The Guardian
Rishi Sunak is a fossil fuel prime minister in a renewable age | Keir Starmer
Rishi Sunak will go on his day trip to Cop27 tomorrow, having been dragged kicking and screaming. His eventual decision to attend was an embarrassing U-turn. But his initial snub, one of his first decisions as prime minister, was the act heard around the world.
It said that Britain is not in the business of showing climate leadership on the world stage. That, because of his weak position, the prime minister’s first priority will always be the basest instincts of the Conservative party. For the Tories, it’s always party first. What is best for the country – and for the planet – comes a distant second.
Continue reading...Climate activists glue themselves to frames of two Goya paintings in Madrid
The two protesters did not damage the works but ‘caused their frames slight blemishes’ the Prado museum says
Two climate activists have glued their hands to the frames of two paintings by Spanish master Francisco Goya at a museum in Madrid.
The protest at the Prado museum, in which both protesters each glued a hand to the frames, did not damage either painting but caused their frames slight blemishes, the museum said.
Continue reading...Loss and damage must be at heart of Cop27 talks, experts say
Campaigners say talks could fail before they begin unless issue of loss and damage is put on agenda
Cop27, the UN climate summit beginning this Sunday in Egypt, could fail before it even starts if countries do not agree to put the loss and damage experienced by the poorest countries at the heart of the talks, according to climate experts and campaigners.
Delegates began to arrive at the conference centre on Saturday, and the talks will formally open on Sunday with a session deciding what should be on the agenda for the two weeks of negotiations, before world leaders gather on Monday and Tuesday.
Continue reading...Cop27: crucial climate talks more fragile than ever after year of turmoil
With war in Ukraine and a cost of living crisis, the global picture is much changed since last year’s conference
For oil and gas companies this has been the best year ever. The world’s five biggest alone have made a combined profit of $170bn so far in 2022, a figure likely to be just the tip of the iceberg – most producers are nationally owned, and not required to come clean on their profits. “We are getting more cash than we know what to do with,” as one senior executive from BP admitted, before the companies zipped up their communications in the face of public fury.
Party time for fossil fuels is not what climate experts had been hoping for. If the world is to get to grips with the climate emergency, oil and gas must be urgently phased out. Instead, they are becoming one of the most attractive investments in the global market.
Continue reading...Lula’s victory in Brazil is a relief but it won’t solve the problem of globalised greed | The Secret Negotiator
It’s great the new president is on the side of nature but no leader can succeed unless the Cop15 deal in Montreal is right on the money
We are a month away from Cop15 and money is on my mind. The election of President Lula da Silva in Brazil is good news for the chances of success in Montreal. But optimism must always consider reality: huge financial resources are needed to halt the destruction of the planet’s ecosystems, and we are still very far from a credible plan for raising the necessary funds.
Across the globe, almost without exception, nature is worth more dead than alive. That is the unfortunate truth. There is not yet a mechanism for tilting the playing field in favour of biodiversity and the climate, something I am sure will come up frequently at Cop27, too. To change that, we need to tackle two key issues: rural poverty and globalised greed.
Continue reading...Africa is being devastated by a climate crisis it didn’t cause. Cop27 must help | Amina J Mohammed
Drought, flooding and rising sea levels are creating havoc across our continent – we need support from richer nations to adapt
- Amina J Mohammed is the deputy secretary-general of the United Nations
I recently walked the parched earth of north-east Kenya and heard heartbreaking accounts of families slipping back into poverty. Across Africa, water shortages are expected to displace up to 700 million people this decade. The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 40 years, with more than 50 million people suffering from hunger, unsure where their next meal is coming from.
While some parts of the continent are gripped by drought, places such as South Sudan and my homeland, Nigeria, are experiencing devastating flash floods that sweep away homes, businesses and livelihoods. And up to 116 million Africans will face severe risks from rising sea levels this decade.
