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Carlsberg and Coca-Cola back pioneering project to make ‘all-plant’ drinks bottlesBeer and soft drinks could soon be sipped from “all-plant” bottles under new plans to turn sustainably grown crops into plastic in partnership with major beverage makers.A biochemicals company in the Netherlands hopes to kickstart investment in a pioneering project that hopes to make plastics from plant sugars rather than fossil fuels. Continue reading...

Exclusive: oil, coal and fracking companies in line to benefit from $750bn bond scheme Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageFossil fuel companies and coal-powered utilities in the US are set for a potential bonanza under federal government plans for a bond bailout, part of the rescue package for the coronavirus crisis.At least 90 fossil fuel companies, many of them established giants such...

Ships capable of carrying 2m barrels are charging $335,000 a day to store oil unwanted amid the Covid-19 pandemicGiant oil tankers are being used to hold record amounts of crude at sea due to a global oversupply which threatens to overwhelm the world’s storage facilities.A record 160m barrels of oil has been stored in “supergiant” oil tankers outside the world’s largest shipping ports following...

Analysis of 35 leading investment banks shows financing of more than $2.66tn for fossil fuel industries since the Paris agreement The world’s largest investment banks have funnelled more than £2.2tn ($2.66tn) into fossil fuels since the Paris agreement, new figures show, prompting warnings they are failing to respond to the climate crisis.The US bank JP Morgan Chase, whose economists warned that the climate crisis...

All new projects that enable fossil fuel growth are an affront to our state of climate emergency. It is a disgrace Canada is considering themDear Prime Minister Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Freeland, The year 2020 has already become one defined by devastating impacts of climate change. While we celebrated the ambition of countries – including Canada – that demanded the enshrinement of 1.5C...

Canadian prime minister: ‘I know patience is running short’Indigenous activists are protesting against C$6.6bn gas pipelineJustin Trudeau has called for patience and dialogue as his government seeks a peaceful end to a rail blockade that has shut down freight and passenger traffic. But the Canadian prime minister is under increasing pressure from the Conservative opposition to clear the tracks.For almost two weeks, protesters across...

Burning gas, coal and oil costs global economy $8bn a day and particularly harms children Air pollution from burning fossil fuels is responsible for more than 4m premature deaths around the world each year and costs the global economy about $8bn a day, according to a study.The report, from Greenpeace Southeast Asia and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, found that...

Move follows efforts to reduce carbon footprint and increase reporting on climate crisisWhy the Guardian will no longer accept fossil fuel advertisingSupport Guardian journalism today, by making a single or recurring contribution, or subscribingThe Guardian will no longer accept advertising from oil and gas companies, becoming the first major global news organisation to institute an outright ban on taking money from companies that extract...

Failure to end investment ‘would be a betrayal against life itself’, say climate activistsGreta Thunberg and others: ‘At Davos, we will tell the tycoons to dismantle the fossil fuel economy’Greta Thunberg and fellow youth climate campaigners are demanding that global leaders immediately end the “madness” of huge ongoing investments in fossil fuel exploration and enormous subsidies for coal, oil and gas use.The 21 young...

New rules introduced by International Maritime Organisation expected to reduce certain forms of air pollutionSulphur will be cut drastically from global shipping transport fuels in 2020, in a move that should reduce some forms of air pollution, and may help towards tackling the climate emergency – but which could also lead to a rise in the price of flights.From 1 January 2020, ships will...

Europe’s environmental watchdog gives warning as climate crisis continuesPursuing economic growth at the expense of the environment is no longer an option as Europe faces “unprecedented” challenges from climate chaos, pollution, biodiversity loss and the overconsumption of natural resources, according to a report from Europe’s environmental watchdog.Europe was reaching the limits of what could be achieved by gradual means, by making efficiencies and small...

‘We’re in a deep hole over the climate crisis and we need to stop digging,’ warn expertsThe world’s nations are on track to produce more than twice as much coal, oil and gas as can be burned in 2030 while restricting rise in the global temperature to 1.5C, analysis shows.The report is the first to compare countries’ stated plans for fossil fuel extraction with...

‘Pernicious’ campaign is unfair on well-meaning people who want to help – expertThe battle between climate change deniers and the environment movement has entered a new, pernicious phase. That is the stark warning of one of the world’s leading climate experts, Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University.Mann told the Observer that although flat rejection of global warming...

Activists take government back to court, saying plans violate people’s environmental rightsClimate campaigners are taking Norway’s government back to court to oppose its plans to open the Arctic for oil drilling despite a public commitment to tackle the environmental crisis.Greenpeace Nordic and Norway’s Nature and Youth organisation will appeal on Tuesday against the government’s decision to allow oil exploration in parts of the Arctic...

Labour leader’s comments come after minister suggests halt may only be temporaryCalls are growing for the next government to make the suspension of fracking in England permanent after a minister suggested the halt to exploration may only be temporary.The government announced an immediate moratorium on fracking on Friday in a major U-turn after the Oil and Gas Authority said in a report that it...

Victory for green groups follows damning scientific study and criticism from spending watchdogThe government has banned fracking with immediate effect in a watershed moment for environmentalists and community activists.Ministers also warned shale gas companies it would not support future fracking projects, in a crushing blow to companies that had been hoping to capitalise on one of the new frontiers of growth in the fossil...

Photographer Robin Hinsch travelled to the Niger delta, visiting the gas flaring sites, artisanal refineries, and meeting the communities living in the hugely polluted environments caused by the oil industryCovering 70,000 sq km (27,000 sq miles) of wetlands, the Niger delta was formed primarily by sediment deposition. It is home to more than 30 million people and 40 different ethnic groups, making up 7.5%...

Last-minute lobbying forces delay to ambitious move by European Investment BankThe European Investment Bank (EIB) has balked at a proposal to halt new investments in fossil fuels, raising concerns that Germany and other nations are plotting to water down what would be one of the financial sector’s most ambitious climate moves.The EIB, the largest public bank in the world, announced this year that it...