Environment

Firms say they face crippling costs if forced to monitor in 'real-time' noise some blame for health problems

Lenore Taylor

Crude discharged after pipeline was ruptured by landslide has entered Napo river which flows across border

An oil spill in the Ecuadorean Amazon is flowing downstream towards Peru and Brazil, heightening concerns about the impact of drilling in one of the world's last remaining wildernesses.

About 1.6m litres of crude was discharged into a tributary of the Amazon from the Trans-Ecuador pipeline, which was ruptured by a landslide on 31 May.

The slick contaminated the drinking supplies of Coca, a gateway city into the Amazon forest. Local media reported that 60,000 people had to rely on water brought in by 65 tankers.

Petroecuador, the pipeline operator, has hired the US clearup company Clean Caribbean & Americas, which was involved in the operation after the Gulf of Mexico spill.

Although the company and local authorities tried to contain the slick with a boom, some of the oil entered the Napo river, which flows across the border.

Last week Peru reported traces of the oil in its Amazon region of Loreto, prompting an apology from the Ecuadorean president, Rafael Correa.

The Peruvian environment minister, Manuel Pulgar Vidal, described the slick as a "very serious problem" and said Peru could seek compensation if the damage proved extensive.

Brazil, which is located many hundreds of miles downstream, has put its navy on alert and offered technical assistance.

"Brazil has offered aid to Ecuador and Peru to support the work of containment and dispersion of the oil slick in the two countries," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The environment of Ecuador, the smallest member of Opec, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has long suffered from the oil industry. In 2011 the country's courts ruled that the US oil firm Chevron should pay $8.6bn in compensation for the dumping of about 7bn litres of waste over several decades.

The latest slick is not large by comparison, but it comes at a sensitive time in an area of immense ecological wealth. With the oil fields now largely owned and operated by domestic state-run companies, the government plans to ramp up production in the Amazon to fund an ambitious development programme and repay loans from China. Its plans have been opposed by indigenous groups and environmental campaigners.

• Amazon rainforest
• Oil spills
• Oil
• Ecuador
• Americas
• Peru
• Brazil

Jonathan Watts
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Sustainability is more than just a green issue. Join our #HElivechat Friday 14 June from 12-2pm BST to discuss its relationship with leadership, procurement, learning and research

"Universities are the true thought leaders of society and if they don't lead the way, there is a risk that less independent voices fill the vacuum with their own agenda on the subject of sustainability, rather than insights based on robust research," wrote Jonathon Porritt for the network last year.

A year on, are universities driving the sustainability movement forward – or has energy on this issue stalled? The 2013 People & Planet Green League shows some universities are making more effort than others.

Manchester Metropolitan University moved from 10th to top place in the table, achieving the highest ever Green League score of 59.5 out of 70. The biggest jump came from the University of Reading which moved up 42 places to 17th, while the University of Oxford, which failed this year's assessment, moved down 13 places to 132.

What is higher education's role in creating a more sustainable environment for the wider community, as well as its own students and staff? Is it tradition that's preventing some universities from adopting more ethical forms of procurement, infrastructure and teaching models – or a case of sustainability scepticism among senior heads and academics?

"We're seeing excruciatingly slow progress from too many universities in some criteria such as ethical investment given the urgency of the climate challenge," says Louise Hazan, who created the People & Planet Green League. Are universities failing to connect academic research into climate change with their own decisions on who they procure from, and partner with?

How can education respond to these complex challenges? In this debate, we want to hear your views on how far the sector has come on university sustainability, and ask in what way it's more than just a green issue. How does it impact on leadership, teaching and learning, research, procurement and the overall mission of the university?

Here's what we're looking to discuss:

• How sustainability research is being supported and funded

• Challenges and benefits of ethical procurement

• Education's role in a sustainable future

• Collaborative partnerships

• Where to focus university efforts

Join our live web chat in the comments below on Friday 14 June from 12-2pm BST. The discussion is open to all and we invite you to have your say on what is expected to be a lively debate.

You can also follow the debate live on Twitter using the hashtag #HElivechat.

Panel to be confirmed

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• Live Q&A
• Sustainability
• Leadership
• Management, admin and services
• Research
• Learning and teaching
• Higher education
• Sustainability
• Sustainable development

Claire Shaw
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Reducing energy consumption on the university estate, switching to clean energy, and monitoring the ethical standards of suppliers, are all ways that universities can rise up the ranks of the green league

• Webchat June 11, 1-3pm: how can students help make their universities greener?