Amina J Mohammed is the deputy secretary-general of the United Nations and chair of the UN Sustainable Development Group, and a former minister of environment of Nigeria
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‘It was like an apocalyptic movie’: 20 climate photographs that changed the world
They are the images that made us sit up and take notice. As world leaders gather for Cop27, these pictures prove that global heating isn’t a distant possibility – it’s already here
For a week in July 2018, a giant 100m-tall iceberg loomed over a tiny village on the west coast of Greenland. Villagers were evacuated, and the world watched in suspense: if a chunk of the 10m-tonne iceberg had broken apart or “calved”, it would have caused a tsunami and obliterated the settlement of Innaarsuit. Eventually, it drifted away from the shore – but as glaciers melt, we can expect to see more masses of ice breaking off and floating dangerously close to land.
Continue reading...I predicted the 2008 crash – these are the global 'megathreats' I can see now | Nouriel Roubini
Life as we know it is under threat, as short-term-thinking politicians ignore the signs that point to a dystopian future
In the coming decades, the world faces megathreats that would imperil not just our global economy and financial assets, but also put at risk peace and prosperity.
In our partisan political world, where we kick the can down the road – we are biased towards short-term planning and leave thinking about the future to others – these threats are something different. Left to grow, they will make life worse for people across the world. It is essential for the public good that these threats are not ignored by our leaders, but are acknowledged, taken seriously and countered – fast.
Continue reading...Brazil, Indonesia and DRC in talks to form ‘Opec of rainforests’
Spurred by Lula’s election, the three countries, home to half of all tropical forests, will pledge stronger conservation efforts
The big three tropical rainforest nations – Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – are in talks to form a strategic alliance to coordinate on their conservation, nicknamed an “Opec for rainforests”, the Guardian understands.
The election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, has been followed by a flurry of activity to avoid the destruction of the Amazon, which scientists have warned is dangerously close to tipping point after years of deforestation under its far-right leader, Jair Bolsonaro.
Continue reading...Scientists discover ‘world’s largest’ seagrass forest – by strapping cameras to sharks
New study, carried out using tiger sharks in the Bahamas, extends total known global seagrass coverage by more than 40%
Tiger sharks are notoriously fierce. The huge animals, which can grow to more than 16ft, are ruthless predators and scared of absolutely nothing – recent research found that while other shark species fled coastal waters during strong storms, tiger sharks “didn’t even flinch”.
But recently they have a new role that could help burnish their reputations: marine scientists.
Continue reading...Who’s who at Cop27: the leaders who hold the world’s future in their hands
A look at who will – and who may not – be at Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh climate summit this month
Delegates arrive for Cop27 on 6 November in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and the conference is scheduled to end on 18 November, though it is likely to run later. World leaders will attend on 7 and 8 November, and after they depart the crunch negotiations will be done by their representatives, environment ministers or other high-ranking officials.
Continue reading...Australia will bid for 2026 climate summit, but still has work to do on emissions credentials at Cop27
Labor has improved Australia’s emissions pledge on the one Scott Morrison took to Glasgow, but observers say it will still have questions to answer
The Australian government will use the UN climate conference in Egypt to launch a bid with Pacific nations to host the 2026 summit and pledge its support for greater action, including measures that the country’s previous government rejected a year ago in Glasgow.
The Cop27 conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, a small resort city on the Sinai peninsula, is the first since the Labor government led by Anthony Albanese was elected in May. It arrives for the fortnight-long talks as one of few national governments to have followed through on a commitment made in Glasgow that all countries would re-examine their plans with a view to increasing their commitments this year.
Continue reading...Hyperventilation around the workplace overhaul feels like a curtain raiser for Labor’s next thought crime – cutting emissions | Katharine Murphy
When it comes to industrial relations reform, there is no interest like self interest
All governments have seasons. In just under six months, the seasons of the Albanese government have been victory, transition, honeymoon, events.
The latest Guardian Essential poll tells us voter reception of the prime minister remains broadly where Labor would want it to be – 73% of respondents are either positive (45%) or neutral (28%). So, for now, the tolerance and goodwill persists. But there’s been a noticeable transition in atmosphere over the past fortnight. The shift suggests the government is bearing down on its next season: the summer of rent seekers.
Continue reading...Cop27 host accuses countries of making empty public pledges
Egypt has expressed frustration at leaders making positive statements that are abandoned in negotiations
Governments meeting for vital climate talks have been accused of making positive commitments in public but denying them later in the privacy of the negotiating rooms by the Egyptian hosts of the summit.
