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The environmentalist and journalist Flemmich Webb, who has died aged 49, was a key driver behind Lloyd’s of London’s new sustainability strategy that includes fundamental changes to their insurance policies concerning the Arctic.
His passion for conservation and concern for the planet led him to work for many years in environmental journalism, reporting for the Guardian, Independent and Evening Standard. In 2009 he settled in Brighton, East Sussex, where he was a reporter and newsreader for Latest TV (his wit and one-liners were a feature of the bulletins) and became chair of Brighton and Hove 10:10, a not-for-profit organisation working to reduce carbon emissions.
Continue reading...Sumitomo writes off stake in WA’s Bluewaters due to difficulty in refinancing loans for coal projects
The Japanese part-owner of Australia’s newest coal-fired power plant has written off its investment amid dimming prospects for coal.
The conglomerate Sumitomo and another Japanese company, Kansai, each own half the Bluewaters power plant, which provides about 15% of Western Australia’s electricity, after buying it for a reported $1.2bn in 2011.
Continue reading...Earlier ruling said expansion plan was illegal as government had not considered its climate commitments
The supreme court has overturned a February judgment that a third runway at Heathrow airport was illegal. It means the project can now seek planning permission, but the ultimate completion of the runway remains uncertain.
The supreme court ruling marks the latest twist in years of legal and political wrangling over the climate impact and economic benefits of expanding the airport. The decision in February was seen as historic by environmental campaigners, as it was the first significant ruling in the world to be based on the Paris climate agreement, and related cases were subsequently brought against plans to build more roads and gas-fired power plants in the UK.
Continue reading...Diligent journalism, urgent fiction, wondrous imagination: Guardian Australia critics and staff bring you their top reads of the year – in no particular order
Picador
Continue reading...People in outback Queensland are still hoping the La Niña weather pattern will bring desperately needed rain
Storms leave much of NSW reeling as wild weather brings chaosRainfall records were broken across western Queensland in September. Heavy downpours reached the bush again in early November.
The early-season rain – and the onset of a La Niña weather pattern – had outback folks talking about whether the eight-year drought might be about to break.
Related: State of the climate: five big issues from the report that will affect every Australian
Related: Storms lash Australia's east coast – in pictures
Continue reading...Conservationists allege company has breached its environmental licence 52 times at its NSW Bayswater power station site in the past five years
Australia’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, AGL, will pay a $1m penalty for a coal ash spill at a creek in the Hunter region of New South Wales, but environmentalists say the company should have faced criminal prosecution.
The incident occurred at the Bayswater power station near Muswellbrook in September 2019 when a pipeline transporting fly ash – a waste product from burning coal – burst, causing 1,440 cubic metres of hazardous slurry to leak into the dry bed of Bayswater Creek.
Related: Liberal MPs pour cold water on inquiry backed by Frydenberg into bank lending for coal projects
Continue reading...Mountain hares in Scotland failing to adapt to climate change, leaving them more vulnerable to predators
When snow begins to fall, mountain hares melt into the landscape by shedding their dark fur and becoming a brilliant – but camouflaged – white.
But mountain hares in Scotland are failing to adapt to a dramatic increase in snowless days, with their white fur on dark mountainsides leaving them newly visible to potential predators.
Related: Global heating threatens UK wildlife’s ability to adapt and survive
Continue reading...Andrew Bragg and Tim Wilson say inquiry is unnecessary because it’s a legitimate ‘matter for those institutions’
The “modern” Liberals Andrew Bragg and Tim Wilson have brushed off calls from within the government for a fresh inquiry into banks’ decisions to stop lending to coal companies.
On Wednesday the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, signed up to a plan put forward by the Liberal National MP George Christensen to launch an inquiry through the trade and investment growth committee to query how climate change is impacting banks’ lending decisions.
Related: Australia's banks are well placed to weather Covid crisis, RBA says
Related: Nationals call for ANZ boycott after bank's push for net zero emissions
Continue reading...The frequency of natural disasters is making life in rural areas increasingly difficult, pushing inhabitants into city slums
The house Faruk Hossain grew up in has, for the last six months, resisted being claimed by the river, as the rest of the village already has been.
But slowly, as the waters have failed to seep away, he has come to accept that the family house has become uninhabitable. Like other villages nearby, Chakla in Bangladesh’s Satkhira district has not re-emerged from the flooding caused by Super-cyclone Amphan, which battered the south of the country in late May,
Related: ‘We do not get a chance at happiness’: the Bangladeshi fishermen caught by debt
Continue reading...These evergreens are thriving due to climate change but can smother other woodland species
The holly and ivy decorations should be looking lush this Christmas thanks to climate change boosting the growth of these plants.In a study 15 years ago, holly was found spreading further north in Europe than ever before. The plant had pushed northwards by 80 miles (130km) in more than 60 years and was seen in Norway and Sweden where it was being used for Christmas decorations for the first time.Ivy is also becoming more widespread across forests in Europe. In just over 80 years it has spread across more areas of forests, with rising temperatures the key factor. But there is a problem with the rampant growth of both holly and ivy in woodlands, because these evergreens can easily smother and outcompete other plants in the habitat, such as primroses and violets.Mistletoe, though, is struggling with the changing climate, as milder winters rob it of the cold weather in winter it needs to help sprout its seeds the following spring. A study in 2005 found that the pine mistletoe in the Swiss Alps had been forced to climb about 200 metres up mountainsides in 100 years to find cooler conditions, and was expected to climb a further 350 metres up the slopes by 2030.
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