The University of Reading attracts over 20,000 students, all of whom need to be fed and housed. Campus buildings need to be lit, heated and furnished, staff require uniforms and everybody is reliant on computing power. Seeing to the needs of its people and operations means the university has to pull in a staggering amount of resources, and thus has a distorting impact on society and nature around it. People produce the textiles, food and electronics the university uses, and their production and transport releases greenhouse gases. The energy used running the campus not only contributes to carbon emissions but represents a significant chunk of profits for the energy supplier in question – be that fossil fuels or a form of renewable energy. As educational institutions, universities have historically been spearheads of progressive thought and cultural enlightenment. In this era of global citizenship, we should be the first to take a long hard look at the impact we're making and try to find a positive solution, or at least mitigate the damage.

This is, of course, what many universities are doing. People & Planet have constructed the Green League to quantify and incentivise these efforts, and it is having a noticeable effect. Affiliation to the Worker's Rights Consortium, a monitoring organisation which carries out grassroots surveillance in textile factories, is fast becoming an ethical standard both in the USA and here at home, and is the kind of change which nets Green League points for an affiliated institution – such as the University of Reading. Tireless work by estates and facilities staff to make campus buildings more energy efficient, both directly and through behavioural changes in building users, has reduced our carbon footprint significantly. Similarly, campaigns run by students on issues such as corporate greenwashing and food sustainability are rewarded with Green League points.

This is not to say that we should see the league table as an end in itself; our students and staff, and I am sure the same could be said for higher education all over the country, would be tirelessly running these projects and campaigns regardless of being rewarded with points for our efforts. Whether we would be as successful or as quick in achieving some of our goals without the decision makers being influenced by league standing is another question – and of course it is always nice to have evidence of your successes when the institution you are a part of rises sixty-six places in two years.

The University of Reading rose 42 places and came 17th out of 143 institutions in this year's Green League, scoring a well-earned 1st class award.

• People & Planet Green League
• Green universities
• University of Reading
• Higher education

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Obama's meeting with Xi overshadowed by revelations of NSA's snooping – but deals are made on N Korea and HFCs emissions

The Chinese contrition over cyber-attacks that Washington had hoped for failed to materialise, but historic talks between presidents Obama and Xi Jinping lived up to their billing in other regards with agreement on issues ranging from climate change to North Korea.

Meeting in the baking heat of a Palm Springs country estate, the two leaders broke with protocol for two days of informal talks aimed at creating a new spirit of co-operation between the world's two economic superpowers.

The common ground they found, however, was not quite what the White House expected as talks on cyber-espionage were overshadowed by revelations of Washington's own cyberwarfare strategy.

Both leaders discussed the issue for several hours, according to aides, but the best that the US was able to boast afterwards was that Beijing was no longer unaware of the depth of feeling on the subject.

"It's quite obvious now that the Chinese senior leadership understand clearly the importance of this issue to the United States," said Obama's national security adviser, Tom Donilon.

Washington stressed that it wished only to discuss "cyber-enabled economic theft" – the theft of intellectual by entities based in China of property and other kinds of property in the public and private realm – rather than broader espionage and surveillance activity, but the nuance may have been lost. Xi chastised US media for failing to report equally on attacks made against China.

The two leaders appeared to make progress in other areas, seemingly aware they faced increasingly shared challenges and responsibilities.

Under the climate deal, the US and China – the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases – said they would work with other countries to reduce the fastest growing source of emissions, the hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) used in air conditioners and refrigerators.

HFCs are an extremely potent class of greenhouse gas – up to 1,000 times more so than carbon dioxide – but they clear out of the atmosphere relatively quickly, in about 10 or 15 years.

That short lifespan means cutting HFCs can deliver almost immediate results, avoiding up to six times as much warming by 2050 as reductions in carbon dioxide.

The White House said on its website that the deal reached on Saturday could potentially reduce the equivalent of some 90 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050, or about a year's worth of current greenhouse gas emissions.

"Left unabated, HFC emissions growth could grow to nearly 20% of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, a serious climate mitigation concern," the White House said.

The potential significance of the co-operation between Washington and Beijing on climate issues could be even broader. China has in the past argued that cutting emissions would compromise its economic growth, while the US has typically has countered that it would not act on climate change until China did.

In the case of HFCs, there was already momentum building towards such a deal before Obama and Xi's meeting. More than 100 countries have shown support for using the Montreal protocol, an agreement reached in 1987 to phase out substances that were depleting the ozone layer, to act on reducing HFCs.

Donilon said the Chinese also reaffirmed their anxiety about nuclear proliferation in North Korea and pledged to work together to encourage regional talks.

"I think what you have essentially underway here is a shared threat analysis and a shared analysis as to what the implications and impact would be of North Korea pursuing a nuclear weapons programme," said Donilon.

Detailed quotes were less forthcoming from the Chinese delegation. Xi's senior foreign policy adviser, Yang Jiechi, simply said the two leaders "talked about co-operation and did not shy away from differences".

