The Guardian Climate Change

Requiring key sectors to switch to clean energy by specific times could trigger benevolent cascades, report claims

In the terminology of the climate and ecological crises the phrase “tipping point” is loaded with dreadful implications.

It evokes a climate breakdown supercharged by the mass escape of methane locked in Siberian permafrost, or the great currents of the oceans smothered by freshwater melting from the Greenland ice sheet, or the Amazon turning from great rainforest to parched savannah after the felling of one too many trees.

The Hollywood actor and activist backs Harris for president as she warns of climate emergency and talks Taylor Swift

Young people’s understandable unhappiness with the Biden administration’s record on oil and gas drilling and the war in Gaza should not deter them from voting to block Donald Trump from again becoming president of the United States, the Hollywood actor and activist Jane Fonda has warned.

“I understand why young people are really angry, and really hurting,” Fonda said. “What I want to say to them is: ‘Do not sit this election out, no matter how angry you are. Do not vote for a third party, no matter how angry you are. Because that will elect somebody who will deny you any voice in the future of the United States … If you really care about Gaza, vote to have a voice, so you can do something about it. And then, be ready to turn out into the streets, in the millions, and fight for it.’”

From flooding to drought, extreme weather is devastating our communities. It is time for the world’s heaviest emitters to help mitigate the impacts of climatic breakdown on the countries most affected

Millions of people in my country, Malawi, face unprecedented existential crises driven by climate breakdown. The frequency of extreme weather events and the massive impact they have on communities have left government officials like me with a huge dilemma of how to act fast enough to save lives. In the past three years, we have gone from facing the worst flooding in recent times to the most severe drought in a decade. The impact has been devastating to communities across the country.

When Cyclone Freddy hit us in March 2023, it killed more than 600 people. The cyclone injured many more, tore families apart, destroyed livelihoods, and the long-term effects from diseases were even worse. A little over a year later, we were in the middle of a raging drought, which the president, Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, declared a national disaster in March. Millions of people are facing acute food insecurity, leading to malnutrition and health issues that are putting lives at risk, not least for people on long-term treatment for conditions such as tuberculosis and HIV.

Unbearable heat and worsening storms prompt residents of states such as Florida to move elsewhere

As a Rust belt town of 65,000 people in eastern Indiana, Muncie may not be the most exciting place in the world. It doesn’t have beaches, year-round warm weather or much in the way of cosmopolitanism.

But for Laura Rivas, a cybersecurity engineer formerly of North Miami Beach, Florida, Muncie is perfect.

The Marshall Project and the Prison Journalism Project asked incarcerated reporters to document the impact of extreme heat on their facilities. Their stories reveal the brutal reality

After a summer of record-breaking temperatures, scientists predict that 2024 could end up being the hottest year on record. For people in US prisons and jails – who often lack access to even the most basic cooling measures – conditions behind bars exacerbate the risks of dangerously high temperatures.

Several courts have ruled that extreme temperatures in prison violate the eighth amendment’s provision against “cruel and unusual” punishment. But these rulings have not led to a widespread adoption of air-conditioning or other methods to cool prison facilities or prevent heat-related deaths. Public health researchers at Brown University estimate that just one day of above-average summer temperatures is associated with a nearly 4% increase in deaths of incarcerated people. Suicides spike 23% in the three days following a heatwave. And for every 10 degrees Fahrenheit above the average summer temperature, those deaths increase by 5%.

Showing climate delivery can be done effectively and fairly would be an extraordinary climate legacy for Keir Starmer

A well-intentioned but badly designed and poorly communicated energy policy from the German government, and more recent protests by farmers in France and the Netherlands, have knocked the confidence of European political leaders that environmental progress can be delivered in a way that works for people and enjoys democratic support. Unashamedly popular climate policies from Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and Ed Miliband offer the chance to reshape European climate politics and confound these sceptics.

Showing climate delivery can be done fairly, effectively, affordably and with strong public support would be an extraordinary climate legacy for Starmer. It would build on Britain’s relatively strong record of having halved its climate footprint already, and it would offer hope amid all the gloom.

Joss Garman is executive director of the European Climate Foundation

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The Rev Sue Parfitt has lost right to conduct religious ceremonies after her arrest at a Just Stop Oil demonstration

An 82-year-old retired priest has spoken of her pain at losing her right to conduct religious ceremonies because of her participation in Just Stop Oil protests.

The Rev Sue Parfitt was arrested in May after allegedly causing damage to the glass around Magna Carta at the British Library in London as part of a protest with the climate action group. She is still awaiting trial.

Cal Fire says Robert Hernandez ignited blazes while off duty in forest land in north of state

A California department of forestry and fire protection employee was arrested on Friday on suspicion of starting five brush fires in northern California in recent weeks, officials said.

Robert Hernandez, 38, was arrested at the Howard forest fire station in Healdsburg, California, on suspicion of arson to forest land, the state agency said in a statement.

