The Guardian

Revealed: more than 100 executives given special guest badges as activists challenge role of oil and gas firms at talks

The host country of this year’s UN climate summit, Azerbaijan, has rolled out “red carpet” treatment to fossil fuel bosses and lobbyists, the Guardian can reveal.

At least 132 oil and gas company senior executives and staff were invited to the Cop29 summit, and had special badges denoting they were guests of the presidency.

The president of the Spanish province of Valencia, Carlos Mazón, rejected calls for his resignation amid growing public anger over his management of the recent devastating floods that killed more than 210 people in the area. He conceded mistakes were made but claimed the unprecedented and 'apocalyptic' scale of the disaster overwhelmed the system

• Valencia’s president admits mistakes in flood response but will not resign

• Almost half of Valencia’s flood victims were aged over 70, figures show

At Cop29 the global south needs to unite for sustainable growth, leveraging resources and negotiating transformative climate finance pacts

More than a century of burning coal, oil and gas has fuelled intense heatwaves, prolonged droughts, heavier rains and devastating floods. To prevent even more severe impacts, the UN global climate summit, Cop29, must deliver tangible results to keep global temperature rises below 2C – the limit defined in the 2015 Paris agreement. Achieving this goal means human societies can only emit a finite amount of additional carbon dioxide, known as the world’s “carbon budget”.

Developed nations have exceeded their carbon budgets, while developing countries remain within theirs. Carbon dioxide lingers in the atmosphere for centuries, turning past unchecked fossil fuel use into a costly planetary bill. Between 1870 and 2019, the US, EU, Russia, UK, Japan, Canada and Australia – home to just 15% of the global population – accounted for over 60% of atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment.

Exclusive: UK energy secretary says at Cop29 that people see the economic advantages of making the transition

• Cop29 climate summit – live updates

Renewable energy is now “unstoppable”, and no government can prevent the shift to a global low-carbon economy, UK energy secretary Ed Miliband has said.

He said the UK was acting out of national self-interest by taking a global lead on cutting greenhouse gas emissions and boosting financial help available to poor countries at crunch UN climate talks this week.

Some cafes and visitor centres to close with job losses while reserves in Suffolk and Hertfordshire among those in peril

The future of several RSPB nature reserves is in doubt as it introduces cuts, citing cost of living pressures.

The bird charity told its workers at an all-staff meeting on Thursday that cafes and visitor centres across some of its sites would be closing, and staff would be made redundant. It also said it was in the process of transferring ownership of some of its sites to other companies.

Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility accuses Australian oil giant of misleading and false claims in closing arguments

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Santos misled investors by positioning itself as a “clean fuels company” with a credible net zero plan, the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) has alleged in closing remarks to a world-first greenwashing case.

Noel Hutley SC, representing ACCR, said the case was about protecting the public interest by “ensuring that commitments by Australian companies regarding climate change are reasonably based and not misleading”.

The negotiations continue with plenty of disagreement about the way forward, as we approach the halfway mark in Baku, Azerbaijan

More concern about whether Cop29 is really functioning properly. The wires are reporting that former US vice president Al Gore said yesterday: “It’s unfortunate that the fossil fuel industry and the petrostates have seized control of the COP process to an unhealthy degree.

While the Dubai summit produced a global agreement on “transitioning away” from fossil fuels, the follow-up commitment “has been very weak” and the issue “is hardly even mentioned” at COP29, he said.

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

What would it witness in Azerbaijan? A species that knows it is destroying itself but is too greedy to change course

Imagine, as many people do, an all-seeing eye in the sky, looking down on planet Earth. Imagine seeing what it sees. It watches, over the course of decades, ice caps shrinking, rainforests retreating, deserts expanding, ocean circulation slowing, freshwater dwindling and sea levels rising, and it thinks – for it has been there since the beginning – “this is familiar”. All the signs are there, of an Earth system sliding towards collapse, as it has done five times since animals with hard body parts first evolved.

But this time, it knows, is different. Not only is one of the life forms causing the collapse, but it shares some of the eye’s supernatural abilities: it too can see what is happening. So, with heightened curiosity, the eye zooms in, to see what this well-informed being is doing to avert catastrophe.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

Future UN conferences should only be held in countries that show support for climate action, urge influential group

• Over 1,700 coal, oil and gas lobbyists granted access to Cop29, says report

Future UN climate summits should be held only in countries that can show clear support for climate action and have stricter rules on fossil fuel lobbying, according to a group of influential climate policy experts.

The group includes former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, the former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, the former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and the prominent climate scientist Johan Rockström.

