The Guardian

From flooding to drought, extreme weather is devastating our communities. It is time for the world’s heaviest emitters to help mitigate the impacts of climatic breakdown on the countries most affected

Millions of people in my country, Malawi, face unprecedented existential crises driven by climate breakdown. The frequency of extreme weather events and the massive impact they have on communities have left government officials like me with a huge dilemma of how to act fast enough to save lives. In the past three years, we have gone from facing the worst flooding in recent times to the most severe drought in a decade. The impact has been devastating to communities across the country.

When Cyclone Freddy hit us in March 2023, it killed more than 600 people. The cyclone injured many more, tore families apart, destroyed livelihoods, and the long-term effects from diseases were even worse. A little over a year later, we were in the middle of a raging drought, which the president, Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, declared a national disaster in March. Millions of people are facing acute food insecurity, leading to malnutrition and health issues that are putting lives at risk, not least for people on long-term treatment for conditions such as tuberculosis and HIV.

Floods inundated emergency housing built for those who lost their homes in an earthquake that hit Ishikawa on the Sea of Japan coast in January

At least six people have died and 10 others are missing after heavy rain triggered flooding and landslides along a peninsula in Japan that is still recovering from a deadly earthquake at the start of the year.

Public broadcaster NHK and other outlets said on Monday that six people had been confirmed dead, while the Kyodo news agency said more than 100 communities had been cut off by blocked roads after almost two dozen rivers burst their banks.

Exclusive: Independent MPs and Lidia Thorpe tell PM that environment law reforms under negotiation must remove exemptions for native forest logging

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Independent MPs and a crossbench senator are trying to increase the pressure on the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to remove Howard-era exemptions that allow native forest logging to operate outside national environment laws.

The government has been negotiating over reforms to the laws in the Senate, where Greens and crossbenchers David Pocock and Lidia Thorpe have been pushing for an end to the exemptions for logging covered by regional forest agreements.

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Showing climate delivery can be done effectively and fairly would be an extraordinary climate legacy for Keir Starmer

A well-intentioned but badly designed and poorly communicated energy policy from the German government, and more recent protests by farmers in France and the Netherlands, have knocked the confidence of European political leaders that environmental progress can be delivered in a way that works for people and enjoys democratic support. Unashamedly popular climate policies from Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and Ed Miliband offer the chance to reshape European climate politics and confound these sceptics.

Showing climate delivery can be done fairly, effectively, affordably and with strong public support would be an extraordinary climate legacy for Starmer. It would build on Britain’s relatively strong record of having halved its climate footprint already, and it would offer hope amid all the gloom.

Joss Garman is executive director of the European Climate Foundation

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Ecover, backed by activist model Lily Cole, calls for fewer washes to reduce microplastics and other sources of water pollution

A company that sells cleaning products is giving customers some surprising advice: wash your clothes less.

Ecover is calling for a change in our laundry habits after research found people felt under societal pressure to wash their clothes more frequently, and were unaware that this could damage the environment.

The Rev Sue Parfitt has lost right to conduct religious ceremonies after her arrest at a Just Stop Oil demonstration

An 82-year-old retired priest has spoken of her pain at losing her right to conduct religious ceremonies because of her participation in Just Stop Oil protests.

The Rev Sue Parfitt was arrested in May after causing damage to the glass around Magna Carta at the British Library in London as part of a protest with the climate action group. She is still awaiting trial.

Guardian Australia’s photographer-at-large Mike Bowers captures a burst of yellow on NSW’s south-west slopes

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Pennsylvania plant was site of most serious nuclear meltdown and radiation leak in US history in 1979

A nuclear reactor at the notorious Three Mile Island site in Pennsylvania is to be activated for the first time in five years after its owners, Constellation Energy, struck a deal to provide power to Microsoft’s proliferating artificial intelligence operations.

The plant was the location of the most serious nuclear meltdown and radiation leak in US history, in March 1979 when the loss of water coolant through a faulty valve caused the Unit 2 reactor to overheat. More than four decades later, the reactor is still in a decommissioning phase.

