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Minister tells more than 80 world leaders that not enough is being doneThe world is still not on track to fulfil the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the UK’s business secretary Alok Sharma warned, after a summit of more than 70 world leaders on the climate crisis ended with few new commitments on greenhouse gas emissions.Sharma said: “[People] will ask ‘Have we done enough to...

Britain’s credibility as climate champion rests on bold and urgent action, say campaigners Britain must end all oil and gas extraction in the North Sea as a matter of urgency if it is to maintain its position as a credible climate champion. That was the stark warning issued by green campaigners yesterday in the wake of last week’s decision by Denmark to halt its...

António Guterres lists human-inflicted wounds on natural world in stark messageWorld is ‘doubling down’ on fossil fuels despite climate crisis – UN reportHumanity is facing a new war, unprecedented in history, the secretary general of the UN has warned, which is in danger of destroying our future before we have fully understood the risk.The stark message from António Guterres follows a year of global...

The Biden transition team is facing pressure not to hire people with fossil fuel ties, like Obama’s energy secretary Ernest MonizIt was a deceptively low-key occasion on Capitol Hill: an older man in a dark suit, talking into a TV camera about an energy report.According to his firm’s 362-page analysis, the fastest path to California’s climate goals included continuing to rely on fossil fuels....

International Energy Agency expects green electricity to end coal’s 50-year reign by 2025Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageGlobal renewable electricity installation will hit a record level in 2020, according to the International Energy Agency, in sharp contrast with the declines caused by the coronavirus pandemic in the fossil fuel sectors.The IEA report published on Tuesday says almost 90% of new electricity generation...

Energy minister says Moscow will also focus on clean-burning hydrogen and carbon captureRussia has no plans to rein in its production of fossil fuels in the coming decades despite the global efforts to shift towards low-carbon energy, according to its energy minister.Alexander Novak told the Guardian that Russia did “not see that we will achieve a peak in [gas] production anytime soon” because the...

The closing moments of the final presidential debate focused on climate change. Joe Biden stressed the need to expand sources of renewable energy while again disputing Donald Trump’s claim that he intended to ban fracking, which he does not. 'I know more about wind than you do,' Trump retorted, drawing an exasperated laugh from Biden. 'It’s extremely expensive. Kills all the birds'Humanity has eight...

Chemical headaches, plant sirens – these were the constant background to my home and school life. My community is on the climate frontlineMy teacher first taught me about global warming in the third grade. She explained how an increase in greenhouse gases increased the amount of heat that could be trapped in our atmosphere. We discussed how climate change is melting the ice caps...

Climate Action 100+ group put 161 fossil fuel, mining, transport and other big-emitting companies on notice in latest campaign by shareholders A group representing investors that collectively manage more than US$47tn in assets has demanded the world’s biggest corporate polluters back strategies to reach net-zero emissions and promised to hold them to public account.Climate Action 100+, an initiative supported by 518 institutional investor organisations...

Covid-19 led to 9.3% reduction in humanity’s ecological footprint compared with same period last year The rate at which humanity is consuming the Earth’s resources declined sharply this year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to researchers.Consequently, Earth Overshoot Day, the point at which human consumption exceeds the amount nature can regenerate in a year, has moved back by over three weeks...

Fire has reportedly spread to homes near well that has been leaking ‘uncontrollably’ for two weeksA massive fire has broken out at an oil field in north-eastern India, after gas that had been leaking for two weeks ignited, sending plumes of smoke and flames into the sky, and reportedly setting fire to nearby homes.Five deaths in the area are being investigated for potential links...

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...

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...

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...

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...