‘Laggard’ Ireland takes step toward net-zero carbon goal
A cross-party parliamentary group wants carbon budgets, a higher tax and green agriculture support to reverse the country’s lax policies
Brazil: Official who fined Bolsonaro for illegal fishing in 2012 is fired
The $2,500 fine launched a seven year vendetta against José Olímpio Augusto Morelli and the agency that protects the Amazon, from the man who now runs the country
Extreme weather impacted 62 million people last year, says WMO
As the impacts of Cyclone Idai continue to grow in south-eastern Africa, the global agency says extreme weather is worsening hunger and conflict
‘Fake news’: UN aviation body blocks online climate critics
The International Civil Aviation Organization is dismissing factual critiques and blocking accounts that raise concerns about the climate change impact of flying
UN climate body bids for 26% core budget increase
Despite pressure from the likes of US and Brazil to rein in costs, the UN is seeking extra government funding to put the Paris Agreement into practice
UK MPs propose Green New Deal bill
A private members bill would compel the UK government to decarbonise the economy and “eradicate inequality”
China’s Xi backs climate-friendly finance on Europe tour
Xi made common cause with Emmanuel Macron on climate change, amid multi-billion dollar business deals on a 6-day visit to Europe
Indonesia says it will ‘mainstream’ low-carbon development
By 2045, Indonesians could be as wealthy as those of the Netherlands or Germany today if green policies are chosen, a government report found
Southeast Europeans ignore EU rules with €2.4bn coal subsidies
The EU’s Energy Community neighbours ‘systematically turn a blind eye’ to its state aid rules, a report by the secretariat finds
Leaders told to bring plans, not speeches to UN climate summit
A landmark conference hosted by Antonio Guterres in September aims to jolt flagging international action on climate change, in line with the latest science
Russia floats first law to regulate CO2 emissions
Draft bill would give government powers to regulate CO2 and create carbon markets, but faces stiff opposition inside and outside Moscow administration
EU leaders’ draft statement dismays climate campaigners
At a council meeting expected to be dominated by the UK’s attempts to leave the EU, leaders are expected to ignore recent pressure to raise the bloc’s climate targets
‘We were ecologists before the capitalists’: the gilets jaunes and climate justice
France’s worst civil unrest in decades was sparked by an anti-pollution tax, but are the gilets jaunes fighting against climate action?
UK and Italy bid for 2020 climate talks, amid political uncertainty for both
Both countries face potential general elections and economic problems before the crucial Cop26 meeting and the UK may still be in a Brexit imbroglio
‘We haven’t known a world without climate change’: school strikers demand safe future
In more than 100 countries, young people took to the streets in a challenge to their parents and politicians
Germany ready to join global coal phase-out alliance: environment minister
Now its coal commission has recommended a 2038 exit date, Germany can join a global alliance to end coal burning, Svenja Schulze tells Taz newspaper
Chile warns of 3-hour commutes, split venue at December climate talks
This year’s UN summit comes at a “highly congested” period in Santiago, the hosts say, but a plea to move it to January was overruled
UK Conservative politicians back ‘inspirational’ school climate strikers
Public opinion and government ministers back young people skipping school to protest climate inaction, in contrast to the prime minister’s early scepticism
US and Saudi Arabia block geoengineering governance push
Countries failed to agree on a Swiss resolution to consider regulating technologies that aim to cool the planet, at the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi
Energy and oil majors turn to rural Africa in grab for world’s next billion customers
Once basic energy is established in disconnected regions, the companies that supply it hope to cash in on demand for a slew of new products and services