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Last week’s budget was a missed opportunity: we need to mobilise our attachment to country

When it comes to fighting climate change and its effects, both greens and conservatives pay far too much attention to localism, voluntarism, and corporate responsibility. All are valuable; none are adequate. If, as many environmentalists say, the struggle against global heating requires a sense of wartime emergency, then fighting it while chiefly relying on these assets is as if Britain fought the Second World War relying on the Home Guard.

Last week’s budget contained some useful steps to limit carbon emissions; but they are far too small, and offset by road construction and the failure to lift the freeze on fuel taxes brought in 10 years ago.

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The former ‘dirty old town’ has more energy-efficient homes, more green spaces, more recycling and lowest CO2 emissions, according to a new study

Salford may have been fondly dubbed a “dirty old town” by folk singer Ewan MacColl and depicted as full of smoky chimneys by LS Lowry, but new research has crowned it the greenest place to live in England and Wales.

The Greater Manchester city is more sustainable than places such as Brighton, where Caroline Lucas is Britain’s only Green party MP, and Bristol, a former European Green Capital, according to a study to be released later this week by the Centre for Thriving Places.

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From Greta Thunberg to oil firms, people are pushing for more trees to be planted - but why?

At top speed, Canadian Shelby Barber can plant more than 4,000 trees a day.

A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

NSW government targets $11.6 billion in investment, in stage one of its net zero strategy, along with a commitment to two additional Renewable Energy Zones.

The post NSW unveils first stage of Net Zero climate strategy, two new Renewable Energy Zones appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The ICAO Council on Friday endorsed six programmes in full and two others on a conditional basis to supply the UN body’s international aviation offset mechanism CORSIA, with those credits restricted to a five-year window.

The European Parliament is mulling an early bid to agree this year to include all ships using EU ports in the bloc's ETS, attempting to capitalise on the current heightened momentum for climate action, the Parliament’s lead lawmaker on the issue told Carbon Pulse on Friday.

The pick of the world’s best flora and fauna photos, including the last female white giraffe and boxing hares

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We need to rethink the idea that the hunger for new clothes ought to be sated immediately

Fashion operates on desire. How we dress feeds off cravings to be different as well as part of a tribe; to be en vogue but ahead of the pack. The message from the high street is that such wishes can be fulfilled, and fast fashion plays on the idea that hunger can be sated immediately. But to overcome such urges we need to reflect on the fragility of our planet. This means accepting that there is a better way to keep the pleasures of fashion open to all parts of society than promoting disposable clothes as desirable. This is not just about the high cost of the £4 dress; luxury retailers such as Louis Vuitton have offered small collections every two weeks.

The fashion industry has benefited from globalisation to mass-produce goods by externalising the costs of production in the form of human and environmental damage. Every year, 100bn new garments are produced by one out of six people worldwide. Yet only 2% of them earn a living wage. In this country it is an open secret that some garment factories are not paying the minimum wage.

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Crabs on Australia's Christmas Island are suspected of pinching some high-priced equipment.

The government's top scientists are ploughing a different furrow to that of many other countries.

The first RGGI auction of 2020 cleared in line with market expectations as New Jersey returned to the regional cap-and-trade programme eight years after the state left the power sector carbon market.

EUAs lifted towards €23 early on Friday as financial markets bounced back from Thursday's huge losses as governments worldwide took action to control and limit the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Closing prices, ranges and volumes for China's regional pilot carbon markets this week.

A large crowd of monkeys has been filmed brawling over a pot of yoghurt in a street in Thailand. A fall in tourist numbers amid the Covid-19 outbreak has resulted in far fewer people offering them food. The video was filmed in Lopburi, a city north-east of Bangkok that is famed for its monkey population

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Data seen by the Guardian shows ‘extreme rainfall events’ have soared over past 30 years

About 150 people have been killed or are missing following record-breaking heavy rains, landslides and flooding in three Brazilian states this year.

Scientists say global heating is contributing to more “extreme rainfall” events in the country, and warned that such disasters could become “the new normal”.

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Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator has issued nearly 168,000 fresh carbon credits this week, it said Friday, only around a third of last week’s volume.

From loss of livelihoods to domestic abuse, women bear the brunt of natural disasters. Without change, progress on gender equality will be undone

Milikini Failautusi, 30, lives on the Pacific island of Tuvalu. She has become virtually a nomad in her own country after rising tides forced her to leave her ancestral atoll and move to the main island, Funafuti.

She is now a climate activist. She can no longer visit her home island, yet remains committed to her country with a burning desire to prevent her own children from inheriting an underwater ghost town. This is not just Milikini’s story.

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The UK National Parks and Campaign for National Parks are delighted to announce the winner, runner up and shortlisted entrants for our joint photography competition underscoring the importance of nature in our national parks.

The competition, around the theme of ‘inspired by nature’, drew about 1,700 entries via social media. Outstanding wildlife shots, landscapes and portraits from across the 15 national parks in the UK blew away the judges.

The dramatic winning shot from Peter Stevens depicts a rare osprey swooping in on its prey in the Cairngorms national park.

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