Environment | The Guardian
- Cop 29: Ukraine and Palestinian delegates warn of environmental impact of war – video November 20, 2024Ukraine's environmental protection minister, Svitlana Grynchuk, and the Palestinian chair for the environmental quality authority, Nisreen Tamimi, raised the alarm on the ecological impact of war in their countries and beyond. Grynchuk said Russia's 'unlawful reporting' of its carbon emissions on Ukrainian territory was undermining the integrity of the Paris agreement. Tamimi said the rebuilding […]
- A Bornean orangutan on a fearless quest for figs: Tim Laman’s best photograph November 20, 2024‘While it was dark, I climbed up and put remote control cameras in the tree. I’d never have got the shot if I’d been up there. An orangutan always knows you’re there’I was following orangutans in Borneo with my wife, Cheryl Knott, a primatologist who has spent 30 years working in Gunung Palung national park, […]Interview by Amy Fleming
- Sky News Australia documentary The Real Cost of Net Zero fails to live up to its hubris, with viewers paying the price | Temperature Check November 20, 2024Chris Uhlmann says power costs are soaring while renewables are falling short, but do the pair have anything in common?Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWhat is “The Real Cost of Net Zero” the political journalist Chris Uhlmann asked this week, after weeks […]Graham Readfearn
- ‘Capitalism incarnate’: inside the secret world of McKinsey, the firm hooked on fossil fuels November 20, 2024Interviews and analysis of court documents show how the world’s most prestigious consulting firm quietly helps fuel the climate crisisTwo giant, mirrored walls are set to rise out of the sands of the Arabian desert. They will run parallel for more than 100 miles from the coast of the Red Sea through arid valleys and […]Ben Stockton in New York and Hajar Meddah in London
- ‘My legs were getting smashed in. My face was burning’ – This is climate breakdown November 20, 2024You had to drive through the fire to leave. I remember my heart racing. This is Olivia’s storyLocation Fort Smith, CanadaDisaster Wood Buffalo Complex fire, 2023Olivia is Dene, a member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, and works in environmental management. In 2023, she was caught up in the massive evacuation when the Wood Buffalo […]Olivia Villebrun, as told to Tracy Sherlock
- Blackouts, explosions, deaths: why the Caribbean is waking up to the increased threat of lightning November 20, 2024A recent strike narrowly missed slave trade archives in Barbados, and experts warn more and worse is to come as global heating intensifies stormsWhen the Barbados National Archives, home to one of the world’s most significant collections of documents from the transatlantic slave trade, reported in June that it had been struck by lightning, it […]Jewel Fraser in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
- Almost 120 countries vowed to triple renewables by 2030 – how is it going? November 20, 2024At Cop28 last year they also pledged to double energy efficiency in an effort to cut the world’s reliance on fossil fuelsAlmost 120 countries came together in Dubai last year at the Cop28 climate talks to pledge one of the most ambitious green energy targets in the history of the UN climate talks.The plan put […]Jillian Ambrose
- Patches of wildflowers in cities can be just as good for insects as natural meadows – study November 20, 2024Researchers found no difference in the diversity of species in urban meadows compared with those in rural settingsSmall patches of wildflowers sown in cities can be a good substitute for a natural meadow, according to a study which showed butterflies, bees and hoverflies like them just as much.Councils are increasingly making space for wildflower meadows […]Phoebe Weston
- Five firms in plastic pollution alliance ‘made 1,000 times more plastic than they cleaned up’ November 20, 2024Exclusive: Five oil and chemical companies which promised to divert plastic from environment produced 132m tonnes of it, analysis findsBali recycling scheme swamped with garbageOil and chemical companies who created a high-profile alliance to end plastic pollution have produced 1,000 times more new plastic in five years than the waste they diverted from the environment, […]Sandra Laville
- Plantwatch: Arctic microalgae perform photosynthesis in near darkness November 20, 2024Unlocking secrets of how the algae survive could help extend growing seasons for crop plants at high latitudesPlants left for too long in the dark usually turn sickly yellow and die, but scientists were astonished to discover tiny microalgae in the Arctic Ocean down to 50 metres deep can perform photosynthesis in near darkness.The microalgae […]Paul Simons