The bonhomie was also punctured by a last-minute decision from the Chinese delegation not to stay with Obama at the historic Sunnylands estate, favouring a downtown hotel – reputedly to minimise the risk of electronic eavesdropping.

• US foreign policy
• United States
• Barack Obama
• Cybercrime
• Internet
• Xi Jinping
• China
• Asia Pacific
• Climate change
• Carbon emissions
• North Korea

Dan RobertsSuzanne Goldenberg
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Sand seas, tornado trails and 'ice shoves' were among the images captured by European Space Agency and Nasa satellites last month

Oxford University's willingness to accept donations and form partnerships with individuals and businesses that are mired in controversy puts it at the bottom of the ethical league table

The words 'Oxford' and 'fail' don't often appear in the same sentence – our university is renowned for academic excellence and successful graduates. Academically it has a reputation that people are eager to buy into. But it's ethical and environmental performance is poor. This week it ranked a mere 132 out of 143 UK universities in People & Planet's Green League 2013. By anyone's standard Oxford failed in this respect.

Given the ongoing cuts to higher education funding, private contributions can often be a good thing. Oxford though, has been forgetting about one crucial thing with these deals, the need to enforce strong ethical red lines. Financial contributions, regardless of the subject area, do not take place in an ethical vacuum. The most recent example of this was the university's decision to accept £5.9 million from Royal Dutch Shell, a corporation involved in human rights abuses in Nigeria and extracting the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel in the Canadian tar sands. While researchers in one department advocate cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, the vice-chancellor is directly endorsing research in another department into finding more hydrocarbons. He even invited Ed Davey MP along to give the deal a government stamp of approval, a recent Freedom of Information request revealed.

There are numerous individual cases that justify Oxford's low ranking in People & Planet's Green League; from Shell's deal with the earth sciences department to their controversial acceptance of funding from Wafic Saïd for the business school. Students, alumni and academics came together just last month to launch their new Fossil Free Oxford campaign which aims to sever the university's ties with Royal Dutch Shell and other fossil fuel companies. In recent weeks, Google supremo Eric Schmidt was a guest speaker at the university during the height of the furore over the search engine's alleged tax avoidance, and introduced by the vice-chancellor. Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, was also invited to the business school recently to receive an award despite concerns about Kagame's human rights record. Sadly, the list goes on.

On the upside, Oxford is a hub for student campaigning and its researchers are having a powerful influence on international development and the environment. The trouble is, this positive activity becomes rather tainted when the vice-chancellor and others at the top set a tone of profit before people, and deals before ethics. This sets a poor example to Oxford's students and those in the outside world who respect and acknowledge Oxford's reputation. Deals such as the one agreed with Shell, represent a conscious choice to invest in a more unjust and potentially unstable world. That's enough to justify a fail.

• Students
• University of Oxford
• Higher education
• People & Planet Green League
• Green universities

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Need advice on starting an environmental project at your university or college? Join in the discussion by posting in the comment thread and join us between 1-3pm on Tuesday

As education cuts force universities to tighten their belts, investing in sustainability isn't always priority. But it's not just vice-chancellors who can create a green campus – students also play a key role in helping institutions meet their environmental targets.

Following on from the launch of the 2013 People and Planet Green League – which ranks universities to show how well they manage their environmental impact – we will be hosting a webchat with sustainability experts and students.

Perhaps you're keen to make your campus greener and want advice on the funding and support that's available. Or maybe you've got an eco success story to share. Join in the discussion from 1-3pm by posting in the comment section below.

The panel

Jon Emmett is sustainability projects officer at the London School of Economics. He works to improve the university's environmental impact. You can follow him on Twitter @SustainableLSE

Jesse Scharf is senior project manager at the student switch off campaign, which encourages students to save energy by changing their behaviour. The campaign works in halls at 51 universities, reaching over 130,000 students

Chris Garrard is a postgraduate music student at Oxford University who campaigns for People and Planet.

Joanne Dernie is in her final year studying geography at Nottingham Trent University. She has worked with her university's environment, geography and conservation societies as well as local campaign groups.

• Students
• Higher education
• Student politics
• Green universities

Rebecca Ratcliffe
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Lib Dem deputy chair of the committee unanimously elected to cover for Tim Yeo as he temporarily steps down in face of ongoing investigation

Sir Robert Smith has been appointed as temporary chair of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, after Tim Yeo stepped down pending an investigation into allegations he breached parliamentary rules by advising a subsidiary of one of the companies that employs him.

The Lib Dem deputy chair of the committee was unanimously selected to act as interim chair of the committee as Yeo fights to clear his name.

