Mining magnate says investors need ‘certainty of what government policies are’ as Coalition climate policy comes under increasing scrutiny
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
Mining magnate Andrew Forrest has warned the federal Coalition’s proposed abandonment of the 2030 emissions reduction target would hit Australian exports with penalty carbon taxes.
On Monday the Fortescue boss warned that relying on the introduction of nuclear power in at least 15 years’ time while opposing large-scale renewables and abandoning interim targets would cripple investment certainty.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
06/17/2024 - 19:38
06/17/2024 - 18:01
Investigation finds assessors providing inaccurate EPCs and unhelpful advice to homeowners
The consumer group Which? has called for an overhaul of the energy performance certificates (EPC) system after an investigation found assessments riddled with inaccuracies and unhelpful advice that could cost homeowners thousands of pounds.
The investigation, which included Which? securing EPC assessments for 12 homeowners, found in one case an assessor had failed to mention a property’s solar panels or wood burning stove in their final assessment, while the cost of upgrades recommended to another owner would not have been recouped for 29 years.
Continue reading...
06/17/2024 - 13:13
University hires Brunswick Group amid anger from campus organizers at its sustainability school’s funding
Stanford University’s sustainability school has hired a public relations firm to address “potential reputational challenges” amid concern from campus activists over the institution’s extensive ties with fossil fuel companies.
However, that PR firm, the Brunswick Group, has itself faced criticism for working with oil and gas companies, disappointing the university’s climate advocates. Brunswick says it is “vital to engage with companies in the most complex sectors to decarbonize”.
Continue reading...
06/17/2024 - 10:00
In more than one image from 1900s Japan, they look hungover
Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email
We had gone to Japan, we told our daughter, to get her a maneki-neko: the good luck or beckoning cat. She is almost three. She would stay home with my mother, her grandmother. There is a maneki-neko that lives at the till of a manicure shop near our house, and she likes to stop and greet it. Japanese folklore has cats for many things, and we were grateful for this one. Before we left, we wrote letters outlining our progress towards this goal. I put the letters in envelopes for my mother to give to her, one each day. As the week passed, we would meet a mouse in the street, travel to Kyoto to catch goldfish in the river, buy a pizza – extra cheese – for the keeper of the cats.
Why we had actually gone there was to be cats ourselves: to do precisely what we felt like doing whenever we felt like doing it. We roamed the streets, we sat in sunny cafe windows. We hung out at an onsen, which cats would probably not do. We went to an exhibition about animals in arts and crafts and learned that in the late 1800s, people in Japan would affectionately greet cats and dogs using the honorific -san, like Mr or Miss.
Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads
Continue reading...
06/17/2024 - 10:00
Almost half of those surveyed said target was ‘unachievable and hurting the economy’ and Australia should instead focus on 2050
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast
Voters are split on Peter Dutton’s controversial proposal to abandon Australia’s 2030 emissions reduction target, despite rejecting his plan to wait at least 15 years for nuclear power to help achieve net zero by 2050.
The latest Guardian Essential poll of 1,181 respondents suggests Labor’s efforts to boost renewable energy are popular, but the Albanese government is vulnerable to a Coalition campaign focusing on the scale of Australia’s ambition to fight global heating.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
Continue reading...
06/17/2024 - 09:00
Group that runs Oasis Academy South Bank warns councils prioritise private housing over space for children to breathe
Children facing a ‘brutal’ loss of time and space for play at state schools
Revealed: students at top private schools have 10 times more green space than state pupils
Oasis Academy South Bank in Waterloo sits in a densely built-up corner of south London – so densely that the only space found for the school was in a recommissioned office block. There is no playground, no sports pitch, nowhere to play football at break time.
Steve Chalke is the founder of Oasis Charitable Trust, the organisation that runs the school, one of 54 in their charge across England. He admits it is a challenging environment.
Continue reading...
06/17/2024 - 09:00
Shorter playtimes and shrinking outside space in England have serious implications for children’s wellbeing and mental health
Revealed: students at top private schools have 10 times more green space than state pupils
Indoors at breaktime: the school in a London office block
Private schools in England should be made to share their green space, say campaigners
Children are facing a “brutal” loss of space and time for play in school, teachers, unions and academics have warned.
A combination of factors is eating into the time children spend outside, and will have serious implications for their wellbeing and mental health.
A Guardian analysis of the space available to state school children in England has revealed that thousands are attending schools with very little outside space, with government data showing that more than 300 schools have under 1,000 sq metres and at least 20 have no outside space. In nearly 1,000 schools, there is under 10 sq metres for each pupil.
New and unpublished research from the UCL Institute of Education seen by the Guardian showed a continued downward trend in the amount of time children have for playtime in the wake of the Covid lockdowns, with the youngest losing the most time.
The demands of the curriculum have increased, and continue to diminish time outside, while staffing shortages are reducing capacity to oversee playtime.
Across England and Wales schools face difficult financial decisions, which are having an impact on the funding to care for grounds. Headteachers in the state sector have said they are in desperate need of funding to improve basic facilities for children.
School buildings are crumbling, as many were built with Raac (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) that was not replaced within its usable lifetime, meaning in some cases playgrounds are being used to host temporary classrooms. This is squeezing out the little space some schools have for children to spend time outside.
Continue reading...
06/17/2024 - 09:00
Supporters of access to nature call for legal change after Guardian reveals 10:1 discrepancy with state sector
Revealed: students at top private schools have 10 times more green space than state pupils
Indoors at breaktime: the school in a London office block
Children facing a ‘brutal’ loss of time and space for play at state schools
All schoolchildren should have a right to green space to play in, with private schools made to share their extensive facilities, campaigners have said.
A Guardian investigation this week found that children at England’s top private schools have access to 10 times the amount of green space that the average state school pupil can use, while there are some state school pupils who have no access to playgrounds or playing fields at all.
Continue reading...
06/17/2024 - 08:00
Governments should use fiscal policies to atone for technology-related carbon emissions, urges report
Business live – latest updates
Governments faced with economic upheaval caused by artificial intelligence should consider fiscal policies including taxes on excess profits and a green levy to atone for AI-related carbon emissions, according to the International Monetary Fund.
The IMF said unlike previous technological breakthroughs such as the steam engine, generative AI – the term for computer systems such as ChatGPT that can produce convincing, human-like text, voices and images from simple hand-typed prompts – can spread “much faster” and advances in the technology are happening at “breakneck speed”.
Continue reading...
06/17/2024 - 07:48
Cities in midwest and north-east brace for heatwave with some to experience highs of 105F – 25 degrees above normal
Extreme heat has begun to hit the US, delivered by a high-pressure weather pattern that the federal weather prediction center says will be “potentially the longest experienced in decades for some locations”.
According to meteorologists with WeatherBELL Analytics, about 265 million people in the US are forecast to see air temperatures reach or exceed 90F (32C), with many of them experiencing heat indices of about 105F by next Sunday.
Continue reading...
