2 h. ago ‘We’re the canary in the coalmine’: when will Russia take action on the climate?

World’s fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases pays lip service to tackling climate crisis and, with fossil fuels central to regime’s legitimacy, it seems happier with status quoSource of figures at top: World Economic Outlook Continue reading...

Politics

6 h. ago Young, educated and knee deep in rubbish: the recyclers cleaning up in Cairo’s Garbage City

Piles of waste line the streets of Manshiyet Nasr, turning it into a no-go zone for many. But a new generation see themselves as agents of change in the fight against plastic pollutionWhen Mina Nedi graduated with a nursing degree last year, his friends and family expected him to start working in one of Egypt’s overstretched hospitals. Instead, the 25-year-old decided to join his father’s recycling business in Manshiyet Nasr, a neighbourhood on Cairo’s eastern outskirts known as Garbage City.Every day, he sorts through thousands of plastic bottles, collected by a team of men who roam the city at night to pick up rubbish, separating them by colour and compressing them into large bundles with the help of a machine, ready to be sold for recycling and reuse.Mina Nedi, 25, has been working as a plastic collector for five years and funded his university education with it Continue reading...

Politics

8 h. ago ‘Keeping us hooked on fossil fuels’: how can we negotiate with autocracies on the climate crisis?

The bulk of global greenhouse gas emissions come from countries that are not democratic, and many big oil and gas exporters are also authoritarianThe big emitters: which countries are holding back climate action and why?When it comes to the climate crisis, how do you negotiate with an autocracy?It is the case today, and it is almost certain to remain so for the dwindling number of years in which we can hope to stave off the worst of climate breakdown, that the bulk of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from countries that are not democratic. Add to that, many of the major suppliers of oil and gas – the Gulf petrostates for instance, plus Russia, Venezuela and a few others – are likewise authoritarian. Continue reading...

Events

21 h. ago How the climate crisis and aid cuts could devastate global supplies of vanilla

Vanilla farmers in Madagascar, a country that supplies up to 80 per cent of the global crop each year, face a difficult future as the climate crisis and aid cuts bite, writes Nick Ferris

Events

32 h. ago Tax on AI and crypto could fund climate action, says former Paris accords envoy

Laurence Tubiana urges governments to consider levies on energy-hungry technologyGovernments should consider taxing artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies to generate funds to deal with the climate crisis, one of the architects of the Paris agreement has said.Laurence Tubiana, the chief executive of the European Climate Foundation and a former French diplomat, is co-lead of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, an international initiative to find new sources of funds for climate action by taxing highly polluting activities including aviation and fossil fuel extraction. Continue reading...

Economics

49 h. ago A ‘Himalayan tsunami’ has just devastated Nepal. It should be a wake

Massive glacial bursts are becoming more frequent and more dangerous due to the climate crisis, experts tell Mukesh Pokhrel, warning: ‘They are not going to stop anytime soon’

Politics

51 h. ago How climate crisis makes rainstorms that flooded New York more common

More than 2in of rain fell in an hour in the region, killing two people, and such storms are only going to intensifyMonday night’s downpour was one of the most intense rainstorms in New York City history, the kind of storm that’s now happening much more often due to climate warming.More than 2in of rain fell in New York City’s Central Park in the 7pm hour on Monday evening, part of a regional downpour that filled the city’s highways and subway tunnels and prompted several water rescues. Continue reading...

Events

54 h. ago Australia’s Indigenous elders lose landmark environment case of Torres Strait Islands

Indigenous elders lose climate case as judge says protecting islands is a political, not legal, responsibility

Politics

54 h. ago Australia’s Indigenous elders lose landmark environment case over Torres Strait Islands

Indigenous elders lose climate case as judge says protecting islands is a political, not legal, responsibility

Politics

3 d. ago Aid cuts put vital work to protect millions in Ethiopia from climate crisis at risk

Programmes helping vulnerable communities in Ethiopia to deal with the financial shock of extreme weather and drought are under threat, writes Nick Ferris

Events

3 d. ago London urban oasis hosts an artist’s multimedia investigation of plants’ resilience in the face of climate crisis

London urban oasis hosts an artist’s multimedia investigation of plants’ resilience in the face of climate crisis  The Art Newspaper

Events

4 d. ago ‘Profound concern’ as scientists say extreme heat ‘now the norm’ in UK

Increasing frequency of heatwaves and flooding raises fears over health, infrastructure and how society functionsEd Miliband to tell MPs who reject net zero policies they are betraying future generationsRecord-breaking extreme weather is the new norm in the UK, scientists have said, showing that the country is firmly in the grip of the climate crisis.The hottest days people endure have dramatically increased in frequency and severity, and periods of intense rain have also ramped up, data from hundreds of weather stations shows. Heatwaves and floods leading to deaths and costly damage are of “profound concern” for health, infrastructure and the functioning of society, the scientists said. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Ed Miliband would let a turbine farm destroy Brontë country. We need net zero, but at what cost? | Simon Jenkins

