1 hour ago Make green great again: Can appeals to the wallet make climate policy an election

In this week’s newsletter: At a major gathering in New York, climate advocates say that language has to change• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereAt stuffy United Nations press conferences, in swanky auditoriums and at sticky socialist dance parties, one word was on everyone’s lips at this year’s Climate Week NYC: affordability.The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, said under that under President Trump the United States is “returning to commonsense energy policies that focus on affordability”. The former energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, said Democrats must focus on renewable power’s ability to shrink power bills to win elections. And supporters of the almost certainly soon-to-be New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, trumpeted their efforts to link green policies with efforts to lower city residents’ rent and make transit affordable.Revealed: Europe losing 600 football pitches of nature and crop land a dayUK fracking ban to be brought forward as Labour ...

Politics

2 h. ago Death toll from Typhoon Bualoi, Vietnam’s deadliest storm this year, rises to 51

Government report estimate property damage caused by typhoon and resultant flooding at around £447m

Events

12 h. ago A recipe for avoiding 15 million deaths a year and climate disaster is fixing food, scientists say

Scientists are presenting new evidence that the worst effects of climate change can’t be avoided without a major transformation of food systems

Society

13 h. ago ‘Planetary health diet’ could save 40,000 deaths a day, landmark report finds

Diet allows modest meat consumption and would also slash food-related climate emissions by half, says report by 70 leading experts from 35 countriesAdoption of a plant-rich “planetary health diet” could prevent 40,000 early deaths a day across the world, according to a landmark report.The diet – which allows moderate meat consumption – and related measures would also slash the food-related emissions driving global heating by half by 2050. Today, a third of greenhouse gas emissions come from the global food system and taming the climate crisis is impossible without changing how the world eats, the researchers said. Food production is also the biggest cause of the destruction of wildlife and forests and the pollution of water. Continue reading...

Events

16 h. ago Badenoch defends vow to ditch climate law branded ‘catastrophic mistake’ by May

The Tory leader said the real error would be to retain the ‘nonsensical’ Climate Change Act.

Society

18 h. ago The Guardian view on climate policy: Britain needs clean power, not culture wars | Editorial

Kemi Badenoch’s plan to scrap the Climate Change Act is reckless. Ed Miliband offers a bolder, fairer vision. The future must be built on renewablesLet’s scrap Britain’s successful climate law so we can burn more gas, lose investment and have higher bills. Crazy as it might seem, that is the message of Kemi Badenoch’s new energy strategy. The Conservative leader proposes to repeal the 2008 Climate Change Act in favour of a plan to “maximise oil and gas extraction”, and remove all legally binding carbon targets. It’s pitched as pragmatism. But it’s a lurch into ideological self-harm.Britain’s energy problem isn’t its climate legislation, which is admired globally, backed by industry and supported by the public. It’s that this country remains too dependent on volatile fossil fuels. Emissions targets are not the reason for high bills. It is gas prices, which skyrocketed after Russia invaded Ukraine. They set UK electricity prices. In Europe, they don’t – that’s why bills are lower...

Events

18 h. ago Historic gardens and parks at risk from proposed planning rule changes – charity

Gardens Trust says parks, parkland and gardens play a crucial role for the economy, health and tackling climate change.

Events

19 h. ago Tories at war over Badenoch’s plan to axe Climate Change Act as Theresa May brands it a ‘catastrophic mistake’

Baroness May issued a stark warning over Kemi Badenoch’s plans to repeal the Climate Change Act

Events

20 h. ago Kemi Badenoch vow to axe Climate Change Act ‘catastrophic mistake’ – Theresa May

The Tory former prime minister strengthened net zero targets while in office.

Politics

20 h. ago Tory war of words erupts as Theresa May hits out at Kemi Badenoch's 'catastrophic' climate plan

The Tory war of words erupted as the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she would axe the world-leading Climate Change Act first introduced by the last Labour government

Events

23 h. ago MAGA comes for the ‘woke pope’ after pontiff blesses block of ice in climate change gesture

The American pontiff asked world leaders to ‘act with courage’ to fight climate change, embracing his predecessor’s environmental legacy

Politics

24 h. ago Theresa May hits out at Badenoch pledge to ditch flagship UK climate change law

Former prime minister warns Tory leader’s move would be ‘catastrophic mistake’

Society

24 h. ago May hits out at Badenoch’s pledge to ditch flagship UK climate change law

Former prime minister warned Tory leader’s move would be ‘catastrophic mistake’

Society

30 h. ago Tea farmers struggle to pay medical bills as the climate crisis impacts crop sizes

As part of Fairtrade Fortnight, Kenyan tea farmers supplying the UK tell Nick Ferris that extreme weather is bringing new health problems – which they are struggling to deal with as declining production impacts their income

Society

36 h. ago Kemi Badenoch vows to cut energy bills by scrapping Net Zero if she becomes Prime Minister

In a major policy move, Kemi Badenoch said a Conservative government would replace Labour's Climate Change Act with a strategy putting cheap and reliable power first.

Politics

36 h. ago Woke American Pope Leo blesses a block of ice in bizarre climate change stunt after swiping at Trump's global warming policies

The American pontiff slammed skeptics who 'ridicule those who speak of global warming,' as he strongly embraced Pope Francis´ environmental legacy.

Events

36 h. ago Ed Miliband tears into Tories over plan to scrap climate act

Kemi Badenoch wants to scrap the Climate Change Act which committed the UK to cut climate emissions by 80% by 2050, with five-yearly carbon budgets to keep the country on track

Politics

36 h. ago Tories pledge to scrap landmark climate legislation in favour of ‘cheap’ energy

Plans by the Conservatives to replace the Climate Change Act come as divisions over emissions-cutting measures widen.

Politics

42 h. ago ‘Listen to the cry of the Earth’: Pope Leo takes aim at climate change sceptics

Pontiff laments that some ‘ridicule those who speak of global warming’, days after Trump’s claims of ‘con job’Pope Leo XIV has taken aim at people who “ridicule those who speak of global warming” as he embraced Pope Francis’s environmental legacy and made it his own in some of his strongest and most extensive comments on the subject to date.Leo presided over the 10th-anniversary celebration of Francis’s landmark ecological encyclical, Laudato Si (Praised Be), at a global gathering south of Rome. The encyclical cast care for the planet as an urgent and existential moral concern and launched a global grassroots movement to advocate for caring for God’s creation and the peoples most harmed by its exploitation. Continue reading...

Politics

63 h. ago Sinkholes are on the rise. Scientists might have a way to prevent the threat

Natural sinkholes threaten 20 percent of the U.S., including Pennsylvania, Florida and states across the South

Events