Breaking Waves: Ocean News

The fuel duty freeze led to ire, but there were boosts for renewable energy investment and heat decarbonisation So how did Rachel Reeves’ ambition to be the “green chancellor” survive contact with battle in the budget? Reactions are, honestly, mixed. The decision to freeze fuel duty and keep the 5p cut made by the Conservatives in 2022 is attracting some fury, not least because the tax relief is estimated to have raised UK greenhouse gas emissions by 7% since 2010. Reeves has been accused of doing “completely the wrong thing” for climate by making this decision at the same time as raising the bus fare cap from £2 to £3, and rail fares by 4.6%. Continue reading...

A 2022 law gave wildland firefighters with ‘presumptive cancer coverage’, but the list of ailments left out a range of cancers affecting women Riva Duncan was overjoyed when Congress in 2022 approved better support for federal wildland firefighters during their cancer battles. As a retired fire officer of the US Forest Service (USFS), Duncan had spent years fighting for the friends and colleagues who disproportionately fell ill. The 2022 law gave firefighters so-called “presumptive cancer coverage” – meaning they were eligible for workers compensation and the process to receive federal financial support for disability and death was streamlined. Finally, she thought, firefighters wouldn’t have to prove cancer and other illnesses, including lung and heart diseases, had derived from their hazardous and carcinogenic work to receive needed funds. Continue reading...

Soldiers aid search for dozens still missing as prime minister warns extreme weather may not be over At least 95 people have died in eastern, central and southern Spain after torrential rains triggered the country’s deadliest floods in three decades, unleashing torrents of muddy water that surged through cities, towns and villages, trapping people in their homes, bringing down trees, and cutting off roads and railway lines. As the search for dozens of missing people continued, motorists were urged to stay off the roads and away from swollen rivers amid warnings that the severe weather was not over and that the number of deaths could still rise. Continue reading...

Representatives from nearly 200 countries at the UN’s Cop16 summit in Colombia have yet to break the deadlock over who pays and how much Experts agree that the world needs $700bn (£539bn) a year to restore nature – but no one knows where the money is going to come from, and anger is building about rich countries failing to pay their share. With representatives of nearly 200 countries gathered in Colombia for the UN Cop16 biodiversity summit, the question of who will fund conservation and how those funds will be distributed is a key battleground – and as negotiations push into their second week, frustration is growing at the lack of movement. Continue reading...