3 d. ago The Guardian view on climate finance: crumbling under a second Trump presidency | Editorial

Voluntary climate commitments were supposed to be a step towards progress. A change in political climate has revealed their weaknessesEarlier this month, as Nordic countries were hit with an unprecedented heatwave and wildfires in the US began spurting “fire clouds”, Barclays pulled out of the net zero banking alliance. The story may have seemed less alarming than extreme weather, but it has existential implications, as the finance sector quietly surrenders its former climate commitments.The initiative forms part of the Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), a voluntary network of banks that Mark Carney, formerly the UN’s special envoy on climate action and now Canada’s prime minister, launched in 2021. At the time, the alliance, which encourages banks and asset managers to work towards the goals of the Paris agreement, seemed like an optimistic step in the right direction. Mr Carney described it as a “breakthrough”. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. 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

3 w. 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

3 w. 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

4 w. ago Urgent warning from Met Office as report shows extreme weather is 'new normal'

The latest report on the UK's climate is a 'call to action' against global warming.

Events

4 w. ago Federal court dismisses landmark Torres Strait climate case but warns of ‘bleak future’ without urgent action

Class action led by two community leaders argued government had legal duty of care to prevent or deal with damage linked to global heatingSign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesThe federal court has dismissed a landmark case brought by two Torres Strait community leaders that argued the Australian federal government breached its duty of care to protect the Torres Strait Islands from climate change.In delivering the decision, however, Justice Michael Wigney noted: “There could be little if any doubt that the Torres Strait Islands and their inhabitants face a bleak future if urgent action is not taken to address climate change and its impacts.”Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an email Continue reading...

Events

last month Furious Ed Miliband slams Tories 'abandoning' their beliefs as he warns of 'betrayal'

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband slammed the Conservatives for having 'abandoned its belief in climate action' which he said was a 'betrayal of future generations'

Events

last month The Guardian view on a climate reckoning: an annual address could set a new standard for political accountability | Editorial

The energy secretary framed environmental action as practical and patriotic, not in terms of wordy ideological pieties. But holding the line won’t be easyEd Miliband is a target for the political right; not because he’s irrelevant, but because he’s effective. The bacon sandwich gags and “Red Ed” jokes mask a deeper unease: that Mr Miliband, with his dogged insistence on science, public investment and long-term thinking, is right. Now, as energy secretary, he has delivered what he calls an exercise in “radical truth-telling” and a stark warning to MPs that rejecting climate action is a betrayal of future generations. The language, for once, isn’t overblown. It’s belated.By highlighting the Met Office’s annual State of the UK Climate report, Mr Miliband shows that the hotter, wetter and more arduous future we feared has already arrived. Extremes are becoming the norm: the number of very hot days has quadrupled; in the last 250 years, six of the 10 wettest winter half-years have o...

Politics