The Guardian

Never before had the world heritage committee been asked to list a site mainly because of climate impacts – and it wasn’t willing to

There are tens of billions of corals on the Great Barrier Reef that knit together to form a giant mass that is most certainly, definitely, no doubt about it, in danger.

Nobody at the world heritage committee late on Friday night thought otherwise.

There are concerns a new UN biodiversity framework is not ambitious enough and calls for Australia to take a leading role

Can nature have its own Paris moment?

It’s the question facing countries negotiating a new United Nations agreement aimed at stemming the global loss of wildlife.

Floods, fires and droughts show the global urgency. But the prospects are not looking good for the COP26 conference

The global reality of the climate crisis could hardly be more stark. A common theme is clear, from western Germany, where about 200 people perished in floods, to Henan province in central China, where at least 50 have died and about 400,000 have been evacuated after overwhelming downpours, to western Canada and the US, where a blistering set of heatwaves has provided the tinder for wildfires on a growing scale, through to the Middle East, where drought threatens communities from Algeria to Yemen, triggering unrest and regional disputes. On this planet there is no hiding place.

A hundred days now remain before the nations gather in Glasgow at the United Nations Cop26 climate conference on 31 October. More than 190 world leaders are expected. The UK government calls the summit the world’s last best chance. That is true. Yet words are cheaper than actions and sustained effort, especially when Boris Johnson is involved, and the last best chance is at serious risk of being lost. As things currently stand, the governments of the world, the UK included, are heading to Glasgow without having made the ambitious strategic decisions and collective sacrifices that might enable Cop26 to mark a genuine turning point that is needed in the battle to contain and reverse global heating.

The country’s perilous waters have made or broken past leaders. The climate crisis will only make things worse

The footage of a torrent of muddy water engulfing the broad thoroughfares of Zhengzhou, China, may look like a scene from an apocalyptic sci-fi movie. But for China’s leaders, these images speak not only to a dystopian future but also to the struggles of the past – and to the issue of the Chinese Communist party’s mandate to rule.

Related: China floods: thousands trapped without fresh water as rain moves north

Greek capital is first in Europe to create role, which will involve finding new ways to cool the city

Athens has appointed a chief heat officer to protect people from soaring temperatures and try to find ways to adapt the city to the heatwaves and extreme weather that are striking the capital more frequently as the result of the climate emergency.

The appointment, made on Friday by the mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis, is the first in Europe and believed to be only the second in the world, after Miami-Dade county in Florida appointed a chief heat officer earlier this year.

• California official: ‘Water stealing has never been more severe’

• Water taken from hydrants, homes, rivers and wells

Extreme and prolonged drought in the American west is prompting water thieves to tap into other people’s scarce supplies.

More than 12bn gallons of water have been stolen in California in the past eight years, according to state officials, but the issue has been further exacerbated by the ongoing drought and recent searing early summer heatwaves.

Researchers suggest net increase would mostly occur in renewables sector, with decline in fossil fuels

If some politicians are to be believed, taking sweeping action to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement would be calamitous for jobs in the energy sector. But a study suggests that honouring the global climate target would, in fact, increase net jobs by about 8 million by 2050.

The study – in which researchers created a global dataset of the footprint of energy jobs in 50 countries including major fossil fuel-producing economies – found that currently an estimated 18 million people work in the energy industries, which is likely to increase to 26 million if climate targets are met.

Protesters filled Parliament Square in London on Friday morning, calling on Boris Johnson to make the climate crisis his top priority, as the UK prepares to host UN talks that will determine whether the world tips into environmental catastrophe this decade. A giant alarm clock showed time running out, while protesters chanted that the prime minister and his chancellor, Rishi Sunak, are 'missing in action' on the climate crisis

• 100 days to Cop26: protesters urge Boris Johnson to take climate talks seriously
• COP26 will be most important summit ever, but the UK’s leadership is already falling short

Unesco says ‘the facts are the facts and the science is the science’ after its recommendation is ignored

The Great Barrier Reef will not be placed on a list of world heritage sites “in danger” after a global lobbying effort from Australia against the proposed listing.

The 21-country World Heritage Committee on Friday ignored a scientific assessment from the UN’s science and culture organisation, Unesco, that the reef was clearly in danger from climate change and so should be placed on the list.

From fossil fuels to carbon offsetting, the British government must practise what it preaches if it is to inspire others to step up

This summer alone has seen scorching heat domes smother parts of the US and Canada with record temperatures, and blistering heatwaves sweep across Pakistan. Torrential rain has caused devastating floods in China, as well as India, Germany, Belgium and Austria. And while fires are raging in Siberia, Madagascar is experiencing the world’s first famine caused solely by the climate crisis. Even here in the UK, the first extreme heat warnings were issued earlier this week.

