The Guardian
Global vaccine rollout vital to securing deal for nature, warns UN biodiversity chief
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema says access to Covid jabs for developing world will be critical to the success of in-person Kunming Cop15 summit
Governments hoping for a global agreement to halt biodiversity loss must put more effort into access to Covid-19 vaccines for developing countries, the UN’s biodiversity chief has warned.
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said the Kunming Cop15 summit, at which governments will try to forge a “Paris agreement for nature”, was vital for halting the global crisis of species loss.
Continue reading...EU ‘failing to stop meat industry exploiting agency workers’
MEPs call for EU ban on all outsourced labour after Guardian investigation finds unequal pay and terms
The EU is facing calls to ban outsourcing in the meat industry, after a Guardian investigation revealed how agency workers were exploited by companies that took no responsibility for pay and conditions.
Katrin Langensiepen, vice-chair of the European parliament’s employment and social affairs committee, said the EU should ban subcontracting across all economic sectors to ensure workers receive the same pay and conditions for the same work.
Continue reading...Historical climate emissions reveal responsibility of big polluting nations
Six of top 10, including China and Russia, yet to show ambition on emissions cuts before Cop26
Analysis of the total carbon dioxide emissions of countries since 1850 has revealed the nations with the greatest historical responsibility for the climate emergency. But six of the top 10 have yet to make ambitious new pledges to cut their emissions before the crucial UN Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow in November.
The six include China, Russia and Brazil, which come only behind the US as the biggest cumulative polluters. The UK is eighth and Canada is 10th. Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for centuries and the cumulative amount of CO2 emitted is closely linked to the 1.2C of heating the world has already seen.
Continue reading...To truly reach net zero emissions, we need to transform the business supply chain | Grant Reid
The old ways of doing business will not deliver change – suppliers, retailers and consumers must all take responsibility
The global fight against the impacts of climate change is a generational challenge like no other. This is a shared mission, but it is increasingly clear that levels of distrust and scepticism are running high.
The strident campaign by youth activists – such as Greta Thunberg – has challenged the status quo and highlighted the collective responsibility on current leaders to deliver change.
Grant Reid is the CEO of Mars
Continue reading...Superb fairywren showing strongly in 2021 Australian bird of the year poll
Gang-gang cockatoo and tawny frogmouth not far behind as voters eliminate ibis – while a vocal bird family emerges as a favourite
Voting in the 2021 Guardian/BirdLife Australian bird of the year has been incredibly close so far, but the superb fairywren may be pulling away from the pack.
Voting starts afresh each day, with the bottom five birds eliminated at midnight, until only 10 birds of the original 50 are left for the final vote. Because votes are not cumulative, and fans of the eliminated birds must find a new favourite, it is hard to be certain that patterns will hold for the final rounds.
Continue reading...Should Scott Morrison go to Cop26 in Glasgow? Not if he’s planning a climate con job | Bill Hare
The PM’s spin was in full flight in Washington DC. Unless he can commit to real climate action, whatever he does at Cop26 would be more empty announcements
Should Scott Morrison go to the climate conference in Glasgow?
It depends. In my view, he should only go to the Cop26 conference if he plans on making a decent contribution to increasing global climate action. And whether he would do that remains highly questionable.
Continue reading...Third new coal project approved by Australian environment minister Sussan Ley in just one month
Approval granted for Mangoola Coal to extract 52m tonnes over eight years – weeks before major global talks on climate crisis
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The Morrison government has been accused of demonstrating it is not taking the climate crisis seriously after approving a third new coalmine development in a month shortly before a major international conference on the issue.
With global climate talks in Glasgow less than four weeks away, the environment minister, Sussan Ley, has given a subsidiary of the mining giant Glencore the green light to expand the Mangoola mine near Muswellbrook.
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Continue reading...14% of world’s coral lost in less than a decade, study shows
Largest analysis of reef health reveals equivalent of more than all living coral in Australia was lost in 2009-18
About 14% of the world’s coral has been lost in less than a decade, a study of the health of coral reefs has found.
In the largest analysis of coral reef health ever undertaken, scientists found that between 2009 and 2018 the world lost about 11,700 sq km of coral – the equivalent of more than all the living coral in Australia.
Continue reading...New Zealand ruling against deep-sea mining set a global precedent – now Ardern should ban it | Phil McCabe and James Hita
Last week’s court decision affirmed the view that seabed mining is too dangerous, too risky and too harmful to the environment
The decision by New Zealand’s Supreme Court last week against a giant seabed mining proposal in the South Taranaki Bight is a wake-up call for the world’s would-be seabed mining industry, both in the deep oceans of international waters and for countries contemplating such activities off their own coasts.
The mining operation, proposed by Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR), would have dug up 50 million tonnes of the seabed every year for 35 years, targeting 5m tonnes of iron ore and dumping the remaining 45m tonnes back into the ocean.
Continue reading...Drivers clash with Insulate Britain activists blocking three London roads
Protesters stop traffic at Hanger Lane, the Blackwall tunnel and Wandsworth Bridge
Insulate Britain activists have staged three morning roadblocks in central London, leading to dozens of arrests and confrontations with drivers stuck in heavy traffic at the height of rush-hour.
The climate activist group said 54 supporters had blocked Hanger Lane in north London, the Blackwall tunnel in south-east London, and Wandsworth Bridge in south-west London, as they began a fourth week of their campaign for government action on home insulation.
