Energy secretary seeks to reestablish UK as a global leader on the climate crisis with meeting of Cop presidents
Labour will honour a pledge of £11.6bn in overseas aid for the climate crisis, the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, told an unusual meeting of Cop presidents past and present on Friday, as he sought to re-establish the UK at the heart of international climate discussions.
As the Labour government prepares for this year’s climate-emergency summit in November, Miliband hosted Mukhtar Babayev, the Azerbaijan government minister who will lead Cop29, and Ana Toni, the top official on the climate for Brazil, which will host Cop30 in the Amazonian city of Belem in 2025 in a meeting to discuss what steps are needed to make a success of the next two UN climate Cops, as the “conferences of the parties” under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are known.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
07/26/2024 - 11:14
07/26/2024 - 11:00
More than 120,000 heat-related ER visits were tracked in 2023, as people struggle in record-breaking temperatures
In his 40 years in the emergency room, David Sklar can think of three moments in his career when he was terrified.
“One of them was when the Aids epidemic hit, the second was Covid, and now there’s this,” the Phoenix physician said, referring to his city’s unrelenting heat. Last month was the city’s hottest June on record, with temperatures averaging 97F (36C), and scientists say Phoenix is on track to experience its hottest summer on record this year.
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07/26/2024 - 10:46
Danielle Smith and her government’s refusal to combat global heating is said to have made blazes more intense
When Danielle Smith, premier of Alberta, began her grim update about the wildfire damage to Jasper, the famed mountain resort in the Canadian Rockies, her voice slipped and she held back tears.
Hours earlier, a fast-moving wildfire tore through the community, incinerating homes, businesses and historic buildings. She praised the “true heroism” of fire crews who had rushed in to save Jasper, only to be pulled back when confronted by a 400ft wall of flames. She spoke about the profound meaning and “magic” of the national park.
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07/26/2024 - 10:01
‘There will never be mining’ at Northern Territory site, Albanese says as area becomes part of Kakadu national park
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It’s the decades-long fight over uranium mining that pitted Indigenous owners against the resources industry.
Now it seems the war is over, with the Australian government moving to expand the Kakadu national park to protect the Jabiluka site from mining for ever.
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07/26/2024 - 09:00
Many companies such as Chipotle and McDonald’s are seeing profits jump as they continue raising prices, an analysis finds
As inflation shot to its peak around mid-2022, Chipotle’s prices also rose, pushing up what customers paid for burritos and bowls by as much as several dollars. Since then, the fast casual restaurant’s costs have broadly fallen. Prices have not.
Chipotle’s decision to maintain high prices helped boost profits 110% in recent years, while its executives boasted to investors that they raised prices higher than inflationary costs.
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07/26/2024 - 08:05
Planet’s largest blanket bog is first peatland to be designated by Unesco after 40-year campaign
The Flow Country, a vast and unspoiled blanket bog that carpets the far north of Scotland, has been made a world heritage site by Unesco.
The planet’s largest blanket bog, the Flow Country covers about 1,500 sq miles of Caithness and Sutherland, and is the first peatland in the world to be designated by Unesco, after a 40-year campaign by environmentalists.
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07/26/2024 - 07:36
Communities affected by construction of renewable energy infrastructure ‘have the right to see the benefits’
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Labour will seek to persuade people living near proposed pylon routes and other renewable energy infrastructure that the developments are critical to bring down bills and tackle carbon emissions, the energy secretary said.
Ed Miliband promised to consider new benefits for communities affected by the construction of renewable energy infrastructure, and community ownership of the assets, which could include onshore windfarms and solar farms.
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07/26/2024 - 06:31
Owner of North Yorkshire power station earned £393m in government subsidies for biomass
The owner of the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire will give shareholders a £300m windfall after a sharp rise in taxpayer subsidies boosted its profits for the first half of the year to more than £500m.
The power station, which receives hefty subsidies from burning biomass wood chips, mainly shipped from North America, generated almost a third more electricity over the first half of this year compared with the same months last year.
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07/26/2024 - 06:00
National Whale and Dolphin Watch organisers say data collected will help with research into marine mammals
Hundreds of wildlife enthusiasts are expected to gather along UK coastlines over the next 10 days to count and record whales and dolphins.
The National Whale and Dolphin Watch, taking place from 26 July to 4 August, is hosted by the Sea Watch Foundation and aims to get volunteers to observe and record sightings of the UK’s most impressive marine mammals.
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07/26/2024 - 06:00
Policymakers and funders are being urged to invest in training a workforce to serve the industries of the future
A greener economy could bring millions of jobs to some of the largest countries in Africa, according to a new report.
Research by the development agency FSD Africa and the impact advisory firm Shortlist predicts that 3.3 million jobs could be generated across the continent by 2030.
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