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Environment secretary Steve Reed urged to bring in ‘full and swift ban’ to protect health of people, wildlife and pets

Wildlife charities have called on the government to ban the sale and use of lead in ammunition used for outdoor shooting.

The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), RSPB, Wildlife and Countryside Link, Chem Trust and Wild Justice have sent an open letter to the environment secretary, Steve Reed, asking for a 18-month transition period for a ban on lead in ammunition sales.

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A Singapore-headquartered climate fintech company has launched a blockchain-based platform for trading of carbon credits and international renewable energy certificates (I-RECS), it has announced.

What is probably the world's oldest ice, dating back 1.2m years ago, has been dug out from deep within Antarctica.

A failure of justice, and draconian Tory law, put Gaie Delap in prison. A failure of government is keeping her there

Gaie Delap will turn 78 on Friday, in Eastwood Park prison, Gloucestershire. Sentenced to 20 months last August for climbing a gantry over the M25 for Just Stop Oil, she was released in November to serve the rest of her sentence on a home detention curfew. But the electronic tag that she was required to wear couldn’t go round her ankle because she has deep-vein thrombosis and it might have risked causing her a stroke. It couldn’t go round her wrist because they couldn’t find a tag small enough, which people keep saying is because she’s frail. Delap hates being called frail. Her wrist is a perfectly reasonable size, 14-and-a-half centimetres. It’s the wrist-tag design that’s wanting. The topsy-turvy world where a government contractor, Serco, can fail and fail again, while a citizen with a social purpose gets called back to prison five days before Christmas to atone for that failure, isn’t even the most absurd thing about this story.

Delap was engaged in direct action to raise awareness about the climate emergency, and the day citizens stop doing that is the day that progressive politics might as well give up and go home. Whatever pretzel twists Labour ministers have to perform to sound as if they’re on the side of the decent, honest commuter, while simultaneously signalling that they understand the scale of the climate crisis, they must surely remember this: the trade union movement, the peace movement, the suffragette movement, the civil rights movement, the climate justice movement; every known movement of change has relied on non-violent action to disrupt the status quo.

Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist

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A planned large-scale natural gas field backed by the government could be an unworthy investment for South Korea, considering the potential carbon cost and declining gas demand, an environmental group has argued.

Indonesia’s National Carbon Exchange (IDX Carbon) will host its first international transactions of correspondingly adjusted carbon credits later this month, the platform announced Thursday.

Australian iron ore miner Fortescue and Chinese steelmaker Baowu signed a memorandum of understanding this week in Shanghai to pursue green iron making, one of Fortescue’s great green dreams for decarbonisation and an ultimate realisation of ‘real zero’, as opposed to net-zero.

Wildfires continued to grow in Los Angeles as overtaxed fire crews battled three major out-of-control blazes that have killed at least five people. The largest and most devastating so far have been the Palisades fire and the Eaton fire, but other blazes, particularly the growing Hurst fire and the Hollywood Hills-based Sunset fire, are continuing to worry Los Angeles residents

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Beach cabanas serve a valid purpose. But make sure you use them carefully and responsibly, so everyone’s day at the beach is safe and enjoyable. Samuel Cornell, PhD Candidate, UNSW Beach Safety Research Group + School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Huge wildfires roaring through the Los Angeles area of Pacific Palisades has left the neighborhood in ruins. Resident Sanah Chung left his Pacific Palisades home when a mandatory evacuation order was placed but returned to protect his home from the fire. 'I know this looks pretty stupid, but If I can save one ember from burning down my house, I'll take the risk,' said Chung.

• Visual explainer: why are the LA wildfires so bad?

• Celebrities among thousands to flee homes as Los Angeles wildfires rage

• After ‘tremendous demand’, water tanks used for fighting LA wildfires ran dry early

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A global food and beverage multinational has kicked off its third annual sustainability incubator programme, offering grants to pilot projects focussed on sustainable agriculture, climate tech, and GHG emissions reduction.

We knew this would happen eventually. We have moved from possible futures to these things now happening. The deferment has ended. David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of Tasmania Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Guava orchards sequester more carbon as the trees age, a study published on Wednesday demonstrates, which is valuable to land-use change decisions that consider environmental impacts.

The owner of California’s Diablo Canyon nuclear plant filed a brief earlier this week in support of US DOE’s motion to dismiss an environmental NGO’s case against the agency for approving a $1.1 billion loan to prolong the facility’s operations.

A Republican-led Congress is likely to revisit the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as part of broad tax reform, as the cost of the 22 clean energy tax credits almost doubles with EPA's new emission rules, according to analysis from a conservative US think-tank.

Companies with innovative projects to reduce emissions have been granted £51.9 million as part of the UK's Plan for Change to deliver on net zero, the government said on Thursday.

Environment secretary says Labour is aiming for half of food procured for the public sector to come from British farms

Food supplied to the public sector will be monitored for the first time to see how much was grown by British farmers, the environment secretary is to announce.

Steve Reed will speak at the Oxford Farming Conference on Thursday in an attempt to reset his relationship with the farming sector after a tumultuous start in his role. Farmers have been angry about issues including changes to the inheritance tax regime, cuts to EU-derived subsidies and delays to flood payments for submerged farms.

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The carbon footprint associated with the precious metal should factor in biomass loss from nickel mining operations into emissions reports, which would show a larger and more accurate impact, according to a new study.

Brazil’s National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) has approved R$5 million ($800,000), matched by a multinational beverages company, for the restoration of territory in Ceara State as part of a nationwide initiative for ecological restoration and CO2 removal.

Ukraine has adopted legislation to restore mandatory monitoring of emissions, paving the way for its integration into the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS).