The Guardian

The dirty industries that dominate politics deceive us into accepting dangerous pollutants such as ammonia as part of life

There are some things we rightly find intolerable, such as the possession of poorly trained, aggressive dogs. There are other things, whose impacts are many thousands of times worse, that we decide just to live with. What makes the difference? Visibility is one reason: a photo of a large dog with bared teeth triggers primal fear. Ubiquity is another: the more widespread the problem, the more we normalise it. Split incentives is another: what if we are simultaneously both perpetrators and victims? But I think the most important factor is lobbying power.

There is no corporate lobby behind the sale, let alone poor training, of American bully XLs. But there are powerful corporate lobbies behind the air pollution devastating many people’s health. Oil corporations don’t want to lose their market. Car firms want to sell existing designs for as long as possible. Even the manufacturers of wood-burning stoves run a small, but surprisingly effective, persuasion operation.

IEA says firms are announcing more projects but waiting for government support before investing

The global push for clean hydrogen is being held back by rising costs and “lagging” policy support from governments, a report has found.

Announcements of low-emission hydrogen projects are rapidly expanding but developers are waiting for government support before investing in them, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The report found hydrogen made through processes that are clean or less polluting account for less than 1% of the gas’s total production and use.

‘My patience ran out,’ said Christiana Figueres, who for years had advocated oil companies should be involved in policymaking talks

Fossil fuel companies should not be included in the Cop28 climate summit if they continue to block climate action, the UN’s former climate chief told reporters on Thursday.

“If they are going to be there only to be obstructors, and only to put spanners into the system, they should not be there,” said Christiana Figueres, who was pivotal to the delivery of the landmark Paris climate agreement in 2015.

The prime minister said the UK was still on course to hit net zero targets despite announcements on Wednesday that he was rolling back key policies. Rishi Sunak said the UK was adopting a more 'proportionate and pragmatic way' to reach its climate goals and that he was 'absolutely confident that we are on track to hit all our international and domestic targets'

• Rishi Sunak defies critics and presses on with net zero U-turn

• 'You're making claims that aren't true': Sunak pressed on scrapping 'meat tax' proposal – audio

• ‘Dangerous and desperate’: Westminster reacts to Sunak’s net zero U-turn – video

Exclusive: Legislation was blocked by small group of peers who tabled more than 60 amendments

Labour has urged ministers to resurrect a bill banning the import of body parts of endangered animals hunted overseas, which was blocked by a small group of peers, saying a failure to do so would leave the government complicit in the trophy hunting trade.

The hunting trophies (import prohibition) bill, a private members’ bill led by two Conservatives, Henry Smith, an MP, and Janet Fookes, a peer, has cross-party support and after passing all Commons stages appeared set to be approved by the Lords.

The BBC's Nick Robinson criticised the prime minister for announcing he had scrapped policies, including a tax on meat, that were never included in government policy. Rishi Sunak has said he is confident the UK will meet net zero by 2050, despite announcing delays to a number of green policies initially set out by the government. Sunak announced there would be a delay to banning petrol and diesel cars, which has sparked outrage from manufacturing companies for the government's lack of consistency

• Fury as Sunak presses ahead with watering down climate policies

• Rishi Sunak insists UK can meet climate targets despite widespread condemnation after net zero policy U-turn – UK politics live

The Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society has announced the winner of its 11th annual photography prize, which showcases the UK’s relationship with the sea. Ian Watkin’s surreal image of a fish embedded in a jellyfish beat more than 1,000 entries

The party’s net zero divide was deeper than ever before Rishi Sunak’s speech – but will he be vindicated or vilified by voters?

The Tory party has long been divided on the environment. MPs in “red wall” seats tend to look at the costs associated with the transition to net zero and question the wisdom of a rush that could cost votes. But colleagues in southern seats often wear their environmental credentials proudly – and have been known to put the phrase “net zero champion” in their social media bios. This group see being green and proud as key to keeping swing voters from defecting to the Liberal Democrats or, worse, Labour.

Until recently, it’s the latter group that’s had the greater numbers. The supportive Conservative Environment Network has more than 100 members, while the sceptical Net Zero Scrutiny Group has about 20 public members. But after the Tories narrowly held on in the Uxbridge byelection thanks to a campaign against the expansion of Sadiq Khan’s ultra low emission zone, the mood has been changing. “A lot of MPs have become more sympathetic to the risk of the costs,” says a member of the 2015 intake. The tensions between the two Tory tribes have been on full display all summer as the party has had an open debate about how far green issues can be pushed for electoral advantage.

EU laws have banished plastics from French fast-food chains, but in New York I couldn’t escape throwaway culture

Though I grew up in the United States, I’ve spent the majority of my adult life in France – which means that every trip “back” across the Atlantic has become a moment of curiosity and culture shock. Most recently, the shock was over the sheer prevalence of plastics in American daily life.

In Paris, and elsewhere in Europe, plastics are clearly on their way out and paper is in. The standard takeaway cup in coffee shops, juice bars and cafes serving hipster smoothies is paper, and when there is a straw, it’s paper as well (or some other biodegradable non-plastic material). Delivery food orders arrive in paper cartons –some with a chic design touch that plastic could never replicate, unspooling like origami flowers to reveal the food within – in paper bags. Utensils, when requested, are wooden and wrapped in paper. And in grocery stores, bulk sections for pasta, nuts, dried fruit, cereals, rice and legumes are normal, as is putting those things (or your fruit and vegetables) in paper bags.

