The Guardian

Despite ambitious green goals, the country’s over-reliance on Russian gas has forced it back to coal and expensive imports

Say what you will about Vladimir Putin, but his war on Ukraine did open European eyes to some long-underrated truths. One is that even after more than 70 years of relative peace on the continent, neglecting military security poses grave dangers. Another is that the “green dream” of modern economies powered exclusively by renewable energies remains out of reach – and reliable access to cheap energy supplies remains essential.

While the first truth became starkly apparent as soon as Russian troops crossed into Ukraine on 24 February, the second has only gradually penetrated public awareness. In fact, many have called for an embargo on European imports of Russian gas, arguing that this would not only undermine Moscow’s ability to wage its war, but also accelerate progress toward green Nirvana – all at minimal cost to Europe in terms of lost GDP.

Mammals were downgraded from endangered to threatened in 2017, even as pollution and habitat loss drive starvation

The deaths of almost 2,000 manatees in Florida’s coastal and inland waterways over the last two years has provoked an alliance of environmental groups to demand an urgent reclassification of the species to officially endangered.

The advocates, led by the non-profit Center for Biological Diversity, insist the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) made a critical error in 2017 by prematurely downgrading the status of the giant aquatic mammals from endangered to merely threatened.

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a fox squirrel, a Balkan lynx and wild turkeys

The number of bears in the Italian Alps is gradually increasing after a successful rewilding project that involved bringing bears from Slovenia. Photojournalist Luca Rotondo visited Trentino to take a look at what was happening

‘This does not bode well,’ reef scientist says, as highest November temperatures reached since 1985

• Follow our Australia news live blog for the latest updates
• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Ocean temperatures over parts of the Great Barrier Reef have reached record levels this month, sparking fears of a second summer in a row of mass coral bleaching.

Data from the US government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) shows sea surface temperatures over the northern parts of the reef have been the highest for any November on a record going back to 1985.

Conservationist says if world leaders do not go to the summit a strong deal to halt and reverse nature loss is at risk

Chris Packham is urging the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, to attend a key nature summit to protect the planet for the sake of his great-grandchildren because we are “very close to the point of no return”.

The Cop15 biodiversity summit being held in Montreal from 7-19 December is the nature equivalent of the recent Cop27 climate summit in Egypt, with governments from all over the world expected to agree targets to halt the destruction of the natural world. But world leaders are not expected to attend the once-in-a-decade meeting where the next 10 years of targets will be agreed.

About 20 Conservative MPs want to end longstanding de facto block on new wind farms in England

Boris Johnson and Liz Truss have joined a growing Tory backbench rebellion against Rishi Sunak’s refusal to allow new onshore wind projects in England, in another challenge to the levelling up bill.

The former prime ministers are among about 20 Conservative MPs to have signed an amendment tabled by Simon Clarke, who served as a minister under Johnson and Truss, that would end the de facto ban on new onshore wind that has been in place since 2014.

Exclusive: No 10 hopes management consultant and former spad will burnish PM’s image on environment

• UK politics live – latest news updates

Rishi Sunak is hiring a vegan former special adviser to be his head of environmental policy as part of an effort to improve his green credentials, the Guardian can reveal.

No 10 has approached Meera Vadher to overhaul the prime minister’s image on the environment.

Never mind the yuck factor: precision fermentation could produce new staple foods, and end our reliance on farming

So what do we do now? After 27 summits and no effective action, it seems that the real purpose was to keep us talking. If governments were serious about preventing climate breakdown, there would have been no Cops 2-27. The major issues would have been resolved at Cop1, as the ozone depletion crisis was at a single summit in Montreal.

Nothing can now be achieved without mass protest, whose aim, like that of protest movements before us, is to reach the critical mass that triggers a social tipping point. But, as every protester knows, this is only part of the challenge. We also need to translate our demands into action, which requires political, economic, cultural and technological change. All are necessary, none are sufficient. Only together can they amount to the change we need to see.

This year’s temperatures would have been virtually impossible without climate crisis, scientists say

More than 20,000 people died across western Europe in this summer’s heatwaves, in temperatures that would have been virtually impossible without climate breakdown, figures show.

