The Guardian

Activists call for money to support climate action and Joe Biden meets Egypt’s Abdel Fatah al-Sisi

Three UK countries ‘way above where we should be for this time of year’ says Met Office forecaster

Britain’s armed forces have gone on parade on the warmest Armistice Day on record, according to the Met Office, with the country on track for what could be an unprecedented 11th month of above average temperatures.

Unseasonably high temperatures led to “exceptionally mild” conditions across the UK, the forecaster said, with the record-breaking 19.5C recorded in Myerscough in Lancashire more than a degree warmer than the previous record of 17.8C at Kensington Palace in London.

US president announces plan to cut methane emissions as he urges major economies to ‘step up’ efforts to keep global heating to 1.5C

Joe Biden has implored countries to do more to tackle the climate emergency, telling the Cop27 summit that world leaders “can no longer plead ignorance” and that time to confront the crisis is running out.

Biden told a large crowd of delegates at the talks, held in Egypt, that the “science is devastatingly clear – we have to make progress by the end of this decade.” The US president stated that America was taking action on cutting planet-heating emissions and that other major economies needed to “step up” to avoid a disastrous breach of 1.5C in global heating.

Outcome of climate summit is crucial to ensuring strong targets at Cop15 in December, warns biodiversity head

The outcome of Cop27 will be crucial not just in terms of tackling the climate crisis but to help ensure a future for nature, the UN’s head of biodiversity has said, outlining plans for “a Paris moment for biodiversity” at Cop15 in Montreal in December.

“Clearly the world is crying out for change, watching as governments seek to heal our relationships with nature, with the climate,” said Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, executive secretary of the convention on biological diversity (CBD), at a media briefing on Thursday. “Scientists have told us in no uncertain terms … that climate change and biodiversity loss are intrinsically connected and that’s why we are looking at the [Cop15] framework as, basically, a Paris moment for biodiversity.”

The US president will hold a press conference, while the theme of the day is decarbonisation

A Dutch artist is spending 11 days of Cop27 turning a 3068-page report on the horrors that await humanity into confetti, in an effort to show how we refuse to take climate science seriously.

Johannes-Harm Hovinga’s blistering performance – titled ‘There’s an elephant in the room’ – has him sitting in a chair with a hole-puncher for 10 hours a day.

Environmental group pauses actions to give government ‘time to consider their responsibilities’

The Just Stop Oil protests that have disrupted the M25 motorway around London over the past four days are to pause, organisers have said, to give the government time to reconsider issuing fresh licences for oil and gas extraction.

The demonstrators said they had chosen Remembrance Day to halt the action to call on Rishi Sunak “to honour all those who served and loved their country” by ensuring a “liveable future”.

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a Komodo dragon, an injured echidna and a sea slug in coral

Companies and financial backers are laying the groundwork for a shift in attitudes towards gas

Gas producers and their financial backers see Cop27 as an opportunity for discussions about rebranding natural gas as a transition fuel rather than a fossil fuel, experts have said.

The push is coming from the host Egypt and its gas-producing allies amid a global energy crisis compounded by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Exclusive: most extraction points for rivers and groundwater not metered, so government relies on users’ honesty

The government has “no idea” how much water is being taken from rivers and groundwater, according to an Environment Agency (EA) whistleblower, as swathes of England remain in drought despite recent heavy rainfall.

The whistleblower told the Guardian that the EA’s regulation of water abstraction points for farms, small businesses and private water supplies was “absolutely pointless” because most were not metered and the monitoring that did take place was unreliable.

Panama Cites convention considers proposals to protect turtle populations also depleted for food, medication and colorful shells

Turtle poaching to meet the rising demand for the species as pets has pushed more than half of the nearly 300 living turtle and tortoise species closer to extinction, a global wildlife conference has heard.

The 184-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), which is meeting in Panama from 11 to 25 November, has seen one proposal that would ban or limit the commercial trade in more than 20 mud turtle species. More than 10 other proposals have been received that would increase protection for freshwater turtles.

‘Loss and damage’ finance for developing nations and domestic support for clean energy industries may be politically difficult – but they are necessary investments

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The money conversation is always fraught at the Cop climate negotiations, and this year it is particularly difficult given economic trouble in rich countries. But the global energy crisis works in favour of clean energy transition and achieving more meaningful emissions cuts down the track.

The world is still short of the Paris goal to provide $100bn in climate finance to developing countries. And only a fraction of the money provided is for dealing with climate change impacts, which is what developing countries need most. Financial needs for climate change adaptation in developing countries are estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars per year.

‘Bleak’ findings come from report at Cop27 that notes ‘no sign’ of urgent cuts needed to stop climate breakdown

Carbon emissions from fossil fuels will hit record levels this year, according to a comprehensive analysis. The finding represents a brutal contrast with the need to cut emissions by half by 2030 to restrict global heating to 1.5C and avoid the most devastating impacts of the climate crisis.

