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UK weather: flood alerts in northern England as rain hits sports events
Downpours affect Open golf tournament and fourth Ashes Test and festivalgoers also drenched
Flood alerts have been issued across the north of England where heavy rain disrupted sporting events and left festivalgoers drenched.
It has been a soggy final day of the Open Championship golf tournament in Liverpool and downpours have blighted the fourth Ashes cricket Test in Manchester on Sunday.
Continue reading...Sadiq Khan to press ahead with Ulez expansion amid Labour pressure
London mayor is open to ideas to mitigate impact on residents, but not on scheduling of policy some blame for loss of byelection
Sadiq Khan is open to new ideas for mitigating the impact of the anti-pollution levy in London being expanded next month, but refusing to back down on the planned timing of its implementation.
Despite pressure from some in Labour for city hall to rethink the policy they believe lost the party the Uxbridge and South Ruislip byelection on Thursday, the mayor is determined for it to come into force.
Continue reading...It won’t cost much to make free school meals a universal right | Larry Elliott
A new push to offer free school meals across the globe won’t end world hunger but it’s a very good start
During the pandemic the Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford turned food into a hot political issue in the UK with his campaign for every child in a low-income family to be guaranteed a free school meal.
Since then, things have moved on. The problems facing low-income families – not just in Britain but everywhere – have worsened owing to rising global food prices. Consumers in the western economies have seen the cost of their weekly shop rise sharply. Food bank use in Britain has surged as a result of a cost-of-living crisis that has seen grocery bills rise by almost a fifth in the past year.
Continue reading...Scientists battle to save Guam kingfisher after snakes introduced
A species almost wiped out by tree snakes is being returned to the wild and, eventually, to its Pacific island home
As arks go, the shipping container that has been placed inside Sedgwick County Zoo, in Wichita, Kansas, looks an unlikely vehicle for saving species.
Nevertheless, work there is expected to play a key role in undoing one of the world’s worst conservation disasters: the accidental introduction of brown tree snakes to the Pacific island of Guam. The snakes’ arrival, at the end of the second world war, eventually wiped out huge numbers of indigenous birds, mammals, and lizards including the Guam kingfisher, the Guam rail, and the Guam flycatcher.
Continue reading...As my home city of Athens burns, I can only watch in amazement as sunseekers fly in | Helena Smith
I’ve had my fair share of messages from friends abroad recently asking if it really is as hot as “they say” in Greece. Hot, I usually retort, doesn’t say it all. “It’s mind-meltingly blistering, baking from morning to night. You struggle to sleep, you struggle to eat, you’re ill-tempered and you can’t even drink; a consolatory sundown cocktail is usually the kiss of death.”
After the emojis and exclamation marks, the response has invariably been: “Well, over here it’s all cloud and rain, I’ll make sure to pack my factor 30+. Looking forward!”
Continue reading...Fire ants breach Queensland containment zones six times as authorities try to stop march to NSW border
Experts say pest eradication program is underfunded and it is a ‘matter of time’ before ants move beyond Queensland
Fire ants have breached containment zones in south-east Queensland six times in the past six weeks, triggering the expansion of biosecurity controls at the New South Wales border.
The imported red fire ants – considered one of the world’s worst invasive species – were detected at a site at Tallebudgera last week, about 5.5km from the NSW border. The find was the farthest south the pest has been detected in Queensland.
Continue reading...Stalemate as G20 fails to make progress on renewables, fossil fuel phase-down
Blue Carbon Project Manager, Forest Carbon – Jakarta
Dropping green pledges would be ‘political suicide’, Sunak and Starmer warned
Science and business leaders say lurch away from climate agenda after byelections would be deeply unpopular with voters and damage UK’s reputation
Britain’s leaders have been warned against a “politically suicidal” lurch away from their green pledges as concerns grow that both major parties may dilute their plans to combat the climate crisis in the wake of a shock byelection result.
Senior figures from business, the scientific community and across the political divide warned that any watering down of climate policies would be deeply unpopular with voters, set back the international fight to reach net zero and damage Britain’s green reputation.
Continue reading...Stakeholders urge Uganda govt to bolster support for global carbon markets participation
Sadiq Khan in U-turn on ‘eco’ wood-burners amid pollution fears
Campaigners’ pressure sees London mayor withdraw approval for stoves billed as better for the environment
The London mayor Sadiq Khan has withdrawn his endorsement of woodburning stoves promoted as “environmentally friendly” after a surge in sales of the appliances, which contribute to harmful air pollution.
In 2018, Khan endorsed the Ecodesign stoves, which comply with new regulations in an EU’ directive on minimum energy efficiency standards that came into force on 1 January last year, in order to encourage householders to switch from open fires and older stoves to more modern technology. He said Londoners could make a big difference by using the “right kit”.
Continue reading...Avian flu may have killed millions of birds globally as outbreak ravages South America
Virus has spread around the world, with 200,000 wild birds dead in Peru alone and concerns Australia could be next
Millions of wild birds may have died from bird flu globally in the latest outbreak, researchers have said, as the viral disease ravages South America, with 200,000 deaths recorded in Peru alone.
The highly infectious variant of H5N1, which gained momentum in the winter of 2021, caused Europe’s worst bird flu outbreak before spreading globally. The disease reached South America in November 2022, and has now been reported on every continent except Oceania and Antarctica.
Continue reading...Climate records tumble, leaving Earth in uncharted territory - scientists
Indigenous art unites Australians in a common cause: abuse of the ocean
The country’s ‘first mining boom’ drove its oyster reefs to near extinction. But a new generation of artists has a voice their ancestors never did
Megan Cope calls it the “first mining boom”, one that drove Australia’s oyster reefs to near extinction. First, British colonists raided the enormous piles of shells and animal bones Indigenous people had gathered after feasting and ceremony, mixing these middens with water into a lime slurry for building the new colony.
Then, once these “Aboriginal architectural forms” – sites of carbon-dated evidence of traditional life – were exhausted, the colonisers began demanding live oysters to eat. They sent fishers to deploy harmful extractive processes on the reefs. “Within 15 to 20 years of the British arriving, the landscape changed so incredibly,” says Cope. “Our ancestors were witness to that, but powerless, of course.”
Continue reading...Coalition says inverters in rooftop solar systems are national security risk
Opposition energy spokesman Ted O'Brien says solar panel inverters made by Chinese companies could be taken over by officials for spying purposes.
The post Coalition says inverters in rooftop solar systems are national security risk appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Australia commits $50m to find new supply chains for solar, batteries and hydrogen
Australia contributes $50m as part of Quad deal to diversify clean energy supply chains, with focus on solar panels, batteries and electrolysers that produce hydrogen.
The post Australia commits $50m to find new supply chains for solar, batteries and hydrogen appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Gas lobby forced to pull ad for misleading viewers over “50 pct cleaner” claims
A community panel of Ad Standards finds gas industry commercial breached the advertising code for environmental claims by making an unclear comparison with coal.
The post Gas lobby forced to pull ad for misleading viewers over “50 pct cleaner” claims appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Producers boost CCA holdings, financials lock-in profits but scoop ACP, RGGI contracts as prices bolt higher
Senior Consultant, Land Use, Climate Focus – Berlin/Rotterdam/Amsterdam
US Carbon Markets and LCFS Roundup for week ending July 21, 2023
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