New extreme-weather events linked to the climate crisis have become rolling news. Their destruction and death tolls are a daily reminder that the UK-hosted Cop26 this autumn isn’t just the most important climate conference ever held, but the most important international summit of all time.

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a bear cub, a released howler seal and hot dogs

With 100 days to go to crucial UN crisis summit in Glasgow, PM is accused of lack of leadership

Protesters will fill London’s Parliament Square on Friday morning, calling on the prime minister, Boris Johnson, to make the climate crisis his top priority, as the UK prepares to host UN talks that will determine whether the world tips into environmental catastrophe this decade.

Giant alarm clocks will show time running out, while 100 protesters chant that Johnson and his chancellor, Rishi Sunak, are “missing in action” on the climate crisis.

Rescuers pulled inflatable boats in flood waters gushing through streets of Turkey's Black Sea district of Arhavi on Thursday to bring those stranded to safety.

Footage released by the country's interior ministry showed distressed residents being evacuated from flooded homes. Access to dozens of villages in Arhavi were blocked and rescue efforts were under way - with officials saying 200 people had been evacuated.

Floods are common along Turkey's Black Sea coastal region at this time of year. Last week, at least six people were killed and two others went missing in flood waters in Black Sea province of Rize

Sulphur-crested cockatoos’ ability to pry open bins has spread across 44 suburbs in only two years

Sulphur-crested cockatoos are learning from each other to open wheelie bins in order to scavenge for food and the behaviour is rapidly catching on across Sydney, according to new research.

With help from the public, Australian and German ecologists have documented cockatoos learning the bin-diving behaviour through social interactions, with reported sightings of the behaviour growing across Sydney in recent years.

Sulphur-crested cockatoos are learning to pry open bins, with researchers finding the new skill has caught on in 44 Sydney suburbs in just two years. With help from the public, Australian and German ecologists have documented cockatoos learning the bin-diving behaviour through social interactions. The research, published in the journal Science, also found differences in the cockatoos’ bin-opening technique between different suburbs, arising from 'local subcultures'.

• Video courtesy of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour, Australian Museum Research Institute and Taronga Conservation Society Australia. 

Government urged to speed up transition to green energy as Australia’s biggest market shifts away from LNG and coal

A Japanese pledge to wind down gas and coal-fired electricity much faster than previously planned has sparked warnings Australia needs to speed up a transition away from fossil fuel exports.

A draft revised energy mix released by Japanese officials on Wednesday said the country – Australia’s biggest market for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and thermal coal – would cut gas-fired electricity generation nearly in half and reduce coal power by more than a third by 2030.

The Australian government pushed back fiercely against Unesco’s recommendation – and the world is watching

This year, Australia’s big tourism drawcard celebrates its 40th year as a UN world heritage site – a list where more than 1,100 of humanity’s most important spots go for acknowledgement and protection.

But on Friday, a committee of 21 countries will decide if it wants to listen to the advice of the UN’s science and culture organisation, Unesco, and put the Great Barrier Reef on its list of places that are “in danger”.

Climate Change Committee head says firms must invest in ‘scaleable’ offsets such as carbon capture

The aviation industry must pay for costly carbon removal technologies rather than rely on using the planting of trees to claim they are reducing emissions, the head of the Climate Change Committee has said.

Chris Stark said aviation, unlike other transport sectors, was unlikely to meet targets for net zero by 2050. He said instead the industry had to use “scaleable” offsets that matched ongoing emissions into future decades, but that these should be used as a last resort after directly cutting emissions.

A removal project aims to reduce numbers of the unwelcome arrival that has quickly become prevalent

Non-native lionfish have become increasingly common in parts of the Mediterranean in recent years, threatening local ecosystems and posing a hazard to humans through their venomous spines.

Marine biologist Prof Jason Hall-Spencer first saw a lionfish off the coast of Cyprus in 2016. It was just an individual, but the species – which produce about 2 million eggs each year and lack natural predators in their new environment – have quickly become prevalent. “In some places, I’ve seen 40 on one dive,” said Hall-Spencer, from the University of Plymouth.

Dramatic footage shows the moment an aluminium plant exploded in China's central Henan province after a record-breaking rain storm. Local government officials said Dengfeng Power Group's plant exploded when flood waters from a nearby river breached a wall and entered it

• China floods: death toll climbs as questions raised over preparedness
• ‘I might not make it’: passengers tell of horror as Chinese subway floods
• Death toll rises and thousands flee homes as floods hit China