The Guardian

Some SUVs and utes could cost more unless they clean up their act, while EVs could get cheaper under the new standards

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Carmakers are crunching the numbers on the federal government’s new vehicle efficiency standard (NVES) to make plans for what is shaping up to be a very different new car market by the end of the decade.

Some models could be discontinued or get more expensive, while more fuel efficient vehicles and EVs look set to be cheaper – and we’ll almost certainly have a broader range of hybrid and electric models to choose from.

Emissions fall 3.5% from 2021 but experts say government not doing enough to reach net zero

Greenhouse gas emissions fell slightly in 2022, new government figures reveal, with homes and transport remaining the highest emitting sectors.

The emissions for the territorial UK were equivalent to 406.2m tonnes of CO2, down 3.5% from 2021 and 50% from 1990.

We subsidise the purchase of twin-cab utes and charge GST on bikes and public transport. It’s absurd

Parisians just voted to charge large vehicles three times more to park in the city than small vehicles. In Australia we offer the most convenient parking for free to people driving enormous twin-cab utes (we call them loading zones, even though you don’t have to load up anything more than your groceries). Policy choices matter.

Last year all of Australia’s top 10 selling cars were twin-cab utes or large SUVs. And just as most utes aren’t really shifting cargo around our cities, “sports utility vehicles” are not engaged in sport – and they clearly aren’t utilities. But the names used to describe these expensive, inefficient and dangerous forms of transport are by no means the most absurd thing about Australian car culture.

Grants needed towards buying EVs as well as a battery health testing standard to reassure consumers

Ministers need to intervene to boost the secondhand electric vehicle market and allay “uncertainty and concerns” over the health of their batteries, a House of Lords committee has said.

Peers on the environment and climate change committee urged the government to step up efforts to encourage electric vehicle adoption amid consumer jitters over the cost of vehicles, the longevity of their batteries and the availability of charging points.

Study finds ‘unprovoked’ attacks were more common for surfers than swimmers

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Australia is home to a disproportionate number of deadly shark attacks, with isolated areas carrying a greater risk of fatalities, international research has found.

The 10 fatal attacks globally in 2023 doubled the five in the previous year, with four of last year’s deaths occurring in Australia.

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Findings in leading scientific journal that globe has breached key warming milestone challenged by climate science experts

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Between 30 metres and 90 metres below the surface of the Caribbean Sea, an ancient sponge species that grows a hard skeleton has been quietly recording changes in the ocean temperature for hundreds of years.

Now those sponges are at the centre of a bold and controversial claim made in a leading scientific journal that, since the start of the Industrial Revolution, the planet may have already warmed by 1.7C – half a degree more than estimates used by the United Nation’s climate panel.

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There is both hope and hype for what artificial intelligence can do for growth – if politicians can tame its destructive potential

Since returning from this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, I have been asked repeatedly for my biggest takeaways. Among the most widely discussed issues this year was artificial intelligence – especially generative AI (“GenAI”). With the recent adoption of large language models (like the one powering ChatGPT), there is much hope – and hype – about what AI could do for productivity and economic growth in the future.

To address this question, we must bear in mind that our world is dominated far more by human stupidity than by AI. The proliferation of megathreats – each an element in the broader “polycrisis” – confirms that our politics are too dysfunctional, and our policies too misguided, to address even the most serious and obvious risks to our future. These include climate change, which will have huge economic costs; failed states, which will make waves of climate refugees even larger; and recurrent, virulent pandemics that could be even more economically damaging than Covid-19.

The WEF zeitgeist is, in my experience, a counter-indicator of where the world is really heading. Policymakers and business leaders are there to flog their books and spew platitudes. They represent the conventional wisdom, which is often based on a rear-window view of global and macroeconomic developments.

Exclusive: Meeting took place days after BP reported record profits while households were squeezed by high energy bills

The energy and climate minister Graham Stuart asked BP about the incentives required to “maximise” extraction of oil and gas from the North Sea, documents released under freedom of information rules have revealed.

Stuart’s meeting with the corporation’s UK boss, Louise Kingham, last year came days after BP had announced a record profit of $28bn (£23bn) for 2022, raised its dividend to shareholders, and rowed back on its aim to cut its carbon emissions by 2030. Households were also enduring very high energy bills. BP will report its profits for 2023 on Tuesday.

Terry Reintke and Bas Eickhout vow to fight for more equal and ecological Europe amid surge to far right

The European Green party has picked Terry Reintke and Bas Eickhout as lead candidates to front its campaign ahead of elections in June that polls suggest will see it lose seats.

Flanked by green banners bearing the word “courage”, the two MEPs, who were elected by delegates at a congress in Lyon on Saturday, said they would stand up to the surge of the far right and fight for a more equal and ecological Europe.

Moving to a new flat forced my wife and I to go electric – and realise it wasn’t the tragic culinary loss I believed

My wife and I have always had certain non-negotiables when looking for a place to rent: good light, a decent location – and a gas stove. We love cooking together, and countless food shows have impressed upon us that there is nothing more essential to a tasty meal than a flame.

Then came the pandemic. Our landlord wanted to move back into our Barcelona flat, so in the first months of 2020 we found ourselves looking for a new place to stay. With just days to relocate before the first Covid lockdown came into effect, we were forced to set aside our preference for gas – and reluctantly moved into an apartment with an induction hob.