Rumours circulating on Twitter had suggested climate sceptic committee member Peter Lilley could take up the role, but Smith will now lead the committee's ongoing inquiries, including investigations into the government's smart meter rollout, the role of shale gas, progress with the Green Deal, the effectiveness of the Renewable Heat Incentive, and the UK oil refinery sector.

Yeo announced last night that he would temporarily step down from his role as chair of the committee to focus on clearing his name, following this weekend's sting by the Sunday Times.

The Conservative MP has vigorously denied allegations he breached parliamentary rules by "coaching" an executive of GB Railfreight on what to say when giving evidence to the Committee. GB Railfreight is a subsidiary of Eurotunnel, where Yeo is a director.

Two undercover reporters posing as representatives of a solar company also recorded Yeo stating that while he appropriately declares his commercial interests when talking about energy and environmental issues in public he is able to act for them behind the scenes.

"What I say to people in private is another matter altogether", he said, adding that "if you want to meet the right people, I can facilitate all those introductions and I can use the knowledge I get from what is quite an active network of connections".

Yeo has rejected the allegations and in a lengthy statement released on Sunday he dismissed the suggestion that he had "coached" an executive from GB Railfreight and insisted the recording had been selectively edited.

"The whole recording would show the context of the conversation and demonstrate clearly that at no stage did I agree or offer to work for the fictitious company these undercover reporters claimed to be representing, still less did I commit to doing so for a day a month as the article claims," he said.

Yeo has reported himself to the parliamentary standards watchdog, but Labour made it clear yesterday that the opposition wanted to also see him step down from his chairing of the committee until the investigation is resolved.

"Tim Yeo has the right to defend himself but it is difficult to see how he can continue as chair of the select committee pending investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner," said shadow cabinet office minister Gareth Thomas. "If David Cameron won't act then Tim Yeo should take it upon himself to stand down from his post."

However, the appointment of Sir Robert Smith is unlikely to fully defuse the ongoing debate over perceived conflicts of interest within Westminster, which critics claim can arise even when parliamentary rules are complied with.

Critics on social media were quick to point out that Smith holds registrable shareholdings in Shell and Rio Tinto, which he publicly declares. Meanwhile, speculation that as the senior Tory on the Committee Lilley could have been in a position to serve as interim chair prompted green campaigners to again highlight his publicly declared role as a director of Tethys Petroleum.

• Green politics
• Lobbying
• Conservatives

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Two parks have been accused of unethical breeding practices, as white lions are inbred and suffer from severe health issues

They are a rare and beautiful variant of an ordinary lion, a big cat with a recessive gene that gives it striking white fur. But two British wildlife parks have been accused of unethical practices for breeding white lions taken from a farm linked to "canned hunting" in South Africa and allowing cubs to be petted for £250 a time.

Despite zoo associations in Europe and America ordering zoos not to breed white lions because they are already inbred and suffer severe health problems, Paradise wildlife park in Hertfordshire and its sister zoo, the Wildlife Heritage Foundation in Kent produced five white cubs in 2013. Paradise wildlife park initially charged £999 to cuddle its latest cub before amending its offer to £250.

"It is a scandal," said Pieter Kat, founder of LionAid. "It is an unethical process from so many different angles. They are bringing these animals from someone associated with canned lion hunting. They continue to inbreed them and they allow petting which is unethical." The European Association of Zoos & Aquariums is currently investigating the matter.

Lynn Whitnall, director of Paradise wildlife park and a member of the family that own both parks, said: "The white lions are extremely well looked after." She added: "They are good as ambassadors. They are good for education. They are good for raising funds, not just for our business but to do the conservation work we do."

White lions were first spotted on a game reserve near the Kruger national park in South Africa. Since 1995, the captive population has exploded from just 10 to around 500, driven by a number of South African breeders. Most of these animals are sold for up to £60,000 to trophy hunters, who shoot them in fenced areas – the controversial but currently legal practice called canned hunting.

White lions have a rare recessive gene and the only way to guarantee a white cub is to breed two white lions, producing extremely inbred animals that suffer from deformities and high mortality. A scientific study found 17 of 19 white lion cubs born in an Italian zoo were stillborn or died within a month of birth. Another was euthanised after six months because it could not bite its food and the sole survivor at 30 months was malformed.

The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA), of which Paradise Wildlife Park and the Wildlife Heritage Foundation are members, has ruled there is no conservation value in keeping white lions. "Inbreeding practices as necessary to produce white lions impair the ability to develop and maintain sustainable captive populations and to deliver the appropriate animal welfare and conservation educational messages," it said in recently published guidelines. The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) and the American Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) have also both instructed their members not to deliberately breed white lions.

In 2006, Paradise wildlife park obtained two white lion cubs from Wiets Botes, a South African lion breeder who also offers trophy hunts where captive-bred lions can be shot. The Wildlife Heritage Foundation acquired two more white lions from Botes in 2012.

