The Guardian

In the mythology of birds, some can bring luck, others rain. But when that famous laugh portends a snake in the grass, it’s hard to deny

Kookaburras don’t usually laugh in the daytime. Their calls ring out at dawn and dusk, a raucous chorus that can provoke homesickness in any Australian unfortunate enough to be stuck in country with less interesting birds.

But at midday on a clear day in January, a kookaburra’s laugh gives you pause. Enough to notice the brown snake moving quietly through the grass a few feet away, intent on business that does not concern you but might if you carried on unawares and accidentally trod on it.

Thinktank Create Streets calls for people to be allowed to grow plants and trees in barren urban areas

A right to plant and grow trees and other greenery in public spaces should be given to people across Britain, an adviser to Michael Gove has said.

Nicholas Boys Smith, who heads the Office for Place in Gove’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), also chairs the thinktank Create Streets, which has released a report calling for more greening of cities.

Country already trails well behind Europe and PM’s backtracking on climate policies could widen the gap

The UK has fallen well behind the rest of Europe in the growth of electric vehicle sales and risks falling further back after Rishi Sunak’s “screeching U-turn” on its climate policies, according to industry analysts.

UK sales of electric vehicles grew by 31% in the 12 months to July, one of the slowest rates of growth in Europe, according to data analysed by Cornwall Insight and the law firm Shoosmiths.

The economy will thrive under the energy transition, not suffer. So why is the government rowing back on its green pledges?

• Chris Skidmore is a former energy minister

Last week’s announcement that the government would delay key net-zero targets came as a surprise to anyone who has followed the policy. The existing targets were fair and well considered, and enjoyed wide political support. It’s strange to cite our world-leading progress in reducing emissions and developing low-carbon technologies, then decide that is a reason for slowing down, especially when doing so risks surrendering that position and those investment opportunities to other countries.

Make no mistake, the government cannot stop our collective progress towards net zero. But it can, all too easily, slow progress at a critical time when we should be accelerating our efforts. Businesses and innovators are in a global race to create and deploy the technologies that will help us get there, and with a lack of clear political commitment Britain is lagging in some areas. Up until recently, Britain was the global leader in offshore wind power. It is now China.

Chris Skidmore is Conservative MP for Kingswood, the former energy minister who signed net zero into law, and chair of the Mission Zero independent review of net zero

IEA’s Fatih Birol says uptake of solar power and EVs is in line with net zero goal but rich countries must hasten their broader plans

The prospects of the world staying within the 1.5C limit on global heating have brightened owing to the “staggering” growth of renewable energy and green investment in the past two years, the chief of the world’s energy watchdog has said.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, and the world’s foremost energy economist, said much more needed to be done but that the rapid uptake of solar power and electric vehicles were encouraging.

Plans involve doubling use of such energy but not everybody wants to live near power lines

There are two big tensions in how, and how quickly, the UK gets to net zero. One was the main focus of Rishi Sunak’s speech last week in which the phasing out of sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles was delayed and gas boilers got a semi-reprieve. But the other aspect, only briefly referenced, deserves more attention: it is the reform of planning rules to allow the UK to build new electricity infrastructure, including hated pylons, at twice the pace we usually manage.

For a prime minister who says “consent” is “the only realistic path to net zero”, there is potential for more trouble. Net zero involves doubling the UK’s use of electricity, which plainly requires more kit, but not everybody wants to live near a new high-voltage transmission line suspended on 50-metre stilts. It is hard to see how the government’s target of decarbonising the power network by 2035 (a target that survived last week’s bonfire of deadlines) can be met without upsetting a few local interests.

Robert Habeck said supporters of climate action must have the most compelling arguments

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Germany’s vice-chancellor has called on supporters of environmental reforms to shed their reputation for “moral superiority” and focus on having “the better arguments” amid a backlash against climate policies across Europe.

Robert Habeck, the minister for economic affairs and climate action and a leading Green politician, said environmental parties had to push back against their instincts if they wanted their climate agenda to succeed in the long run.

