Welcome to Carbon Brief’s Cropped.
We handpick and explain the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight.
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Key developments
Agri-disasters costing trillions
CATASTROPHE COSTS: Disasters have caused about $3.8tn worth of lost crops and livestock production over the past three decades, according to a new report by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The report, the first of its kind, looked at the impact of disasters such as floods, droughts and wildfires on agriculture and food security. It highlighted proactive ways to address agrifood system risks and ways to “mainstream disaster risk management”, FAO director general Qu Dongyu said in the foreword of the report. Overall, disaster-related losses have “moderately” increased since the 1990s, the report said, but “they have become more widespread in terms of the countries and products that they affect”.
IMPACTS: Extreme temperatures and droughts “inflict the largest impact per event” according to the report. It is “essential” to look at the interconnected nature of risks, the report noted, adding: “Climate change, pandemics, epidemics and armed conflict are all affecting agricultural production, value chains and food security.” Losses of cereal, such as wheat and maize, caused by disasters amounted to an average of 69m tonnes per year over the past 30 years – around the same as all of France’s cereal production in 2021, the report said. Meat, dairy and eggs accrued around 16m tonnes in losses each year.
FAO FALLOUT: Meanwhile, the Guardian reported that former FAO officials said they were “censored, sabotaged, undermined and victimised” for more than a decade after writing about and investigating the extent livestock contributes to methane emissions between 2006 and 2019. The allegations date back to the years after 2006 when a landmark UN report, “livestock’s long shadow”, was published. This report “pushed farm emissions on to the climate agenda for the first time”, the newspaper said, adding: “The officials described a culture in which attempts to probe the connection between livestock and climate change were discouraged and, in some cases, suppressed, and where management attempted to sabotage research and research networks.”
RECENT CHANGES: The 2006 FAO livestock report estimated that 18% of total greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock, mostly cattle. This figure was “revised downwards to 14.5% in a follow-up paper” in 2013, the Guardian said. Dr Anne Mottet, the FAO’s livestock development officer, “stressed that the changing figures reflected best practices and evolving methodologies”, the newspaper said. She told the Guardian: “Livestock is part of the FAO’s strategy on climate change and we work with governments and farmers and industry on this programme as well. We can’t ignore the main actors of the sector but there has been no particular pressure from them.” The newspaper said that the wider FAO declined to comment, along with several meat and dairy industry lobbyists.
Bankrolling Amazon destruction
‘GREEN BONDS’ INVESTIGATION: European banks Santander and UBS have allegedly raised hundreds of millions of pounds by selling “green” bonds, but some of these funds have gone to groups linked to Amazon deforestation and human-rights abuses, according to a new investigation from Greenpeace UK’s Unearthed and O Joio e O Trigo. Unearthed reported: “Among those linked to the bonds are a farmer who allegedly held five labourers in ‘slave-like’ conditions, a soy company identified as the biggest deforester in Brazil’s Cerrado savannah, a cattle rancher fined for preventing the regeneration of 17km2 of Amazon rainforest and an ethanol producer that poisoned a river relied on by an Indigenous community.”
BANKS’ RESPONSE: According to Unearthed, the financing was made possible by tools called “CRAs”, which are bonds specifically linked to Brazilian agribusiness. A spokesperson for Santander told Unearthed that CRAs are independently regulated and that it “has strong governance processes in place to ensure that required market standards are adhered to”. A UBS spokesperson told Unearthed that the bank “does not provide finance or advisory services to companies whose primary business activity is associated with illegal logging or high conservation value forest”.
AMAZON DROUGHT: Elsewhere, unprecedented drought in the Amazon continued to intensify. Earlier this month, the Negro River – the Amazon’s second-largest tributary – reached its lowest level since official measurements began 121 years ago, the Associated Press said. Reuters reported that human faces sculpted into stone up to 2,000 years ago have appeared at the edge of the Amazon River amid extremely low water levels. Bloomberg spoke to Brazilian atmospheric scientist Prof Paulo Artaxo, who said the drought is expected to “get worse” as no rainfall is projected “in the immediate horizon”.
