The Guardian

Combination of carbon emissions and ‘urban heat island’ effect of concrete and asphalt gives rise to worst-case scenario by end of 21st century

Under a dual onslaught of global warming and localised urban heating, some of the world’s cities may be as much as 8C (14.4F) warmer by 2100, researchers have warned.

Such a temperature spike would have dire consequences for the health of city-dwellers, rob companies and industries of able workers, and put pressure on already strained natural resources such as water.

A reality check on some of the big claims made to justify the proposed new mine, which would be the biggest in Australia. From ‘tens of thousands of new jobs’ to ‘good for the environment’, we unpack several of the most common claims to see if they stand up to scrutiny
• The new coal frontier: Australia’s carbon bomb
• Indian solar power prices hit record low

Leading economists, including Joseph Stiglitz and Nicholas Stern say taxes of $100 per metric ton could be needed by 2030

A group of leading economists warned on Monday that the world risked catastrophic global warming in just 13 years unless countries ramped up taxes on carbon emissions to as much as $100 (£77) per metric ton.

Experts including Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern said governments needed to move quickly to tackle polluting industries with a tax on carbon dioxide at $40-$80 per ton by 2020.

European commission given more powers to monitor testing and fine firms after Germany’s initial objections are overcome

The European Union has moved towards cracking down on carmakers who cheat emissions tests by giving the EU executive more powers to monitor testing and impose fines.

The European council overcame initial objections from Germany and agreed to try to reform the system for approving vehicles in Europe in the wake of the Volkswagen emissions scandal.

Under ‘rigs to reefs’ idea, oil firms asked to consider turning decommissioned platforms into artificial reefs for marine life

Conservationists want oil companies and regulators to consider leaving more old rigs in the North Sea rather than removing them, with the savings paid into a fund to protect sealife.

After the Brent Spar debacle in 1995 when Shell provoked public outrage with plans to sink an old storage buoy, international regulations were imposed that work on the presumption that operators will remove rigs. Exemptions can be granted but are rare and on limited grounds.

Terry Selwood, 73, from New South Wales, Australia, describes the moment a great white shark launched itself into his boat while he was out fishing on Saturday afternoon. Speaking to Australia’s ABC News Selwood says the coastguard initially didn’t believe his story when he called them for help

• Fisherman says great white shark jumping in his boat was ‘just a mundane thing’

Kabwe in Zambia has been left with extreme levels of lead pollution after almost a century of metal mining and smelting, harming generations of children

• Read more: The world’s most toxic town: the terrible legacy of Zambia’s lead mines

The Meadows, Chester The brightest colours drew my novice eyes: a vivid yellow ladybird, a tiny blue weevil and the polished emerald of a dock beetle

A gentle breeze shimmers through the grass and the babble of the breeding season surrounds me. This patch of water meadows, just across the river Dee from the city centre, invites us to take things easy. But last time I visited I was carrying a petrol-powered leaf blower, helping Julie Rose of the Friends of the Meadows users group and entomologist Clive Washington with their beetle biodiversity survey.

Just off the path from Bottom Lane, Clive thrashed a blossoming hawthorn with a big stick, holding a white tray underneath to catch his quarry. A hand lens revealed common leaf weevils, Phyllobius pyri, rose-gold and speckled with pollen. A bronze bead was identified as Anaspis maculata, a tumbling flower beetle; a small longhorn beetle, Grammoptera ruficornis, stood out with its statement headwear and pewter sheen.

Terry Selwood was hurt when 2.7-metre shark, which weighed 200kg, leapt into his boat near Evans Head

A fisherman who watched a 2.7-metre great white shark land in his boat has downplayed the experience, calling it “just a mundane thing”.

Terry Selwood, 73, was caught by surprise while fishing off Evans Head, on the north coast of New South Wales, on Saturday afternoon when the shark launched itself into his 4.5-metre boat.

Surveys taken throughout 2016 show escalating impact from north to south, with 70% of shallow water corals dead north of Port Douglas

Coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef last year was even worse than expected, while the full impact of the most recent event is yet to be determined.

Queensland government officials say aerial and in-water surveys taken throughout 2016 had confirmed an escalating impact from north to south.

Originally published on 29 May 1967

KESWICK: There is quite a lot of hardwood tree felling going on round here at present, not in State-owned woods but on private land. There are few sights more distressing to the senses (and sometimes the common sense) than a felled woodland, especially when most of the replanting (if any is done at all) will probably be of coniferous trees to replace these lovely oaks, beeches, and sycamores. I visited one such ravaged wood last night towards dusk in ignorance of its fate and found trees down, small fires burning, and a great quiet.

