The Guardian Climate Change

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

As it rapidly adopts clean technologies while drilling furiously for oil and gas, the Nordic nation is a paradox

The average Norwegian, better known for loving nature than destroying the planet, is more likely than anyone else to drive to work in an electric car and warm their home with a heat pump. When they turn on the kettle in the morning or charge their phone at night, Norwegians plug into an electricity grid that runs almost entirely on renewables. Their politicians write cheques to save trees in tropical forests and politely pressure other countries to protect the environment, too.

But on one metric, Norway’s leafy green image darkens to an oily black. Citizens of the rich Nordic nation dig up more petroleum per person than Russians, Iranians, North Americans and Saudi Arabians.

A hardy few of you still see some hope as you trudge wearily along life’s grim parade

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Record heat is killing hundreds in Clark county. But one of America’s fastest-growing metro areas just keeps getting bigger

Hot air wafted through the heavy, gold-lined doors of a Las Vegas casino as they opened, offering a reminder of a disaster quietly unfolding outside. Even though the sun had just set on an evening in mid-July, temperatures were yet to dip below 100F (37C).

Spawned from a paved-over oasis in the Mojave, this desert metropolis has always been hot. But a string of brutal heatwaves this summer has pushed Sin City to a deadly simmer.

Charli xcx declared the VP brat and the KHive is rejuvenated – can gen Z’s enthusiasm make a difference in November?

In a series of events over 24 hours that would have been unimaginable a week ago, Kamala Harris ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket, secured the backing of Joe Biden and key leaders, brought in a record-breaking $81m, and became the face of brat summer.

“kamala IS brat,” pop star Charli xcx declared on Sunday, a reference to her new album released last month that has launched countless memes declaring it the season of the brat. A brat, in the British singer’s own words, is “that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes, who feels herself, but then also maybe has a breakdown, but kind of parties through it”.

Despite climate-friendly plans, the government’s controversial decision to take over the Trans Mountain pipeline made it one of world’s biggest promoters of fossil fuel projects

• ‘Inexcusable’: should climate hypocrites get the petrostates label?

Like all major rivers winding through the country, Canada’s most controversial oil pipeline is destined for the ocean.

The Trans Mountain pipeline crosses two provinces, threads a national park in the Rocky Mountains, dips underneath bodies of water and passes through dozens of First Nations communities before terminating at a sprawling oil storage facility on the verdant shores of the Pacific.

Brazil court freezes assets of Dirceu Kruger to pay climate compensation for illegal deforestation

A Brazilian cattle rancher has been ordered to pay more than $50m (£39m) for destroying part of the Amazon rainforest and ordered to restore the precious carbon sink.

Last week, a federal court in Brazil froze the assets of Dirceu Kruger to pay compensation for the damage he had caused to the climate through illegal deforestation. The case was brought by Brazil’s attorney general’s office, representing the Brazilian institute of environment and renewable natural resources (Ibama). It is the largest civil case brought for climate crimes in Brazil to date and the start of a legal push to repair and deter damage to the rainforest.

State of the UK Climate report shows sea surface temperatures 0.9C higher than the 1961 to 1990 average

The water near the UK’s coasts was hotter in 2023 than scientists have ever before recorded, a report has found, with children today experiencing a hotter and wetter climate than that in which their parents and grandparents grew up.

The sea surface temperature near coasts was 0.9C hotter and winter rainfall across the country was 24% greater over the last decade than the average from 1961 to 1990, according to the State of the UK Climate 2023 report. It found the number of “hot” (28C) days has more than doubled over that period, and the number of “very hot” (30C) and “extremely hot” (32C) days has more than tripled.

Joe Biden gave his first speech since quitting the race – here’s what to know from the roughly 10-minute address

Joe Biden addressed the nation from the Oval Office on Wednesday night in an emotional speech that encompassed some of the reasons that led him to withdraw from the presidential race. This was the first speech Biden has made since he announced his withdrawal from the race on Sunday.

Most notably, the 81-year-old president, who was recovering from Covid-19 this week, highlighted the importance of passing the torch to a new generation, referring to his endorsement for Kamala Harris as the new contender for November’s elections.

Hint: it’s not good news

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Researchers uncover ‘remarkable new way in which trees provide a vital climate service’ by reducing emissions

Microbes in the bark of trees play a vital role in removing methane from the atmosphere, scientists have discovered.

The greenhouse gas is a product of agriculture and the burning of fossil fuels and is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. However, it remains in the atmosphere for a shorter time.

In thrall to the oil and gas industries, wealthy nations are backing calamitous projects. But the tide is turning

• Tessa Khan is executive director of the climate action organisation Uplift

It is a delusion to believe that the world’s climate is being pushed to the brink solely by undemocratic petrostates such as Russia and Saudi Arabia. The truth is that about half of all planned oil and gas developments between now and 2050 will be sanctioned by wealthy governments that position themselves as climate leaders: the US, Canada, Australia, Norway and the UK.

It is the countries that like to think of themselves as the good guys that are driving the climate crisis – and not just because of historical emissions and the high-carbon lifestyles of our middle class. It is because our governments refuse to take one of the most obvious actions needed to stop the crisis: keeping oil and gas in the ground. As we have heard time and again, governments are planning to sanction vastly more oil and gas than can be burned in a world with a safe climate.

Tessa Khan is a lawyer and the executive director of the climate action organisation Uplift

In a kayak off the Devon coast I witnessed the kind of entitled mindlessness that has ravaged society, and our planet

On a calm and beautiful morning off the coast of south Devon last week, I was watching a small pod of dolphins from my kayak. I had spotted them from half a mile away, feeding and playing on the surface. They were heading my way, so I sat on the water and waited.

But from round the headland, at top speed, came a giant twin-engined maritime wankpanzer. Though the dolphins were highly visible and it had plenty of time either to stop or avoid them, it ploughed towards them at full throttle. As it passed, missing them by a few metres, the driver turned and glanced at them, but never checked his speed. The dolphins dived. They briefly reappeared much farther from the coast, after which I didn’t see them again. I could hear the boat long after it disappeared: it sounded like a jetliner. God knows what distress it might have caused the dolphins, which are highly sensitive to sound.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

Preliminary data from Copernicus suggests temperature records were shattered, taking world into ‘uncharted territory’

World temperature records were shattered on Sunday on what may be the hottest day scientists have ever logged, data suggests.

Inflamed by the carbon pollution spewed from burning fossils and farming livestock, the average surface air temperature hit 17.09C (62.76F) on Sunday, according to preliminary data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which holds data that stretches back to 1940. The reading inched above the previous record of 17.08C (62.74F) set on 6 July last year, but the scientists cautioned that the difference was not statistically distinguishable.

High court hears case brought by claimants who say rights have been breached as result of adaptation plan

In December, council officials ordered Kevin Jordan to leave his home, warning him it was at risk of falling into the sea at any moment.

On Tuesday, he had his day in court, accusing the government of failing to do enough to adapt to the changes the UK is facing as a result of climate breakdown.