The Guardian
Labour party pledges to ban sale of non-electric cars by 2030
A Labour government will aim to end the sale of cars with internal combustion engines by 2030, as part of its plans to tackle the climate emergency.
The party is to begin talks with the car industry and trade unions to explore the policies needed to achieve the goal. It says it wants to help an “under siege” industry switch to electric car production.
Continue reading...Climate rebels open new fronts across capital as protests escalate
Activists block trade at Billingsgate fish market and target headquarters of energy company Shell to ‘raise awareness’
Climate protesters on Saturday intensified efforts to disrupt life in London, and targeted sites including Billingsgate fish market and Shell’s headquarters. They said police took at least 28 of their supporters into custody. That number means that more than 1,200 Extinction Rebellion activists have been arrested in London since their protests, over the government’s “failure” to act over climate change, were launched last Monday.
And those detained include Belgian Princess Esméralda who was taken into a police van for questioning and held for about five hours after she joined a sit-in at Trafalgar Square on Thursday. “The more people from all sections of society protest, the greater the impact will be,” the 63-year-old said. Other protests launched on Saturday included one by more than 50 healthcare professionals – wearing scrubs and singing the Extinction Rebellion anthem – who gathered outside Shell’s headquarters before they marched to Parliament Square. “We are meeting outside Shell because they are one of the biggest companies involved in the oil and energy industry, and they have real power to decarbonise that industry,” said Alex Turner, 36, a paediatric and emergency doctor from Bristol. “We are protesting illegal levels of air pollution.”
Continue reading...Fossil fuel bosses must change or be voted out, says asset manager
State Street chief says it could use shareholder powers to force boards to act on climate
The world’s biggest fossil fuel companies must take action on climate change or their directors could face being voted out of their jobs, the head of one of the world’s leading asset managers has warned.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Ron O’Hanley, the chief executive of State Street, said his firm could consider taking the radical step of voting against the reappointment of entire company boards if they were not taking sufficient action to deal with the climate crisis.
Continue reading...Why are asset managers investing in fossil fuel companies?
Everything you need to know about the polluter portfolios worth hundreds of billions
Asset managers invest other people’s money with the aim of growing their client’s wealth and protecting them from financial risk. By pooling lots of investors’ money they can reduce the risk to them by spreading it across a range of asset classes: stocks, property, bonds, commodities and other funds. Asset managers make money by taking a fee for providing these services to their clients.
Continue reading...How real is Saudi Arabia's interest in renewable energy?
Ambitious plans have not been matched by progress, but there may finally be signs of change
It was the largest renewables project ever announced: $200bn (£158bn) worth of solar panels stretching across hundreds of square kilometres of the Saudi Arabian desert.
The massive solar initiative was billed by the kingdom’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, as a “huge step in human history” when it was unveiled in March last year. It was cancelled by October.
Continue reading...World's top three asset managers oversee $300bn fossil fuel investments
Data reveals crucial role of BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard in climate crisis
The world’s three largest money managers have built a combined $300bn fossil fuel investment portfolio using money from people’s private savings and pension contributions, the Guardian can reveal.
BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, which together oversee assets worth more than China’s entire GDP, have continued to grow billion-dollar stakes in some of the most carbon-intensive companies since the Paris agreement, financial data shows.
Continue reading...'If they don't do it, we will': Greta Thunberg rallies climate strikers for long haul
At rally in Denver, Swedish activist again scolds leaders for ignoring science
Young people must be prepared to strike for a long time for action on climate change and not back down, the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has told a rally in Denver.
Thunberg said she and fellow youth activists would not beg those in power to act because she expected leaders to keep ignoring them.
Continue reading...Extinction Rebellion: elderly protesters arrested and charged in Tasmania
Four people, all aged 77, among nine protesters arrested and charged at Launceston protest
Four Tasmanians aged in their late 70s are among a swag of climate activists charged over a protest in Launceston.
About 100 people attended the Extinction Rebellion protest in Launceston on Friday and police say most were well-behaved, but nine refused to move on when the demonstration’s permitted time ran out.
Continue reading...Extinction Rebellion: who are the protesters, and why are they doing it?
As a week of civil disobedience comes to an end, protesters explain the environmental fears that have driven them to action
As Extinction Rebellion held protests in cities around Australia this week, Guardian journalists tracked down protesters to find out who they were and why they were taking part in acts of civil disobedience. Here, 11 people who took part in protests in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne explain what motivated them to take to the streets.
Continue reading...Extinction Rebellion takes aim at BBC as arrests mount
Activists say corporation’s ‘silence is deadly’, while Met commissioner faces criticism of police tactics
Camped outside the main entrance of New Broadcasting House on Friday morning, Extinction Rebellion (XR) supporters called on the broadcaster to “tell the full truth” about the climate crisis, as the number of arrests linked to its protests since Monday rose to more than 1,100.
