The Guardian

Shoppers in a Sheffield mall told not to leave by police and many trains cancelled after heavy rain

Hours of torrential rain in parts of northern England caused a stream to burst its banks, engulfing nearby cars and causing a Christmas lights switch-on to be cancelled.

Motorists were warned to avoid flooded roads as Blackburn Brook, a tributary of the River Don in South Yorkshire, overflowed into nearby streets with people abandoning their cars.

Groups say hundreds of millions of dollars in funding required along with stipulation public agencies use recycled material

Environment ministers have been told Scott Morrison’s promise to introduce a waste export ban is doomed to fail unless they change tack and back it with hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and a requirement that public agencies use recycled material.

Federal, state and territory environment ministers meet on Friday in Adelaide, where they are due to announce a timetable to end the export of waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres. The prime minister has said he expected the ban to start next year.

Bird suffers 51% decline over five years but some species show signs of recovery

The turtle dove, Britain’s most endangered bird, continues to plummet towards extinction, its numbers having halved over five years, according to the latest data.

The turtle dove’s 51% decline from 2013 to 2017 is the most drastic of a continuing slump for a quarter of farmland bird species.

Defra figures show 8% rise over last year, with most cases involving household rubbish

Councils had to clear up more than a million incidents of fly-tipping last year in England, as figures show the problem continues to rise.

Local authorities reported 1,072,000 incidents in 2018-19, up 8% on the 998,000 cases in 2017-18, the latest statistics from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) revealed.

As the Coalition announces more support measures, the drought coordinator says conditions are likely to get worse

Drought is not a natural disaster and must be accepted as an enduring feature of the Australian landscape which climate change is only going to make worse, the drought coordinator has reported, warning the nation may see some areas become “more marginal and unproductive” as a result.

The Morrison government released the drought strategy report by Maj Gen Stephen Day at the same time it announced its latest drought support measures, having struck a deal with the South Australian government for another 100GL of water from the Murray River.

Nearly half of Tory voters back plan, compared with 16% who back party’s 2050 target

A majority of the UK public and almost half of Conservative voters support a radical plan to transform the economy and tackle the climate crisis, a poll suggests.

YouGov found that 56% of people back the total decarbonisation of the UK economy by 2030 and just under half support public spending to make large swathes of public transport free to use.

Pollution stretches across 2,400km of coastline, with scientists fearing contamination of food chain

Hundreds of kilometres of mangroves and coral reefs, as well as humpback whale breeding grounds, are under threat from an oil spill that has polluted more than 2,400km of Brazil’s north-eastern coast in the last two months.

The Brazilian Navy, which has deployed 8,500 personnel, 30 ships and 17 aircraft in the cleanup operation, said this week that 4,200 tonnes of oil have been removed from beaches, amid fears by scientists that some has already entered the food chain.

For a brief moment solar, wind and hydro combined to deliver more than half the power into the National Electricity Market

Australia’s main electricity grid was briefly powered by 50% renewable energy this week in a new milestone that experts say will become increasingly normal.

Data on the sources of power in the National Electricity Market showed that at 11.50am on Wednesday, renewables were providing 50.2% of the power to Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia – the five states served by the market.

Powerful political emblems, a herald of spring and natural beauties – Australia’s birds are many things to our politicians

• Vote for your favourite bird in the poll

Your vote is powerful. The spotlight from this plucky little bird winning Australian bird of the year could make the difference between its survival and its extinction.

Government urged to create spaces where young people can connect with natural world

Primary schoolchildren should spend at least one hour a day learning and playing in wild places to help improve their wellbeing and confidence, a leading conservation organisation has said.

The Wildlife Trusts, which represents 46 local organisations and 2,300 nature reserves in the UK, has called on the next government to create a network of wild spaces where young people are free to climb trees, learn about wildlife and connect with the natural world while at school.

