The Guardian

ACCC to oversee reform of water market which emerged after Murray-Darling Basin changes meant water allocations could be traded

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The federal government will crack down on shonky practices in the trading of water which have undermined farmers’ trust in the market by implementing new rules and more oversight.

The water minister, Tanya Plibersek, will announce today that $12m has been provided to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to police and implement the roadmap for water market reform.

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The claim it would take 25% of Australia’s land mass to provide the planet with green hydrogen misses an obvious point

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How much land would be needed for enough solar panels and windfarms to supply the world with green hydrogen?

In a story in The Australian this week, the apparent answer was about 25% of Australia’s entire land mass.

Leaders, activists and other delegates rub shoulders at UN climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt

Negotiations move behind closed doors and China confirms ‘informal’ talks with US

After the leaders’ speeches of the first couple of days, most of the negotiations have now moved behind closed doors. The big discussions today were all around finance, and there does appear to have been some movement on this, as Damian Carrington reported, with positive momentum potentially starting to build on a pivotal issue as the UK said it would allow some debt payment deferrals, while Austria and New Zealand put forward funding for loss and damage.

Other developments included:

The family of the jailed British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah demanded proof of life for the third day in a row

A Kulkalgal activist from the Torres Strait Islands said the way the world often treated Indigenous people was an insult and that he was at the conference “fighting for our home”

Bill McKibben, a US environmentalist and founder of 350.org, told an audience: “This year we’ve fully understood the link between fossil fuels and fascism. Putin could not have invaded Ukraine without the profits from oil and gas, or [cowed] the west with threats of turning off the taps.”

The World Bank president, David Malpass, said he was not a “climate denier”. The Donald Trump appointee previously said he did not “even know” if he accepted climate science.

Protesters staged rallies inside the central conference area, ignoring Egypt’s attempts to keep displays of dissent out of sight.

Almost half of young people in Africa say they have reconsidered having children due to the climate crisis, according to a Unicef poll.

China’s envoy said the US had “closed the door” to climate talks and needed to reopen it. Xie Zhenhua said Beijing and Washington were having “informal talks”. Xie also hinted that China may contribute to a “loss and damage” fund.

John Kerry, the US climate envoy, announced a global carbon credit trading initiative that he said would be “critical” in helping developing countries transition to cleaner forms of energy. That has received a mixed reaction from environmental groups.

A Kulkalgal activist from the Torres Strait Islands has said the way the world often treats Indigenous people is an insult and he is attending the Cop27 conference in Egypt 'fighting for our home'.  Yessie Mosby, who in September was part of a group of claimants who made history in a landmark legal case that found the Australian government should compensate Torres Strait Islanders over climate crisis failures, said: 'Whether it's us in the saltwater, people of the Pacific Islands, or the people of the plains and the mountains, the swamps, who are facing climate change, we really want our voices to be heard. And we really need action.'

• Cop27 global climate summit: latest updates

Critics question plan’s value in dealing with climate crisis and its potential to ‘harm communities and undermine human rights’

The US government has unveiled a new voluntary carbon trading market scheme with the aim of boosting private investment in clean energy projects in developing countries.

John Kerry, the US’s climate envoy, said the new initiative, called the energy transition accelerator, will be created in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund to help deliver the trillions of dollars of investment needed to help poorer countries transition to renewables and stave off disastrous climate impacts.

Climate change committee chair tells chancellor there are many small changes people can make to save energy and money

The UK government must improve its energy-saving advice for households to help cut costs for consumers and the Treasury this winter, its climate advisers have said.

The climate change committee chair, Lord Deben, said Britain was exposed to fluctuations in the price for fossil fuels that had forced the government to commit tens of billions of pounds in support and still left homes and businesses facing an extra £1,300 on average annual bills.

Small but symbolic moves at summit where finance is critical include new loss and damage money and debt relief

• Cop27 live – latest news updates

A series of symbolic moves on climate finance at Cop27 suggests positive momentum could be starting to build on a pivotal issue at the UN summit in Egypt.

The UK said it would allow some debt payment deferrals for countries hit by climate disasters, while Austria and New Zealand put forward funding for loss and damage, which is the cost of rebuilding in poorer nations after unavoidable climate impacts.

Pausing mid-sentence and flipping through his notes, UN secretary general, António Guterres, realised he was reading from the wrong speech. 'I'm going to speak to a group of young people afterwards and there was a small confusion. I apologise,' he told a huge crowd of attendees at Cop27 on Wednesday

• Cop27: World Bank president says he is not a ‘climate denier’; protests in Sharm el-Sheikh– live

The Guardian's biodiversity and environment reporter, Patrick Greenfield, questioned the World Bank president, David Malpass, about his record of climate crisis denial at the end of an event at Cop27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. 

