The Guardian

Rising ocean temperatures caused by climate crisis are also said to be causing China’s extreme weather

Summers in China are often wet, sometimes very wet, but nothing like the drenching that has engulfed Beijing and its neighbouring provinces this week.

As Beijing authorities lifted the flood alert on Wednesday morning, after the city’s heaviest rainfall for 140 years, 21 people across the region were confirmed dead. Dozens more were missing.

Failed states, a rise in authoritarian politics and heightened risks of conflict among potential threats outlined in thinktank’s assessment

Australia must prepare for “devastating” climate-fueled disruption in the Asia-Pacific, including failed states, forced migration and regional conflicts over water shortages, a stark briefing for federal politicians warns.

The Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration thinktank has summarised the potential threats and impacts of the climate crisis in a note targeted at MPs.

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Team forced to practice in indoor pool ahead of competition in Spain amid high sewage levels off coast of Lancashire

British triathletes preparing for next month’s world championships have been forced to abandon open water swim training because of sewage in the sea off the coast of Lancashire.

Adam Diver, along with his teammates Richard Addison and Paul Bamber, will represent Great Britain at the World Triathlon Championship finals in Pontevedra, Spain, on 22-24 September.

From the hills of Rio de Janeiro to Greece's Temple of Poseidon, stargazers across the world witnessed this month's supermoon. Called the sturgeon moon, it became visible at dusk on 1 August. Supermoons are full moons that come closest to Earth’s orbit, making them seem larger and brighter. The August full moon is named after the abundant sturgeon found in the lakes of North America in that month. It will be followed by a second full moon on 30 August, which will be called a blue moon as it appears in the same calendar month

• Starwatch: First of August’s two supermoons this week

Patrick Vallance and Laura Sandys believed to be candidates for one of most senior climate policy jobs

At least 60 people have applied to be the next chair of the Committee on Climate Change, with the government planning to appoint a new head in November, the Guardian has learned.

Several of the most likely candidates for the role – one of the most senior jobs in the field of UK climate policy – have been ruled out or ruled themselves out.

Heavy rain has hit China after Typhoon Doksuri, which has caused flooding that has destroyed roads, uprooted trees and knocked out power. Torrential rain in areas around Beijing has killed at least 20 people and left 27 missing. Thousands of people were evacuated to shelters in schools and other public buildings in suburban Beijing and in the nearby cities of Tianjin and Zhuozhou

• Beijing reports heaviest rain in 140 years

Australia has the wealth, technology and resources to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Until this happens, it is not doing all it can to protect the reef

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The latest update from Unesco on the Great Barrier Reef world heritage area has been widely misreported as a decision to not place the reef on the world heritage “in danger” list. In reality, Unesco has simply postponed the next consideration of an in-danger listing until the 2024 meeting of the world heritage committee.

Unesco has acknowledged some recent improvements reported to them by the commonwealth and Queensland governments, such as a promised ban on gill nets as well as some additional investments in culling starfish and small-scale reef restoration. But buried deep within the diplomatic language of Unesco’s latest assessment is an acknowledgment of the slow speed of progress being made on meeting targets for reducing coastal pollution, and of Australia’s inadequate responses to the escalating impacts of climate change.

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Rule that manufacturers must make increasing amount of zero emissions vehicles could be weakened, business secretary hints

Kemi Badenoch has raised concerns that electric vehicle targets could hamper investment in Britain and lead to job losses, in a sign that another of the government’s green pledges could face an uncertain future.

The business and trade secretary was discussing the vehicle industry’s concerns with colleagues regarding a rule to be introduced in January, which requires manufacturers to ensure that at least 22% of new sales in the UK are of emissions-free models, rising each year to reach 80% by 2030.

Australian mining entrepreneur Andrew Forrest criticises ‘clickbait’ fossil fuel plans as others say Britain has lost credibility

A billionaire global investor has led international condemnation of the UK’s new oil rush, saying he would pull his major investment from the country if the prime minister pursued “clickbait” fossil fuel policies.

The Australian iron ore entrepreneur Andrew Forrest, who also runs the Minderoo Foundation philanthropic organisation, threatened to move his investments out of the UK over Rishi Sunak’s swivel towards new oil and gas drilling.

Despite grave new warnings about the depth of the climate crisis, plutocrats are fighting to keep their profits – and our PM is with them

To understand this moment, we have to recognise that there is an existential struggle on both sides. While environmental scientists and activists fight for the very survival of the habitable planet, the fossil fuel, meat and internal combustion industries are fighting for their economic survival. Either they are regulated out of existence or human society across much of the world will fail. We cannot all win: either these industries survive or we do. But we can all lose, because, eventually, they will go down with the rest of us.

But “eventually” counts for nothing in their spreadsheets and annual reports. “Eventually” has no effect on share prices and dividends. “Eventually” has little traction in a four- or five-year political cycle. So, as the evidence of climate breakdown becomes undeniable to all but the most deluded, the pollutocrats must fight as never before. There was once a widespread belief (which some of us cautioned against) that governments would step up when – and only when – disaster struck. But it is precisely because disaster has struck, visibly and undeniably, that they are stepping down.

