allowance sale after sentiment soured with news of regulatory delays, while traders added to RGGI Allowance (RGA) net length even as price action stalled, according to data released Friday from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Maine released an updated plan for the state's climate priorities on Thursday, teeing up a number of proposals for consideration in the next state legislative session.

California's electricity sector emissions in September rose year-on-year (YoY), even as the share of natural gas in the power mix decreased, according to a report from the state's grid operator.

Negotiators from nearly 200 countries could be on the verge of a historic agreement on international carbon markets at COP29, after presidency proposal texts were published late on Friday and multiple sources said that consensus may now be present on the key outstanding technicalities of international carbon trade under Article 6.

Talk grows of a walkout from poor countries in response to ‘unacceptable’ and ‘insulting’ finance proposal

Developing countries were being urged by civil society groups to reject “a bad deal” at the UN climate talks on Friday night, after rich nations refused to increase an “insulting” offer of finance to help them tackle the climate crisis.

The stage is set for a bitter row on Saturday over how much money poor countries should receive from the governments of the rich world, which have offered $250bn a year by 2035 to help the poor shift to a low-carbon economy and adapt to the impacts of extreme weather.

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Greece has unveiled an multi-billion-euro investment vehicle with the EU to decarbonise its islands’ energy sources, raising funding in part from the sale of 25 million carbon allowances.

Chancellor understood to be determined to keep policy despite Treasury analysing ways to soften impact

Rachel Reeves is holding firm against a U-turn on inheritance tax for farmers, despite the Treasury analysing ways of softening the impact.

The chancellor is understood to be determined not to drop the policy even though some Labour MPs – and even ministers – are worrying about the political fallout of the policy that has seen farmers protesting in Westminster this week.

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The UK risks facing a tax on electricity exports to the EU in the range of £40-50 (€43-55) per megawatt-hour under the bloc's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), experts told a webinar Friday about the UK's need for electricity market reform.

Great British Energy, the UK government-owned company being set up to spearhead the country's energy transition, will make investments in risky technologies that governments usually avoid, a conference heard this week.

The Bahamas government has signed a deal to refinance $300 million of its external debt, in a move that is expected to unlock more than $120 mln for marine conservation over the next 15 years.