Spotlight
COP15 official finale
In this spotlight, Carbon Brief examines the reaction to the conclusion of the COP15 meetings last week in Nairobi.
Although it has been almost one year since countries agreed to “halt and reverse” biodiversity loss by 2030, the meetings behind the UN agreement officially drew to a close last week.
Almost every country in the world signed up to the landmark Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) at the COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal in December 2022.
Bernadette Fischler Hooper, the head of global advocacy at WWF International, said there “were no major breakthroughs, but also no catastrophes” at the talks. She told Carbon Brief:
“They couldn’t finish some of the outstanding business in Montreal, so they had to reopen the COP15 here [in Nairobi]. Then there were some elections that were still to be done and some other general orders of business.”
More than 700 people attended the meetings in Nairobi. The talks were two-fold – one was the resumed COP15 discussions and one was the 25th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-25).
A number of elections were also held for different positions within the COP.
The SBSTTA discussions brought together scientific and technical experts to give advice on the implementation of the GBF. A global review of progress, which will take place in 2026, was among the key discussion points, Fischler Hooper said.
This review is “the equivalent of the global stocktake in the climate COPs”, she said, which will see nations assess movement toward climate goals at COP28 in Dubai this year. Fischler Hooper said:
“The technical experts and scientific experts discussed what should be in this report. So it was very focused on what that report should contain.”
There was “significant progress” in providing scientific, technical and technological guidance on implementation, according to the SBSTTA chair, Hesiquio Benitez, who ended his five-year run as chair last week.
The recent assessment on invasive alien species was also discussed, alongside sustainable wildlife management plans and conservation.
Countries welcomed the sixth assessment report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and “expressed alarm” about the “accelerating negative impact of climate change on biodiversity”, a Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) press release said.
The interconnected nature of climate change and biodiversity was “hotly debated”, Fischler Hooper added. Delegates approved a draft recommendation on biodiversity and climate change in Nairobi.
Nature-based solutions (NBS) continue to be a “contentious” topic causing “a lot of frustration on many sides”, Fischler Hooper said. The controversial concept was a dividing issue at previous COP15 discussions.
NBS are essentially actions to protect, conserve and use ecosystems to address different challenges and provide benefits. (Read Carbon Brief’s Q&A on whether nature-based solutions help address climate change.)
A location has yet to be confirmed for the next UN biodiversity summit, COP16, due to take place next autumn. Turkey withdrew as host due to the three earthquakes that hit the country in February this year, killing more than 50,000 people and displacing millions.
The CBD said discussions are being held with other potential host countries. But if no frontrunner emerges by this December, the summit will likely be held again in Montreal, where the CBD is based.
David Cooper, the acting executive secretary of the CBD, said in a press release that the biodiversity framework is “well and truly on the way to implementation” following last week’s meetings.
But Avaaz, the campaign group, said documents remain with “a substantial number of brackets to be sorted out and resolved” at COP16 and earlier discussions next May.
The proposed indicators to measure implementation “risk being weak, especially for reviewing policies”, the Avaaz campaign director, Oscar Soria, said on Twitter.
News and views
VOICED OUT: An Australian referendum to set up an Indigenous advisory body to parliament failed with more than 60% of voters against the proposal, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Indigenous groups described the outcome as “an unparalleled act of racism by white Australia”, according to the Guardian. The Central Land Council, one of four regional groups representing Indigenous affairs in the Northern Territory of the country, said: “We will keep fighting for equality, fighting for land, fighting for water, fighting for housing, infrastructure, good jobs, education, closing the gap – a future for our children.” (Indigenous peoples around the world play a key role in protecting as much as 80% of the world’s biodiversity.)
FOREST FOCUS: Civil-society groups are calling for “urgent” collective action to preserve three major tropical forest basins at a summit this week, Afrik 21 reported. The Three Basins summit – taking place over 26-28 October in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo – aims to bring together leaders from the Amazon, Congo and Borneo-Mekong-south-east Asia regions to form a “global coalition”. Afrik 21 said the Eboko Foundation, a Congolese organisation, posted an “online call to action” with five priority areas, including the conservation and restoration of biodiversity in these regions. Carbon Brief will publish an in-depth article on the summit after it concludes.
