The Guardian

Watchdog reveals huge sum ploughed into ‘world’s dirtiest fossil fuels’ despite climate vow

UK taxpayer funds totalling $750m (£577m) have been invested in new fossil fuel projects in developing African countries despite the government’s public commitment to tackling the climate crisis, according to an international watchdog.

Global Witness found that a London-based investment group raised $1bn from the UK government over 16 years and spent three-quarters of this supporting oil and gas projects in some of Africa’s poorest countries.

Seeds found in Judean desert are male and female, leading to hopes of producing dates

A handful of date seeds from fruit that ripened around the time of Jesus have been successfully planted and grown in southern Israel, researchers have revealed.

The seeds, dubbed Adam, Jonah, Uriel, Boaz, Judith and Hannah, were among many others discovered at archaeological sites in the Judean desert.

• Forest scientists say prescribed burning is best used in a targeted way to help protect assets
• 31 ex-fire and emergency bosses say royal commission a waste of time if it doesn’t examine climate change

Hazard reduction burning had little to no effect in slowing the severe fires that devastated more than 5m hectares across New South Wales this summer, an analysis has found.

Forest scientists from the University of Melbourne said the results suggested hazard reduction was best used in a targeted way around assets to help protect them from less intense fires.

Labour leader criticises COP 26 preparations and Johnson’s record on environment

Jeremy Corbyn has accused Boris Johnson of “failing spectacularly” to measure up to the scale of the climate crisis, after the sacked president of COP 26 revealed the UK was miles behind in getting ready for the November summit.

Speaking at prime minister’s questions, Corbyn raised the government’s failure to organise COP 26 properly, after Johnson’s team sacked Claire O’Neill as the summit’s president just days before its formal launch.

Former PM rejects Boris Johnson’s offer to lead UK’s preparations for crucial summit

Former prime minister David Cameron has turned down an offer from Boris Johnson to head the UK’s preparations for a crucial international climate summit in Glasgow.

The prime minister asked his predecessor to be the president of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) but was rejected.

PM reaffirms 2050 net-zero pledge but provides few details on how it will be achieved

Boris Johnson has set out his vision for forging a new global consensus on the climate crisis promising “we will crack it”, though providing few details on how his government intends to do so.

The prime minister has brought forward the UK’s phaseout of diesel and petrol vehicles by five years to 2035, and hastened the phaseout of coal-fired power by a year to 2024. He reaffirmed the UK’s pledge to switch to a net-zero emissions economy by 2050, and urged other nations – without naming any – to do the same.

We examine the claims by O’Neill, who was fired as president of the COP 26 climate negotiations on Friday

Claire O’Neill, the former energy minister who had been appointed to lead the UN climate talks in November this year, was fired on Friday afternoon. On Monday she wrote a letter to the prime minister, Boris Johnson, saying the UK is “miles off track” and accusing Johnson of showing a lack of leadership.

Levy would help offset impact of farming by raising price of steak in UK by 25%, says report

A “sustainability charge” on meat to cover its environmental damage could raise billions to help farmers and consumers produce and eat better food, according to a report.

The levy, which would increase the price of a steak by about 25%, would be phased in over the next decade. The report focuses on EU countries and was produced for the Tapp Coalition of health, environment and animal welfare organisations. It says “fair pricing” for meat should be included in the forthcoming European “green new deal” and so-called farm to fork strategy.

Scottish government accused of behaving disgracefully over use of Glasgow science centre

Preparations for this year’s climate summit in Glasgow are being overshadowed by a bitter row between the UK and Scottish governments over a key building near the venue.

UK government sources have accused Scottish ministers of refusing to hand over a building the Scottish government wants to use as its base for the COP 26 climate talks in November.

A desperate rescue mission to the only known habitat of the stocky galaxias, in Kosciuszko national park, may be the last hope for the species

A little more than two weeks ago, Mark Lintermans headed into the high country to give some fish electric shocks and save them from extinction.

The fish in question was the stocky galaxias (Galaxias tantangara), an endemic freshwater species that grows to about 10cm and is known to live wild only in a three-kilometre stretch of Tantangara Creek, in the Kosciuszko national park.

