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‘We’re gobsmacked’: climate groups angered by Labor’s ‘no new coalmines’ claim

The Guardian Climate Change - December 19, 2024 - 23:09

Campaigners say Queensland mine given go-ahead this week is a new development, not an extension of an existing mine

Climate campaigners have challenged a claim by the Albanese government that it has not approved any new coalmines in 2024, saying a Queensland mine given a green light this week was a new development.

The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, approved four coalmine projects on Thursday, describing them all as expansions of existing mines that would mainly be digging up coal to make steel.

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Categories: Climate

How the Climate Crisis Became an Insurance Crisis

NYT Global Warming Climate Change - December 19, 2024 - 14:42
Even in formerly low-risk areas, home insurers are raising premiums and ending coverage. The upheaval could push down home values and reverberate through the economy.
Categories: Climate

Mayotte resident confronts Macron over Cyclone Chido response – video

The Guardian Climate Change - December 19, 2024 - 13:53

Six days after Cyclone Chido brought widespread devastation to the Indian Ocean archipelago, residents in parts of Mayotte are still without water, food or shelter. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, visited a hospital in Mamoudzou, the capital, where staff and and locals shared their grievances

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Categories: Climate

Cyclone Chido: locals demand more help from Macron on visit to Mayotte

The Guardian Climate Change - December 19, 2024 - 12:37

French president promises food, water and to rebuild as emergency services search desperately for survivors

Distraught and angry inhabitants of Mayotte shouted out their grievances to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, as he visited the island, five days after it was devastated by a cyclone.

High on their list was the lack of water and food, and the fear of looting.

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Categories: Climate

Revealed: how a US public university courted the gas industry despite climate impacts

The Guardian Climate Change - December 19, 2024 - 08:00

McNeese State University in Louisiana building a liquefied natural gas center, prompting fears of ‘corporate capture’

One of Louisiana’s top public universities has prompted concerns about “corporate capture” over its expanding relationship with the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, despite environmental warnings about pollution and prolonging fossil fuel use.

As the US’s LNG boom gained momentum in south-west Louisiana, McNeese State University courted the industry to help launch a new LNG Center of Excellence currently under construction, hired a director doubling as an LNG industry lobbyist, and approached federal regulators to co-locate their own research center at the university, according to emails obtained via public records requests by DeSmog and the Guardian.

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Categories: Climate

Biden, Headed to the Exit, Sets an Aggressive Climate Goal for the U.S.

NYT Global Warming Climate Change - December 19, 2024 - 05:00
The promise of deeper emissions cuts will very likely be ignored by the Trump administration, but officials hoped it would send a signal to the world.
Categories: Climate

Albanese government approves four coalmine expansions as Greens condemn ‘despicable’ move

The Guardian Climate Change - December 19, 2024 - 02:38

Tanya Plibersek says projects in NSW and Queensland produce coal for making essential steel as critics say move ‘opposite of climate action’

The Albanese government has approved the expansion of four coalmines that climate campaigners estimate will release more than 850m tonnes of CO2 over their lifetime – equivalent to almost double Australia’s annual emissions.

The four mines will target mostly coal to be used for steelmaking with some thermal coal for burning in power stations.

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Categories: Climate

E.P.A. Allows California to Ban Sales of New Gas-Powered Cars by 2035

NYT Global Warming Climate Change - December 18, 2024 - 18:48
The Trump administration is expected to revoke the program, setting up a legal clash between the state and federal government.
Categories: Climate

Youth Climate Activists Get Major Win in Montana Supreme Court

NYT Global Warming Climate Change - December 18, 2024 - 17:36
The court agreed that the state’s energy policies violated Montanans’ constitutional right to a clean environment.
Categories: Climate

Montana supreme court upholds right to ‘stable climate system’ for youngsters

The Guardian Climate Change - December 18, 2024 - 15:57

Court rules in favor of 16 young people who said their health and prospects were being imperiled by climate crisis

Montana’s top court on Wednesday held that the state’s constitution guaranteed a right to a stable climate system and invalidated a law barring regulators from considering the effects of greenhouse gas emissions when permitting new fossil fuel projects.

