Climate Update

POLITIQUE

Die Labour Party führt in den Umfragen für die kommenden Wahlen in Großbritannien. Anders als die konservativen Tories hat sie ein relativ ambitioniertes Klimaprogramm. Das könnte wahlentscheidend sein.

MITIGATION & ADAPT. ÉCONOMIE

Retailer works on changing diet with aim of cutting 11,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year

ACTIVISME DROIT & LITIGE

The British State this week overthrew a key legal defence protecting climate activists. The belief in consent defence has seen juries acquitting activists in criminal damage cases, much to the fury of the establishment and, on Monday, the Court of Appeal ruled that evidence presented by defendants about the effects of climate change would be “inadmissible” in the future.

ACTIVISME DROIT & LITIGE

Court of appeal’s removal of ‘consent’ defence means defendants on trial for criminal damage can no longer use it in England and Wales

POLITIQUE

Climate Change Committee finds Scottish government has repeatedly failed to make cuts required by law

TECH. & ÉNERGIE

Dès 2030, sept millions de foyers britanniques devraient être alimentés par de l'électricité renouvelable produite au Maroc, acheminée via des milliers de kilomètres de câbles sous-marins. Imaginé par la start-up britannique Xlinks, ce projet pharaonique est ambitieux, mais aussi critiqué.

ANTI-CLIMAT

Green MP Caroline Lucas says call for investment in gas-fired power plants is election ploy that will jeopardise UK’s net zero target

ÉCONOMIE

Green businesses and jobs are booming – in stark contrast to the national economy – but political U-turns risk future growth

CAUSES

Critics say the Energy Charter Treaty allows fossil fuel companies to sue governments over green policies.

DROIT & LITIGE

Attorney general’s attempt to end climate protesters’ use of consent defence is slippery slope, says KC

RECOMMANDÉ POLITIQUE

The Energy Charter Treaty dating from the 1990s lets fossil fuel giants sue governments over climate policies.

POLITIQUE

Der frühere britische Premierminister Boris Johnson liebte bombastische Ankündigungen in Bezug auf den Klimaschutz. Doch seine Nachfolger sind vorsichtiger. Der inflationsgeplagten Bevölkerung soll nicht zu viel zugemutet werden.

ANTI-CLIMAT

Meeting took place days after BP reported record profits while households were squeezed by high energy bills

CAUSES

The move to grant 17 companies the right to drill for fossil fuels is ‘a pipe dream’ that will do little for energy security, say environmentalists

RECOMMANDÉ MÉDIA & OPINION PUBL.

Terms such as ‘green’, ‘sustainable’ and ‘environmentally friendly’ understood only by minority, says study

MÉDIA & OPINION PUBL.

YouTube criticised for amplifying lies about the climate with disinformation videos watched by young people

ANTI-CLIMAT

Who funds the ex-PM cashing in on the death of democracy?

ANTI-CLIMAT

Last year saw a record number of UK newspaper editorials opposing climate action – almost exclusively from right-leaning titles – new Carbon Brief analysis shows. The analysis is based on hundreds of UK national newspaper editorials, which are the formal “voice” of the publications.

TECH. & ÉNERGIE

Der chinesische Atomkonzern GCN beendet seine Zahlungen für das britische AKW-Neubauprojekt. Die Kosten für Hinkley Point C explodieren. Das trifft wohl am Ende die britische und französische Bevölkerung.

ACTIVISME

Liberty condemns ‘staggering and shocking’ statistic as anti-protest legislation is enacted

CAUSES

New UK offshore licences for the multinational oil giants Shell and Eni are among those sitting within sensitive conservation sites

CAUSES

The UK is responsible for nearly twice as much global warming as previously thought, due to its colonial history, Carbon Brief analysis shows.

POLITIQUE

The UK’s decision to open a new coalmine in Cumbria was a “disaster” that encouraged other countries to press ahead with fossil fuels, and the continued expansion of North Sea oil and gas is likely to continue the harm, a former chief adviser to the government has said.

DROIT & LITIGE

Greta Thunberg has pleaded not guilty to breaching a public order act after blocking the entrance to a hotel hosting a conference described by activists as the “Oscars of oil”.

CAUSES

The UK government has granted 27 oil and gas licences for projects in the North Sea. The licences have been issued for projects in central and northern areas of the North Sea and west of Shetland to allow oil and gas resources to be explored and developed.

POLITIQUE

Oil and gas are “not the problem” for the climate, but the carbon emissions arising from them are, the UK’s net zero minister has told MPs.

DROIT & LITIGE

When Kevin Jordan bought his seaside home in Hemsby, Norfolk, he was told it would be safe for a century. In the decade since, 17 of his neighbours’ homes have had to be demolished, or have been swept away into the waters of the North Sea.