‘CASH-FOR-CARBON HUSTLE’: The New Yorker has published a detailed long-read into how South Pole, the world’s largest carbon-offsetting firm based in Switzerland, “sold millions of credits for carbon reductions that weren’t real”. The article includes multiple interviews with the firm’s chief executive, Renat Heuberger, who told the publication: “We’re here to save the climate”. Previous media coverage investigating the practices of South Pole is included in Carbon Brief‘s map of the impacts of carbon-offsetting projects around the world.
‘ECO-CITY’ STAND-OFF: Around 7,500 Indigenous people could be forced off their land on the Indonesian island of Rempang to make way for a government-led “eco-city” project, BBC News reported. According to the publication, the government has secured Chinese investment to transform the island into an economic and tourist hub covering 7,000 of the island’s 17,000 hectares. The remaining 10,000 hectares will be protected forest cover, according to the plans. BBC News reported: “These ambitious plans require everyone who calls Rempang their home to leave. Many of them belong to seafaring Indigenous communities who have lived here for more than two centuries.” The broadcaster spoke to multiple families who are refusing to leave.
DELTA ‘EXTINCTION’: Coastal communities living in Nigeria’s low-lying Niger delta are at risk of “extinction” because of climate change, local civil-society groups have warned, according to a report in the Nigerian publication Business Day. It reported: “Godson Jim-Dorgu, executive director of Mac-Jim Foundation, said the coastal communities within the Niger delta would be wiped away sooner or later due to the effect of climate change.” The comments were made during a one-day meeting on climate change and gender in Port Harcourt, the capital of Nigeria’s Rivers State.
Watch, read, listen
MAYAN MISERY: An interactive feature from Reuters explored how climate change is contributing to hunger in Guatemala’s Mayan highlands.
PLANET EARTH III: The first episode of the third series of Planet Earth, presented by Sir David Attenborough, is available for UK viewers on the BBC iPlayer. For those outside the UK, the trailer and other clips can be viewed on the BBC Earth YouTube channel.
GREEN AND PLEASANT LAND: The Financial Times published an in-depth interactive exploring how the UK’s countryside might transform to meet its climate and nature goals.
FARMING WOES: Biman Mukherji, writing in the South China Morning Post, interviewed Himalayan farmers about the disruptive effects of climate change.
New science
Climate casualties or human disturbance? Shrinking distribution of the three large carnivores in the Greater Himalaya
Climatic Change
A new study found that the distribution of three large animals in the Greater Himalayas has shrunk since the early 1990s. The researchers analysed the effects of habitat traits, human disturbances and climatic factors to understand the distribution changes of the common leopard, snow leopard and Asiatic black bear in an Indian national park from the early 1990s until 2016-17. They found distribution reductions for all three animals within this timeframe. Snow leopards moved upwards, away from human settlements, while the common leopard and Asiatic black bear “suffered higher rates of local extinctions at higher altitudes” and moved to lower areas with more vegetation – even if this meant they were closer to humans.
Wilderness areas under threat from global redistribution of agriculture
Current Biology
As the climate warms, conditions suitable for growing crops are likely to shift into wilderness areas, potentially posing a new threat to these biodiversity-rich areas, new research suggested. Using climate model output and a crop suitability model, the study found that, over the next 40 years, 2.7m km2 of wilderness land will become newly suitable for agriculture – equivalent to 7% of all wilderness land outside of Antarctica. It added that the increase in potentially cultivable land in wilderness areas is “particularly acute” at higher latitudes in the global north, where 76% of wilderness areas will become suitable for growing crops. The researchers said: “Our results highlight an important and previously unidentified possible consequence of the disproportionate warming known…Without protection, the vital integrity of these valuable areas could be irreversibly lost.”
Increasing droughts with climate change may turn the world’s forests and plants from “a carbon sink into a carbon source [net emitter of CO2]”, a study found. The world’s “terrestrial biosphere” – plants and trees – currently absorbs around 30% of the emissions that humans release into the atmosphere, making it a carbon sink. However, increasing droughts under climate change could reduce the activity of plants, hence reducing their ability to absorb CO2. Using high-resolution climate models, the research found that drought-associated reductions in plant activity are projected to increase 2.3 times under a “sustainable development scenario” and 3.5 times under a “fossil-fuelled development scenario”. These losses are greater than the expected boost to plant growth from higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere (a phenomenon known as the “CO2 fertilisation effect”), according to the research.
In the diary
- 26-28 October: Three Basins Summit | Brazzaville
- 30 October-8 November: 3rd part of the 28th annual session of the International Seabed Authority | Kingston
- 31 October-2 November: World Hydropower Congress | Bali
Cropped is researched and written by Dr Giuliana Viglione, Aruna Chandrasekhar, Daisy Dunne, Orla Dwyer and Yanine Quiroz. Please send tips and feedback to cropped@carbonbrief.org
The post Cropped 25 October 2023: Agri-disasters costing trillions; Bankrolling deforestation; COP15 official finale appeared first on Carbon Brief.
The UN body that regulates mining in international waters has defended its authority over ocean governance after two subsidiaries of deep-sea mining firm The Metals Company (TMC) launched legal action to halt an investigation into their conduct.
Speaking at the International Seabed Authority’s (ISA) annual meeting in Kingston on Monday, secretary-general Leticia Carvalho said the regulator’s role “matters more than ever” as governments grapple with growing pressure to exploit the deep seabed for minerals needed for the energy transition.
“The deep seabed belongs to no single country and no corporation; it belongs to all of us,” Carvalho said, describing its resources as “the common heritage of humankind”.
“If we lose sight of this,” she added, “we risk repeating on the ocean floor the same injustices and destruction we still strive to remedy on land.”
The conflict stems from TMC’s attempt to bypass the UN process by applying for US-sponsored ocean mining permits offered last year by the Trump administration. The Canadian firm aims to become the first company to mine the seabed for minerals like nickel, rare earths and manganese used in the production of both clean energy technologies and military equipment.
Several governments, including China, condemned the move as a “violation of international law”. In response, ISA member states agreed to open an inquiry into its licence-holders – among them two of TMC’s subsidiaries – to make sure they have complied with international law. If they are ultimately found to have breached those obligations, their exploration contracts could be revoked.
In June, the two TMC subsidiaries – Tonga Offshore Mining Ltd (TOML) and Nauru Ocean Resources Inc (NORI) – filed claims against the ISA at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), asking the court to suspend the inquiry while the case proceeds. The companies argue they are being targeted “without lawful procedural basis”, “in breach of due process”, and without “good faith”.
Environmental groups have accused The Metals Company of using legal tactics to block the investigation into its subsidiaries.
“We find ourselves in this Orwellian situation where these companies are trying to effectively get an injunction against the ISA from continuing its inquiry,” said Louisa Casson, who leads Greenpeace’s global campaign against deep-sea mining.
“The stakes are so high and that’s why we’re seeing this pretty extraordinary move to try to get an injunction against the ISA,” she added.
-
Trump throws lifeline to Canadian deep-sea miner, setting scene for international clash
US president’s executive order looks like a victory for Vancouver-based The Metals Company (TMC) and other industry advocates, but fierce environmental and international opposition still stands in the way of ocean floor mining -
UK government faces legal challenge over deep sea mining permits to “opaque” firm
Greenpeace says UK may have acted unlawfully by transferring deep-sea mining licences to firm with US ties -
Loss and damage fund delays first project approvals as needs dwarf resources
The new Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage faces an overwhelming number of initial requests for its limited pot of money and board members decided to take more time to choose which to back first
Mining the deep ocean floor
The ISA has been negotiating a mining code for the deep ocean floor for over 12 years without success. Nearly 40 governments, including the UK, France and Germany, have called for a moratorium or precautionary pause on deep-sea mining until there is sufficient scientific evidence that it can proceed without causing serious harm to marine ecosystems.
Rather than wait for the UN process, industry frontrunner, The Metals Company, decided to apply for US permits offered by the Trump administration last year. In May, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) certified TMC’s application to explore 120,000 square kilometers of sea floor.