The Montana supreme court upheld a landmark trial court decision last August in favor of 16 young people who said their health and futures were being jeopardized by climate change, which the state aggravates through its permitting of energy projects.

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Categories: Climate

Insurers Are Dropping Homeowners as Climate Shocks Worsen

NYT Global Warming Climate Change - December 18, 2024 - 11:34
Without insurance, it’s impossible to get a mortgage; without a mortgage, most Americans can’t buy a home.
Categories: Climate

See Where Home Insurance Policies Were Dropped in Your State

NYT Global Warming Climate Change - December 18, 2024 - 11:33
Insurers are retreating from communities across the country that face growing risks from hurricanes, wildfires and other disasters. Here’s how your area compares.
Categories: Climate

Can everyone eat for the planet? I shopped at Dollar Store for a week to find out

The Guardian Climate Change - December 18, 2024 - 10:00

In 2019, scientists published a climate-friendly food plan. I’ve long wondered: could it work for most Americans?

As a fossil fuels and climate reporter, most of my journalism focuses on the need to radically overhaul the energy system. But the food sector also needs a makeover, as it creates between a quarter and a third of all greenhouse gas emissions.

When scientists came up with a new climate-friendly food plan in 2019 and published their findings in the medical journal the Lancet, I read with interest. The guidelines called for more vegetables, legumes and whole grains, which seemed doable to me. The authors even allowed for meat and dairy consumption, albeit in small quantities. Both are major drivers of the climate crisis: the United Nations estimates that meat and dairy produce more than 11% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, and some experts put the figure at up to 19.6%.

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Categories: Climate

Pakistan and Bahamas join push for global pact to phase out fossil fuels

The Guardian Climate Change - December 18, 2024 - 07:53

Climate-vulnerable pair add weight to proposed treaty seeking transition from coal, oil and gas in equitable way

Pakistan and the Bahamas have joined a growing bloc of climate-vulnerable countries seeking to broker a global pact to phase out fossil fuels in an equitable way, the Guardian can reveal.

The Bahamas is the 15th nation to fully endorse the proposed fossil-fuel non-proliferation treaty, which would provide a binding global roadmap to explicitly halt expansion of coal, oil and gas in a fair way – with wealthy nations responsible for the highest emissions transitioning first and fastest.

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Categories: Climate

And what do you want from Santa this Christmas? | First Dog on the Moon

The Guardian Climate Change - December 18, 2024 - 00:44

An incurable illness that turns billionaires into owls

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Categories: Climate

Worrying Signs From the Arctic

NYT Global Warming Climate Change - December 17, 2024 - 16:33
Scientists are seeing changes that could have consequences for the whole planet.
Categories: Climate

Gas Exports Pose Some Risks to U.S. Economy and Environment, Study Says

NYT Global Warming Climate Change - December 17, 2024 - 16:00
The long-awaited study was criticized by the oil and gas industry and could help environmental groups that want to stop new export terminals.
Categories: Climate

Commonwealth Fusion Systems to Build Power Plant in Virginia

NYT Global Warming Climate Change - December 17, 2024 - 15:13
Commonwealth Fusion Systems, an M.I.T. spinoff, aims to generate carbon-free electricity in an industrial park near Richmond in the early 2030s.
Categories: Climate

Biden administration warns natural gas expansion would drive up domestic costs

The Guardian Climate Change - December 17, 2024 - 14:28

New study shows LNG exports risk raising greenhouse gas emissions, hampering efforts to curtail climate crisis

The Biden administration has released a long-awaited analysis on the economic and environmental effects of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, concluding any further expansion would drive up costs for domestic consumers and hamper efforts to curtail the climate crisis.

In January Joe Biden paused the Department of Energy’s approvals of fossil gas exports to big consumers in Asia and Europe in order to conduct the review, in a move welcomed by climate scientists, environmental justice advocates and public health experts but decried by the oil and gas industry.

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Categories: Climate

PG&E Secures $15 Billion Loan From U.S. Energy Department

NYT Global Warming Climate Change - December 17, 2024 - 14:11
The loan, the biggest-ever commitment from the Loan Programs Office, is intended to fund the California utility’s grid and climate resiliency projects.
Categories: Climate