Climate crisis – live: Biden to tackle environmental rollbacks as Greta Thunberg launches attack on Trump
Follow the latest updates
Support truly
independent journalism
Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.
Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.
Louise Thomas
Editor
President-elect Joe Biden has signalled he will reverse Trump-era attacks on environmental regulations, as he appointed his transition teams for the US Environmental Protection Agency and Transportation Department.
Both will be run by agency alumni who served under Barack Obama and helped craft regulations such as the Clean Power Plan and tougher fuel economy standards for vehicles.
The head of the EPA team is Patrice Simms, an environmental attorney at Earthjustice, which has filed more than 100 lawsuits against Donald Trump's administration.
The Trump administration rolled back Obama-era fuel economy standards and stripped California of the ability to set zero-emission vehicle rules. Both actions remain subject to appeal.
Meanwhile, Greta Thunberg has launched a thinly veiled attack on Donald Trump for failure to concede the presidential election to Mr Biden.
On Twitter, the teenage climate activist attacked Mr Trump for “denying democracy itself”.
Follow The Independent’s latest updates below
Driving is rubbish
Dutch students have created a fully functioning electric car made entirely out of waste, including plastics fished out of the sea, recycled bottles and household rubbish.
The bright yellow, sporty two-seater, which the students named Luca, can reach a top speed of 90 km (56 miles) per hour and has a reach of 220 km (136 miles) when fully charged, the Technical University of Eindhoven said.
The chassis is made out of flax and recycled PET bottles. For the interior the builders used unsorted household waste.
Hard plastics normally found in televisions, toys and kitchen appliances were used for the car body, while the seat cushions consist of coconut and horse hairs.
The car was designed and built by 22 students in around 18 months.
Biden has restored faith in Paris accord, says Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed the prospect of the US rejoining the Paris climate accord, saying countries now had a chance to "make our planet great again" following Joe Biden’s electoral win.
His comments follow those of other leaders who have welcomed Mr Biden's victory as a boost to global cooperation on tackling climate change, after four years of climate policy inaction under President Donald Trump.
In contrast to Mr Trump, who questioned climate science and withdrew the United States from the 2015 accord, Mr Biden has pledged to rejoin the pact and to invest $2 trillion to wean the country off planet-warming fossil fuels.
Mr Macron said having the United States rejoin the pact, after officially exiting on 4 November, would vindicate faith in the agreement aimed at preventing catastrophic climate change and signed by nearly 200 countries.
Is it too late to save the planet?
A new study claims we may have already reached a hypothetical point of no return, but other researchers say if all greenhouse gas emissions stopped now the planet could be saved. Daisy Dunne examines the arguments:
Is the climate crisis pushing the world towards a ‘point of no return’?
A new study claims we may have already reached a hypothetical ‘point of no return’, but other researchers say this is ‘at odds’ with what we know about climate science. Daisy Dunne examines the arguments
Startling figures that highlight Britain’s biodiversity loss
A scientist has uncovered some figures on Britain’s biodiversity that he says highlight the urgent need to change, including that 98 per cent of wild-flower meadows have disappeared:
Small farmers in developing countries 'get little help to adapt to climate crisis
As the world's 450 public development banks held their first summit this week, committing to steer the global economy onto a greener and more resilient path, data showed poor communities hit hard by the climate crisis are receiving little financial help.
Less than 2 per cent of climate finance goes to small-scale farmers in developing nations, despite their vulnerability to worsening extreme weather and their crucial role in feeding billions of people, said a new report.
Funding to tackle climate change topped an average of half a trillion dollars in both 2017 and 2018, yet only $10 billion of that went to smallholder farmers each year, according to research from the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Climate Policy Initiative think-tank.
That is "a small fraction" of the hundreds of billions of dollars needed annually to help them adapt to climate change, added the report, the first detailed analysis of climate finance flows to farmers on the ground.
Cycling on a roll
The number of people taking to bicycles on London’s streets appears to have hit an all-time high.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments