The Guardian

If climate catastrophe is to be avoided, the governments and institutions of the rich west will have to alter their priorities

Making a transition away from fossil fuels and towards low-carbon energy is the only way to keep our planet safe and habitable for future generations. That transition has thankfully begun, but it has a vast distance to go. And the kinds of changes that are needed cost money. Development of new technology has always required investment. This applies to the generation of renewable energy, and to the myriad lifestyle changes that follow from the shift away from coal, oil and gas. Electric cars and other transport are one example. Packaging to replace plastic (which is derived from oil) is another. Resources are also required to protect societies from the harms caused by the global heating that has already happened, and to help them adjust to altered conditions.

A new report presented at the Cop27 UN climate summit says that about $2tn (£1.75tn) a year will be needed by 2030 if developing countries are to make the necessary changes. One of the authors, Nicholas Stern, pointed to a crucial role for the World Bank as well as western governments in redirecting finance and reducing the cost of capital for investors (banks typically charge higher interest on investments in poor countries, due to perceived risks).

Climate campaigners appeal against plans for more flights after original council veto was overruled by central government

Expanding Bristol airport would lead to an unacceptable rise in carbon emissions, a court has heard.

The high court, sitting in Bristol on Tuesday and Wednesday, heard from climate campaigners challenging a central government decision to allow Bristol airport to expand its maximum capacity from 10 million to 12 million passengers a year.

Mia Mottley has celebrated 'loss and damage' – the idea that rich countries, having emitted the most planet-warming gases, should pay poorer countries who are suffering from climate disasters they did not create – being added to the agenda of Cop27.

The prime minister of Barbados sees it as her mission to begin the restructuring of international financial institutions to hold them accountable for the climate crisis, and this summer held key meetings in Bridgetown, the Barbadian capital, aimed at developing new means of financing climate action

• Cop27: US: latest updates

Reduced flock sizes and rising costs put pressure on supplies but retailers say they are working to minimise impact

British egg producers are warning of possible shortages, as farmers leave the industry or reduce the size of their flocks in the face of spiralling costs and uncertainty sparked by the spread of bird flu.

A third of farmers surveyed in recent days by the trade body the British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA) reported they had reduced the number of hens in their flock because egg prices meant they were unable to cover their costs.

President not expected to attend summit but critics cast doubt on veracity of pledges the country could make

• Cop27 live – latest news updates

Mexico, one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, is expected to announce a hotchpot of old, inadequate and undeliverable climate pledges that will leave its Paris pledges in tatters, experts have warned.

Climate action has nosedived under the leadership of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had to be blocked from rolling back Mexico’s modest Paris greenhouse gas targets by the country’s supreme court, and emissions are rising.

A reduction in methane emissions from the state-owned oil company, Pemex – an important but existing target for which Pemex has been fined for non-compliance.

A 1,000MW state-opened solar plant – construction is already under way for a 180MW project, and the government had previously already ruled out further investment to expand the energy potential.

A lithium commitment. Mexico has the ninth-largest identified deposits of lithium – a crucial mineral for electric vehicles and other green technologies – but there has been no government investment so far in advancing extraction, and none is currently being mined. Experts say the country is years away from producing its first gram of lithium.

Campaigners condemning ‘environmental vandalism’ say equivalent of five months of discharges made so far in November

Southern Water has discharged raw sewage for more than 3,700 hours at 83 bathing water beaches during the first eight days of November alone, according to company data analysed by campaigners.

Ed Acteson of SOS Whitstable, which has been monitoring the data, said in his experience the scale was equivalent to five months’ worth of discharges: “The Environment Act was supposed to herald a new era for the environment in Britain. But this is the worst I have ever seen sewage pollution in the south-east.”

Arrest of pair capturing images of M25 protest condemned by British Press Photographers’ Association

The British Press Photographers’ Association has condemned the arrest of a photographer and documentary film-maker as they captured images of a Just Stop Oil protest.

Rich Felgate, a documentary maker, and Tom Bowles, the photographer, were arrested by a Hertfordshire police officer as they caught the action on a footbridge over the M25 on Monday.

Activists from Just Stop Oil scaled gantries along the M25 for a second day, unfurling banners protesting against the use of oil and gas. Demonstrators disrupted traffic, forcing police to block the motorway at various locations until they were able to bring the activists down. Police say 16 arrests were made in Kent, Essex, Surrey and Hertfordshire. 

Similar protests took place along the busy thoroughfare on Monday when activists from the group also climbed gantries on the M25. The protests coincide with the Cop27 summit in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, convened to address some of the world's most pressing climate issues 

• Met vows to make more pre-emptive arrests after M25 hit by climate action
• Just Stop Oil protesters bring parts of M25 to halt for second day

The European Commission president has told Cop27 in Egypt 'Europe is stepping up, despite Covid and the Russian war', to tackle the climate crisis. Speaking on the centre stage, Ursula von der Leyen urged the global north to follow the EU's example. 'Those in need in the developing world must be supported in adapting to a harsher climate,' she said. 'We urge our partners in the global north to stand by their climate finance commitments in the global south'

• Cop27 day two: world leaders call for urgent action, saying ‘nature lashing out and citizens losing patience’ – live

High level group releases report at Cop27 saying policies should be ‘about cutting emissions, not corners’

• Cop27 live – latest news updates

A UN group set up to crack down on the greenwashing of net zero pledges by industry and government has called for “red lines” to stop support for new fossil fuel exploration and overuse of carbon offsets.

The “high-level expert group”, created in March by the UN secretary general, António Guterres, to advise on rules to improve integrity and transparency in net zero commitments by industry, regions and cities, said climate plans must include deep cuts in greenhouse gases before 2030, and not delay action until closer to 2050.

The 31-year-old allegedly failed to seek medical attention after the boy was bitten at a property in Murgon, Queensland

• Follow today’s news, live

Queensland police have charged a 31-year-old man with manslaughter over the sudden death of an 11-year-old boy who was bitten by a snake.

The man allegedly failed to seek medical attention after the boy reported being bitten at a property at Murgon in Queensland’s South Burnett region on 21 November last year.

Police say 16 arrests made after activists scale gantries in Kent, Essex, Surrey and Hertfordshire

Protesters have caused widespread disruption on the M25 for a second day after several junctions were blocked.

Just Stop Oil said “approximately 15” of its supporters climbed on to overhead gantries in “multiple locations” on the UK’s busiest motorway from 7am on Tuesday, causing police to halt traffic.

Pacific islands nation, which is acutely vulnerable to sea level rises, joins nearby Vanuatu in seeking phase-out of coal, oil and gas

Tuvalu has become the first country to use United Nations climate talks to demand an international fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, which would phase out the use of coal, oil and gas.

The small Pacific islands nation, which is acutely vulnerable to sea level rises caused by global heating, becomes the second country to call for an agreement to end the era of burning fossil fuels, which is the primary cause of the rapidly escalating climate crisis, fellow Pacific nation Vanuatu being the first.

The UN climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, opens for another day of talks

Cop27 has been termed the African Cop – but we have reported on the difficulties some African activists have faced in attending the summit. And yesterday our video reporter in Sharm el-Sheikh, Nikhita Chulani, spoke to the Ugandan activist Nyombi Morris who was turned away from the talks.

When 24-year-old Ugandan activist Nyombi Morris arrived in Egypt for the Cop27 climate summit he was turned away from the high-level talks because he did not have the right accreditation. Only country delegates and some members of the press were allowed in the events for heads of states and government officials.

“Why are we here?”, asked Nyombi, adding that the world leaders and negotiators who are currently deciding how far to push climate action need to quickly change the way they work and who they listen to, saying right now he doesn’t think it is right to truly call this an African Cop.

“You have to frontline the voices of African youth activists, because these are the innovators. These are the ones implementing actions, not our leaders, our leaders are just always in the office, but you are excluding us. So it is time to understand that this event is in Africa. We need to give African voices a chance ... We cannot lead without knowledge.”

As the UN’s Cop27 summit begins in Egypt, there are warnings more must be done to avert climate breakdown

Last year’s UN Cop26 climate talks in Scotland were framed by John Kerry, the US special presidential envoy on the climate crisis, as the “last best hope for the world to get its act together” and avert climate breakdown. As world leaders gather in Egypt for Cop27, evidence suggests they have yet to fully do so.

The Glasgow conference drew collective promises by governments to “phase down” coal use, curb deforestation, advance remedial payments to developing countries hit hardest by floods, heatwaves and droughts, and to come back the following year with more ambitious emissions reduction targets.

37 million people are facing starvation in the Horn of Africa. Time for wealthier countries to adopt ‘loss and damage finance’

In September, I travelled from my home country, Uganda, to Turkana County in Kenya, which is suffering from a historic drought. One morning, I met a boy in a hospital where doctors see patients with the worst cases of severe acute malnutrition. His family had not been able to access the treatment he needed in time. By the time the sun set that evening, he had died.

The boy was one of 37 million people facing starvation in the Horn of Africa. After four failed rainy seasons, Kenya faces the acute risk of widespread famine. This suffering is set to get worse; experts predict that drought-stricken areas in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia will receive significantly below normal rainfall for the rest of the year.

For almost a decade, a desert community struggled to maintain their drought-stricken gardens and farms. Then the rains returned

• All photographs by Rehab Eldalil

Latest figures suggest the 10 park authorities will have to make cuts of £16m between them over the next three years

England’s national parks are facing a funding crisis that is forcing them to make plans to close visitors centres, make park rangers redundant, stop maintaining paths and introduce other cuts, in an effort to balance their budgets, according to the latest figures.

Funding has fallen by 40% in real terms over the last decade, and grants are expected to flatline until 2025 despite rising wage bills and costs. Government funding for national parks has been frozen since last year. Data compiled by National Parks England suggests the country’s 10 park authorities will have to make cuts of £16m over the next three years.

Brussels’ plan to oppose a a total international ban on trade in hippopotamus products puts species at risk, says letter signed by states, including Mali, Niger and Senegal

Ten African countries have accused the EU of jeopardising the survival of the common hippopotamus by not supporting a proposed commercial trade ban, in documents seen by the Guardian.

Illegal hunting for meat and ivory is thought to have wiped out hippo populations in five African states: Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Liberia and Mauritania. But Brussels is planning to oppose a bid to ban the global trade in hippo products at a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) conference in Panama from 14 November.

Microbes have made their way into water after heavy rain, raising risk of illnesses like gastro and diarrhoea, authorities say

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Melbourne residents are being urged to hit the swimming pool instead of the beach as Victoria’s ongoing floods continue to contaminate waterways.

Victoria’s chief environmental scientist, Mark Taylor, said microbes had made their way into waterways after heavy rains, bringing the risk of pollution, mosquitoes and water-borne diseases.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup