If you bought an electric vehicle in the UK this year, there’s a good chance it was an MG4. The fully electric hatchback, which launched in 2022, sold 5,200 units in the first three months of this year, the second-best selling EV behind Tesla’s Model Y. With prices starting at about £27,000, it is also substantially cheaper than the Tesla at £45,000. And while MG is one of Britain’s most famous car brands – with a century of carmaking in Birmingham until MG Rover’s 2005 collapse – the secret to…
Tag: Environment
Weather tracker: records fall but worst of Europe’s heatwave may yet to come
Extreme heat has lingered over southern Europe throughout the past week, with all-time records broken in a number of locations. Just a few places that recorded their highest ever temperature on 19 July include: Decimomannu in Sardinia at 46.2C, Malaga airport in Spain at 44.2C, and Durrës in Albania at 40.4C. The World Meteorological Organization confirmed that the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe was 48.8C in Sicily in 2021, possibly spurred on by the risk of this week’s heatwave breaking records. Throughout the coming week much of Spain and…
From Kawasaki to Phoenix: tracking a day of extreme heat around the world
20 July 2023 10.30am: Kawasaki, Japan Shota Nagasaki, 30, a builder laying concrete I’ve been doing this work for 12 years – since I left high school – and it’s got hotter even over that time. This year is kind of crazy. I mean, there are years that are not so hot, but over time the temperatures are rising. I don’t live nearby the work site so I picked the truck from the company as usual and drove here; with the air conditioning on of course. But I don’t like…
Extreme heat: a warning shot from nature | podcast
“People do look tired, they look exhausted, as if they’re kind of wilting,” the Guardian’s Rome correspondent, Angela Giuffrida, tells Michael Safi. Italy, like many other countries, has been experiencing record-breaking heat. The Guardian’s environment editor, Damian Carrington, explains why we’re seeing these temperatures now and what we can expect in the future if we do not address the climate emergency. “This is the kind of heat that takes the breath out of you,” the Guardian US’s extreme weather correspondent, Gabrielle Canon, says. Canon has been reporting from Phoenix, Arizona,…
John Kerry in China: climate crisis must be separated from politics
John Kerry has said climate change is a “universal threat” and has to be separated from politics during talks between the US and China. Kerry, the US climate envoy and former secretary of state, is in Beijing for talks with senior Chinese officials. The talks are hoped to repair relations between two sides – the world’s two largest economies and carbon emitters – before the COP28 climate talks in Dubai at the end of the year. On Wednesday he met with vice-president Han Zheng, saying in public remarks that the…
John Kerry aims to put China tensions aside at crucial climate talks
John Kerry, the US climate envoy, has called for more rapid action to confront the climate crisis in a crucial visit to China that is taking place against a fraught backdrop, with both countries currently baking under record heatwaves and Kerry facing hostile opposition from Republicans back home. Kerry’s meeting with Xie Zhenhua, his Chinese counterpart, for three days of formal talks in Beijing is the first substantive summit between the world’s two largest carbon emitters on the climate crisis since relations were frozen last August, when Nancy Pelosi, the…
US climate envoy meets Chinese counterpart on hottest ever day in China
A remote township in China’s western Xinjiang region has set a nationwide temperature record of 52.2C, as the US climate envoy, John Kerry, held meetings with his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, in Beijing. The temperature was reached on Sunday at Sanbao township in the Turpan Depression, the China Meteorological Administration said in a statement. It broke a previous record of 50.6C, set in July 2017, the CMA said. Sanbao lies on the outskirts of the city of Turpan, where authorities have told workers and students to stay at home and…
Australia news live: Philip Lowe reportedly to be replaced as RBA governor; Wong meets top Chinese diplomat
<gu-island name="KeyEventsCarousel" deferuntil="visible" props="{"keyEvents":[{"id":"64b067568f08df2847003b8c","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" The Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe will reportedly be replaced when his seven-year contract concludes in mid-September, according to the ABC. ","elementId":"449618a1-4dac-41f8-89a6-8ee101ef6d71"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" An announcement from treasurer Jim Chalmers is expected to follow today’s cabinet meeting, when the topic of Lowe’s replacement will be discussed. ","elementId":"50b6d4b9-5044-401e-970b-55fcaa10010f"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" Guardian Australia has not yet been able to confirm this. We will bring you updates as they come. ","elementId":"1b8f1abd-e9b3-4fa3-a690-4bf8f7709bdb"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" In the meantime, here is more on what the future may look like for the Australian economy, the RBA and Lowe, from…
Economic ‘headwinds’ lead IEA to cut global oil demand forecast
Global oil demand will reach an all-time high this year, but “persistent macroeconomic headwinds” mean it will not grow as quickly as had previously been expected, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has said. The Paris-based global energy watchdog said that demand was expected to rise by 2.2m barrels a day in 2023, leading to an average of 102.1m barrels a day. But that prediction is 220,000 barrels a day lower than its previous expectations – the first time the agency has lowered its forecast for growth this year. China, boosted…
Janet Yellen urges China to boost funding to tackle climate crisis
US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has pressed China to do more to support international climate institutions that are helping finance green initiatives around the world, urging deeper cooperation in addressing the “existential threat” of global heating. “Climate finance should be targeted efficiently and effectively,” Yellen said on Saturday in Beijing during a meeting with Chinese and international sustainable finance experts. “I believe that if China were to support existing multilateral climate institutions like the Green Climate Fund and the Climate Investment Funds alongside us and other donor governments, we could…