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Exclusive: Research shows oil, gas and coal firms’ unprecedented access to Cop26-29, blocking urgent climate action
More than 5,000 fossil fuel lobbyists were given access to the UN climate summits over the past four years, a period marked by a rise in catastrophic extreme weather, inadequate climate action and record oil and gas expansion, new research reveals.
Lobbyists representing the interests of the oil, gas and coal industries – which are mostly responsible for climate breakdown – have been allowed to participate in the annual climate negotiations where states are meant to come in good faith and commit to ambitious policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world
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From night walks with children to switching off streetlights and rewilding areas, naturalists are working to save Europe’s dwindling populations
An hour or so after sunset, green twinkles of possibility gleam beneath the hedgerows of Westbury-sub-Mendip in Somerset. Under an orange August moon, the last female glow-worms of the season are making one final push at finding a mate.
For almost 20 years, Peter Bright and other volunteers have combed the village’s shrubberies and grasslands, searching for the bioluminescent beetles as part of the UK glow-worm survey. Most years, they have counted between 100 and 150, rising to 248 in 2017.
Ben Cooke, a National Trust ranger, places a glow-worm trap near Winspit Quarry in Dorset. Photograph: P Flude/Guardian
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This is our message to world leaders: make this the ‘Cop of truth’, before people lose faith
Today, in the Brazilian Amazon, the Belém summit opens ahead of the 30th United Nations climate change conference (Cop30). I have convened world leaders in the days leading up to the conference so that we can all commit to acting with the urgency the climate crisis demands.
If we fail to move beyond speeches into real action, our societies will lose faith – not only in the Cops, but in multilateralism and international politics more broadly. That is why I have summoned leaders to the Amazon: to make this the “Cop of truth”, the moment we demonstrate the seriousness of our shared commitment to the planet.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the president of Brazil
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ASA action won approval of clean air campaigners, who said some ‘seriously misleading myths’ had been debunked
Adverts claiming that wood-burning stoves are “very low emissions” have been banned by the Advertising Standards Agency for being misleading and not substantiated.
The claims were made on the website of the Stove Industry Association, which represents the makers and sellers of stoves in the UK. Campaigners against air pollution said they were glad the ASA had debunked some “seriously misleading myths”.
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Country’s top court declines to block controversial cull of hundreds of birds amid fears of an avian flu outbreak
Canada’s food inspection agency says it plans to begin a “complete depopulation” of hundreds of ostriches at a farm after the country’s top court declined to block the controversial cull.
On Thursday, the supreme court said it would not take up a case that has catalyzed a fierce protest by the farm owners and protesters – as well as senior figures in the Trump administration, who have decried the public health effort as government overreach.
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It may be a midlife crisis, says the man behind seven-metre installations of the Earth, moon and Sun who has planted 365 trees in a 100-year project in Somerset
Luke Jerram, whose art installations have travelled the world, is philosophical about his latest project bearing fruit beyond his time on Earth.
Known for his Play Me I’m Yours street pianos project and his Museum of the Moon artwork – a seven-metre diameter sculpture of the moon featuring detailed Nasa imagery of the lunar surface – Jerram is now working on Echo Wood, a living, breathing installation made of native British trees.
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With more secondhand cars available and salary sacrifice schemes offering extra savings, the lease option is taking off
When Anthony Santos was looking for a car to replace his Audi Q3, a diesel SUV, he felt reluctant about making the switch to an electric car.
“I was considering it, but I probably wouldn’t have,” says Santos, a sales manager at RWinvest, a property investment company in Liverpool. But when he started looking at his options the ability to lease a used electric vehicle (EV) caught his eye.
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Host uses Indigenous concepts and changes agenda to help delegates agree on ways to meet existing climate goals
Shipping containers, cruise ships, river boats, schools and even army barracks have been pressed into service as accommodation for the 50,000 plus people descending on the Amazon: this year’s Cop30 climate summit is going to be, in many ways, an unconventional one.
Located in Belém, a small city at the mouth of the Amazon river, the Brazilian hosts have been criticised for the exorbitant cost of scarce hotel rooms and hastily vacated apartments. Many delegations have slimmed down their presence, while business leaders have decamped to hold their own events in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
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Banking is an unavoidable fact of modern life, but where you choose to put your money can make a difference
Banks have differing commitments and targets when it comes to climate change and environmental issues, providing financing and loans for industries varying from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
In Australia, some banks and super funds have been linked to mass deforestation and fossil fuel investments, while others have been criticised for their investments in nuclear weapons manufacturers.
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