The firm wants to mine an area in the Pacific known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, which holds critical minerals inside potato-sized rocks found in the deep ocean floor known as polymetallic nodules. The minerals like manganese, nickel and rare earths are used in clean energy technologies like batteries and wind turbines.
But the area is also a little-understood ecosystem inhabited by thousands of unnamed species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world’s largest environmental network, says mining this area would threaten the existence of over half of all molluscs reliant on deep-sea vents.
Governments launch inquiry
Seeking to discourage companies from bypassing the UN process, the ISA’s member states unanimously agreed to open an inquiry into whether holders of its exploration licences complied with their contractual obligations under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
“The stage we’re at now is countries grappling with what they can do about this. What tools do they have to constrain this pathway that would go against international law,” Casson said.
Both NORI and TOML continue to hold ISA exploration contracts in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. NORI’s license, however, expires later this month on July 21st and is up for review.
The inquiry is currently ongoing, but Casson said that if governments decide to cancel NORI’s license, other firms could apply for the ISA permit and compete for mining rights in the area.
“If that happens, it could really put into jeopardy TMC USA’s application (for US permits) because then suddenly that area could be open for a competing claim,” she explained. “At the moment, TMC is trying to kind of play both sides and shore up the area so that there will be no competition.”
Deep-sea mining firms push back
The cases before ITLOS are the first contentious disputes over deep-sea mining to reach the court designed for maritime disputes and the first brought directly by private contractors against the ISA. Among the companies’ legal advisers is former ISA secretary-general Michael Lodge.
Both NORI and TOML claimed that, unless the inquiry is suspended, there is a “real
and imminent risk of prejudice” that “may have significant legal and practical consequences” for
their activities.
The claim was backed by the Pacific island nation of Nauru, which has sponsored TMC’s push to mine the Clarion-Clipperton Zone and would benefit from the economic activity. The country raised “concerns on the adherence of due process with respect to the treatment of NORI”.
The mining companies allege that the ISA has singled them out among other applicants by requesting additional documentation, and that the UN auditors did not give them an opportunity to “meaningfully respond” to their concerns.
The ISA rejected those allegations as “wholly unsupported assertions”. It added that, given TMC’s application for US mining permits, it had done “what any reasonable regulator would do”: with the unanimous support of member states, it opened an inquiry simply to establish the facts.
Delay tactics
A decision from the maritime court is now expected by July 18, which has added to a “climate of significant regulatory uncertainty”, according to global law firm HSF Kramer.
As ISA countries meet in Kingston this week, the court’s president asked them “not to act in any way that could hinder any order” the court may make.
At the hearing representing the ISA, renowned human rights lawyer Philippe Sands said the deep-sea mining firms were engaging in “strategic litigation” meant to delay the inquiry and send the ISA into a years-long legal process.
“It’s a delaying tactic, and nothing would make them happier than for you to kick this into the long grass for two years while you sort out the merits. That is what they want this Tribunal, the Chamber, to do. You are being instrumentalized in this process,” Sands told the judges.
The post UN seabed regulator defends authority as mining firms seek to halt inquiry appeared first on Climate Home News.
UN seabed regulator defends authority as mining firms seek to halt inquiry
The UK’s incoming prime minister Andy Burnham has remained tight-lipped on his views on climate change during his leadership campaign.
When asked his views on reversing Labour’s manifesto pledge to stop new North Sea drilling in June – a move that the oil-and-gas industry and right-wing media have pushed for in recent months – he said he had “something of an open mind” on the issue.
But a trawl of Burnham’s past comments about climate change, net-zero and fossil fuels reveals a different picture.
Just a year ago in June 2025, Burnham, while mayor of Greater Manchester, gave his support to the fossil fuel treaty – a proposed international pact on phasing out coal, oil and gas – calling it a “lifeline” that “all governments” should join.
In a video message endorsing the treaty, he also said that “there should be no turning away from net-zero”.
During his last bid to be Labour leader in 2015, he used similar language, saying:
“Labour under my leadership will never turn our back on either our duty to tackle climate change or the prospects offered by the green economy.”
Burnham has spoken about the threat of climate change since at least 2008, noting in 2021 that accelerated action could “create thousands of good jobs”, but also warning that net-zero risked becoming the “next Brexit”.