Protesters held a banner stating: “BBC, your silence is deadly”, and chanted: “Whose BBC? Our BBC”, and: “BBC, can’t you see, this is an emergency”.
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
A stockpiling squirrel, a lolling black bear, and a greater bilby is returned to the wild
Continue reading...Endangered bandicoots released to new island home in bid to hold off extinction
Eastern barred bandicoots were pushed to extinction on Australia’s mainland by invasive foxes and feral cats
A decades-long fight to save a tiny endangered Australian marsupial – the eastern barred bandicoot – hit a major milestone last night as conservationists released 55 into the dusk of a new island home in Victoria.
Conservationists hope French Island, which is free of the invasive European red fox, will be a perfect spot for the bandicoots, which have never lived on the island before.
Continue reading...Political polarisation over climate crisis has surged under Trump
Revealed: divide exacerbated by fossil fuel industry’s record contribution to Republicans
Donald Trump’s presidency has ushered in an era of unprecedented polarisation between Republican and Democrat lawmakers when it comes to voting on measures to tackle the climate crisis, while the fossil fuel industry now almost entirely favours Republicans in campaign contributions.
The two main US political parties regularly voted along the same lines on clean air and clean water provisions in the 1970s but started to diverge in the 1990s. They now occupy opposite ends of the spectrum, according to data collated by the nonpartisan group the League of Conservation Voters (LCV).
Continue reading...Tory MPs five times more likely to vote against climate action
Boris Johnson among dozens of MPs to record worst possible environmental score in Guardian analysis
Conservative MPs are almost five times more likely to vote against climate action than legislators from other parties, a Guardian analysis of 16 indicative parliamentary divisions over the past decade has revealed.
The Tories also registered many more donations, shares, salaries, gifts and tickets to sporting events from fossil fuel companies, petrostates, aviation companies and climate sceptics, according to declarations made in the parliamentary record of MPs’ interests between 2008 and 2019.
Continue reading...The importance of holding MPs to account on their climate records
The Guardian’s analysis is a guide – to provoke debate ahead of the next election
The Guardian’s analysis of MPs’ climate records relies on two extensive pieces of research.
Politicians were rated from 0% to 100% based on 16 key parliamentary votes that would affect the UK’s carbon emissions.
Continue reading...MPs and the oil industry: who gave what to whom?
A trawl of MPs’ interests shows donations and gifts from fossil fuel firms and climate contrarians
Oil companies, petrostates and climate contrarian thinktanks, businessmen and unions have given at least £5m to MPs over the past 10 years in the form of donations, expenses-paid trips, salaries and gifts.
A trawl through parliament’s register of interests suggests Conservative politicians are far more likely to accept support from such sources.
Continue reading...Badger cull linked to fall in bovine TB in two areas, study suggests
Report on test areas in England hailed by farmers’ union as proof that badger cull works
The culling of badgers in two areas of England has been linked to a marked decrease in new cases of bovine TB on farms, research suggests, bolstering farmers who support the culls.
In Gloucestershire, the incidence of TB cases in cattle was two thirds lower after four years of badger culling than would have been expected from a comparison of similar unculled sites, while in Somerset the rate was 37% lower. In a third area, in Dorset, there was no significant difference.
Continue reading...Extinction Rebellion protesters call on BBC to 'tell climate truth'
Activists block entrance to headquarters of BBC, accusing it of staying silent on crisis
Extinction Rebellion activists have called on the BBC to “tell the full truth” about the climate crisis as they protested outside its headquarters in central London.
Camped outside the main entrance of New Broadcasting House on Friday morning, the protesters held a banner stating: “BBC, your silence is deadly”, and chanted”: “Whose BBC? Our BBC”, and: “BBC, can’t you see, this is an emergency”.
Continue reading...A working-class green movement is out there but not getting the credit it deserves
They may not get much media coverage but working-class activists have long been environmental heroes
Environmental protests are now frequently reported in the media, and the green movement is, at last, getting the attention it deserves. But most of the focus is on the activities of groups, such as Extinction Rebellion, which are not strongly rooted in working-class organisations and communities.
This is a problem because, if we want to build the broad-based support necessary for a radical transition to sustainability, we must recognise and build on all strands of environmentalism, especially that of the working class.
Continue reading...Revealed: Google made large contributions to climate change deniers
Firm’s public calls for climate action contrast with backing for conservative thinktanks
Google has made “substantial” contributions to some of the most notorious climate deniers in Washington despite its insistence that it supports political action on the climate crisis.
Among hundreds of groups the company has listed on its website as beneficiaries of its political giving are more than a dozen organisations that have campaigned against climate legislation, questioned the need for action, or actively sought to roll back Obama-era environmental protections.
Continue reading...