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The Guardian Climate Change
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Melbourne activist can’t rely on evidence from climate experts to defend protest charges, court finds
Brad Homewood is charged with four offences after a 2021 Extinction Rebellion protest at the Exxon/Mobil depot in Spotswood
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A climate activist cannot rely on evidence from experts in global heating and civil disobedience to beat charges after a protest outside a Melbourne fuel depot, a magistrate has found.
Brad Homewood, 52, was charged with four offences relating to a 2021 Extinction Rebellion protest at an Exxon/Mobil depot in Spotswood.
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Continue reading...‘If not fire, we’ll be killed by hunger’: villagers continue to feel fallout from Bolivia’s worst wildfires
Residents battle food shortages and health issues after vast areas of forest and farmland burned last year
As she walks away from the house where she raised her family, Isabel Surubí pauses to point at the bed of a stream, now covered with dry leaves, that once supplied her entire community. “The water used to come from here,” she says.
In 2024, wildfires in Bolivia burned more than 10m hectares (about 39,000 sq miles) of forest, farmland and savannah – an area greater than the size of Portugal. After the fires, and the drought that preceded them, the spring feeding Surubí’s village of Los Ángeles in Bolivia’s tropical dry forest ran dry.
Continue reading...The climate crisis is a cost of living issue for Australia. My generation will be the first to pay for it | Anjali Sharma
Politicians have divorced the issue of global heating from soaring prices – Australians must take bold action at the ballot box
I love chocolate. It’s a staple of my diet. I don’t like that, at the best of times, it takes up maybe a fifth of my grocery budget.
I also don’t like that as a country, we’ve been all too quick to blame rising food prices on inflation. We’ve quickly made inflation a priority for our policymakers, while the cost of living is the key issue of the upcoming election.
Anjali Sharma was the lead litigant in Sharma v environment minister, the landmark court case against the then federal environment minister, Sussan Ley, which called for a duty of care to protect children against the impacts of the climate crisis
Continue reading...Climate advocacy groups file two lawsuits against Trump administration
Groups from Sierra Club to Greenpeace take aim at Trump’s drilling orders in term’s first environmental legal battles
Green advocacy groups filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration on Wednesday, marking the first environmental legal challenges against the president’s second administration.
Both focus on the Trump administration’s moves to open up more of US waters to oil and gas drilling, which the plaintiffs say are illegal.
Continue reading...Outrage as Trump cites ‘emergency’ to fast-track fossil fuel projects
Activists warn new designation for projects such as pipelines threatens US wetlands and waters
Environmentalists were outraged on Wednesday after the Trump administration moved to fast-track fossil fuel projects through the permitting process, with activists describing it as an attempt to sidestep environmental laws that could harm waterways and wetlands.
In recent days, the US Army Corps of Engineers created a new designation of “emergency” permits for infrastructure projects, citing a day one executive order signed by Donald Trump which claims the US is facing an “energy emergency” and must “unleash” already booming energy production.
Continue reading...Melting glaciers caused almost 2cm of sea level rise this century, study reveals
Decades-long research shows world’s glaciers collectively lost 6.542tn tonnes of ice between 2000 and 2023
Melting glaciers have caused almost 2cm of sea level rise this century alone, a decades-long study has revealed.
The research shows the world’s glaciers collectively lost 6.542tn tonnes of ice between 2000 and 2023, causing an 18mm (0.7in) rise in global sea levels.
Continue reading...EU overhaul of farming strategy ignores vital green proposals, campaigners warn
The report promises better pay and protections for farmers, but environmentalists say it will not help restore nature or assure food security
European farmers will face fewer rules and less foreign competition, a new vision for agriculture promises, as environmental campaigners warn that key green proposals have been ignored.
The EU’s new farming strategy will overhaul the sector with targeted financial support, stricter import standards and a shift from “conditions to incentives” in the green strings attached to its vast subsidy scheme, according to the report published on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Developing world urges rich nations to defy Trump’s ‘climate nihilism’
Poorer countries want rapid emission cuts and more financial help in face of US leader’s stance on global heating
Developing countries are calling on the rich world to defy the US president, Donald Trump, and bridge the global chasm over climate action, before the goal of limiting global temperatures to safe levels is irretrievably lost.
Diplomats from the developing world are rallying to support Brazil, which will host a crucial climate summit in November, after last year’s talks in Azerbaijan ended in disappointment and acrimony.
Continue reading...HSBC net zero goal delayed 20 years, as CEO offered 600% bonus
Bank moves climate targets from 2030 to 2050 and waters down environmental goals in plan for Georges Elhedery
HSBC is delaying key parts of its climate goals by 20 years, while watering down environmental targets in a new long-term bonus plan for its chief executive, Georges Elhedery, that could be worth up to 600% of his salary.
The London-headquartered lender said it had launched a formal review of its net zero emissions policies and targets – which are split between its own operations and those of the clients it finances – after realising its clients and suppliers had “seen more challenges” in cutting their carbon footprint than expected.
Continue reading...Clean energy contributed 10% to China’s GDP in 2024, analysis shows
Study found electric vehicles and batteries added largest amount to country’s clean-energy economy
Clean energy contributed a record 10% of China’s gross domestic product in 2024, an analysis has found.
With sales and investments worth 13.6tn yuan (£1.5tn; $1.9tn), the sector has now overtaken real estate sales in value.
