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The broadcasting legend reveals to Radio 1's Greg James he's busy enough replying to letters.

People may have to travel to London despite pandemic in one of biggest protest crackdowns in UK legal history

More than 1,000 people who took part in environmental direct action organised by Extinction Rebellion have been taken to court in what experts say is one of the biggest crackdowns on protest in British legal history.

Hundreds of cases are ongoing and lawyers say that despite the pandemic, some defendants may still be asked to travel to court in London from across the UK to appear in person.

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The best of the week’s wildlife pictures from around the world including sparring elk, dove v chipmunk and a playful elephant

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Satellite data shows that 2020 and 2016 are essentially tied as the hottest years since records began.

Global heating continued unabated despite Covid lockdowns, with record Arctic wildfires and Atlantic tropical storms

The climate crisis continued unabated in 2020, with the the joint highest global temperatures on record, alarming heat and record wildfires in the Arctic, and a record 29 tropical storms in the Atlantic.

Despite a 7% fall in fossil fuel burning due to coronavirus lockdowns, heat-trapping carbon dioxide continued to build up in the atmosphere, also setting a new record. The average surface temperature across the planet in 2020 was 1.25C higher than in the pre-industrial period of 1850-1900, dangerously close to the 1.5C target set by the world’s nations to avoid the worst impacts.

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Many botanists dispute idea of plant sentience, but study of climbing beans sows seed of doubt

They’ve provided us with companionship and purpose during the darkest days of lockdown, not to mention brightening our Instagram feeds. But the potted cacti, yucca, and swiss cheese plants we’ve welcomed into our homes are entirely passive houseguests. Aren’t they?

Research suggests that at least one type of plant – the french bean – may be more sentient than we give it credit for: namely, it may possess intent.

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Cities occupy just 3% of the Earth's surface, yet more than half the world's population live in urban environments. We need nation-wide plans to keep our cities cool so no one gets left behind. Mark Maund, Research Affiliate, School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle Kim Maund, Discipline Head – Construction Management, School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle Marcus Jefferies, Senior Lecturer School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle SueAnne Ware, Professor and Head of School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

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

The aerospace industry is testing models of radical looking aircraft, but will they ever make it into production?

WCI regulated entities shifted carbon allowances and offsets into compliance accounts during Q4 2020 ahead of California’s interim cap-and-trade true-up deadline, while the state moved nearly 23 million allowances into Allowance Price Containment Reserve (APCR) tiers, according to data published Thursday.

The Democratic Senate victories secured this week will enable US President-elect Joe Biden (D) to more easily reverse Trump-era environmental rollbacks, confirm political appointees, and advance green spending and infrastructure provisions, but the razor-thin majority in both Congressional chambers will still create hurdles to pass more aggressive federal climate legislation, experts told Carbon Pulse.

RGGI Allowance (RGA) prices surged to an all-time high on thin demand this week as Democrats secured a majority in the US Congress, while California Carbon Allowance (CCA) values inched slightly above the programme’s 2021 floor price.

Scottish farmers could lose £170m by 2025, with Welsh and Northern Irish ministers also critical of new regime

Farmers in the UK’s devolved administrations are facing substantial cuts to their income as a result of Brexit, which could imperil their ability to protect the countryside, ministers were warned on Thursday.

Fergus Ewing, Scotland’s cabinet secretary for the rural economy, told the Oxford Farming Conference that Scottish farmers would lose out to the tune of £170m between now and 2025, compared with the subsidies they could have expected under the EU’s common agricultural policy, which provided roughly £3bn a year across the UK.

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The government launches a public consultation on using gene editing to modify livestock and crops.

EUAs stormed to a new all-time high on Thursday, stretching Monday's record as energy markets also notched gains.

To support the expansion of the Environmental Markets side of the business, this position is responsible for supporting the development and management of Environmental market analysis activities for the Gazprom Marketing & Trading (GM&T) business in London. The role will be directly reporting into the Head of Fundamentals and Analytics.

If you’re feeling cooped up, defy the cold, head for your local park and marvel at the antics of gulls, starlings and fieldfares

I endured the first lockdown while living alone for a period in Spain. The virus was rampant in the country and measures to stop it were draconian. For nearly three months I lived in virtual confinement with the occasional visit to the corner shop being my only respite – my only chance to see people other than a rare visit from the postman. We were not even permitted to take exercise.

I was based in Mérida, a city in the south west. The front of my flat overlooked an incredibly ugly secondary school – out back on the terrace, the skyline was dominated by chimneys and satellite dishes. There was not a lick of green to be seen. As many will have experienced, it was a very tough time.

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Cattle can fertilise land but consumption of other meat, milk and eggs must fall by 50%

The UK’s beef herd could be at the heart of a sustainable farming system that tackles both the climate and wildlife crises while producing sufficient healthy food, according to a report.

However, production and consumption of other meat, milk and eggs would have to fall by half, and large forests of new trees would have to be planted, the analysis from the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission charity (FFCC) found.

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Carbon border taxes alone will not encourage poorer countries to meet climate goals

With the US president-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration promising a fresh, rational approach to climate change, now is an ideal time to make the case for a World Carbon Bank that would transfer and coordinate aid and technical assistance to help developing countries decarbonise. The proposed Green New Deal in the US and the European commission’s European Green Deal have laudable environmental goals but are too inward-looking. When an entire building is burning, to concentrate firefighting resources on one floor would only delay, not prevent, its destruction.

According to the International Energy Agency, almost all the net growth in carbon dioxide emissions over the next two decades will come from emerging markets. Although China recently pledged to achieve zero net emissions by 2060, it is sobering to consider that it accounts for half of the world’s coal output and half of its coal consumption.

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Climate disaster could be curtailed within a couple of decades if net zero emissions are reached, new study shows

The world may be barreling towards climate disaster but rapidly eliminating planet-heating emissions means global temperatures could stabilize within just a couple of decades, scientists say.

For many years it was assumed that further global heating would be locked in for generations even if emissions were rapidly cut. Climate models run by scientists on future temperatures were based on a certain carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. If this remained at the current high level there would be runaway climate disaster, with temperatures continuing to rise even if emissions were reduced because of a lag time before greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere.

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