The Guardian

Authors of paper accepted for publication in Harvard Environmental Law Review argue firms are ‘killing members of the public at an accelerating rate’

Oil companies have come under increasing legal scrutiny and face allegations of defrauding investors, racketeering, and a wave of other lawsuits. But a new paper argues there’s another way to hold big oil accountable for climate damage: trying companies for homicide.

The striking and seemingly radical legal theory is laid out in a paper accepted for publication in the Harvard Environmental Law Review. In it, the authors argue fossil fuel companies “have not simply been lying to the public, they have been killing members of the public at an accelerating rate, and prosecutors should bring that crime to the public’s attention”.

Despite billions spent on the humanitarian response, Somalia faces another year of drought and hunger. We desperately need money, but it needs to be better spent

In Somalia, we are climate-vulnerable, yet we barely contribute to climate emissions. If we are to cope, we need justice in the form of financing.

We’ve seen droughts, but never six consecutive failed rainy seasons. We’ve known displacement, but never 3 million internally displaced people. We were at the brink of famine in October last year, we narrowly averted it, and we’re facing similar conditions today, with 8.3 million people needing urgent assistance.

Lords committee criticises Ofwat for failing to ensure firms invested enough in sewage network

Water companies have been too focused on maximising financial returns at the expense of the environment, a House of Lords committee has found.

The investigation by peers into the regulation of the privatised water industry found Ofwat, the regulator, had chosen to keep bills low for customers at the expense of investment in the industry, which is now sorely lacking.

Some species of insect no longer being seen in areas that are becoming drier and hotter

Drought is threatening some British moth species with local extinction, a study has found, as the insects are no longer being seen in areas which are becoming drier and hotter.

The new research, published today by wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation and Northumbria University, looked at data gathered over a 40-year period by volunteers of Butterfly Conservation’s National Moth Recording Scheme.

Officials at a heated town meeting in Menindee, outback New South Wales, are challenged to drink a mug of town water in front of the crowd after assuring the community that it meets Australian drinking water standards. The request is issued by Jan Fennell, a resident who says the town is tired of being given instructions by authorities without being granted meaningful involvement or reassurances

• Menindee residents ask officials to drink town’s water as reassurance after massive fish kill
• ‘All this here will kill this river’: traditional owners grieve for the Darling-Baaka after mass fish death

UN report predicts water demand will increase by 80% as crisis threatens to get out of control

The number of people lacking access to safe drinking water in cities around the world will double by 2050, research has found, amid warnings of an imminent water crisis that is likely to “spiral out of control”.

Nearly 1 billion people in cities around the world face water scarcity today and the number is likely to reach between 1.7 billion and 2.4 billion within the next three decades, according to the UN World Water Development Report, published on Tuesday ahead of a vital UN summit. Urban water demand is predicted to increase by 80% by 2050.

We were not given a chance to scrutinise the nuclear submarine deal, and critical questions remain unanswered

• The three big questions Australia’s leaders must answer about the Aukus deal | Gareth Evans
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On the morning of 16 September 2021, the federal ALP caucus was presented with the shadow cabinet’s fait accompli of support for the Morrison government’s Aukus submarine deal.

Caucus members were told that on the previous afternoon, the leader, Anthony Albanese and several shadow ministers had received a two-hour briefing on the proposal from the government. No documents were provided at the briefing. On the basis of that, and the shadow ministry’s endorsement, Labor MPs were expected to leap into bipartisan support for the Aukus deal.

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Only 19 cases of cetacean bycatch reported under Defra scheme, but experts say figure much higher

Only a handful of instances of accidental bycatch of whales, dolphins and porpoises have been recorded under the UK government’s self-reporting initiative, despite the likelihood that hundreds are being caught by fishing vessels.

Fishers have been encouraged to voluntarily record the bycatch of marine mammals in an attempt to reduce the accidental catch, which would benefit the fishing industry and the health of the seas.

Councillors vote to chop down trees in Coton Orchard for busway from Cambridge to Cambourne

Hundreds of trees in an orchard designated as a habitat of principal importance in England should be felled to build a new busway to tackle climate change, councillors in Cambridgeshire voted on Tuesday.

The county council voted by 33 to 26 to approve a new public transport busway, which will use optically guided electric or hybrid buses on its route, to provide links between Cambridge and Cambourne, an expanding new town eight miles outside the city.

A pact to phase out fossil fuels in November’s UN climate talks is the only credible response to the warnings of scientists

Yesterday the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new synthesis report. The document is important because 195 governments commissioned it and the summary was agreed line by line. It is accepted fact by nations worldwide, and a shared basis for future action.

The report’s conclusions are terrifying and wearily familiar. Every region is experiencing “widespread adverse impacts”. Almost half the world’s population is “highly vulnerable” to climate change impacts. Expected repercussions will escalate rapidly. It concludes that there is a “rapidly closing window of opportunity” to secure a livable future.

Simon Lewis is professor of global change science at University College London and University of Leeds

Regulation may allow ‘hydrogen-ready’ boilers that can run on fossil fuel gas, and are unlikely ever to use hydrogen

Ministers are preparing to allow new houses to continue to be fitted with gas boilers, long after they were supposed to be phased out, campaigners fear.

A loophole being considered for the forthcoming future homes standard, a housing regulation in England intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from newly built homes in line with the net zero target, would allow new homes to be fitted with “hydrogen-ready” boilers.

