Move adds to concerns about the stability of the Paris agreement after the election in the US of Donald Trump
Cop29 climate summit – live updates
Argentinian negotiators representing the government of the climate science denier Javier Milei have been ordered to withdraw from the Cop29 summit after only three days, adding to concerns about the stability of the Paris agreement.
More than 80 representatives from the South American country are in Baku, Azerbaijan, for two weeks of negotiations about climate finance for the energy transition. Argentina’s far-right leader has previously called the climate crisis a “socialist lie”, and threatened to withdraw from the Paris agreement during his election campaign last year, but has since backed down.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/13/2024 - 11:51
Royalties earned from The Golden Mole, published in the US this week as Vanishing Treasures, will be given towards counteracting ‘the election of a climate-change denier’
British author Katherine Rundell will give all the royalties from one of her books to climate charities in response to the re-election of Donald Trump.
The author of bestsellers for children and adults has said she will donate 100% of author royalties earned from sales of The Golden Mole, her 2022 book on endangered species, “in perpetuity”. The book was published in the US on Tuesday under the title Vanishing Treasures.
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11/13/2024 - 09:44
German energy firm shaves €3bn from spending plans for next financial year to €7bn
A German energy firm has said that Donald Trump’s election victory has increased the risks of investing in offshore wind projects – but his return to the White House could help bolster Britain’s renewables sector, according to UK developer SSE.
Germany’s RWE has cut its spending plans and warned that, as a result of the US election, “the risks for offshore wind projects have increased”.
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11/13/2024 - 09:39
Large parts of east and south under alerts as schools are shut and riverside neighbourhoods evacuated in Andalucía
Authorities in eastern and southern Spain have closed schools and begun evacuating some residents as the country is pounded by further torrential rains two weeks after the catastrophic floods that killed at least 215 people and unleashed a bitter political blame game.
By Wednesday morning, the state meteorological agency, Aemet, had put large parts of eastern and southern Spain on amber alert and issued the highest level of warning for the provinces of Tarragona in Catalonia and Málaga in Andalucía.
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11/13/2024 - 07:00
Of 140 million people in the US who draw water from US aquifers via private or public wells, 70% at risk
PFAS may be contaminating drinking water for up to 70% of about 140 million people in the US who draw water from the nation’s aquifers via private or public wells, a new federal government study estimates. The findings show a potential impact on about 95 million people, or 27% of the nation’s population.
The US Geological Survey sampling and modeling of groundwater contamination found readings up to 37,000 times higher than the EPA’s new drinking water limits. In some regions virtually all of those using public systems that draw from groundwater may be drinking contaminated water.
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11/13/2024 - 07:00
From olive oil to butter, extreme weather is pushing up the cost of living and having a dramatic political impact. Economists need a solution
In the US, where Donald Trump swept the board last week, it was the experience of sharply increasing essentials prices, from food to energy, that glued together the Republicans’ new electoral coalition. About 75% of those voting Republican reported that they had faced “hardship” or “severe hardship” as a result of price rises; only 25% of Democrats said the same. When Trump asked if Americans felt better now than they did four years ago, the answer for most was a clear no.
Price surges are having political impacts. In elections this year in three of the world’s largest economies, incumbent parties were hammered by voters angry about their helplessness in the face of the steeply rising cost of essentials.
James Meadway is the host of the podcast Macrodose
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11/13/2024 - 01:11
France’s ecology minister cancels after Azerbaijan’s president attacks French actions in overseas territories
Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, has joined a chorus of leaders using their speeches to call for more money to reach their climate goals - and specifying that they need grants rather than loans that saddle them with more debt.
“Without climate justice, there can be no real resilience,” he said. “I wouldn’t want other countries to face the fight Pakistan faced in 2022.”
Pakistan was devastated by floods two years ago, shortly before Cop27. The disaster added a sense of urgency to that year’s negotiations that helped pressure rich countries to set up a fund to pay for the losses and damages borne by poor countries. (You can read more on that from my colleague Nina Lakhani here.)
“Two years, I warned at the top of my voice that the future would never forgive our inaction,” said Sharif. “Today, I echo the same warning with greater urgency and fullest energy at my command.”
25 countries have announced a commitment to swift and ambitious climate action.
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11/13/2024 - 00:39
Federal inquiry hears support for a nuclear industry in central Queensland even though local councillors say they were not consulted
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Queensland regional councils and utility companies were not consulted about plans to build a nuclear power plant in their area before it was publicly announced, an inquiry has been told.
But the controversial energy technology could be welcomed by many central Queensland residents regardless, with business people and farmers telling MPs they preferred nuclear and coal to renewable energy sources.
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11/13/2024 - 00:13
Conservationists demand action from Minns government after ‘alarming’ rise in deaths of female koalas and joeys
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Koala road deaths have nearly doubled in a development hotspot in south-western Sydney, according to conservationists who are demanding the Minns government improve protection for the endangered species in new housing areas.
In a letter – signed by more than 20 community and national environment groups – to the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, and senior ministers, the Sydney Basin Koala Network accused the government of a “development first, koalas later” mindset that was accelerating the species’ decline.
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11/12/2024 - 19:01
Despite nations’ pledges at Cop28 a year ago, the burning of coal, oil and gas continued to rise in 2024
There is “no sign” of the transition away from burning fossil fuels that was pledged by the world’s nations a year ago, with 2024 on track to set another new record for global carbon emissions.
The new data, released at the UN’s Cop29 climate conference in Azerbaijan, indicates that the planet-heating emissions from coal, oil and gas will rise by 0.8% in 2024. In stark contrast, emissions have to fall by 43% by 2030 for the world to have any chance of keeping to the 1.5C temperature target and limiting “increasingly dramatic” climate impacts on people around the globe.
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