Analysis of excess deaths, the difference between the number of deaths that happened and those expected based on historical trends, reveals the threats posed by climate change-induced global heating, scientists said.

Forestry Commission response to freedom of information request reveals only 15 convictions in a decade under its regime

Fewer than 1% of alleged illegal tree felling cases reported to the Forestry Commission have ended in a successful prosecution over the past 10 years in England.

The Forestry Commission received 4,002 reports of trees being destroyed without a licence from 2012-13 to 2021-22.

Objections to active travel infrastructures are now picking and choosing data to fit the narrative

I’m starting to wonder if anyone is ever going to make an honest argument against cycling and walking infrastructure again. They do exist. People used to say things like “I want to drive and park wherever I like”, or “why should cyclists and pedestrians inconvenience my much more important car journey?”.

Those are still the basic objections, but these days most prominent opponents realise that it sounds a bit politically incorrect. You need some higher public interest ground, however shaky, to pitch your tent on.

Report exposes scale of human waste discharges into UK waters, including potentially illegal ‘dry spills’

Water companies have been releasing sewage on to beaches and in rivers even when it is not raining, according to a report from Surfers Against Sewage.

Sewage spills are only supposed to happen under exceptional circumstances; when it is raining so heavily that the system cannot cope with the amount of water and effluent being spewed at once.

The federal government will legislate new protections for Indigenous heritage sites, accepting all but one of the recommendations of a report on mining company Rio Tinto's catastrophic destruction of a 46,000-year-old Aboriginal sacred site at Juukan Gorge. But the organisation representing the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) traditional owners of the site says it is 'angry and disappointed' by the government's response because it was not consulted on the content. A spokesperson for Tanya Plibersek said the environment minister's office attempted to engage with the PKKP 'on at least four occasions since the response was approved by cabinet on Tuesday'

• Labor commits to new Indigenous heritage protections but response to Juukan Gorge report angers traditional owners
• Juukan Gorge traditional owners sign agreement with Rio Tinto to co-manage WA mining land

Meanwhile, BP’s CEO was in town spruiking the energy giant’s climate credentials, as its oil output increases from last year

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

In the wake of the UN climate talks in Egypt, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, gave birth to a new factoid in a question to the prime minister this week.

The government, Dutton claimed, “has just signed up to funding a $2tn loss and damage climate fund” that would send money overseas.

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

Raptor has not bred in southern England for decades – with only breeding populations found on northern moorlands

Hen harriers are to be bred in captivity in England for the first time and released on to Salisbury Plain in a new attempt to revive the endangered bird of prey in southern England.

The raptor’s only English breeding populations are on northern moorlands, where the bird has been subject to huge persecution in recent decades because its prey includes red grouse – a lucrative gamebird.

Partnership between RHS, Natural History Museum and DfE will enable schools to access funding to create green spaces

Children will learn about biodiversity and nature in schools, and perhaps gain new green spaces in the playground, thanks to a new partnership between the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), the Natural History Museum (NHM) and the government.

The plan is for students to map out the biodiversity in their schools and add it to a nationwide database, as well as supporting teachers to develop curriculum-based climate education resources and lesson plans.

Measure affecting 15 million people comes to end but company urges customers to show restraint in usage

A hosepipe ban imposed on 15 million people in England is being lifted after three months, it has been announced.

Thames Water said the scrapping of the measure was possible due to recent above-average rainfall and the public’s compliance. But the company, which thanked individuals and businesses for helping save water while stocks needed replenishing, urged them to continue showing restraint in their usage.

Whither do you go little snipe?

• Sign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are published
• Get all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints

Activists caused permanent harm to frame holding Peach Trees in Blossom at a London art gallery, judge finds

Two Just Stop Oil activists have been found guilty of causing criminal damage after glueing themselves to the frame of a Vincent van Gogh painting at a London art gallery.

Emily Brocklebank, 24, and Louis McKechnie, 22, caused just under £2,000 of damage at the Courtauld Gallery when they attached themselves to the 1889 work Peach Trees in Blossom, their trial heard on Tuesday.