1 hour ago The village enduring climate catastrophe as Trump’s aid cuts bite

Nick Ferris visits families forced from their home due to flooding in Ethiopia’s northern Afar region – who say they have been largely deserted by humanitarian organisations as aid cuts have taken hold this year

Politics

4 h. ago Giant hail batters Australia as spring storm leaves tens of thousands without power

Brisbane records hailstones as large as 14cm overnight

Events

19 h. ago The Guardian view on UN climate talks: they reveal how little time is left | Editorial

A fragile Cop30 consensus is a win. But only a real bargain between rich and poor nations can weather the climate shocks that are comingThis year’s UN climate talks in Brazil’s Belém ended without a major breakthrough. The text of the final agreement lacked a deal to shift away from fossil fuels, delayed crucial finance and the “mutirão” decision contained no roadmap to halt and reverse deforestation. But the multilateral system at Cop30 held together at a point when its collapse felt close. This ought to be a warning: next year’s conference of the parties must strike a better bargain between the rich and poor world.Developing countries are far from united on some issues. Over rare earth minerals China sees any move as targeting its dominance, while Africa sees it as essential for governance. Elsewhere petrostates did not support Colombia’s call for a fossil fuel phase-out. Yet the global south broadly coheres around a simple principle: its nations must be equipped to survive a clim...

Politics

21 h. ago It was my late mother’s birthday – and I spent it exactly as she would have wanted | Zoe Williams

I worried about nuclear war throughout my childhood, partly because it was the 80s, and partly because we were always demonstrating against it. On this important day, I knew where I needed to be ...It would have been my late mother’s birthday last Monday, and because I am either astronomically stupid or fathomlessly wise, I elected to spend it at a public meeting about nuclear disarmament. I’d call it a blast from the past, except I feel superstitious about introducing explode-y words too near the nuclear topic.I spent my entire childhood worrying about nuclear war, partly because it was the 80s, and everyone did, and partly because we spent our lives demonstrating against it. We had “Protest and Survive” stickers everywhere, in droll parody of the public information booklet “Protect and Survive”, along with “Nuclear Power? No Thanks”. We were also early adopters of climate change anxiety, while fiercely against the closure of coalmines. If you’re wondering where we expected to get ...

Politics

22 h. ago Here's what's next in the fight to curb climate change, now that talks in Brazil have ended

Experts have mixed reactions to the recent U.N. climate talks in the Amazon

Politics

30 h. ago Another Cop wrecked by fossil fuel interests and our leaders’ cowardice – but there is another way | Genevieve Guenther

The fingerprints of Russia and Saudi Arabia are all over the decision text in Brazil. But a group of nations led by Colombia and the Netherlands offer hopeGenevieve Guenther is the founding director of End Climate SilenceThe 30th conference of the parties (Cop30), the annual climate summit of all nations party to the UNFCCC, just ended. Stakeholders are out in the media trying spin the outcome as a win. Simon Stiell, climate change executive secretary for the UN is, for instance, praising Cop30 for showing that “climate cooperation is alive and kicking, keeping humanity in the fight for a liveable planet”. But let us be clear. The conference was a failure. Its outcome, the decision text known as the Global Mutirão or Global Collective Effort, is, in essence, a form of climate denial.In 2023, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) determined that the world had already developed, or planned to develop, too much fossil fuel to be able to halt global heating at 2C. It ackn...

Politics

44 h. ago We delivered a clear message at Cop30: the delayers and defeatists are losing the climate fight | Ed Miliband

For all its flaws, the Brazil conference underlined the wish by a global majority for clean energy and climate action – and the UK will keep leading the wayEd Miliband is the secretary of state for energy security and net zeroSweaty, maddening, sleepless. That’s what it was like to be part of Cop30 in Brazil. And yet more than 190 countries came together in the rainforest of the Amazon and reaffirmed their faith in multilateralism, the Paris agreement and the need to redouble our efforts to keep global warming to 1.5C.We went to Cop because working with other countries to tackle the climate crisis is the only way to protect our home and way of life. We know the UK produces just 1% of emissions, which is why, as the prime minister said in Belém, our government is “all-in” on working with others to reduce the remaining 99%.Ed Miliband is Labour MP for Doncaster North and secretary of state for energy security and net zero Continue reading...