MITIGATION & ADAPT.

A little-known government scheme designed to encourage businesses to reduce emissions allowed one company to make £32m on the carbon market after closing a factory and causing hundreds of job losses.

ÉCONOMIE

Two hulking towers nearly 300 feet high rise from the steel-making complex that dominates the shoreline of the faded industrial city of Port Talbot in Wales.

IMPACTS

Potato and cereal crops are likely to have been heavily damaged by the recent devastating floods across the UK, farmers have warned. Entire fields have been submerged in water after Storm Babet swept across the country, with crops ruined.

CAUSES

Die britische Regierung erlaubt, dass das letzte grosse Ölfeld in der Nordsee angebohrt wird. Das ist auch Wahlkampftaktik. 100 Kilometer nordwestlich der Shetlandinseln darf eine norwegische Firma nach Öl bohren.

CAUSES

Britain has given the go-ahead for the Oslo-listed energy company Equinor to develop the Rosebank oil and gas field in the North Sea, the government’s oil and gas regulator has announced.

POLITIQUE

A series of U-turns in climate policy announced by prime minister Rishi Sunak could put the UK’s legally binding emissions targets in jeopardy, Carbon Brief analysis shows.

POLITIQUE

Scientists and environmental groups have expressed anger and dismay at the U-turn on net zero expected by the prime minister. “Reports that the government is planning to drop essential climate policies send the wrong signals to businesses looking to invest in the new growth story of the future.

POLITIQUE

Broadly the way Conservative MPs have responded to the news that Rishi Suank is about to water down net zero targets in predictable ways, with rightwingers sceptical about climate measures delighted, and green Tories alarmed. But last night there was an interesting intervention from Simon Clarke.

POLITIQUE

Al Gore, the former US vice-president, has described the decision by the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, to water down key climate policies as “shocking and disappointing” and “not what the world needs from the United Kingdom”.

POLITIQUE

Rishi Sunak has pledged to “max out” the UK’s oil and gas reserves as he unveiled a new round of intensive North Sea drilling, which experts warned could be catastrophic for the climate.

POLITIQUE

Um ihre Klimaziele zu erreichen, bezahlt die Schweiz ärmere Länder dafür, in ihrem Namen Emissionen zu reduzieren. Doch ist die Gefahr gross, dass die Millionen aus der Schweiz ohne Nutzen für Menschen und Umwelt verpuffen.

POLITIQUE

Konservative wittern eine Ökodiktatur, doch auch Linke sind skeptisch: Eine Umweltabgabe wird zum nationalen Politikum in Grossbritannien. Londons Bürgermeister Sadiq Khan gerät massiv unter Druck.

POLITIQUE

The UK government led by Rishi Sunak has gone from indifference to hostile to climate measures in recent weeks, re-iterating its backing for oil production and polluting vehicles after previously cutting climate finance.

POLITIQUE

The British government said Monday that it would issue “hundreds” of new licenses for oil and natural gas exploration in the North Sea, as concerns about energy security and jobs at least momentarily outweigh efforts to address climate change.

POLITIQUE

La raison de la volte-face du gouvernement de Rishi Sunak dont les commentateurs disent qu’il n’a aucune conviction idéologique sinon celle de conquérir le pouvoir coûte que coûte? Il serait ébranlé par une défaite surprenante des Travaillistes dans une élection locale de la banlieue de

CAUSES

New oil and gas fields in the North Sea would produce only enough gas to satisfy the UK’s needs for a few weeks a year, with a minimal impact on energy security, analysis has found.

The government is drawing up plans to drop the UK’s flagship £11.6bn climate funding pledge, the Guardian can reveal, as the prime minster is accused of betraying populations most vulnerable to global heating.

POLITIQUE

LONDON — The U.K. has “lost its clear global leadership position” on climate change and is at serious risk of missing legally-binding emissions targets, according to a damning new report from the government’s official climate adviser.

MITIGATION & ADAPT.

The government’s plans to hit net zero have been comprehensively criticised in a withering report by its own advisers that warns targets are being missed on nearly every front.

CAUSES

National Grid has asked a coal-fired power station in the east Midlands to warm up to cope with extra electricity demand for air conditioning as much of Britain swelters in the hot conditions.

ÉCONOMIE

Adverts that claim products are carbon neutral using offsets are to be banned by the UK’s advertising watchdog unless companies can prove they really work, the Guardian can reveal, as Gucci becomes the latest company to struggle with a high-profile environmental commitment based on offsetting.