Sir David Attenborough signals his support for Boris Johnson's 'urgent action' on the climate crisis, as the UK prepares to host the COP 26 UN talks in Glasgow this November

• Boris Johnson doesn’t get climate change, says sacked COP 26 head
• Former energy minister removed as UN climate talks chair

PM takes charge of COP 26 as ex-minister hits back at her sacking as president of talks

• Politics latest - live updates

Boris Johnson has promised “urgent action” on the climate crisis, taking personal leadership of this year’s UN climate talks after a blistering attack by the sacked former minister who was to lead them.

“Unless we take urgent action, we will get 3C hotter,” the prime minister told a gathering of climate experts, business leaders and civil society groups at the Science Museum in London on Tuesday morning. “As a country, as a society, as a planet and as a species, we must now act.”

Nevada convention to culminate with chance to hunt deer with ‘accomplished conservationist’ Trump Jr and son

A week-long “dream hunt” with the US president’s son Donald Trump Jr is being auctioned at an annual trophy hunting convention in Reno, Nevada alongside expeditions to shoot elephants, bears and giraffes.

The four-day event organized by Safari Club International (SCI) and advertised as a “hunters’ heaven”, will culminate on Saturday with an auction for a week-long Sitka black-tailed deer hunt in Alaska with Trump Jr, his son and a guide. At the time of writing, bidding for the yacht-based expedition stands at $10,000 (£7,685).

There are over 2,000 species of the beloved insects but experts say: ‘If people want fireflies in the future we need to look at this’

The dance of lights emanating from fireflies is among the most spectacular nocturnal sights in the natural world but experts have warned certain species may be at risk of extinction.

Amid a range of threats, an academic survey of firefly experts from around the world found that habitat loss is considered the heaviest pressure on the insects, which include more than 2,000 species. Pesticide spraying and the use of artificial lights at night are the other leading threats to the creatures, which are in the beetle family.

Following their sell-out show which opened to rave-reviews; Into the Wild, the debut exhibition from the innovative and cutting edge illustration agency; Roar, is now coming to a close at theprintspace gallery. The Guardian Print Shop is offering readers the chance to buy an exclusive limited edition print from the exhibition. The artists involved took inspiration from both the beauty of the land and the destruction that this land often faces. As part of our collaboration we will be donating a percentage of all print sales to support the World Land Trust.

Buy your exclusive print here

Claire O’Neill says prime minister’s promises of action ‘are not close to being met’

The former president of the UN climate summit in Glasgow, who was sacked by the government last week, has launched a blistering attack on Boris Johnson’s record on tackling climate change.

Claire O’Neill, the former Conservative clean growth minister, spoke out as the prime minister prepared to outline new measures including a ban on sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles being brought forward to 2035.

Biodiversity hotspots with millions of years of climate stability could be among the world’s hardest hit regions

Biodiversity hotspots that have given species a safe haven from changing climates for millions of years will come under threat from human-driven global heating, a new study has found.

Species that have evolved in tropical regions such Australia’s wet tropics, the Guinean forests of Western Africa and the Andes Mountains will come under increasing stress as the planet warms, the study finds.

The popular HBO series about the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster has led to a surge in tourists to the site and nearby town of Pripyat

British Heart Foundation says 15m Britons are exposed to toxic levels of pollution

Almost a quarter of people in the UK are being exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution with potentially devastating health consequences, according to analysis.

The study by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) found that about 15 million people in the UK live in areas where average levels of PM2.5 – a tiny toxic particle that predominantly comes from vehicle emissions, wood burning and construction – exceeds guidelines set by the World Health Foundation.

Indigenous representative will tell Siemens it is wrong to say traditional owners support Adani’s Carmichael mine

An envoy from an Australian Indigenous group has travelled to Germany to push for a meeting with the head of technology giant Siemens, claiming the company failed to properly check that traditional owners supported Adani’s controversial Carmichael coal project in Queensland.

The Wangan and Jagalingou Family Council, which has spent years challenging the Adani mine, says the company was wrong to claim the project had been approved by its people.