Burnham is yet to appoint his cabinet, but there is much speculation that he will select current net-zero secretary Ed Miliband as his chancellor – with their ally Miatta Fahnbulleh having a “strong chance” of taking Miliband’s former position.
Below, Carbon Brief recounts 28 things that Burnham has said about climate change, net-zero, fossil fuels, energy and transport.
Climate change
“Tackling climate change isn’t just about protecting the planet – it’s a powerful opportunity to build a fairer, greener future for our communities and businesses.”
Calling for local councils to be given more power and money for climate action, 29 November 2025
“There is little doubt that Greater Manchester’s biodiversity has taken a hit over the years, with habitats being lost, destroyed and becoming less diverse due to the impact of development, climate change, pollution and invasive species…We are committed to delivering a city-region for all residents to enjoy – a fairer, greener and more prosperous place for everyone.”
Statement after Greater Manchester declared a “biodiversity emergency”, 25 March 2022
“Over the next decade, if we accelerate our response to the climate crisis, we can create thousands of good jobs, improve homes, overhaul our transport system and make [Manchester] an even better place to live.”
Greater Manchester Green Summit, 18 October 2021
“The environment has never been higher on the national and international agenda.”
Statement after visiting a peat bog restoration project in England, 9 January 2020
“I think climate change [action] will be driven more quickly from the bottom up, if I’m honest. It’s the will of evolution if you wait for the government to act…When governments aren’t listening you get out and get your voice heard…so I think [climate protesters] deserve our encouragement, not our criticism.”
Speaking to Manchester Evening News at a student climate protest in Manchester, 24 May 2019
“Labour under my leadership will never turn our back on either our duty to tackle climate change or the prospects offered by the green economy.”
Labour leadership candidate speech, 15 July 2015
“Climate change can seem a distant, impersonal threat – in fact the associated costs to health are a very real and present danger…We need well-designed climate change policies that drive health benefits.”
Speaking to the Guardian about a study on climate and health, 25 November 2009
“The Stern report on the economics of climate change has changed the debate, in this country and around the world. It made it clear that the people who could suffer most from a failure to tackle climate change, or from a lack of ambition in our approach to it, are those living in the developing countries. They are the most vulnerable…[and] Stern said that the cost of not acting would be large. That is why the government took various measures in the recent spending review to ensure that we are prepared to face the challenges posed by climate change.”
Speaking in the UK parliament on the economic impacts of climate change on his final day as chief secretary to the Treasury, 24 January 2008
Net-zero
“There should be no turning away from net-zero.”
Speaking after giving his support to the fossil fuel treaty – a proposed global pact to introduce laws to phase out coal, oil and gas – on behalf of Manchester, 6 June 2025
“An opportunity is opening up for Britain as other countries move away from net-zero. We should seize that…We can make Britain a green leader. This is not the time to tiptoe, it is the time to commit to this path.”
Speaking at Innovation Zero World Congress in London, 29 April 2025
“[We] need a government that fully buys into the 2038 vision because the UK will not get to 2050 unless places like Greater Manchester are freed up to go faster – and we’re ready to go faster.”
Speaking about Greater Manchester’s aim to reach net-zero by 2038, 19 October 2022
“In Greater Manchester we have plans to build 30,000 net-zero social rented homes because we recognise that a successful city region needs good quality, affordable accommodation for everyone.”
Speech on the future of cities, 24 June 2022
“By building a broad consensus behind the drive to net-zero, we can ensure that the transition is a fair one that delivers social justice as well as climate justice. This is an opportunity for all of us to show how cutting carbon emissions in our cities can make a real difference to our communities – away from the abstractions and rooted in the real world.”
Panel discussion in Glasgow during the COP26 climate summit, 12 November 2021
“To the extent that people have picked up anything from COP26, it’s a sense that the drive to net-zero will mean cost and inconvenience for ordinary people and offsetting for the wealthy and entitled. All of a sudden, you can feel how net-zero could become the new Brexit – a debate that gets very divided on class grounds…This has got to be a wake-up call. We cannot let this happen. We need to act now to build a broad social consensus behind the drive to net-zero. How to do that? It starts with taking control of the climate narrative from those steering it in the wrong direction and turning it around…We must show how, if done in the right way, the drive to net-zero is actually an opportunity to reduce the cost of living; to make people’s lives better and society fairer.”
