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Garden designer says landlords have a responsibility to let renters improve outdoor space and help environment

Landlords have a responsibility to allow renters to garden, a top garden designer has said while exhibiting a “portable” wildlife courtyard at Hampton Court Palace garden festival.

Flatpack raised beds and a portable pond feature in Zoe Claymore’s garden, designed for the Wildlife Trusts, which aims to demonstrate that outdoor furniture can be as easy to move from home to home as the indoor kind.

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Ireland and Sweden join countries calling for moratorium on extraction of metals from seabed as UN-backed authority prepares for crucial talks

The list of countries calling for a pause on deep-sea mining continued to grow this week ahead of a key moment that mining companies hope will launch the fledgling industry, and its opponents hope could clip its wings, perhaps for good.

Ireland and Sweden became the latest developed economies to join critics, including scientists, environmental organisations and multinationals such as BMW, Volvo and Samsung. The carmakers have committed not to use minerals mined from the seabed in their electric vehicles.

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US Treasury secretary says Beijing could have greater global impact if it worked with global climate institutions

US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has pressed China to do more to support international climate institutions that are helping finance green initiatives around the world, urging deeper cooperation in addressing the “existential threat” of global heating.

“Climate finance should be targeted efficiently and effectively,” Yellen said on Saturday in Beijing during a meeting with Chinese and international sustainable finance experts. “I believe that if China were to support existing multilateral climate institutions like the Green Climate Fund and the Climate Investment Funds alongside us and other donor governments, we could have a greater impact than we do today.”

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Emitters entered an overall net long position in California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) for the first time since late February on a bullish outlook and a heat wave, emitters also extended their RGGI Allowance (RGA) net length, while financial entities added to current vintage holdings across both carbon markets, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data published Friday.

Companies turning to insetting as a knee-jerk reaction to criticism about offsetting practices may not be pursuing an approach that is any more credible, a leading expert on carbon credit quality told a conference on Friday.

The WCI compliance instrument surplus bank continued to expand for the second consecutive quarter this year on larger offset issuances, while the cap-and-trade scheme’s allowance glut declined further despite subdued permit retirements over the three months, according to programme data published Friday.

Any words?

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Citigroup is considering investing some of its own money in carbon credits though would likely take a broader view than rival JP Morgan Chase’s approach, a conference heard on Friday from an executive at the US bank who viewed the voluntary carbon market’s current 'decline' as temporary.

The European Commission has missed an opportunity to engineer an international emission accounting standard in its draft implementing regulation for the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), a think-tank claimed this week.

Members of the UN body shaping the rules for crediting carbon projects under the Paris Agreement are to dive deeper into a crucial debate around aligning activity baselines with the ambition of the accord, according to documents published ahead of next week's meeting.

The UN secretary general has said that 'climate change is out of control', as an unofficial analysis of data showed that average world temperatures in the seven days to Wednesday were the hottest week on record.

'If we persist in delaying key measures that are needed, I think we are moving into a catastrophic situation,' said António Guterres after reports emerged about the world temperature records being broken on Monday and Tuesday.

The average global air temperature was 17.18C on Tuesday, according to data collated by the US National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), surpassing the record 17.01C reached on Monday

• UN says climate change ‘out of control’ after likely hottest week on record

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New Zealand is considering establishing a domestic voluntary biodiversity credit scheme to halt and reverse the decline in natural ecosystems, and on Friday launched a broad consultation process to help shape the design of the market, including its interaction with other policies, such as the country's carbon emissions trading scheme.

In a ‘message of hope’ the animals have been brought in from Namibia to establish a group in their historical homeland

After an epic 36-hour journey, the first native giraffes to be returned to an Angolan national park arrived from Namibia this week, in what many hope to be the first of multiple translocations to return the animals to their historical homeland.

The giraffes, seven males and seven females, travelled more than 800 miles (1,300km) from a private game farm near Otjiwarongo in the Otjozondjupa region of central Namibia to Iona national park in the south-west corner of Angola.

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The European Commission on Friday launched a process for the EU to withdraw from the controversial Energy Charter Treaty due to the pact's incompatibility with the bloc’s climate law and policy, following unilateral exit moves from some states and pressure from lawmakers.

After more than six years of suspension, China on Friday released draft regulations for its domestic carbon offset market, proposing significantly tighter settings than in the previous version, though the fate of existing projects was not mentioned.

While South Korea offers official support, China and other voices in region continue to express concerns over discharge from nuclear plant

The publication this week of the UN nuclear watchdog’s positive assessment of Japanese plans to pump more than 1m tonnes of water from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean has failed to placate opponents.

China is fiercely opposed to the plans, despite a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) backing the scheme, while the support of the government of South Korea has failed to quell widespread public opposition to the idea in the country.

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International Maritime Organization agreement is inadequate to decarbonise sector, say campaigners

Attempts to impose a levy on greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping, in order to fund climate action, have been delayed but not extinguished at the conclusion of talks among 175 governments.

Greenhouse gas reduction goals for international shipping were agreed, in a toughening of previous targets, but were criticised as inadequate by campaigners.

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Exclusive: Aid NGOs criticise government and Labour after Guardian reveals flagship climate pledge is almost impossible to meet

Keir Starmer has been accused of “wavering on climate commitments” after the Labour party refused to commit to the £11.6bn climate funding pledge made to the world’s poorest nations.

Aid NGOs have criticised the government and the Labour party after the Guardian revealed that under current plans, meeting the flagship pledge made at Cop26 to protect vulnerable countries against the climate crisis is almost impossible.

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European carbon prices traded in their narrowest range for more than two years on Friday morning, as participation remained at a low ebb with many participants attending an industry event.

Applications to mine the seabed in our ocean commons can be made from 9 July, allowing a few corporations to profit from ecological disaster

Sunday 9 July threatens to be a momentous day for the global economy, one that marks the beginning of the biggest gold rush in history, and one that could lead to unprecedented ecological damage. Yet few people seem to be taking much notice. The British government has been silent.

To understand the impending drama, a little history is required. In 1982, after 25 years of torturous negotiations, the United Nations passed Unclos (the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea). It involved the biggest enclosure in history, turning more than 138m sq km (53m square miles) of seabed into national exclusive economic zones (EEZs) available for exploitation by coastal countries.

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