"The lions we've taken from there have a very good home," said Whitnall. She said her park was not aware that Botes also offered to arrange canned hunting. Paradise wildlife park and the Wildlife Heritage Foundation help fund projects to conserve endangered big cats such as Amur leopards and tigers in Russia and Bangladesh.

Marita du Plessis, manager of Wiets Safaris, confirmed that Botes could arrange lion hunting but said they never conducted the hunts on their own land or with the animals they bred. According to du Plessis, Botes only sold his white lions to zoos and not for canned hunting.

Petting lion cubs was condemned by the Captive Animals Protection Society (Caps) for causing unnecessary stress when the youngster was separated from its mother. "We're very concerned about the lion cubs' welfare," said Liz Tyson, director of Caps. "We are also concerned about the message – if you pay enough money you can come and cuddle these animals. That's completely against zoos' supposed purpose to educate people about wild animals. "

But Whitnall defended the zoos' "meet the cub" sessions saying the white lion cub sessions were only held for a short period this spring when the cubs had routine health checks and were "under a cub's terms" so the animal would decide if it wanted to sit on someone's lap. "Nine out of 10 times the cub wants to sit with them," she said.

Animal welfare charities criticised BIAZA for failing to take action against the zoos but BIAZA said it was awaiting the outcome of the EAZA investigation. Whitnall said both parks were liaising with BIAZA and EAZA over their white lions and currently had no plans to breed any more.

Kirsten Pullen, chief executive of BIAZA, said: "We do not encourage the breeding of white lions or tigers. We work with zoos to continuously improve animal welfare standards in tandem with research developments, and to phase out any undesirable activities before taking more extreme action such as expelling members." According to Pullen, zoos are expected to "show due diligence with regards to where our animals have been sourced from" and new regulations are being drafted to tackle acquiring animals from dealers and canned hunters.

On Tuesday, Thai police arrested a pet shop owner after discovering 14 albino lions smuggled from Africa in a warehouse near Bangkok.

• Endangered species
• Wildlife
• Conservation
• Animals
• Animal welfare

Patrick Barkham
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Pet shop owner could face four years in jail and a fine after the discovery of meerkats, monkeys and other exotic species

Thai police have arrested a pet shop owner after discovering 14 albino lions smuggled from Africa and hundreds of other protected animals in a warehouse near Bangkok.

Birds, meerkats, tortoises, capuchin monkeys and other exotic species were found on the premises, Colonel Ek Ekasart of the local police department said.

Officers said Montri Boonprom-on, 41, faced charges of possessing wildlife and carcasses, a 40,000 baht ($1,300) fine and up to four years in jail.

Montri owns a pet shop in the heart of the renowned Chatuchak market and has previously been convicted of wildlife trading. He said the lions had been shipped legally and were to be transferred to a zoo in the north-east of the country, but he did not explain why there were only 14 lions at his warehouse, when documents showed he had imported 16.

Thailand is a hub of the international illegal market in protected animals. It is a member of a convention regulating the global trade in endangered species, but Thai law does not protect many foreign species.

Police also found a hornbill and a leopard, both protected by domestic law, packed in a box to be delivered to clients.

"We have been monitoring the location for a few days after the neighbours complained about the noise from the animals," Ek said, referring to the raid in a residential area of Klong Sam Wa district. "If you looked through the gate, you could spot lions in the cage."

The animals were confiscated and placed under the care of the department of wildlife and conservation.

• Thailand
• Animals
• Asia Pacific
• Endangered species
• Wildlife
• Conservation

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Better recycling and resource use has potential for net exports of more than £20bn and 10,000 new jobs by 2020

Pursuing recycling and more efficient resource use could lead to a UK industry with net exports of more than £20bn and 10,000 new jobs in the recycling sector by 2020, according to a new report.

Businesses outside the sector could also reduce their costs by £50bn a year on savings in raw materials and energy, says the report, Going for Growth, published on Tuesday by the Environmental Services Association (ESA) and the government-funded Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap).

If activities such as the research and development of new design techniques, that would minimise the need for recycling, and better ways to reuse materials are included, the opportunity could be for 50,000 new jobs and a £3bn boost to the UK's annual GDP.

The findings reflect the potential opened up by a "circular economy" – one in which used material is not regarded as waste but as a resource, to be reused first, as that is the most efficient option, then recycled as necessary. As raw material prices rise owing to increasing global competition for resources, the UK could reduce its reliance on key raw materials – including rare earths, used in windfarms and electronics – by as much as one-fifth by 2020.

An example of a product designed for easier reuse and recycling is the Google Nexus device. It can be easily disassembled for repair or to recover the valuable metal used in its construction, because it is screwed together, unlike the iPad, which is glued together.