Four protesters against North Sea oil and gas licences have charges of criminal damage thrown out

Four Greenpeace activists who staged a “no new oil” protest on the roof of Rishi Sunak’s North Yorkshire manor house have had charges of criminal damage thrown out.

The activists said “justice and common sense” had prevailed after a judge on Friday ruled the evidence against them was “tenuous” and they had no case to answer.

A ban on exporting offshore gas was lifted in WA this week, and the Greens say two of the ‘biggest winners’ were the massive resources companies

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Western Australian gas companies Mineral Resources and Woodside gave more than $20,000 to WA Labor while it was considering changes to its domestic gas policy that allowed more gas to be exported from the state.

On Thursday the state government lifted a ban on onshore gas being exported, allowing 20% to go overseas until 2031, in a change the premier, Roger Cook, said would boost the state’s gas industry.

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British growers are taking a increasing share of sales long dominated by imports by focussing on green credentials

From the tip of Cornwall to the far reaches of Scotland, the shoots of resurgence in the British cut-flower market are raising hopes of a fledgling return to home-produced fragrant flowers becoming a bigger part of the £1bn industry in the UK.

UK flower production bloomed to £179m last year, according to figures from Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, up from £126m in 2019. The market has been dominated by imports, usually from Holland, for more than 50 years, but last year imports fell slightly to £761.8m from £869.1m in 2022.

Firefighters have been rescuing people stranded on their balconies and rooftops after Storm Boris triggered flooding and landslides in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. Two people were reported missing in Traversara, a hamlet in Ravenna province, and about 1,000 people have been evacuated from their homes. Storm Boris has battered parts of Italy after causing havoc in eastern and central Europe

• Two missing and 1,000 evacuated as Storm Boris devastates northern Italy

On 20 September 2023, the Guardian launched a new digital edition for a continent in the grip of dramatic political and social change. This is what we’ve learned so far – and how you can help us do more

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It has been a dramatic year for the continent, with moments of intense political peril, from huge far-right electoral surges to extraordinary people power and progressive fightbacks. It has also been a year of sporting joy at the Paris Games and Euro 2024. We’ve been there to capture it all, and we’re very grateful that millions of you have joined us.

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More than 400,000 people evacuated, hundreds of flights cancelled and many roads shut due to flooding and winds

Typhoon Bebinca struck the east coast of China this week, making landfall near Shanghai, a city of almost 30 million people, on Monday. Bebinca developed into a typhoon to the east of the southern Japan islands late last week, before traveling westwards through the East China Sea and making landfall in Shanghai at approximately 7.30am local time (00.30BST).

The Chinese media say it is the strongest typhoon to hit Shanghai in 75 years. Wind speeds were reported to have reached just over 150km/h (about 94mph), making it equivalent to a category 1 hurricane, albeit just shy of a category 2 in strength. Before Bebinca, Shanghai had been hit directly by only two typhoons, one in 1949 and another in 2022, as they usually track further south.

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

Do fish feel despair or longing? Do they yearn for a simpler time?

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Since last week, wildfires have been raging in central and northern Portugal. At least seven people have died and 50 have been injured. More than 5,000 firefighters have been mobilised to battle the blazes

The country, which has more 300 days of sunshine a year, has embraced rooftop systems that harness the sun’s energy

The Thriamvos company truck pulls up at noon outside the four-storey building in the heart of Nicosia.

It’s the third rooftop installation of a solar-powered water heating system that Petros Mihali and his assistant, Soteris, have made in the Cypriot capital since their working day began at 7am.

Ken Done, Jonathan Zawada, Blak Douglas and more created their own companion pieces to kids’ works celebrating sharks and rays – and they’re on display at the Australian Museum now

Victoria is home to perhaps the largest population and the only mainland state with ‘legislative relic’ of protections

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Land holders and managers along with landcare and environment groups want Victoria to remove protections for feral deer, as booming populations wreak havoc on agriculture and the local environment.

Jordan Crook, from the Victorian National Parks Association, said recognising deer as pests – alongside foxes, rabbits and pigs – would bring Victoria in line with the rest of mainland Australia.

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