- The climate crisis in charts: how 2024 has set unwanted new records November 20, 2024Data tracks how Earth’s heating has led to rising sea levels and extreme weather – yet there is no sign of emissions slowing“The era of global boiling has arrived” is what the UN chief, António Guterres, presciently declared last year. In 2024, he has continued to be proven right; a report by the EU’s space […]Helena Horton, Lucy Swan, Ana Lucía González Paz and Harvey Symons
- Why children like me have a right to be heard at the People’s Blockade of the Newcastle coal port | Frankie Kelly November 20, 2024From my perspective as a 12-year-old, it’s devastating that the protest is getting such a negative reaction from the NSW governmentFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAll year, I have been looking forward to the People’s Blockade of the Newcastle coal port. I’ve […]Frankie Kelly
- Australia pledges $50m for climate 'loss and damage' fund, ramps up Cop31 host bid - video November 20, 2024Australia and Turkey are both lobbying to host Cop31, the world's annual United Nations climate change negotiations planned for 2026. The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, said Australia wants to co-host Cop31 'in partnership with our Pacific family'. Bowen also announced a $50m contribution to loss and damage caused by the climate crisis.Paris agreement is […]
- China and India should not be called developing countries, several Cop29 delegates say November 19, 2024Delegates from poorer nations say classifications that date back to 1992 are obsolete and two countries ‘should be contributing’China and India should no longer be treated as developing countries in the same way as some of the poorest African nations are, according to a growing number of delegates from poorer country at the Cop29 UN […]Patrick Greenfield and Fiona Harvey in Baku
- ‘I’m imagining what my mother went through in her last seconds’ – This is climate breakdown November 19, 2024My brother called saying there was a storm. I was waiting, waiting, waiting. This is Elisa’s storyLocation Saint-Martin-Vésubie, FranceDisaster name Storm Alex, 2020Elisa is a women’s clothing designer who runs her own label in Montreal, Canada. She was born and grew up in Nice, France, where much of her family remained, but was in Canada […]Elisa C-Rossow as told to Sean Holman and Aldyn Chwelos
- What we’ve learned in the five years since our first environment pledge November 19, 2024An update on our progress from the Guardian’s head of sustainabilityThe Guardian environment pledge 2024Support urgent, independent climate journalism todayFive years ago the Guardian made a pledge that we would “play a part, both in our journalism and in our own organisation, to address the climate emergency” with our first annual environment pledge. That commitment […]Julie Richards
- Construction is the world’s biggest polluter, yet Labour still refuses to tackle it | Simon Jenkins November 19, 2024Refurbishing an old building is subject to full VAT, but it isn’t if you build a polluting new one. The government’s priorities are all wrongYou can damn oil companies, abuse cars, insult nimbys, kill cows, befoul art galleries. But you must never, ever criticise the worst offender of all. The construction industry is sacred to […]Simon Jenkins
- Countries could use nature to ‘cheat’ on net zero targets, scientists warn November 18, 2024By relying on natural carbon sinks such as forests and peatlands to offset emissions, governments can appear closer to goals than they actually are Relying on natural carbon sinks such as forests and oceans to offset continued fossil fuel emissions will not stop global heating, the scientists who developed net zero have warned.Each year, the […]Patrick Greenfield
- The bee project helping to tackle elephant-human conflict in Kenya – in pictures November 18, 2024Loved by tourists, elephants are, however, often loathed by farmers. Elephant conservation has been a been a success in Tsavo in Kenya, with their number increasing by about 6,000 in the mid-1990s to almost 15,000 in 2021. The human population has also grown, encroaching on grazing and migration routes for the herds, with resulting clashes […]Tony Karumba/Agence France Presse
- Valencia's president apologises for handling of deadly floods – video November 15, 2024The president of the Spanish province of Valencia, Carlos Mazón, rejected calls for his resignation amid growing public anger over his management of the recent devastating floods that killed more than 210 people in the area. He conceded mistakes were made but claimed the unprecedented and 'apocalyptic' scale of the disaster overwhelmed the system Valencia’s […]