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World leaders including UK prime minister Andy Burnham are addressing the summit today, as talks head into the third day
Zack Polanski, leader of the Green party in the UK, criticised Andy Burnham’s Cop31 speech on Radio 4’s Today programme. Saying he was “not at all reassured” by the prime minister’s words, he described it as a “bizarre” speech.
Polanski said climate action is about what you do, not what you say, referring to the recent decision by the energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, to allow drilling in the Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea. It’s “one step forwards, two steps back”, Polanski said.
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Regulator to hasten review over concerns that firms are ‘undermining’ rules to make large payments to bosses
The water company bonus ban is set to be tightened after the regulator accused the industry of a risk of “damaging public trust” with large payments to bosses that appeared to get around the rules.
Anglian Water was singled out for particular criticism over “retention payments” worth up to £800,000 for its chief executive, Mark Thurston, despite the bonus ban. Anglian will face increased monitoring of its governance arrangements because of the controversial payments.
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Exmoor, Somerset: Tarr Steps is no stranger to flooding, but the damage is becoming more and more frequent
Fog cloaked the combe as we walked down to the River Barle, and for the first time in months I wished I were wearing gloves. A red kite wheeled overhead, the dull copper colour of its underparts matching the autumn leaves still clinging to the oaks. Red kites are still fairly uncommon on Exmoor, though their numbers have increased recently as the species pushes west. Several pheasants whirred past, calling loudly in alarm: they are also more numerous now, due to the spread of game-shooting estates.
We were heading for Tarr Steps, the longest clapper bridge in Britain, an ancient footbridge nearly 55 metres long, with 17 arches braced across the Barle. It is constructed of pillars of piled rock set about two metres apart, spanned by huge, flat gritstones weighing up to two tonnes each. The whole edifice is held together by bulk and weight, without the aid of mortar, cement or ironwork. Its exact age is uncertain, but the existing structure is considered to be a medieval improvement of a simpler bronze age crossing.
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Package for plan off Norfolk coast revealed as government tries to calm critics after approving Jackdaw gasfield
Andy Burnham has hailed a record investment in offshore wind, as the government tries to repair its green credentials after approving the controversial Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea.
On Wednesday the government announced a £12bn investment from the German energy company RWE and the US private equity firm KKR, as the prime minister prepares to travel to the Cop31 climate crisis summit in Turkey.
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The transition to electric vehicles should be moving apace, but it is not. And why? Incompetence, expedience and cowardice
This is how it works. An industry puts tremendous effort into resisting change: lobbying governments, mobilising the media, pouring money into junktanks. It argues that a transition would threaten jobs, or damage the national interest, or harm poor people, while what it really fears is the cost of retooling its plants or developing new protocols. Then, when the inevitable cliff edge approaches, it whines that change is coming too soon. For reasons beyond its control, it isn’t ready, so the government must delay its plans.
This is what triggered the Dutch nitrate crisis, and the UK’s repeated “emergency” exemptions from the ban on a devastating class of pesticides. Now the same dynamic is driving the UK’s crisis over the transition to electric vehicles (EVs). The result is that, as the global climate summit, Cop31, begins, it looks as if our gift to the world will be a major, predictable and entirely avoidable increase in the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
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As the IUCN global conservation body prepares to update its red list of endangered species, scientists explain why calculating the true toll of a pandemic is so hard
It began with the brown skuas. The migratory seabirds had arrived on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia in 2023, harbouring a deadly passenger. Within months, the southern elephant seals that had come ashore to breed became sick. Mothers and newborn pups were weak and trembling, with many struggling to breathe. What followed was a horrific mass casualty event, caused by the highly infectious avian influenza (H5N1).
By 2025, more than 53,000 female elephant seals had died on South Georgia. That is especially alarming, scientists say, because the island is home to more than half of the global breeding population.
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Forget the hoopoes and the ring-necked parakeets, the highlight of our trip was a sound I hadn’t heard for 50 years
As dusk falls on a warm October evening, I gradually become aware of a strange, high-pitched sizzling noise. From our table outside a busy bar, with Spaniards celebrating their national holiday, it reminds me of water carelessly tossed into a scorching frying pan.
I approach a bougainvillea bush decked with rich purple flowers, and the collective clamour separates into distinct notes. I realise I am listening to hundreds – perhaps thousands – of house sparrows, each bird calling frantically to their companions as they gather to roost for the night. It’s a sound I haven’t heard for more than 50 years.
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Delegates from more than 190 countries are gathering in Turkey for climate talks, but the US will be absent
As the planet faces unprecedented human-caused global heating, heads of government are meeting for the next fortnight for the latest round of climate talks. We ask why it matters and what is likely to be achieved.
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High-stakes talks involving 190 countries begin on Monday as world grapples with El Niño supercharged by fossil fuels
The Cop31 summit must produce progress, “a tangible outcome... that people can see is real”, its host has said as scores of world leaders and representatives of close to 190 countries gather in Turkey for the UN climate talks.
The high-stakes meeting begins on Monday, as countries around the world grapple with the strongest El Niño weather system on record, supercharged by fossil fuels, which is set to take hundreds of thousands of lives and cause damage costing trillions of dollars.
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What are the relationships and dominant interests in play, as the summit kicks off after a bitter row over its hosting?
Hosting Cop was a key pledge from Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese in 2021, while in opposition, before his successful election campaign. But arcane rules meant the country had to wait its turn to bid and was then embroiled in an angry row with Turkey over the hosting. The final compromise put Australia in charge of the negotiations which will take place in the Turkish city of Antalya. The bitter taste left by the row lingers and Australia has seemed to some a rather half-hearted host. The country’s media has been much quieter on Cop than previous host countries, and although Albanese will speak at the opening of the leaders’ segment, he is unlikely to stay long.
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