POLITIQUE

The UK’s new energy plan unveiled on Thursday is a missed opportunity full of “half-baked, half-hearted” policies that do not go far enough to power Britain’s climate goals, according to green business groups and academics.

POLITIQUE

An energy security strategy will be launched “shortly”, Rishi Sunak has promised, with a focus on ramping up carbon capture and small modular reactors to develop homegrown energy and meet net zero commitments.

IMPACTS

The government risks sleepwalking into a catastrophic drought, experts have said, after England experienced an extremely dry February with very little rain forecast for spring.

TECH. & ÉNERGIE

The interactive map is based on six separate data sources processed and then combined using bespoke Python code. While all attempts have been made to capture as complete a picture as possible of the UK electricity system, the overlapping and often incomplete data sources make this challenging.

ÉCONOMIE

The United States is out of the blocks. The European Union is hurrying along the track. China is competing too. Here in dear old blighty, we are not even at the starting line. While others are dashing towards the horizon, the UK still hasn’t tied its laces.

ACTIVISME

Greenpeace protesters have boarded a Shell floating oil platform which is being transported over 12,000 nautical miles to the Shetland Islands with signs demanding that the fossil fuel giant “Stop drilling – start paying”.

MITIGATION & ADAPT.

Dr James Milner is assistant professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, specialising in understanding the effects of environmental policies on population health.

CAUSES

The new coalmine in Cumbria is likely to prevent the UK from meeting its internationally agreed commitment to reduce emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane, analysis has suggested.

RECOMMANDÉ ÉCONOMIE

Net-zero is “the economic opportunity of the 21st century”, according to an independent review commissioned by the UK government.

ACTIVISME

Die Klimabewegung kann Schlagzeilen. Das bewies Extinction Rebellion in Großbritannien wieder mal am Neujahrstag. In großen weißen Buchstaben auf schwarzem Untergrund verkündeten die Aktivist:innen auf Twitter: "We quit" ("Wir hören auf").

DROIT & LITIGE

Friends of the Earth has said it will take legal action against the UK government after ministers granted planning permission for a new coalmine in Cumbria. The environmental campaign group said it would file its claim against the fossil fuel extraction project later this month.

The wealthiest people in the UK burn through more energy flying than the poorest use in every aspect of their lives, according to new research. The analysis of data from 2019 highlights “significant inequalities” in energy use across the country.

ACTIVISME

I would like to thank all the Just Stop Oil protesters and any others who campaign for a cleaner, greener world (Just Stop Oil’s message to Suella Braverman: threaten us all you like – we’re not listening, 6 December).

CAUSES

The UK government’s approval of its first new coal mine in 30 years has sparked international outrage. After more than three years of debate, communities minister Michael Gove approved the Whitehaven coal mine on Wednesday, based on the top planning official’s recommendation.

CAUSES

The UK will build its first new coalmine for three decades at Whitehaven in Cumbria, despite objections locally, across the UK and from around the world.

TECH. & ÉNERGIE

POLITIQUE

The fact that some environment groups and green Tory MPs are welcoming the prospect of Rishi Sunak as prime minister perhaps shows how far the Overton window has shifted in recent weeks.

POLITIQUE

PM said he stood by Tories’ 2019 manifesto policy when asked in Commons, in rebuff to Liz Truss

IMPACTS

England recorded 2,803 excess deaths for those aged 65 and over, according to a new government analysis.

ACTIVISME

Ministers are pressing ahead with a dual crackdown on climate protests and strike action, a controversial move that followed a day of direct action in London including clashes with the public and milk poured on the floor of Harrods.

ACTIVISME

On Friday morning two young women approached Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers,” on display in the National Gallery in London, and hurled tomato soup across the blooms, before gluing themselves to the gallery wall.

RECOMMANDÉ

The ecological destruction Liz Truss plans to unleash on this country is not collateral damage. It is not a byproduct of her economic programme. It’s a mark of true faith, a sign that she is following her ideology to the letter.

CAUSES

The government has confirmed it is lifting the moratorium on fracking in England, arguing it will help bolster energy security following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

POLITIQUE

King Charles III said he was thought of as a “complete idiot” for wanting to farm organically, but was proved right over his concerns about the impact of the of the use antibiotics in conventional agriculture.

POLITIQUE

Liz Truss must publish a recently completed review on fracking in the UK, green campaigners have urged, amid speculation the new prime minister plans a U-turn that would lift the moratorium on shale gas drilling.

POLITIQUE

LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Britain appointed lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has expressed scepticism about the need to fight climate change as the new business secretary, raising concerns that he could delay the target of reducing net zero emissions by 2050.

POLITIQUE

Liz Truss faces a daunting array of environmental crises, from energy supply to sewage spills on British beaches, with little to show that she has the inclination to take them on.

