The Guardian

Move at Paris summit on global finance will only apply to repayments on new loans

Poor countries will be able to pause their debt repayments if hit by climate disaster, under plans announced by the World Bank at the finance summit in Paris.

The international development organisation said it would insert new clauses in any agreements with developing countries, allowing them to suspend debt payments in the case of extreme weather events, starting with some of the poorest and most vulnerable nations.

Amazon rainforest and other ecosystems could collapse ‘very soon’, researchers warn

Ecological collapse is likely to start sooner than previously believed, according to a new study that models how tipping points can amplify and accelerate one another.

Based on these findings, the authors warn that more than a fifth of ecosystems worldwide, including the Amazon rainforest, are at risk of a catastrophic breakdown within a human lifetime.

Exposure to nature in inner Melbourne has left her with stories, experiences and life skills before she starts school next year

The first time I dropped off my three-year-old at bush kinder, she was in a T-shirt and sandals. In hindsight, it was such a rookie error. Of course she needed long sleeves and closed shoes. The teacher explained that long sleeves provided better protection. If there were any cuts or nicks, a bit of coverage could make a difference.

I never made that mistake again. There was a lot to learn at bush kinder, a kindergarten program held in the parklands of inner Melbourne. The theory behind it was great: nature play improves children’s wellbeing, social and emotional development, cognitive language and physical skills – a string of nice words that I definitely wanted for my daughter. But really I was mainly glad she was outside. No screens. No toys. No equipment. Just what she needed after two years of lockdowns.

Research allays fears that rapid scaling back of production would hit people’s savings and pensions hard

A rapid reduction in fossil fuels, essential to avoid devastating climate breakdown, would have minimal financial impact on the vast majority of people, new research has shown.

Urgently cutting back on fossil fuel production is essential to avoid the worst impacts of climate breakdown and the economic and social turmoil that would ensue. However, some opponents of climate action claim it is too expensive. They argue that rapidly scaling back fossil fuel production would leave billions of pounds of “stranded assets”, leading to an economic slump that would impoverish the public through a fall in the value of savings and pension funds.

Scientists have warned that a marine heatwave off the coasts of the UK and Ireland poses a serious threat to species. Sea temperatures, particularly off the north-east coast of England and the west of Ireland, are several degrees above normal, breaking records for late spring and early summer. The Met Office has said that according to records dating to 1850, global sea surface temperatures in April and May reached an all-time high, and June is likely to follow suit. A professor of Earth sciences, Daniela Schmidt, said 'the extreme and unprecedented temperatures show the power of the combination of human-induced warming and natural climate variability like El Niño'. Experts said marine heatwaves have a similar impact on the environment as wildfires on land, destroying organisms that store carbon such as kelp. The damage caused is also harmful to humanity, which relies on oceans for oxygen, storm protection and food

• ‘Unheard of’ marine heatwave off UK and Irish coasts poses serious threat

Court has been told states are legally responsible for tackling sector’s emissions as IMO talks loom

Governments are coming under growing pressure to tackle the huge climate impact of the shipping industry, ahead of a key International Maritime Organization (IMO) meeting in the summer.

With talks about regulating the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions looming, the world maritime court has been told that states are legally responsible for tackling the climate impact of shipping.

As climate change ministers, we urge multilateral banks to come together to help vulnerable nations, who face cascading challenges

The science is clear. The climate crisis is the biggest single threat we face as a global community. In turn, meeting the goals of the Paris agreement and realising the opportunities of climate action is the task of the 21st century.

No single government can address this alone. Together, we can rise to the challenge.

Water company to have regular meetings with environment secretary after failing to meet promised targets to fix leakage rates

The leakage rate from Thames Water pipes is the highest for five years and the company will not meet its target to plug them this year, according to information released under freedom of information laws.

The company, which serves 15 million customers across London and Thames Valley, has to have regular meetings with the environment secretary because it is considered to be lagging in its performance.

Fossil fuel company ‘aims to thrive through the energy transition by building a low-cost, lower-carbon, profitable, resilient and diversified portfolio’

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The Australian energy giant Woodside is spending $7bn to drill for 479m barrels-worth of oil and gas off the coast of Mexico, but it says this is all in line with keeping global heating to 1.5C.

How?

Protesters clashed with police in the Maurienne Valley, south east France on Saturday, as they demonstrated against a tunnel being built through the base of the Alpine range that separates France and Italy. The protesters were attempting to reach a site where drilling has already begun on what will be the world's longest tunnel, but were blocked by police. 

The protests were led by Les Soulèvements de la Terre (Earth Uprising) - an umbrella group of several different environmental activist associations across France. On June 21 the French government dissolved the collective claiming their actions were violent and led to material damage. Lawyers for Les Soulèvements de la Terre immediately announced their intention to file an appeal

Hertfordshire council rules area of land on Hatfield House estate – owned by Marquess of Salisbury – is common land

The aristocrat who owns Hatfield House country manor has been forced to allow the general public to walk on part of his estate after the local council ruled that it was common land.

Earlier this year, the Marquess of Salisbury, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, opposed an application by the Open Spaces Society (OSS) to register a 1.8 hectare (4.45 acre) area of land on his estate as a common. Gascoyne-Cecil is a Conservative politician, once an MP and minister, and now sits in the Lords as a hereditary peer.

