Refurbishing an old building is subject to full VAT, but it isn’t if you build a polluting new one. The government’s priorities are all wrong
You can damn oil companies, abuse cars, insult nimbys, kill cows, befoul art galleries. But you must never, ever criticise the worst offender of all. The construction industry is sacred to both the left and the right. It may be the world’s greatest polluter, but it is not to be criticised. It is the elephant in the global-heating room.
It’s hard not to feel as though we have a blind spot when it comes to cement, steel and concrete. A year has now passed since the UN’s environment programme stated baldly that “the building and construction sector is by far the largest emitter of greenhouse gases”. The industry accounts for “a staggering 37% of global emissions”, more than any other single source. Yet it rarely gets the same attention as oil or car companies.
Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/19/2024 - 05:00
11/19/2024 - 04:47
Jeremy Clarkson tells Westminster protest that government should admit plans weren’t ‘thought out and are a mistake’
In an interview with the BBC, Steve Reed, the environment secretary, defended imposing inheritance tax on some farms when Labour said in opposition that it was not planning to do that. Asked why the government changed its mind, he replied:
After we won the election, we discovered that the Conservatives have left a £22bn black hole in the public finances. And if we want to fix our National Health Service, rebuild all schools, provide the affordable housing that rural communities and across the country rely on, then we’ve had to ask those with the broader shoulders to pay a little bit more.
I’m sure we all feel betrayed because of the state that the Conservatives left the economy in. A £22bn pound black hole isn’t a small problem. It’s massive, and fixing that is necessary if we want to stabilise the economy and rebuild our public services.
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11/19/2024 - 03:47
Prime minister says government is taking balanced approach amid protest in Westminster over proposed inheritance tax changes
Farmers protest in Whitehall – live updates
What are the tax changes affecting UK farmers?
Keir Starmer has denied that he is mounting a class war by targeting wealthy landowners and private schools, after the head of the National Farmers’ Union accused the government of an extraordinary “betrayal” over inheritance tax changes.
In an escalating war of words between food producers and ministers, the NFU president, Tom Bradshaw, called the government’s budget measures a “stab in the back”, after the sector had been previously told that taxes such as agricultural property relief (APR) would not be changed. He was addressing hundreds of farmers who had travelled to London to lobby their local MPs.
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11/19/2024 - 02:35
Albanese government denies media reports it is signing up to collaboration to share advanced nuclear technology
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The UK government has conceded that Australia was mistakenly included on a list of countries that were expected to sign up to a US-UK civil nuclear deal.
The Albanese government flatly denied media reports on Tuesday that it would join the UK and the US in a collaboration to share advanced nuclear technology. The UK and the US announcement said they would speed up work on “cutting-edge nuclear technology”, including small modular reactors, after inking a deal at the Cop29 UN climate summit in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.
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11/19/2024 - 01:46
Cop29 presidency announces new drive to cut methane emissions from waste dumps as G20 reaffirms transition from fossil fuels
The UK government has conceded that Australia was mistakenly included on a list of countries that were expected to sign up to a US-UK civil nuclear deal agreed at Cop29 on Monday, writes Adam Morton, Guardian Australia’s climate and environment editor.
The Albanese government flatly denied media reports on Tuesday that it would join the UK and the US in a collaboration to share advanced nuclear technology. The UK and the US announcement said they would speed up work on “cutting-edge nuclear technology”, including small modular reactors, after inking a deal at the Cop29 UN climate summit in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.
We urge them to use the G20 meeting to send a positive signal of their commitment to address the climate crisis.
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11/19/2024 - 01:00
Experts say mix of taxes with development bank and private funding can provide $1tn a year needed by 2030
Raising money needed to tackle the climate crisis need not be a burden on overstretched government budgets, leading economists have said.
The sums needed – approximately $1tn a year by 2030 – are achievable without disruption to the global economy, and would help to generate greener economic growth for the future.
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11/19/2024 - 01:00
When exploring wrecked warship the London I can barely see six inches ahead, but I’ve dived 500 times to document and save the secrets of this vessel built by Oliver Cromwell
When I dive to the shipwreck of the London, a warship which was accidentally blown up in the murky waters of the Thames estuary in 1665, I dive in darkness. I can barely see six inches in front of me. And if I turn my torch off, I cannot see anything at all.
But I love it. I’ve dived to the London about 500 times and I only have to feel certain timbers of the wreck, and I know where I am.
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11/18/2024 - 23:24
Small island states must continue to be protected by special circumstances and need access to sufficient climate-based finance, Palau’s president writes
A week into Cop29 negotiations, we’re not moving fast enough – or anywhere for that matter – on some key issues.
Climate finance, or more specifically the new collective quantified goal (NCQG) to replace the current $100bn a year goal, and the work to operationalise the loss and damage fund, are key expected outcomes here in Baku.
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11/18/2024 - 19:13
Marine scientists say one area around Cooktown and Lizard Island had lost more than a third of its live hard coral after bleaching event
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Reefs across the north of the Great Barrier Reef have seen “substantial losses” of coral cover after a summer of extreme heat, two cyclones and major flooding, according to the first results of surveys from government marine scientists.
After the most widespread coral bleaching event seen on the world’s biggest reef system, the Australian Institute of Marine Science said one area around Cooktown and Lizard Island had lost more than a third of its live hard coral – the biggest annual drop in 39 years of monitoring.
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11/18/2024 - 18:45
When the heat is on, the onus should be on the Coalition to explain why they don’t support measures to ensure their newly discovered battlers have access to rooftop solar
Guardian Essential poll: almost half of Australian voters want Aukus reviewed after Donald Trump’s election win
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Australia is facing the extreme risk of dangerous concentrations of high pressure and hot air this summer. There is also a strong likelihood of heatwaves.
The return of the performatively anti-climate Donald Trump will see the world’s biggest per capita carbon polluter pull out of global targets, emboldening energy incumbents and their mouthpieces to amp up their attacks on renewables.
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