The Philippines was hit with torrential rain over seven days, brought by Typhoon Doksuri and intensified by Typhoon Khanun. Low-lying villages to the north of the country were the worst affected, houses were left submerged in water and residents were forced to travel by small wooden boats and roads were inundated. The Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands, vulnerable to high winds and torrential downpours

• Philippines: 26 people killed after overloaded ferry capsizes amid Typhoon Doksuri winds

Naturalists decry extinction of species as loss of habitat, poaching and illegal hunting take toll

For centuries, wolves have roamed the mountain ranges of Andalucía in southern Spain, but after years of decline the creature has been officially declared extinct in the region.

Since 2003, the regional government has carried out a census of the wolf (Canis lupus signatus) population in an effort to monitor the species and reduce conflict with the local population, farmers in particular.

Exclusive: Long list of ‘sensitive’ topics for petrostate include oil and gas production, emissions and Yemen war crimes

A comprehensive list of “touchy and sensitive issues” for the United Arab Emirates, which is running the next UN climate summit, has been revealed in a document leaked to the Guardian.

The document sets out the government-approved “strategic messages” to be used in response to media requests about the issues, which range from the UAE’s increasing production of oil and gas to people trafficking.

At least 11 people have been killed in Beijing after four days of torrential downpours, according to Chinese state media. A further 27 people have been reported missing since Typhoon Doksuri triggered widespread flooding in the north of the country.

Authorities in the capital have closed more than 100 mountain roads and evacuated at least 52,000 people from their homes in recent days. The military is coordinating rescue missions and delivering aid to residents in the worst-hit suburbs amid one of the strongest storms to hit China in years. Meteorologists have warned of further flooding as heavy rain continues

• China: 11 killed in Beijing as heavy rains hit city for a fourth day

Talk to those paid to protect us, and you hear the frustration of experts cynically denied resources they need by Westminster

“Air pollution is the largest environmental risk to public health.” So says the government’s stark guidance on its own official website. It warns that “between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths every year” are due to “human-made air pollution”, and yes, that’s official. London is one of the cities with the worst air, with its poorest people living in the most air-polluted zones in the country. But now the role played by ultra-low emission zones (Ulez) in the byelection in the west London seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip risks poisoning green politics.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has so far gone furthest, putting squalid political posturing as the motorists’ friend before clean air, but there’s no morally acceptable excuse for any party to retreat on this. As a young child who suffered repeated bronchitis attacks, I remember the dramatic effects of the 1956 Clean Air Act, banning domestic burning of coal, which stopped pea-souper smogs so thick that you couldn’t see the bus arriving at the bus stop. After that legislation, there was no smog, and I never had bronchitis again.

Prime minister unveils plan to authorise more than 100 new North Sea licences on visit to Scotland

Rishi Sunak has pledged to “max out” the UK’s oil and gas reserves as he revealed a new round of intensive North Sea drilling, which experts said could be catastrophic for the climate.

Unveiling a plan to authorise more than 100 new North Sea licences on a visit to north-east Scotland, the prime minister also indicated he would approve drilling at the UK’s largest untapped reserves in the Rosebank field, which hold 500m barrels of oil.

US tree nurseries do not grow enough trees and lack the plant species diversity to meet ambitious plans, research says

In an effort to slash carbon emissions and provide relief from extreme heat, governments across the nation and globally have pledged to plant trees. But the US is not equipped with the tree seedlings to furnish its own plans, according to a new study.

US tree nurseries do not grow nearly enough trees to bring ambitious planting schemes to fruition, and they also lack the plant species diversity those plans require, according to research published in the journal Bioscience on Monday,

Ministers urged to learn from success of single-use bag fee, amid criticism that other measures have been delayed

Environmental campaigners have called on the government to learn from its own successes after official figures showed the use of single-use supermarket plastic bags had fallen 98% since retailers in England began charging for them in 2015.

Annual distribution of plastic carrier bags by seven leading grocery chains plummeted from 7.6bn in 2014 to 133m last year, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said on Monday.

The carousel of changing Tory prime ministers made the latest seem moderate. Now, with his eagerness to trash green policies, we can see he is anything but

I had a premonition that Rishi Sunak was about to do something deeply ungreen. I didn’t know exactly what, and definitely couldn’t have named which oil and gas licences he wanted to issue, but I knew that, whatever it was, it would spell the end of our commitment to net zero. I figured it would shift our international alignment away from the countries taking the climate crisis seriously, because it’s right in front of them and they are not psychopaths, towards the countries strutting their indifference to it, for the complicated but demonstrable political mileage in the message: “Follow me to hell – it’ll be fun there.”

It was written right there in his holiday house. Why would a British prime minister have a second home in California? It’s such a forceful statement – I don’t care how rich I look, I don’t care how much I fly, I don’t care what eco-nerds think – and so unforced. He could have sold it, waited till he was no longer the prime minister – he must have known it wouldn’t be for ever – and bought a bigger one.