Sarah Finch’s challenge to plans to allow oil well hinges on wider environmental impact of fossil fuels

Climate campaigners have begun a supreme court challenge to plans to drill for oil in Surrey, in a case they hope could set a precedent restricting plans for future fossil fuel projects in the UK.

Sarah Finch is challenging Surrey county council’s decision to extend permission for a well at Horse Hill, near Gatwick airport in the Surrey countryside, which taps a subterranean reservoir developers believe may contain millions of barrels of oil.

Cetacean exhibits same behaviour towards vessel in North Sea that has been seen in Iberian orca population

A yacht in the North Sea off Shetland was repeatedly rammed by an orca on Monday, in a concerning development following previous interactions between the cetaceans and vessels in the strait of Gibraltar and Portugal.

Dr Wim Rutten, a 72-year-old retired Dutch physicist and experienced yachtsperson, was sailing solo from Lerwick to Bergen in Norway. He was fishing for mackerel, with a single line off the back of the boat, when the orca suddenly appeared in the clear water, and hit the stern of the seven-ton boat.

Patients exposed to dirty air spent four days longer in hospital, the same impact as if they had been a decade older

People exposed to air pollution experienced Covid-19 as if they were 10 years older, according to research. It found people recently exposed to dirtier air before contracting the illness spent four days longer in hospital, the same impact as on those 10 years their senior.

The Belgian study also showed that air pollution levels measured in patients’ blood were linked to a 36% increase in the risk of needing intensive care treatment. A separate study in Denmark showed air pollution exposure was linked to a 23% increase in the risk of death from Covid-19. In both studies, the level of air pollution was below legal EU standards.

Rishi Sunak, Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron and other international leaders address development needs

We are urgently working to deliver more for people and the planet. Multiple, overlapping shocks have strained countries’ ability to address hunger, poverty, and inequality, build resilience and invest in their futures. Debt vulnerabilities in low- and middle-income countries present a major hurdle to their economic recovery, and to their ability to make critical long-term investments.

We are urgently working to fight poverty and inequalities. An estimated 120 million people have been pushed into extreme poverty in the last three years and we are still far from achieving our United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030. We should thus place people at the centre of our strategy to increase human welfare everywhere on the globe.

Emmanuel Macron is president of France. Mia Mottley is prime minister of Barbados. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is president of Brazil. Ursula von der Leyen is president of the European Commission. Charles Michel is president of the European Council. Olaf Scholz is chancellor of Germany. Fumio Kishida is prime minister of Japan. William Ruto is president of Kenya. Macky Sall is president of Senegal. Cyril Ramaphosa is president of South Africa. Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is president of the United Arab Emirates. Rishi Sunak is prime minister of the UK. Joe Biden is president of the US

Even low doses of airborne benzene raise the risk of a variety of cancers, including lymphomas and leukemia

Using a gas stove can raise indoor concentrations of benzene, a cancer-linked chemical, to above what’s found in secondhand smoking or even beyond levels found next to oil and gas facilities, a new study has found.

The research, which measured benzene levels in 87 homes in California and Colorado, found that gas and propane stoves frequently emitted benzene at rates well above healthy benchmarks set by the World Health Organization and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Thinktank suggests projects could deliver one-fifth of savings needed from farming, but agriculture experts cast doubt on idea

Rewetting about half of England’s lowland peat would be enough to deliver a fifth of the greenhouse gas emissions savings needed from the country’s farming by 2030, research suggests.

Rewetting peat would also help restore habitats for birds, wildlife and plant species. But farming experts strongly dispute the potential for such projects.

Governments need to represent us, not fossil-fuel profiteers. We need plans to phase out fossil fuel production and emissions

Canada is on fire from coast to coast to coast. Thousands have been evacuated, millions exposed to air pollution, New York a doom orange and even the titans of Wall Street choking.

Catastrophic flooding in Pakistan, back-to-back cyclones in the Pacific islands and droughts in Africa haven’t been enough to create a tipping point for action. Now that climate impacts have hit the economic capital of western power, will it spur governments in the global north to get serious?

Investigation of meat sourced by Polish firm that sells frozen poultry to Lidl, Asda and Iceland raises superbug concerns

A major supplier of chicken to UK supermarkets is sourcing birds dosed with antibiotics “critical to human health”, according to a new investigation, as concerns grow about the spread of deadly superbugs.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ) found that the Polish meat business SuperDrob, which sells frozen poultry products to Lidl, Asda and Iceland, is sourcing chicken from farms that use fluoroquinolone antibiotics, classified as “critically important for human health” by the World Health Organization (WHO). Fluoroquinolones are often used to treat serious salmonella infections in humans.

Exclusive: Kristalina Georgieva calls for ‘debt for climate swaps’ ahead of world summit on new global financial pact

Poor countries hit by climate disaster should not be forced to struggle with crippling debt payments, the head of the International Monetary Fund has urged before a global summit on climate finance.

Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the IMF, said providing debt relief to countries suffering from extreme weather was a matter of urgency. Extreme weather is hitting harder around the world, and countries already facing debt mountains cannot afford to service their debts, particularly at a time of high interest rates.