19 h. ago Wildfire warning signs put up in Peak District as climate crisis increases threat

Signs more typically seen in Australia aim to raise awareness after more than 30 moorland fires since MarchWildfire warning signs normally seen in the parched Australian outback have been installed in the UK for the first time.In a stark illustration of the worsening impact of the climate emergency, signs have been put up in the Peak District and south Pennines, where there have been more than 30 moorland fires since March. Continue reading...

Events

26 h. ago ‘I don’t want to be here. But we can’t go home’: what life is like for people forced to flee floods and fighting

Around the globe, conflict and the climate crisis have caused 83.4m people – a record number – to become refugees within their own countries. Three people from Bangladesh, Sudan and Colombia tell their storiesIn 2024, the number of internally displaced people around the world reached 83.4m, the highest figure ever recorded. Men, women, children, whole families and generations have been forced to flee their homes within their country as a result of conflict, violence, or natural disasters.“Internal displacement rarely makes the headlines, but for those living it, the suffering can last for years,” says Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, commenting on the latest figures from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). Continue reading...

Events

38 h. ago Ramaphosa withstood Trump’s bizarre ambush – but he let down South Africans | Zanele Mji

Rather than trying to charm his US counterpart with golf, the South African president could have addressed the white supremacist attitudes holding our country backZanele Mji is a writer, investigative journalist and podcaster based in Johannesburg, South AfricaThe dust is still settling from Donald Trump’s latest “ambush” in the Oval Office. What started off as a series of pleasantries about golf between the US president and South African president Cyril Ramaphosa’s delegation quickly turned into a lecture – complete with a video screening and reams of printed-out news articles – about how a white genocide is supposedly under way in my home country.The delegation was largely successful in correcting that narrative. It emphasised that crime affects South Africans of all races and that white citizens are not specifically targeted. Zingiswa Losi, president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, rightly pointed out that in rural areas, it is Black women who bear the brunt of vio...

Politics

52 h. ago We bear the brunt of the climate crisis. A Pacific Cop could help shape the global response | Surangel Whipps Jr

Australia should also make moves to address the climate impact of its fossil fuel production and exportsWatching from the western Pacific, we saw many describe Australia’s recent election as a decisive moment for climate and energy policy. If that was the case, the people of Australia have spoken loud and clear.Like many of us in the Pacific had hoped, most Australians wanted to throw off the shackles of the last decade’s “climate wars” and usher in a new era of responsible climate and energy policy, one that harnesses the limitless potential of Australia’s renewable energy superpowers and helps lead the Pacific region and the world to a safer and more prosperous climate future. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago EU’s ‘chocolate crisis’ worsened by climate breakdown, researchers warn

Cocoa one of six commodities vulnerable to environmental threats in ‘extremely worrying picture’ for food resilienceClimate breakdown and wildlife loss are deepening the EU’s “chocolate crisis”, a report has argued, with cocoa one of six key commodities to come mostly from countries vulnerable to environmental threats.More than two-thirds of the cocoa, coffee, soy, rice, wheat and maize brought into the EU in 2023 came from countries that are not well-prepared for climate change, according to the UK consultants Foresight Transitions. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago ‘Plenty of time’ to solve climate crisis, interior secretary tells representatives

Burgum defends Trump budget slashing green funds, saying AI and Iran pose bigger threats than warmingThe US has “plenty of time” to solve the climate crisis,” the interior secretary, Doug Burgum, told a House committee on Tuesday.The comment came on his first of two days of testimony to House and Senate appropriators in which he defended Donald Trump’s proposed budget, dubbed the “one big, beautiful bill”, that would extend tax reductions enacted during Trump’s first term, while cutting $5bn of funding for the Department of the Interior. Continue reading...

Society

3 d. ago Oil industry funded Girl Scouts and British Museum to boost image, evidence suggests

BP has funded Washington’s National Gallery of Art, UK’s Royal Shakespeare Company and National Portrait GalleryOil interests have funded cultural institutions such as museums, youth organizations and athletic groups in recent years, new research shows, in what appears to be a public relations effort to boost their image amid growing public awareness of the climate crisis.Top US fossil fuel lobby group the American Petroleum Institute (API) sponsored a 2017 workshop for the Pennsylvania Girl Scouts, featuring “activities that mimicked work in the energy industry”. Energy giant BP in 2016 sponsored Washington DC’s National Gallery of Art and continues to fund the British Museum in London. And in 2019, Shell sponsored the golf event the Houston Open for the 26th time. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Only strong action on emissions can restore economic stability, UN climate chief says

Simon Stiell says investors ‘ready to hit the go button’ if they have the right signals from governmentsThe climate crisis has raised the price of commodities and exacerbated famine – and only strong action on greenhouse gas emissions can restore economic stability, the UN’s climate chief has said.Simon Stiell, the executive secretary of the UN framework convention on climate change, was speaking in Panama, where recent years of drought drove the water to perilous lows that disrupted international trade. Continue reading...