Society

53 h. ago Cyclone Fina cuts power and damages homes across northern Australia

Thousands left in the dark as damaging winds, flash floods and a second major storm batter two states

Events

64 h. ago A lack of leadership proved to be the ultimate stumbling block for Cop30

Multilateralism survived another year at Cop30 in Brazil - but the outcome was far below the level of ambition that is needed to address the climate crisis

Politics

65 h. ago Ed Miliband insists COP30 deal is a 'step forward' after 'sweaty, frustrating and nightmarish' talks in Brazil

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband expressed 'regrets' an explicit road map to phase out fossil fuels was not included, despite demands from several countries

Economics

2 d. ago COP30 climate talks in Brazil ‘reach tentative deal’ as negotiators overcome EU concerns

The European Union's climate commissioner said on Saturday that the proposed accord was acceptable

Economics

3 d. ago Alaska Native villages have few options and little US help as climate change devours their land

Storms that battered Alaska’s western coast this fall have brought renewed attention to low-lying Indigenous villages left increasingly vulnerable by climate change

Politics

3 d. ago Cop30 live: ‘Clown show’ talks run into overtime with no clarity on climate deal

Negotiations ran late last night, and as delegates begin to leave the outcome of the summit remains unclear Civil society campaigners from the developing world have accused the rich countries of spreading “duplicitous narratives” over their role in the Cop30 climate talks over the past fortnight.As the talks in Belém, Brazil, passed the deadline for their resolution on Friday, European countries indicated they would walk away from any deal that did not include a commitment for “roadmap” to phase out fossil fuels.The world lost the climate gamble. Now it faces a dangerous new realityTen years ago the world’s leaders placed a historic bet. The 2015 Paris agreement aimed to put humanity on a path to avert dangerous climate change. A decade on, with the latest climate conference ending in Belém, Brazil, without decisive action, we can definitively say humanity has lost this bet. Continue reading...

Society

3 d. ago Indian state faces rising bear attacks as officials authorise drastic measures

Forests in the Himalayan state report a surge in maulings as officials warn of shifting bear behaviour

Politics

3 d. ago Miliband urges Cop30 to find ‘creative’ routes to roadmap on phasing out fossil fuel

UK energy secretary says UN climate talks must find way to keep proposals alive despite significant resistanceSupporters of a global phaseout of fossil fuels must find “creative” ways to keep the proposal alive, including making it voluntary rather than binding, the UK energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has said in the closing stages of the UN climate talks.As the Cop30 summit in Brazil carried on past the Friday night deadline, the prospect of countries agreeing on the need for a roadmap to a global “transition away from fossil fuels” looked increasingly dim. A first draft of the potential outcome text from the summit had contained the formulation, but in the updated draft text produced on Friday by the Brazilian presidency it had been excised. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Cop30 delegates ‘far apart’ on phasing out fossil fuels and cutting carbon

President of talks urges ministers and high-ranking officials to find common ground as conference nears its endCop30 live – latest updatesClimate crisis talks look likely to stretch well into the weekend in Brazil, with countries still far apart on the crucial issues of phasing out fossil fuels and cutting carbon.The Cop30 president, André Corrêa do Lago, urged ministers and high-ranking officials from more than 190 countries to find common ground: “We need to preserve this regime [of the Paris climate agreement] with the spirit of cooperation, not in the spirit of who is going to win or is willing to lose’” he said. “Because we know if we don’t strengthen this, everyone will lose.” Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago At UN climate conference, some activists and scientists want more talk on reforming agriculture

Many of the activists, scientists and government leaders at United Nations climate talks underway in Brazil have a beef: They want more to be done to transform the world’s food system

Politics

4 d. ago UN General Assembly chief says curbing climate change would make world more peaceful and safer

The president of the United Nations General Assembly says climate change is the biggest threat to world peace

Politics

4 d. ago ‘It’s like arguing with robots’: negotiators on the state of Cop30 talks

Three representatives of developing countries speak candidly about meetings behind closed doors in BelémCop30 – latest updatesIn the negotiating rooms at the Cop30 climate conference, representatives from vulnerable countries work to get the best deal they can. Here, three of them reveal what happens behind closed doors. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Cop30 draft omits any mention of fossil fuel transition plan as talks enter final hours

Negotiators face narrowing window to resolve some of summit’s most politically charged questions before scheduled close this weekend

Politics