The Guardian

Exclusive: MPs criticise ‘climate-degrading’ and ‘nefarious’ practice of flying near-empty planes to retain landing slots

Almost 500 “ghost flights” a month departed from the UK between October and December 2021, data has revealed.

The information, obtained through a freedom of information request by the Guardian, shows Heathrow, Aberdeen, Manchester, Stansted and Norwich were the top five airports for such flights during the period.

Glaciers becoming ‘smaller and more skeletal’, annual end-of-summer survey of the snowline finds

New Zealand’s glaciers are becoming “smaller and more skeletal” due to the effects of climate change and scientists predict many could disappear within a decade.

An annual end-of-summer survey that records the snowline of more than 50 South Island glaciers has revealed continued loss of snow and ice.

Unattributed extracts from an essay decrying renewables and electric vehicles are being used to undermine their environmental credentials

• Temperature Check is a weekly column examining claims about climate change made by governments, politicians, business and in the media. See the latest column and follow the series here

Across social media, internet forums and some climate science denier blogs, there has been furious cutting-and-pasting of chunks of common text attacking the environmental credentials of electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines.

About 200 tonnes of the “Earth’s crust” needs to be mined for each electric vehicle battery, and 11 tonnes of brine are needed just for the lithium, claims the text, which also says solar panels and wind turbine blades can’t be recycled.

Pollution from wood burning causes half of all harm from home heating, but provides only 11% of heat, says public health group

The air pollution from wood burning in homes is responsible for more than £1bn a year in health-related damages in the UK and €10bn (£8.5bn) across the EU, according to a report.

The analysis from the European Public Health Alliance found the total costs of early deaths, illness and lost work resulting from outdoor air pollution produced by all home heating was €29bn a year.

Treasurer’s 2022 budget sees our government sleepwalking into more climate disasters

This week the people of Lismore are again evacuating what’s left of their already flood-wrecked houses, as their levee was breached by flood waters and the rain continued to come down.

Make no mistake, this disaster is fuelled by global warming which in turn is driven by carbon dioxide emissions from gas oil and coal, fossil fuels which are supported in the Morrison government budget.

From catastrophic east coast floods to Mardi Gras celebrations, the sudden death of Shane Warne to coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, Guardian Australia delivers the images that defined a tumultuous month

• All fired up: the King Valley balloon fiesta – in pictures

More talks needed on targets to protect wildlife as developing countries call for payment for finds based on their biodiversity

A standoff over biopiracy is threatening to derail a global agreement to halt the loss of nature, with developing countries demanding they are paid for drug discoveries and other commercial products based on their biodiversity.

During negotiations in Geneva for a Paris-style agreement on nature, which ended this week, the use of genetic data in a digital form – known as digital sequence information (DSI) – arose as a clear point of division, with African countries insisting any deal must include a financial mechanism to compensate them for discoveries using digital forms of their biodiversity.

The Met Office has shifted the definition to account for rising temperatures. This will only mask the crisis

In a morass of bad climate news, from collapsing ice shelves to the potential resurgence of coal in Europe, there is a sliver of good news. There could be fewer heatwaves declared in England this summer.

However, this won’t be due to a reversal of global heating, or a summer cool snap across Britain. Instead, the Met Office is changing the definition of a heatwave in eight counties by raising the required temperature threshold.

Eleanor Salter writes about climate, culture and politics

New design rules would also force firms to reveal how much unsold product they send to landfill

The European Commission is calling for an end to fast fashion by 2030, as it announced a vast expansion of eco-design rules that could in future apply to any product, starting with textiles.

The EU executive also wants large companies to disclose how much unsold stock they send to landfill, as part of a wide-ranging plan to crack down on throwaway culture.

Our own crisis of truth is responsible for some of the world’s biggest problems

To the Syrians who have suffered its attacks, the Kremlin’s lies about Ukraine must sound horribly familiar. Insisting that the victims of bombings are “crisis actors”, spreading falsehoods about chemical weapons, justifying the mass murder of civilians by claiming that anyone who resists is a “Nazi” (in Ukraine) or a “head-chopper” (in Syria): its disinformation tactics have been tested and honed.