Clean Energy Regulator says consumers looking to save money on energy but investment in large-scale wind and solar all but stalled

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Households are on track to add three gigawatts of rooftop solar capacity to the electricity grid this year but investment in large-scale wind and solar remains all but stalled, according to the Clean Energy Regulator.

The regulator said 1.4GW of capacity, from almost 160,000 rooftop systems, was added to the grid in the first half of 2023, which chief executive and chair David Parker said showed consumers were looking to save money on their energy usage while reducing their carbon footprint.

Green New Deal for Schools demands districts teach climate justice, update buildings and plan for extreme weather

Students at more than 50 high schools across the US are proposing a Green New Deal for Schools, demanding that their districts teach climate justice, create pathways to green jobs after graduation and plan for climate disasters, among other policies.

The campaign, coordinated by the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate justice collective, is a reaction to rightwing efforts to ban or suppress climate education and activism at schools. The national effort could include teach-ins and walkouts, as well as targeted petitions to school boards and districts in the coming weeks, organizers with Sunrise told the Guardian, ahead of the Monday launch.

Birders have flocked in their hundreds to see the songbirds, blown across the Atlantic by Hurricane Lee

A record-breaking number of “uber-rare” North American songbirds have arrived in the UK this week, blown over the Atlantic in the aftermath of Hurricane Lee.

More than a dozen species of small songbirds – one of which has never been seen in the UK before – were sent veering off their usual migration routes by the high winds.

During a recent trip to Brazil, I saw how Indigenous women activists there have completely changed the political landscape

I was invited to the third Indigenous Women’s March in Brasília, the capital of Brazil, earlier this month. The last occupation of Brazil’s legislature was in January 2022, when a group of rightwing thugs, imitating the January 6 riot in the US, attempted to kill Brazilian democracy. This was the exact opposite.

Five hundred Indigenous women from across Brazil occupied the Congress – not with guns or knives or anger, but with the strength and truth of their words, the intensity of their knowing, with their headdresses, feathers and beaded primordial designs calling us to the earth, to know the earth, to protect and respect the biomes and honor Indigenous women’s rights to their lands.

Party will argue green growth is route to lower bills and says Rishi Sunak will leave UK stuck in economic ‘doom loop’

Labour will “double down” on making the case that tackling the cost of living crisis and the climate crisis can only be done in tandem, despite an intensifying Conservative attack on net zero policies, the Guardian has learned.

Labour will argue that seeking green growth is the way to bring down household bills and secure the future of the UK economy.

Former British PM calls for 3% levy on oil and gas export revenues of biggest producers to generate $25bn a year for global south

Petrostates should pay a small percentage of their soaring oil and gas revenues to help poor countries cope with the climate crisis, the former UK prime minister Gordon Brown has urged.

Countries with large oil and gas deposits have enjoyed a record bonanza in the last two years, amounting to about $4tn (£3.3tn) last year for the industry globally. Levying a 3% windfall tax on the oil and gas export revenues of the biggest-producing countries would yield about $25bn a year.

Petrostates like Saudi Arabia and Norway have made staggering oil and gas profits. A simple levy could funnel money to the countries that need it

After a summer of ever-more deadly floods, droughts and firestorms, two autumn summits – the G20 and the UN general assembly – have come and gone. Both failed to deliver the long-promised global plan to finance climate mitigation and adaptation. But as political leaders issue toothless and easily forgettable communiques, a potential breakthrough is staring the world in the face. It could finally end the cycle of broken promises to the global south and rescue the next summit, Cop28 in November and December.

Last year, the oil and gas industry across the world banked about $4tn, according to the head of the International Energy Agency. This represents one of the biggest redistributions of wealth from the world’s poor to the richest petrostates. The record energy prices that have produced these unearned gains have not only caused dramatically rising poverty and debt in the global south, but have also stymied decades of progress in extending power into homes, villages and towns that were previously without electricity.

Gordon Brown was UK prime minister from 2007 to 2010. His new book, Permacrisis: A Plan to Fix a Fractured World, co-authored with Mohammed el-Erian and Michael Spence, is out on 28 September.