Michael Kavate writes the newsletter Cooler Futures and is a senior reporter with Inside Philanthropy

Experts say Albanese government plan should provide a greater choice of electric cars but Coalition calls savings claims a ‘lie’

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Suppliers of electric vehicles are the big winners from the Albanese government’s fuel efficiency standards with one industry group saying half of all new cars will be electric by 2029 and 100% by 2035 on the proposed trajectory.

The energy minister, Chris Bowen, and infrastructure minister, Catherine King, released the details of the plan for consultation on Sunday, saying motorists would potentially save $1,000 a year by 2028 as manufacturers brought in more efficient models.

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They promise more energy and a vastly improved range for EV drivers. But can they deliver on the hype?

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Working in the dry room at Deakin University’s Battery Research and Innovation Hub is no day at the beach.

“[It’s] more desert than beach,” says its general manager, Dr Timothy Khoo. “At the beach, you at least still get the moisture coming in.”

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Archaeologists find remains of insects that ‘hitchhiked’ here nearly 2,000 years ago

From plumbing to public baths, the Romans left their mark on Britain’s health. But it may not have all been positive. Archaeologists working at Vindolanda, a Roman garrison site south of Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, have unearthed fresh evidence that the Romans also brought us ... bedbugs.

Dr Andrew Birley, who heads the Vindolanda archaeological team, said: “It is incredibly rare to find them in any ancient context.”

Greta Thunberg and four others charged with public order offences over a protest in London have been cleared after a judge ruled that they had no case to answer. Thunberg was charged alongside Christofer Kebbon, Joshua James Unwin, Jeff Rice and Peter Barker with 'failing to comply with a condition imposed under section 14 of the Public Order Act'.

They had been taking part in a protest outside the InterContinental hotel in Mayfair, the venue for the Energy Intelligence Forum (EIF), a fossil fuel industry summit attended by corporate executives and government ministers

• Judge throws out case against Greta Thunberg and other London protesters

Sir Keir Starmer wants to change his country for the better. That won’t happen if he drops his key industrial strategy for growth

Sir Keir Starmer promised that his green prosperity plan would be a manifesto commitment ahead of the next election. Labour’s proposal was to be the centrepiece of its economic offer to generate growth, create well-paid, secure jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It was striking, exciting and popular. In mid-January, the party leader told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that spending £28bn by the end of the next parliament would make the UK secure in energy and lower household bills.

If a week is a long time in politics, then a fortnight might be called an era. Sir Keir’s plan appears to have gone up in smoke. If so, that’s bad news for the environment and the economy. Inadequate public and private spending is holding back growth while there is a crying need for investment to decarbonise the UK. Other countries are already eyeing up the opportunities. New green industries could be worth $10tn to the global economy by 2050. Britain risks being left behind.

Decision to abandon key policy decried as ‘economically illiterate’ reaction to short-term political pressures

Colder, damper, sicker, poorer and less employed: Britons in the near future are likely to be worse off if the next government fails to invest in a cleaner and greener economy, business experts and green campaigners have said.

Economic revival requires investment, and the UK’s crumbling infrastructure needs renewal. The country faces a choice: decline, as businesses and financial investors go elsewhere to find welcoming governments and the regulations, equipment and skills they seek; or investment in the future.

Court rules not enough evidence provided to prove defendants failed to comply with section 14 order at anti-fossil fuel rally

Greta Thunberg and four others charged with public order offences over a protest in London have been cleared after a judge ruled that they had no case to answer.

Thunberg was charged alongside Christofer Kebbon, Joshua James Unwin, Jeff Rice and Peter Barker with “failing to comply with a condition imposed under section 14 of the Public Order Act”.

UN climate chief says ‘torrents, not trickles’ of public and private finance needed to meet global challenge

Governments must not try to pick loopholes in the global agreement to “transition away” from fossil fuels reached last December, the UN’s climate chief has said, as he called for “torrents” of cash for poorer countries to tackle the crisis.

Some countries have sought to play down the significance of the deal reached at the Cop28 UN climate summit in Dubai, the first time that governments have made such a pledge on oil and gas.

As a professional footballer I see the climate crisis killing my sport and believe we have a duty to act accordingly

When I play football I feel free from the worries of day-to-day life. But as a young person living in a climate and environmental crisis, these worries have become increasingly hard to ignore. This has been made even harder by the fact that the climate crisis is killing my sport, and one of the companies most responsible is plastering its name all over football in England to distract from what it is doing.

As a professional footballer, I’ve had the privilege of representing my country, New Zealand, 15 times. From being a champion of Italy with Juventus to playing most recently for Hearts in the Scottish Women’s Premier League, I have been lucky enough to experience football in a variety of settings. The goal was always to use football as a means to experience the world, but it turns out the world I’ve been experiencing isn’t what I thought it would be.

Respiratory scientists say inaction will ‘widen inequality gap’ between eastern and western Europe

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Proposed delays to EU air pollution limits will mean hundreds of thousands more people dying early and will “widen the inequality gap” between eastern and western Europe, a group of public health experts have said, as EU negotiators thrash out key rules to clean up the air.

The World Health Organization has set guidelines for how many tiny particles and how much toxic gas can dirty the air, but stressed that no level of pollution is safe to breathe. Doctors writing in the International Journal of Public Health want the limits met by the end of the decade, but the European parliament wants to wait till 2035, the European Commission wants to set weaker limits for 2030 without setting a date to align with the WHO, and the European Council wants to let poorer countries wait till 2040.