The Guardian

Biden administration rolls out a flurry of executive orders aimed at tackling climate crisis

Joe Biden has moved to reinstate the US to the Paris climate agreement just hours after being sworn in as president, as his administration rolls out a cavalcade of executive orders aimed at tackling the climate crisis.

Biden’s executive action, signed in the White House on Wednesday, will see the US rejoin the international effort curb the dangerous heating of the planet, following a 30-day notice period. The world’s second largest emitter of greenhouse gases was withdrawn from the Paris deal under Donald Trump.

Study tests public support for bringing back species after 500-year absence, while farmers fear for sheep

A consortium of conservationists that hopes to release wild lynx into the Scottish Highlands has launched a year-long study to see whether the public supports their reintroduction.

The study, part-funded by two billionaire Danish estate owners in the Highlands, Anders Povlsen and Lisbet Rausing, will test whether farmers, landowners and rural communities will agree to a pilot project in a remote area of Scotland.

New research centre to tackle overlap of livestock and human medicines, but campaigners fear “techno-fix” for factory farming

An initiative to develop bespoke antibiotics for livestock has raised fears that it could be a “techno-fix” for more intensive farming.

Mixed reactions have followed news that Ineos, a global petrochemical manufacturer, has donated £100m to establish the Ineos Oxford University Institute (IOI) for antimicrobial research.

The institute said it would focus on designing novel antimicrobials solely for animals because the majority of global antibiotic consumption by volume was in agriculture, and antibiotic use in animals was contributing significantly to their lessening effectiveness in humans.

World Health Organization estimates air pollution kills more than 7 million people each year

Limiting air pollution to levels recommended by the World Health Organization could prevent more than 50,000 deaths in Europe annually, according to research.

The WHO estimates air pollution kills more than 7 million people each year and is one of the leading causes of sickness and absence from work globally.

Despite no real climbing experience, photographer Bastiaan Woudt went in search of the Himalayas’ highest peaks … and himself

After studying how microplastics damage the oceans, schoolgirl Lizzie wants the government to stop sending waste to developing countries

A petition by a nine-year-old schoolgirl calling on Boris Johnson to stop shipments of plastic waste to developing countries has received more than 70,000 signatures in less than a week.

Lizzie A*, who is studying plastic pollution in year 4, said she began the petition because sending Britain’s unsorted plastic waste to poorer nations is “unfair” and wrong. She took action last week after her mother, Esther, showed her a piece in the Guardian’s Seascape series, revealing the UK will continue to ship plastic waste to developing countries despite an EU ban on the practice from this month.

Trade bill vote rejects Lords amendment giving MPs greater scrutiny of trade deals

Ministers will be able to approve the import of animal and agricultural products of a lower standard than currently permitted in the UK, after attempts to amend the trade bill failed.

The government has repeatedly vowed not to allow the import of chlorinated chicken and hormone-treated beef, but has refused to sign those pledges into law.

Conservationists are strongly critical of the system used to prevent shark attacks off the beaches of KwaZulu-Natal, an area where sharks can be viewed by divers without cages

Met Office issues an amber weather warning as South Yorkshire also declares a major incident

Greater Manchester has become the latest area to declare a major incident as swaths of central and northern England brace for the arrival of Storm Christoph.

South Yorkshire has also declared a major incident in preparation for potential flooding. The Met Office issued an amber weather warning for rain between Tuesday and Thursday for an area covering Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield and stretching down to Peterborough.

Sales of electric cars rose by 43% while overall car sales slumped by a fifth last year

Global sales of electric cars accelerated fast in 2020, rising by 43% to more than 3m, despite overall car sales slumping by a fifth during the coronavirus pandemic.

Tesla was the brand selling the most electric cars, delivering almost 500,000, followed by Volkswagen. Sales of electric cars more than doubled in Europe, pushing the region past China as the world’s biggest market for them, according to data published on Tuesday by EV-volumes.com, a Sweden-based consultancy.

Exclusive: first factory production means recharging could soon be as fast as filling up petrol or diesel vehicles

Batteries capable of fully charging in five minutes have been produced in a factory for the first time, marking a significant step towards electric cars becoming as fast to charge as filling up petrol or diesel vehicles.

Electric vehicles are a vital part of action to tackle the climate crisis but running out of charge during a journey is a worry for drivers. The new lithium-ion batteries were developed by the Israeli company StoreDot and manufactured by Eve Energy in China on standard production lines.