Writing for the London Standard, 5 November 2021
“The drive to net-zero is a chance to re-industrialise the north of England, this time in a clean way. Create really good jobs, future-facing jobs for people, better public transport, improve people’s homes…If we go quickly towards net-zero, it’s the quickest way to level up the country.”
ITV interview at COP26, 1 November 2021
“If we really embrace the drive to net-zero, that is the route to level up the country…But it needs substantial investment, upfront, now, of the kind that Rachel Reeves, shadow chancellor [and chancellor under Keir Starmer’s government], has been talking about. We need long-term predictable funding.”
Interview with GB News at COP26, 1 November 2021
“I would have preferred to hear slightly less about carbonated wine and much more about a decarbonised economy.”
Referencing a UK budget, which included tax cuts for sparkling wine and other drinks, 28 October 2021
“Decarbonising is not just about lowering costs on to people. It’s the route to get better, cheaper public transport. It’s the route to getting homes that are cheap to run. It’s actually the way we can create thousands of good jobs for the people who live in Greater Manchester. This is the route to levelling up the country by going further and faster on decarbonisation.”
Speaking to Manchester Confidential, 20 October 2021
“[I am] asking people to stop seeing the environmental agenda as a cost and a burden agenda. I think this is a barrier that we’ve got to get over. Already in the media interviews I’ve done today, people are saying ‘can you afford it?’, ‘can it be achievable when times are tough?’.
“My answer to that is, at some point in the 21st century, all homes will be zero-carbon. At some point in this century, all buildings of any kind will be zero-carbon…All cars will be zero-carbon, all public transport will be zero-carbon…The question is: when? And surely the places that embrace those things first are putting themselves in a position of economic strength when it comes to facing up to the future. Rather than seeing the whole agenda as a burden, we’ve got to see it for the benefits that it can bring.
“There may be a greater upfront cost in a zero-carbon home, but let’s stop thinking, as we tend to do in Britain, of the short-term, the short-termist approach to life. Surely let’s start talking to the public about the lifetime cost.”
Greater Manchester Green Summit, 21 March 2018
Fossil fuels
“I’ve got something of an open mind, you know. I don’t have a sort of fixed position.”
Speaking on the issue of new North Sea oil and gas in a New Statesman interview, 3 June 2026
“We would fight this in GM [Greater Manchester]…Communities across the north would face all the danger and disruption while big oil and gas walk away with all the profits.”
In response to Reform’s call for fracking, on X, 25 August 2025
“I am proud to endorse the fossil-fuel treaty proposal today on behalf of Greater Manchester. It’s not just a plan – it’s a lifeline. It’s a call to end coal, oil and gas, hold polluters accountable…I urge all governments, nationals and subnationals to join this fight.”
Statement upon endorsing the fossil-fuel treaty, 5 June 2025
“Fracking is the past, it is not the future.”
Speech at London climate protest, 20 September 2019
“I have called for a moratorium on fracking. Far too many potential risks and unanswered questions.”
On X, 22 June 2015
Energy and transport
“What I would do, if successful, is lay out a plan for more public control over water, energy, transport, so that over the period we can get those bills down, fares down, and give people and give businesses breathing space.”
LBC interview, 2 July 2026
“I am all in favour of tough decisions at a national level. I don’t believe there should be a third runway at Heathrow, for instance. But I think those are decisions for national government.”
Guardian interview, 13 June 2019
“There is a debate to be had about aviation, isn’t there? There are changing public attitudes about aviation. Rather than just saying no to people flying, don’t we need to accelerate research into low and zero-carbon forms of aviation?”
Guardian interview, 13 June 2019
“Today, I stand alongside the mayors of some of the greatest cities in the world. I’m committed to a cleaner, greener and healthier future for Greater Manchester. Around a third of greenhouse gas emissions in our city-region come from transport.”