ESA calculates that from now to 2020, 395m tonnes of recyclable material will pass through the UKs waste management sector. But on current rates, only about 255m tonnes will be recycled. If the remaining 140m tonnes was recycled, that could mean a £1.4bn boost to the economy.

Liz Goodwin, chief executive of Wrap, said a circular economy would keep resources in use for as long as possible. "Reuse makes sure we get the maximum value from materials and brings significant business benefits. It is the complete opposite of make, use, throw away, make another – the way of doing things now," she said.

But this will require a rethink of how products are designed from the earliest stages, with a return to first principles. David Palmer Jones, chairman of the ESA, which represents companies in the waste and environmental sectors, said: "About 80% of the environmental impact of a product is determined at design stage. If we work together to change the way products are designed, we can avoid the current trend of a third of potentially recyclable material being lost to the economy. This is vital for resource efficiency and security, and to reduce environmental impacts including greenhouse gas emissions."

One of the key areas for discussion is electronics, as between now and 2020 the UK is likely to produce about 12m tonnes of electronic waste in total, of which a quarter will be IT equipment, consumer electronics and screens, and this material alone is likely to contain precious metals with an estimated market value of £7bn at today's prices.

The ESA said its members would put forward experts to advise on designing products for reuse and recycling, but also wants the government to step in, by encouraging the EU to use its powers to ensure certain products have a minimum level of "recyclability", and reducing VAT on products with a high level of recycled content. The organisation also wants separate food waste collections to become widespread, for households and businesses.

Goodwin said: "Think of the growth and job opportunities for keeping our material on UK shores. We hear so much about growth, and the circular economy is a key enabler [of growth]. Growth equals job creation, opportunities for investment, and generating shareholder returns."

• Recycling
• Waste
• Ethical and green living
• Green economy
• Green jobs

Fiona Harvey
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Photo gallery: Tasmania's Tarkine region is facing more than 50 mining applications for exploration, including in the rainforest heartland

Bob Brown: There are dozens of mining applications for exploration in Tasmania's Tarkine region. As controversy grows, now's a good time to visit

Bob Brown

Carbon emissions from fossil fuels reached record levels, but the 2012 rise was relatively small, and there are positive signs

As Fiona Harvey reported for The Guardian, the International Energy Agency (IEA) 2012 World Energy Outlook Report found that annual carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels rose 1.4 percent in 2012 to 31.6 billion tonnes (gigatonnes [Gt]). The bad news is that this is a new record high level of emissions. The good news is that it represents the second-smallest annual increase since 2003, behind only 2009 when global fossil fuel carbon emissions fell due to the global recession. Emissions estimates from 2009–2010 have also been revised downward, so the reported 31.6 Gt 2012 emissions match the reported value from 2011.

American emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels fell by 200 million tonnes (Mt) to levels last seen in the mid-1990s due to a transition from coal power to natural gas and renewable energy. European emissions fell 50 Mt due to economic contraction and renewable energy growth, despite an increase in coal energy use. Perhaps most encouraging, although Chinese emissions grew by 300 Mt in 2012, this was among the country's smallest annual emissions growth over the past decade. This is a result of China diversifying its energy sources and installing more renewable energy.

The IEA report comes on the heels of an agreement between the presidents of USA and China to reduce emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are potent greenhouse gases. This could potentially lead to the reduction the equivalent of 90 Gt of carbon dioxide by 2050, or nearly three years of current global emissions from fossil fuel use. China is also considering putting a price on its carbon emissions, and their goal is to end the rapid growth of Chinese coal power use.

So there are signs that the world's two largest greenhouse gas emitters, USA and China are beginning to take serious steps to address the climate problem. The question is whether those steps will be large enough and fast enough to avoid triggering dangerous climate change. At the moment, we our emissions are closest to Scenario A2 from the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.

Scenario A2 represents 3 to 4°C global surface warming by 2100 as compared to pre-industrial levels. This far exceeds the internationally accepted 2°C "danger limit", and would put us at serious risk of catastrophic climate change. However, the relatively small emissions increase in 2012 has pushed us in the direction of IPCC scenario A1T, which represents 2 to 3°C warming by 2100. That still exceeds the danger limit, but at least it's movement in the right direction.

More still needs to be done to reduce our fossil fuel consumption. To have a realistic chance of avoiding 2°C warming, emissions need to peak by the year 2020. The earlier they peak, the better chance we have of limiting the impacts of climate change to an adaptable level. This will be challenging, because power plants have lifetimes of many decades, so we're already "locked in" to a substantial chunk of emissions from those that have already been constructed or are in construction. The IEA report presented four recommendations for limiting global warming to 2°C:

1) Increase energy efficiency in buildings, transportation, and industry.
2) Limit the construction and use of inefficient coal power plants.
3) Minimize methane emissions from oil and gas production.
4) Accelerate the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies.