Related: Rebirth of a native woodland

Thailand experiences the heaviest rainfall in a decade while in Russia, a prolonged dry spell results in devastating wildfires

The city of Bangkok has been inundated after a massive low pressure system encompassing North, Central and East Thailand produced heavy rainfall and widespread flooding last Thursday morning.

The district of Wang Thong Lang was hit the hardest with 169mm of rain, making it the heaviest rainfall event in the province over the last decade, while 90-130mm of rain fell across the city on average. Twenty three major roads, including Lat Phrao and Ratchada, were under more than 20cm of water, causing rush hour chaos.

Almost a century of lead mining and smelting has poisoned generations of children in the Copperbelt town of Kabwe in Zambia

• The heavy legacy of lead in the world’s most toxic town – in pictures

“I’d like to be a doctor,” says seven-year-old Martin, sitting quietly in his modest home in Kabwe, Zambia. But the truth is that Martin struggles with his schoolwork, and his dream seems unlikely to become a reality.

Kabwe is the world’s most toxic town, according to pollution experts, where mass lead poisoning has almost certainly damaged the brains and other organs of generations of children – and where children continue to be poisoned every day.

Green campaigners warn Conservative efforts to undermine energy targets will lead to weaker climate policies after Brexit

The UK is lobbying Europe to water down a key energy-saving target despite the fact it will not take effect until after Brexit, according to leaked documents that sparked warnings that energy bills could rise and jobs put at risk.

On the day Theresa May triggered article 50, government officials asked the European commission to weaken or drop elements of its flagship energy efficiency law.

Solar power is soaring, wind goes from strength to strength. Look for a mighty surge in renewables over the next few years

One day in late March, during a sunny weekend, something spectacular happened. Solar power broke a new record. The demand for daytime electricity in UK homes fell to night times levels – thanks to solar panels in roofs and fields. Thanks to the sunshine, solar power created six times more electricity than coal-fired power stations that day.

One day in late March, solar power created six times more electricity than coal-fired power stations

Environment minister says Coalition takes emissions targets seriously and US climate change policy was ‘a matter for the Trump administration’

The Turnbull government will support the Paris agreement on climate change regardless of whether or not the US president, Donald Trump, pulls out, the environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, has signalled.

Trump upset world leaders on the weekend by refusing, at the conclusion of the G7 summit in Italy, to declare his support for the UN’s landmark treaty signed in Paris in 2015.

• President resists pressure from other G7 countries to support treaty
• Merkel says discussions on climate deal ‘difficult and unsatisfactory’

Donald Trump has resisted pressure from Europe, Canada and Japan to declare his support for the UN’s landmark climate change treaty signed in Paris in 2015, marking a defiant end to his first international trip as US president.

The deadlock at the end of the G7 summit in Italy left other world leaders frustrated. The German chancellor Angela Merkel said the discussions “had been very difficult and not to say very unsatisfactory.”

Annastacia Palaszczuk confirms the Indian mining group will have to pay ‘every cent’ of royalties for the project

Queensland’s cabinet has dumped a controversial plan to offer the Adani Group a royalties holiday for its $16bn Carmichael coal mine.

The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said late on Friday the Indian mining group would have to pay “every cent” of royalties for the proposed mine.

The biggest environmental campaign seen in Australia since the 80s is causing bumps in the road for both sides of politics

When it comes to the Adani Carmichael coalmine, the spotlight this week has been trained on Queensland as the state government battled an internal split on whether to give the project a royalties holiday. There have also been murmurings in Canberra, where Labor MPs are starting to express public opposition to a project many have been privately wringing their hands about.

But to fathom the next phase in the political battle against the project, we need to train our eyes a bit further south.

This weekend Brits will flock to our beaches. Thanks to EU pressure, visitors to more than 95% of our bathing beaches can paddle safe in the knowledge that nothing nasty lurks beneath the waves – a massive improvement since 1987, when it was judged safe to enter the water at just 55% of our favourite swimming spots. However, the European Environment Agency is right to raise a red flag (UK bathing water ranks next from last in EU beach table, 23 May). The UK continued to pump gallons of untreated effluent into some of our most beautiful seaside areas every year right up until 1998. Even today, only 65% of our beaches are rated as excellent by the Environment Agency, compared with 91% in Italy and 89% in Spain. And these are at risk if EU standards which guarantee clean bathing water are weakened or abandoned after Brexit.

No one wants to see Britain return to being seen as the dirty man of Europe. Let’s ensure this election doesn’t mark the end of our summer holidays by the sea and ask that all political parties commit to retaining EU bathing standards and ensure our future is safe from sewage.
Kierra Box
Land, food and water campaigner, Friends of the Earth