There is no sign of the decline needed, the researchers said, heaping further pressure on the countries whose representatives are meeting at the UN Cop27 climate summit in Egypt to deliver real and rapid action. Other scientists described the news as “bleak” and “deeply depressing”.

Exclusive: Leader says easing planning curbs would be part of its plan to tap economic potential of wind power

A Labour government would rip up the planning rules restricting the expansion of onshore windfarms as part of a plan to make the UK a clean energy superpower, the Guardian has learned.

Keir Starmer admitted that he would have to “persuade some communities to get on board” after Rishi Sunak reinstated a ban, dropped by Liz Truss, on new onshore projects amid fears of local objections.

Joe Biden is on his way to Egypt and more than 50 poor developing countries are in danger of default

And so we are edging towards the end of the first week. Friday is decarbonisation and industry day, so the events will be themed around that topic.

The US president, Joe Biden, is heading to Egypt and Asia. He is expected to drop into Cop27 on Friday before going on to the East Asia Summit in Cambodia and then the annual G20 in Indonesia. It will be interesting to see how that galvanises the discussions.

Khaled Ali, the lawyer of the imprisoned hunger striker Alaa Abd el-Fattah, has said he went to the prison where his client was being held but was denied access to visit him.

More than 50 of the poorest developing countries are in danger of defaulting on their debt and becoming effectively bankrupt unless the rich world offers urgent assistance, the head of the UN development programme has warned.

There is a record number of fossil fuel lobbyists at Cop this year. There are 600 of them, an increase of more than 25% on last year and they outnumber any one frontline community affected by the climate crisis.

Obviously, protesters are not happy about this and called for the “criminal” fossil fuel representatives to be booted out of Cop.

Some UK politicians made the rounds, with the net zero tsar Chris Skidmore fitting in no less than six events. The business secretary, Grant Shapps, was there too, answering questions about UK oil and gas exploration, and the Cop26 president, Alok Sharma, addressed a couple of panels.

Our colleague Damian Carrington brought us two pieces of good news: first, that Israel, Lebanon and Iraq have teamed up to reduce emissions, and that Norway is shutting down plans for a large oilfield.

The US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, made some rather extraordinary comments in which she said Republican politicians believe climate breakdown is a “hoax”.

Slovenia is the latest in a long line of European countries to quit the energy charter treaty, which gives energy companies the right to sue governments.

The Guardian reporter Nina Lakhani spent much of the day with protesters, who were wearing white in solidarity with murdered and jailed environment defenders around the world. Egypt is responsible for a few of those imprisonments, notably Abd el-Fattah.

Developing countries falling into default would be catastrophic and delay climate action, UN development chief warns

More than 50 of the poorest developing countries are in danger of defaulting on their debt and becoming effectively bankrupt unless the rich world offers urgent assistance, the head of the UN Development Programme has warned.

Inflation, the energy crisis and rising interest rates are creating conditions where an increasing number of countries are in danger of default, with potentially disastrous impacts on their people, according to Achim Steiner, the UN’s global development chief.

Protesters wear white as US House speaker Nancy Pelosi joins delegates at climate summit in Egypt

The Tories’ despicable plan to imprison protesters is unlikely to stop those who fear imminent climate catastrophe

Just Stop Oil protesters this week are climbing gantries on the M25, blocking the Dartford tunnel, causing long delays and getting arrested in droves. Meanwhile the public order bill that would crack down on disruptive protests has been passed by MPs and is now being read in the House of Lords. The Lords should throw out this despicable piece of legislation.

It’s curious how all those on the right who call themselves libertarians and claim to care about freedom from the state’s oppressive regulations (many of which keep water, air and food safe) are in favour of a bill that seeks to imprison people with bike locks, or anything harmless that could be used in protest. A prison sentence of 51 weeks beckons for “causing a public nuisance” – not harm, hurt or injury.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

Protesters gather at Farnborough and Luton as part of global action, also calling for tax on frequent fliers

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Climate activists have blocked entrances to two of the UK’s premier private jet airports as part of a global wave of action against private aviation timed to coincide with Cop27.

The activists, from Extinction Rebellion and Scientist Rebellion, staged blockades at Farnborough airport, in Hampshire, and London Luton airport’s Harrods terminal on Thursday morning.

Speaking at a Cop27 panel discussion, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said it was difficult to predict how the results of the midterm elections would affect US action on climate change, but that such action was 'long overdue'. 'We have had, shall we say, a disagreement on the subject,' said Pelosi, referring to the Democrats and the Republicans. 'When Kathy [Castor, a congresswoman] had her bill on the floor, our [Republican] colleagues said why are we having this discussion, there is no climate crisis, it's all a hoax.'

• Cop27: climate justice activists call for fossil fuel ‘criminals’ to be kicked out of conference – live

Attenders say actions of Egyptian authorities are threatening their participation at conference

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Members of civil society attending Cop27 have described how surveillance and intimidation by the Egyptian authorities is threatening their participation in the climate conference.

Problems reported by attenders include overt surveillance, control of their meetings by conference staff and problems with accommodation.