More water company regulations and improvements at treatment plants needed to protect rivers, say authors

Pollution from treated and untreated sewage is the greatest threat to river biodiversity, causing more damage than runoff from farms, according to research.

There is a need for more regulation of water companies and improvements at their treatment plans to protect rivers, say the authors of the study.

Members of parliament and former politicians have reacted with scorn to Rishi Sunak's overhaul of the UK's net zero targets, which involved dropping several key policies and watering down others. Criticism came from across the political spectrum, with Tory MP Simon Clarke describing it as wrong and Green party co-leader Carla Denyer calling it a 'dangerous and desperate U-turn'

• UK net zero policies: what has Sunak scrapped and what do changes mean?

• Sunak’s big green gamble: the story behind the PM’s decision to U-turn

• UK politics – live updates

The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering says ministers must ‘make up for lost time’ with more ambitious policy

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Australian engineers and technology scientists have urged the Albanese government to “make up for lost time” and set itself a “monumental challenge” by setting a target to wipe out the country’s climate footprint by 2035 – 15 years earlier than currently proposed.

The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, representing nearly 900 leading engineers and scientists, called on the government to set a goal of reaching net zero emissions in just 12 years, arguing it could be achieved with existing mature, low-carbon technology.

There’s nothing long term about the prime minister diluting green policies in the hope of clinging on to power

You could sense the panic when news was leaked of Rishi Sunak’s plans to water down some of his climate change targets. Instead of a controlled speech later in the week – probably somewhere with green connections: Rish! never knowingly undersells the irony – we got a hastily arranged press conference. In the very same Downing Street media centre where No 10 staff had joked about having illegal parties during the pandemic. Call it karma. Stay calm and carry on taking the piss out of the country.

And breathe. Sunak strode into the room and stood in front of a lectern with a sign reading “long-term decisions for a brighter future” on the front. Gaslighting the country again. It’s getting to be a habit. He then opened his mouth. RishGPT can’t really help the entitled, nasal whine. But this time it came soaked in contempt. This wasn’t just patronising, it was the most cynical speech from a prime minister in years. Deep down Sunak must know that he has sold his soul for the chance of remaining in office a while longer. There was a comedy to Liz Truss. At least she believed the mad things she was saying. Plus when all’s said and done she only destroyed the economy. But Rish! doesn’t believe any of this. He can’t be that stupid and deluded. And he’s hellbent on taking down the whole planet. The dishonesty was breathtaking. He lied and he lied and he lied.

Net zero rollback could be a disaster for business confidence, with cars policy looking particularly perverse

One can understand why Rishi Sunak sees political opportunity in watering down a few climate policies. Previous soundbites about “the economic opportunity of the 21st century” may be correct in the round, but voters have also noticed that heat pumps are expensive and that the path to net zero by 2050 involves costs as well as opportunities. A strategy that claims, in effect, that net zero can be delivered more gently is not absurd for a party that is miles behind in the polls.

The problem, though, is the one highlighted by the furious reaction from some carmakers, in particular, to Sunak’s flip-flop. Any realistic route to net zero involves winning, and keeping, the broad confidence of businesses that will be overhauling the infrastructure. At one level, hitting the 2050 target requires an enormous public-private effort to rewire the entire economy. The whole point of setting interim targets is to make it more likely that you hit the main end goal. Presented with a legally binding commitment, the government risks looks incapable of delivering a plan that it can stick to.

Teresa Ribera calls for alert systems in every country by 2027 after spate of natural disasters across the world

The latest spate of natural disasters – from the floods in Libya, Greece and Spain to the wildfires in Hawaii and Canada – has further underscored the need for early warning systems to help the world cope with the realities of the climate emergency, Spain’s environment minister has said.

Speaking to the Guardian as she prepared to travel to New York to take part in the UN’s climate ambition summit and sign a landmark treaty to protect the high seas, Teresa Ribera said the calamities laid bare the challenges the planet faced.

With PM’s electoral options narrowing, strategists came to conclusion policy could help create dividing line with Labour

Isaac Levido, the strategy guru behind Boris Johnson’s 2019 victory, has spent much of the summer working on the overhaul of Rishi Sunak’s green policies.

One of the goals has been to find that elusive political property: a dividing line with Labour that Tory strategists believe will present voters with a clear choice at next year’s election.

The PM has chosen to put a narrow, divisive electoral calculation ahead of serious statecraft and responsible government

It takes a special kind of cynicism to assert that long-term planning must have primacy over short-term expediency while defending a policy choice that does the exact opposite. Rishi Sunak’s decision to postpone deadlines for the transition to low-carbon technology is the very definition of tactical partisanship trumping strategic statecraft. That the prime minister sought to present it otherwise in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday shows contempt for anyone who understands the urgency of the climate crisis.

The prime minister veils his ploy in economic terms. The claim is that measures designed to accelerate the switch to low-carbon technology – a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030, for example, and a deadline for phasing out the installation of new gas boilers by 2035 – heap the cost of transition on consumers. Downing Street insists the commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 stands, but will be reached by “more proportionate” means.

The prime minister has announced the scrapping or watering down of some of the UK's net zero targets, pushing back a ban on diesel and petrol vehicles from 2030 to 2035 and weakening a plan to phase out the installation of gas boilers by 2035

• Rishi Sunak confirms rollback of key green targets

• UK net zero policies: what has Sunak scrapped and what do changes mean?

• ‘We need more investment, not less’: UK voters on Sunak’s net zero rollback

• UK politics live