'2024 – a masterclass in climate destruction.' That is how the UN secretary general, António Guterres, started his address to world leaders at Cop29 on Tuesday. 'Families running for their lives before the next hurricane strikes; workers and pilgrims collapsing in insufferable heat; floods tearing through communities, and tearing down infrastructure; children going to bed hungry as droughts ravage crops. All these disasters, and more, are being supercharged by human-made climate change,' he said
Cop29: 2024 has been ‘masterclass in climate destruction’, says UN chief – live updates
Critics say approval of ‘climate credits’ rules on day one of Cop29 was rushed
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/12/2024 - 04:23
11/12/2024 - 02:56
Oil and gas company had challenged 2021 ruling that it must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030
Shell has won its appeal against a landmark climate judgment by a Dutch court, which in 2021 ordered the fossil fuel company to sharply reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
A court of appeal ruled on Tuesday that, while Shell does have a “special responsibility” to cut its emissions as a big oil company, this would not be achieved by imposing a specific legal goal.
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11/12/2024 - 02:00
Odd-looking creatures called ciona are naturally rich in protein and one company aims to farm and process them for the table
At a seaside restaurant near the docks in Fredrikstad, Norway, there’s a selection of delicious looking entrees sitting in front of me. There is a cheesy lasagne, a savoury Mexican casserole, and a spicy chilli con carne. Biting in to each one in turn, I savour the familiar taste of ground beef. Or is it?
The dishes come from Pronofa Asa, a Scandinavian company whose purpose is to make new and sustainable protein sources. In 2022, it acquired the Swedish research company Marine Taste and expanded on its work turning ciona – or “sea squirts” to you and me – into mincemeat. The dishes in Fredrikstad were prototypes, but Pronofa plans to have its mincemeat on supermarket shelves in Norway and Sweden before the end of the year, it says, and will aim to expand throughout Europe in the coming years.
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11/12/2024 - 01:31
Climate scientists and advisers back new UK commitment but warn that there is still work to be done
In the halls of Cop29, activists from Oil Change International gathered around a computer to watch a Dutch court’s ruling on a major ruling.
In this morning’s verdict, the Dutch appeals court struck down a 2021 ruling ordering oil and gas giant Shell to cut emissions by 45% by 2030 from 2019 levels. The activists were devastated.
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11/12/2024 - 00:00
PM says Britain can ‘win the race’ as Trump’s election casts doubt on global efforts to tackle climate change
Britain has a “huge opportunity” to get ahead of other countries in the race for green investment after the election of Donald Trump as US president, Keir Starmer has said, as he arrives in Azerbaijan for the Cop29 summit.
Trump’s election victory last week has cast doubt on global efforts to tackle climate change, which the president-elect has called a “hoax”. But as the most senior world leader attending the summit in Baku, Starmer said the global political turmoil could benefit the UK economy.
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11/11/2024 - 21:13
The so-called corpse plant takes a decade to flower – and when it does, the blossom lasts just 24-48 hours and smells of rotting flesh. Guardian Australia's Henry Belot went along to take whiff
‘I can hear dry-retching from inside’: queuing for hours to smell Geelong’s corpse plant
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11/11/2024 - 16:50
President-elect says ex-New York congressman will ‘ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions’ as EPA administrator
US politics – live updates
Donald Trump has picked Lee Zeldin, a former New York congressman, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), vowing the appointment will “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions” by the regulator.
Trump, who oversaw the rollback of more than 100 environmental rules when he last was US president, said that Zeldin was a “true fighter for America First policies” and that “he will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet”.
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11/11/2024 - 13:51
Agreement on rules paving way for rich countries to pay for cheap climate action abroad breaks years-long deadlock
Diplomats have greenlit key rules that govern the trade of “carbon credits”, breaking a years-long deadlock and paving the way for rich countries to pay for cheap climate action abroad while delaying expensive emission cuts at home.
The agreement, reached late on the first day of Cop29 in Azerbaijan, was hailed by the hosts as an early win at climate talks that have been snubbed by prominent world leaders and clouded by the threat of a US retreat from climate diplomacy after Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election.
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11/11/2024 - 12:49
Even if president-elect rolls back climate progress, John Podesta reaffirms commitment to a clean planet at Cop29
The US climate envoy John Podesta said the fight “for a cleaner, safer” planet will not stop under a re-elected Donald Trump even if some progress is reversed, speaking at the Cop29 UN climate talks on Monday as they opened in Baku, Azerbaijan.
“Although under Donald Trump’s leadership the US federal government placed climate-related actions on the back burner, efforts to prevent climate change remain a commitment in the US and will confidently continue,” said Podesta, who is leading the Biden administration’s delegation at the annual talks.
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11/11/2024 - 11:00
Australian-led study using seal-shaped decoys finds lighting disrupts ability of predators to see silhouettes against sunlight above
Using LED lighting on the underside of surfboards or kayaks could deter great white shark attacks, new research suggests.
In an Australian-led study using seal-shaped decoys, underside lighting disrupted the ability of great whites to see silhouettes against the sunlight above, reducing the rates at which the sharks followed and attacked the artificial prey. The brighter the lights, the more effective the deterrent was.
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