Malpass apologised in late September after saying he 'doesn't know' if he accepted climate science. He did not resign from his position. When asked several times if he was a climate denier, Malpass said: 'You know that I'm not, so don't misreport it.' He refused to answer any other questions

• Cop27: World Bank president says he is not a ‘climate denier’; protests in Sharm el-Sheikh– live
  

‘Journalists shouldn’t get arrested for doing their job,’ says Gillian Keegan after arrest of Charlotte Lynch

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Police have been criticised after the arrest of another journalist covering protests by Just Stop Oil.

Charlotte Lynch, a reporter at LBC, was challenged by officers from Hertfordshire constabulary while covering a protest by the climate activist campaign at junction 21 of the M25 on Tuesday morning.

It’s on course to guzzle half the world’s carbon budget, so why are governments so afraid to discuss it?

There are just two actions needed to prevent catastrophic climate breakdown: leave fossil fuels in the ground and stop farming animals. But, thanks to the power of the two industries, both aims are officially unmentionable. Neither of them has featured in any of the declarations from the 26 climate summits concluded so far.

Astonishingly, the sectors themselves are seldom mentioned. I’ve worked through every final agreement produced by the summits since they began. Fossil fuels are named in only six of them. Just one hints at using less overall: the others propose only to improve efficiency (which, as we have known since the 19th century, can often paradoxically increase fossil fuel use), attempt technical fixes or, in the case of last year’s agreement in Glasgow, phase down “unabated” coal burning, while saying nothing about reducing oil or gas. Not one of them suggests extracting less. If fossil fuels are removed from the ground, they will be used, regardless of governments’ vague declarations about consumption.

After two days of speeches from world leaders, Wednesday’s discussions will focus on climate finance

Our environment correspondent, Fiona Harvey, has put a useful list together of how likely progress is at Cop27.

It’s terrible news for those who are still clinging to 1.5C but some surprising achievements could be grasped at the summit.

My country is not responsible for the climate crisis, but we’re suffering the effects. Now, rich countries are out to grab the huge gas reserves, and people are being dispossessed of their land. One million people out of the 23 million population are living in refugee camps because of gas. We say no to more gas finance. We won’t let Africa burn.

If the H5N1 virus jumps into the human population and more dangerous strains emerge, it could set off a new pandemic

Lockdowns are a horrible experience, but fortunately one that is in the past now. Unless, that is, you’re a domestic bird in Britain. Since 7 November, a UK directive has instructed all farmers to keep their birds indoors as part of a stringent measure to stop the spread of avian flu, or the H5N1 virus. This measure is intended to avoid infection of domestic birds from wild birds, and will result in tens of millions of chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys being brought inside for the foreseeable future. We’ve also seen island birds affected, resulting in the shutdown of human visitors to the Isle of May in Scotland for five weeks, among other measures.

Avian flu is known as one of the most infectious diseases: the R number, which was often discussed for the spread of Covid-19, can be as high as 100 for avian flu, meaning one bird can infect as many as 100 others. And the past few months have seen exponential spread of the virus, with Britain and Europe hit especially hard. A lab in Surrey that tests samples says it has seen a 600% increase in cases in the past three months.

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

Conference attenders in Sharm el-Sheikh ate ice-cream as food stalls and water fountains ran dry

A year ago, Irn-Bru proved an unlikely hit at Cop26 as delegates from around the world tried the Scottish delicacy for the first time. But in Egypt, the battle to find food and water at all has been a core part of the culinary experience at the climate summit.

In the first few days of Cop27, water fountains and refrigerators emblazoned with the logo of sponsor Coca-Cola stood empty in the African sun as thirsty delegates looked on. Stall workers argued with each other as the final few sandwiches, quiche slices and croissants ebbed away.

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Climate Trace reports half of 50 largest sources of greenhouse gas are oil and gas operations and many underreport their emissions

Greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas facilities around the world are about three times higher than their producers claim, new data has shown.

Climate Trace, a project to measure at source the true levels of carbon dioxide and other global heating gases, published a new report on Wednesday showing that half of the 50 largest sources of greenhouse gases in the world were oil and gas fields and production facilities.

REDcycle collections stopping from Wednesday with factory fire and ‘downturns in market demand’ blamed

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Environment minister Tanya Plibersek has called on Australia’s two biggest supermarket chains to come up with a “viable solution” after they were forced to hit pause on their major soft plastic recycling scheme.

REDcycle announced late yesterday it was pausing collections at Woolworths and Coles, where customers were returning more than 5 million pieces of soft plastics every day.

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Leaders, activists and other delegates gathered in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt to discuss the climate crisis

Ukrainian president says Russia’s invasion has forced dozens of countries to resume coal-fired power to alleviate energy costs

• Cop27 live – latest news updates

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has told world leaders they will not be able to tackle the climate crisis unless Russia’s invasion of his country ends.

“There can be no effective climate policy without the peace,” he said in a video address at the Cop27 UN climate summit in Egypt on Tuesday. “The Russian war has brought about an energy crisis that has forced dozens of countries to resume coal-fired power generation in order to lower energy prices for their people, to lower prices that are shockingly rising due to deliberate Russian actions.”