Wael Aboulmagd, the Egyptian diplomat in charge of running the negotiations at the Cop27 UN climate summit, said: “Political statements and pledges are made in front of the cameras, but in the negotiating rooms it’s back to the adversarial approach. These [publicly positive positions] will not be of value until translated into the negotiating rooms, and that has not been the case so far.”
Continue reading...Indigenous people in Peruvian Amazon detain tourists in oil spill protest
About 70 people seized in protest at environmental damage from crude oil spillage into Cuninico River
Indigenous people in the Amazon in Peru have detained a group of Peruvian and foreign tourists, including UK and US citizens, in protest at a lack of government aid following an oil spill in the area.
“[We want] to call the government’s attention with this action, There are foreigners and Peruvians, there are about 70 people,” Watson Trujillo, the leader of the Cuninico community, told RPP radio.
Continue reading...The climate crisis is daunting but here’s the key to tackling it – please cheer up | Isabel Losada
We environmentalists must avoid sending the message that the situation is hopeless. Let’s focus on solutions
My dear fellow environmentalists,
With the Cop27 summit about to be begin, can we please think about how we talk about the climate crisis? The scale of it is there to see – it can’t be missed – but haven’t we read enough books and attended enough events where we are told, once again, about the historic causes of the problem, the intransigent complexity of the problem and the inevitable worsening of the problem? Given a little more time, I swear that most speakers would detail the length, depth and height of the problem. It is depressing. It doesn’t help. Please stop.
Continue reading...Weather tracker: hurricane activity in Atlantic dips below predicted level
Hurricane Fiona and Hurricane Ian were the only storms to strengthen enough to become major events
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from 1 June to 20 November, with activity peaking between August and October. The past seven years have seen above average activity – the 2021 season was the third-most active on record – and the trend looked set to continue.
Continue reading...The climate is already collapsing in Africa – but its nations have a plan | Emmanuel Macron, Macky Sall and Mark Rutte
Africa is the continent most vulnerable to the climate crisis, but with the right support at Cop27 it can build a stronger, greener future
- Emmanuel Macron is the president of France; Macky Sall is the president of Senegal and chair of the African Union; Mark Rutte is the prime minister of the Netherlands
This year, we have witnessed devastating hurricanes, typhoons and floods. The US and Australia burned. Europe sweltered under a prolonged heatwave. Drought and flooding in east Africa has left many facing food shortages. One-third of Pakistan was underwater after torrential monsoon rains, and half a million people there are homeless.
Though no corner of the globe is safe, Africa is more vulnerable than any other continent to this planetary crisis. There, it’s as if all the negative effects of global warming are amplified: Africa loses up to 15% of GDP growth a year to the destructive forces of climate change; extreme and erratic weather threatens human life, food, water security and the very foundations of economic development; and living off the land is increasingly untenable for a quarter of a billion people on the continent.
Emmanuel Macron is the president of France; Macky Sall is the president of Senegal and chair of the African Union; Mark Rutte is the prime minister of the Netherlands
Continue reading...Did you know King Charles officially owns all the cod? So overfishing is squandering royal assets | Charles Clover
The British government continues to set catch limits in defiance of scientific advice. People must act, before it is too late
There are few sadder symbols of post-Brexit Britain, or of its deliberate assault upon nature, than the national dish, fish and chips, and the fate of one of its principal ingredients, the cod. Cod are tasty creatures but they are severely overfished in UK waters, a fact masked by plentiful supplies reaching fish and chip shops until recently from Iceland, Norway, and – ah yes – Russia.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has given us one of two reasons why we urgently need to save our favourite fish from 40 years of mismanagement. The first is to protect our own future food security. Just when the price of cod and other materials has rocketed, leading our fish and chip shops to call for more cod from our own waters, stocks are around their worst levels on record. These national assets – which, under British law, belong to the king on behalf of the people – have declined precipitously in the past four decades.
Charles Clover is executive director of the Blue Marine Foundation and author of Rewilding the Sea: How to Save our Oceans
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including jellyfish, wild ponies and a squadron of pelicans
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