Gordon Brown joins the Guardian live and online on Tuesday 26 September, 7pm–8.30pm BST. Buy tickets here

Manufacturers expect levy agreed in Brexit deal to hand chunk of market to global firms, including China

Car giants including Renault, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have called on EU leaders to “act now” and delay plans for a 10% tariff on electric car exports from Europe.

Renault’s chief, Luca de Meo, led the calls, saying that if the EU did not take action then policymakers would simply be “handing a chunk of the market to global manufacturers” including Chinese companies, which are making significant inroads.

When framing the shortlist for the 2023 bird of the year, we opted for familiar Aussie birds that hold a special place in our hearts

• The Australian bird of the year poll launches today, 25 September 2023

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Those of us who work at Birdlife Australia get asked a lot of questions about birds. Usually, it’s to ID a mystery back yard bird. (Nine times out of 10 it’s a butcherbird!) Occasionally we get thrown a much curlier question such as “Is a cassowary a bird?”, “Do birds have penises?” or “What’s your favourite bird?”.

The answers are: “yes”, “females don’t, but neither do males of most species – they have a cloaca, which is a topic for another day”. And the last question is almost impossible to answer. How can you possibly choose?

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Sean Dooley is national public affairs manager for BirdLife Australia

You can vote in the bird of the year poll from 6am Monday 25 September to 11.59pm Thursday 5 October

Some of Australia’s most recognised feathered denizens have been flying under the popularity radar for far too long

• This year’s Guardian/BirdLife Australia bird of the year poll runs from 25 September to 6 October. Nominate your favourite for the shortlist

Is there anything more thrilling than seeing an underbird soar? Keep that in mind when casting your vote in this year’s Guardian/Birdlife Australia bird of the year poll.

Previous polls have revealed a shocking bias. Support for some of Australia’s most recognised birds has been consistently weak. Let’s ruffle some feathers and give these underbirds a chance.

Guardian Australia’s biennial poll is a chance to show your love for your favourite feathered friend and raise awareness of those at risk

• Australian bird of the year 2023: vote now for your favourite
• Read more about this year’s poll
  

Birds matter. They bring the wild to our back yards, balconies, streets and suburbs. They forage, spread seeds and pollinate plants, keeping natural systems humming.

Birds sing. They laugh. They are nature’s alarm clock. They sound and look weird. They bring joy, mostly. They aren’t boring.

With more and more people prepping for Armageddon, the answers to this question are revealing – whether it’s Babybels, cash, crossbows or toilet paper

The author Lauren Groff has become a prepper. “I think everyone should have a go bag right now,” she told National Public Radio (NPR) in the US. “I think every household should have enough food to last through at least two weeks. This is just logical at this point.”

Groff lives in Florida, where dangerously extreme weather has become a fact of life – we’re lucky enough to be spared that in the UK, at least for now. But as a semi-professional catastrophist – one apocalyptic sandwich board short of full doom-monger status – am I missing a trick? Should I have a go bag and what should go in it? Online recommendations include water – one of my least favourite fluids – cereal bars, first aid supplies, spare clothes, medication and paperwork. Practical, but short on bells and whistles (actually, they do recommend taking a whistle).

The conservation organisation once again faces being infiltrated by climate crisis deniers and oil-funded groups

I love British traditions. Whose heart soars not upon seeing some drunk men chasing a cheese down a fatally steep Gloucestershire hill, or some drunk men burning their faces off carrying flaming tar barrels on their heads in a Devonshire village, or some drunk men dropping an enormous effigy of David Jason into a giant burning boozer made of straw in a Hertfordshire hamlet at midnight? In Spanish fire bull festivals, cruel peasants set fire to animals. Here, outside the EU, we merely set fire to ourselves.

But the nights are drawing in and soon it will be time for one of the oldest, and most enjoyable, British traditions of all. Because it’s that time of year when, in the run-up to the National Trust’s AGM on 11 November, the opaquely funded “anti-woke” pressure group Restore Trust, backed by Neil Record of the Tufton Street climate crisis denial bodies Global Warming Policy Foundation and Net Zero Watch, tries to have its own pod people planted on the board. Sing ye wassail! It’s that time again!!

Basic Lee tour dates are here

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