Plan would open up desert areas to mining projects, eliminating up to 2.2m acres of conservation lands

The outgoing Trump administration is proposing to strip away protections for millions of acres of California desert, threatening damage to Joshua trees, desert tortoises and landmarks.

The plan would open up California’s desert areas to mining projects, eliminate up to 2.2m acres of conservation lands, as well as remove 1.8m acres designated as Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (Acecs).

Rescinding permit is on list of executive actions thought to be scheduled for first day in office

Joe Biden is planning to cancel the permit for the $9bn Keystone XL pipeline project as one of his first acts as president, perhaps as soon as his first day in office, according to a source familiar with his thinking.

Donald Trump had made building the pipeline a central promise of his presidential campaign. Biden, who will be inaugurated on Wednesday, was vice-president in the Obama administration when it rejected the project as contrary to its efforts to combat the climate crisis.

Winter is when you get the very best out of your senses. Bare trees mean that you can hear every sound and watch for birds

Do you remember the first lockdown? We were scared but for most of us it was easier than this gloomy winter shutdown. We hadn’t endured a year of the coronavirus crisis – of fears for vulnerable family members, of economic shock, mental health challenges and ruined livelihoods. It was also the sunniest spring ever. The traffic stopped, the birds sang and so many people reported positive benefits for their mental and physical wellbeing from connecting with nature.

I hoped that we would all remember those physical and mental health benefits of spending time in wild green places. But I fear it’s not happening.

From workers’ rights to hormones in beef, voters expect our politicians to regulate big business just as Brussels did

“Take back control” worked wonderfully well as a campaign slogan. It infuriated Remainers while Leavers struggled to specify any European Union rule that they would change should they be able to do so. However, Dominic Cummings knew all too well it was the idea of control, rather than the question of what to do with it, that mattered most to Leave voters. The latter was a problem for later.

Later has now arrived. The UK has indeed reclaimed its sovereignty. As a result, we will now have to come to decide what kind of country we aspire to be in terms of broader regulatory terms. The available evidence suggests that the government won’t find it as easy to keep on the right side of public opinion when exercising its new-found power as it did when it demanded control.

MPs’ unfounded claims about the US Capitol attack and Covid treatments pale next to the granddaddy of misinformation

Nasa announced this week that 2020 – a year which included a La Niña event normally associated with lower temperatures – was the hottest year on record. It was also the week in which the Morrison government used racist tropes to distract and excuse conspiracy statements made by its MPs.

Related: 2020 was hottest year on record by narrow margin, Nasa says

Supporters insist that storage technology is not a costly mistake but the best way for UK to cut emissions from heavy industry

Engineers and geologists have strongly criticised green groups who last week claimed that carbon capture and storage schemes – for reducing fossil fuel emissions – are costly mistakes.

The scientists insisted that such schemes are vital weapons in the battle against global heating and warn that failure to set up ways to trap carbon dioxide and store it underground would make it almost impossible to hold net emissions to below zero by 2050.

Critics condemn ‘callous betrayal’ after Trump officials set in motion transfer of Oak Flat to Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton

As one of its last acts, the Trump administration has set in motion the transfer of sacred Native American lands to a pair of Anglo-Australian mining conglomerates.

The 2,422-acre Arizona parcel called Oak Flat is of enormous significance to the Western Apache and is now on track for destruction by what is slated to be one of the largest copper mining operations in the United States.

Hostile dispute over trophy hunting fuelled by ‘myths driven by emotion and morality that ignore critical facts’

Leading scientists have warned that global conservation is being undermined by celebrity power after they suffered death threats and abuse in a hostile dispute over trophy hunting.

Groups such as the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting and Born Free are pressuring the UK and US governments to ban trophy hunting, with support from many famous names, much of the public and more than 150 MPs across the political spectrum.

Call for world leaders to act in wake of French extradition case that turned on environmental concerns

Air pollution does not respect national boundaries and environmental degradation will lead to mass migration in the future, said a leading barrister in the wake of a landmark migration ruling, as experts warned that government action must be taken as a matter of urgency.

Sailesh Mehta, a barrister specialising in environmental cases, said: “The link between migration and environmental degradation is clear. As global warming makes parts of our planet uninhabitable, mass migration will become the norm. Air and water pollution do not respect national boundaries. We can stop a humanitarian and political crisis from becoming an existential one. But our leaders must act now.”