DROIT & LITIGE

The oil company Esso has secured an interim high court injunction to prevent environmental protesters disrupting construction work on a 105km-long aviation fuel pipeline.

IMPACTS

The source of the Thames has dried up during the drought, with river experts saying it is the first time they have seen it happen while forecasters warn of further high temperatures to come.

IMPACTS

In Teilen Englands haben die Umweltbehörden den Dürre-Notstand ausgerufen. Die Wasserversorger in den betroffenen Gebieten treffen Massnahmen gegen die Auswirkungen der anhaltenden Trockenheit.

People of colour are four times more likely to live in areas at high risk from heatwaves in the UK as the climate heats up, according to experts.

POLITIQUE

Parliamentarians from the UK’s Conservative Party have given their party members a choice between two candidates for the country’s next prime minister.

SCIENCES

The UK has provisionally breached 40C for the first time ever, reaching 40.2C at London Heathrow airport. Before this heatwave, temperatures of 40C had never even been forecast for the UK – let alone recorded.

MÉDIA & OPINION PUBL.

Extinction Rebellion protesters have smashed windows at the London headquarters of Rupert Murdoch’s media company, in protest at his outlets’ coverage of the climate crisis.

IMPACTS

L'ONU a appelé mardi à une "prise de conscience" des dirigeants face aux vagues de chaleur comme celle que traverse actuellement l'Europe, qui sont appelées à devenir plus fréquentes à cause du changement climatique au moins jusque dans les années 2060.

CAUSES

Environmentalists are threatening legal action in an attempt to halt the development of a new gasfield in the North Sea that has been given the green light by the UK government.

CAUSES

The investigation revealed that widespread legal burning has continued on ecologically important English peatland since the new rules took effect, most of it on designated sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) and other conservation areas.

POLITIQUE

The tax on the “extraordinary” profits of oil and gas companies is expected to raise 5 billion pounds and help fund £15 billion in payments to households.

POLITIQUE

Several European countries are pushing for the EU to exit the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) as Japan blocks green reforms, leaked diplomatic cables show. Coal, oil and gas companies have used the treaty to sue governments over the impact of climate policies.

MITIGATION & ADAPT.

A mix of scientists, economists and government advisers met in London last week to discuss how removing greenhouse gases from air could help the UK hit net-zero emissions by 2050.

ACTIVISME

Damien Gayle, a Guardian environment correspondent, follows a group of climate activists as they try to paralyse the UK's fossil fuel distribution network. We film with him as the protesters break into oil terminals, glue themselves to the road, climb onboard oil tankers and let down their tyres.

MITIGATION & ADAPT.

Repairing the country’s extensive peatlands could help the world mitigate climate change. It could also make a fast-fashion billionaire even richer.

CAUSES

Environmental groups have raised concerns about a $500m (£380m) forest protection deal signed by Boris Johnson at Cop26, after a damning report into the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s “lawless” logging sector.

ACTIVISME

Mit zivilem Ungehorsam kämpfen auch in London Aktivist:innen für besser isolierte Gebäude und einen Ausstieg aus der Ölindustrie. Einer von ihnen ist der 48-jährige James Thomas, der für seine Überzeugung Haftstrafen in Kauf nimmt.

ACTIVISME

Clean energy campaigners claim to have disrupted supplies from three oil terminals in the Midlands and south-east of England, as motorists complain that some petrol stations are running short of fuel.

POLITIQUE

The UK government is moving too slowly to tackle the climate emergency, leading scientists have said in the wake of the latest IPCC report.

ACTIVISME

After a high-profile career as an international lawyer and negotiator, Farhana Yamin decided “we cannot rely on lawyers and diplomats alone.”It took 20 minutes for police officers to unglue Farhana Yamin from Shell’s offices in London.It was April 2019 and Ms.

ACTIVISME

Environmental activists have blocked a major oil terminal near Heathrow airport, as protesters’ blockades of fuel distribution facilities around England enter a fourth day.

ACTIVISME

Young environmental activists have disrupted the red carpet at the Baftas to call for more attention to the climate crisis and for celebrities to speak out about it.

CAUSES

Boris Johnson has said the UK may have to increase domestic gas and oil production as a response to the need to wean the world off Russian resources, despite the opposition of climate campaigners and some scepticism in the cabinet.

CAUSES

Ministers face a backlash from climate groups after giving the green light to a new North Sea oilfield just weeks after the Cop26 UN climate talks in Glasgow.

POLITIQUE

Senior figures in climate diplomacy, including the key architect of the Paris climate agreement, have urged the UK government to maintain its commitments to climate action, amid escalating attacks intended to generate a “culture war” on the net zero target.