When signing the C40 Fossil-Fuel-Free Streets Declaration, which includes support for zero-emissions vehicles and walking and cycling, on behalf of Manchester, 14 September 2018
The post 28 quotes from next UK leader Andy Burnham on climate, net-zero and fossil fuels appeared first on Carbon Brief.
28 quotes from next UK leader Andy Burnham on climate, net-zero and fossil fuels
Suresanathan Murugesu is the country director of Action Against Hunger in the Philippines
The Philippines is caught in an extreme weather trap. Here, forecasts for a strong El Niño in the months ahead do not just indicate a period of drought – they also point to torrential rain and flooding.
It could hardly come at a worse time, threatening communities that are still struggling to recover from previous typhoons, such as last year’s Typhoon Tino, as well as two strong earthquakes – in Cebu in September 2025 and last month’s 7.8-magnitude quake in Mindanao.
Forecasts point to the arrival of one of the most intense El Niños in recent history this year and into 2027, with the United Nations warning that it could be the strongest in decades around the world.
The peak of the El Niño is expected towards the end of the year, but the weather phenomenon is already estimated to have caused agricultural losses of nearly €30 million (£25.9 million), potentially affecting the livelihoods of 4 million farmers.
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On the climate frontline
For many, El Niño is a figure in a report or a distant headline, but for those of us who live and work on the ground, it is a reality that is already hitting the most vulnerable families.
When I travel through the communities of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region – in the south – or speak with families on the island of Siargao or in the Zamboanga region, I do not see data or graphs.
I see a father looking at his cracked rice field, wondering how he will pay off the debts from a harvest that is already lost before it has even begun. I see a mother walking under a relentless sun because her village’s well has dried up, carrying the water that sustains the health of her children and her entire community.
And what we are seeing today – 26 provinces experiencing drought and millions of dollars in agricultural losses – is only the beginning.
Loss and damage fund delays first project approvals as needs dwarf resources
Many Filipino families are still trying to rebuild and recover after last year’s typhoons and the two earthquakes. In Mindanao, where the recent magnitude 7.8 earthquake displaced more than 90,000 people and destroyed over 19,000 houses, uncertainty remains about when the people will be able to fully recover and return home.
Today, they are trying to protect the meagre possessions they have and, if they are lucky enough to have their home unscathed by typhoons and earthquakes, their homes from flooding; tomorrow, they will have to survive the hardship and impact of drought.
The effects of El Niño threaten to exacerbate their troubles.
Struggle for basic needs
Many low-income Filipino families already face significant challenges to meet their basic needs.
In our daily visits, we see how life is becoming increasingly difficult for millions of people. Rising fuel and transport costs are driving up the price of basic foodstuffs, making them unaffordable for many families. At the same time, crop failures and income losses are leaving households without livelihoods, while disasters contribute to further suffering.
But we are not just talking about hunger. We are talking about health, safety and dignity. Water shortages are forcing many people to resort to unsafe sources, increasing the risk of disease. And, as is the case in so many crises, it is the most vulnerable who bear the heaviest burden: walking long distances every day to fetch water or food, enduring enormous physical strain and facing risks of violence and insecurity.
Building resilience
Faced with this reality, our response is based on a simple idea: to be there before the crisis reaches its most critical point. At Action Against Hunger, we work alongside communities to anticipate the situation, assessing the impact of the drought and activating early response mechanisms to protect their livelihoods and access to water.
We translate climate forecasts into concrete action plans: from support for farmers to programmes ensuring safe water. All of this is done in coordination with local authorities and international partners, because we know that what we do today will make the difference tomorrow.
The hardest months are yet to come. But the question is not just what will happen, but what we are doing now to prevent it. How many tables will remain empty and how many children will see their health compromised will depend on our ability to act in time.
We cannot stop El Niño. But we can prevent it from becoming a crisis of human dignity. We cannot afford to look the other way whilst the earth cracks and opportunities disappear. Because behind every statistic, there is a family struggling to get by. And that is a reality we cannot ignore.
The post A strong El Niño spells more climate pain for the Philippines appeared first on Climate Home News.
A strong El Niño spells more climate pain for the Philippines
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