Feed aggregator

World’s largest lizard moves from vulnerable to endangered on IUCN red list of threatened species

The komodo dragon, the world’s largest lizard, is threatened with extinction as rising water levels driven by the climate crisis shrink its habitat, according to the latest “red list” update.

Endemic to a handful of Indonesian islands, the komodo dragon lives on the edge of forest or in open savannah, rarely venturing higher than 700 metres above sea level. Rising water levels are set to affect 30% of its habitat in the next 45 years, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which has changed its status from vulnerable to endangered.

Continue reading...

Power outages from the storm have left air quality tracking systems out of commission, making public health concern hard to gauge

Behind a playground littered with downed tree branches, Shell’s refinery in Norco, Louisiana spewed black smoke from its stacks. The smell of rotten eggs, the signature scent of sulphur emissions, lingered in the air. In an effort to burn off toxic chemicals before and after Hurricane Ida, many industrial facilities sent the gases through smoke stacks topped with flares.

But the hurricane blew out some of those flares like candles, allowing harmful pollution into the air.

Continue reading...

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

Guardian investigation finds 17 MPs, candidates or associations took out 50 ads criticising a clean air zone

Conservative councillors, MPs and local associations have vocally opposed measures to clean up air pollution, often in opposition to government policy, a Guardian investigation has found.

Transport decarbonisation is one of the government’s “priority action areas” at the upcoming Cop26 global climate talks. However, cities in the UK have been slow to adopt clean air zones, schemes that deter the use of older, more polluting vehicles and incentivise cleaner forms of transport. Only three cities currently operate a CAZ.

Continue reading...

Organisers say showing people they are not alone in their fears is key to instigating climate action

Kathy Kilmer tried bringing up the climate crisis twice at a recent dinner party, but it didn’t go well. Guests quickly turned the conversation to other topics.

“I just feel awful bringing it up,” said Kilmer, a retired conservation group communications director from Denver, Colorado. “And yet, I feel like talking about it is absolutely key to getting people to understand it.”

Continue reading...

Trees are part of the solution for climate change, but are we felling more than we are planting?

WCI regulated entities reduced their open short positions over the past week as the front-month and current auction clearing price (ACP) index futures contracts expired, while speculators held holdings stagnate, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday.

A new environmental asset management firm has opened calls for its inaugural voluntary carbon offset fund, seeking to raise up to $1 billion.

A small team of ecologists and scientists are working to find new ways to bolster populations of Australia’s endangered native animals

Continue reading...

Emmanuel Macron tells IUCN World Conservation Congress ‘there is no vaccine for a sick planet’

The world’s biggest biodiversity summit since the start of the pandemic has opened in the French port city of Marseille with a warning from Emmanuel Macron that “there is no vaccine for a sick planet”.

Speaking at the opening of the IUCN World Conservation Congress, the president echoed warnings from leading scientists that humanity must solve ongoing crises with climate and nature together or solve neither, urging the world to catch up on preventing the loss of biodiversity.

Continue reading...

Critics pillory the companies for cynical expressions of sympathy while continuing to block climate solutions

Major oil companies are being pilloried on social media for sending “thoughts and prayers” to victims of Hurricane Ida while sidestepping their role in the ongoing climate disaster.

At least two ExxonMobil outposts – from Beaumont and Baytown, Texas – tweeted the message on Monday, using the hashtag #LouisianaStrong. It didn’t take long for Twitter users to call out the company for its tone-deaf response, noting that Exxon’s own internal research program predicted catastrophic climate change decades ago.

Continue reading...

A summary of legislative and regulatory action on carbon pricing, clean fuel standards, and clean energy at the US subnational and federal level this week, including developments in Virginia and California.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and the country’s markets operator Tadawul Group on Friday announced plans to develop a carbon trading exchange for the Middle East and North Africa region.

The US special envoy on climate, John Kerry, on Friday left China after several days of talks, but the absence of a joint statement at his departure leaves little reason for optimism ahead of the Glasgow COP26 UN climate negotiations in November, observers say.

Carbon advanced for a second day, extending this week's record high to above €62 as investors were said to be back on the buying side and sellers were thin on the ground.

A new study by NatureScot looked at 11 species of breeding birds in Scotland over the last 35 years.

Sixty doctors, nurses and other health professionals have staged a die-in protest outside JP Morgan’s Canary Wharf headquarters in London to highlight the bank’s investment in fossil fuels.

The demonstration on Friday was organised by Doctors for Extinction Rebellion and was part of a two-week series of XR protests against organisations supporting fossil fuels

• Doctors stage XR die-in outside JP Morgan offices in London

Continue reading...

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including a Hermann’s tortoise, some award-winning cheetahs and an airlifted cow

Continue reading...

A report from an environmental non-profit group argues that the hyping of hydrogen as a climate solution only delays the implementation of more effective solutions, such as electrification of the buildings and transport sectors.

Sixty medical professionals including nurses hold protest to highlight fossil fuel investments

Sixty doctors, nurses and other health professionals have staged a die-in protest outside JP Morgan’s Canary Wharf headquarters in London to highlight the bank’s investment in fossil fuels.

The protest on Friday was organised by one of Extinction Rebellion’s groups, Doctors for Extinction Rebellion. The climate activist medics said this was their biggest protest so far and that JP Morgan was the biggest funder of coal, oil and gas extraction.

Continue reading...