The Middle East crisis, wildfires in Portugal, floods in Poland and London fashion week: the last seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

Firefighters have been rescuing people stranded on their balconies and rooftops after Storm Boris triggered flooding and landslides in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. Two people were reported missing in Traversara, a hamlet in Ravenna province, and about 1,000 people have been evacuated from their homes. Storm Boris has battered parts of Italy after causing havoc in eastern and central Europe

• Two missing and 1,000 evacuated as Storm Boris devastates northern Italy

Firefighters and police in Rondônia battle fires intensified by both the climate crisis and a criminal assault on the rainforest

The occupants of the vinyl-coated military tents at this remote jungle camp in Brazil’s wild west compare the hellscape surrounding them to catastrophes old and new: the extinction of the dinosaurs, the bombardment of Gaza, the obliteration of Hiroshima during the second world war.

“It’s as if a nuclear bomb has gone off. There’s no forest. There’s nothing. Everything’s burned. It’s chaos,” said Lt Col Victor Paulo Rodrigues de Souza as he gave a tour of the base on the frontline of Brazil’s fight against one of its worst burning seasons in years and a relentless assault on the greatest tropical rainforest on Earth.

Since last week, wildfires have been raging in central and northern Portugal. At least seven people have died and 50 have been injured. More than 5,000 firefighters have been mobilised to battle the blazes

Energy minister Chris Bowen says Peter Dutton must explain what happens to national grid over next decade if opposition stops building renewables

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The Coalition’s proposal to cap large-scale renewable energy and eventually build nuclear power plants would lead to “massive” electricity supply shortages risking blackouts, according to analysis released by the federal government.

The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, released the findings of an energy department analysis that suggested electricity supply could be at least 18% less than what will be needed in 2035 under a scenario that reflects the few details of the Coalition plan that have been released.

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Campaigners criticise decision to scrap tax introduced in 2018 amid rise of ‘flight shame’ movement

Campaigners have accused the Swedish government of doing “everything in its power to stop climate action” after it cut a tax on flying, despite admitting that it would increase emissions.

The flight tax, aimed at cutting pollution from aviation, was introduced in 2018, amid the rise of the “flight shame” (flygskam) movement popularised by Greta Thunberg.

Pounding rain has battered the region of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy after Storm Boris reached the country. The storm has already killed at least 24 people in central and eastern Europe since last week, bringing widespread flooding and torrential rain. More than 1,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in the northern Italian region as the fire service continues its rescue operations. Severe weather warnings remain in place in Emilia-Romagna and the neighbouring region of Marche for the next 24-36 hours

• Storm Boris batters northern Italy, bringing severe flooding and landslides

Anger as Meloni government accused of lacking will to confront climate crisis

About 1,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna overnight after devastating floods and landslides, as Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government was accused of lacking the will to confront the climate crisis.

The flooding was brought on by Storm Boris, which had earlier wreaked havoc in central and eastern Europe, killing at least 24 people. Several major cities in central Europe were bracing for swollen rivers to peak on Thursday.

‘Risk’ analyses largely ignore the dangers of the climate crisis. Unless we wake up to them, they will soon outweigh all others

The Irish sea captain who in 1751 discovered the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (Amoc) – closely connected with, though not identical to, the Gulf Stream – found a practical use for it: he used the frigid deeper water to cool his wine.

That may seem a rather frivolous response, but of course, Capt Henry Ellis had no idea that the oceanic pattern he had stumbled upon had been critical to the climate, the agriculture and indeed the entire development of western Europe. The same excuse can hardly be made for British and European governments today.

Anatol Lieven is director of the Eurasia programme at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and author of Climate Change and the Nation State: The Realist Case

Research says flat-fee train travel would bring economic and health benefits as well as simplifying ticket fares

Renationalising the railways does not go far enough – Labour should spur a rail renaissance by allowing people around the UK unlimited train travel for a flat fee, campaigners have said.

Under a “climate card” system, passengers could pay a simple subscription to gain access to train travel across all services. This could be effective if set at £49 a month, according to research published on Thursday, though travellers on fast long-distance trains and those on routes in and through London would need to pay a top-up to reflect the greater demand on those services.

Homes evacuated in Emilia-Romagna region as pounding rain ‘well beyond the worst forecasts’ sweeps in

Homes are being evacuated in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna as Storm Boris, which has killed at least 24 people in central and eastern Europe since last week, swept into the country, causing severe flooding and landslides.

Pounding rain hit Emilia-Romagna late on Wednesday afternoon and the situation rapidly worsened as night fell.

Food campaign Bite Back says 10 firms account for more carbon emissions globally than aviation industry

Britain’s biggest food and drink firms are doing too little to tackle the climate emergency and are producing “staggering” amounts of greenhouse gases, campaigners claim.

The 10 companies that manufacture more of the UK’s food than anyone else produce more carbon emissions between them than even the aviation industry, a report says.

Three of the firms increased their annual emissions in 2022 – Ferrero, Kraft Heinz and PepsiCo.

Seven are on course to miss meeting emissions targets they have set themselves to achieve by 2050.

Only four have a verifiable commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050 – Danone, Mars, Mondelēz and Nestlé.