Climate mitigation effort ‘cancelled out’ by outlay on fossil fuels finds CPI

Investment in greenhouse gas emission reduction fell last year despite the growing urgency of the climate crisis, and the benefits of outlays were cancelled out by investments globally in fossil fuels and other dirty industries, finds a report by the Climate Policy Initiative.

Global climate finance hit a record high of $612bn (£476bn) in 2017, according to CPI advisers, but fell back 11% after that bumper year to $546bn in 2018.

Retailer will use renewable biomethane, supplied by CNG Fuels, from 2021

Hundreds of John Lewis delivery trucks will begin running on cow power from 2021 as the retailer weans its fleet off polluting diesel fuel and switches to carbon-neutral cow manure.

The retailer will begin using renewable biomethane made from manure slurry for almost 300 John Lewis and Waitrose delivery vans under new plans from its fuel supplier to swap rotting vegetables for poo power at no extra cost.

Former Australian Greens senator was charged with disobeying a police direction at an October climate protest

Former Greens senator Scott Ludlam has pleaded not guilty, after he was arrested during Extinction Rebellion climate change protests in Sydney in October.

Ludlam had been charged with not complying with police direction regarding a road closure.

Pesticides found in reef catchment include Atrazine, a herbicide banned in 60 countries

Leading marine scientists have detailed a litany of “serious deficiencies” by Australia’s chemical regulator that have failed to prevent the ongoing pollution of the Great Barrier Reef catchment, where they found excessive levels of several pesticides banned by other countries.

A new paper, co-authored by reef water quality expert Jon Brodie and fisheries veterinarian Matt Landos, found that pesticide regulation and management in the reef catchment areas of Queensland had failed to prevent the exposure of ecosystems to the significant risk of agricultural chemicals.

Stimulus package comes after months of wrangling about the government’s response to the record dry spell

Drought relief worth more than $1.5bn that puts “money in the pockets of farmers” will be unveiled by the Coalition on Thursday, as the government moves to stem anger in the bush about its response to the record dry spell.

The announcement of a substantial new stimulus package, which comes after months of internal wrangling about the government’s drought response, will include a centrepiece $1bn concessional loan package for farmers and small businesses affected by the drought.

Section 14 order issued to ban protest across London was not legitimate, high court rules

Hundreds of Extinction Rebellion protesters may now sue the Metropolitan police for unlawful arrest after the high court quashed an order banning the group’s protests in London last month.

In a judgment handed down on Wednesday morning, Mr Justice Dingemans and Mr Justice Chamberlain said the section 14 order imposed during XR’s “autumn uprising” in October was unlawful

Generations yet unborn will face rising oceans and coastal inundations into the 2300s even if governments meet climate commitments, researchers find

Sea level rise is set to challenge human civilization for centuries to come, even if internationally agreed climate goals are met and planet-warming emissions are then immediately eliminated, researchers have found.

The lag time between rising global temperatures and the knock-on impact of coastal inundation means that the world will be dealing with ever-rising sea levels into the 2300s, regardless of prompt action to address the climate crisis, according to the new study.

Dubbo is defending itself from critical neighbouring NSW towns after councillors voted to ease water restrictions on Monday

Dubbo mayor Ben Shields says criticism of his town’s water policy is coming from a “bunch of external people carrying on like pork chops”.

The western New South Wales town has been attacked by leaders of neighbouring drought-stricken shires after its councillors voted on Monday to ease water restrictions.

In an area of the Amazon vulnerable to illegal loggers, Cool Earth, a UK-based charity, is working with the Asháninka people to reduce deforestation. Photographer Alicia Canter travelled to Cutivireni in central Peru

Greenpeace calls for global action over nets, lines and traps that are deadly for marine life

Lost and abandoned fishing gear which is deadly to marine life makes up the majority of large plastic pollution in the oceans, according to a report by Greenpeace.

More than 640,000 tonnes of nets, lines, pots and traps used in commercial fishing are dumped and discarded in the sea every year, the same weight as 55,000 double-decker buses.