Economics

3 d. ago Sea level rise will cause ‘catastrophic inland migration’, scientists warn

Rising oceans will force millions away from coasts even if global temperature rise remains below 1.5C, analysis findsSea level rise will become unmanageable at just 1.5C of global heating and lead to “catastrophic inland migration”, the scientists behind a new study have warned. This scenario may unfold even if the average level of heating over the last decade of 1.2C continues into the future.The loss of ice from the giant Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets has quadrupled since the 1990s due to the climate crisis and is now the principal driver of sea level rise. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Just Stop Oil activists boast of cushy treatment from prison guards after eight spared jail

Members of Just Stop Oil claim prison officers are more lenient, grant them special privileges and even support their efforts to combat the climate crisis - just days after eight members dodged jail

Events

5 d. ago Dining across the divide: ‘He asked what I think of Trump. He’s a dangerous idiot’

A Reform-leaning Tory voter and a Labour party member clash over US politics and the BBC licence fee. Could they agree on the climate crisis?Lian, 57, DarlingtonOccupation Former professor of chemistry, now head of growth for a green startup Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Revealed: European ‘green’ investments hold billions in fossil fuel majors

Exclusive: Funds with names such as ‘Sustainable Global Stars’ have stakes in some of the world’s biggest pollutersEuropean “green” funds holding more than $33bn of investments in major oil and gas companies have been revealed by an investigation, despite fossil fuels being the root cause of the climate crisis. Some of these investment funds used branding such as Sustainable Global Stars and Europe Climate Pathway.Over $18bn was invested in the five biggest polluters: TotalEnergies, Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP. These topped a 2023 Carbon Majors ranking for oil and gas production among shareholder-owned firms. Other investments by funds following EU sustainable finance disclosure regulations (SFDR) included those in US fracking company Devon Energy and Canadian tar sands company Suncor, the investigation by Voxeurop and the Guardian found.A Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) fund called Europe Climate Pathway had $88m invested in Shell, BP and TotalEnergies. In to...

Economics

7 d. ago Top winemaker ‘may have to leave its Spanish vineyards due to climate crisis’

Familia Torres has been making wine in Catalonia since 1870, but says it may have to move to higher altitudes in 30 years’ timeA leading European winemaker has warned it may have to abandon its ancestral lands in Catalonia in 30 years’ time because climate change could make traditional growing areas too dry and hot.Familia Torres is already installing irrigation at its vineyards in Spain and California and is planting vines on land at higher altitudes as it tries to adapt to more extreme conditions. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago MP to launch bill to target superyachts, private jets and fossil fuel producers

Bill would force major polluters to pay into fund for flood defences and home insulation – but has little chance of becoming lawFossil fuel companies and their shareholders and owners of superyachts and private jets should have to pay into a fund for flood defences and home insulation, according to a private member’s bill to be launched on Thursday.The bill is part of a broader movement by campaigners to “make polluters pay”, demanding that oil and gas companies, and those who benefit from fossil fuels, should take on more of the direct responsibility for tackling the climate crisis, rather than funding such measures from general taxation. Continue reading...

Economics

9 d. ago Toxic wildfire pollution infiltrates homes of 1bn people a year, study finds

Dangerous indoor pollution could be tackled with air purifiers but costs are too high for many, researchers sayToxic pollution from wildfires has infiltrated the homes of more than a billion people a year over the last two decades, according to new research.The climate crisis is driving up the risk of wildfires by increasing heatwaves and droughts, making the issue of wildfire smoke a “pressing global issue”, scientists said. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago World’s favourite fruit at risk of being wiped out by climate crisis, study warns

Nearly 60 per cent of banana-growing areas in Latin America and Caribbean could become unsuitable for cultivation by 2080 if urgent action is not taken

Events

1 week ago Climate crisis threatens the banana, the world’s most popular fruit, research shows

Fourth most important food crop in peril as Latin America and Caribbean suffer from slow-onset climate disasterThe climate crisis is threatening the future of the world’s most popular fruit, as almost two-thirds of banana-growing areas in Latin America and the Caribbean may no longer be suitable for growing the fruit by 2080, new research has found.Rising temperatures, extreme weather and climate-related pests are pummeling banana-growing countries such as Guatemala, Costa Rica and Colombia, reducing yields and devastating rural communities across the region, according to Christian Aid’s new report, Going Bananas: How Climate Change Threatens the World’s Favourite Fruit. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Want to know how the world really ends? Look to TV show Families Like Ours | John Harris

The Danish drama is piercing in its ordinariness. In the real world, the climate crisis worsens and authoritarians take charge as we calmly look awayThe climate crisis has taken a new and frightening turn, and in the expectation of disastrous flooding, the entire landmass of Denmark is about to be evacuated. Effectively, the country will be shutting itself down and sending its 6 million people abroad, where they will have to cope as best they can. Huge numbers of northern Europeans are therefore being turned into refugees: a few might have the wealth and connections to ease their passage from one life to another, but most are about to face the kind of precarious, nightmarish future they always thought of as other people’s burden. Don’t panic: this is not a news story – or not yet, anyway. It’s the premise of an addictive new drama series titled Families Like Ours, acquired by the BBC and available on iPlayer. I have seen two episodes so far, and been struck by the very incisive way ...

Culture

1 week ago After Blair’s bombshell, will Labour stick with or abandon net zero?

Under pressure from Reform and from the former PM, Keir Starmer is facing a series of tests of his resolve on green policyPopulist politicians are striking a chord with the public in their attack on “the green agenda” because they are right – climate policies are elitist. So says the man standing to be the next leader of the UK’s Green party.“We should all be angry about net zero,” argues Zack Polanski, currently the Greens’ deputy leader. “The poorest people in our society are being expected to step up to tackle the climate crisis. But it’s the government’s fault, not the people’s fault.” Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Why did 30 Met officers kick the door down at a teenage tea and biscuits meeting in a Quaker house?

When six young women hired a room to discuss the war in Gaza, the gathering ended with 30 officers storming in to make arrestsWhen six young women gathered in central London to discuss the climate crisis and the war in Gaza, the setting could not have been more appropriate. The building in which they sat was a Quaker meeting house, the home of a movement whose centuries-long history is rooted in protest and a commitment to social justice. On the table were cups of jasmine tea, ginger biscuits and a selection of vegan cheese straws.But the events that brought this apparently convivial gathering to an abrupt end have sparked protests of a different kind and raised questions about how justice is administered by the UK’s largest and most embattled police force. Continue reading...

Society