Fossil fuel-linked lobbyists outnumber delegations of almost every country at climate talks in Baku, analysis finds

• Cop summits ‘no longer fit for purpose’, say leading climate policy experts

At least 1,773 coal, oil, and gas lobbyists have been granted access to the United Nations climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, a new report has found, raising concerns about the planet-heating industry’s influence on the negotiations.

Those lobbyists outnumber the delegations of almost every country at the conference, the analysis from the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition shows, with the only exceptions being this year’s host country, Azerbaijan, next year’s host Brazil, and Turkey.

Analysis lays bare huge challenge of mismanaged waste on eve of UN plastic treaty talks in Busan

Global plastic production must be reduced to tackle the immense challenge of plastic pollution, according to an analysis published on the eve of crucial talks to hammer out the world’s first legally binding treaty on plastic waste.

Mismanaged plastic waste, which leaches into the environment and can be harmful to health, will double to 121m tonnes by 2050 if limits are not placed on the production of plastic, according to Samuel Pottinger, the lead author of the research.

When infestations affect Notting Hill billionaires, it reminds you that it’s the little winged bastards who truly own this city

While reading of the case of the super-rich couple suing the previous owners of their west London mansion over its moth infestation, one particularly detail prompted warm memories. Iya Patarkatsishvili and Yevhen Hunyak had to tip away glasses of wine after discovering moths floating in them, Hunyak told the court. Ah yes, I thought, I too have found a moth taking a little dip in my tipple, though I’ll admit that I simply fished him out rather than waste a glass. Worse, mine only contained Tesco’s finest wine, as opposed to, you know, the world’s.

Moths, it seems, pay no attention to social class. Whether you are a lowly renter in a poky flat, such as I, or the daughter of a Georgian billionaire; if you live in London, they are coming for you. Moths, like mice in the tube, are simply a fact of living in this city, so commonplace as to be almost unremarkable. Even when waging daily battle against them, you sort of forget about them; their soft fluttering wings are a kind of inaudible mood music, until someone who has recently moved here says, “What’s with all the moths?”, and you remember the bastards that truly own this city.

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist and author

Defra data shows lower income for most farm types but small boost from payments for nature-friendly schemes

Income fell on almost all farm types in England last year, as extreme weather hit yields and the government cut subsidies.

Farmers fear future hits to their industry after a hugely unpopular change to agricultural property relief which means some farms will be saddled with a large, unexpected tax bill, and a surprise, severe cut to the EU-derived basic payments scheme meaning a shortfall in cash that they had not predicted.

Gigantic multicoloured organism is visible from space and has grown for between 300 and 500 years

The world’s largest known coral, visible from space, has been discovered in the waters of the Solomon Islands.

With a circumference of 183 metres, the gigantic multicoloured organism is an intricate network of individual coral polyps that have grown for between 300 and 500 years.

Trump could stop in its tracks US’s emergence as clean energy superpower and forfeit billions in investment

The United States’s blossoming emergence as a clean energy superpower could be stopped in its tracks by Donald Trump, further empowering Chinese leadership and forfeiting tens of billions of dollars of investment to other countries, according to a new report.

Trump’s promise to repeal major climate policies passed during Joe Biden’s presidency threatens to push $80bn of investment to other countries and cost the US up to $50bn in lost exports, the analysis found, surrendering ground to China and other emerging powers in the race to build electric cars, batteries, solar and wind energy for the world.

Join us for all the latest developments from day 4 of the climate summit in Azerbaijan

If delegates want evidence of the reality of the climate crisis they only need to look at Spain, which has been hit by deadly flooding for the second time in two weeks. More than 200 people have been killed and the anger towards politicians for their perceived failure to protect the public should serve as a warning to the leaders negotiating at Cop29.

My colleague Jonathan Watts has written a piece today looking at the likely impact of Donald Trump’s victory in the US on the climate crisis.

Bedfordshire farm was saved through public donations after a successful £1.5m crowdfunding campaign

A unique farm that was “accidentally” rewilded 35 years ago and is now a haven for endangered nightingales and other rare wildlife has been saved, thanks in part to the generosity of Guardian readers.

Strawberry Hill in Bedfordshire has been successfully bought by the Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs and Northants (BCN) after a crowdfunding appeal raised £1.5m.

Dutch appeal court ruled in favour of oil and gas company over judgment telling it to limit emissions

A court ruling in favour of Shell does not spell the end of climate litigation against companies, legal experts have said.

The oil and gas company celebrated on Tuesday when it won an appeal against a landmark climate judgment by a Dutch court.

Biosecurity officials investigating after red imported fire ants found in lawn laid at Clunes property

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A global super pest that has settled into south-east Queensland has been accidentally imported into New South Wales, marking its first known incursion in almost a year.

Officials are now inquiring whether turf was falsely signed off as being treated for fire ants before crossing the border on Wednesday.

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