Of course the climate crisis must be confronted, but history, tranquility and beauty must also count for somethingNowhere does landscape marry passion quite so much as in Yorkshire’s Wuthering Heights. The tempestuous Pennine contours and tumbling streams perfectly frame Emily Brontë’s turbulent romance. Wild storms and dark gullies echo the cries of Heathcliff, Cathy and sexual jealousy. From moorland peaks to the historic Brontë village of Haworth below, the scene is unspoilt.I cannot think of any British government for half a century that would have dreamed of destroying this place. Yet the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, apparently wants to do so, with the largest onshore windfarm in England, the Calderdale Energy Park. He clearly regards this unique landscape as the perfect spot for 41 giant wind turbines, each no less than 200m tall. Their height would top Blackpool Tower by 40m. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago ‘We don’t want to be climate refugees’: Torres Strait uncles fear for their islands and their people

This week Australia’s federal court is due to make a decision in a landmark climate case that could safeguard the future of the island communitiesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastUncle Paul Kabai and Uncle Pabai Pabai are afraid for the future of their ancestral homelands.Their country on the outer islands of Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait), less than 10km off Papua New Guinea, is under siege from the impacts of the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago HSBC becomes first UK bank to quit industry’s net zero alliance

Campaigners condemn ‘troubling’ move that follows departure of six of largest US banks after Trump’s electionHSBC has become the first UK bank to leave the global banking industry’s net zero target-setting group, as campaigners warned it was a “troubling” sign over the lender’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis.The move risks triggering further departures from the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) by UK banks, in a fresh blow to international climate coordination efforts. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Extreme heat could lead to 30,000 deaths a year in England and Wales by 2070s, say scientists

Worst-case scenario of 4.3C of warming could result in fiftyfold rise in heat-related deaths, researchers sayMore than 30,000 people a year in England and Wales could die from heat-related causes by the 2070s, scientists have warned.A new study calculates that heat mortality could rise more than fiftyfold in 50 years because of climate heating. Researchers at UCL and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine compared different potential scenarios, looking at levels of warming, measures to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis, regional climatic differences and potential power outages. They also modelled the ageing population. Continue reading...

Events

8 d. ago Trump officials axed an online portal for its key climate report. Read it in full here

Guardian makes legally mandated gold standard report widely available after administration deleted websiteThe future of the US government’s premier climate crisis report is perilously uncertain after the Trump administration deleted the website that housed the periodic, legally mandated assessments that have been produced by scientists over the past two decades.Five national climate assessments have been compiled since 2000 by researchers across a dozen US government agencies and outside scientists, providing a gold standard report to city and state officials, as well as the general public, of global heating and its impacts upon human health, agriculture, water supplies, air pollution and other aspects of American life. Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago I quit my job as an easyJet pilot because of the climate crisis. Here’s how we can transform aviation | George Hibberd

There’s no shortage of ideas for how to make air travel greener. But it has to start within the industry – and with workersGeorge Hibberd appears alongside fellow pilot Todd Smith in the Guardian documentary Guilt TripI love flying. I’ve wanted to be a pilot since I was young. I grew up in Chichester, West Sussex, under a flight path used by Gatwick airport planes, and used to watch as they traversed the sky. In 2019, once I had qualified as an airline pilot, I began working for easyJet. Aviation connected me to my extended family in Canada, exposed me to different cultures and gave me an unforgettable career. But in November 2022, I handed over my airport ID card for the last time. I had grown increasingly anxious about the effect that our industry was having on the planet and, deep down, I knew that my concern for the climate crisis meant being an airline pilot was damaging my mental health.Despite no longer working in the industry, my love of aviation has driven me to protect our...

Society

8 d. ago Climate anxiety meant I could no longer work as a pilot. But I love flying – and I know we can transform aviation | George Hibberd

There’s no shortage of ideas for how to make air travel greener. But it has to start within the industry – and with workersGeorge Hibberd appears alongside fellow pilot Todd Smith in the Guardian documentary Guilt TripI love flying. I’ve wanted to be a pilot since I was young. I grew up in Chichester, West Sussex, under a flight path used by Gatwick airport planes, and used to watch as they traversed the sky. In 2019, once I had qualified as an airline pilot, I began working for easyJet. Aviation connected me to my extended family in Canada, exposed me to different cultures and gave me an unforgettable career. But in November 2022, I handed over my airport ID card for the last time. I had grown increasingly anxious about the effect that our industry was having on the planet and, deep down, I knew that my concern for the climate crisis meant being an airline pilot was damaging my mental health.Despite no longer working in the industry, my love of aviation has driven me to protect our...

Politics

8 d. ago Guilt Trip: pilots torn between flight and the fight for the planet

Commercial pilots George Hibberd and Todd Smith grapple with the reality of their dream jobs, torn between childhood ambitions of flying and the impact of their industry on the world beneath them. From the cockpit, they witness first-hand the climate crisis unfolding below and decide to take drastic measures. As part of Safe Landing, a community of aviation workers who want the industry to do better for the climate, they begin to transform their eco-anxiety and guilt into action. With an estimated 1.2 million passengers in the sky at any time, they ask when will society confront the urgent need to reimagine aviation - before it's too lateTo read more on how former Easyjet pilot George Hibberd thinks the aviation industry can be transformed, click here. Continue reading...

Politics