Continue reading...Top US prosecutor quits over pressure to investigate Biden climate spending
Denise Cheung resigns after Trump appointees demand she open grand jury investigation into EPA grants
A top federal prosecutor has quit after refusing to launch what she called a politically driven investigation into Biden-era climate spending, exposing deepening rifts in the US’s premier law enforcement agency.
Denise Cheung, head of criminal prosecutions in Washington, resigned on Tuesday after Trump appointees demanded she open a grand jury investigation into Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants based largely on an undercover video, multiple people familiar with the matter told CNN.
Continue reading...Early warning system for climate tipping points given £81m kickstart
Ambitious UK project aims to forecast climate catastrophes using fleets of drones, cosmic ray detection, patterns of plankton blooms and more
An ambitious attempt to develop an early warning system for climate tipping points will combine fleets of drones, cosmic ray detection and the patterns of plankton blooms with artificial intelligence and the most detailed computer models to date.
The UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria), which backs high-risk, high-reward projects, has awarded £81m to 27 teams. The quest is to find signals that forewarn of the greatest climate catastrophes the climate crisis could trigger. Tipping points occur when global temperature is pushed beyond a threshold, leading to unstoppable changes in the climate system.
Continue reading...‘The path forward is clear’: how Trump taking office has ‘turbocharged’ climate accountability efforts
‘Make polluters pay’ laws, led by blue states AGs, and accountability suits will be a major front for climate litigation for the coming years
Donald Trump’s re-election has “turbocharged” climate accountability efforts including laws which aim to force greenhouse gas emitters to pay damages for fueling dangerous global warming, say activists.
These “make polluters pay” laws, led by blue states’ attorneys general, and climate accountability lawsuits will be a major front for climate litigation in the coming months and years. They are being challenged by red states and the fossil fuel industry, which are also fighting against accountability-focused climate lawsuits waged by governments and youth environmentalists.
Continue reading...There are many ways Trump could trigger a global collapse. Here’s how to survive if that happens | George Monbiot
It could be wildfires, a pandemic or a financial crisis. The super-rich will flee to their bunkers – the rest of us will have to fend for ourselves
Though we might find it hard to imagine, we cannot now rule it out: the possibility of systemic collapse in the United States. The degradation of federal government by Donald Trump and Elon Musk could trigger a series of converging and compounding crises, leading to social, financial and industrial failure.
There are several possible mechanisms. Let’s start with an obvious one: their assault on financial regulation. Trump’s appointee to the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Russell Vought, has suspended all the agency’s activity, slashed its budget and could be pursuing Musk’s ambition to “delete” the bureau. The CFPB was established by Congress after the 2008 financial crisis, to protect people from the predatory activity that helped trigger the crash. The signal to the financial sector could not be clearer: “Fill your boots, boys.” A financial crisis in the US would immediately become a global crisis.
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Fossil fuel industry accused of seeking special treatment over oilfield emissions
Lobbyists argued it was unfair for their industry to be treated the same as others as end product – oil and gas – inevitably produced emissions
Experts have accused the fossil fuel industry of seeking special treatment after lobbyists argued greenhouse gas emissions from oilfields should be treated differently to those from other industries.
The government is embroiled in a row over whether to allow a massive new oilfield, Rosebank, to go ahead, with some cabinet members arguing it could boost growth and others concerned it could make the goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 impossible to reach. Labour made a manifesto commitment to halt new North Sea licensing, but Rosebank and some other projects had already been licensed and were awaiting final approval when the party won the general election.
Continue reading...Footage shows coral bleaching at Western Australia's Ningaloo Reef – video
Divers have documented evidence of what conservationists say is widespread coral bleaching at the Ningaloo Reef off Western Australia’s north-west coast. Waters off WA have been affected by a prolonged marine heatwave since September, with ocean temperatures 1.5C higher than average over a five-month period
Large areas of WA’s Ningaloo corals could die in ‘weeks ahead’ after widespread bleaching documented
Large areas of WA’s Ningaloo corals could die in ‘weeks ahead’ after widespread bleaching documented
Conservationists call for urgent government action as prolonged heatwave affects renowned reef, including Turquoise Bay, Tantabiddi and Bundegi
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Divers have documented evidence of what conservationists say is widespread coral bleaching at the Ningaloo Reef off Western Australia’s north-west coast.
Photographs show bleaching at several sites along the 260km-long reef, including Turquoise Bay, Coral Bay, Tantabiddi and Bundegi (Exmouth Gulf).
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Continue reading...US energy secretary says Australia should ‘get in the game of supplying uranium’
Chris Wright also tells conservative conference Australia developing shale gas would be a ‘tremendous resource’ – despite Australia already being one of the world largest producers and exporters of both LNG and uranium
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The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, has said he “would love to see Australia get in the game of supplying uranium and maybe going down the nuclear road themselves”.
Australia is already the world’s fourth-largest producer of uranium, but nuclear power remains banned at national level.
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Continue reading...Pepper-sprayed activist posed no threat to Victoria police officer who later said ‘they needed that’, court hears
Class action trial over police use of OC spray on climate protests at 2019 mining conference begins in Melbourne
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A climate protester was unarmed and posed no threat when he was hit with “excruciatingly painful” pepper spray by a Victorian police officer who later remarked “they needed that”, a court has heard.
But a lawyer representing the state – in the first class action against Victoria police in relation to alleged excessive use of oleoresin capsicum (OC) spray – said the protester was part of a group that “piled” into an area and blocked their attempts to make arrests.
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