Continue reading...Motorists and paramedic crew drag away Insulate Britain protesters on Wandsworth Bridge – video
Furious motorists and a paramedic crew could be seen pulling Insulate Britain activists out of the road at Wandsworth Bridge on Monday, in footage shared on social media by talkRADIO. The environmental activist group blocked three other major routes into London including Blackwall tunnel. The group said about 50 people were involved in Monday's demonstrations calling on the government to improve the quality of homes to tackle the climate crisis
Continue reading...Surging gas prices and fuel bills focus Tory minds on the nuclear option
Growing fears of energy security are leading a rethink on Chinese involvement in atomic plans. But what alternative are there?
Among the subjects preoccupying delegates at the Conservative party conference in Manchester on Monday, energy will be near the top of the list.
Soaring global gas prices, a lack of windpower and surging household bills have focused minds on Britain’s energy needs – and the role of nuclear power in particular.
Continue reading...‘Rogue’ paddleboarders and kayakers threaten seabird sanctuary
Human activity disturbs nesting of puffins and rare roseate terns at Coquet Island in Northumberland
A bird sanctuary island in Northumberland, home to Britain’s rarest nesting seabird, is being threatened by an influx of “rogue” paddleboarders and kayakers who are causing major disturbances.
Dr Paul Morrison, the site manager of Coquet Island, said in his 37 years in the job he had seen a lot of changes, but “this is one of the most serious ones”.
Continue reading...Fuel crisis and supply shortages are a product of the UK’s economic model
Rising prices and lack of goods are what happens when just-in-time economy collides with skin-of-the-pants government
It all seems to have happened so fast. Only a few months ago, the government was congratulating itself for the speed at which Britain was emerging from the pandemic. But as the nights have lengthened, there have been empty shelves at supermarkets, spiralling energy prices and queues snaking back from petrol stations.
If there is a general sense of bemusement at all this, then there really shouldn’t be. This is what happens when just in time production methods collide with just in time government and turn a problem into a crisis.
Britain now has just 1% of Europe’s storage capacity, enough to cope with four or five cold winter days.
Continue reading...Pandemic forces BBC into new approach for David Attenborough’s The Mating Game
BBC One natural history series relied on local film-makers to be in the right place at the right time
African bullfrogs converging on pools in South Africa and fighting like bar room brawlers; a school of ghostly-looking manta rays assembling off the Australian coast; vivid images of amphibious snot otters working co-operatively in a cold north American river.
These are all scenes from the new BBC One David Attenborough blockbuster series The Mating Game, filmed during the Covid crisis using a markedly different approach to the 50-year-old tried-and-tested way of doing things.
Continue reading...Heatwaves, sewage, pesticides: why England’s rivers need a ‘new deal’ to avert crisis
A water industry group is calling for legislation and planning controls to protect waterways from climate change and pollution
England’s rivers are facing a crisis from climate change, agricultural pollution and lack of effective planning controls. That is the key warning of Water UK, the industry group that represents the nation’s water suppliers.
In a report to be published this week, the authority will call for the government to set up a national rivers plan and enact a rivers act to ensure the health of the country’s waterways. “We are calling for a new deal for rivers in England,” it states.
Continue reading...Tax flights and ditch gas boilers: ‘blue wall’ voters back green policy
A majority of voters in the Conservative party’s key 41 constituencies believe the UK should be a world leader on climate
Voters in Tory heartlands want the government to do more to tackle the climate crisis, and support measures that many backbench Conservative MPs have balked at, from ditching gas boilers to taxing flights, new polling shows.
The government has delayed or dialled back key measures in recent weeks. There is no sign of the long-awaited heat and building strategy,the net zero strategy has been postponed to later this month, while the environment bill is stuck in parliament as ministers rejected strengthening amendments from the Lords.
Continue reading...I’ve finally sold my old VW diesel – so how do I bolt when I need to now? | Rachel Cooke
Last Monday, I sold my car. This had to be done. Later this month, the mayor of London will extend his low-emission zone; my old VW being a diesel, every journey was about to cost me £12.50. But as I kept telling myself, there were other, more virtuous reasons for this mournful visit to the Shoreditch branch of the Philip Schofield theme park that is webuyanycar.com. Whatever else I might have done wrong in my life, at least I’m now no longer contributing to the city’s congestion and pollution.
Travelling home on the tube, however, I was overcome by sudden sadness. As a teenager, nothing was more important than passing my test; even now, I still feel weirdly proud of the fact that I can drive and weirdly disdainful of those who can’t. I regard driving as a feminist act. It has saved my bacon so many times; locking my car door from the inside late at night has always represented safety to me.
Continue reading...From Corrie to car ads, carbon literacy training pushes climate to the fore
Project has trained more than 21,000 staff and pupils, aiming for changes on whole-organisation level
The cobbled streets of Coronation Street may not be the most obvious platform for conversations about the climate crisis, but the UK’s longest-running soap opera has increasingly turned its attention to the environment in recent years.
From smaller plot points such as Sally Metcalfe discussing climate change with her partner over dinner, to 10-year-old Liam Connor collapsing on the street from an asthma attack caused by air pollution, environmental issues frequently crop up on the show.
Continue reading...Poor countries must not be forced to take on debt to tackle climate crisis
A Cop26 insider from a developing nation on why the richer world needs to meet its funding targets
One of the biggest issues at Cop26 is climate finance, the funding that is supposed to be provided by the rich world to developing countries to help us cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impact of the climate crisis.
Back at the Copenhagen Cop in 2009, we were promised at least $100bn (£74bn) a year in climate finance by 2020 and every year after that to at least 2025. But that target has been missed. Recently, we saw an OECD report which found that in 2019 only about $80bn was provided.
Every week we’ll hear from negotiators from a developing country that is involved in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations and will be attending the Cop26 climate conference.
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