Members of the Menindee community are trying to come to terms with how another mass fish kill incident has occurred in the Darling-Baaka River. 'This is an Australian disaster and it should be treated as such: like a bushfire, like a flood. Fish kills and unhealthy river systems have got to be taken seriously," says Barkandji woman Denise O’Donnell

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• ‘All this here will kill this river’: traditional owners grieve for the Darling-Baaka after mass fish death
• Flood and heat: why millions of fish are dying in western NSW

Federal Labor MP Josh Wilson says he is not convinced Australia should pursue nuclear-powered submarines. The member for Fremantle says the cost and timeframes are likely to blow out and he is 'concerned about the question of nuclear waste' given that 'we haven’t yet managed a storage solution for low-level waste after 40 years'

• Guardian Essential poll: support for Aukus and Indigenous voice declines
• The Aukus deal is a crime against the world’s climate future. It didn’t have to be like this

Invasive house mice threaten endangered seabirds and wildlife on Marion Island in Indian Ocean

Non-native house mice are to be removed from Marion Island in the southern Indian Ocean to protect the wandering albatross and other endangered seabirds, in the world’s largest eradication programme of its kind.

Mice accidentally introduced on to the remote island by 19th-century seal hunters have thrived in warmer and drier conditions over the past 30 years, devastating the island’s invertebrates and plants, and then devouring the chicks and even adults of ground- and burrow-nesting seabirds.

Safety group documents 57 serious incidents worldwide this year that injured 97 people and killed eight

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Almost 100 people have been injured and more than 50 fires started by electric bikes, e-scooters, e-skateboards and hoverboards in less than three months, according to global figures from an Australian research group.

EV FireSafe, which monitors electric vehicle risks, released the data on Tuesday after an e-bike explosion in New South Wales forced one man to jump from a second-storey window to escape a blaze that started in his garage.

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Tackling the climate emergency needs public funding, but without socialising the risk and allowing banks to privatise the profit

The world is only a few tenths of a degree away from the globally accepted goal of limiting warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. On current trends, we will shoot past the target within a decade. That’s the warning from the world’s leading scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In their last report while it is still feasible to stay within 1.5C, they warn that what governments do in the next few years to limit greenhouse gas emissions will determine whether temperatures keep rising dangerously or fall back to safe levels.

Billions of poor people who bear the least responsibility for the climate emergency are already being hit hard. Extreme weather events such as the flash floods in Turkey or Cyclone Freddy over southern Africa, which took hundreds of lives, are becoming more common occurrences. It is unequivocal, say the scientists, that human activity has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. It is also human activity that can bring temperatures down. Cutting carbon pollution and fossil fuel use by nearly two-thirds by 2035 would give humanity a decent shot at the target. The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, spelled out what this means: an end to new fossil fuel exploration and rich countries exiting coal, oil and gas by 2040. The UK, which is opening coalmines and approving North Sea oil and gas licences, should take note.

Positive framing of otherwise grim report a counterblast to those who dismiss hopes of limiting global heating to 1.5C

Avoiding the worst ravages of climate breakdown is still possible, and there are “multiple, feasible and effective options” for doing so, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said.

Hoesung Lee, chair of the body, which is made up of the world’s leading climate scientists, made clear that – despite the widespread damage already being caused by extreme weather, and the looming threat of potentially catastrophic changes – the future was still humanity’s to shape.

Today’s IPCC report has given a ‘final warning’ to avert global catastrophe. We call on all world leaders to urgently transition to renewables

The cycle is repeating itself. A tropical cyclone of frightening strength strikes a Pacific island nation, and leaves a horrifying trail of destruction and lost lives and livelihoods in its wake. Earlier this month in Vanuatu it was two category 4 cyclones within 48 hours of each other. The people affected wake up having nowhere to go and lack the basic necessities to survive. International media publishes grim pictures of the damage to our infrastructure and people’s homes, quickly followed by an outpouring of thoughts, prayers and praise for our courage and resilience. We then set out to rebuild our countries.

The Pacific island countries are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and Vanuatu is the most vulnerable country in the world according to a recent study. Our countries emit minuscule amounts of greenhouse gases, but bear the brunt of extreme events primarily caused by the carbon emissions of major polluters, and the world’s failure to break its addiction to fossil fuels.

Ralph Regenvanu is minister of climate change, adaptation, meteorology and geohazards, energy, environment and disaster risk management for Vanuatu

Seve Paeniu is the minister of finance for Tuvalu

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Scientists have delivered a 'final warning' on the climate crisis, as rising greenhouse gas emissions push the world to the brink of irrevocable damage that only swift and drastic action can avert. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), made up of the world’s leading climate scientists, set out the final part of its mammoth sixth assessment report on Monday.

The comprehensive review of human knowledge of the climate crisis took hundreds of scientists eight years to compile and runs to thousands of pages, but boiled down to one message: act now, or it will be too late

• Analysis: Humanity at the crossroads
• Timeline: The IPCC’s reports

Historian Dan Snow assembled team to ‘secure the shark for science’ but head, tail and fin were gone

The discovery of a rare shark on a Hampshire beach is as valuable as the unearthing of an ancient treasure trove, an expert has said, as calls grow for the return of the head, tail and fin, which were removed before scientists could salvage the carcass.

The 2-metre (6ft) animal, believed to be a smalltooth sand tiger shark, would normally only be seen in warmer waters – and rarely anywhere north of the Bay of Biscay. Scientists believe the weekend discovery can help them learn more about how the species develops and lives its life.