This organised lying has more or less destroyed the US left, and severely damaged the European left. As the activist Terry Burke documented in 2019, effective leftwing opposition to Donald Trump collapsed amid furious internal disputes about Syria and Russian interference in US politics, triggered by prominent figures reciting Kremlin falsehoods. Some of them turned out to be paid by the Russian government.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist. He will discuss Regenesis at a Guardian Live event on Monday 30 May. Book tickets in-person or online here

Sightings of the leatherback turtle are rare in NSW and the species is considered endangered in the state

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A giant dead leatherback turtle has washed ashore on the NSW central coast, with authorities saying it could have been killed by pollution linked to the state’s heavy rain and severe flooding.

The turtle washed up on Avoca beach on Wednesday morning, and is estimated to be a 30-year-old adult, measuring more than 1.8 metres long.

Communities across the NSW northern rivers have been hit by major flooding for the second time in a month. Lismore’s flood levee overflowed and Byron Bay’s main street was submerged as the rising waters forced people across the region to evacuate

Heath fritillary among species helped by habitat restoration – but concerns over future remain

Some of the UK’s most threatened butterflies weathered a poor year in 2021 thanks to conservation efforts, annual survey results have shown.

The woodland-loving heath fritillary has doubled in abundance in the past decade, although it is 90% down on 1980 levels. The silver-studded blue also did well, recording its best year since 1996.

The northern rivers is experiencing a disaster that never ends. It’s climate change manifest

Last night I was woken at midnight by my dog Hugo having a panic attack from the thunder, nothing out of the ordinary – only an annoying hindrance to sleep.

Then the wind and rain which has been steady for months began building into an extreme weather event – with the house shaking and trees bending almost over on to themselves.

Rare white-tailed eagle had high level of rodenticide in its system but no further police action will be taken

A rare white-tailed eagle found dead in Dorset was poisoned, police have confirmed – but they have shut the case, in a decision the RSPB has called “baffling”.

The eagle was one reintroduced on the Isle of Wight, where a successful programme has been taking place since summer 2019. The white-tailed eagles had become extinct in the UK in the early 20th century after they were poisoned and shot by gamekeepers.

Slowworms thrive in brownfield sites – often targeted for development

Adders and slowworms will be among animals given extra protection under plans by the government to “streamline” the process for protecting nature-rich areas.

George Eustice, the environment secretary, said that he plans for brownfield and urban sites to be given greater protection as he scraps sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) and special protected areas (SPAs), in order to replace them with a streamlined system.

Strategy could require up to eight new nuclear power stations to be built, costing more than £13bn

Boris Johnson’s flagship energy strategy has been held up over a row with Rishi Sunak about funding a new generation of up to eight nuclear power stations costing the public more than £13bn.

The strategy, which has been delayed for a month, was due to be published this week but has now been pencilled for 5 April after disagreement about the multibillion-pound cost of new nuclear plants and amid ongoing tensions between the prime minister and his chancellor, as well as the wider cabinet.

In a new documentary, Sarah Snook voices the element as it tells its own story – making us fall in love with carbon before showing the damage it can wreak

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Even casual observers of our nation’s politics will recall the moment the then treasurer Scott Morrison walked into question time with a lump of coal, waving it in the direction of the opposition and yelling, “this is coal, don’t be afraid”. It was a stunt that launched a thousand memes and op eds. It was a cheap trick as well as being fundamentally inaccurate. Burning coal and gas is the main driver of climate change, if we are to believe trusted institutions such as the CSIRO, not to mention every credible climate scientist in the country and around the world.

That being said, and in the light of my research on public attitudes to climate change and energy in Australia, I recognise there is a tiny sliver of – truth? perhaps insight is a better word – in what our now prime minister had to say about coal.

The atrocities against Ukraine have to be stopped. Dismantling and replacing the fossil fuel system that funds the war is a good place to start

The faces of fossil fuel executives – and their lobbyists and political advocates –are right now lit up with a healthy, happy glow.

Russia’s illegal and murderous offensive against Ukraine has shattered the global politics of carbon to the immediate benefit of those selling fossil fuel products.

Colonies mix annually at Winspit caves near Swanage, a hibernation site for rare greater horseshoe bats

Three caves hewn into the rocky coastline of Dorset that are the bat equivalent of a speed-dating site, attracting crowds of the flying mammals from as far as 40 miles away, have been acquired by the National Trust.

The bats gather at Winspit caves near Swanage in the late summer and early autumn, dart around the cliffs and, if all goes well, find a mate from a different colony.