The positive movement from China and the USA in particular is encouraging, but we still have a lot of work ahead to turn the annual carbon emissions growth into an annual decline in order to limit the climate damage to adaptable levels.

• Climate change
• Carbon emissions
• Fossil fuels
• Renewable energy
• Climate change scepticism
• Climate change

Dana Nuccitelli
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Cumbria town's £4.4m scheme includes UK's first self-closing flood barriers designed to protect Georgian centre from river

The UK's first self-closing flood barriers have been installed to protect a Lake District town hit by devastating flooding.

The £4.4m scheme has been put in place in the Cumbrian town of Cockermouth, where the automatic barriers aim to prevent a repeat of the floods in 2009, when a month's rain fell in 24 hours, destroying 900 homes and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate.

The scheme, which officially opens on Tuesday, has been designed to be unobtrusive so that it protects Cockermouth's Georgian heritage and keeps the town attractive to tourists. The centrepiece is a 120m self-closing barrier that rises only when the river is in flood, preserving views of the river the rest of year.

The measures also include stretches of glass panels, raised embankments and flood gates, while existing riverside structures have been strengthened so they could be incorporated into the defences. The Environment Agency (EA) said the scheme will protect 400 homes and businesses.

The scheme has been funded in partnership with the local community, with the EA putting in £3.3m and £1.1m of contributions by residents and businesses, local councils and community groups.

It is one of a number of new projects using partnership funding, introduced in 2010 by the government to make flood protection spending go further by raising contributions from local communities to enable more defences to be built.

David Rooke, director of flood risk management at the EA, said: "Cockermouth was devastated by flooding in 2009 and the opening of this scheme is a new chapter for the town.

"Protecting Cockermouth residents from flood was hugely important, but it was also important that the scheme was sympathetic to the historical surroundings and did not impact on the local tourist trade which is so vital to the town's economy."

• Lake District
• Flooding
• Natural disasters and extreme weather

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Shepton Mallet, Somerset: From the stars of the livestock rings to the maypole on the green, the Royal Bath & Wells Show has the sense of a great regional carnival

Despite the late cold spring upsetting the rhythms of growth and renewal, the Royal Bath & West Show opened punctually and jubilantly to mark its 150th year as "England's largest celebration of rural life". And seeing the cheerful families funnelling in from the car parks towards the entrance gates, it truly had the sense of a great regional carnival – Somerset's own Derby day.

In the building that housed the pigs, among the proud champions were large whites and British saddlebacks, reclining on beds of straw. Excited children on tiptoe were peering into a pen where a great landrace sow was sprawling on her side, apparently fast asleep while 10 suckling piglets frantically jostled and butted, desperate for her milk.

In the next hall, amid the statuesque, cream-coloured simmental cattle and the great white charolais, it was a massive red ruby bull that caught the eye. His name was Elgar, and his sire was Nimrod. The literature told of the ruby reds' kind temperament and of genetics that produce perfect hybrids, with high fertility, easy calving and quick growth.

You could see every kind of cutting-edge agricultural technology, or get advice on best business practice and accountancy, but only if you could spare time away from the show rings or from spending money on well-cut tweeds or enticing "Best of the West" produce.

And then there was the village green. Muscular farriers sweating in singlets fetched white-hot strips of metal from the fire with their tongs and hammered them into horseshoe shapes on the "beck" or rounded, horn-shaped end of the anvil, the techniques, the heat and the ring of the hammer unchanged through the ages. Horses stood patiently as their hooves were trimmed. On the grass, small children grasped their ribbons anxiously at the maypole, preparing for a first try at the dance.

• Rural affairs
• Bath
• Somerset
• England
• Farming

John Vallins
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Tory MP announces move following pressure over allegations he offered to advise energy companies for cash

The Conservative MP Tim Yeo, who is facing allegations of offering to advise energy companies for cash, has agreed to step aside temporarily as chairman of the energy and climate change select committee.

Yeo made his decision after it became clear that Labour members of the committee were losing confidence in him and wanted him to step aside.

He said on Monday that he needed time to concentrate on clearing his name with the parliamentary commissioner for standards, to whom he has referred his case.

Yeo was elected to the select committee chairmanship and it is not clear if a fresh election will be held, or a temporary substitute will be appointed.

The chairmanship is held by the Tory party as part of a wider distribution of select committee chairmanships between the political parties. The most senior Tory on the committee is Peter Lilley, a climate change sceptic in contrast with Yeo, who is a strong advocate of renewable energy.

The Sunday Times recorded Yeo on tape saying that he had coached John Smith, the managing director of GB Rail Freight, on what to say in front of his committee. The reporters were pretending to act on behalf of a fictitious South Korean solar energy company.

Yeo has denied the claims and said he did not ask questions at the relevant select committee hearing due to his declared financial interests, including being a director of GB Railfreight's parent company Eurotunnel. He also claims he only offered to represent companies, but do nothing in public.

The shadow cabinet office minister, Gareth Thomas, had piled pressure on Yeo in advance of his announcement, saying: "David Cameron has revealed how weak he is. He has failed to show leadership over serious allegations that Tim Yeo coached a witness to the energy and climate change committee, and used his position to further the interests of his clients.

"Tim Yeo has the right to defend himself but it is difficult to see how he can continue as chair of the select committee pending investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner. If David Cameron won't act then Tim Yeo should take it upon himself to stand down from his post."

In a statement issued on Sunday, Yeo said: "I did not 'coach' John Smith on this or any other occasion. He is not a 'paying client' as the Sunday Times alleges, but a business colleague. Like many business executives giving evidence to select committees he sought advice from the public affairs company retained for the purpose by GB Rail Freight."

Yeo said that at no point had he agreed to work for the reporters' fictitious company. "The whole recording would show the context of the conversation and demonstrate clearly that at no stage did I agree or offer to work for the fictitious company these undercover reporters claimed to be representing, still less did I commit to doing so for a day a month as the article claims."

• Lobbying
• Conservatives
• Solar power
• Energy
• Renewable energy
• Climate change

Patrick Wintour
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The practice makes it far less likely that China – the world's biggest emitter – will meet its climate goals, study shows

Rich coastal provinces of China are outsourcing their greenhouse gas emissions by importing goods from less developed provinces, according to scientists. The practice makes it far less likely that China – the world's biggest emitter – will reach its climate goals, the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences said.

"Recent studies have shown that the high standard of living enjoyed by people in the richest countries often come at the expense of CO2 emissions produced with technologies of low-efficiency in less affluent, developing countries," the study said. "Less apparent is that this relationship between developed and developing can exist within a single country's borders."

China and America agreed on Saturday to work with other countries to reduce hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) . HFCs, which are used for air conditioning and refrigeration, are an extremely potent greenhouse gas on a 10 or 20-year timeframe, and contribute significantly to climate change.

But the two biggest emitters have yet to show such leadership in cutting carbon dioxide. And as the study suggests, China's efforts to reduce the growth of greenhouse gas emissions without damaging its rapid economic growth were being undermined by carbon outsourcing.

The authorities set a number of target for carbon intensity – the emissions produced per unit of economic productivity – with less stringent targets for less developed regions. But it turns out those less developed regions, with far more carbon-intensive production units, were producing a large share of the goods for affluent areas of the country. The richer areas have tighter carbon intensity targets.

The richest cities such as Beijing and Shanghai and provinces such as Guangdong were outsourcing more than 50% of the emissions related to the products they consumed, the researchers said. In some instances up to 80% of emissions related to goods consumed in the richer coastal provinces were imported from less developed provinces in central and western China, the study said.

The result of the outsourcing was that China was losing out on a chance to achieve swift and relatively painless reductions in emissions by modernising those highly polluting coal-burning industrial units, said Steven Davis, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, who led the study.

"The tragedy of this is that the easiest and cheapest cuts in emissions are in these provinces in the interior where the technologies are antiquated and with even slight improvements could be much, much cleaner," Davis said.

The net effect of the outsourcing is to make it far less likely China would reach its climate targets. "I think the carbon leakage problem is likely to make it more challenging for China to meet its climate goals," said Ailun Yang, a climate analyst for China, India and other emerging economies at the World Resources Institute.

The Chinese authorities are already acutely conscious of the costs to public health and environment of relying on those old coal-burning plants. The annual report from China's Environment ministry, released last week, catalogued deteriorating air, land and water quality, describing the situation as "grim".

Davis said outsourcing would reinforce that situation: "The result is it's going to cost them more and perpetuate inequality within that country. They are going to be paying more for every ton of CO2 reduced than they need to be."

The study tracked the emissions produced in the manufacture of goods traded across 26 provinces and four cities. It said: "Without policy attention to this sort of interprovincial carbon leakage, the less developed provinces will struggle to meet their emissions intensity targets, whereas the more developed provinces might achieve their own targets by further outsourcing."

• Carbon emissions
• Climate change
• China
• Asia Pacific

Suzanne Goldenberg
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The Coast Guard will be responsible for any reports of residual oil in areas outside BP's Louisiana patrol zone along the Gulf Coast. There's no end in sight for BP's cleanup efforts in Louisiana, a Coast Guard officer says.

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